The Pensive Gamer

Posted 04/09/2007 @ 06:30:00 AM by Joseph Molnar Filed under: Media , The Weekly Curiousity , Xbox 360

The Xbox Live Video Marketplace is a convenient way to rent movies and my wife and I have noticed a nice increase in films that suit our tastes, including The Departed and Babel.

What we don't understand is the rental period. Once you start a movie you can watch it as often as you like over the next 24 hours. This time period is too short.

My wife and I generally start a film after we put our little one to bed. There have been a few times where we wanted to stop and continue the movie the next day. Since movies expire 24 hours after they start we would be unable watch the rest. Why not change it to something like 36 hours?

Yes some folks will abuse this but lending your Xbox 360 hard disk is a lot less convenient than lending someone a DVD rented from a brick and mortar store.

Posted 03/06/2007 @ 06:30:06 AM by Joseph Molnar Filed under: The Weekly Curiousity , Xbox 360 , Xbox Live Arcade

What is the Xbox Live Arcade Certification Process?

This question isn't ill intended; I'm aware of how difficult software certifications and releases can be. I am just curious since it is often referenced by Microsoft and XBLA developers and I think would help people understand what it takes to get software out the door. Plus, with the influx of indie game developers looking to get games published, I'm sure they would love to know prior to becoming a Registered Developer.

Posted 02/26/2007 @ 06:00:19 AM by Joseph Molnar Filed under: The Weekly Curiousity , Xbox 360

This one is short and sweet. Why are there ads in the Xbox 360 dashboard particularly when I pay $50 a year for my Gold Membership? I would love that to be a distinguishing difference between Silver and Gold.

Posted 02/19/2007 @ 06:00:00 AM by Joseph Molnar Filed under: The Weekly Curiousity

I find it amazing that Japan's console hardware and software sales numbers are reported on a weekly basis, yet here in North America they are released, with skepticism, monthly.

Japan's numbers are reported by a company called Media Create Co. Since I cannot read Japanese I have no idea if people trust the numbers, but in North America most web sites view the Japanese numbers as accurate.

North America's sales data comes from a company called NPD. According to this Kotaku article NPD receives data from roughly 60% of the US retailers. The rest, including data from Walmart, is projected.

How is it that Media Create Co is able to get this data and put it together so quickly? Are the Japanese retailers more willing to share and that much more advanced in their sales tracking systems?

Posted 02/12/2007 @ 06:00:00 AM by Joseph Molnar Filed under: The Weekly Curiousity

In blog comments or discussion boards people commonly refer to buying a console as an investment similar to how someone might refer to buying a house. I can't think of a single definition of investment that involves spending money with no return or spending countless hours without earning any coin. Now if you said you wanted to gold farm in World of Warcraft, that would be a different story.

Posted 02/05/2007 @ 06:00:00 AM by Joseph Molnar Filed under: Media , The Weekly Curiousity , Xbox 360

When the Xbox Live Video Marketplace went live in November last year there was little my wife and I were interested in. It wasn't until New Years Eve that we tried our first film, Superman Returns. Other than a long download (it is 7.1 GB), it worked well.

Now for those that don't know, movies on the Video Marketplace cannot be bought, just rented. You have up to two weeks to watch the film and once you start watching it you can watch it as often as you like in the following 24 hours.

This past week, however, I discovered my Superman Returns rental hadn't expired. It would appear neither of my 360s recognize the license being used (photo attached) but both are able to play the film without issue. I have tried it multiple times on multiple days. Yup, I have a movie I can watch whenever I like.

I'm not sure how prevalent the 'problem' is but the other movies I've downloaded have not suffered the same fate as Superman Returns. Anyone else seen this?

Posted 01/28/2007 @ 08:00:00 PM by Joseph Molnar Filed under: The Weekly Curiousity , Xbox 360

Welcome to the first entry of a weekly serial called 'The Weekly Curiousity'. In these posts we will present interesting, thought-provoking, unanswered or amusing 'things' we have come across related to gaming.

With that background behind us we present Weekly Curiousity #1:

Take a close look both at the Xbox 360 headset connector and the socket it plugs into on the controller. On the headset connector there are two plastic tabs, undoubtedly for stability, on either side of the audio jack. However, looking at the controller you can clearly see a total of 4 metal connectors where the plastic tabs go.

There is a Microsoft Knowledge Base article that calls this an expansion port for 'additional devices' (implying beyond a headset). I wonder if the port is USB compatible making the controller more-or-less a USB hub. Anyone try rigging up a standard USB keyboard to their controller and see what happens?

When will we see accessories that can take advantage of the expansion port and what will they be? Perhaps the pre-launch leak/rumour of an add-on keyboard may point to the first of such accessories.