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tylerh1701

tylerh1701

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Here is a list of all the current and upcoming Xbox Live Marketplace Sales for the USA. This includes the Deal of the Week, KINECT Central sale item(s), and any other 3rd-party sales or promotions. We have also included the upcoming Xbox Live Arcade releases in the 2nd post. Most sales are for one week. Feel free to post if you see anything not listed here.

Please note:

  • All known sales and information on sales are in the OP. Major Nelson usually updates us with new sales information every other Tuesday. When offers are validated by Moderators, it will be added to the OP as time permits.
  • ALL OFFERS ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE! No information within this thread can or should be construed as accurate (or still valid), therefore ...
  • Always verify Xbox Live Marketplace prices before your purchase!
  • Some sales are intended for GOLD MEMBERS ONLY, as noted within each section.
  • Spend wisely, have fun, and enjoy!
________________________________________________________________________
XBOX Live (Gold) Deal of the Week
GOLD MEMBERS ONLY ... neither a 48hr GOLD trial nor free GOLD weekends will give you the sale price. You must
either be a paying Individual/Family subscriber or within a console-activated "1 month complimentary GOLD trial" account.
________________________________________________________________________

7/2 - 7/8 ... Borderlands DLC


7/9 - 7/15 ... Dishonored and Metal Gear Rising DLC and More

  • Dishonored Games on Demand - Price Unknown
    DLC - The Knife of Dunwall - 400 MSP (50% off)
  • DLC - Dunwall City Trials - 200 MSP (50% off)
  • DLC - Void Walkers Arsenal - 160 MSP (50% off)

[*]Metal Gear Rising Revengeance DLC
  • Jetstream - 400 MSP (50% off)
  • Raiden Custom Body - 80 MSP (50% off)
  • Bladewolf  - 320 MSP (43% off)

[*]XBLA - Battle: Los Angeles - 400 MSP (50% off)
________________________________________________________________________
XBox "Games with Gold" Promotion 
GOLD MEMBERS ONLY ... neither a 48hr GOLD trial nor free GOLD weekends will give you the FREE price. You must
either be a paying Individual/Family subscriber or within a console-activated "1 month complimentary GOLD trial" account.
________________________________________________________________________

  • Confirmed as future free games: Halo 3

_______________________________________________________________________

Sales & Specials: Open to Everyone!
NOTE ... if the start & end dates are not well-defined, ACT FAST! since these
"sales" could end anytime. However, they may also be permanent markdowns.
_______________________________________________________________________
 

Ultimate Game One Day Sales:

7/2 ... Day One:


7/3 ... Day Two:


7/4 ... Day Three:


7/5 ... Day Four: (will last through 7/7)


7/2 - 7/8 ... Ultimate Games Persistent Sales:

* =  Want to Buy Games On Demand Using Microsoft Points? [customspoiler="GonD with MSP"]
Often overlooked, GoD are by default displayed in dollars both on Xbox.com as well as on the console, but on the very-first confirmation screen of the download process is the option to use Microsoft Points in place of real-world currency.

Through the console, after first selecting to download a GoD you are greeted by a familiar gray confirmation screen that pops up displaying the size of the download as well as confirming the price. At the bottom of this gray pop-up is the instruction to press the "X button" in order to change the payment type to MSP. Pictured below with an arrow:
confirmation.jpg


On Xbox.com they've made it much more obvious, the confirmation "extra step" pop-up after clicking the download link displays a link that simply says "Use Microsoft Points" directly under the price in dollars at the top of the page.

The more you know....[/customspoiler]

 
Kinect Central sales

7/2 - ??? ... Unannounced Rocksmith DLC Markdowns


7/2 - ??? ... Other Unannounced Markdowns


7/2 - 7/8 ... Robocop and Fast and Furious Avatar Sale

  • Please check the avatar store on your Xbox 360 for more information

7/9 - 7/15 ... Just Dance 4

  • Price and content unknown
______________________________________________________________________

Monthly Marketplace Markdowns
Announced ... as confirmed on the Xbox 360's own dashboard, or corroborated from other sources (PSN, dev/pub, etc).

Unannounced ... from Xbox.com scrapes. *These may or may not be permanent, so judge accordingly.

