August 16th 2009 11:27 pm PT

Thanks Major!

We “discsuss” the latest Xbox 360 system update?

Sweet. =]

Are you still addressing tenure problems? If I have already posted in the Xbox forums, is there any other place that can help resolve the issue?

18004MYXBOX support technicians had no clue what tenure was.

Cool,

I’m at the Games on Demand part… Will you be addressing the bullshit of the pricing? In Canada, CoD2, yes, the second Call of Duty, is $39.99. Mass Effect is $29.99. I can buy Mass Effect for $14.99 and CoD2 for $15.00, maybe less.

Thanks for posting the show Major.

*Lower The Avatar Prices!*

If you agree, copy and paste.

Change motto to “Lower Avatar Prices!” to further spread the message.

*Lower The Avatar Prices!*

If you agree, copy and paste.

Change motto to “Lower Avatar Prices!” to further spread the message.

————————————————————————-

Agreed – Prices are out of control… 160pts MAX The people who buy the crap that’s more expensive are straight up tools.

The Games on Demand is also way out of line in pricing… The only reason why I’d buy any of these is because I have 2 360′s and I can buy 1 digital copy on one box, and play on another, allowing my GF to play the original purchase on the 1st box while I play on the 2nd… It’s like 2 copies of the game… I have over 80 arcade titles because of this…

I have a question about avatars, is there still be free clothes update like before or it’s over?

One thing I’d like to see sometime is the ability to download games for free off of XBL if we own the game. Like my COD4 disc won’t read the last chapter, so I’m screwed out of 3 achievements unles I buy the game again. Installing it myself fails as well. No clue why, the disc is in perfect condition and all other games work fine. I’d like the ability to download it for free, and have it act like a regular game install, prompting for the disc every time I want to play. I don’t see any legal problems if it requires the disc every time like a normal install does.

I wonder if you guys read these comments…

Hey Major Nelson. Nice podcast, I’m listening to it right now.

When will Microsoft add more content to the Avatar Marketplace?
I’m ready to buy more stuff!

A Sonic doll would be cool, or an Energy Sword from Halo.

*Lower The Avatar Prices!*

If you agree, copy and paste.

Change motto to “Lower Avatar Prices!” to further spread the message.

Trials HD or Splosion Man? What should I get?

I hope you discussed about GoD prices. They are ridiculous.

Wow, you guys act like we are not in a recession. Buying mad unnecessary content like “Avatar clothing”??? I think the free clothing is good enough.

Good show,Nice podcast A+++

Major, be careful, your wife might hear your flirting with lollip0p

I like CookieCups!!

“I like the parties where I go in and it sounds like a library!” LMAO!

I wish she could stay.

The show got lame when Cookiecups left.

I like how you guys never discuss why there is a 100 person cap on the friend’s list.

@IconicSoulJA
The answer is Halo 2

. . . any free avatar stuff?

Don’t mind paying just want to know. I would like to see more formal/ business wear as well.

(would pay for that actually . . .)

one thing, I would love for microsoft to do is to make the avatar share the new clothing or props like they do with the regular clothes. I have my account and my daughters account; and I think it’s a little too much to put points for me and my daughter when it’s on the same console. When I go to memory and see avatar items it only shows one cotton swab and one eye patch. That’s why I try not to buy repeated stuff, but my daughter had to have at least 2 things identical. I think it’s a little too much to put money in both accounts when it’s in the same console.

Thanks for clearing that up about Friends List and Halo 2. I thought to myself….why micsoft would do such a thing!

if you people have 100 friends…this is not myspace mkay?

Did I miss it, whats the deal of the week?

@JoJo.

I like how you joined my initiative but you already wasted like $8 on Avatar stuff.

Great show guys….More is always good.

@Daz
“Deal of the Weak”:
Halo 3 Splatter Spree Theme (Premium) for 160 instead of 250… LOL!

e’s Wikipedia article used to say that he was a “Joe the Plumber lookalike.” I should know; I deleted that.

Also, I like Cookiecups’s accent. Where is she from originally?

