I can’t figure this one out:

My kids are out of school for the Summer and I want to keep them entertained. As you all know my kids are gamers (just like their Dad). Recently they are really enjoying the Arcade titles that MS has been releasing. I, as a parent, don’t mind purchacing them because I get to play them as well. However, now there are issues with who gets the 360 when Dads home.

Solution:

Buy another 360! Right? Hmmm… It’s not that clear-cut. If I have a second console for my kids; then what happens to all the Arcade games I own? Do I call MS everytime I buy a game now to let them know my other gamertag isn’t getting it? Do I purchace each game twice for the same household? Do I recover my Gamertag each time I go to my kids console? Do I really wan’t to bother with any of these choices?

I know that this may seem trivial but:

Itunes lets me share my music througout the home. I can rent a DVD from Blockbuster and any set with a player can watch it. Even TIVO lets me leap-frog my programs to other TIVO players. GAMEtap lets you have up to six accounts. So why do we have to hop through hoops to play TMNT?

With all of these issues I am really pondering telling the Kids that paying for one account and one game at a time is enough. If anyone can tell me an antidote for this please clue me in. I will discuss it on the next cast. Keep in mind I don’t want to make a phone call, re-download my gamertag, or do anything that takes real effort to play a game I’ve already paid for. I think buying two consoles with two GOLD memberships tied to the same VISA card is proof enough that I have the right to play the game no matter where I am sitting.

Now a couple weeks ago when the new dashboard update came out, one of the things that MS was touting was the brand spanking new Marketplace blade that was added to the dashboard. The new blade allowed Xbox users to quickly find the newest TV shows, Movies, Themes, Picture Packs, game downloads and more. But with all this content available one thing in particular seemed to have been forgotten or neglected a little bit. And what has been neglected you ask, its anything free. And in this case the users of Xbox Live and the Marketplace are speaking. Here at XBL Radio we have talked about this on our podcast and on our Video Minute and now it seems that the average joe is asking for it too. MS what we want is a quick and easy way to find items that are available for free on the Marketplace. We want a link, or button, that lists all free content, the same way there is one that shows us the top download movies, or newest downloadable content for our games. So what is it going to take? Is it going to take a few hundred people to add there gamertag to this link in your forums? Is it going to take other websites joining in spread the word? Now this can not be to hard to add a shortcut the Marketplace blade, its has to be a whole lot simpler them growing our friends list or adding group chat. So Microsoft if your truly listening to the community, please let us know what your going to do.

What ever happened to Downloadable Content being included with the game you bought? I know that now we are in the Next Generation of gaming; but is it actually better for us gamers? I remember the days of old. Going into your local gaming store, browsing through the kiosks to read the back of the box on titles you were interested in. On the bottom corners, of the prospect games, you would see Xbox Live Leaderboards, one to two players, and Downloadable Content. All made my decision easier. All made the game more enticing. However this article refers to the latter. Downloadable Content.
The words Downloadable Content now have a new meaning between the Xbox and the 360. Now the meaning implies you need to pick up one of those Marketplace Point cards. In days past it meant that the publisher would make sure the game had longevity. It was one of the many things that made the purchace easier. Just like in p.c. gaming, you knew that your purchace would include the ability to go past the game. Here is how xbox.com describes Downloadable Content today. Either read below or see for yourself.

Notice how MS emphasizes that most Downloadable Content is free. If you compare the playable content I am not convinced. With games coming out and Downloadable Content release within the launch window, of the title, it seems that Downloadable Content is a cash cow for many game producers and MS. It doesn’t bother me that there is monies to be made. I don’t want to see the end of Downloadable Content. I just miss the days when it meant that the Games I bought wanted to keep my interest. Now they want to keep my allowence. Perhaps the games need a new identification on the back of the box:

“MS Points needed to enjoy the entire game”

Yes! You heard that right! It was supposed to arrive tomorrow, but made it to the marketplace today. The download will cost you 2,400 Microsoft points ($30) and 1 Gig of space on your harddrive. Good luck finding an MS Point Card that high.

Can you believe this? A thirty dollar Marketplace download? Let’s hope EA’s not taking notes, ’cause this could be the start of a mess not even Major would want to clean up.

*Note, you must go to all downloads, then Oblivion to find this download. If you go to newly released, it will not show up.
So what are you waiting for? Go get it now!

http://on10.net/Blogs/tina/xbox-profile-xbl-radio-and-planet-xbox-360-podcast/

I (Tina Wood) sit down with Nelson Rodriguez otherwise known as “don corgon” who produces and hosts the Planet xbox 360 podcast. And Steve Artlip a.k.a. “steve519″ who does a podcast at xblradio.com. We are really striving to bring some focus on to awesome community folks here at Microsoft and these guys are dedicated not because they have to be but because they want to be.

It looks like this week the winner of the voting is GOW. And by a pretty good margin so we will be playing it once again. If you would like to join our awesome community of gamers just go here in our forums for the info of how to join us. We have a XBL Radio gaming night every Saturday night at 7pm pacific and 10pm eastern. Now I had one person ask me why GOW every week, so I figured I would address is here, we leave the voting up to you guys, the gamers. Its simple, whatever gets the most votes we will START off playing. That does not mean we will not play other things as well, but that just says we will start off playing that. Like tomorrow night, we will start off in GOW but we will probably get a little time in Rainbow Six or Burnout Revenge as well. So join us Saturday in our gaming night, it will be an awesome time with a bunch of causal gamers, (we are not hardcore, just a bunch of people trying to have a fun time). And mid next week, be sure to visit our forum to vote on next weeks game, especially if GOW isn’t your thing (I’m voting on GRAW and PGR next week).

So I hope to see you all there Saturday and maybe the weeks following that as well.