We’re eagerly anticipating the day the DHL man drops by Kotaku Towers West to casually toss a disc with the New Xbox Experience burned on it. Here’s to hoping one of the local transients doesn’t snatch it from our stoop first. Yes, we’ll be spending plenty of time with the NXE prior to November 19th, the update’s official launch date. And soon, maybe you can too.
It appears something is up with the codes GameStop and Amazon were giving out for Fable II pre-orders. The code was supposed to allow people to download a free copy of the stand alone Fable II Pub Games, but we’ve received numerous reports that the codes don’t work. Reports of the code not working have also cropped up over on Xbox Live Director Larry Hryb’s Major Nelson site. There’s also a forum posting on Xbox.Com that lists more than 100 people not being able to use their code to download the game.
We’ve contacted Microsoft for comment and will update once they get back to us or find a solution to the problem
Update: Just heard back from Hryb: “If you received a download code from a pre-order for Fable II, I am being told that they codes should be working later today. Apologies for the delays”.
Digital rights management got you down? Pfft. Not if you’re an Xbox 360 owner, as Microsoft has released the Content Licence Transfer Tool, which lets you move games or movies that were purchased via Xbox Live Marketplace from one console to another console. Handy!
Speaking of handy, Microsoft’s Larry Hryb has a helpful how-to video of the DRM transfer process on his blog, which we would consider required viewing. Also required, reading the Xbox 360 Content Licence Restoration FAQ, which should answer most of your questions about the process. Of potential concern is that the tool can be used just once every twelve months and that movie rentals are not transferable.
The whole thing sounds easy enough, but let us know if you have any issues.
Content Licence Transfer Tool (aka the DRM Tool) now available [Microsoft]
Yesterday we mentioned rumours of a potential Microsoft Japan announcement coming next week, but on Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb’s Twitter account, he teases “a special” show coming mid-week that, we’d expect, would feature some fun Microsoft announcement or another. So it looks like either one or two announcements are on the horizon. Any gambling types sitting in the audience who’d care to place some wagers*?
*Kotaku does not condone illegal gambling. Luckily we’re writing this post from a boat amidst hands of blackjack.
Major Nelson [Twitter]Thanks Master Devwi!
As Xbox Live limps into the third week of 2008 still experiencing slow-downs, and occasional outages, salvation has come in the form of a legal excuse not to explain why the service remains so dodgy.
According to Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb, he is no longer allowed to update us because Microsoft now faces a class action lawsuit over the outages. Hryb apologized, but said any future updates will need to come from “the lawyer.”
That means no more Twitter updates like “LIVE is looking pretty good now….how is it for you guys-n-girls?” or “I want to thank you all for (mostly) being so understanding during the tough LIVE time. Some of you did decide to cuss at me…but ok.”.
The response by gamers over on his Microsoft site is getting quite hostile, hostile toward Larry Hryb and each other and the guys behind the suit. It’s unfortunate that this has happened, because the only thing worse than having issues with a very popular service, is not being able to talk about when a fix is coming.
How about you all, are you still experiencing any Xbox Live issues?
Show #263 The One After CES [Major Nelson]
With CES now in full swing, Microsoft has taken up the task of shuttling around lazy members of the press and community in style. This is the Community Mobile, a dual-branded stretch hummer with Games for Windows on one side and Xbox Live on the other. As a special bonus to the already far-too-extravagant conveyance, the Microsoft team are loading up the limo at the end of the day on Wednesday for a special trip to In ‘N Out Burger, where their own Larry Hryb will be on hand to lend his credit card towards the eventual cholesterol-choking death of everyone involved. Hooray! Hit the link for more pictures of the colossal gas guzzler. Riding Around in Style [Gamerscore Blog]
Microsoft’s Larry Hryb (above) chats with CheapyD in a recent CAG podcast. Highlights: • Larry owns his popular community “bridge” site. • There is a 100 friend limit on XBL is set in the system and cannot be increased. The average of number of friends for XBL users is 24. There are plans to better manage your friend’s list. • About his missing passport: “I was soooo upset I couldn’t go to sumo with CheapyD… More importantly you had Crecente fill in my role at sumu.” Yes, sumu. • Larry says “vagina clown”. Out loud. At least twice. Listen to Larry [CAG] More »
Larry Hryb has posted a heads-up over on his community site. A little notice, saying that if anyone has any suggestions as to what Microsoft can do better, please, suggest them. Of course, he’s talking about the company as a whole, but really, we couldn’t give a rat’s arse about Windows Media Player or the Zune. We give rat’s arses about the gaming stuff. For starters, crap that works would be nice: my 360 charge pack died today (it no longer charges, it just literally hisses at me), not six months after buying it, which between a dead wireless headset and a broken 360 means that out of my first-party gear only my steering wheel remains unscathed. And that’s only because I haven’t used it since this. I don’t want to die in a fire.
What would you say to leaders of services at Microsoft? [Microsoft] More »
It’s a good thing Ashcraft wrote in last night’s report that the banning of some 23,000 Xbox Live accounts for taking advantage of a Call of Duty 4 beta exploit was “unconfirmed” because Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb says, quite clearly, that it’s not true. He writes in his Xboxy blog “We did NOT ban tens of thousands of folks yesterday as some are reporting.” More »
