Xbox Live , often abbreviated XBL in the gaming community, is Microsoft's online multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service. Available on the Xbox and Xbox 360 consoles with plans to extend to other platforms as part of the Live Anywhere initiative. As of ___ there are 12 million Xbox Live members.
History
Xbox
J Allard revealed in an interview that one of the initial names considered for the service was "Xbox World".
Xbox Live was officially announced at E3 on May 20, 2002. Leading up to the launch, Microsoft enlisted several waves of beta testers to improve the service and receive feature feedback. Over 100,000 gamers registered for beta testing. The first round of testing with 5,000 users began on August 23, 2002 with an additional 1,000 testers added each week for the next five weeks. Testers were provided with an online multiplayer-enabled Re-Volt .
The service launched in United States and Canada on November 15, 2002 with seven games including Unreal Championship , Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon , and MechAssault . Five more games were released by the end of 2002. The "Xbox Live Starter Kit" cost US$49.99 and included a wired headset, one year of service, a game demo disc consisting of Moto GP and Whacked! , and a software install disk. 150,000 Starter Kits were sold in the first week on sale.
At E3 2003 Microsoft revealed "Xbox Live 2.0" and a (short-lived) XSN Sports service with Peyton Manning.
At E3 2004, Microsoft announced Electronic Arts support for Xbox Live. Also announced at E3 was the Xbox Live Arcade service, which launched with six titles in November of 2004.
Xbox 360
On November 22, 2005 the Xbox 360 launched. Significantly overhauled the service - a unified marketplace for downloading content. more changes made to the service... the guide, gamer card, reputation/gamerzones, xbla built in, blades interface... custom soundtracks at system level.
Previous Xbox Live subscribers were able to maintain their profile information, friends list, and games history when making the transition to Xbox Live Gold by linking their Windows Live ID to their gamertag on Xbox.com.
Due to intermittent service interruptions and outages during late December 2007 and early January 2008, Microsoft offered a free Xbox Live Arcade game, Undertow , to all Xbox Live users as compensation.
Features
Friends list - 100 players, "rich presence", etc. Recent Players list shows the 50 most recent players have played with. Each player can set a motto and fill out a biography (500 characters) for themselves. A social networking feature called "Friends of Friends" allows users to view each others friend list. Microsoft has suggested they are working on increasing the friends list limit.
Inside Xbox is a news feed built in to the dashboard. It is updated daily and has streaming video and shortcuts to new Marketplace content. Weekly shows include "IGN Strategize" hosted by Jessica Chobot, "Major's Minute" hosted by Larry Hryb, Pick Up & Play in which casual and family-friendly games are highlighted, "Insider Moves" a tips and tricks guide helping gamers to earn Achievements, and "The OXM Report" in which Official Xbox Magazine editors interview developers and preview upcoming Xbox 360 games.
Parental controls - family timer, restrict marketplace, etc
TrueSkill is a matchmaking developed by Microsoft Research in Cambridge.
Windows Live Messenger - text chat with up to six people at a time. Can use a USB keyboard, on-screen virtual keyboard, or the Chatpad peripheral.
New features are added via software updates which typically occur twice a year (Spring and Autumn).
Gamercard
File:Xbox 360 Gamercard.pngThe following data is displayed on a users gamercard:
- Gamertag - a universal identity that works across all Xbox and Xbox 360 titles. A users gamertag can also be used for Zune, Games for Windows Live, and XNA Creators Club. A gold or silver strip will appear behind the users gamertag indicating which level of service they are subscribed to.
- Gamerscore - cumulative score of all Achievement points earned. Retail Xbox 360 games may have 1,000 gamerscore across 50 Achievements and Xbox Live Arcade titles have 200 gamerscore across 12 achievements. Developers are able to provide additional achievements through downloadable content.
- Gamerzone - There are four gamer zones - Recreation, Family, Pro, Underground. (very brief explanations - few words each).
- Reputation - All players have a public 1 through 5 star rating which increases or decreases based upon positive or negative feedback left by other gamers. Preferring a player will increase the chance you are matched up in the future, while avoiding a player will prevent you from being matched.
- Gamer Picture - avatars that are downloaded from Marketplace. A user may also have a seperate "personal picture" which can either be another gamer picture or a portrait of themselves taken with the Vision camera. The personal picture displays only to friends while gamer picture displays to the public.
- Recent Games Played - the five most recent games a user has played.
Gamercards can be viewed on the console or the internet. Microsoft provides code for users to embed their Gamercard on their personal websites and blogs. Microsoft also provides an API, the Xbox Community Developer Program, which third party websites such as MyGamerCard.net utilize in order to allow users to create a rendered version of their Gamercard as a small JPEG image or flash applet.
Guide
Marketplace
Main article: Xbox Live MarketplaceFile:Xbox Live Marketplace.jpgXbox Live Marketplace is a unified storefront which offers both free and premium content for download including Xbox Live Arcade titles, original Xbox games, Xbox 360 game demos, game expansion material (e.g. extra maps, vehicles, songs), trailers, gamer pictures and themes, television shows, music videos, movie rentals, and more. Content is purchased using Microsoft Points.
Microsoft created Xbox Live Productions, an internal studio responsible for creating exclusive content (both games and video) for release on the Marketplace.
In Fall of 2008, users will be able to browse the Marketplace from Xbox.com and queue up content for download. The website will have RSS feeds and allow users to rate content and view trailers.
Upcoming features
Features upcoming in the "New Xbox Experience" system update (Fall 2008) include:
- Avatars : Avatars, created by Rare Ltd., are digital representation of the player similar to Mii avatars on Nintendo's Wii. Users are able to customize body shape, gender, facial features, hair style, and clothing. Earning Achievements in future Xbox 360 games may reward players with new clothing options for their Avatar.
- Xbox Live Party system : Xbox platform engineer Eric Heutchy explains, "At its core the feature is eight way group voice chat. It works over all Xbox 360 experiences - all existing games, all new games, the dashboard, movies, media center, everything you can do on the console. The party members are always connected by voice, and voice chat persists over any experience ."
- Xbox Live Primetime : a series of scheduled programs in which Xbox Live members can compete against each other for real prizes. The first announced title is 1 vs. 100 Live , an adaptation of the Endemol game show of the same name, in which a single contestant competes against an audience "mob" of 100. Players are represented by their Xbox 360 Avatars. Most events will feature a live host. At launch, Xbox Live Primetime will be available in North America, France, Germany and the United Kingdom.
- Netflix partnership : Xbox Live Gold and Netflix subscribers will have access to the Netflix's entire "Watch Instantly" library. Changes made to your Netflix queue online are reflected within 10 seconds on the console. Players in an Xbox Live Party may watch a Netflix movie simultaneously (as long as they are also subscribers).
- Community Games : Described by Microsoft as the "YouTube of games", hobbyist developers using XNA Game Studio can sell their games over Xbox Live for 200 through 800 Microsoft Points with the developers receiving 70% of the total revenue from their games. At launch, Community Games will be available in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Spain with support for other regions being added in 2009 and beyond. Much like Xbox Live Arcade, all titles will have a trial version. Community Games can have multiplayer support and leaderboards but Achievements and Avatars are not currently permitted.
- Game installs : Users can fully install their retail game discs to the Xbox 360 hard drive for faster loading times and reduced system noise (as the DVD drive will no longer spin). Microsoft reports a thirty percent improvement in loading times. However, the disc must still be in the drive as verification.
Other new features include 16:10 display support (over VGA or HDMI) with support for 1440x900 or 1680x1050 resolutions. "Quick Launch
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