_______________________________________________________________________

Unannounced Price Drops for July:

* =  Want to Buy Games On Demand Using Microsoft Points? [customspoiler="GonD with MSP"]
Often overlooked, GoD are by default displayed in dollars both on Xbox.com as well as on the console, but on the very-first confirmation screen of the download process is the option to use Microsoft Points in place of real-world currency.

Through the console, after first selecting to download a GoD you are greeted by a familiar gray confirmation screen that pops up displaying the size of the download as well as confirming the price. At the bottom of this gray pop-up is the instruction to press the "X button" in order to change the payment type to MSP. Pictured below with an arrow:
confirmation.jpg


On Xbox.com they've made it much more obvious, the confirmation "extra step" pop-up after clicking the download link displays a link that simply says "Use Microsoft Points" directly under the price in dollars at the top of the page.

The more you know....[/customspoiler]

 
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[quote name='Obiwan456']I;m considering picking these thre game sup just to easily get my gs above 25,000 so I can hopefully get the 5% rebate on xbox live rewards from all the money I spent on the Ultimate GoD sale.[/QUOTE]

It's only 2% over 25000G, unless it's changed, which would be sweet. But if you need quick points, buy them. They're only about 30 mins each game, if that.
 
[quote name='kdiddy1989']It's only 2% over 25000G, unless it's changed, which would be sweet. But if you need quick points, buy them. They're only about 30 mins each game, if that.[/QUOTE]

Oh, darn. Well, it's still better than 1%.
 
[quote name='dirtyvu']yeah, I've gone to flash drives as my HDD was filled awhile back. make sure you get fast ones. the slow ones will work (heck, you can bypass the warning screen) but you'll hate life. I tried running just my gamertag profile from a slow flash drive and it took forever. and that was just a profile, not a big-sized game.

with a fast one, it's no problem. it's just ugly having a pair of flash drives hanging off the front end of the 360.[/QUOTE]

Thanks, what speed do you recommend?

So it would be a bad idea to play big games like Crysis and Resident Evil 4 on flash drives? They will just lag like crazy. I need to beat some of these bigger sized games and delete them. It sucks they aren't available for 360 on disc.

[quote name='kdiddy1989']Anyone else have a habit of just buying ANYTHING on sale for 160 MSP? lol I feel like that's always gonna be worth a full game and grab anything on sale at that price.[/QUOTE]

I pretty much do. Several CAGs who were lucky to score 50% microsoft point cards on Black Friday are technically only paying $1 cash out of pocket for those 160 point games. I've hardly bought anything for $1 in years, except cheap shiet at the dollar store :)

So for $3 cash (sort of) I got those 3 old fighters, which will probably provide about 3 hours of enjoyment and 1200 achievement points total. It doesn't seem to bad for $3 bucks (or even $6).
 
[quote name='ooga']Crappy game.[/QUOTE]

You are too hard on fighters, dude. Anyone who likes 2D fighters and appreciates variety is likely to dig JoJo's IMO. It's got a strong single-player story mode for an arcade game of that era, beautiful art and animation, and tons of creativity in the moves and gameplay system. Putting in the time to learn a game that's so different from Street Fighter might seem like too much of an investment, but it's not so different from Street Fighter that someone can't appreciate both games.
 
[quote name='SonictheHedgehog1337']Thanks, what speed do you recommend?

So it would be a bad idea to play big games like Crysis and Resident Evil 4 on flash drives? They will just lag like crazy. I need to beat some of these bigger sized games and delete them. It sucks they aren't available for 360 on disc.
[/QUOTE]

just so we're clear on terminology.... when you talk about lag, are you referring to latency and response time? or are you just meaning "slow"?

a slow flash drive will not affect response time (latency aka lag) while you're actually playing. it will just slow down load times (takes longer to load things). like load times from a slow drive will be between running off DVD and running off a HDD.

as for knowing the speed just by reading the specs, you really can't. honestly, the best way to know speed is just reading the user reviews. usually some people will take the effort to actually benchmark the flash drive. that's far more reliable than automatically assuming that a USB 3.0 drive is fast. in fact, some ads are deceiving and they list the USB 3.0 theoretical speeds hoping that you think the drive is that fast. cheap memory tied to a USB 3.0 interface doesn't make it a fast drive. price is not much of an indicator of speed though cheap drives are usually cheap for a reason. but you can find crap drives from big companies like Sandisk that are way overpriced.
 
