Rumor: "Avatars" are Microsoft's take on Mii's?

Heh? What's the "will be used in place of the gamer picture you have today" mean? Are gamerpics going buh-bye? I hate Miis, Meez, and all the bobble headed cartoonish crapola.

You think they rip you off for Game Pictures and Themes now?

Ugh, I don't want to imagine the hundreds of thousands of shirts, hats, dresses, shoes, accessories, pants, etc... sitting on XBLM for 80-200 MS Points a pop. And we think XBLM is cluttered, unorganized, and nearly unnavigable now?!?

Though, they do seem cool. And conversely, the one major problem with Miis is that there aren't enough options. So maybe downloadable content would be a welcome addition. Wonder how long until XBLA gets flooded with "LIVE Avatar Compatible" games?

And exactly what percentage of the customization options will they make you pay for?

Why winter for live members and spring for new owners? Why not Spring for all?

I love my gamerpic... its the weighted companion cube!

It would be cool if you could buy castle crashers avatars or Dishwasher avatars

Having actually spent money on gamerpics, I'd be pretty pissed if they became obsolete. That said, The idea is sorta cool.

Oh god, just imagine the micro-transactions.

PLEASE MS, stop charging for meaningless stuff! I know there was nothing mentioned, but I want to say it before it happens.

I think it would be very cool if new costumes would come out when new games are released. Like some COG armor when GoW2 is released, some sort of Fable2 outfit, etc

Though obviously I think even better than doing micro-transactions would be to have the costumes unlocked when you put the game in.

the miis are one of the lamest things about the wii. Sure these avatars look better then those stick figue like miis, but their still lame. Leave gamerpics and give us an option to use any picture we ant from our computer. I dont want a retarded avatar to represent myself online. I dont care what my virtual character looks like in anygame.

I don't mind the idea of Avatars but I don't want to see them replace gamerpics. Hopefully they do unlock new customization options by playing games.

great

Come people this is good for us... this is the MS response to the nintendo Mii and playstation 3 Home. dont judge just yet wait for E3. i got the feeling this gonna be good.

I think your gamer points should count towards, uh Gamer Money, or something so for each achievement you get it goes into a bank, and you can use those points to purchase different clothes for your character. Because if they start charging us for hats, and other small bullshit then no more xbox for me.

I smell BS. Why is the linked page a Flash SWF ? It can easily be just an image...

Just Noticed:

The blonde boy with the red outfit has an "Incredibles" logo on his shirt (as in Pixar's The Incredibles).

Odd...

Is this what the next gen console war is? Just everyone taking from everyone? PS3 took achivements from X360, now X360 is taking from the Wii, etc, etc. Whatever. I'm pretty "meh" about this.

You all complain about gamer pictures, well I'm the one who buys them, and I don't complain. I like them. So there. Take that. If anything, Xbox Live has consistently evolved since it started. Static pictures won't be phased out because of the web version of a gamercard (see MyGamerCard.net). In short, anyone whining about nickel and diming should only whine if they're paying for it, like I've been saying for years. Quit your belly-aching, go play some vidjagames, eat your vitamins, and when you're ready to be open-minded to stolen ideas, then that'll be awesome.

I fully agree with Xoviet chiK's first comment. As if there isn't enough taxation in XBLM already, enter "Avatars." Reading this makes buying extra crap for your PS Home avatar more valuable.

E3 is next month, so I'll reserve further judgment until then.

I just think that as long as they keep the Gamerpics I paid for with "Special Edition" games or my beloved 1-in-500 Iris gamerpic, I wouldn't mind this ridiculous marketing ploy. Why does everyone think that the real 'mature' platform, the Xbox 360, would want kiddy charicatures? I guess they're trying to fix their image as not being child-friendly enough for the consumers.

I was under the impression that this was a XNA developer's concept and not an official Microsoft backed feature.

http://management.intellisponse.com/imgfiles.nsf/0/86b99ee556fcc351852574630058e194/

lol@kid with Incredibles shirt. I see some company partnering ahead...

