If you are viewing this page, you are viewing the old Xcast blog. I moved the blog to WordPress instead of blogger because of a major difference in features. So please visit http://theman661.wordpress.com/ or www.theman661.com for the new blog. Thanks for the idea Tee!
-Frank (Gamertag: TheMan661)
Yep, yours truly was featured in a post over at Xbox 360 Fanboy. The post was made by David Dreger aka Knuckles Dawson who is a friend of mine and I interviewed him on the Xcast as well. He posted about a new program for Mac users called Mac Live that allowed people to check their friends list and see what their friends are doing right from their desktop. For more details, you can check out the original post here: http://www.xbox360fanboy.com/2007/02/12/mac-os-10-4-gets-answer-to-windows-live-friends-list/ I think that the best part of the post was my gamertag being that I don't have a Mac haha.
(Thanks Dave)
-Frank (Gamertag: TheMan661)
Yeah I just posted the news about the Xbox360Achievement.org's event regarding the 1,000 people online achievement on NBA Live 07 and said the site was not active. The site is now active and you can sign up for the rewards program. The link is http://www.xbox.com/rewards.
Edit 2/13/07-The rewards site is currently down because of some behind the scenes issues and should be up in about 24 hours or so.
-Frank (Gamertag: TheMan661)
I have hit the twenties with Xcast Episode #20. This episode I talked about how Guitar Hero may be coming to the Wii, the achievement rewards program, the Halo 3 beta code being embedded in the Crackdown disc and how the Airport Extreme router is having issues with Xbox Live. Congratulations Dan for making your second post and for hitting 200 Gamerscore haha. Also I threw in whatever else I could find into this episode. I am in the process of scheduling a few interviews so stay tuned. Want to start a discussion? My email address is frank@theman661.com.
Download Xcast Episode #20 here!
Links to things mentioned in the show:
http://gamerscoreblog.com/team/archive/2007/02/06/540799.aspx
http://www.majornelson.com/archive/2007/02/10/xbox-live-activity-for-week-of-2-5.aspx
http://origin.arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2007/2/9/6978
http://planetxbox360.com/index.php/articledetails/show/1350
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6165647.html
http://www.xbox.com/rewards
Thanks for Listening!
-Frank (Gamertag: TheMan661)
Wow it looks like I missed alot of things going on around the industry this weekend. This weekend I went on a little vacation once again and I have returned. Which means that Xcast Episode #20 will be recorded tonight. I am also happy to see that Dan has posted something finally (I hope to see alot more of those) and he has hit 200 Gamerscore. Alright I'm just letting you know that I am back up and running and Xcast Episode #20 will be out soon.
-Frank (Gamertag: TheMan661)
Hey gamers, this is Dan here aka adrenaline96 on Xbox Live. Sorry I haven't posted anything yet (very lazy nowadays). But i will try to continue to make more post when new "news" about the 360 is released.For now here's something I am very excited about!
I'm sure that most of you heard about the newly released Windows Vista, but how will it help us gamers?. Well here's the answer: Windows Vista is sure to take LIVE gaming to the max! With windows vista your gamertag will work on both your PC games and Xbox 360. You will have mainly all the the same features of 360 on your PC! Great game such as Halo 2 and Shadowrun will be among the 1st offered on Windows Vista. High performance games will also work on W.V. and you will be able to plug a 360 controller into your PC to play them!! For you parents out there, Vista will offer easy to use parental controls. Create the ultimate music experience in your home using Windows Media Center in Windows Vista with your Xbox 360. The Xbox 360 has Media Center Extender technology built into it that enables you to access your music library through your home network, using the Media Center menu system. Using your Xbox 360 as a Media Center Extender is the same as you would get on your PC. You will also be able to access your music collection from anywhere in your house that is connected to your network using the Windows 11 sharing feature. Now more than ever is the time to connect your Xbox 360 to your home network and get xbox LIVE!! For more information please visit this site
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/community/news/2007/0129-xbox360andwindowsvista.htm. For help on connected your 360 to your home network wireless( which you should!) go to
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/hardware/x/xbox360wirelessnetadapter/default.htm
-Dan (aka adreanaline96 on xbox live)
(feel free to send messages and friends request to me. Thanks!)
Deaconblade 360 has posted some more details about the Achievement "Rewards" Program. This cleared up most of the questions that I had about the program, and I hope reading this will help you to understand what you have to do to be involved in this program. One thing he said was that prizes are LIMITED so you have to sign up for the program on February 12th at www.xbox.com/rewards. FIRST COME FIRST SERVE!
http://www.unscripted360.com/2007/02/07/more-achievement-rewards-program-details/
-Frank (Gamertag: TheMan661)
Root Beer Tapper has been released on the Xbox Live Marketplace. It will set you back 400 points. This is one of the classics that have been announced to be released on the Xbox Live Arcade. Some have been waiting for this, some are not so wild about it. Play it and let me know what you think. I don't think anything has been changed from the original version of the game.
Rewards for achievements has now officially been announced. The program is going to start off in the US only and I am not sure if it is going to spread. Old Spice is the first sponsor for the program. To register for the program, you have to visit www.xbox.com/rewards on February 12th to sign up. Here is a list of the rewards that will be given for the launch of the program:
Reward Package Qualifications
Level 1 (Gamers with a gamerscore between 0-4,999 at time of entry): Game Picture, Dashboard theme, Contra for Xbox LIVE Arcade.
Level 2 (5,000-9,999 annual gamerscore): Level 1 Package, 100 Microsoft Points and a contest T-shirt
Level 3 (10,000+ annual gamerscore): Level 1 Package, 200 Microsoft Points, contest T-shirt and Fusion Frenzy 2
Hmm now I am a little confused, do I get a reward right when the program launches? Or does this program start to track my annual gamerscore over the year and see how many points I rack up? I hope that we will see as time goes on. It says at time of entry so I might be getting some rewards along with everyone that has 0-4,999 Gamerscore. Sounds interesting. Again be sure to register for the program on February 12th at www.xbox.com/rewards.
Official post over at the Gamerscore Blog: http://gamerscoreblog.com/team/archive/2007/02/06/540799.aspx
-Frank (Gamertag: TheMan661)
Xcast Episode #19 Recorded on February 5th 2007
Yep I finally recorded the long awaited Episode #19. This Episode I debuted the Active Reload Song created by a few listeners of the Xcast: Arizona Jedi, Samuel Whyte, Honoo Kenja 08, and grandslam7jb. Thanks for contributing and I'm sorry if you sent me clips that I did not include. Maybe there will be an Active Reload Song 2nd Edition? I read off a few Itunes Reviews from Arizona Jedi and Will aka WiredToast. I went over some guidelines that were set for achievements and talked about how achievements might give us some awards. I talked about my experience on DeaconBlade 360's debut of Unscripted Nights. Go check out the Xbox 360 Fanboy Podcast or Fancast as they like to call it and the KOXM Episode #50.
Please post your reviews for the Xcast on the Itunes Music Store. (Link will open Itunes)
Download Episode #19 here!
Thanks For Listening!
-Frank (Gamertag: TheMan661)
Links to things mentioned in the show:
http://www.oxmpodcast.com/?p=65
http://www.xbox360fanboy.com/
http://www.majornelson.com/archive/2007/02/05/reminder-register-for-halo-3-beta-phase-ii.aspx
http://www.unscripted360.com/2007/02/05/unscripted-nights-debut-a-success/
http://gamerscoreblog.com/team/archive/2007/02/01/540575.aspx
http://gamerscoreblog.com/team/archive/2007/02/05/540745.aspx
Yes Xcast Episode #19 is on its way. I plan to record it tonight February 5th 2007 and send it out tonight so check for that. I guess I can blame the Super Bowl for the delay....
-Frank (Gamertag: TheMan661)
I just participated in the first of DeaconBlade 360's Unscripted Nights. If you guys don't know what they are, it is when Deacon plays with his listeners and various other members of the community. Man this was a lot of fun. For the first Unscripted Night, we played a little title that is known as Gears Of War. I got to play three matches and then Deacon had to send invites out for the next cycle of players. My team played very well in all three matches with me sealing the win with a head shot in the last round of the final match . I pretty much surprised everybody because I wasn't doing so well in the beginning of the final match. If you guys are looking for a good time on Xbox Live you have to check out DeaconBlade's Unscripted Nights.
-Frank (Gamertag: TheMan661)
The following content will be coming out on Video Marketplace sometime this week:
TV
TNA: Impact - Season 1 and 4 episodes from the season 2
Pros v. Joes - Season 2, episode 1 for FREE now through Monday February 5 at 11:59PM PST
The Sarah Silverman Program - Series premiere FREE starting Friday 2/2 through Monday, 2/5 at 11:59PM PST
ER - Season 1 and 2
Movies
Hunt for Red October - Paramount (SD)
Music
New Epic Artist of the Month on - Good Charlotte
"Keep Your Hands Off My Girl" music video (TV-MA rated)
"Keep Your Hands Off My Girl" behind the scenes
Of course everything here is available in the United States only.
(This list is courtesy of Major Nelson:
http://www.majornelson.com/archive/2007/02/01/video-marketplace-releases-for-week-of-1-29-07.aspx)
-Frank (Gamertag: TheMan661)
The Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 demo has now been posted on Marketplace. Of course the demo is free, but is only available for Xbox Live Gold Members. It is also available in all the regions that Xbox Live covers. The size of the file is 625 MB. This one looks pretty interesting, I haven't downloaded it yet but I plan to sometime tonight or tomorrow, this is when I wish we had a bigger hard drive!
-Frank (Gamertag: TheMan661)
New Xbox Live Arcade Titles are headed our way. A list released by the guys over at Gamerscore Blog tells us of some famous titles headed to the Xbox Live Arcade beginning in February. These titles include Alien Hominid HD, Paperboy, Root Beer Tapper, Worms and more. Though no exact date was clarified as to when these titles will be released, these are some very interesting titles that I cannot wait to see in the Arcade.
Link to the Gamerscore Blog press release:
http://gamerscoreblog.com/team/archive/2007/01/30/540428.aspx
-Frank (Gamertag: TheMan661)
Haha look at this one sent to me by Corran125 and his partner in crime Arizona Jedi. I guess I knew this one was coming after I saw there was an app where you can make your own achievement label. Look at this:
Alright I guess I do need more achievements. Now achievements=rewards (see post below) which means Im going to attempt to get more achievements.
-Frank (Gamertag: TheMan661)
That's right you read the post correctly, rewards for achievements! Now when you hear my favorite noise, you may actually win something. As far as I know Microsoft/Xbox is teaming up with some sponsors and starting a program in which you will actually get rewards for achievements. This will be a free program and you just have to play games and earn achievements. Wow this is going to be interesting for Knuckles Dawson now because this is just an added bonus since he gets at least one achievement per day. Now I guess this will be a little more motivation for me to grab an achievement besides the satisfaction of hearing my favorite noise and racking up some points that really didn't do anything up until I heard this. This program is going to launch next month sometime.
Courtesy of DeaconBlade 360:
http://www.unscripted360.com/2007/01/29/rewards-for-achievements/#comment-14461
-Frank (Gamertag: TheMan661)
Welcome to Xcast Episode #18
Wow this was a big show, co hosting the show this week was:
-Founder of the original 7 Xbox 360 Laws.
-Creator of the world famous Unscripted360.com and Unscripted360 the podcast
-MVP on the Xbox.com forums.
-Winner of the Xbox Community Member of the year over at the 2006 Gamertag Radio Community Awards.
-Xbox Live Ambassador who is always willing to answer any one's questions about the service or the console in general.
DEACONBLADE 360!
We talked about all of the news...that we could find going around the industry. I also let everyone know what kind of podcasting equipment I use and what podcasts I subscribe to. I asked Deacon what games he is looking forward to in the new year, what he thought about certain things going around the industry, questions about his show and whatever else I threw in last minute because of the lack of regular news this month. A good time was had by all and I'm looking forward to have Deacon back on the show again soon. I also played a piece of listener mail I received from Corran 125.
Do you want to bring up something for me to discuss on the show? Do you have an idea how I can improve the show? If so then email me your ideas, my email is frank@theman661.com, or you can send me voice messages to my Xbox Live Account.
