Xbox Live Plans to Go "To the Cloud"

Everyone seems to be wrapped up in “the cloud” right now, and Apple is not the only one who has recently made an announcement regarding the cloud. Microsoft announced on Monday, June 6 that it would be adding cloud storage later this year for its Xbox Live.

"Yes, cloud storage is coming to Xbox LIVE. Your profile and game saves available wherever you are," Larry Hyrb, the director of programming for Xbox Live, tweeted on Monday afternoon.

When this update occurs, it will allow all Xbox Live users to sign into their accounts with the service from any console at any time. This will give them access to all of their game saves and full profile. This includes items like Microsoft Points for purchases, Achievements and friends.

"Cloud storage will allow you to enjoy the same great Xbox Live gaming experience even when you're not in your own living room by giving you the option to store your 'game saves' securely in the Xbox Live cloud instead of on a portable memory unit or your console's hard drive," Microsoft said in a statement. "Gone are the days of 'gamertag recovery.' Now all you need to do is sign in, no matter where you are!"

Unfortunately, Microsoft has not given a definite timeline as to when they will be adding cloud storage to their Xbox Live. They simply leave hopeful users hanging with “later this year.”

Think the cloud update sounds like a great addition? Well, that is not even close to the only update that Microsoft will be rolling out in the near future. Microsoft also promises that they will soon be offering a simpler, cleaner, easier-to-use dashboard. "All of your favorite content is categorized in a way that is easy to browse and find what you're looking for, plus you can use voice anywhere in the dashboard to effortlessly navigate and get to what you want," the company said.

On the morning of Monday, June 6 at the E3 Expo, Microsoft unveiled its Live TV, which included the voice component as well. This new experience from Microsoft will allow users to add live television streaming, built-in DVR capabilities and voice-powered Bing searches. "Quite simply we believe TV is more amazing with you as the controller," said Marc Whitten, vice president for Xbox Live.

Microsoft also unveiled a variety of new games that incorporate the voice-control functionality when working in conjunction with Kinect.

"We want Xbox Live members around the globe to experience the magic of Kinect's voice recognition technology so we are committed to bringing voice to eight additional markets by the end of this year with a total of 13 markets that will have Kinect voice," Microsoft said. "We are also exploring some innovative new ways to enable the Live community to help us accelerate the refinement of voice models in new markets and look forward to sharing developments on that front soon."

Xbox will also be adding what they are calling Beacons. These will allow users to notify Xbox and Facebook friends whenever they want to play a game on Xbox Live. All you have to do is set a Beacon and choose which game you want to play. Xbox Live does all the rest. It will let you know when your friends are playing and whether or not they want to play the same game as you.

"With Beacons no matter what you're currently doing on Xbox Live, your friends know that it's ok to ask you to play your Beaconed games," Microsoft said. "Imagine sending out a Beacon to let your friends know you're interested in playing 'Halo' while watching a movie on Netflix."

Sounds pretty cool to me. I just hope that Microsoft gets the updates out soon. I don’t want to sit around thinking about how cool these updates would be. I want to see them in action!

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Microsoft Replacing Older Xbox 360s with Disc Problem

On Thursday, May 19 Microsoft announced that it would be replacing a number of older Xbox 360 systems. The number of systems that will be replaced has not been disclosed, but according to a company spokeswoman, Microsoft will be replacing these select consoles due to a disc problem that is tied to the system’s ability to block counterfeit games.

Microsoft said that it will be replacing this small number of older Xbox 360 consoles with the newest edition of the console and a one-year subscription to Xbox Live.

Microsoft is definitely on top of things because users hadn’t even complained of a problem. Xbox 360 owner Avery Penn told the blog Kotaku that when he read the e-mail from Microsoft about replacing his gaming system, his “jaw hit the floor.” Microsoft was able to detect the issues with these select consoles before they had even occurred. They said that they were able figure out that there was an issue via its online service Xbox Live. The issues surrounding the whole event were later confirmed by Microsoft via Twitter.

At first, Kotaku was guessing that the issue was tied to an upcoming Xbox 360 update that reflashes the DVD drive to a new stock firmware and adds support to the DVD player for new XGD3 disk format; however, in an e-mail exchange between Microsoft and Kotaku, Microsoft denied the blog’s speculation.

