Gamer Culture, Movies, Videos, Xbox 360
Horror Directors Take a Stab at Comedy on Xbox Channel
Sometimes, I think a good sense of humor is a necessity for horror directors. If they can’t laugh about severed heads strewn across the screen, then their films will have no personality. Xbox Live’s new Independent Video Channel further supports my theory with its recent launch of “Horror Meets Comedy”: a series of downloadable comedy shorts, which allows horror directors to make audiences chuckle instead of scream for once.
Prior to Xbox LIVE and Playstation Network, game demos only existed with periodicals on newsstands. Magazines usually had demos on the accompanying CD/DVD, sometimes with coverage of a game on the interior. Occasionally, certain games came packaged with brief, selected demos (Parasite Eve on PlayStation came with a demo of Xenogears, and videos of Brave Fencer Musashi, Bushido Blade 2, and Final Fantasy VIII). Now with Xbox LIVE and PSN, gamers can download demos and have time to test out a wide array of games without dropping any additional coinage. Does this hands-on time help in a purchasing decision?
65 Million B.C. Earth downloaded a large comet. This new content added features like mass extinction, no sunlight, and fiery mess. The bugs were not quite worked out.
Admit it, Xbox 360 owners: every time you hear that little electric plink and see the achievement notification pop up, a tiny part of you says something like “Cool, I do some things right,” or “Oh yeah, chicks dig my gamerscore.” While neither of these statements is typically true, one thing is for certain; Microsoft has struck video gaming oil by drilling into our inner need to be the best. Gamers have become addicted to collecting these virtual pieces of flair, racing to see who can collect the most. But are these points actually worth anything? For that answer, I think we should look back in time at the video gamer’s forgotten friend: the arcade.
The Xbox LIVE Arcade features a plethora of coin-operated classics, including the likes of Frogger, 1942, Centipede and Asteroids. But what kind of arcade doesn’t include the king of them all? That’s right, I’m talking about Space Invaders, and starting in early 2009, gamers will have the chance to play this 2D intergalactic masterpiece via the Xbox LIVE Arcade. Other pending releases include arcade heavy-weights R-Type and Arkanoid; sprinkle on a few new arcade-style gems and this list of downloadable content is worth more than that sack full of quarters your ‘70s era self would have spent. 
The month of August was huge for Microsoft’s Xbox LIVE service. All told, the revenue generated by the service jumped 67% on the heels of the Summer of Arcade promotion, which rolled out several high-profile titles, such as Geometry Wars 2 and Castle Crashers. Add into that the seemingly constant downloadable content additions, and Xbox LIVE has evolved from a service that merely allowed gamers to play together into a full-fledged, one-stop-shopping gaming Mecca.
We are all familiar with buyer’s remorse, and it proves to be a costly mistake. Video games have always been expensive; now at usually $60 apiece and sometimes more for that exclusive-limited-edition-only-100,000,000-made collector sets (Metal Gear Solid 4 LE, I love you), sometimes renting is a preferred option. But is it still worth it to rent?
Which is really better? Xbox LIVE or the Playstation Network? At the surface, they appear very similar, but there is a depth to this battle that any casual observer may not understand. With size limits to consider, the community aspect, and developer support, it can be kind of confusing. It’s okay, though. I may not be a doctor, but I’m here to help.