The

[HektikLyfe]

We WERE told about Live and the .com being down. There were numerous e-mails, Podcasts (Major Nelson) and messages spreading the word about the down time.

Granted they went over their time and it didn't come back online as smoothly as we would wish.

But we WERE told.
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[Steve519]

does major nelson reach everyone? and I check I recieved no emails.

ya I did know about it before but most people did not
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[Wickedneoq]

Allow me to introduce myself, I'm a MySpace blogger who responded initially as Ponza ([Eh]Wicked), but my gamertag is Wickedneoq (Feel free to send hate mail about my ridiculously sounding GT).

In response to Steve:

I still have to bear down and listen to some episodes of XBL Radio; I've been told it's a great show. My apologies for some ugly grammar in the posted comments back there (maybe a spelling error or two also). This is just my take on the situation at hand. I don't mean to sound offensive or fanboyish, it's just at one time, I wanted to get in on this gaming business, and somewhere inside me I still do. I only have problems dealing with the way people act, when it comes to Marketplace or Upgrades or anything that people typically have issues with.

I think Microsoft has a right not to say anything to its customers about service upgrades until they're done. In case people use "Freedom of speech" as an argument here, then MS is using freedom of silence. Upgrades are upgrades, unless you're an Insider, you shouldn't be allowed to know until the upgrade is complete.

(The upgrades are helpful, a surprise, and being widely accepted by many people as a necessity, but when you think of the logic of it, they would have had to take Live down to bulk up the security required. Buying MSP from the .com site? That's actually a bit scary if someone found out your Passport password and drained your credit card dry.)

Nickel and Diming? Wow, get ready for a whole load of that s*** then. If you don't want something, don't get it. I'll tell it like it is: I work in grocery retail, and I talk shop to EB Games clerks all the time. You might think that's two different realms all together, but very soon, once all of next-gen comes out and the nickel and diming becomes fierce, get ready to see complaining from all system owners. It's the new craze, Mizuguchi himself said it's great for small gaming companies like his to get going, and it's the way people are turning to to get their fix. It goes hand in hand with something everyone knows about: Supply and Demand (damn, that rhymed...). They'll only supply the goods if people demand it. If people don't want it, it gets pulled, plain and simple. It's only Nickel and Diming if the consumer actually buys the product.

People are using Nickel and Diming out of context. In no way shape or form is any company FORCING us to buy what they offer. Here's the definitions of Nickel and Diming:

1. To harass or annoy with petty demands or for trivial reasons; specifically, to insist on minor concessions in a negotiation.
2. To weaken or impair gradually or by small steps; as, to be nickel-and-dimed into bankruptcy by the operating overhead. [informal]

Are we finding new game content ANNOYING? Oh no! Stop the presses! People don't want new stuff to play on their favorite games because they're getting annoyed by it? OR "Please, sir, share some MSP... Marketplace and Live Arcade have made me poor, now I can't buy *insert random download nobody will want* because I'm short by X points..."

Also, this Lumines Live thing has almost nothing to do with Microsoft. The microtransactions are Mizuguchi's doing: Of anyone, blame him for pulling this EA-style crap nonsense. The man loves making music-oriented games, he used to work at Sega until his studio got merged into Sonic Team and he left the company. He's trying to get his new studio off the ground (Q? Entertainment), like any independant developer would.

So then comes the argument of "Why's all of this retro s*** on Marketplace then? It's run by Konami, Namco and Capcom!" My idea is that those companies are using us for marketing data. Maybe Konami wants to bring big names to the 360! If people buy their small games, maybe those same people will buy their larger offerings. (Wishful thinking, but why was Hideo Kojima at the Xbox 360 Briefing in Tokyo?) I actually LIKE some of the retro stuff. (Wish I never bought Time Pilot, glad I didn't buy Scramble...REALLY glad I bought Pac-Man!) Am I enjoying what these companies are doing? Yes, but I'm not buying into all of what they give, because some of it doesn't interest me. It shows that they are giving their talents to a system that they haven't really paid enough attention to, because it was built across the ocean from them.

Microsoft competition right now is clearly Sony, and MS knows that Sony is number 1 in the console business. They want to take down the man up top, even if it means possibly helping the guy in 2nd place, which is Nintendo. By this time next year, we'll see how the war progresses, but I can assure you this: Every system will piss its own customers off at least once in Q1 2007. MS is simply getting those pressing matters out of the way while they still can. As for the microtransactions and people feeling ripped off? SCE showed us their version, it's called Gran Turismo HD. Nintendo showed us theirs, it's called Virtual Console. Let the rhetorical fk'ing begin!