"Following a recent update to our system software, we have become aware of an issue that is preventing a very small number of Xbox 360 owners from playing retail game discs," Microsoft said in an emailed statement Thursday. "This issue manifests itself as a unique 'disc unreadable' or 'disc unsupported' error on the screen and is unrelated to our recent public beta. We are also able to detect this issue over Xbox LIVE and are proactively reaching out to customers that may be impacted to replace their console. Any Xbox 360 owners receiving this error are encouraged to contact us at www.xbox.com/support/contact so we can verify if the console has been impacted.”

"This disc read error message is tied to a change in the disc reading algorithms in a recent software update and is not specific to older or newer versions of Xbox 360," Microsoft added.

The Microsoft representative was then asked for more details, but she said that she could not reveal anything else. "We are not disclosing the details of the issue as it impacts a sub-system intended to thwart the use of counterfeit games," she said in an emailed follow-up. "After we have verified if a customer's console is impacted, we are taking care of customers by replacing their consoles with a new Xbox 360 S 250GB, as well as giving them a one year subscription to Xbox Live for the inconvenience."

The older Xbox 360’s of those affected will be replaced with the Xbox 360 S. This is the newest version of the Xbox 360, the one that began shipping in March of last year. It will feature a 250 GB hard drive, integrated 802.11n, digital audio, and 5 USB ports.

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Walmart Offering Free Gift Cards with Certain Xbox 360 Games

Many gamers will be pleased to hear about this fantastic deal from Walmart. They are now offering free eGift cards when you preorder certain Xbox 360 games.

When you order either Halo Reach, Madden 11, or NCAA Football 11, Walmart will give you a free $20 eGift card that can be used on anything that can be found at Walmart. All of these games cost $59.96 to preorder and feature free shipping.

This is a great deal for anyone with an Xbox 360 that was already planning on purchasing any of these games. The $20 eGift card is simply a great added bonus.

Click here for more information about the new Xbox 360.

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The Newly Redesigned Xbox 360

Of course Microsoft couldn’t let Sony release their Playstation 3 Slim without giving them some competition. Their new Xbox 360 is sexier, sleeker, and less prone to problems than the original.

On Monday, Microsoft released their new Xbox 360 at the E3 press conference. Although it does not have a new name like the newest version of the PS3, it does have a multitude of new features. The first most noticeable difference with the new Xbox 360 would be the design. It is much smaller and sleeker than the original 360 and now features a sheen black gloss exterior. Although the shiny new Xbox does look sexier, you can expect fingerprints to cover its exterior the moment you pop it out of the box.

One criticism that many people had about the original Xbox 360 is that it seemed loud. You could definitely always tell when you accidentally left the console on. The new and improved 360 still hums slightly but is extremely quiet compared to its predecessor.

Basically, the new Xbox is replacing the Elite 360. It now offers 250 GB of storage standard. If you want to transfer your data from your current 360 to your new one, Microsoft is offering a data transfer cable for $19.95 that will allow you to connect your old hard drive to your new console with a USB cable. This makes data transfer pretty painless.

One of the most useful things to be found on the new Xbox 360 is the built-in WiFi. This has been one of the advantages that PS3 has had over Xbox, but it is an advantage that will no longer exist. Although PS3 does have free online play, unlike Xbox, that still keeps the Sony console slightly ahead of the Xbox 360 in my opinion.

Another thing that I was happy to hear about the new 360 is that Microsoft claims that it cannot get the dreaded “red ring of death.” Unfortunately, this doesn’t exactly mean that it can’t have issues though. Instead of displaying the red ring when there are problems with the console, the new 360 will display a variety of various combinations of green lights. I guess Microsoft just wanted to get away from the whole “red ring” criticism.

One last thing to note is that Microsoft has stated that they will no longer be producing the Original Xbox 360. Once the original consoles sell out, they are gone for good. So if you’re considering purchasing the original 360 for $199, you better do it quick.

Well, all around I’m pretty impressed with the new sleek Xbox 360. Microsoft has definitely made some great improvements. Although the 360 is really stepping it up, I still personally prefer PS3. You can get a PS3 slim with 250 GB of storage for $349.99, but basically it comes down to your personal preferences when choosing a console. If you think the new Xbox 360 sounds good to you, then you should check it out because it’s now available for $299.99.

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