Content tagged with [xbox] on DuncanMackenzie.net

Xbox.com Personalities answer a bunch of holiday questions

Duncan Mackenzie — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 11:11:00 GMT

Trixie had all of us Xbox.com column writing folks answer a bunch of holiday themed questions recently, and I noticed tonight that the answers are all up on the site! Check out some interesting Q&A with Trixie, Major Nelson and others (including me, Xbox Dad).

Xbox.com Personalities at the Holidays

We asked the Xbox.com personalities to share some information on their holiday favorites. What did we learn? Egg nog, "A Christmas Story," and Dean Martin pwn. Plus Major Nelson is a Grinch.

Silverlight based Sidebar Gadget showing your Xbox Friends

Duncan Mackenzie — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 17:42:00 GMT

Awesome gadget from Adam Kinney, great information and a nice slick UI done in Silverlight.

Xbox Friends Watch - Get the Gadget!

Custom Armor Configurations in Halo 3

Duncan Mackenzie — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 19:39:00 GMT

In Halo 3 multi-player you can customize your SPARTAN or Elite's armor, with different variations unlocked by various achievements/activities in game (including one that can only be unlocked by being a Bungie employee). You can find out more about the different variations here, but it turns out that your profile on Bungie.net knows what choices you've made and displays your current armor configuration on the web site.

If you go to the Halo 3 Model Generator though, created by a community member, you can find the picture of any particular gamer you'd like (including yourself, which is how I found my picture, below) or create a custom image to plan out your own armor customizations.

What I'd really like to create is a live URL, one like /getpicture.ashx?GamerTag=Festive+Turkey, so that I could put my picture on my site and have it automatically update as I change my armor configuration in the game... hopefully ending up like this

Hey, I'm on Channel 10 ... just in time for Father's Day

Duncan Mackenzie — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 09:13:00 GMT

I sat down to chat with Tina from Channel 10 to chat about my Xbox Dad articles, gaming with your kids, etc...

Keeping in Touch, a new Xbox Dad article is live

Duncan Mackenzie — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 15:32:00 GMT

It has been 'marketized' a bit from how I originally wrote it (with the addition of a product name right into the title for one), but a 'father's day' article from me is up on Xbox.com

Keep in Touch with Xbox LIVE Vision
Published June 13, 2007
It's an interesting time of year for Dads. High school graduation is just around the corner and college graduation has probably already happened. For some of you, this means that your son or daughter is moving out of the house, and there are going to be some changes in your relationship.
As Father's Day approaches, I find myself reflecting on the relationship I have with my Dad as an adult, and then in turn, wondering how things are going to be with my kids as they get older. My biggest worry about my kids, and my biggest feeling of guilt around my own father, is the difficulty of maintaining a strong connection, and trying to continue to be a part of their lives.

Yet another Xbox Dad article up, this one on games for the K-6 crowd

Duncan Mackenzie — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 20:07:00 GMT

Family Gaming with the K-6 Crowd

With Father's Day coming up, I've been thinking a lot about my own Dad and how I got into videogames as a kid. My parents, perhaps swayed by George Plimpton's television commercials, went out and bought an Intellivision for the family. It was to be a Christmas gift for all of us, not just for me and my brother. It was hooked up to the only TV in the house, right in the living room where we spent our evenings. Night after night, the four of us played games like Poker, Dungeons and Dragons, Golf, Lock 'n' Chase and more. Since it was hooked up to the TV, this early console seemed so much more of a family activity than the computer games I played in later years.
Now that I have my own family, and my own game console, I try to make videogaming into an activity that the family can do together. Of course, since I have a six-year-old, family gaming isn't all about popping in a copy of Halo® 2. ...

At the end of the article I go through a few recommendations for younger kids, including my favorite games to play with Connor.

Put up a REST API for Xbox Gamertag Data

Duncan Mackenzie — Sun, 27 May 2007 07:37:00 GMT

My twitter app uses a web service hosted on my site to get all the necessary Xbox Live info.... way more than the twitter app actually uses. This is a SOAP API, located here:

http://duncanmackenzie.net/services/XboxInfo.asmx

I know that some people prefer a more RESTful API though, so I also have another 'page' that you can call with a straight GET request and just pass the gamertag in as a query string parameter:

http://duncanmackenzie.net/services/GetXboxInfo.aspx?GamerTag=Festive+Turkey

Enjoy!

I'm inappropriately excited about something I just found on the web

Duncan Mackenzie — Thu, 24 May 2007 06:14:00 GMT

Bungie.net showing Halo 3 stats along with Halo 2

Duncan Mackenzie — Fri, 11 May 2007 21:16:00 GMT

My profile page... not sure if you can find out, but I've lost the last 3 games of Halo 3...

Connect your Xbox 360 Gamertag to Twitter

Duncan Mackenzie — Fri, 11 May 2007 17:58:00 GMT

UPDATE: I've updated this application since the original version, addressing most of the 'known issues' listed below

hey folks, the first version of my xbox to twitter app is done (at least done enough to share!) ...

Install the .NET Framework 2.0 (if you don't have it)
Install the app
Run it (from the "Duncan Mackenzie" folder in your Start Menu)
Right click the little 'twitter' icon on your notification area, pick Settings ... enter in your

Twitter Email Address
Twitter Screen Name
Twitter Password
Gamertag
check "Updates Enabled"
Click OK to save these settings...

Now fire up your Xbox 360 and updates will be sent to Twitter every few minutes (if you are online and your status has changed)
Come back here to post any feedback/problems!