The Avatar Red Ring of Death is awesome! It’s actually the Halo 3 laser kill ring, but I can see where they were going with that!

I was having some difficulty with streaming… couldn’t pause or go forward/back for some reason.

and i’m pretty sure I was able to listen to the whole thing but I didn’t catch where they talked about the best selling avatar items?

Just curious.. (i’m a bit nerdy for statistics)

okay wow… just started restarted streaming and there is a HUGE chunk that I missed in the beginning! and that part was in that section.

Yo Yo Eastside represented!

Hopefully the Kathleen Sanders and the Indie people will let Tero Virtala play the indie games too. We dont get them here!

-the

@JoJoStarFire: One of my guess it’s because it would be easier to get free clothing even if you are not on the same console… Some dudes will recover their account on another console with props, and all they would have to do is to share them, and then return to their own console. And then Voilà! Free “illegal” props.

@warlost

It could work just like the Arcade Games do.

Where everyone on the original console&hdd that the game was purchased on has access

And also…

when the person takes their tag to a different xbox or takes their hdd to another xbox the game ONLY works with their Gamertag signed in.

Something like this is really important in a multiple gold account household like mine.

Seems pretty simple to me. I am really hoping for a change in the way they handle the male/female options. Since almost every item has a male/female version. Buying one should unlock the other, IMHO.

*Lower The Avatar Prices!*

If you agree, copy and paste.

Change motto to “Lower Avatar Prices!” to further spread the message.

Major, I’m currently in no position to listen to the MP3 itself, but looking at the time-table you posted, I wanted to say thank you. I liked the shift in topic this time around, and am glad some games from smaller publishers got some air time. I don’t expect the show to be “100% obscure gems, 100% of the time”, but I appreciate that they’re getting more coverage. Thank you!

@PsychoFemm

Ah!! I didn’t know about XBLA Titles! Thank’s for the info!

>> cid=MajorNelson&partner=MajorNelson

Okay, stupid question, but do you get an affiliate kickback, Major? I mean those CentraComm bills ain’t nothing, right? It just makes me wonder if there will be a proper affiliate program for marketplace.xbox.com.

Report: Xbox 360 Failure Rate Reaches 54%
New survey says Microsoft’s Red Ring of Death contines to rise.
by Jim Reilly

August 17, 2009 – If your Xbox 360 hasn’t broken down yet or suffered from the dreaded red ring of death, then consider yourself pretty lucky.

A new survey published in Game Informer’s print edition indicates the Xbox 360 failure rate has climbed to a shocking 54.2%. The magazine surveyed nearly 5000 readers, asking them about their experience dealing with broken consoles.

Here are their findings:

Console failure rate

Xbox 360 – 54.2%
Playstation 3 – 10.6%
Wii – 6.8%

Percentage of console owners who suffered a second hardware failure after the original repair.

Xbox 360 – 41.2%
Playstation 3 – 14.7%
Wii – 11%

Percentage of people who rate their customer service experience “very helpful”

Nintendo – 56.1%
Sony – 51.1%
Microsoft – 37.7%

Percentage of respondents whose friends have had console hardware failures.

Xbox 360 – 69.9%
Playstation 3 – 12.4%
Wii – 6%

The magazine also makes a few notes about their results:

The reason the Wii has the lowest hardware failure rate could be because console is played the least of the three. 41.4% of Wii owners surveyed said they play the console less than one hour a day, meanwhile the majority of Xbox 360 (40.3%) and Playstation 3 (37%) owners say they play their console on an average of three to five hours day.

Also, only 3.8% of respondents said they’d never buy another Xbox system because of the failure rates.

How have your experiences been?