[quote name='eastx']You are too hard on fighters, dude. Anyone who likes 2D fighters and appreciates variety is likely to dig JoJo's IMO. It's got a strong single-player story mode for an arcade game of that era, beautiful art and animation, and tons of creativity in the moves and gameplay system. Putting in the time to learn a game that's so different from Street Fighter might seem like too much of an investment, but it's not so different from Street Fighter that someone can't appreciate both games.[/QUOTE]

I just read your article on Arkedo.... Arkedo is dead???? :(
 
[quote name='dirtyvu']just so we're clear on terminology.... when you talk about lag, are you referring to latency and response time? or are you just meaning "slow"?

a slow flash drive will not affect response time (latency aka lag) while you're actually playing. it will just slow down load times (takes longer to load things). like load times from a slow drive will be between running off DVD and running off a HDD.

as for knowing the speed just by reading the specs, you really can't. honestly, the best way to know speed is just reading the user reviews. usually some people will take the effort to actually benchmark the flash drive. that's far more reliable than automatically assuming that a USB 3.0 drive is fast. in fact, some ads are deceiving and they list the USB 3.0 theoretical speeds hoping that you think the drive is that fast. cheap memory tied to a USB 3.0 interface doesn't make it a fast drive. price is not much of an indicator of speed though cheap drives are usually cheap for a reason. but you can find crap drives from big companies like Sandisk that are way overpriced.[/QUOTE]

Thanks. This is helpful. I've never used a flashdrive on a 360, so I feel much more informed now.

I have a feeling as soon as I buy some 32gb flash drives, I'll see a huge sale on the 320gb hdd for the fat 360 console. I'll end up buying both.
 
[quote name='Chrono Gear']Oh man, I hope they didn't pull the plug just because it was janky and didn't work all the time..[/QUOTE]

I wouldn't mind them replacing S&S+ with something much better, but if they really have yanked it without advance notice, I'm not sure I'd count on that.
 
[quote name='dirtyvu']I just read your article on Arkedo.... Arkedo is dead???? :([/QUOTE]

Thanks for reading, dude. Yeah, it's a shame that they're closing up right after Hell Yeah. That's been a trend over the last year or two...
 
[quote name='kdiddy1989']Anyone else have a habit of just buying ANYTHING on sale for 160 MSP? lol I feel like that's always gonna be worth a full game and grab anything on sale at that price.[/QUOTE]
you are not alone

[quote name='JStryke']I'm actually in the process of playing King Kong right now, and for a movie game, is actually not that bad. Granted, it's funner with cheats enabled and you're killing dinos with a pistol with one hit.[/QUOTE]

i admit i do actually want to play the game to play it not achievement whore it

[quote name='bardockkun']And Truth or Lies, can't forget that game.[/QUOTE]

havent heard of that one sorry lol
 
[quote name='kayne2000']
havent heard of that one sorry lol[/QUOTE]
Hold a microphone to a fan for about 30 minutes or so and you'll get about 800-900 points. The game was based off the premise that it could tell when you're lying or telling the truth, but like many family social games from THQ they didn't have the technology or understanding in how to make it work. Still doesn't stop it from being an easy achievement game though.
 
[quote name='bardockkun']Hold a microphone to a fan for about 30 minutes or so and you'll get about 800-900 points. The game was based off the premise that it could tell when you're lying or telling the truth, but like many family social games from THQ they didn't have the technology or understanding in how to make it work. Still doesn't stop it from being an easy achievement game though.[/QUOTE]

I've got that terrible game, Hanna Montana, and Avatar completed on my list. I mostly play and finish XBLA and phone games though. I mainly play games for fun and don't finish all that many retail titles due to time constraints.
 
[quote name='eastx']I've got that terrible game, Hanna Montana, and Avatar completed on my list. I mostly play and finish XBLA and phone games though. I mainly play games for fun and don't finish all that many retail titles due to time constraints.[/QUOTE]
That one was just $2 and I just left it on as I did some work real quick, which is only purpose that game serves because it sure as hell doesn't work. For the most part though I don't intentionally go for shitty games to 100% or go out of my way to struggle with a game to get 100% achievement score unless I really enjoy it or it adds to the fun of a game. Splinter Cell: Conviction DLC with my friend is an example, because we had such hilarious tense moments getting all the achievements for that one.
 
[quote name='bardockkun']Hold a microphone to a fan for about 30 minutes or so and you'll get about 800-900 points. The game was based off the premise that it could tell when you're lying or telling the truth, but like many family social games from THQ they didn't have the technology or understanding in how to make it work. Still doesn't stop it from being an easy achievement game though.[/QUOTE]
well that just sounds terrible. hanna montana sounds more fun actually

not that i dont have some easy achievement games on my list i am sure i do in fact i know of a coupe for certain but i had a strange amount of fun with them. bionicle for instance no idea how i had fun with that game but i did lol. easy 900 points. 1000 if i wanted to play it again
 
[quote name='SonictheHedgehog1337']Thanks. This is helpful. I've never used a flashdrive on a 360, so I feel much more informed now.

I have a feeling as soon as I buy some 32gb flash drives, I'll see a huge sale on the 320gb hdd for the fat 360 console. I'll end up buying both.[/QUOTE]

I play Crysis all the time off the cheapest USB drives u can imagine (paid $3 in china for 2 qty 32 gb drives on a shady backstreet). Works like a charm. I also have some hefty duty name brand ones i inherited from my brother. I honestly can't tell the difference. Don't worry about speed just buy the cheapest ass sticks u can get. Anyone who tries to tell you otherwise is the sort of person who probably bought a Monster HDMI cable for $100 where a $2 Chinatown one would do the same job IMHO.
 
I ended up buying all Sega fighters at 160 MP, and started Sonic the Fighters. 15 minutes later, I got all its achievements. Man, I felt dirty while watching those pop-ups roll... :roll:

But, besides that, gameplay is really a mash-fest and nothing much else: everything from identical combos for every character, dull special moves, horrendous timing for barrier-and-riposte attacks and uninspired backgrounds screams of something put together in a hurry. The only (small) redeeming quality was the presence of Bean the Dynamite, who reminded me of a forgotten Sega classic called Dynamite Dux, a scrolling beat'em up in which two anthropomorphic ducks should battle enemies with cartoony punches, kicks, bombs and weapons.
Dux04.jpg

Now THAT'S something I want to see remade, or at least included in a retro collection of some sort! That aside, I felt like I paid 160 MSP too much for Sonic the Fighters... I'm really sorry for those who dished out 400 MSP or, worse, 30$ or 40$ back in the day...

And, speaking of ports, how about throwing a Fighters Megamix into the fray, Sega? :bouncy:
 
[quote name='skonson']I play Crysis all the time off the cheapest USB drives u can imagine (paid $3 in china for 2 qty 32 gb drives on a shady backstreet). Works like a charm. I also have some hefty duty name brand ones i inherited from my brother. I honestly can't tell the difference. Don't worry about speed just buy the cheapest ass sticks u can get. Anyone who tries to tell you otherwise is the sort of person who probably bought a Monster HDMI cable for $100 where a $2 Chinatown one would do the same job IMHO.[/QUOTE]

this is half true. it depends on the speed. and whether its USB 2.0 or 3.0 of which there is a noticeable difference in speed.

there is also a difference in some HDMI cords. ive seen cheap ones fail to work cable boxes or other devices but then work fine on game consoles. but those other devices need a slightly better HDMI cord. note i say better cord but i dont mean more expensive neccessarily. the wal mart branded HDMI cords are one of the ones im talking about that suck so you can find better for cheaper or for more money. so there are differences.

$100 dollar difference? no. difference? yes.

that said you are right you shouldnt over spend on flash drives as they will die soon enough. HDMI cords will last for ages in all likely hood.
 
There is a measurable difference between transfer speeds and loading times when using a higher-speed device. It's not just a psychological effect.
 
[quote name='Junpei']I ended up buying all Sega fighters at 160 MP, and started Sonic the Fighters. 15 minutes later, I got all its achievements. Man, I felt dirty while watching those pop-ups roll... :roll:

But, besides that, gameplay is really a mash-fest and nothing much else: everything from identical combos for every character, dull special moves, horrendous timing for barrier-and-riposte attacks and uninspired backgrounds screams of something put together in a hurry. The only (small) redeeming quality was the presence of Bean the Dynamite, who reminded me of a forgotten Sega classic called Dynamite Dux, a scrolling beat'em up in which two anthropomorphic ducks should battle enemies with cartoony punches, kicks, bombs and weapons.
Dux04.jpg

Now THAT'S something I want to see remade, or at least included in a retro collection of some sort! That aside, I felt like I paid 160 MSP too much for Sonic the Fighters... I'm really sorry for those who dished out 400 MSP or, worse, 30$ or 40$ back in the day...

