XBL AND GAMING NEWS

matticus24

New member
Microsoft Will Improve the Headset Chat with the next XBL update.

The highest profile change coming with the next 360 dashboard update adds support for Kinect, but another, seemingly smaller change to Xbox Live is likely to tangibly improve the multiplayer experience for anyone on Live. Microsoft is (finally) improving the sound quality of its headsets this fall.

Jerry Johnson, Xbox LIVE Studios head, mentioned at Edinburgh Interactive Festival said, "We launched and we said we required broadband. We required a 64k connection, which not many people think of as broadband any longer. But that was the minimum requirement to run the service at the time. It's time for us to move on. Especially if we want to think about broadening - a crackly headset on the top of your head - not what people think of when they talk about popular entertainment."

How improved the compressed, distorted voices of other Live players will actually be remains to be seen, but it could hardly be worse: When I play multiplayer, it's like everyone sounds like whiny 11 year-olds.




Supreme Court to have Hearing on Violent Video Games

The Supreme Court will begin hearing a case this fall that could decide the fate of the entire video game world. Schwarzenegger vs. EMA (Entertainment Merchants Association) will go before US Supreme Court on November 2.

The case stems from a law passed in California that penalizes retailers for selling violent games to minors. So far, the courts have ruled the law unconstitutional, but the Supreme Court will ultimately decide, and if the Court decides in favor of the state of California, it essentially means that games are not protected speech under the Constitution. This is a bad, bad thing.

Does anyone else think it's ironic that Schwarzenegger, who made an entire career out of very violent movies would have his name attached to a bill that rules that another form of violent art isn't constitutionally protected?

Either way, the Court should issue it's ruling soon after arguments are complete.
 

XGC Traitor XC

Administrator
I'm glad they're working on the quality of headset chat. The bill, however, confuses me a bit. I live here in California, and most stores are already required to respect the ESRB rating. They actually carded a friend of mine when he bought CoD: MW2 because the clerk thought he was lying about being 18.

The irony isn't lost on me, but I'm more frustrated that the Governator is spending his remaining time in office attempting to pass this bill, that I don't think the state has the money to effectively regulate anyway, instead of trying to reverse the massive state debt. It's possible that he thinks that fining the retailers could bring some extra revenue for the state, but it's likely that parents who don't object to the violence will buy the games for their under-aged kids anyway.
 

SYN Sigma

New member
Supreme Court to have Hearing on Violent Video Games


The case stems from a law passed in California that penalizes retailers for selling violent games to minors. So far, the courts have ruled the law unconstitutional, but the Supreme Court will ultimately decide, and if the Court decides in favor of the state of California, it essentially means that games are not protected speech under the Constitution. This is a bad, bad thing.

Does anyone else think it's ironic that Schwarzenegger, who made an entire career out of very violent movies would have his name attached to a bill that rules that another form of violent art isn't constitutionally protected?

Either way, the Court should issue it's ruling soon after arguments are complete.

Lol. Talk about a biased article. Has the author considered that the reason he is opposed to the selling of violent games to minors is because he made violent movies? You know, as in he knows the effects of it all on minors? Think about that.
 

KoG Sassy Cat

New member
Sadly, Government Officials Or Anyone In Matter Of Fact That Has To Do With Business Or Government Is All Politics. Sadly Our Government In My Eyes Are Deceiving Us . But Thats Polotics
 

SiLeNt HuNtReSs

New member
Yay thank god. Hopefully people on XBL won't assume that I'm some British boy. I'm starting to get a little tired of explaining to them that I'm Australian and actually a grown woman lol
 

XGC Traitor XC

Administrator
Yay thank god. Hopefully people on XBL won't assume that I'm some British boy. I'm starting to get a little tired of explaining to them that I'm Australian and actually a grown woman lol

I will admit that, honestly, the two sound very similar at the moment, and I'm guilty of making that very same assumption. :rolleyes:
 

JimmyKuddo

New member
Yeah, I`ve known there were peoples voices that I could mistake for the wrong sex but I`ve only guessed wrong once online... I think. :confused:

As for shhwarts... I certainly see where they`re going and could give a flying duck as I am 22, without a child, and am not currently in retail.

Honestly, from a parents prospective, it at least slows or prevents a child from making a rash decision to buy Mature or Adult games without their parents consent.

But the rules are already in place without the punishment of failing.

This is just extra incentive to not fail, and though seemingly unnecessary, it has a point and the people behind it will push it until they pass it, or they give up and move on.
 

XGC CookeMnster

New member
GOOD on the headset quality and it is super Ironic that Arnold would put his name damaging and contradicting what he spent his whole like making. (Violence)
 
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