Xbox Live's Major Nelson's unofficial blog
I had a great time tonight on R&R Night...thanks to everyone who stopped by. I played Rainbow Six 3, Rallisport 2 (funny....I played RS3 and RS2) along with Links. Robert Scoble and I did a quick 18 holes. I was 1 under until the 15th hole when I sliced it into the brush....it took 5 hacks to get to the fairway. Oh well...it's R&R night..it's not about winning or losing, it's playing the game and hanging out with cool people.
In a sign that gaming is becoming main stream, check this article out on some players in South Korea that are pulling down good six figure incomes from playing video games. Maybe mom was wrong....and you can make a liviing out of this.
Looks like Xbox's are the hottest thing to steal in Oklahoma. Just a heads up to the midwestern folks not to but an Xbox through strangers.
LINK
A lot of folks in the community have asked about Downloadable Content...often referred to as DLC in the Xbox Live community. There is misconception that working for Xbox Live I know what content is coming out for the next 2 weeks or 2 months. Sorry…but I don't. Since Xbox Live is the service and we don't actually produce DLC (the game developers and publishers do that) we merely run the service to deliver that content to you. I often explain it like this: If you don't like who got thrown off the latest American Idol, you don't call up your local cable or satellite operator and yell at them…no…you call the TV Network. We are similar to the cable or satellite companies…we provide the system for content providers like game publishers to get their message to you. As such, I don't have a master list of what is coming up…the game developers don't share that with us until it's about to be released. Once I have 100% confirmation of a date / time of availability I post a note in the forums similar to this one on PGR2.
So, what is the best way for people interested in new DLC? Until we can get a better notification system in place…the best thing to do is sign up for an RSS feed of my blog. When new DLC is available, I'll post it here as well as the Xbox Forums…..but if you subscribe here you'll be notified almost immediately.
First you need to get an RSS reader and then you'll need to subscribe to my RSS feed
To follow conventional web styles...I added this image 
to the main page (over in the right column) to let people know that I do have an RSS Feed.
To Recap: Get an RSS Reader, subscribe to my RSS Feed and when I post notices of new DLC...you'll be right on top of it!
Right after I started on the Xbox Live team, I developed R&R Nights. This is program that is for the casual gamer, that likes to game online but does not want to get their butt kicked by an younger gamer who has more time to spend at gaming. If you are on Xbox Live Saturday night, be sure to look for R&R Games. Robert Scoble said he would be on in Links 2004. Not sure what I am going go play yet...but RS3 will probably be on the list.
But I read it on the internet...so it MUST be true.
You may have read on some sites that Bungie Studios / Halo 2 will charge $5 a month (or something like that) for clan support in the most anticipated game of the past two years: Halo 2
I walked over to Bungie (they are in the next building) and asked them...and after the blank stares..they said nope..that's not true. They also came out with a statement to de-bunk this as well.
I won't provide links to the sites that started this controversy, since they don't deserve links.
The game is due out November 9th, which will undoubtedly see the industrialized nations have a major reduction in productivity as folks "call in sick" that day..or the day after.
To do my part in decreasing world wide productively, here is a icalender reminder that you can download so you don't have to think about it.
Yea right...like you won't be thinking about it all summer.
I get this question a lot, so I figured I'd post a photo of my office Xbox rig.
The top two are standard retail Xbox's, while the bottom is a special developer box that allows me to run preview games. Some part of the picture have been blurred for security reasons :)
Click here to see what it looks like.
My co-worker, and all around good egg has linked Robert is pretty big in the blogging community, and a cool Xbox Live member :)
For all you folks coming over from Robert's blog...welcome. I know I don't have much here yet...but it's growing every day.
I have been playing Full Spectrum Warrior for the past week...very different game from most. You don't shoot anything...rather you give the command to shoot. This game is actually cool on Xbox Live, since you can go through the campaign in Co-op mode. Since there is an Alpha team and a Bravo team..it's suited for two players. I am not done yet, hopefully I'll finish this weekend.