And, speaking of ports, how about throwing a Fighters Megamix into the fray, Sega? :bouncy:[/QUOTE]

yes those were dirty achievements but it was mildly amusing. they did at least make you have to plug a second controller for the mirror match one and the Amy shrink move. those yes after this sale is over this game will join the ranks of Avatar as easy achievements second only to avatar if i had to guess. i this fighting game might as well get avatar one of these days lol

i think for its time the game is not all together bad. its got fairly decent structure in place. its just very well done but its not all together bad.
 
[quote name='kayne2000']yes those were dirty achievements but it was mildly amusing. they did at least make you have to plug a second controller for the mirror match one and the Amy shrink move.[/QUOTE]

Actually, the achievement for that mirror match came naturally to me during my one and only playthrough, since Robotnik made me challenge a black & white version of my Sonic right before Metal Sonic's stage (and don't even get me started about the cheesiness of the latter... what about his grabs or his pseudo-psycho crusher which halve your life bar if they connect... :roll:). Then I went on to select Honey the Cat and my work was done.

Probably my bitterness come from the fact that I wanted to fancy the game much more, as I thought it was an exact copy of Virtua Fighter/Fighting Vipers with Sonic characters akin to Virtua Fighter Kids, and I greatly enjoyed this one back in the day. But alas I found Sonic the Fighters too much dull and clunky for my tastes...
 
[quote name='FlamedLiquid']i dont see the achievement system going away anytime soon. Its a huge selling factor for microsoft products. XBox 360, Windows Phone, Windows 8.....all have achievements.[/QUOTE]
Oh, I'm sure it won't go away, but wouldn't you like to know if your 30,000+ gamerscore was transferable, or at least see-able on the new console? Many worry that when you buy the new Xbox, you'll gamerscore will start at 0. If the new system starts at 0, then what's the point of caring about your achievements this late in the game?
:)
 
[quote name='VIDEOGAME IGODI']Oh, I'm sure it won't go away, but wouldn't you like to know if your 30,000+ gamerscore was transferable, or at least see-able on the new console? Many worry that when you buy the new Xbox, you'll gamerscore will start at 0. If the new system starts at 0, then what's the point of caring about your achievements this late in the game?
:)[/QUOTE]

That's a completely unfounded worry. Microsoft already allows gamers to carry their Live profiles over to Windows Phone and Windows 8, so it's inconceivable that they'd suddenly abandon such a well-liked feature on the next Xbox. There would be absolutely no advantage to doing so.
 
[quote name='eastx']That's a completely unfounded worry. Microsoft already allows gamers to carry their Live profiles over to Windows Phone and Windows 8, so it's inconceivable that they'd suddenly abandon such a well-liked feature on the next Xbox. There would be absolutely no advantage to doing so.[/QUOTE]

Not only that, but the Xbox 360 isn't going away any time soon. It's a cheap, profitable console with a huge install base and great mainstream penetration. Developers will continue to support it for years after the new consoles are introduced, and if history is anything to go by, the current consoles will outsell the next ones for probably the next couple of years at least. There's a world beyond the hardcore early adopters, even if it's hard for people to see sometimes.
 
I am incredibly embarrassed to admit I had no clue Karateka was released on 360. Apparently, it was released in November. I am old schoole enough to admit I had this game for the cheap, cheesy IBM PC JR!!!!!

Not too interested in picking up the revamp, unless it was a direct import, but it's a remake. Watch the advertisement for cool reminiscing: http://www.karateka.com/

"Always punch the hawk." Classic.
 
[quote name='cancermatt']I am incredibly embarrassed to admit I had no clue Karateka was released on 360. Apparently, it was released in November. I am old schoole enough to admit I had this game for the cheap, cheesy IBM PC JR!!!!!

Not too interested in picking up the revamp, unless it was a direct import, but it's a remake. Watch the advertisement for cool reminiscing: http://www.karateka.com/

"Always punch the hawk." Classic.[/QUOTE]

I had it on my Apple IIE. The graphics and animations were incredible.
 
[quote name='Junpei']
And, speaking of ports, how about throwing a Fighters Megamix into the fray, Sega? :bouncy:[/QUOTE]

Yes! I would love to see that and the Battle Arena Toshinden games come out over Live! Also Bushido Blade, I used to love playing all of those back on the Saturn/PS1.
 
[quote name='cancermatt']I am incredibly embarrassed to admit I had no clue Karateka was released on 360. Apparently, it was released in November. I am old schoole enough to admit I had this game for the cheap, cheesy IBM PC JR!!!!!

Not too interested in picking up the revamp, unless it was a direct import, but it's a remake. Watch the advertisement for cool reminiscing: http://www.karateka.com/

"Always punch the hawk." Classic.[/QUOTE]

[quote name='illennium']I had it on my Apple IIE. The graphics and animations were incredible.[/QUOTE]
C64, here. I loved the original Karateka. The new one, not so much.
 
My forays into gaming started with Blackthorne and Warcraft II, so some of the commenters above me are making me feel like a baby.

I'd beat a ho's ass for Blackthorne/Lost Vikings/Rock 'n Roll Racing on XBLA...
 
[quote name='illennium']I had it on my Apple IIE. The graphics and animations were incredible.[/QUOTE]

The worst offense this Karateka remake has done to the original is a lack of fluid animations: the three heroes and their opponents all look and move like they have rather stiff joints, and I'd have preferred a less vibrant and colorful art style in exchange for Rocksteady's Batman-like stunts and stances. But I understand that production values are tremendously different between the two.

Despite this disregard for its roots, I've enjoyed the demo quite a bit and I'd like to master its rhythm-fighting system, so I took advantage of this sale to grab a copy :bouncy:
 
I had Karateka on the Atari 7800. I liked the animations, but only remember ever being able to make it to the 3rd or 4th fight. Checking some reviews, it appears that the 7800 got a pretty poor port of the game, especially in the controls dept.
 
It's nice to have a break from last week's sales. I was downloading the trial for Karateka but I have 10 GB's of games from the last sale that it probably won't finish downloading until the weekend.

Is the Karateka animation better or worse than Amy? I'm so happy I didn't blind buy that.
 
[quote name='Cage017']Is the Karateka animation better or worse than Amy? I'm so happy I didn't blind buy that.[/QUOTE]

They're not THAT bad... the animations in Karateka are not on par with the original in perspective, but at least they put some effort into it!
 
I had it on my Atari 800 (and later Apple IIe)... do I win? :)

And thanks everyone for the feedback on Karateka. I may still pull the trigger just to support the guy involved with the original, since that game gave me so many hours of enjoyment.
 
sorry, Bloomy, but the 7800 version is seriously whack. get the Atari 8-bit version or one of the others. they really messed up the 7800 version and it's almost universally regarded as a poor port.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JH47u8d1M4

again, try the demo. I think for $5, it's worth it.

I'm not sure what people are thinking about the animations not being smooth.
 
[quote name='skonson']I play Crysis all the time off the cheapest USB drives u can imagine (paid $3 in china for 2 qty 32 gb drives on a shady backstreet). Works like a charm. I also have some hefty duty name brand ones i inherited from my brother. I honestly can't tell the difference. Don't worry about speed just buy the cheapest ass sticks u can get. Anyone who tries to tell you otherwise is the sort of person who probably bought a Monster HDMI cable for $100 where a $2 Chinatown one would do the same job IMHO.[/QUOTE]

this is really bad advice and is really ignorant. all it means is that you haven't used enough flash drives to know.

no one is advocating buying expensive flash drives. what we say is you have to know the product you're buying and not leave it to the gods and pray that it works well.
 
[quote name='Gore']Play Tomb Raider Anniversary twice?! Considering I haven't played it one time, I'll wait for the dlc to go on sale. I'll wait and get the disc of both Legend and Anniversary. Thanks[/QUOTE]

I... don't think this makes a lick of sense. I think you either missed the point of what was being said about the DLC, or maybe I'm missing your point. You're going to buy it twice now that you know there's two versions...?

