Microsoft is offering Xbox Live Silver users the chance to try out Gold membership for free this weekend.
From 1st - 4th May, everyone gets an automatic upgrade so they can enjoy a bit of multiplayer gaming.
New Xbox Originals now available: Max Payne and Max Payne 2
Xbox Originals has just released Max Payne and Max Payne 2. Both titles are now available for download for 1200 points each on the Xbox LIVE Marketplace.
New Xbox 360 Achievement Rules Revealed?
According to a "very credible source," there have been two important changes to the Achievements rules since that Gamerscore blog post in 2007: First, the new maximum points allowed for any retail game (including subsequent DLC) is 1,750 points, spread across no more than 80 Achievements. That puts those aforementioned titles that broke the 1,250 rule in the clear, although it still leaves Valve's The Orange Box unaccounted for with its 99 Achievements. We're assuming The Orange Box received special ex-post facto clemency, because it's awesome.
The second rule is that every game can add a maximum of 250 new points and 10 Achievements through DLC every yearly quarter (but only until reaching the 1,750 point cap). And evidently this rule is also cumulative, so that theoretically, a developer could release a new game with 1,000 points, not add any new achievements for the next three quarters, and then release a massive 750-point DLC pack in the fourth quarter. The anonymous source explained this rule is meant to discourage developers from releasing a ton of content and all 750 points immediately after a game's release, and instead doll it out slowly over time.
Microsoft surveys NXE Avatar changes, including wearable achievements
The addition of the Rare-designed Avatars in the New Xbox Experience hasn't amounted to much beyond an increasingly expanding virtual wardrobe. But Microsoft may have grander plans for the little guys.
While there are a handful of games that already support Avatars in-game—Scene It? Box Office Smash, Uno, etc.—as far as games are concerned, they're just scenery. That may change, as Microsoft is surveying gamers on what they'd like to see added to the Xbox 360's Avatars.
One of the more interesting possibilities include "special avatar gear" that can be earned in a fashion similar to Achievements. Microsoft has hinted at this possibility before, but it's at the top of the list of changes being surveyed. Also noteworthy are Avatars that are auto generated to look like their owners, presumably via the Xbox Live Vision Camera, and a set of "family" Avatars, including kids or pets.
The full list of survey questions regarding Avatar changes looks like this
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