Microsoft Will Improve the Headset Chat with the next XBL update.
The highest profile change coming with the next 360 dashboard update adds support for Kinect, but another, seemingly smaller change to Xbox Live is likely to tangibly improve the multiplayer experience for anyone on Live. Microsoft is (finally) improving the sound quality of its headsets this fall.
Jerry Johnson, Xbox LIVE Studios head, mentioned at Edinburgh Interactive Festival said, "We launched and we said we required broadband. We required a 64k connection, which not many people think of as broadband any longer. But that was the minimum requirement to run the service at the time. It's time for us to move on. Especially if we want to think about broadening - a crackly headset on the top of your head - not what people think of when they talk about popular entertainment."
How improved the compressed, distorted voices of other Live players will actually be remains to be seen, but it could hardly be worse: When I play multiplayer, it's like everyone sounds like whiny 11 year-olds.
Supreme Court to have Hearing on Violent Video Games
The Supreme Court will begin hearing a case this fall that could decide the fate of the entire video game world. Schwarzenegger vs. EMA (Entertainment Merchants Association) will go before US Supreme Court on November 2.
The case stems from a law passed in California that penalizes retailers for selling violent games to minors. So far, the courts have ruled the law unconstitutional, but the Supreme Court will ultimately decide, and if the Court decides in favor of the state of California, it essentially means that games are not protected speech under the Constitution. This is a bad, bad thing.
Does anyone else think it's ironic that Schwarzenegger, who made an entire career out of very violent movies would have his name attached to a bill that rules that another form of violent art isn't constitutionally protected?
Either way, the Court should issue it's ruling soon after arguments are complete.
The highest profile change coming with the next 360 dashboard update adds support for Kinect, but another, seemingly smaller change to Xbox Live is likely to tangibly improve the multiplayer experience for anyone on Live. Microsoft is (finally) improving the sound quality of its headsets this fall.
Jerry Johnson, Xbox LIVE Studios head, mentioned at Edinburgh Interactive Festival said, "We launched and we said we required broadband. We required a 64k connection, which not many people think of as broadband any longer. But that was the minimum requirement to run the service at the time. It's time for us to move on. Especially if we want to think about broadening - a crackly headset on the top of your head - not what people think of when they talk about popular entertainment."
How improved the compressed, distorted voices of other Live players will actually be remains to be seen, but it could hardly be worse: When I play multiplayer, it's like everyone sounds like whiny 11 year-olds.
Supreme Court to have Hearing on Violent Video Games
The Supreme Court will begin hearing a case this fall that could decide the fate of the entire video game world. Schwarzenegger vs. EMA (Entertainment Merchants Association) will go before US Supreme Court on November 2.
The case stems from a law passed in California that penalizes retailers for selling violent games to minors. So far, the courts have ruled the law unconstitutional, but the Supreme Court will ultimately decide, and if the Court decides in favor of the state of California, it essentially means that games are not protected speech under the Constitution. This is a bad, bad thing.
Does anyone else think it's ironic that Schwarzenegger, who made an entire career out of very violent movies would have his name attached to a bill that rules that another form of violent art isn't constitutionally protected?
Either way, the Court should issue it's ruling soon after arguments are complete.