Known Issues:

'status has changed' is a bit too sensitive now... if you are playing Crackdown and you go from running to driving then your status on Xbox Live actually changes (from "Running around" to "Driving around") and the app will post an update ... I'm planning to add an option to 'only post when the game changes, not the status'
Time delay, Xbox.com's data and my app are all using various forms of caching... so if you put in a game it may be 10-15 minutes before the app notices and posts an update ... also if you put one in, then stop playing a minute later... you may never see an update
The app checks status every 5 minutes, I can make that configurable in the future (but probably limited to no more often than 5 minutes... I'll let you make it less often though)
Format of the update: Currently it is "playing <game title> (<additional info>)" ... and if you are into config files and user specific isolated storage you can change that... I'll make it part of the settings in a future release.
You have to leave it running on a logged in machine to work... yep... I have a web based version but I thought people might be worried about giving me their userid/password for twitter so for now I thought I'd start with this local version.

Security concerns? Yes, you have to enter in your Twitter credentials. Those are stored in plain text on the hard drive... but it is on your hard drive only ... I never send your Twitter Credentials up to my site, although I do send them as credentials to Twitter when I call the Twitter APIs. Worried I might be sending to my site? Run a HTTP Trace if you'd like (Fiddler), you'll see calls to the Twitter API and calls to a web service on my site to get your gamertag info... nothing else.

Xbox Dad's Mother's Day column up...

Duncan Mackenzie — Tue, 08 May 2007 22:42:00 GMT

Nothing very exciting for you gamers out there, but you know... 'tis the season.

Next Xbox Dad column (TMNT coverage) is up

Duncan Mackenzie — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 19:56:00 GMT

My 2nd column is up on Xbox.com, covering the recent Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game.

To sum up, it is a pretty fun game for kids; I'd compare it to a faster paced, less scary and complex version of Prince of Persia, which is a great game to be compared to.

Renting vs. Buying

Duncan Mackenzie — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 17:24:00 GMT

I own a lot of Xbox and Xbox 360 games... some good, some bad... but the hit/miss ratio is much better for all my 360 games, mostly because of game renting. Starting around the time the 360 launched, I signed up for Gamefly and I've alternated between the two and three game plans. It is definitely a good deal for me, I usually only rent my second tier list of games, ones that I think I'll like but I'm not already positive I'll buy. Sometimes I even rent games that I'm pretty sure I'll never ever buy, just because I want to try them out. I suppose you could do the same with Blockbuster or some other store, but I'm big into these 'send to my house' programs (like Netflix.... did you know they have RSS that shows you what movies I currently have at home?). At one point, right after launch, I added every 360 game to the list, which lead to checking out some games I would never have purchased (like Rumble Roses!). I find it especially useful for kids games, because the quality can really vary on those, and sometimes Xbox Live demos aren't really enough for me to decide if I like a game or not.

Occasionally I've even gone ahead and purchased the game through Gamefly, which is usually a pretty good price... you keep the game you have so you already know that it isn't scratched up and that it is working well in your 360 (and if it isn't working well, don't buy that one!). Overall, it is my way of playing more games, without paying $60 bucks for each one and possibly ending up with a copy of Over G Fighters on my shelf.

Interested in checking it out yourself (they do Wii, Xbox 1 and PS2/3 games too)? Here's my 'sign up a friend link' and here is one without any additional stuff on it... use whichever one you'd prefer :)

My first "Xbox Dad" column (post?) is up...

Duncan Mackenzie — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 16:40:00 GMT

<random musing>It seems like an online article, but I wonder if it wouldn't be just easier for them to publish these articles as blog entries?</random musing>

Brian is finding himself pretty busy lately so I decided to try my hand at writing an Xbox Dad column, and the results are up online now...

Meet the Family

Last Tuesday was the first FamilyGame Night on Xbox.com and the featured game, Walt Disney Pictures Presents Meet the Robinsons, has been a real hit around our house. My son Connor had been talking about the movie, Meet the Robinsons, for some time...

Check it out and let me know what you think... and send your 'xbox dad' comments my way!

Jetpac Refueled hits Xbox Live Arcade

Duncan Mackenzie — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 16:55:00 GMT

On Wednesday, a new Xbox Live Arcade game from Rare will be hitting the Marketplace... Jetpac Refueled. I have to say, from the moment we started shipping retro games onto the Xbox 360, this is what I've been waiting for.

Not this game itself, I've never heard of it before to be honest (but wikipedia delivers the goods as always), but I always figured that the retro games would be re-developed to take advantage of the 360's graphics and sound... and this one has been. So, unlike Frogger, Pac Man, and Dig Dug... where I kept hoping to find a secret button to turn on the new and improved version... this one delivers.

Of course, and I would have expected this for all 'retro' games, you can still play in 'old skool' mode too...

I get the appeal of playing the 'original' way, but for games on the 360 I have been pretty disappointed in the lack of extras added to the new versions. Can you imagine Time Pilot where you could choose to play the original or the new awesomeness that would be possible on the 360?

Laura Foy does a 360-inspired cover of Justin Timberlake's hit...

Duncan Mackenzie — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 07:31:00 GMT

Video: I'm bringing XBOX back (from on10.net)

Follow the link to get a high-quality WMV for your PC, a WMV for your Zune or a MP4 for your iPod/PSP... or a WMA/MP3 if all you want is the music :)

Heck, I even have an Ogg Vorbis version up there.