I added a link to this blog to my Xbox forum profile...so it now shows up on all 2500 of my posts on the Xbox Live forums.
I can see from the logs that some folks have noticed, but not one has pointed this out in the forums...lets see how long it takes.
I finally got a blog. I have been really busy with the Xbox Live Forums and coming up with cool programming ideas like R&R Night, but I wanted to use this blog to reach other folks who are are not in the forums, may not be on Xbox Live and really have no idea who I am.
My Name is Larry Hryb aka Major Nelson, and I am the Xbox Live Director of Programming. (You can read an article on me on Xbox.com here: Who is Major Nelson.)
Ok, here is my disclaimer:
Since this is my first post here, I wanted to let you all know that this is an unofficial experiment. Most of what I post here will be unofficial. The server may not be up all the time, as it's not running on the same server as the forums or Xbox.com. Also, I may be playing with the blog's formatting etc...so it may not work sometime. Don't email me if it does not work, and don't post in the forums when things are not working...sometime they will...sometimes they won't...so deal with it.
This will be a place where I can post photos, like this one of the Xbox area at E3 last week:
Otherwise you'll see me talking about various items about Xbox, Xbox Live, the gaming industry...or whatever happens to cross my mind.
Let's see what happens with this blog, as I make no guarantees.
What:
Today (5/19) Bizarre and Xbox Live are releasing two downloads for Project Gotham Racing 2
1) The first download is a mandatory, free* auto update for PGR2.
2) The second download is optional, premium content download called the "Paris Booster Pack." The cost will be US$4.99
Note: This is a premium download. Please check the content downloader in PGR2 for specific pricing in your country.
Complete details of each download is below.
When:
The downloads will be available on May 19 after 11pm ET/8pm PT.
You may have the download available before this time, but everyone will have access to it by the time posted above. (or within a couple of hours)
If you don’t see the download right away don’t panic. Don’t post that you don’t have it yet. It will show up shortly. (or by two hours after the time above)
Where:
The downloads will be available to Xbox Live members in all countries that Xbox Live is sold.
Details on the downloads:
1) The PGR2 Autoupdate includes data for the following 8 cars, all of which can be test driven in the Showroom. The BMW M3 CSL can also be used in all on-line and some off-line games (Time Attack, Split Screen, System Link, and Showroom). This download is large and will likely take longer to download than previous autoupdates for other games.
New Cars:
• BMW M3 CSL (unlocked for use in all on-line and some off-line games)
• BMW 645Ci (available only in the Showroom)
• Chevrolet Corvette C6 Z51 (available only in the Showroom)
• Ferrari 250TR (available only in the Showroom)
• Ferrari 288 GTO (available only in the Showroom)
• Ferrari 365 GTS4 (available only in the Showroom)
• Porsche 356 A Carrera Speedster (available only in the Showroom)
• TVR Cerbera Speed 12, Xbox Live Special Edition in British Racing Green (available only in the Showroom)
2) The Paris Booster Pack is premium content and includes 7 routes in the city of Paris and keys for the remaining 7 cars from Autoupdate 1.0 for use in all on-line and some off-line games (Time Attack, Split Screen, System Link, and Showroom). This is also a large download
Paris Routes:
• Circuit Intérieur
• Avenue D'Iena
• L'Arc de Triomphe
• Les Monuments Célèbres
• Elysées Challenge
• Les Deux Ponts
• Le Circuit Complet
Unlocked Cars:
• BMW 645 Ci
• Chevrolet Corvette C6 Z51
• Ferrari 250TR
• Ferrari 288 GTO
• Ferrari 365 GTS4
• Porsche 356 A Carrera Speedster
• TVR Cerbera Speed 12, Xbox Live Special Edition in British Racing Green
Thanks for using Xbox Live!
*Additional connect charges from your ISP may be involved
What the heck is this XML thing?
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Everything in life has a disclaimer, so here is mine: Even though I work for Microsoft, not everything accurately reflects the views of my employer, my management, my co-workers, or is even true. So, little I say here is "Microsoft policy". The postings on this site are provided"AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights