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/101/1014486p1.html

Well, I have not listened to the podcast yet, but it looks to be another great episode among many. I love the updated functionality of the dashboard, especially the new Netflix features, but the prices for games on demand are way too high and do not seem to observe the economic principle of supply and demand. Given the already annoying side effects of digital licensing, particularly given the 360 failure rate (I have had to send mine in twice since launch)I am not eager to drop full retail price on digital copies that I can only access on my hard drive. If, for example, I wish to play an old but very good game like COD2, I will simply order it for 14.99 from newegg.com with free shipping. In a couple of days, I will have a brand new retail copy of the game on a DVD that I can take with me anywhere and play on any Xbox 360 console. If I choose to download the same game on my 360, it will cost me 19.99 and I can only play it on my console or else I will have to download it again on a new console while logged into Xbox Live. I would download the game for 10 dollars as that would be a good value. With it’s current structure, the pricing system for Games on Demand will not encourage customers to drop cash on digital downloads. All of the games need to be heavily discounted, at least 50%, if Microsoft hopes to enjoy any type of decent purchase rate. At the very least, there should be a “deal of the week” where one or more Games on demand are offered for half off or more. As a long time customer of Microsoft, the Xbox and Xbox Live, I have invested a lot of money on previous downloads for well done arcade games and additional content. Without a huge pricing makeover, however, I will not be dropping any change on games on demand. As an alternative, Microsoft can keep the current pricing structure and ship me a DVD copy of any game that I purchase for download. I am not one to complain, but Microsoft needs to recognize that we are in a recession and stop charging bull market prices for goods. In any event, I wish them luck with Games on Demand, but I remain disappointed at this time.

Daniel

I don’t mind paying money for games, movies or DLC; but this “micro” transaction system is a failure for us consumers and hopefully M$. We’re already paying subscription fees M$, how about not charging us for themes, gamer pics and avatar clothing. These are all advertising items!! Since when has it become acceptable to charge the consumer to see advertising? This is shameful greed.

I will not pay a cent for any of this nonsense.

Also, the Games on Demand prices are a joke. Mass Effect for AUD$99 (US$83) – are you guys high? Who is the clown that came up with that? Do you get Real Estate agents to do your pricing?

nice show major….i loved the part with the xbox live message “hey dude”….i was just laughing…pretty cool…to bad that u guys didnt talked about the prices…they are really high. If the games would be a lot cheaper i would use the feature but i have to pass cuz i can get those games much cheater

@ warlost

Not a problem… Took us a minute to figure out exactly how it works.

This is extremely helpful when playing games that I feel should have an option for local/live multiplayer simultaneously (Worms 1 & 2, WOTB Commandos 3)

I would SERIOUSLY love to see how many MS points I’ve spent since I’ve been on Xbox Live. I know I can look at the past year.

But I want to see my total spending for the WHOLE 6 years I’ve been on Live. Oh Man I’m sure it’s a TON! I’ve bought a lot of 4000 pt cards and 1600 Cards and the oh-so-easily-accessible press “X” to add points option… Genius.

It would probably Shock me to see it all added up. you just don’t think about it when everything you buy is $5… $10… $15 bucks.

Another good show Major.

I hate to say it but the Trials HD interview was really quite bad. Nothing to do with your interviewing, the guy was simply boring. I have never skipped any portion of your show (or any other show for that matter) until today.

I spent the time I would have been listening to the interview thinking about whether or not you would consider cutting out an entire interview if it was really bad.

Oh well…the rest of the show was everything I expect from you and your…ahem…team

Nice to see a tiny bit of Indie Games/XNA love this week. I really wish you would add some kind of Indie Games related feature to each episode. Maybe an Indie Game pick of the week or something like that. Just give us Indie Game developers a little love since we are getting very little from anyone at Xbox outside of the XNA Team.

When will the avatar awards be available?

I would love so much to meet the team ! Sad to be so far !

I dug hearing David Axelrod as your background music. If only more podcast producers had similar taste in music. If only.

Also, thanks for the great Trials HD interview. I absolutely love games where you can endlessly improve your skills (big fan of the Skate series … of course, being an actual skateboarder made than inevitable) and I was glad to hear the developer discuss that aspect of the game. As I’ve already played the demo to death, it’s definitely time for me to snatch up some points for the full game.

Hmm interesting… rumors crashing. I’ve made an update for the french community I think it’s a good thing, in this kind of case, to add to the show. Rumor goes so fast (in this case we have the name of the dealer ^^)