And yes, we know that Laura was known to bash MSFT a bit (ok, a lot...) when she was at G4... the irony is not lost on us :)

Email interview with the Superman Returns team up on 10

Duncan Mackenzie — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 08:23:00 GMT

Normally I do video for 10, but in this case I had a bunch of questions and I decided to see if the team behind Superman Returns would be up for answering them via email. They were, and the whole conversation is up as a post on http://on10.net

Quick Q & A with the Superman Returns team

Video Marketplace Up on Xbox Live

Duncan Mackenzie — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 17:23:00 GMT

(from Major Nelson)
...moments ago we flipped the switch and the service is now available for all U.S. Xbox Live members. No dashboard update needed…just sign in to Xbox Live, and head over to Marketplace, then Media and Entertainment. You can also hit it directly from the Media blade->Video Marketplace. If you have any questions, hit this FAQ or this FAQ on the Xbox forums. It’s fitting that on the Xbox 360’s first birthday, it becomes the first gaming console in history to provide HD TV shows and movies directly to your gaming lair....
Full press release here:
Press release (with pricing information) on Xbox.com

Laura Foy with Pizza and a line up of PS3 fans... hmm...

Duncan Mackenzie — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 06:44:00 GMT

Probably not the best plan in the world, but we sent Laura out with Pizza and a Premium Xbox 360 to try and win the hearts and minds of a line up of PS3 buyers at Target... watch the video on 10 (download only right now)... and maybe we'll do the same for the Wii?

A PS3 Poem from a Neowin commenter

Duncan Mackenzie — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 17:33:00 GMT

Just yesterday I spotted an old dusty lamp and begun to clean it.

With my greatest surprise a geni[e] popped out offering to fullfill a wish. Being a train lover and wishing to visit the USA I asked for a rail bridge across the Atlantic Ocean.

The geni[e] got sad and said [to]me: "Sorry but did you consider the amount of material needed for the bridge, the tectonic shift not counting the
fact that one should get Europeans to agree on a common electric power supply and on the environmental impact, please ask me something
different..."

So I thought for a while and asked "I want a ps3 in europe this xmas" and then the geni[e] asked "Single or double track bridge sir ?"

From comments on Neowin Exclusive - Playstation 3 Shipment Reduction True?

Hooking an Xbox up to a PC monitor

Duncan Mackenzie — Sun, 05 Nov 2006 09:19:00 GMT

Ok, so if I was dealing with a 360, I could just pick up the VGA output cable... but for some reason, we never made one of those for the original Xbox. Now, I've found some companies that make reasonably priced converters from component video inputs to VGA (I've found several in the unreasonable price range too) but either they are permantely out of stock... or they look a little ... hmm... how to say this, not like someone I'd like to give my credit card to?

Anyone else doing this? What are you using?

24 Hours to Boston and Back

Duncan Mackenzie — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 19:49:00 GMT

Last night I jumped on a flight at around 11pm in Seattle and flew to Boston, getting in around 7am, then I drove up to the offices of Mad Doc software... makers of quite a few cool games, including Empire Earth II, Star Trek Armada II and now Star Trek: Legacy for the Xbox 360 (and for the PC). Interview is all done now and I'm on my way back, with a ton of great footage for the on10.net crowd :)

First impressions? Of all the previous Star Trek games, Armada II was the one I liked the most, and while this is certainly not Armada III, it does share some of the same features... ship to ship combat on a fleet wide scale! Legacy takes it much farther though, better graphics, better AI, better story... co-op play across Xbox Live...

Xbox 360 Wireless Headset video up

Duncan Mackenzie — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 08:54:00 GMT

As I mentioned before, I had a chance to chat with the PM for the Xbox 360 Wireless Headset and now that interview is up on on10.net.

Remember, the headset is releasing just in time for Gears of War (November 7th). Coincidence? I think not!

Halloween dashboard update for the Xbox 360

Duncan Mackenzie — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 19:56:00 GMT

Have you seen this list of features?

Absolutely crazy list... my favorites (lots of them are great, but these are ones that either I had already been wishing for or that I know will be a big deal to me):

Stream WMV video from a Windows PC running Windows Media Player 11, Zune software, or Windows Media Connect.
Play video from storage devices such as USB flash drives, Xbox 360 Memory Units, etc.
Play video from CD or DVD data discs.
Xbox 360 Wireless Headset support, including battery level indicator in the Xbox Guide.
Set up automatic downloads of newly released Xbox Live Arcade trial games.
Optionally disable notifications from Xbox Live while watching DVD movies (I've turned notifications off across the board because of this)

You really need to see the full list of updates though, this is a big release (1080p support folks... free... tomorrow... not in my favorites list because I don't have a TV that supports it... but if you do, rock on).

Become a Gold Xbox Live member to get your ads quicker

Duncan Mackenzie — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 16:22:00 GMT

Interesting news, content that is only for Xbox Live Gold members... which even Tycho thinks is understandable, but I agree with his comments about what kind of content is being restricted.

they made a serious misstep with the content they chose to inaugurate Silver's descent into squalor: a trailer for Gears of War. An advertisement. Now, don't get me wrong. This is really quite a trailer. The term "trailer" may even be insufficient. But, um... When you make people pony up for instant access to ads? They might get the impression that you are taking advantage of them.

Don't we put up trailers to help us sell the game? In which case, wouldn't we want every person with a pulse (and a wallet) to view them? Can Silver members play Gears? (the answer is yes, by the way) Then why not show them ad and convince them to buy? Oh, you want them to move up to Gold... well, shouldn't the cool multi-player gaming features of a game like Gear be the carrot for that type of move?

