Xbox 360 Marketplace and Arcade thread

ddtrane · Post by **ddtrane** » Fri May 12, 2006 7:19 pm

dbdynsty25 wrote:I don't know about you guys, but I'm impressed as hell with the dashboard stuff. They are constantly looking to make it better and the stuff they are adding at the end of may is following that path.

Theres no way Sonys online service will be able to compete. Microsoft has made the mold for online service then broke it.

ddtrane · Post by **ddtrane** » Sun May 14, 2006 12:56 am

Man, I just finished a 3 hour marathon of UNO with randoms. this game never gets old. I hope to play some DSPers soon.

Leebo33 · Post by **Leebo33** » Sun May 14, 2006 12:10 pm

jondiehl wrote:Nope, not just you. I'm not impressed with it either (@720p on my 50" DLP Panasonic), it actually looks very much like MotoGP2/3 on the Xbox (both of which I owned, as well as the original, all three of which looked great for Xbox games in 16:9 and 480p).

The draw distance seemed a little bit better, but it's certainly not "next gen" looking like GRAW, NBA 2k6, etc...

I'm not impressed with the demo of MotoGP 06 at all either. It seems like exactly the same game with slightly improved graphics. I'm not saying I won't buy it because it's always been one of my favorite racing games, but the $59.99 price tag may scare me away.

Slumberland · Post by **Slumberland** » Sun May 14, 2006 12:27 pm

UNO is frikkin' great.

Badgun · Post by **Badgun** » Sun May 14, 2006 1:04 pm

Leebo33 wrote:
jondiehl wrote:Nope, not just you. I'm not impressed with it either (@720p on my 50" DLP Panasonic), it actually looks very much like MotoGP2/3 on the Xbox (both of which I owned, as well as the original, all three of which looked great for Xbox games in 16:9 and 480p).

The draw distance seemed a little bit better, but it's certainly not "next gen" looking like GRAW, NBA 2k6, etc...
I'm not impressed with the demo of MotoGP 06 at all either. It seems like exactly the same game with slightly improved graphics. I'm not saying I won't buy it because it's always been one of my favorite racing games, but the $59.99 price tag may scare me away.

I think that's my beef with the game, too. There's not a lot of difference between this version and the first version that was on Xbox Live nearly 4 years ago. We've gone from Moto GP Moto GP 2, then 3, and now 06, with not a whole lot of difference between any of them except for a couple of tracks and spectator mode. Most games get absolutely drilled for this, but this one gets a pass every time. Why?

To be quite honest, the improvements to this series are so minimal that they pale in comparison to the yearly improvements made to Madden or any other sports game. I had a little bit of fun with the demo, but I'm probably going to pass on the full version, at least until maybe it drops $20 or so.

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Mon May 15, 2006 1:51 am

There's a bunch of free E3 gamer pics and themes to download including 3 free Adidas footie-related ones. They've probably been up all week but I didn't look until tonight and don't remember it being mentioned.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Mon May 15, 2006 2:57 am

Badgun wrote:I think that's my beef with the game, too. There's not a lot of difference between this version and the first version that was on Xbox Live nearly 4 years ago. We've gone from Moto GP Moto GP 2, then 3, and now 06, with not a whole lot of difference between any of them except for a couple of tracks and spectator mode. Most games get absolutely drilled for this, but this one gets a pass every time. Why?

Probably because it's a damn good game. It gets tweaked a little bit here a little bit there and everything is fine. Kinda like WE...not HUGE changes every year...yet you don't hear about people bashing it. Hell...it does get bashed yearly for the subpar Master League...but that's a small part of an otherwise fabulous game. Same thing holds true with Moto GP.

Badgun · Post by **Badgun** » Mon May 15, 2006 7:35 am

dbdynsty25 wrote:
Badgun wrote:I think that's my beef with the game, too. There's not a lot of difference between this version and the first version that was on Xbox Live nearly 4 years ago. We've gone from Moto GP Moto GP 2, then 3, and now 06, with not a whole lot of difference between any of them except for a couple of tracks and spectator mode. Most games get absolutely drilled for this, but this one gets a pass every time. Why?
Probably because it's a damn good game. It gets tweaked a little bit here a little bit there and everything is fine. Kinda like WE...not HUGE changes every year...yet you don't hear about people bashing it. Hell...it does get bashed yearly for the subpar Master League...but that's a small part of an otherwise fabulous game. Same thing holds true with Moto GP.

Well then, no more than I play motorcycle games, I guess I can pull out my copy of Moto GP 2 if I want a fix. Saves me $60 to spend on another, more original game.

bdunn13 · Post by **bdunn13** » Mon May 15, 2006 9:30 am

Yeah, I love when I play a demo and when I am done thinking, "boy I just saved 60 bucks."

webdanzer · Post by **webdanzer** » Mon May 15, 2006 9:33 am

Badgun wrote:
SoMisss2000 wrote:Anyone esle download the Lost Planet demo? Amazing!
Yeah, I really liked the Lost Planet demo. The game turned into an instant purchase for me.

I beat both levels over the weekend. AI is pretty poor, but it still manages to be an impressive demo. I'll definitely at least rent the full version.

