xbox live 'pipeline'

[Moore]

http://www.xboxlivepipeline.com/

So this is to help us decide what to get from XBL. Helps us with detailed descriptions and screenshots etc... and is fairly easy to quickly navigate.

Not a terrible idea.... BUT WHY ISNT THE MARKETPLACE 'BROWSER' USEFUL?

There is obviously a need or they wouldnt have made the site, so why isnt it as robust as this website they threw together?

[Rorschach]

Bummer, I was looking for an official "here's what's coming on which date" site. I think you could drum up a lot more interest with previews than providing an easier to navigate interface.

[Jason Cross]

I took the little survey and said at the end: "Provide a calendar where we can see past release dates for all content, and future planned releases."

Really, I don't need microscopic screenshots of the current releases, or a listing of the videos and stuff on the site. I need to be able to look at a calendar and see all the stuff (of every media/game type) released in the last week that I might have missed, and what's coming up in the next couple of weeks so I know if I need to buy more points or whatever.

[Moore]

True, though this does list lumines as 1.) released and 2.) FREE.

I just dont understand why the fucking interface on the xbox cant be the same as this little site?

They want us to jump between this and the actual xbox?

That is the solution for the zero info you get on the xbox when 'shopping'? I dont buy themes or anything, but WHO POSSIBLY CAN SINCE THEY DONT SHOW THEM TO YOU?

[dogbert]

MS have already said via GameSpot that the website listing for Lumines is wrong - it won't be free.

[Moore]

they might want to say it via their own fucking website, right next to, or preferably on top of where it says it is free.

(I know it wasnt going to be free, but why tease?)

[Demon G Sides]

Because they can. They have the ability to get people like us riled up by using 3 letters in a single combination. F R E E.

Got us all a little jumpy with it.

Otherwise, this site? Pretty much worthless... honestly.

[Coca Cola Zero]

Xbox Live is pretty awesome as-is and I hate to bitch and moan when it is so much better than anything else available for consoles right now, but I agree the UI could use some work.. and for fuck's sake, Microsoft, give us a web browser on it!! PS3 and Wii will have web browsers.. the longer the Xbox 360 doesn't have a web browser, considering Microsoft controls IE and Live is the best online system in every other way, the more ridiculous you guys will look. Get an IE port on the 360, stat, and then make the web browser the top level shell for the UI and make Xbox Live all web based and let us use mice to control it (but obviously keep it gamepad navigable too for when we don't feel like using mice).

Fix this shit, Microsoft! It isn't rocket science!

[dogbert]

they might want to say it via their own fucking website, right next to, or preferably on top of where it says it is free.

They have. Go back to the page. It now says TBD for the price.

[Jason Cross]

Xbox Live is pretty awesome as-is and I hate to bitch and moan when it is so much better than anything else available for consoles right now, but I agree the UI could use some work.. and for fuck's sake, Microsoft, give us a web browser on it!!

I honestly have zero desire to browse the web from my TV, no desire to enter URLs with a gamepad, even less desire to string up a keyboard from my console to my coffee table or leave a wireless USB keyboard sitting in the living room, etc etc.

In the list of things I want Microsoft's developers spending time on for built-in 360 features, a web browser is really far down on the list. It would be a shame if they had to spend the time doing it just because everyone was demanding a checkbox item they didn't even use all that much.

Web-based services like the Wii's "channels" make more sense to me.

[Post-It]

I like the ideas of "channels" too. Weather, sports, stocks, etc. Stuff that could easily updated through RSS feeds or something.

That being said, I would also enjoy the freedom of having a browser as well.

Why not both?

[Moore]

They have. Go back to the page. It now says TBD for the price.

well then it should say 1200 points + packs of 400 and (600?) for the rest of the game (the SP supposedly doesnt let you finish without buying the remaining levels)

and dump the fucking blade animations throughout the dash.

[RickH]

That is the solution for the zero info you get on the xbox when 'shopping'? I dont buy themes or anything, but WHO POSSIBLY CAN SINCE THEY DONT SHOW THEM TO YOU?

That's one of the dumber XBLM features. I have to look them up on www.achieve360points.com.

[Jason Cross]

I like the ideas of "channels" too. Weather, sports, stocks, etc. Stuff that could easily updated through RSS feeds or something.

That being said, I would also enjoy the freedom of having a browser as well.

Why not both?

I can think of a few reasons. Security is one (just wait for a javascript or something that screws with your Wii or PS3, or hacks your saves so you can cheat online, etc.). Of course you could disable any sort of stuff that might possibly be able to run any kind of interesting code, and maybe break a lot of web pages. You could maybe make the browser run a subset of javascript/dhtml/whatever and lock it down in its own memory space that can't access any outside memory, but that takes a fair amount of dev work.

Then you have to make the browser support flash, and not just the crappy flash implementation that is nearly useless on the PSP. Plus you need a controller-based method for switching tabs/windows, entering URLs, selecting bookmarks, etc.

The long and short of it is that it's pretty easy to dump a mediocre web experience onto a console - you just have to deal with the support consequences. To do the job right, it takes developer resources (well, it takes that to do it poorly, too, just not as much of it). Is a web browser on the 360 really important enough to have devs spending time on that instead of on other things?

At the end of the day, you just have to prioritize. You have X developers with Y skills and Z time, and you pick and choose the things for them to work on that matter most. To me personally, a web browser on my TV is low on the list. It's one of those things, like the PSP web browser, that's nifty for a week or so and then you just go back to reading the web on your computer.

Specific RSS-based channels for weather, news, sports, stocks, etc. make a lot of sense to me. You can do a really good 10-foot UI without having to worry about the formatting of a sea of web pages, make it work on standard def TV, etc.

[Gladguy]

This site is useless. To me, "pipeline" means "stuff coming down the pipe." I don't need an off-line (well, off-LIVE) website to show me the games and crap I can get through the Marketplace.

For me, the existing solution works quite well. I don't see the need for this site in its current iteration.

[Xaroc]

From what I recall the fact that there is no guaranteed built in hard drive limits the space the XBL team has to work with in terms of memory footprint for the UI. That is probably what is limiting it.

[Moore]

then throw some larger memory units onto the market, shit they charge as much as a 2gb SD card costs.

[Demon G Sides]

Yep.

Gotta agree. If I want to get something, I look for it on the marketplace. Just as easy as skimming through the pages on pipeline.

*Checkmarks uselessness*