Some relevant comments from Major Nelson's post... there were many "this is an amazing trailer, I'm going to buy the game" type of comments as well, but in regards to the gold vs. silver bit there were these:

You need to pay (gold) to download a commercial? What an idiots.....
Just gold members? I hope this doesn't turn into a trend, videos were for all members before. It's not like silver members aren't buying the damn game you know.
Gold members only? Are you serious? That's pretty crappy.
Cool, thanks. Finally some content for the paying members.
From the lack of registered silver members posting here I conclude that we are all crying in a corner.
Nice! I hope we see more exclusive Gold content, we are paying $$$ yearly for the service there should be some perks to it. You silver members complaining can always upgrade to Gold.
I hate to say this but i am glad it is GOLD members only, it's about time Gold members got some exclusive stuff, silver members are using badwidth too and pay nothing, Xbox live is not expensive at all and worth every penny.
Of course it is GOLD ONLY... they want to sell Live subscriptions for a hyped out game. Shady yes, but business as usual with MSFT.
It's pretty safe to bet this will eventually appear on Silver too, so I don't see the big deal. Giving Gold members some things first isn't such a terrible idea, but I guess that depends on which version you have yourself lol
I'm an Xbox Live Gold subscriber, but the idea that you have to be a Gold member to get content early does not sit well me me. I love Xbox 360 and Marketplace, but it's stupid decisions like this which will make me rethink supporting it this console.
It's $4 a month for XBL gold eh? Someone show me where I can buy ONE month of gold for $4. Idiots. Also, "there isn't enough separation" between gold and silver? How about the fact that silver users can't PLAY GAMES ONLINE? Isn't that the ostensible purpose of XBL anyway? I say all of this as a gold subscriber.

The comments actually started out rather balanced, but head more to the 'Silver accounts can play Gears too' side as you scroll down... I can only assume that is because the most interested followers of Major Nelson's posts are mostly Gold subscribers (which makes sense).

Wireless Headset for the Xbox 360

Duncan Mackenzie — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 18:15:00 GMT

Jesse and I headed over to the Xbox buildings and interviewed Deb Louis about the new Xbox 360 Wireless Headset... video coming soon! In the meantime, here are some frame captures for your enjoyment :)

Brian is "Gamer Dad" on Xbox.com

Duncan Mackenzie — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 16:13:00 GMT

My buddy (and co-author on Xbox 360 For Dummies!) Brian Johnson has started a new column on Xbox.com aimed at parents ... parents who game with their kids... parents whose kids play games... and even just parents who play games (gaming is different for folks who have kids in the house!).

Check out his entry about it here: Gamer Dad Column

Dig Dug hits the Xbox Live Arcade

Duncan Mackenzie — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 07:55:00 GMT

Fairly mixed response over on MajorNelson.com to this game, mostly either people who love it or people who are wishing we'd stop with the 'retro' games already... I'm a bit on the fence here myself, I like these games (Dig Dug, Time Pilot, Pac Man...) but I'm pretty disappointed that they've been left so ... 'pure' ... I mean, I think it would be cool to have an 'original' game mode that only uses a fraction of the pixels of my TV, but I would really like to see another mode (one that I think would be really popular) where the graphics really are on par with what we'd expect on a 360.

I'm not suggesting changing the game, making Dig Dug into a FPS or anything, just redoing the graphics to take advantage of a 720p screen. Hell, even just scaling the game screen up to fill more of my screen would make me happy... even if it stayed blocky :)

What do you think?

Browse content from the Xbox Live Marketplace online

Duncan Mackenzie — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 21:57:00 GMT

Sometimes it is hard to know what you are getting on the marketplace, especially with themes and gamer pics, but in general there is a lot of content and it isn't always easy to find what you are looking for. Well, it seems that will be less of a problem, thanks to the launch of the "Xbox Live Pipeline" an online site to let you dig around through the available marketplace content, complete with descriptions and preview images.

Gears of War Propaganda arrived today

Duncan Mackenzie — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 16:16:00 GMT

I loved this email from Xbox Live today:

Gears of War - Trust in the Coalition of Ordered Governments

Trust in the Coalition of Ordered Governments. Sera will triumph because of the Coalition. The Locust are weak compared to the Coalition. Trust in the Coalition of Ordered Governments. Sera will Marcus triumph because Fenix of the Coalition. The Locust are weak compared to the Coalition. Trust in the Coalition of Ordered Governments. Sera has will triumph because of the Coalition. The Locust are weak compared to the Coalition. Trust in the Coalition been of Ordered Governments. Sera will triumph because of the Coalition. The Locust are weak compared to located the Coalition. Trust in the Coalition You of Ordered Governments. Sera will triumph because of the Coalition. The Locust are weak compared have to the Coalition. Trust in the Coalition of Ordered Governments. Sera will 48 triumph because hours of the Coalition. The Locust are weak compared to the Coalition. Trust in the Coalition of Ordered Governments. Sera will triumph because of the to Coalition. The Locust are weak compared to the Coalition. Trust in the Coalition of Ordered mobilize Governments. Sera will triumph because of the Coalition. The Locust are weak compared to the Coalition. Trust in ....

Wow, that's marketing.

Remember, Emergence Day Is Coming (11/7) (order through Amazon.com) and check out these two Gears videos from on10.net:

Downloading TotemBall for my Xbox 360 now!

Duncan Mackenzie — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 08:17:00 GMT

TotemBall, the gesture-based game that works with the Xbox Live Vision camera, just shipped to the Xbox Live Marketplace. It is a free download, but you need to have the camera to play. While you are waiting for it to download, check out my video demo of TotemBall up on 10.

More on Halo Wars

Duncan Mackenzie — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 07:15:00 GMT

Since my initial post on this upcoming game, I found the site www.halowars.com, which has (among other things) some great desktop wallpaper :)

Halo Wars on the Xbox 360

Duncan Mackenzie — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 18:35:00 GMT

Wow, very cool stuff. Another fun example of how little Microsoft employees know about Microsoft products (I learned about this game from gamespot!) but still, very exciting. Another RTS for the 360 too; I'm playing Battle for Middle Earth now so I'm looking forward to the idea of a second RTS to play from my couch! More details on Halo Wars, including trailers, available here.

New favorite Xbox desktop wallpaper

Duncan Mackenzie — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 15:33:00 GMT

I went over to 360Style.net today to find that it has been totally redesigned... same great content, much easier to find your way around. While I was there I picked up a new background for my Vista box. The wallpapers that ship with Vista are beautiful, but they can't compare with this...

