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[KAGE360]

QUOTE

When are we going to hear more about the next Dashboard update?

Major Nelson: We do two Dashboard updates every year, one in spring and one in fall. The spring update is more customer focused, so last June we rolled out active downloads and over 100 other little additions. The next update is this autumn – I don’t have a date yet – but it will contain a lot of things that the games coming out around Christmas will use. A lot of the developers working on these games are waiting for these updates. So I don’t have a date yet, but look out for that this autumn.

Is this the first time you’ve been to Leipzig?

Major Nelson: This is actually the second time. I was here last year when we made the major announcements regarding the two different console packs and the pricing, and I think that shows how important the European market is for Xbox. I actually love this show. I prefer this show to E3. Who knows what’s happening to E3, but this show feels much more fun. Leipzig seems much more gamer-centric while E3 seems to have lost its way a little. This year it was just so big and obnoxious, but Leipzig seems much more exciting to me as a gamer.

What are the coolest things you’ve seen at Leipzig this year?

Major Nelson: It was great to hear the big Xbox announcements yesterday. The football announcement is huge – the fact that European gamers will only be able to play the next-gen versions of FIFA and Pro Evo 6 on Xbox 360 for the next year is phenomenal. EA showed off some of the latest FIFA game on Xbox 360 yesterday and it looked fantastic. Unfortunately I haven’t had much chance to walk through the floor, but I’m really excited about Viva Pinata. That game’s really been talking to me and I’m not sure why. Funnily enough, out of all the trailers that were on Marketplace during E3 that’s the only one that my wife keeps asking about. “When’s VP coming out?” she says, and I think that’s really exciting.

http://www.xboxyde.c...ws_3470_en.html

i want to know what the update includes really really bad.  the bolded part has me very curious.

i dont know what it could be and it doesnt make sense that a game requires an update because not everyone has LIVE or an internet connection.  also the update should be small enough to fit on the games requiring it, maybe they are on the disk but they cant release the game until the update rolls out.  it also cant have anything to with the camera because that was included in the spring update.

any thoughts guys??  

i know M_heal cant comment on this, but man i wish he could at least tell us if this updates for games is something to get excited about.

[hamwbone]

havnt seen him post in a while, quick! some one start talking about tony hawk!   j/k =)

[Heet]

Tony hawk sucks  

[KAGE360]

well im sure he's experiencing either crunch time right before the game's launch or a nice deserved break from development (and maybe this place too) if his part in the game's development is done

dont you guys have any thoughts on the topic though?  M_heal is appreciated as always, but not needed to discuss things

[tonloc79]

On the dashboard update maybe its a patch to look for hacked firmware and reflash if necasarry. If i was releasing a game id wanna make sure i was ahead of the pirates. Im probably way off though........ or am I?

[hamwbone]

only guess i could make would some sort of gesture control thru the camera, and you have to glue reflective motion balls all over your body and head - to combat sonys and nintendo's motion sensing. (total motion capture)  j/kk btw     or some sort of new leaderboard system

[twistedsymphony]

well he did say it was something developers were waiting for...

-so that right there rules out copy protection stuff as it really doesn't effect the games development.

My guesses are
-The recently announced 1080p support
-Additional Web cam features, like an avatar that you can make once in the dashboard and use many times across different games.
-Support for a new motion controller so MS can play MEE TOO with Sony and Nintendo
-Support for the Force Feedback racing wheel
-Improved Xbox Live features that let developers store additional data there for sharing between gamers, or new interesting matchmaking/leaderboard features
-Or maybe even some added DX10 functionality so they can make use of some newer graphical techniques that weren't previously possible.

Those are the kinds of things I can think of that would come in a dash update that developers might be patiently waiting for.

[incognegro]

You know what I don't understand? How come nobody has thought of putting a touch pad on a controller yet? I mean If they replace the right analog with a touch wheel or pad of some sort it would increase precision in FPS'. I thought MS would be the first to think this up cause its right up their alley. Its probably on the rumored new controller they're building

[KAGE360]

QUOTE(twistedsymphony @ Sep 20 2006, 10:48 AM)

well he did say it was something developers were waiting for...

