If you check out Major Nelson’s recent podcast (#199)� he has a special co-host, Xbox Operations Director,� “E“.� E was the head hancho in charge of the Xbox Live maintenance on Tuesday, 10-17.� They discuss in detail about what happend that day as well as the� following days.� They� explain why they needed more time and cleared up alot of the questions for those of us that demanded answers.

“I want all of our customers to understand that
everyone gave it their absolute all and at the
same time we realized that wasn’t good enough
and I promise you we’re gonna do better.”
-Xbox Operations Director, E

What features did we get out of all this mess?� We can now redeem prepaid cards, add Microsoft Points and even access the parental controls right on the xbox.com website!� Now how cool is that?

So are the new features worth the extra 2 hours passed the promised time and� the bumpy 24 hours that followed?� I think so.� Did they promise they’ll never pass a deadline again?� Of course not.� Who would be bold enough to promise that?� Did the apologies sound sincere?� Yes.� So we’ll have to wait for the next Xbox Live Shutdown to judge their performances.� We are human (Yes, even Microsoft employees too).� Depending on how old you are, you may know by now that not everything goes as planned and if it never fails, it never fails every time.� Untill then, game on.

-Rust.

Xbox.com has a new personality.� Brian “Brize” Johnson aka…

� �

It seems� that� Microsoft is taking yet another step to target an audience to subliminally persuade them to buy a 360.� Now with that low blow out of the way; I would also like to say that no matter what console these parents end up buying, Gamer Dad over at xbox.com looks very promising and should end up a top recommendation for dads (and moms) subjected to our gaming society.

I have kids that play video games, and I feel
like it’s important to share the actual experience.

-Brian Johnson

Brize (Xbox Live Gamertag) will write articals about Playing Together, Family Settings, Game Time, Game School (Consoles 101� for parents-which is a great idea)� and maybe even some Game Reviews.� The Xbox Staff has wisely chosen a� new memeber who is no stranger to writing, as� Johnson co-wrote Xbox 360 for Dummies. Instead of telling you what you should do, Brian plans to be objective and enlightning while sharing his experiences in his writings.

Welcome Brize!� We look fwd to picking apart your articals from time to time.� See ya on LIVE.

-Rust.

On Oct 17, next week, Xbox live and Xbox.com will be down and I know right now your saying ya we already know that but if you go to xbox.com they have an article about what you can do while its down, and number 5 on the list is “Listen to Xbox podcasts” and non other then XBL Radio is listed there on the page!!� Now how cool is that.� So be sure to check it out the list by clicking here and be sure to tell your friends also to check us out because that is what the article says.

Hey everyone, I’m going to write a REAL article soon about what has been done, what is going to be done and what should be done to help protect kids online and what parents should know and what they can do.

But I wanna know what you wanna learn about this subject or if you have any ideas about what can help.

So please fill me in with questions, comments or concerns.� I’m planning to also be getting a hold� of MS about this so if you have ideas or questions for them let me know and I will do what I can.

You can discuss this here or in our forums at this topic http://www.xblradio.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=348

-Steve519

Microsoft is� launching a 20-city bus tour called “Safety is no game. Is your family set?” that will provide hands-on training and education on video games, including how to understand ESRB ratings, and how to take advantage of Xbox 360 Family Settings.

http://gamerscoreblog.com/team/archive/2006/10/12/537947.aspx

Carpal and TOG are kicking off the new year of XBL Radio…

• TECH NEWS: -Gamecast, Podcast, Netcast? Does it matter? -The PS3 and Wii are coming to a kiosk near you. -Fast Food Gaming. Ordering up some fun.
• GAME NEWS: -Guitar Hero and the 360. A star is born? -Halo Wars. A name without a game. -Did the Xbox 360 bring it home? Or is it still downloading in the background?
• CONSOLE CRIMES: -Sentencing for a game crime. -Fox News Alert. Protecting your Online experiences.�
• KID PIX. Lego Star Wars is analyzed by XBLRs resident Jawas.
• Plus xblradio.com Poll Question. All this and more.

Game Reviews:

� �

-World Series of Poker: Tournament of Champions-It has camera support, just no online support (from players) -DOOM: The Classic PC version of the game hits the arcade, with multi-player, voice� and lag support.

Now to check out the show you have a few options, you can either direct download by clicking here (right click, save as).� Or you can check out the media player on the right of your screen and click play and it will automatically start with show 28.0.

And yet another option is by subscribing to our show, you can do that by clicking any of the following links below, and plugging that link into your favorite RSS Reader.

~ ~ ~

Talk about this in our forums.�

-TOG OUT!

Alright you can win an Xbox 360 Live Vision Camera for free. Its really simple, all you have to do is win a XBL Radio sponsored Texas Hold’em Tournament. It will start this up coming Saturday, continue Sunday, and then again next Saturday so as you see it will just go during the weekend. One round a day, starting at 5pm PST. So if you would like to enter, all you have to do is reply in the Xbl Radio FORUM post about this topic with your gamertag. Its that simple, be sure to read that post fully though because it has all the rules for the tournament. If you have any questions feel free to ask, you can ask here on this blog or you can email me at Steve@xblradio.com BUT don’t email me your gamertag, I want them all centerlized, that way I don’t lose anyone’s gamertag that wants to enter. So good luck to ya, and don’t forget to get our latest XBL Radio show buy clicking the “Get Our Podcast” link at the top of the page, because that is the reason why we are doing this contest, to inform new people about our awesome show.

And for those who didn’t see the forum link above here it is again

You know all those great ideas you have to make the Xbox 360 dashboard design better right? Now is your chance for your voice to be heard. Head over to WildChicken’s blog (head’s a designer that works on the Dashboard) and sound off accordingly. He’s looking for feedback, and he knows that my blog readers are VERY vocal audience.
from Major Nelson

read more | digg story

What’s that? XBL Radio is giving away a free Xbox 360 vision camera? Yep that’s right, XBL Radio is giving away a free vision camera to the winner of the XBL Radio Texas Hold’em Tournament. Next Tuesday, Sept 12 ONLY on the podcast, we will give out the “secret” password to enter the tournament. The tournament will go down Sunday, Sept 17 at 7 PST and it will continue ALL day until we have a winner. So first then, if you are unable to make it, please don’t enter it only to be fair to those that can make it, but don’t let that stop you from listening in to the XBL Radio show.

Here are the rules/setup:

It will be in multiplayer, tournament game, player match, create match, $50/$100 blinds, and all assigned seats set at private.

If you’re not there, sorry but you’re not in the tournament, I have to be fair to all others.

The last 2 players remaining on the table at the end will advance to the NEXT table the very SAME day.

You must check XBLRadio.com for updates on this tournament, last tournament I tried to message all the contestants about this but Xbox live has limitations so I am not going through that again, its up to YOU to find out who you play.

You must let me know if you wanna be in the tournament by Friday, Sept 15 at midnight PST so I can have the first matches up by Saturday evening.

And finally, I don’t care who hosts or starts up the room, but you must use the options I listed above and the last 2 players standing must message me about who won or I won’t know and you won’t advance. I must have the winners in my inbox or on the forums as soon as the match is over.

I will post the matches here in the XBL Radio forums� (brand new by the way!).

And an absolutely huge thanks goes out to Tony from Microsoft and Xbox Live for hooking up XBL Radio with the Vision Cams.

If you have any questions, feel free to email me at Steve@xblradio.com

(all rules are subject to change so make sure your checking out the site)

DON’T FORGET:� You must listen to XBL Radio Podcast v26.0 (available Tue 9-12-2006) to get the “secret password” to enter the tournament.

The backwards compatibility list grew a lot today thanks to Microsoft.� And not only were older� games put on there, but newer and UNRELEASED games as well, like Lego Starwars 2.� So for all of you that thought MS was done working on this, here ya go. And for some more good news, they are continuing to work on this. Props to MS for continuing the BackCompat project.

Thanks to Gamerscore Blog for the heads up, click their link for the full story.� And no Rusty!� Midtown Madness 3 did not make the list this time!� So keep playing GeoWars.