New Mass Effect gameplay footage available

Duncan Mackenzie — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 15:15:00 GMT

(also available via the Xbox Live marketplace on your 360)

Potentially confusing HDTV spec on game pages on Xbox.com

Duncan Mackenzie — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 15:29:00 GMT

With the release of Scramble today, I noticed something odd on the game detail page on Xbox.com. Along the left hand side is a listing of the specs of the game (# of players, does it work with Live, etc.) and it includes this interesting line: "HDTV 480i"

Hmm.... while I've never subscribed to the view that only 1080p is HDTV, 480i is most certainly not. Yes, it is one of the resolutions that a HDTV monitor can usually display, but if it isn't 720p, 1080i or 1080p you can't really call it HDTV. Of course, this is probably just a typo... I believe a 360 game will always be capable of putting out at least 720p, even if it hasn't been optimized for that resolution. In fact, several other games list "HDTV: No Support" in their specs (Time Pilot for one), which is certainly not the case.

Shots of the November Dashboard update?

Duncan Mackenzie — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 03:57:00 GMT

These aren't from an official source, as far as I know, but they look pretty legit to me :)

From MaxConsole

Thanks to AvidX for my cool blog banner

Duncan Mackenzie — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 22:00:00 GMT

Now that the site appears to be stable, I wanted to mention that my ultra-cool green banner was done for me by Chris from 360Style.net. If you haven't seen his site yet, check it out... my desktop wallpaper is always one of Chris's images

Chromehounds on the Xbox 360 has consumed my free time!

Duncan Mackenzie — Sat, 09 Sep 2006 06:58:00 GMT

As I've mentioned before, I have a Gamefly subscription and I get new games every few weeks... a great way to play a lot of games without the risk of paying $60 for a stinker (OverG Fighters for example... oh so happy I rented that instead of buying). Anyway, my most recent game is Chromehounds and I'm really enjoying it. It plays way more 'real' than a game like MechAssault, but isn't attempting to be a simulator and force you to control all the details a real mech would need dealt with. I honestly haven't tried the online side of it yet, and I hear that is the best part... I've just played through all of the single player mission with the exception of the final mission. I have tried that one with four different mech configurations and with a couple different strategies, but I haven't made it through yet :)

Do you play Chromehounds? Online? Did you do the single player missions? Any hints for me about the final one!?!

Day 1 of PAX video up on on10.net

Duncan Mackenzie — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 15:53:00 GMT

Check out the first day of PAX 2006, including some footage of the first Penny Arcade Q&A session (learn about the new Wii60 console, coming to a store near you this year), some talk about women, and Tina's dirty dirty camera lens.

Time Pilot on Xbox Live Arcade!

Duncan Mackenzie — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 07:54:00 GMT

That is really all that needs to be said, yes?

From Major Nelson's blog

Looking forward to PAX 2007!

Duncan Mackenzie — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 03:10:00 GMT

PAX was a blast, I went back for day 2 and spent almost all the day at the exhibition hall... tons of cool demos and people! I was able to stop at the Xbox booth and chat with Trixie (as Brian mentions here), which was great because she is one of those people that I've emailed quite a bit but never met in person.

I also managed to run into Frank O'Connor from Bungie and interview him about the Halo 2 team that Bungie was entering into the console tournament, which seemed really unfair but he assured me that they weren't that good of players :)

Brian and I also interviewed some folks about Warhammer Online, Wizards of the Coast's new "Goblin Game" ... lots of fun

Finished Day 1 at PAX

Duncan Mackenzie — Sat, 26 Aug 2006 06:54:00 GMT

So I've been wanting to go to PAX since it started a couple of years ago, and every time it has come around I've been out of town... until now... and, by some interesting twist of fate, I know have a job that actually required me to attend :)

So Tina, Sampy, Adam and I headed over there today, snuck in ahead of the massive line with our snazzy media badges and started filming... some highlights

Serving "BAWLS" everywhere leads to many great quotes, especially funny if you are 9 years old, but we laughed anyway
Console Tourney... competive Smash Bros, how much cooler can it get?

Case Mods in the Bring Your Own Computer room, I'm already voting for the FF 2000 case to win hands down. It was so cool that both Sampy and myself interviewed them (that is what happens when we split up and give two devs each a camera... silly us).

Note that this is an "in progress" pic, not the final case mod... I'll post that soon... check out this photo set for the whole mod in pictures.

Alex St. John... wow... cigars... stories... and brave enough to bring his daughters to an event with many thousand gamers (the # of black shirts on the streets of Bellevue was unbelievable).

PAX doesn't open for about 4 more hours, but people are already waiting

Duncan Mackenzie — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 14:39:00 GMT

Sampy and I stopped by the main doors of PAX last night around 1am and there was already two groups of folks waiting. Some guys from Detroit were first in line, having come in by train earlier that day, and they covered the full range of video gaming interests (although no one in their group was into tabletop gaming, the other major side to PAX) with one big Nintendo fan, an Xbox lover, and a PC gamer :)

Luckily for the folks waiting, some of the PAX people stopped by with a free case of BAWLS, giving them vital caffeine to make it through the night!

Going to PAX?

Duncan Mackenzie — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 19:28:00 GMT

I'll be hanging around outside a bit tonight, to check on any folks who are that excited to be there already, and I'll be around after 2pm tomorrow... a lot of Saturday... some of Sunday... in general, I'll be there :)

(PAX is the Penny Arcade Expo, for the curious)

You?

PAX in Bellevue, WA

5 minutes of fun with Mike and Jerry from Penny Arcade

Duncan Mackenzie — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 06:38:00 GMT

With PAX only days away, we've posted an interview with the Penny Arcade guys on 10. I love this video, but the 5 minutes of footage doesn't really do justice to the 45 minutes it took to get even that level of serious commentary out of Jerry :)

Pimp my Xbox 360

Duncan Mackenzie — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 05:05:00 GMT

I've been stoked for some time by the completely black case replacement for the 360, but now I've found out that I can potentially switch my controllers (even the wireless ones) to custom colors as well... very very sweet.

Microsoft Gamefest

Duncan Mackenzie — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 15:34:00 GMT

Met with Dave Mitchell from the Xbox team today to talk about Microsoft Gamefest. If you are going, drop me a line... I'll be there with a camera along with one or two other folks from on10.net.

Atari CEO: No PS3 games before 2007 - Joystiq

Duncan Mackenzie — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 04:01:00 GMT

I was surprised early to hear that God of War II was a PS2 game... and now this? I think it just the price that is scaring developers... scary to develop for a console that seems out of the price range of your target audience. I say "seems" because despite my own (biased) negative thoughts about the PS3, I expect it to be a pretty impressive machine... one that quite a few people will pick up. I do agree with other people's predictions that it will lag behind the 360, the $$ will see to that, but I don't think anyone expects it to flop...

I don't think I'll end up getting a PS2 though, as tempting as it is at the low-low refurbished prices you can find it at now; the idea was to pick up a used one and an EyeToy and then try to lose some weight playing Kinetic... but all that work for one game seems like a bad idea. Instead I need to find some way to do some mild exercise while playing any game on my 360. It wouldn't be instead of my normal exercise routine, but every little bit counts. A recumbent exercise bike seems like a possible solution, although I don't think my wife wants one in our living room.

on10 visits Penny Arcade

Duncan Mackenzie — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 15:43:00 GMT

Yesterday, Laura and I headed over to the offices of Penny Arcade to interview them about... well, about a variety of things, it was a very interesting interview.

It may be hard to believe, but this was the best picture I could get. Someone's face is covered up in each and every shot I took, for some reason everyone was feeling very 'gesturey' that day. At least Jerry wasn't covered up :)

Assassin's Creed for Xbox 360 gets previewed - Joystiq

Duncan Mackenzie — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 07:30:00 GMT

Ok, so I have to admit something... when I saw Assassin's Creed in the various E3 videos, I was sad. The game looked amazing, but I'm not going to buy a PS3 ... you can see my dilemma.

Then I see this on Joystiq ... and considering God of War II is a PS2 title (not that I have a PS2, but I'm thinking about it... more on the later) ... there isn't anything announced yet for the PS3 that I feel like I'm going to miss.

Parental Control Software (ComputerTime)

Duncan Mackenzie — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 06:52:00 GMT

I saw this on Techie Diva today... and it was immediately appealing, but the attraction dimished quickly. This isn't any fault of the software, as far as I know it does its job perfectly, but I just don't think this is the way to deal with this problem. I have given parental control over technology a lot of thought lately, not only because I have two kids of my own, but also while writing the parental control chapter (a chapter I'm really proud of, I think it is a great bit of info for parents) in Xbox 360 for Dummies.

I've looked into this type of software before, and hardware solutions that prevent the use of the TV or a video game console, but I think that if you need to use this type of solution then you are in trouble. If you tell your kids they can't play/surf any more today and you can't trust them to listen to you even if you aren't watching, then that is a problem (are you going to have software to control access to junk food, drugs, etc. ? Kids need to learn some self-control, to follow the rules even if they won't get caught)

If you are so busy that you have no idea how long they've been on the computer and you need software to track it for you, then they are on too long or you are too far away from them while they are using the computer.

To be clear, I'm a fan of these tools as soon as I see them... but when I think it through I think our current system is working fairly well. On any given day my wife or I can say that Connor was using the Xbox "a lot" or "not much" and thereby decide if he can play some more. Sometimes we have to take away his right to play Xbox for a day or two, and during that time we don't hide the Xbox we just tell him that he can't play it... and while he might get upset about that... he knows exactly how to get a controller, put in a game and start up the Xbox but yet he doesn't do it.

Link to Techie Diva's Guide to Gadgets ?: Parents Can Use ComputerTime

Frogger, Galaga and Street Fighter II coming to the Xbox Live Arcade

Duncan Mackenzie — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 05:39:00 GMT

Very cool news from Major Nelson and a variety of other sources...

The fun begins at 12:01am PT Wednesday morning when everyones favorite amphibian leaps on to the Xbox Live Marketplace.

Another video that I... "produced" ... is up on on10.net

Duncan Mackenzie — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 18:46:00 GMT

Sometimes I don't like being just the guy behind the scenes :)

It isn't anyone's fault, everyone on our team is aware of the work I do, but sometimes I wish it was more visible to the public. I guess it is because I'm used to writing articles, that have my name so prominently attached, or blog posts that are so clearly mine... but when I work on videos for 10, I can be the guy who set up the interview, contacted all the right folks to make it happen and even (in this case) went over and held the camera... but yet, my name doesn't end up anywhere in the video or the post. I'm not suggesting it should have (or that anyone is choosing to omit my name), by the way, I have the ability to edit the post at anytime so if I wanted it there... I'd just put it there... but it still seems like I'm missing out on some sort of credit. It would be cool to be able to point at a page that listed all the videos that I was the driving force behind... even if I then someone else was actually onscreen ... collaborative effort and all that...