What your original reply-er was trying to tell you is that you can either buy a disc version of TR:Anniversary (which is simply a re-skin of Legend, set to a re-imagining of the original Tomb Raider-of-the-nineties' maps) OR you can save the hassle and pickup the TR:Legend DLC packs--which are exactly the same as the TR:Anniversary retail game. Same maps, same gameplay: available in two different formats. I think the TR:Anniversary game may have some concept art or such frivolous in-game content, but--and more importantly--can be bought for probably the same amount, or cheaper, as the TR:Legend DLC in total.

Also-now don't quote me here--but with the infrequency of how often ANY older game's DLC ever gets reduced or put on sale, I think it's pretty safe to say that waiting on Legend's DLC price to drop would be nothing short of wasting your time; in all likelihood, it's not going to happen.

(Now watch, with the CAG curse always in effect, it'll go on sale next week... :lol:)
 
[quote name='SonictheHedgehog1337']...Do you guys use flash drives to store your arcade games? Is there a lag when using them? I'm thinking about getting a couple 32gb flash drives...[/QUOTE]
As I'm still rocking a 20 GB hard drive, I have learned to be very judicious with by storage space. It really isn't that hard though as I delete games and game saves when I am completely finished with them and know that I will never play them again. I currently use a pair of 16 GB flash drives with my 360. I use a Patriot Xporter XT model exclusively for XBLA games and have never had any trouble with it whatsoever. It's a USB 2.0 model, I bought it off of newegg a while back when it had a rebate but it shouldn't be too expensive even without one.

I also just grabbed a Sandisk Cruzer Glide model two days ago to put Civilization Revolution and El Shaddai on. It is also a USB 2.0 model and although it prompted the 360's warning that it might not be up to par I played a marathon Civ. Rev. session last night and had no troubles while playing, it worked perfectly. Saving the massive 5 GB download to it in the first place wasn't lightning fast but I didn't really expect it to be or care that it wasn't. I'm only interested in performance while playing, the download is a one time deal.

[quote name='dark_inchworm']...I'd beat a ho's ass for Blackthorne/Lost Vikings/Rock 'n Roll Racing on XBLA...[/QUOTE]
Although my father introduced me to gaming via a Magnavox Odyssey and an Intellivision, I loved me some Blackthorne and Lost Vikings on the SNES. My brother and I poured hours into both of those games. Maybe it's my nostalgia glasses but I really think updated versions of those two would do well on XBLA/PSN.:joystick:
 
[quote name='chuckie88']
Although my father introduced me to gaming via a Magnavox Odyssey and an Intellivision, I loved me some Blackthorne and Lost Vikings on the SNES. My brother and I poured hours into both of those games. Maybe it's my nostalgia glasses but I really think updated versions of those two would do well on XBLA/PSN.:joystick:[/QUOTE]

Sorry for being off topic, but a few of these deals are in my sons favor here... I'm currently a 30 yr old fasja, to a 2yr old son who's a growing boy with an interest in using my old game systems. (i know he's super young but he likes the "cause an effect" aspect of using a controller to make things happen on screen). How old were you when you started to play games with your Fasja? Or any other Fasja's for that matter?
 
[quote name='dirtyvu']this is really bad advice and is really ignorant. all it means is that you haven't used enough flash drives to know.

no one is advocating buying expensive flash drives. what we say is you have to know the product you're buying and not leave it to the gods and pray that it works well.[/QUOTE]

Okay. I had some time this morning so I gathered every USB drive I had that had 1 GB free on it. Ended up being 11 different ones - christ I didn't realize how many USB sticks I had. I then benchmarked how long each one took to transfer 735mb of data to and from. Pretty much each drive was different. Everything from Memorex to Sony to Sandisk to Lexar to random unnamed ones (most of them are ones I found discarded while I was working at a university, some I've bought from various places and for various reasons). And I decided to try and let science and observation settle this. Though in saying this I used my macbook only so perhaps that slants the findings as I know nothing of how the architecture of the xbox works with USB drives. But in transferring a file I could not find a single difference between any of the drives. They all transferred a 735mb AVI file to my macbook in and around 44 seconds and it took quite a bit longer to upload it to the sticks but each one took around 2 minutes and 20 seconds, though perhaps in retrospect that might have also been due to the fact that I was making it overwrite an existing file. Maybe I should have done a clean upload but still. There are my results. I stand by my original statement and feel far less ignorant in offering this advice now. According to everything I can see there seems to be absolutely zero difference between any of these drives in terms of speed in terms of file transfers. Perhaps there are drives out there that are better or worse than others but it seems typically that this is not the case, that they seemingly are built in similar ways and provide similar results. Though as I said I don't know how the Xbox architecture works and I didn't run any programs off the sticks to test speeds so perhaps my test is moot. I don't know. But my feelings is that they are all pretty much the same.