Download Episode #18 here!
Thanks for listening!
-Frank (Gamertag: TheMan661)
Links For Things Mentioned In The Show:
http://www.unscripted360.com
http://www.majornelson.com/archive/2007/01/25/psp-connect-using-pgr3-screenshot.aspx
http://theman661sxcast.blogspot.com/2007/01/this-one-i-found-surprising.html
http://www.unscripted360.com/2007/01/25/crackdown-demo-impressions/
http://www.unscripted360.com/xbox-360-laws/
http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/puzzle/guitarhero2/index.html?q=Guitar%20Hero%202
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Planet
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioshock
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army_of_Two
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viva_Pinata
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crackdown
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_Effect
http://live.xbox.com/en-US/profile/profile.aspx?pp=0&GamerTag=Corran125
http://live.xbox.com/en-US/profile/profile.aspx?pp=0&GamerTag=adrenaline96
http://live.xbox.com/en-US/profile/profile.aspx?pp=0&GamerTag=DeaconBlade+360
Xcast Episode #17
I talked a little about the Colts game...that is going to be an interesting super bowl, cant wait for that one. I also went over news like the COD 3 map pack release gone bad, I announced a new contributor to my blog Dan aka adrenaline96 and I went over anything else I could find going around the industry. Want to hear anything new on the show, want to start a discussion send me a message on my Xbox Live Account which is of course TheMan661 or send an email to frank@theman661.com. Stay tuned next week for Xcast Episode #18 with special guest host Deaconblade 360 from the Unscripted 360 podcast.
Download Episode #17 here!
Thanks for listening!
-Frank (Gamertag: TheMan661)
Links Mentioned in the Show:
http://www.unscripted360.com
http://forums.crackdownoncrime.com/forums/thread/3834.aspx
http://forums.xbox.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=9720092
http://www.majornelson.com/archive/2007/01/18/battlestations-midway-multiplayer-demo.aspx
http://ozymandias.com/archive/2007/01/16/Your-Thoughts-on-the-Future-of-Live_3F00_.aspx
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/community/news/2007/0119-gearsofwarjuggernautcontinues.htm?WText.camp=TS1&WText.campSrc=Home
http://theman661sxcast.blogspot.com/2007/01/hello-gamers.html
http://theman661sxcast.blogspot.com/2007/01/welcome-dan.html
http://live.xbox.com/en-US/profile/profile.aspx?pp=0&GamerTag=adrenaline96
http://live.xbox.com/en-US/profile/profile.aspx?pp=0&GamerTag=DeaconBlade+360
Hey everyone, as you may have noticed we have a new contributor to the blog (read post below). I invited Dan to come help me out on the site a few weeks ago. He has been gaming on the 360 for almost a year now but has just recently registered for Xbox Live so please excuse his gamerscore (even though mine isn't that great either....). I invited Dan to help me out after I realized that I needed a little help running both the podcast and the website and writing all the posts and everything. So send him some friend requests and game invites and welcome him into the Xbox Live Community. Also I'm hoping to record Episode #17 tomorrow night January 22nd 2007, I will most likely get to it, but if I don't I have a special guest coming on next show who I think you will all enjoy. Thanks to everybody who has contributed to the "Active Reload" song, I'm in the process of looking for a beat so if you know anyone that is musically talented, let me know.
-Frank (Gamertag: TheMan661)
Hello everybody, this is Dan here. (Gamertag: adrenaline96). Frank has invited me to help him out around the blog and the podcast. So now you are going to be getting posts from both Frank aka TheMan661 and myself. I am good friends with Frank and have been for a long time now. I started gaming on the Nintendo NES, but today I am a regular gamer on the next gen Xbox 360, just like Frank. Me and Frank are going to continue to keep you up to date with all the news going around the gaming industry!
-Dan ( Gamertag: adrenaline96 )
Finally we all have been waiting for this (or at least everyone I talked to is). The Crackdown Demo that was supposed to be released this past week was delayed and now we have an official date. The demo is coming out on Tuesday, January 23rd 2007 at 2:00 AM PT (Check your time zone here). Wow I have been waiting for this, I cannot wait to check out the co-op on this demo! Here is the official forum post over at the Crackdown forums.