-so that right there rules out copy protection stuff as it really doesn't effect the games development.

My guesses are
-The recently announced 1080p support
-Additional Web cam features, like an avatar that you can make once in the dashboard and use many times across different games.
-Support for a new motion controller so MS can play MEE TOO with Sony and Nintendo
-Support for the Force Feedback racing wheel
-Improved Xbox Live features that let developers store additional data there for sharing between gamers, or new interesting matchmaking/leaderboard features
-Or maybe even some added DX10 functionality so they can make use of some newer graphical techniques that weren't previously possible.

Those are the kinds of things I can think of that would come in a dash update that developers might be patiently waiting for.

other then the online features, wouldnt any updates fit on the disk as well?  i would think they would have to put it on the disk anyways because not everyone has LIVE or an internet connection.  maybe they dont have the code to put on the disk until microsoft is finished with the update itself.

my guess though would be the 1080p support, which again i dont understand why developers have to wait for.  the upscaling is done by the system and has nothing to do with the game itself.  

[hamwbone]

i hope they dont start sacrificing 1080i/720p quality to get games to work well in 1080p... that would be a waste of resources, seeing the little percentage that are going to use 1080p

[twistedsymphony]

QUOTE(KAGE360 @ Sep 20 2006, 11:54 AM)

my guess though would be the 1080p support, which again i dont understand why developers have to wait for.  the upscaling is done by the system and has nothing to do with the game itself.  

Whos says they want to upscale? If they want to render at 1080p they most certainly will have to wait for an update from MS. Due of the way "1080p" works they would definitly need to test it extensivly before pushing it out... just doing it and assuming MS's update will let everything fall into place is BAD BAD practice.

I don't think developers have to wait for it to hit the retail units but they DO have to wait for MS to give it to them before they can start utilizing it. XBL or Disc distro doesn't matter but MS needs to give them the Dev kit updates before they can use any of that stuff... it's not like the Vision camera or 1080p support just magically work on the dev units.

[KAGE360]

QUOTE(twistedsymphony @ Sep 20 2006, 02:45 PM)

Whos says they want to upscale? If they want to render at 1080p they most certainly will have to wait for an update from MS. Due of the way "1080p" works they would definitly need to test it extensivly before pushing it out... just doing it and assuming MS's update will let everything fall into place is BAD BAD practice.

I don't think developers have to wait for it to hit the retail units but they DO have to wait for MS to give it to them before they can start utilizing it. XBL or Disc distro doesn't matter but MS needs to give them the Dev kit updates before they can use any of that stuff... it's not like the Vision camera or 1080p support just magically work on the dev units.

i understand all that you are saying but unless these games that are waiting for the update are all LIVE arcade games, i dont see any next gen 360 games (or ps3 for that matter) being rendered at 1080p in the frame buffer (internally in other words).  while its possible the trade off would not be worth it, M_hael among others have expressed this many times.

while were on the subject, do you guys think that it would be easier to have a 1080p game on the 360 because of the eDRAM apposed to the ps3?

[tonloc79]

QUOTE(twistedsymphony @ Sep 20 2006, 03:48 PM)

well he did say it was something developers were waiting for...

-so that right there rules out copy protection stuff as it really doesn't effect the games development.

My guesses are
-The recently announced 1080p support
-Additional Web cam features, like an avatar that you can make once in the dashboard and use many times across different games.
-Support for a new motion controller so MS can play MEE TOO with Sony and Nintendo
-Support for the Force Feedback racing wheel
-Improved Xbox Live features that let developers store additional data there for sharing between gamers, or new interesting matchmaking/leaderboard features
-Or maybe even some added DX10 functionality so they can make use of some newer graphical techniques that weren't previously possible.

Those are the kinds of things I can think of that would come in a dash update that developers might be patiently waiting for.

It does effect the amount of money made by the developer though. If the game has a mandatory patch on dvd firmware then no one can pirate the game. Im just speculating. But a firmware patch for the dvd drive does effect the developer, in the bank, where it really counts to them.