I guess that is just life in video land :)

Oh yeah, the video... we just put a video interview with a series of Xbox community folks. This all took place on the same day as the interview with Louis Castle from EA... I heard (through Mike at Xbox365.com) that EA was going to have these guys and gals in town to look at the new Battle for Middle Earth II and I bugged the Xbox guys (well, Tony Hynes to be specific... the Xbox guy behind the event) to get us permission to crash the party with a camera. Of course, Major Nelson had already arranged to be there along with his camera guy, so it was quite a crowd. Snagging each of the community folks one at a time (or two at a time in one case) and interviewing them on their own was nice though, good to get in touch with some of the people behind these great podcasts and sites.

BioWare is putting on a big giveaway/contest...

Duncan Mackenzie — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 13:52:00 GMT

I'm certain I can't enter, being a MSFT employee and all, but you can!

While I was there, I noticed they are running another contest as well, for an Alienware PC, tied to the release of Jade Empire for the PC. And, while we are on the subject of BioWare, we might as well mention Mass Effect (Big BioWare RPG for the Xbox 360)!!

Xbox for Dummies interview up on Xbox365.com

Duncan Mackenzie — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 14:58:00 GMT

Brian and I were interviewed by Mike from Xbox365.com and the full transcript is up online now...

Little cameo on xbox365.com

Duncan Mackenzie — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 14:16:00 GMT

If you look through the pics, you may spot me with Laura Foy in this gallery.

Xbox 360 roundup: Blazing Angles, Rumble Roses and Tomb Raider

Duncan Mackenzie — Sun, 11 Jun 2006 00:36:00 GMT

I've recently taken a little break from playing Oblivion, which had been the only disc in my 360 for the past couple of months, and I decided to try a range of games. While working on our book, Xbox 360 for Dummies, I added every single 360 game to my Q on Gamefly.com, so I end up getting a random selection whenever I send back the previous game.

This month, I returned Full Auto (interesting idea, combining guns and driving, but after playing PGR 3, Ridge Racer 6, and Need For Speed: Most Wanted... it just didn't seem like my kind of driving game) and ended up with Rumble Roses XX. Whatever else I may say about that game, it certainly has expanded the range of games that I have tried. I've only played it for about an hour, but it left me with some mixed feelings so far. On one hand, it appears to be a pretty good wrestling game and I am completely in favour of sexy, scantitly glad women wrestingly on high-definition television. The problem for me is that the game seems to take it a bit too far. The idea of a good fighting game where the characters happen to be very attractive women is a good one... but even the quick match I played involved a little fashion show to start, taking way too long for each character to do a 'runway walk' back and forth before getting into the ring. Outside of the fighting, the addition of a photo-shoot mode really showed how far from my idea of a 'game' this title goes. I have no doubt that there is an audience for this game, but I prefer to keep my hand on the controller while playing. DOA4 hits a better balance in this sub-genre of games (the ones with hot chicks in revealing clothing that is), focusing way more on the fighting and letting the fact that the fighters are sexy women be a nice side benefit. DOA4 does have additional costumes, but the lack of a photo shoot mode and a much deeper game makes it more my style. I haven't played the DOA volleyball game, but I gather it is more aimed at the Rumble Roses XX crowd.

My other full game experience this month has been with Blazing Angels, a game that I've been excited about from the moment I read the first description of it online. I love WWII planes, specifically the Spitfire, and I've been reading books about them ever since I was old enough to pick them out myself. I've played Combat Flight Simulator and other flying games (not that this is a simulator, it is more of a Crimson Skies type of game) that covered some of these planes, but I have never found one that looked or played this good. Flying a Spitfire IX over London, chasing down wave after wave of ME109s and Stukkas never really gets old for me. The Arcade mode makes for a lot of replayability after the campaign is done, and mutliplayer is always a good feature.... I've been playing Split Screen with my son, although he is enjoying flying his ME262 into the eiffel tower so much that he usuallly crashes before I can even come close to shooting him down.

I played a few other games here and there, but none of them for very long... certainly not long enough to form much of an opinion. I tried the Tomb Raider demo though and I was quite impressed. If Ms. Croft was formed a bit more like Joanna Dark I would have been able to take it a bit more seriously, but all in all it reminded me a lot of the Prince of Persia games... but with the graphics bumped up a bit by the 360.

Next up, I'll probably try out the table tennis game, Major Nelson was pushing it pretty hard the last time we chatted (and that is always a good indicator for me), and I'm really looking forward to Battle for Middle Earth II to hit the 360.

E3 2006 Coverage on10

Duncan Mackenzie — Tue, 16 May 2006 06:10:00 GMT

Check out yesterday's video on10, a tour of the Microsoft booth area at E3 2006!

RE: I stumped Major Nelson

Duncan Mackenzie — Tue, 18 Apr 2006 16:48:00 GMT

The source behind several of our questions for the recent Major Nelson bit on 10 is revealed, thanks Xbox Elle!

A fun little game show, How well do you know your box(or is it Xbox? I can't tell), was posted to on10.net on Friday. Laura and Tina try to stump Major Nelson with a bunch of trivia questions, and guess what, three of them were mine! Tee hee!

Which ones? Gamerscore, gamertag length, and languages. He got only one of those right. In your face, MN

[Via Circlets]

Ok, so this has never happened with a Visual Basic book...

Duncan Mackenzie — Sat, 15 Apr 2006 03:11:00 GMT

I've remarked to a few people that writing a more 'consumer' focused book has been quite different from my usual area of writing (covering programming topics mostly), but this takes the cake.

Gadget Models, a site that seems to combine the two popular topics of models and technology, has run a feature that includes our book. Sadly, we weren't at all involved. Note to anyone who is worried about the content of the site itself, I didn't look through it all but it doesn't seem to cross into nudity or anything like that...

On another note, I just got back tonight from a week's vacation... a vacation that included a lot of sleep and even some reading (of actual books), but no Xbox 360 and almost no email... so tonight I'm hoping to get back on with Oblivion!

Scoble finally gets a 360...

