SUPPORT OUR OOPS
After hearing in the news about all the recent military deaths in Iraq, I thought I would change my motto on Xbox Live to “Support Our Troops” to show my appreciation for all they’ve done. When I tried, I was told the motto was inappropriate. With my dad in the Navy, I appreciate what the men and women in the military do for us. I am outraged to know that I can’t even do a simple thing like change my motto to show the appreciation that they deserve.
— Andrew Wasz

We say: The perfect cure for outrage? Logic! We contacted Microsoft to ask why the phrase “Support Our Troops” was restricted, because it didn’t make sense to us either. We found that the problem was the word “support,” which is blocked so that someone can’t change their motto to “Xbox Live Support,” pose as a Microsoft employee, and con unsuspecting gamers out of their credit-card number or other sensitive personal information. Both “We love our troops” and “Go Navy” are totally valid as mottos. Xbox supports the troops — and we’ve got plenty of mail that says the troops support Xbox!

SIGNALS AND MOVING PICTURES
I am a proud Canadian Xbox 360 owner, but with the release of the Xbox Video Marketplace, I’m upset. Why did Microsoft decide to release all these great features only in the U.S.? Sure, I can watch Viva Piñata, but I’d rather download something like Robot Chicken or South Park.
    I went to the xbox.com forums to see more about this problem, and it seems I’m certainly not alone. In the U.S., Xbox owners can download movies and TV for a small price, right to their Xbox, and I must say I’m jealous. Do you think Microsoft is planning on changing this? It sure would expand their market, and hey, they wouldn’t lose money doing it. I would also hope they wouldn’t leave other countries in the dark as well.
— Will “Canadian”

We say: Keep in mind that Video Marketplace is still young. Something this involved, with multiple content partners and the never-before-attempted delivery of video content to a game console, has to evolve at its own pace. In a lot of ways, the U.S. launch of the program is a pilot: if it does well, then it will likely expand to other countries. We asked Microsoft about its plans for a Canadian invasion, and got the expected “We have nothing to announce” response. So it’s not that you’re being ignored; it’s more like you’re just not being served yet.
 

EARLY OUTBREAK
You guys mentioned Need for Speed Carbon’s viral Achievements in the Game of the Year awards in your February 2007 issue. Well, I was playing GRAW online a few months ago when I killed a guy and got an Achievement. I was wondering why I got it, so after the match, I checked my Achievement list and spotted one called Assassin. The description said “Kill someone who has the Assassin Achievement.” Isn’t that considered a viral Achievement? Did you guys not know about this one?
— Justin Haefele

We say: We double-checked with the gang at Ubisoft, who double-checked with developer Red Storm, and confirmed it: the Assassin Achievement was the first viral. “It was started within the walls of Red Storm proper,” says Ubi PR rep Kjell Vistad. “It’s an Achievement [whose origins are] 100-percent grassroots. The team had it going internal only at Red Storm; they all loved it, so they unleashed it on the Xbox Live network with their title update on Oct. 20, and it spread like wildfire.” Need for Speed Carbon didn’t come out until November 1; Small Arms debuted on Xbox Live Arcade on November 22. So GRAW’s add-on Assassin Achievement did come out first. Who had the initial idea first? That’s up for debate.
    However, our award wasn’t for “first,” but for “best” — specifically, “Most Innovative Achievement.” While Red Storm, EA Black Box, and Small Arms developer Gastronaut were all thinking virally around the same time, we thought the multi-layered nature of the Carbon Achievements (players need to collect three different viruses, which then unlocks a fourth Achievement) deserved the nod for taking the concept further than the other two.


GO [INSERT TEAM HERE]!
I was looking through some of my previous OXM issues and saw that in the December 2006 issue all the NBA basketball games reviewed contained pictures of the Phoenix Suns. From NBA Live 07 on both Xbox and Xbox 360 reviews to the NBA 2K7 review, the Suns were in every picture at least once, and particularly Shawn Marion dunking. I found it kinda odd how the Suns were featured the most and would like to know why. Does Ryan have a certain liking for this team or something? I’m just curious.
— Aaron

We say: Ask anybody who follows sports, Aaron: It’s easy to go from fan to fanatic. And whenever possible, the sports nuts here sneak the teams they root for into the screenshots they take. In addition to Ryan’s love of his Arizona-based Suns and Diamondbacks, you’ll see Paul’s hockey screenshots give some love to the Sharks and Penguins, while Dan likes supporting his hapless Knicks in screens when nobody’s looking. Blatant media bias!