DivotMaker · Post by **DivotMaker** » Mon May 15, 2006 9:40 am

bdunn13 wrote:Yeah, I love when I play a demo and when I am done thinking, "boy I just saved 60 bucks."

Could not agree more....

jondiehl · Post by **jondiehl** » Mon May 15, 2006 10:14 am

bdunn13 wrote:Yeah, I love when I play a demo and when I am done thinking, "boy I just saved 60 bucks."

More like $15-20. Those bad games don't just go in the trash, do they?

I bought NHL2k6 (360) the day it came out and sold it for $39.99 this weekend on Half.com

Most of these 360 games are holding their value pretty well on the resale market. I've started buying marginal games now, instead of renting, knowing that it's only going to cost me $15-20 to keep the game for 3-4 months.

bdunn13 · Post by **bdunn13** » Mon May 15, 2006 10:23 am

I seldomly trade games in or sell them back so I pretty much save the whole wad.

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Mon May 15, 2006 11:32 am

Played the Moto GP demo, and it isn't too much different that the Xbox version other than the graphics. I just kept sliding everywhere and everytime I caught up to the middle of the pack, I just kept crashing. Must be me.

Diablo25 · Post by **Diablo25** » Thu May 18, 2006 7:45 am

I know this has been stated before but, damn is UNO a great game! Addictive as hell. I played one game of the demo and snagged the full game. A few of my buds from another forum play online so I can't wait to drop an UNO on their asses!

kevinpars · Post by **kevinpars** » Thu May 18, 2006 9:02 am

Yeah, I love buying and selling games on half or ebay. I have been getting marginal games like Gun for around 32-34 bucks and then playing and selling for about the same amount. The only loss turns out to be the commission that half/ebay gets. Some games I got new, like COD2, I sold too early. I had no idea that this game would hold its value for this long. If I had known, I would have kept it and tried to get through the whole game on Veteran - but it might have driven me crazy with frustration!

jondiehl · Post by **jondiehl** » Thu May 18, 2006 11:13 am

kevinpars wrote:The only loss turns out to be the commission that half/ebay gets.

To help offset that though, they give you a shipping reinbursement (which is more than the actual postage to mail a game) and there are no PayPal fees to deal with.

From my NHL2k6 sale last week (for $39.99), I netted $36.64 from Half.com and spent $1.35 on 1st class stamps to ship it (I always give a free shipping upgrade, it's about the same price or sometimes less than media mail postage).

Final net is $35.29 (not including gas money for the 5 min trip to the post office... but that's a wash since you'd have to drive to EB/Gamestop to trade-in anyway).

Leebo33 · Post by **Leebo33** » Thu May 18, 2006 11:35 am

jondiehl wrote:Final net is $35.29 (not including gas money for the 5 min trip to the post office... but that's a wash since you'd have to drive to EB/Gamestop to trade-in anyway).

You forgot the bubble mailer or envelope cost

jondiehl · Post by **jondiehl** » Thu May 18, 2006 12:42 pm

Leebo33 wrote:
jondiehl wrote:Final net is $35.29 (not including gas money for the 5 min trip to the post office... but that's a wash since you'd have to drive to EB/Gamestop to trade-in anyway).
You forgot the bubble mailer or envelope cost

About 40 cents for a 6x9 (Size #0) Duck brand bubble wrap cushioned mailer. I get them in a 5 pack usually, but Sam's has them in bulk for even cheaper I believe.

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Thu May 18, 2006 5:31 pm

Background downloading should hit the 360 by the end of the month according to Joystiq.com. Man, this would make a sweet interface even sweeter.

Link: http://www.joystiq.com/2006/05/18/rumor ... his-month/

Gurantsu · Post by **Gurantsu** » Fri May 19, 2006 8:15 am

Has there been any word on what would be in the next round of backwards compatable games?

mixdj1 · Post by **mixdj1** » Wed May 24, 2006 2:07 pm

Looks like queued downloading in the background and booting to the dashboard should be available very soon:

EDIT: Links removed since Microsoft took down the pages

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Wed May 24, 2006 3:05 pm

According to those links, should have been available yesterday. Also I like the ability to start up my 360 to the dashboard if there is a disk in the tray

kevinpars · Post by **kevinpars** » Wed May 24, 2006 3:40 pm

The links were taken down, but the following website saved them before they were removed: http://www.xboxic.com/news/944#more-944

Here are the highlights:

* Each item that you download is downloaded separately in the background. This lets you continue to use the console while you download an item.
* You can stream music, play DVDs or CDs, play arcade titles, and play games while you download an item from the marketplace.
* If you start to play an online game, the download is automatically paused while you play the game to help prevent game lag because of network congestion. This helps you receive the best online gaming experience that the network can provide.
* All downloads are associated with your profile. If a download is paused or if the download is interrupted, the download will resume the next time that you connect to Xbox Live.
* You can add items to the active downloads list at any time by selecting more items from the marketplace.
* You will receive a notification in the Xbox Guide when an item starts to download and when the download is completed. You will also receive a notification if the download fails.

Murph · Post by **Murph** » Wed May 24, 2006 5:33 pm

I thought I also read somewhere that they were gonna remove the cap on the download speed or at least allow faster D/L speeds if the bandwith is available on the user end.