Xbox 360 can stream MCE Applications

[AniAko]

Slashdot has an article (http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/11/28/1413228&) on streaming Media Center Edition applications to the XBox 360.

While the applications themselves will run on the MCE PC, it'll stream the interface/input to the Xbox360/PC. Simple MCE apps like those modified browsers to pull down news stories, stock quotes, sports scores etc., as well as several internet radio clients worked fine. Mini-games like a Tetris clone and some card game crashed, but then again ... that seems to be a normal behaviour (http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/11/23/138200&tid=128) for the 360.
Ouch. Although it may not be the 360's fault. I've had my MCE Solitaire app crash and fail 5 timess out of 10 on the MCE PC. It could be a failure of MCE.

[KarmaGhost]

Still, MCE is a Microsoft product.

[Dirty Harry]

Still, MCE is a Microsoft product.
but...BUT BUT BUT, I THOUGH mircosoft was a fine company and that all their products are original products that they themselves designed nand you also know microsoft invented the internet and air, i heard it was true.

[Reanimated]

Oh look, it's another Koyeo employee!

[Atorak]

Hey, I'd rather have an XBox 360 that crashes periodically than NO XBOX 360 AT ALL!!!!


Can I get an amen? :)

[Reanimated]

No amen from me. Mine works like a champ. :)

[BleedTheFreak]

Hey, I'd rather have an XBox 360 that crashes periodically than NO XBOX 360 AT ALL!!!!


Can I get an amen? :)

Amen. I'm mostly distrubed by the sound of crickets when I ask about the second shipment and when it might be showing up. I've heard "weekly" (starting when, then?) and ranging all the way to "after Christmas".

[Imelman]

Hey, I'd rather have an XBox 360 that crashes periodically than NO XBOX 360 AT ALL!!!!


Can I get an amen? :)

I'd rather have no Xbox 360 and the $400 it would take to buy one. Then I could use that money to buy all of the really good games that I missed this generation for really cheap and I wouldn't be stuck with a system that crashes occaisionally and has only marginally good games. But hey, that's just me.

[goc_sin]

When I was at my local EB store the guy was showing me a bunch returned 360 games that had the burned/scratched in circle from the DVD drive. Sounds like they need to do a 2.0 version for some of the drives on the 360.

[BleedTheFreak]

I'd rather have no Xbox 360 and the $400 it would take to buy one. Then I could use that money to buy all of the really good games that I missed this generation for really cheap and I wouldn't be stuck with a system that crashes occaisionally and has only marginally good games. But hey, that's just me.

Your sig is broken, otherwise classic.

I'd rather have the system, I can get $400 bucks together if all I wanted was more games than I could realistically play, which I don't, I'd rather have 4 or 5 new games (on the 360!). Also, I want to play some of those arcade games for $5, that looks boss!

[Imelman]

My point was more that I didn't want to spend $400, than the fact that I thought I could get more fun out of buying games using that money. In reality if I had $400 of spare money I would probably spend a great deal of it on things other than video games. If the 360 only cost $200, on the other hand, then I'd buy it.

And thanks for notifying my of my broken sig, it should be fixed now.

[netcraazzy]

Has anybody setup their 360 to stream recorded TV shows and movies from their MCE PC yet?

[AniAko]

Has anybody setup their 360 to stream recorded TV shows and movies from their MCE PC yet?

I have MCE up and running fully, and if I had a 360, it would probably be the first feature I'd try out. Anyone wanting to temporarily donate a 360 so I could. try it out? :D

I'd rather have no Xbox 360 and the $400 it would take to buy one. Then I could use that money to buy all of the really good games that I missed this generation for really cheap and I wouldn't be stuck with a system that crashes occaisionally and has only marginally good games.
If the 360 only cost $200, on the other hand, then I'd buy it.

:confused::confused:
So according to you, you'll spend $200 for a system that crashes occassionally and has only marginally good games? That's some weird taste man.

[IndependentGMR]

I'd rather have no Xbox 360 and the $400 it would take to buy one. Then I could use that money to buy all of the really good games that I missed this generation for really cheap and I wouldn't be stuck with a system that crashes occaisionally and has only marginally good games. But hey, that's just me.

Well, my 360 hasn't crashed once. In fact, it works perfectly. Plus, I've been playing this game called "Condenmed." I have to say, it's much better than "marginally good." Of course, you have your opinion, and I have mine. :D

[Atorak]

I'd rather have no Xbox 360 and the $400 it would take to buy one. Then I could use that money to buy all of the really good games that I missed this generation for really cheap and I wouldn't be stuck with a system that crashes occaisionally and has only marginally good games. But hey, that's just me.

