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Xbox Live Hits 24 Million Downloads

Thanks to the 'E3 at Home' initiative, Xbox Live has served up 24 million pieces of content, and connected 1.5 million gamers. From the article: "Over 600 terabytes of data were transferred over the network during the week, a figure which represents 30 times more data than is found in all the printed material in the US Library of Congress, according to Microsoft games boss Peter Moore, who thankfully did not go on to provide the standard British comparison of telling us how many double decker buses it equates to."

12 of 68 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Question by linvir · · Score: 2, Insightful

    From your tone, you seem to be against this. Back when I was playing Halo 2 on Live, modders were the most hated adversary you could meet. I remember a few members of my clan being disgraced and kicked out for doing it. So for the most part, anything that hurts modders is welcomed by players.

  2. MS Doing Something Right? by Stuart+Gibson · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Microsoft have really impressed me with XBox Live and have used it to really deliver on the 360, so much so that, even as a die hard Nintendo Whore I'm picking up a 360 next week (Oblivion swung me over the edge).

    I'll still be getting a Wii, but I think that (and a lot of gamers seem to agree) the difference in titles and experience make two consoles justifiable this time round (first time ever for me).

    MS have made a lot of smart moves and deserve to keep a number two position this time round; just behind Nintendo :) Sony are in for a bumpy ride.

    --
    It's all fun and games until a 200' robot dinosaur shows up and trashes Neo-Tokyo... Again
    1. Re:MS Doing Something Right? by AnyLoveIsGoodLove · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Oblivion is amazing. check it out in HD with surround sound. I've lost my wife for the last three weeks due to that game.

      I'm actually not sure about the PS3. Xbox is here now and it works great. Sure we all want more software, but the 30 or so titles they have out is enough for a start.

      I'm curious how the PS3 looks. I have a 1080i Sony and the xbox rocks.

      --
      "It's technical in a psychometric kind a way" -- C. Parish
  3. What ... by LordKaT · · Score: 3, Funny

    24 million? What an odd number to be celebrating.

  4. Re:Question by Fred+Or+Alive · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I think there's a fair number of people who use mods for semi-legitimate uses (stuff like emulators, media players etc.)[1], or legitimate stuff like Linux. Microsoft doesn't particularly want people doing these things on the Xbox, so they refuse them entry to their super fun happy club.

    Of course the people who used mods to cheat at Halo are probably great for MS PR, as Halo players can equate "mod" with "stinking cheater". It's partly Bungie's fault anyway, data on the Xbox HD was insecure for ages before Halo 2, so did they do any kinda of data verification? Of course not...

    [1] I say semi, as emulators are a legal grey area, as AFAIK most Xbox homebrew uses pirate copies of the MS SDK.

    --
    10 PRINT "LOOK AROUND YOU ";
    20 GOTO 10
  5. LoC by thefirelane · · Score: 3, Funny

    Everyone knows 1 Library of Congress is a standard unit of measurment

  6. P2P savings by 9mm+Censor · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Imagine the savings from a P2P network for that.

  7. Another Comparison by docdude316 · · Score: 2, Funny

    I wonder how this compares to the amount of data that is transferred via the trackers that a site like empornium or pirate bay indexes? That would be a comparison figure I'd like to see.

  8. It could be more... by e03179 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I bet they'd have 40 million downloads if the user interface was easier to use. Sitting there waiting for a slow download of a 100Mb file is discouraging. It's hard for them to keep be on the download screen. I'd rather quit of the download and do something. That's why I'm using my 360 anyway...to be entertained - not to watch a slow progress bar.

    --
    -516
    1. Re:It could be more... by Jarlsberg · · Score: 3, Interesting

      This is apparently being adressed, so hopefully we'll see this being sorted soon. I downloaded the Tomb Raider Legends demo recently, and while I'm happy you can do this finally, I had go do something else for the hour it took to download (on a 4MB connection no less - the download service is obviously capped).

  9. Re:Question by bigman2003 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    According to Major Nelson ( http://majornelson.com/ ) the Oblivion horse armor sold ridiculously well.

    Even Major Nelson was telling people not to buy it- that it was a ripoff. I'm not an Oblivion fan, but if I were, I am sure that I would have downloaded the armor. The reason I would have downloaded it is that the system makes it so damn easy to buy stuff, that people think, "Yeah, sure, why not?"

    I think the micropayment thing is going well. I've spent (pissed away) about $100 on different things like XBLA games, and even a few themes. Stupid? Yes...profitable? Yes...

    --
    No reason to lie.
  10. Comparing Apples To Libraries by nick_davison · · Score: 2, Insightful

    "Over 600 terabytes of data were transferred over the network during the week, a figure which represents 30 times more data than is found in all the printed material in the US Library of Congress, according to Microsoft games boss Peter Moore, who thankfully did not go on to provide the standard British comparison of telling us how many double decker buses it equates to."

    Ignoring that the library of congress figure considers text strings only with no consideration of the detail stored in images printed at however many hundred dpi whereas Microsoft Live's downloads contain 600 terabytes of image and video files plus the word "l33t"

    Compared on like terms, either:

    Microsoft have offered 600 terabytes of data in all forms whereas the library of congress contains billions of times that once you consider the information needed to describe the images in the books, the paper used, the binding, font choices, fading of inks, etc.

    or

    The library of congress has around 20 terabytes worth of laregely uniquely ordererd text strings whereas Microsoft have downloaded the same four bytes that reconstruct to "l33t" a few million times.

    Microsoft's spokesperson then went on to compare the Microsoft XBox 360 to having several hundred times the power of a Ferrari which he points out only has a few relatively simple processors in it.