This past weekend I decided to play EA’s Fight Night Round 4. So I turn on my xbox, grab my controller, plop the the disc in the tray, and sit back. Must’ve been a few weeks since I had last played Fight Night and my xbox live service reminded me that I had some game updates. After downloading the updates, I noticed something slightly different about the game. Wait what … the update put in ads?

My first glimpse ….

My last post related to the new Netflix integration into the Xbox Live world. While I have been enjoying this new feature immensely, its got me thinking …. What about game rentals??

A few months ago I cancelled my Gamefly membership because of some budgeting and time reasons. I had worked my way up to a level 3 membership earning discounts and other things with my account. It was definitely sad to leave Gamefly but now, I’m back at it. As I went to confirm my new subscription, I remembered, ah crap … I have to WAIT for these games to be delivered via snail mail. Lame.

Xbox Live and Playstation Store already have games you can buy which is pretty cool but what about renting?? I think it would be really cool to have a Gamefly-esk service built into the consoles that give you the instant satisfaction of say … streaming Netflix movies to my Xbox.

So let’s say you have purchased the Gamefly 2 game plan. This package goes for $22.95 a month or $275.40 a year. If you purchase a gift certificate and give it to yourself, you can get the same package for $238.10.

So let’s take $238.10 and divide it by $60 … also known as the price for a newly released console game.

This comes out to 3.96 .. We’ll round it up to 4.

Essentially then, for $238.10 (the price of 4 games) … you can RENT 2 games out at a time for an entire year. If you are an avid gamer, this math makes complete sense. Will I play more than 4 games in a year, you betcha. So why not just rent them? You always have the choice to keep them if you REALLY like them.

Thoughts?

Oh yes. The time has come. Netflix has arrived to the almighty Xbox.

Now, previous to this Netflix/Xbox marriage, I already thought Xbox Live was solid. I’ve had a Xbox Live Gold membership for a few years. While it is true that in the recent years I haven’t logged as many hours as I used to (aka while I was in college), I still believe Xbox Live is a great service.

With this new addition of Netflix and the redesign of the Xbox Live Dashboard, I really think Microsoft and the Xbox Live team have really taken this product to the next level.

A few quick observations from my initial (and short) hands on experience with the new Xbox Live:

• New Avatars are kinda ripped off from the Nintendo Wii Characters (sorry)
• NetFlix movies start up super fast and I have a mediocre DSL connection
• NetFlix movies are of acceptable quality
• I would like to see the ability to browse Netflix movies right from the Xbox. Currently you have to use your Mac or PC to login to the Netflix website and make your selections there.
• New Dashboard layout will take some time to get used to. Things which were 1 click away seem to be a little more hidden now. (IE where do I turn on/off automatic Arcade downloads? Can’t find it!!)
• Will we see more games that make better use of the new avatars? Perhaps some MMORPGs?
• Saving original game disc data to the console for faster loading time is cool but I haven’t tried since the games are HUGE and my hard drive isn’t that big. Also, how long will it be before someone hacks this new feature? How long before that will it take Microsoft to patch it.
• Movie list looks a bit short and outdated, hopefully they work out those deals so I can watch newer movies.

I’m sure there are still some new features I have yet to discover and as I do … I’ll be sure to share. Hope you are also enjoying the new Xbox Live!

So after finding out that my old piece of crap Belkin router has a class action law suit against for claiming higher access speed and see this come to life in my own network, I decided to get a new router.

What really pushed me over the edge was the fact that when I plug in my Xbox360 or PS3 into my home network, my entire internet connection would collapse!! After a few firmware upgrades, reboots, and restarts … I still was not able to get anywhere. I finally purchased the D-Link DLG-4500 and I have been SUPER impressed.

The setup was easy. The configuration options are endless. The unit is fast and responsive.
I would recommend this to anyone who is looking for a new wireless router.

Check out the specs here!