Duncan Mackenzie — Wed, 05 Apr 2006 16:10:00 GMT

Seems you can actually buy them now, maybe I should send him a book?

I think I'm not the only one who ordered the Prima Oblivion Guide

Duncan Mackenzie — Sun, 02 Apr 2006 01:33:00 GMT

That Elder Scrolls Oblivion guide book I mentioned in an early blog post today, I just saw that it was #20 on Amazon today. That's just crazy!!

Some free chapters of the Oblivion guide (Prima) are online...

Duncan Mackenzie — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 20:25:00 GMT

You can get 3 chapters from xbox.com (as PDF), a guide to the Fighter's Guild quests, character classes and some misc. stuff.... great content for no $$ or effort :)

I think it is a good sign that Oblivion makes me anti-social

Duncan Mackenzie — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 20:09:00 GMT

So, another blog post in my series about how much I'm enjoying Oblivion... I really want to buy Blazing Angels, but it seems pointless to get it right now... I know I won't play it. At this point, I probably haven't play anywhere nearly as much as a more dedicated (some one with no children, and without a job that tends to lead to working in the evening?) gamer. But I'm still having a great time. I have just one character at this point (I'll probably go back and start again eventually), a level 8 dark-elf archer who spends way too much time using his sword instead of his bow.

Oblivion thought of the day: Man Savage Trolls are annoying!

Elder Scrolls will now be my official addiction... sorry to anyone who is waiting on work from me :)

Duncan Mackenzie — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 14:47:00 GMT

I picked up my copy of Elder Scrolls last night, turning down the massive 'guide' (shouldn't I be figuring out the quests by myself?), and after putting the kids to bed I fired it up. Hard to make those initial race/class decisions as always but I went with a Dark Elf Archer, under the sign of the Steed... planning to put a lot of time/points into Blade though, as I almost always do with my RPG characters (my AC character was named Kendo, so you can gather that the sword was a key component). So far I have no complaints, except for the fact that I can't stay home and play all week... oh well, there is always tonight!

Everything an Xbox 360 lover could ever want to pimp their PC...

Duncan Mackenzie — Tue, 21 Mar 2006 01:05:00 GMT

Check out http://www.360style.net/, I've set my desktop to the Blazing Angels desktop and I think I'll come back every few days to grab a different image!

My father would be ashamed...

Duncan Mackenzie — Tue, 14 Mar 2006 14:35:00 GMT

My dad has recently retired from the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police), but I'm sure his opinion of a game like Need for Speed: Most Wanted wouldn't be any better just because he isn't going to work anymore. In this game, if you haven't played it already, you are a street racer... so you race on open streets with traffic all around, buildings and other property to smash through... as opposed to a game like PGR3 where you are nice and safe closed courses with all the people safely tucked behind concrete and steel barriers. As you can imagine, the police in NFS don't like what you are doing and try to stop you... luckily they aren't very good at it. A couple of nights ago I was completing an in-game challenge where I was trying to destroy a certain amount of property, trade paint with as many different police cruisers as possible and (for bonus points) take out a few of the police cars along the way... and having a blast doing it... when I started to think about explaining this game to my 5 year old son ... it probably wouldn't fit well into his view of the world right now, with good guys and bad guys. Still, it is a huge amount of fun, so I'm going to keep playing, but just make sure to put the disc away where he can't see it when he's up :)

Frankie @ Bungie mentions XBox 360 for dummies...

Duncan Mackenzie — Sat, 25 Feb 2006 17:57:00 GMT

He also talks about using a picture, (off of your computer, a CD, a digital camera, or even a USB drive) as a custom background... a very cool feature.

Check out his full post here.

I have a lame gamer score

Duncan Mackenzie — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 08:17:00 GMT

80 now I think, after a quick bit of Ridge Racer.... but an overall low score. I'm told that I need to just play more games, but we'll see how I do with my current set of PDZ, PGR3,DOA4 and Ridge Racer. Ridge Racer is a really different racing experience than PGR3, where I've been spending most of my time... not sure if I like it yet, but I'll give it a bit of time, that's the whole reason I get these games through GameFly ... try before you buy.

Ok, I think I can stop book-spotting...

Duncan Mackenzie — Sat, 18 Feb 2006 15:41:00 GMT

It may not be everywhere, especially outside of the US, but it seems to be on its way....

More book spotting... front table spot in a local Borders...

Duncan Mackenzie — Fri, 10 Feb 2006 02:46:00 GMT

From Brian's blog (via his wife)

Yet another gamercard generator....

Duncan Mackenzie — Thu, 09 Feb 2006 19:40:00 GMT

I noticed the Xbox PR blog was using glop.org's gamercards, so I took their url and made one of my own....

Book is making its way to local stores...

Duncan Mackenzie — Mon, 06 Feb 2006 17:18:00 GMT

I was in a local Barnes and Noble, the one in downtown Bellevue (WA), and I spotted our book on the shelves. It wasn't at the Woodinville B&N as of yesterday, but at least it is showing up in some stores!

Yay! I have an Xbox 360!!

Duncan Mackenzie — Sun, 29 Jan 2006 17:33:00 GMT

Ok, you'll be glad to hear that I won't be whining any more about not having an Xbox 360. My pre-order from EB Games still hasn't come in, but a friend of mine knew someone who had waited in line to get a 360 on launch day and then had their pre-order come in... so they were willing to sell me their second Xbox 360 at cost. Lucky me, I picked it up yesterday and took it home, then set it up after the kids were in bed. So far, all I've done is play Hexic and Gauntlet, and download a bunch of movie trailers (in 720p, sweet!). I have DOA 4, so that will be the next thing to try whenever I have time... then I need to figure out what game will be my next acquisition. #1 and #2 on my "list" aren't out yet, so ... probably Kameo?