To each his own, but I think the XBox 360 is worth every penny! I know there are a lot of disappointed XBox fans out there, and I'm definitely one of them. I did the early morning drive-by on the 22nd, but lines at all the stores near me were absolutely insane. No way I was getting one.

Hell, if you want evidence on how crazy people are to get one of these things, take a gander at ebay. Not one XBox 360 has sold for anything less than 2x its store price. Some of them are being sold at many times greater than that.

Side note: Also, I don't believe the defective units are as widespread as the media has been portraying. It is a piece of electronics. Face the facts, 100% of all the XBox 360s will not work as intended.

[AniAko]

Side note: Also, I don't believe the defective units are as widespread as the media has been portraying. It is a piece of electronics. Face the facts, 100% of all the XBox 360s will not work as intended.

True, and I believe the defective 360's were blown out of proportion. Chances are a certain lot of 360's got a bad set of chips or components, and you're seeing regular defective vs. working product curve. Anyone got the numbers on that?

[Dabombpizza]

Also, I want to play some of those arcade games for $5, that looks boss!
I find it hilarious that the most appealing aspect of the 360, to me, is not the graphic prowess of the machine. Rather it's the ability to download old ass sprite based arcade games on it. I love irony, I eat it with a spoon. An iron spoon.

[Imelman]

:confused::confused:
So according to you, you'll spend $200 for a system that crashes occassionally and has only marginally good games? That's some weird taste man.

Yeah, I guess I loose this round. I really just want the Xbox live stuff and I feel that that portion of the 360 is only worth $200 dollars at this point. None of the games have really impressed me all that much (of course I haven't actually played any of them), but the Live features look really amazing. And hopefully I'd get one of the non-defective ones, but then for only $200 maybe not.

I don't know, hopefully that hits closer to my full opinion of the 360.

[bapenguin]

There are rumors that apparantly Sony MAY have hired certain people to visits forums and send in emails regarding 360 issues. Again...rumors.....rumblings, etc. It's pretty safe to say that a there are some Sony fanboys are posting false info though....

[AniAko]

Yeah, I guess I loose this round. I really just want the Xbox live stuff and I feel that that portion of the 360 is only worth $200 dollars at this point. None of the games have really impressed me all that much (of course I haven't actually played any of them), but the Live features look really amazing. And hopefully I'd get one of the non-defective ones, but then for only $200 maybe not.

I don't know, hopefully that hits closer to my full opinion of the 360.

You're absolutely right, I even thought the same things you do about the system. Now I'm a tech guy first, gamer guy second, so I dig cool tech. Especially tech that intergrates into every aspect of my life. Like you said, the Live functionality of the 360 is far above par this time around, and the MCE cross-functionality is a HUGE plus in my book. All what seems to be bells and whistles this time, are actually REAL integrations with REAL bang for their buck. However, I have explicitlly told people to not buy the system, based on what they'd use it for.

If you're you're interested in the 360 to play games, especially if you're not going to play them online, your money is better spent elsewhere, unless you're willing to shell out an extra $100 for the core system. BUT if you're going to use every last stinking feature on the 360, right down to co-op Joust and SmashTV matches over the internet, and watching yesterday's episode of Smallville, The premium system isn't at all over-priced.

[EternalGamer]

I find it hilarious that the most appealing aspect of the 360, to me, is not the graphic prowess of the machine. Rather it's the ability to download old ass sprite based arcade games on it. I love irony, I eat it with a spoon. An iron spoon.

I agree that it is somewhat ironic, but seeing as how one of Microsoft's strengths is its software, that is not such a weird reason to like the 360. People can complain about the crashes and instability (and I have encountered a couple myself). However, it is their software that has allowed cool things like gamerpoints and Live Arcade downloads. The fact that I can play quality independent shareware type games on my console in my living room and take them with me anywhere my 360 goes is great. No other console system is offering that sort of thing. The hardware is great, but I think the software and what it allows you to do now and in the future is an equally good reason to want a 360.

Granted we could do a lot of this stuff with homebrew apps for consoles, but if you want to talk about instability, those apps are always a much larger pain in the ass to get running and keep running stable than anything you will see on the 360. MS has made it incredibly easy to enjoy all sorts of software on the 360. Jeff Minter's music program kicks ass. Live Arcade is awesome. And gamer points are a very cool and addictive way to bring life to your games and compare your accomplishments to others. These are all "just software applications," but they are damn good ones.

