Connor

I've just deleted my Joystiq bookmark.

There's no point anymore. I can just as easily go to the real games industry news sites (Next Generation, Gamasutra, GamesIndustry.bix) and skip the hassle of sloppy journalism.

Anyway -- cheers! To all who stick around here, enjoy all the 2nd-rate writing (which is generally a matter of 'copy and paste' + add 'clever' comments ).

With respect to dedicated servers, that has nothing to do with Live or Playstation Online.
For instance, when you host a Halo 2 Live game, _you_ are the server. Live gives clients your IP address, they connect to you, and after that all the game-specific traffic goes between you and your clients. The are no Microsoft dedicated servers.

Games that run dedicated servers (eg EA's Battlefield 2: MC) run linux servers for PS2 and XBox and XBox 360. Has nothing to do with Live.

Um, Joystiq, why didn't you mention that matchmaking and playing online games (except mmo's) is free.

ie, not $50 a year. ($200 for the life of the console if the 360 is also yanked in 4 years).

Having developed two titles with Live support, let me let you guys in on a little secret. XBox Live is a matchmaking service + IM.
When you host a game of Halo 2 _you_ are the server. The clients get your IP through the matchmaking, connect to your system, and off you go. You're not playing on magical microsoft servers. The server is another XBox user.

This is interesting:

http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=13755

"Despite the 360's momentum lately, Deutsche Bank analyst Jeetil Patel is concerned by the console's "sluggish" sell-through in August. "According to NPD, Xbox 360 sell-through came in at 205K in August-06, its third lowest monthly sell-through since launch. We are concerned that the Xbox 360 continues to significantly underperform the PS2 which was consistently selling in excess of 300K units per month in 2001. With gamers apparently waiting for a PS3 or Wii, potential launch disappointments will only prolong the industry transition," explained Patel.
"

Wow, the Dreamcast sold 1.5 million in North America by it's first Christmas?

That's interesting, considering that the 360, has only sold 2.2 million in NA, after 9 months:

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6155651.html?q=npd%20july

This is all realtime boys.
If the contrast is a little jarring to people who think Kameo and Prey are impressive, well... get used to it.

Wow, this game blogging is reaching new lows.

Anyway, speaking of which, it's just been re-confirmed as PS3-only, at this time.

"Ubisoft: Assassin's Creed Still PS3 Exclusive"

http://www.ps3land.com/article-461.php

What this console really needs is more racing games...

I sure hope they can fix the framerate. It looked pretty at e3, but pretty jerky.

After playing a lot of MotoGP over the weekend I'm starting to get fed up with 360 title's that can't maintain a solid 30fps, (don't even dream about 60fps...)