MOUSE TRAP
I’ve noticed over the course of a few issues that you’ve taken to dogging the keyboard and mouse as a control scheme. I feel, as a PC and console gamer, that it’s my duty to remind you of the contest you had with PC Gamer a year or so back. You remember the one: They plugged in the 360 controllers to a PC, fired up Halo multiplayer — a game they hardly played — let you pick the map, and then schooled you anyway! Seems that being able to aim and fire faster than their gamepad-gimping competition helped them out a bit. 
I love my 360 and I’ll continue to play its blockbuster exclusive shooters, but the only way to really excel in a shooter is with a keyboard and mouse. Now for the question: Is it against the rules for a shooter developer to offer mouse support for 360 games? And if it’s not against the rules, couldn’t a developer offer mouse support for their games if they wanted to?
— Ryan Bolton

We say: Right now, mouse support isn’t part of the 360 experience. (How’s that for marketing-speak?) It’s all part of Microsoft’s “the 360 is a console, not a computer” positioning. PC games are created to use mouse and keys effectively; 360 games are built with a gamepad in mind. It doesn’t really mean that either method is wrong, just that each one is built with specific design goals in mind. And in this case, the reason is to keep the 360 a living room–friendly entertainment portal. That doesn’t mean Microsoft doesn’t believe in the power of mice; it’s simply not fun to use a mouse on the coffee table. (Please note that Microsoft likes PCs quite a bit and sometimes makes interesting software for them — that Windows thing is a hit.) As for our friendly rivals at PC Gamer, have you ever wondered why they waited until the PC version came out before they were willing to play us?


CRACKDOWN SYNDROME
I was disappointed with the review of Crackdown in your March 2007 issue. Though I haven’t played the full game yet, my friends and I are spending a tremendous amount of time on the demo, and loving every minute. Granted, I can see the game’s story not being the strongest, but for a game like this, that element in no way kills the game. Your score of 7 is by far the lowest review I’ve seen, and I think you took the Halo 3 beta attachment too much to heart.
— Mike

We say: We received some very strong disagreements with our Crackdown review (March 2007 issue) — but they all came in BEFORE the game was released. That means none of the people who were upset with our score had actually played the full game, which is what we played to write our review. The demo was not only tweaked to give you a sample of the game, but was also free, while our review was based on the entire game (and its much longer skill progression) and factored in whether or not the whole experience was worth the game’s $60 asking price.
    So, hey, we’re obviously fond of demos here — perhaps you’ve seen our disc? — but demo plays and full-retail-game experiences aren’t interchangeable. We don’t expect everybody to agree with all our reviews, but we would ask that you not discredit them until you’ve tried the full games yourself.

 
WHEN DOES THE ARCADE OPEN?
I see lots of information concerning upcoming Live Arcade games, but though you’ve reviewed them, there’s no release date in sight. I’m wondering: If a game company can give us an estimated release date for a full-blown 360 game, why can’t the little guys give us the same kind of information/love for their expected releases? There’s no hype!
    I get excited when I hear about what’s down the pipe, but there’s a lot of mystery as to when any of the Live Arcade titles are expected. I wanna be able to horde my Microsoft Points if I know a big 1,200-point title is just around the corner. You guys do a great job of reviewing Live Arcade games...but where are they? And why the lack of hype and publicity?
— Ralph Gethings

We say: While it seems like it’d be easy enough to cut-and-paste old coin-op games into an emulator, building Xbox Live Arcade games isn’t an exact science. A lot of times, we get permission to review the games while they’re going through a certification process. They’re done for all intents and purposes, but there might be some small rare glitch or something legal/contractual to work out that will delay the game’s actual release. To a certain extent, the XBLA team is making up the release schedule as it goes along, getting approval and slotting in those games as they’re 100 percent confirmed.
    Because each game has to develop at its own pace, release-date prediction is tricky at best and infuriating at worst. For instance, when the community team tried to break the bad news of “Sorry, no Xbox Live Wednesday release this week” with a funny video back in February, the response was digital torches and online pitchforks from 360 owners outraged that they were denied a chance to spend money that week. The joke backfired because gamers felt their eagerness and loyalty to Live Arcade was being mocked.
    So what’s worse: broken software or broken promises? If the release dates simply can’t be predicted, we’d love to see the Wednesday schedule abandoned and hard dates used for specific titles instead. Hey, it works for 360 games in boxes.


CHILD’S PLAY
Can children from 11 to 13 years old play mature games like Halo? If so, what happens to the children?
— Robert Gawdzik

We say: The only thing that can happen, Robert — those children go bad. Whereas once those younglings might have grown into respectable members of society — doctors, lawyers, videogame-magazine editors — instead they find themselves forever trapped in a dark spiral of depravity and psychosis. Some parents reportedly use ESRB ratings to decide which games are appropriate for their kids — and those kids then go on to lead normal, healthy lives — but these reports are unsubstantiated.