Dan

[Dirty Harry]

with a standard pc and a decent video card most of them have t-out capabilities and with a good sound card you can output rca plugs to your stero or tv if you will. Then you can play games on the pc with usb based game pads and ect you get the point, pc in a box once again but that could besaid for most consoles.

[Kelegacy]

There are rumors that apparantly Sony MAY have hired certain people to visits forums and send in emails regarding 360 issues. Again...rumors.....rumblings, etc. It's pretty safe to say that a there are some Sony fanboys are posting false info though....
Interesting. You know, that bit of rumor is already enough for a Red Cloak newspost.

Expect it. It's coming.

[KarmaGhost]

Sorry, but I had to grab this from earlier in the post because I thought it was important;Hey, I'd rather have an XBox 360 that crashes periodically than NO XBOX 360 AT ALL!!!!


Can I get an amen? :)I think this is a horrible, horrible way to think. You'd rather have a product that is broken, than not have the product at all? What message does that send to companies and manufacturers?

"Our consumers just want our product. They don't want it to work properly, they just want it. Therefore, we can drastically cut funding in Quality Control as well as in the following departments..." etc.

[Achilles]

Sorry, but I had to grab this from earlier in the post because I thought it was important;I think this is a horrible, horrible way to think. You'd rather have a product that is broken, than not have the product at all? What message does that send to companies and manufacturers?You've never had a game lock before on another system? I've had the 360 crash a couple of times. Once emulating Halo 2 and I've got a reproable crash when trying to back out of a menu while saving in NFS:MW. On the other hand I've had a dozen PS2 games hardlock, including one very scary crash that persisted through a cold boot, and Rogue Squadron crash at the Game Cube's launch. The advantage of the 360 is you can reboot it without getting off your couch.

So I agree with the guy, things are going to crash, I'd rather have a 360 with some problems than no 360 at all.

[goc_sin]

There are rumors that apparantly Sony MAY have hired certain people to visits forums and send in emails regarding 360 issues. Again...rumors.....rumblings, etc. It's pretty safe to say that a there are some Sony fanboys are posting false info though....

Cool.. Where do I sign up? I want to get paid to spread anarchy. Actually didn't MS do the same thing by giving out free 360's to reviewers for good reviews? ;)

[Zeal]

Man, they're just making piracy easier and easier for 360.

Me love.

[miah]

You've never had a game lock before on another system? I've had the 360 crash a couple of times. Once emulating Halo 2 and I've got a reproable crash when trying to back out of a menu while saving in NFS:MW. On the other hand I've had a dozen PS2 games hardlock, including one very scary crash that persisted through a cold boot, and Rogue Squadron crash at the Game Cube's launch. The advantage of the 360 is you can reboot it without getting off your couch.

So I agree with the guy, things are going to crash, I'd rather have a 360 with some problems than no 360 at all.


I've also had Halo2 "crash" but in terms of crashing for me its just graphical glitches. I'm still able to play the game without interference as the glitch is atleast transparent =) Other than that, the 360 has been stable for me. I've finished COD2 on 'normal' mode, played several hours of HexicHD, several more hours of Condemmed, watched DVD's, and just messed around with it.

The only "problem" i've had with the 360 is the lack of a way to transfer my saves from my xbox.. It's something I think Xbox Live could have been used for, temporarily upload your saves from your xbox, and download to your 360.. hell I'd even pay $5 for that. Now if only I could play all of my xbox games on the 360 I could put my xbox into storage..

[Mason]

There are rumors that apparantly Sony MAY have hired certain people to visits forums and send in emails regarding 360 issues. Again...rumors.....rumblings, etc. It's pretty safe to say that a there are some Sony fanboys are posting false info though....

I don't consider this impossible or unlikely, but an allegation like that takes more than speculation or third-hand info. On our own forum, one could for example research the number of 360 problems from long-time contributers versus single-post newbs. That still isn't scientific (people with 360 problems would be more likely to hit up new forums to vent or look for answers), but it'd be a start.

But without a smoking gun, like a million 360 complaints coming from a single IP address or some internal Sony memos about it, it'll only ever be a rumor.

In the end, we won't know the scale of the 360 problems. No way MS is releasing the RMA numbers, retailers will be probably equally silent, and fora aren't reliable. All the same, I'm hoping that the 360 games I want come out around the same time as a second revision of the 360, sans problems.

