From Beta to Spring Cleaning

It's been a busy couple of weeks for the Xbox faithful. With final confirmation of the Halo® 3 beta, news on the Xbox LIVE® spring cleaning update, the new game mode for Gears of War®, and much more, the spring rush is very much alive. I'd like to take a few moments to examine just how these revelations relate to the gamer, and in some cases, how important they are to the future of gaming.

Clearing a capture point in Annex.

Annex Mode in Gears of War
There are a couple of important elements to the recent update for Gears of War. First, it's refreshing to see incremental upgrades for the biggest game yet to hit Xbox 360™. Even highly polished games can do with extra attention, and the idea that a game that ships to retailers is a foundation on which to build is an exciting one. This is an idea rapidly gaining steam throughout the industry.

More specifically, the added game mode called Annex fundamentally changes the way you play Gears of War. If you've moved on to other titles after a few months of playing Gears, I urge you to head back to the fold and give Annex a try.

Annex fundamentally changes
the way you play Gears of War.

This new game mode does away with one-and-done deaths, allowing you to respawn (based on a timer) again and again until the round is over. More importantly though, victory is no longer based on kills but instead on how long you can hold designated capture points. Capture points are based around weapon placement, for instance, capture and hold the Sniper Rifle location on Gridlock. This works brilliantly since even casual Gears of War gamers are largely familiar with weapon locations.

Annex mode is a major boon to the lifespan of Gears of War online and a perfect launching pad for releasing new maps.

New modes and maps will come to Rainbow Six Vegas too.

A Word on Spring Cleaning

Nearly a year ago, Microsoft announced plans to perform major updates to Xbox LIVE twice a year: once in the spring and again in the fall. Xbox LIVE is a constantly growing and evolving service, and growth is precisely what we need. Here are a few noteworthy highlights from the upcoming update:

• IM: The sexiest new feature is Windows Messenger compatibility on Xbox 360. While being able to send messages from your game system is sweet, the larger benefit is that those non-gaming friends and family can still stay in touch as they fire off messages from their PC to your Xbox 360.
• Achievement Clarity: I think I can safely say that the average gamer's reaction to seeing "Achievement Unlocked" is to tap the Guide button and see exactly what milestone they have reached, and more importantly to some, how many Gamerscore points they've netted. Now, text detailing each achievement will be displayed on-screen and in-game. Sometimes, it's the small changes that make all the difference.
• Playing Mid-Download: I don't know about you, but after about 75% of a movie or trailer has downloaded, I'm itching to hit the play button. Now you can. The ability to play video while it's still downloading is possibly the most welcome new upgrade of the update.
• Marketplace Blade: It was only a matter of time before the ever-expanding Xbox LIVE Marketplace outgrew its slot on the Xbox LIVE blade on the Dashboard. Now with its own blade, finding new content on Xbox LIVE Marketplace will require less menu navigation and be easier to use.

The four preceding features may be the most noteworthy, but there are loads of other upgrades. There's a lot to love about the coming update, from the Dashboard now identifying which game is in the DVD tray to finally being able to stream copy-protected Windows Media files from your Media Center PC, and even the auto-shutoff feature that activates when you're done downloading content.

Beta Caution
You can bet that come May 16, hordes of Halo fanatics will flood Xbox LIVE to participate in the fervently awaited Halo 3 multiplayer beta, and I will be one of them. As a long-time PC gamer though, I offer a word of caution to console gamers not familiar with the beta process.

It will only get better from beta to release.

The Halo 3 you will see in mid-May is by its very nature an incomplete product. Graphics, animation, map and weapon balance, all of these will be far more refined in the finished product than what you'll see in the beta. Bear that in mind before you rush off to a message board to chat about your first Halo 3 experience.

It seems that nary a week goes by without important Xbox 360 related news cropping up, and that can only be a good thing. The better news is that as April gives way to May, much of the news we greet now will already be reality. We won't have to talk about announcements as bullet points in a news story, but we'll be able to use those features on a regular basis. I can't wait.

Article by Ryan Treit