-Frank (Gamertag: TheMan661)
Come on over and give the Xcast a digg! I submitted the Xcast to digg.com's new Podcast channel a few days ago and it just popped up today after being reviewed. So if you don't have one already, you need a digg.com user name to access the digg podcast channel. So if you dig the Xcast jump over here and submit a digg for the Xcast. Also I picked up Lost Planet the other day and I'm looking forward to play some Xbox Live matches, so just send me an invite and I will try and join.
-Frank (Gamertag: TheMan661)
Xcast Episode #16
The NPD group has released the official selling stats for December and Xbox 360 outsold both the PS3 and Wii combined.The Gears Of War Update is here and has caused a sort of "civil war" over on the Epic forums. I found the new maps good and bad. I talked about a few posts over at some of my favorite websites www.gamespot.com, www.knucklesdawson.com, http://www.majornelson.com/ and more. I addressed the issue of Microsoft buying Capcom. I had a little fun with the achievement unlocked sound while talking about the newly released achievements from the Xbox 360 version of Guitar Hero 2 and Crackdown. As always I also threw in other things that I wanted to talk about.
Download Xcast Episode #16 here!
Links to things mentioned in the show:
http://www.gamespot.com/news/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=25304105&sid=6164175&tag=latestnews;title;0
http://gearsforums.epicgames.com/showthread.php?t=560548
http://knucklesdawson.com/epic/2007/01/of_friends_fans_and_fun_1.html
http://gamerscoreblog.com/team/archive/2007/01/11/540001.aspx
Thanks For Listening!
-Frank (Gamertag: TheMan661)
Bill Gates' Keynote speech at CES is now available. You can stream the video from xbox.com here. This video requires Windows Media Player to work, you can download it here. Or if you want to listen to the MP3 file of the keynote from CES you can get it from MajorNelson.com here. Wow that was a bunch of information to link to, I'm listening to that as I am typing this actually and it is pretty interesting, check it out.
-Frank (Gamertag: TheMan661)
Xcast Episode #15
I am back with the first Xcast Episode of 2007! In this episode I discussed:
-Xbox 360 has conquered the holiday competition, we have won the war this holiday season at least
-Germany cracks down on the game Crackdown
-I got another way for you to enter the Halo 3 Beta
-Time magazine calls Sony's PS3 one of 2006's Biggests Busts
-A new rumor involving a new Xbox 360 with HDMI and a bigger hard drive.
-I am looking for blog authors, so if you are interested send me an email
Download Episode 15 here!
Email: frank@theman661.com
Things Mentioned In The Show:
http://www.cesweb.org/default.asp
http://gamerscoreblog.com/team/archive/2007/01/03/539753.aspx
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6163793.html?tag=latestnews;title;0
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6163775.html?tag=latestnews;title;0
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6163441.html
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1570831,00.html
Thanks for listening!
-Frank (Gamertag: TheMan661)
The Xbox 360 has beat the competition in more ways than one, one way is with the great online service of Xbox Live and the other is by selling more consoles than the competition. The Xbox 360 sold about 2 million units, while Nintendo's Wii came pretty close with about 1.8 million and Sony's PS3 sold about 750,000 units. I can think of a few reasons why the stats came out like this. First of all is the awesome community that makes up what we know as Xbox Live from the podcasters to the players everyone makes up this great community. Second is probably Nintendo mastering motion sensing capability with the Wii. Third Sony is sort of how should I say lacking exclusive games and the price point is unbelievably high with a machine that puts out pretty much the same graphics as the 360. I know the reason for the PS3 not selling well has nothing to do with it being available or not, like I said I saw a car in my neighborhood with a PS3 for sale sign on it and the PS3 has been seen in stores like Best Buy and Gamespot throughout the USA so you guys do the math either there is no demand for the machine or more than half of people in the world went on a vacation this holiday to a very dark cave where they were cut off from society. So there you have it folks the 360 is doing quite well, don't you agree?
-Frank (Gamertag: TheMan661)