[Achilles]

I've also had Halo2 "crash" but in terms of crashing for me its just graphical glitches. I'm still able to play the game without interference as the glitch is atleast transparent =) Other than that, the 360 has been stable for me. I've finished COD2 on 'normal' mode, played several hours of HexicHD, several more hours of Condemmed, watched DVD's, and just messed around with it.I should say that I've put almost 100 hours into it so far on 8 different games and the crashes that I mentioned above were the only ones I've had, which is no worse than the Game Cube at launch. I could have easily reproed the one in Rouge Leader but I was able to avoid it. Games made for the 360 have given me no trouble at all with the exception of NFS, which you shouldn't really be manually saving on anyway, I'm just paranoid. Their invisible save system works great.

Unfortunatly Halo 2 didn't just lose its UI though, it hardlocked after I got shoved through the ceiling by a machine in the first level of the single player. I immagine they primarily only tested multiplayer when doing backward compat.

[Kelegacy]

Cool.. Where do I sign up? I want to get paid to spread anarchy. Actually didn't MS do the same thing by giving out free 360's to reviewers for good reviews? ;)
Our very own Evil Avatar.com editors received free 360's.

Scotch tape your own conclusions.

[EternalGamer]

I had Bejeweled lock up on me once, which seemed rather silly. And I had one crazy problem with Project Gotham where it kept telling me too many profiles were signed in to play a multiplayer game. The problem with multiplayer sign in is my only real complaint. Everybody that plays on your 360 has to create a profile on your system, while it only takes a minute or two, it seems very weird and clumsy the first time you have a group of friends over that just want to play a game of Perfect Dark. I guess after that, though, all their profiles will be there for future games, so in the long run it might be a good thing.

Dan

[rein]

There are rumors that apparantly Sony MAY have hired certain people to visits forums and send in emails regarding 360 issues. Again...rumors.....rumblings, etc. It's pretty safe to say that a there are some Sony fanboys are posting false info though....

HAHA... yea and they are photoshoping the pics of the defective systems to upload as well. While I do not doubt that there are some stupid ass Sony fanboys out their trying to add fuel to the fire... ..I seriously doubt Sony as a company has hired people to do it. They would get their ass's sued into oblivion.

[inmostlight]

HAHA... yea and they are photoshoping the pics of the defective systems to upload as well. While I do not doubt that there are some stupid ass Sony fanboys out their trying to add fuel to the fire... ..I seriously doubt Sony as a company has hired people to do it. They would get their ass's sued into oblivion.

Except, of course, that Sony actually does have a history of manipulating the news like that. For instance, look up David Manning (http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/manning.html).

I certainly don't think Microsoft is perfect or has a spotless record, but given Sony's recent track record of lying, rootkits, and crazy patents to eliminate the used media market, I don't believe there's anything they wouldn't do. That does NOT mean that I believe they ARE spreading lies -- I have no proof one way or another. But I don't think they'd have any ethical problem against doing so. I wouldn't be phased if Howard Stringer held a press conference to announce their new campaign, "Prevent Piracy by Kicking Puppies".

[KarmaGhost]

I'm sorry, but no matter what platform you play on (360, PS2, GC, PC, etc) your product should not freeze up/crash/etc. If it does, there is something wrong with it. That's it, simple as that. Your willingness to accept such problems is totally your business, but when a large population of consumers adopt this attitude, that's when the rest of us get in trouble, and that's being irresponsible.

Actually, I'm not really sorry...

[Achilles]

I'm sorry, but no matter what platform you play on (360, PS2, GC, PC, etc) your product should not freeze up/crash/etc. If it does, there is something wrong with it. That's it, simple as that. Your willingness to accept such problems is totally your business, but when a large population of consumers adopt this attitude, that's when the rest of us get in trouble, and that's being irresponsible.

Actually, I'm not really sorry...If we waited for a complicated consumer electronic device to have every unit sold be completely free of all problems, we'd be waiting a very, very long time. But if you personally won't buy a product with a single reported failure, well go for it.

[Twigz'N'Berries]

I'm sorry, but no matter what platform you play on (360, PS2, GC, PC, etc) your product should not freeze up/crash/etc. If it does, there is something wrong with it. That's it, simple as that. Your willingness to accept such problems is totally your business, but when a large population of consumers adopt this attitude, that's when the rest of us get in trouble, and that's being irresponsible.

Actually, I'm not really sorry...
I guess I'm in the minority, but I haven't had one damn problem with my 360. Not one. It hasn't frozen, it hasn't locked up, it hasn't gotten up and strangled my girlfriend...not one problem. I have streamed my music and my pictures to 360. My current background picture is Francine Dee on a import car.
I guess that is why I am somewhat skeptical of all the complaints about the system. I have have asked others when I am gaming and they haven't had any issues either.