No 2008 Spring Dashboard Update, New DRM System, Removal of XBLA GamesDate: Friday, May 23 @ 01:43:59 UTC It appears what everyone has been waiting for (the 2008 Spring Update) is canceled, A New DRM system is on its way, and Poorly rated and downloaded Xbox Live Arcade Games can be removed, and a new Microsoft owned (first party) studio is being created to create original Xbox Live Arcade Games  It appears the rumored 2008 Spring Dashboard Update has been put to rest as a Microsoft Rep speaking to Next Generation has said that there will be no spring dashboard update this year. Hopefully the Items on this list will make it to the fall update because there are a lot of good ones! Here is what he had to say: Question: Last year Xbox 360 owners got a spring dashboard update in early May. It's now late May and you still haven't announced anything regarding this year's update. Should 360 owners be holding their breath for it? We have taken a different approach this spring and spent a lot of our time and resources of building the proper infrastructure and scale for the service not just today but also into the future. So while most users will not notice any significant changes to the dashboard this spring, I can tell you that the team will be releasing a new digital rights management (DRM) tool next month that will allow you to better consolidate your licenses for downloaded content to a single Xbox and allow you the freedom to be able to play your content both online and offline. Pretty interesting as the xbox is known for semi-annual updates, It looks like it will be just Annual Mega updates from now on. But some good news is now you can re-license your content with the new DRM tool coming next month Question: There have been some high profile complaints on the web about how difficult it is to transfer things like XBLA game licenses to replacement 360s in the wake of an under warranty hardware failure. Would these changes to DRM policy address these issues, letting people who have experienced such failure re-license their purchases on their new Xbox so they don't have to be connected to Live to play? Are there any other sorts of changes to DRM policy being made here that would affect the end-user experience? Yes, this new tool will officially launch next month on Xbox.com and will allow you to be able to consolidate these licenses onto one box so you can access things like Xbox LIVE Arcade games and TV show you have downloaded even if you are not online. Because this involved allowing users to re-download licenses for content that belongs to our partners it has taken some time to work out the agreements with them to allow this, but we have heard the concerns from folks about DRM and are happy to announce that everything is nearly in place to roll this out in June. This should be good news for all xbox gamers who have had to send their box to Microsoft for repairs to find their downloaded content didn't work. Expect to see the tool release sometime in June. It also appears in the interview that Microsoft will be going for a more quality over quantity of releases for Xbox Live Arcade Games, and Will be removing bad selling and reviewed games. Question: What would qualify a title for delisting? Would Microsoft choose titles for delisting, or would the publisher or content creators be involved in the decision as well? Are there any titles currently on the Marketplace we can expect to be delisted in the near future? The way it will work is that the title will need to be at least 6 months old and have a Metacritic score below 65 and a conversion rate below 6% on the service. This way titles are not just considered if they are not selling well or not getting good reviews, but actually a combination of both. We will also give a three-month notice before delisting any title. Overall I think you will find this will focus the catalogue more on larger, more immersive games and make it much easier to find the games you are looking for. Interesting, so you have three months to grab those poorly reviewed games once they are announced they are being removed. It also appears Microsoft is making an Xbox Live Arcade Game Studio so maybe we will see a Halo, or even Viva Pinata XBLA game very soon. Question: Can you explain a little bit more about the background of the new 1st party studio? Well the main idea behind the concept is to invest deeply in developing original content that will be compelling and exclusive to Xbox LIVE. This is a place where we’ve redoubled our commitment and I’m putting both dollars and people behind new games that push the quality and the bounds of the system. Wish I could share more today, but definitely stay tuned on this, as we have some very exciting things in the works including some big original XBLA games we will be announcing soon. So quite a few major announcements from one little interview. Be sure to check back into 360-Hq for more info as it is released! For The Full interview follow the News Source Link News Source: Next Generation |
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