I guess this has some unique possibilities. Perhaps you can get stuff based off gamerscore or something. I guess I'll just wait to see what more comes of this.

You know.. considering how much customization this could have... with things like the vision camera taking effect with your avatars, etc., this could be a really really fun thing to do. Though, I don't want it to replace my gamerpic. I would like however, to be able to choose either the regular dashboard, or click a button that lets me hop into a virtual, 3-D dashboard and hang with my friends. Idk, that's just me. Also, this stuff should be free! X(

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=312708
you guys have no idea what exactly you dug up.

I hope this E3 they release that 45nm chip and tell us about some new equipment for the 360 like Blu-Ray add on, Black wireless headset, different color controllers lika a red one and that Lips/Ninja blade thingy.

These Avatars are Ok but I hope they don't replace Gamer Pics and Themes and I hope they don't go down Sony's path and try some second life joint cause M$ that would be a waste and I doubt anyone would use it Apartments maybe cool but thats time and effort I could be wasting playing an actual game.

That Wii-Mote clone thing shouldn't come out until next year its too much of a waste of time to make something that barely seems like t would make sense now who's really gonna use it and it will probably cost like 90 just to get it and the attachment that makes the motion sensing work with it or maybe even over 100.

What I think M$ should do is release the stuff I said above and maybe make like two new SKUs

a 20 SKU with everything the original 20 gig SKU has but a drop in Price 300 or 279 and a new jasper chip

A 60 Gig SKU with a packed in Game maybe GoW/Halo/Perfect Dark/COD4 something that would sell systems and those new chips and everything the 20 Gig has and cost maybe the same as the old 20gig

A Elite with its regular Eliteness but with something new in the box like a chargable battery or black wireless adapter or Headset and with new chip cost the same as usual but atleast buyers get something

M$ needs a change in strategy cause Sony's taking over I mean first Europe then maybe even the US

Bottom line here is as always: if you don't want to pay for something, don't buy it.

If you're not interested in Avatars, don't pay for one. Nobody held a gun to your head and say "Buy those jet Microtransactions in AceCombat or we shoot your family!"

If you like your Gamerpic you have now and in a future date you can't use one, decide then what that means to you.

MS has never forced us to pay for any microtransaction that I can think of. That's all up to us to buy and pay money for.

The sheer fact of the matter is blatant; some of you have been bitching and moaning about the cost of something you CHOOSE to purchase. If you want it, then it's worth spending money on to you. So do so, or not.

If the same people that continue to gripe and moan about being nickel-and-dimed, yet still pay for content, then each of them are hypocrites. They sound like spoiled children that throw tantrums for no reason, and they sound very much like 9/10 of the obtuse souls we all run up against on Live.

I'm not pointing fingers at anyone in specific, but I ask you all to make a stand. Either you decide to buy or not, that's up to you. If you feel very much against microtransaction purchases via Live, then write someone. Try to do something about it. Do some homework and find out what you CAN do. At least make your voice heard, maturely and respectfully, to someone that can listen. Bitching on forum pages and story posts doesn't help a bit.

Buy or don't. The end.

I need that fool that leaked that info, he lives in Kentucky.

it's really too bad Microsoft couldn't do something different instead of doing yet another "me too" decision like it has in the past. It just smacks too much of playing "catch up", and that's really dumb, since they are already ahead.

Hmmm, sound spretty cool. I know I and others, have spent several dollars on GamerPics, so it would be cool to implement a logo system. Such as your chosen gamerpic on your t-shirt, hoodie, as a tat, ect.

It looks to me that MS is gonna copy Sony's Home but if they get it out before sony then thats just funny

Taaaake oooooonnn Miiiiiii (take on Mii)
Taaaake Miiiiii oooooonnn (take on Mii)
IIIII'll beeeee goooonneee
In a day or twooooooooo

NO. I like the gamerpics, classy, simplistic...

After all the MS Points I've dropped on gamerpics I hope this is optional.