Now let's try a fake example of why I get so angry about the whiners:

[Steve519]

nick·el-and-dime (nĭk'əl-ən-dīm') Informal.
adj.
Involving or paying only a small amount of money: a nickel-and-dime job.
Minor; small-time: “a nickel-and-dime operation run out of a single borrowed room” (New York).

v., nick·el-and-dimed or nick·eled-and-dimed, nick·el-and-dim·ing or nick·el·ing-and-dim·ing, nick·el-and-dimes or nick·els-and-dimes.

v.intr.
To spend very little money.

v.tr.
To drain or destroy bit by bit, especially financially: nickel-and-dimed the project to death.
To accumulate in small amounts: “nickel-and-diming a substantial bankroll together” (Newsweek).
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[Steve519]

for a perfect example of this look at lumines live, you pay 15 dollars for the game, BUT its not the full game, instead they will give you a little more for 5 more dollars but that still isn't the full game BUT you can still get a little more for 5 more dollars. That is what nickel and diming is in a pure and simple form

And I'm sorry to say this but MS doesn't have say in the pricing because no matter who is putting out the game it is MS's image on the line and if they fell that it will hurt there image they won't all it to happen.
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[Wickedneoq]

You bought a 360. You must have money. If you think you're being nickel-and-dimed, and you're ACTUALLY doing it, then you need to admit something...
YOU'RE ADDICTED TO MARKETPLACE!

With posting that definition yourself, Steve, you've actually just lost your argument. The only bit that helps your argument is the adjective form.

Involving or paying only a small amount of money

Okay, so with Lumines Live - of which a large quantity of the money earned from sales goes back to the developer, considering the publisher, in this case Microsoft, can only suggest costs of products - is a nickel-and-dime job. What you're suggesting is that gaming companies, like the very small Q Entertainment (and Tetsuya Mizuguchi), are nickel-and-diming us. Its exactly what Sony and Nintendo are ALSO going to be doing with their first-party lines of downloadable content.

For nickel-and-diming to work, Steve, the transaction must happen. You've taken the informal phrase out of context. If you believe that "Image is Everything" conspiracy theory, you really need to think that everyone has that idea in their heads, Sony and Nintendo included. But if Sony truly believed "Image is Everything", the PS3 would have SEIZED TO EXIST AFTER E3.

I'll tell you about this Lumines Nickel-and-Diming... and how RETARDED people are to let it happen to them. The Missions and Puzzles are crap, pure unadulterated crap. The Warner Music package with Madonna? Hype. The Advance Pack that I bought? A bunch of extra skins, which really is kinda cool, but not required to enjoy the gameplay. The Versus CPU pack? Might actually be decent, but we have online and offline 2-player mode for that!

Must I repeat myself? The transaction must happen for it to be nickel-and-diming, plain and simple. If you need to manage your money better, then just stop purchasing MSP.
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- Member #25 at MyGamerCard.net
- http://www.myspace.com/ponza Read my blogs too: they're controversial, yet hilarious

[Steve519]

i actually did not buy lumines nor many other things on the market place
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[big j]

[racingfreak92]

But lumines is not an arcade game it was just released on arcade. The arcade is like Steam. Imagine if lumines came out with everything($30 though arcade). If it had packageging and such it would cost more
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Head over to http://www.bowbender.net/forum/ and talk about oblivion

Lumines is amazing and you know it. Now stop complaing about the extra content and buy it already!

[big j]

[lostman1970]

I bought lumines and am glad I bought it. A bit pricey, but i like the gameplay. It is addicited. Not enough to make me buy the advanced pack because I'm fine with what I got.

Oh btw, welcome to the boards, Wickedneoq! Your post is extremely well written and is a breath of fresh air after some of the spam/trash we had to endure a couple weeks back!!
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<<<------ Note the gamertag changed

My Xbox360's Blog

[Wickedneoq]

No problem, I like a good debate. Lumines is a wonderful game, especially when at 1200 MSP, you get access to all 200 of the available GamerScore, the Leaderboards, and Multiplayer Modes. All the power to you then. I love some of the Advance pack skins, but I really suck at the game. Getting better by watching the 60 sec Time Attack Videos.
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- Member #25 at MyGamerCard.net
- http://www.myspace.com/ponza Read my blogs too: they're controversial, yet hilarious