Xbox Live’s Major Nelson released his weekly activity report for Xbox Live yesterday. I was a little surprised by some of the new entries making their way towards the top of the list. Two of the five games played on Xbox Live last week were actually just demos. Both the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and Aliens vs Predator demos did quite well, helping to knock FIFA 10 and Call of Duty 4 out of the top five.
Hit the break to see the top ten played games last week.
Microsoft’s Deal of the Week this week let’s you get your hands on Battlefield 1943 for 50% off. From now until February 22nd you’ll only have to fork over 800 Microsoft Points (around $10). It’s money well spent if you want to take a breather from Modern Warfare 2, Left 4 Dead 2, Bioshock 2 or any other great game that has a two in the title.
Besides, going kamikaze with a zero on unsuspecting enemy troops on the ground is a great way to find inner peace.
Click the link to get your hands on it: Add Battlefield 1943 to your Xbox 360 download queue
Major Nelson has posted the upcoming release schedule for Microsoft’s Xbox Live Marketplace. Most notable in the 50% price slash that ‘Splosion Man will be getting. The acclaimed platformer is well worth the 800 Microsoft Points, but it’s a steal at 400 Microsoft Points (or $5.00).
Other notable additions are DLCs for Assassin’s Creed II and Halo 3. Fans of Assassin’s Creed can also look for themed clothing in the Avatar Marketplace just for you. Hit the jump to see the full release schedule. Keep in mind that the dates are subject to change, like a dirty diaper.
It looks like even Major Nelson himself had a New Year’s resolution. Starting this week he will be releasing a bi-monthly (hopefully) schedule of upcoming DLC and other Xbox Live Marketplace release dates, making it easier for us to budget and circle the upcoming dates on our calendars. I’ve already got my eye on that January 26th release date for Dead Rising on Xbox Live Games on Demand.
The breakdown will include Deals of the Week, Xbox Live Games on Demand and even new Avatar Marketplace additions. Keep reading to see what we have to look forward to for the rest of this month.
Major Nelson has released Xbox Live’s top played and downloaded games of 2009. And not surprisingly it looks like Halo 3 was king of the hill.
There are other tid bits of interesting info to gather from the list though. Modern Warfare 2, which had only been out for less than two months before the year ended made the top three. Impressive. As a matter of fact, Activision walked away with having three out of the top five titles for the year. Although they were all Call of Duty titles.
Of course the king of Arcade titles last year was Battlefield 1943. Even if it’s launch was way less than picture perfect, it still ran away with the top honors by far. Castle Crashers and Trials HD rounded out the top three.
Keep reading to see the top 10’s in each Xbox 360 category.
News first broke out a couple of days ago that Halo Wars leaderboard data and rankings had mysteriously disappeared from Xbox Live. I didn’t want to report it then just in case it was only temporary to prevent unnecessary freaking out. Well, now it’s time to start freaking.
In a post on his personal blog yesterday Major Nelson confirmed the mishap and blamed it on “human error”. Due to this “human error’ all singleplayer, multiplayer, Trueskill leaderboards and matchmaking data is gone forever.
Yesterday on his personal blog Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb spoke up about Microsoft’s plans to roll out new advertising on it’s Xbox Live Dashboard using Silverlight. An announcement that has come under some fire from it’s subscribers.
“I’ve seen quite a bit of discussion today about how we’re bringing Silverlight ads to LIVE in the future. I need to let you know that you don’t need to worry about a huge influx of ads across the dashboard. One of our core principles is to enhance, not interfere with the gaming experience, and we work directly with our partners to only deliver experiences that are relevant to the LIVE community.
“Silverlight will help make those ads a more organic part of the dashboard, like we’ve done with some of the NXE slots in the past. No one on the team wants to turn the dashboard into something that looks like Shibuya Crossing. That’s just not good for anyone.”
With millions of people paying $50 a year for the service it’s a real disappointment to see Microsoft whoring out our dashboards to the highest bidder. I’m interested in seeing how they will use ads to enhance our gaming experience.
In keeping with his tradition of trying to keep cheating and glitching in check, Stephen Toulouse, Xbox Live’s main watchdog has just reset thousands of Gamerscores back to zilch. Zilch as in zero, as in too bad so sad. In an interview with Xbox Live’s Major Nelson he revealed the logic behind the Gamerscore wipeouts.
“A couple weeks ago … we did a Gamerscore reset pass on several Gears of War 2 players who had illegitimately toggled the ‘Level 100′ Achievement for a map pack that had just come out,” Toulouse then went on to say, ”Any time you earn an Achievement you don’t actually have to earn, that’s against the terms of use.”
There’s a lesson to be learned here kids: don’t do drugs. Or cheating is bad if you’re on drugs. Or something like that.
What do you guys think of the Gamerscores getting wiped out? Do you think the punishment is too harsh or do you agree with it?
Major Nelson announced today on his blog that Microsoft is going to release a limited edition console bundle in May. What will the bundle include you ask? Well you silly geese for $399 you can get your hands on a Xbox 360 Elite, and copies of Halo 3 and Fable II. That’s right they are giving you the games for free. Isn’t that special.
It’s actually a really good deal. You are getting an Elite console with two of the best titles out there. Save your pennies or rob a bank and get your hands on one next month!
Wow Microsoft I know times are tough but you are giving away a KIA? A friggin’ KIA!?
Yes that’s right. Major Nelson posted today details on Microsoft’s E3 giveaway extravaganza. It looks like you have to already have a valid Xbox Live account to enter but who doesn’t these days? And it even looks like they are giving you cash to help pay for the taxes on your new car (take that Oprah!). You’ll win a trip to LA, a bunch of Benjamin’s, a new home theater system complete with plenty of Xbox schwag, and a 2010 KIA. Wowies!
Head over and enter to win. Good luck!