And yeah the new Karateka game sucks from what I hear. I loved the original, was one of my favorite games on the old Apple IIC, I was so pumped when I heard that they were doing a remake, but sigh. Wish they'd just release the original with the original graphics, they still look great today and the game plays amazingly. SPOILER ALERT (though it's 20 years old so you should know it by now) But I played through it recently totally forgetting that the princess will kill you if you are in a fighting pose when you greet her. Such a great little surprise twist in a game that made me absolutely smile and of course curse that I now had to start the game again to get the right ending.
 
These guys did some testing on the different USB drives to check speed time. There is definitely a difference between the different flash drives in regards to data install times, but I don't think they found major differences in load times or any problems with the actual gameplay.

I can personally echo those exact same sentiments. I bought a cheap ($12.99) 32GB flash drive a while back from Office Depot and plugged it in and got the "low performance" warning. I transferred a lot of my GoD to it, the transfer times were absolutely awful, but everything seems to perform normally when playing off of the flash drive.
 
[quote name='Blade3D']That's because on a lot of crappy flash drives write speed isn't very good, but you still may have fast read times.[/QUOTE]

I can give you a stack of flash drives that are miserable to use on a 360. stuff like they hand out for free at conventions. the 8GB or 16GB flash drives that are free after rebate. I literally have a drawer filled with flash drives collected over the years. things from the collectibles (like a yoda flash drive) to the cheap $3 16 GB generic Chinese drives all the way to high end drives. if you guys haven't had any problems in regular usage, it's because you haven't been exposed to enough drives.

as if I wasn't clear before, there's a lot more to the experience of the flash drive than just loading a game. it's reading and writing to your game saves, your gamertag profile, adjusting your avatar, etc. sometimes the difference is dramatic, but it's not always dramatic like 10x slower or something. add a couple seconds here, a couple seconds there. but over time, it all just feels sluggish.
 
[quote name='skonson']Okay. I had some time this morning so I gathered every USB drive I had that had 1 GB free on it. Ended up being 11 different ones - christ I didn't realize how many USB sticks I had. I then benchmarked how long each one took to transfer 735mb of data to and from. Pretty much each drive was different. Everything from Memorex to Sony to Sandisk to Lexar to random unnamed ones (most of them are ones I found discarded while I was working at a university, some I've bought from various places and for various reasons). And I decided to try and let science and observation settle this. Though in saying this I used my macbook only so perhaps that slants the findings as I know nothing of how the architecture of the xbox works with USB drives. But in transferring a file I could not find a single difference between any of the drives. They all transferred a 735mb AVI file to my macbook in and around 44 seconds and it took quite a bit longer to upload it to the sticks but each one took around 2 minutes and 20 seconds, though perhaps in retrospect that might have also been due to the fact that I was making it overwrite an existing file. Maybe I should have done a clean upload but still. There are my results. I stand by my original statement and feel far less ignorant in offering this advice now. According to everything I can see there seems to be absolutely zero difference between any of these drives in terms of speed in terms of file transfers. Perhaps there are drives out there that are better or worse than others but it seems typically that this is not the case, that they seemingly are built in similar ways and provide similar results. Though as I said I don't know how the Xbox architecture works and I didn't run any programs off the sticks to test speeds so perhaps my test is moot. I don't know. But my feelings is that they are all pretty much the same.
[/QUOTE]


No. There is a lot lot lot more to just timing the transfer speed of a single large file. It's okay if someone doesn't know how it all works, but some small sampling of anecdotal evidence is not scientific. Reading large sequential files are the fastest. It's a bunch of small random writes that are slow. If you check prices, you will see USB 2.0 flash drives that offer really truly fast read/write speeds, but especially write speeds, cost a lot more than these el cheapo drives everybody has in their collection. Testing a bunch of low cost flash drives tells you that they are all similar, well of course.

In the long run this stuff only matters if the USB drive gets heavy use everyday, it's unbearably slow, and you are willing to pay more for better performance.

To get an idea of how it works, try the program 'CrystalDiskMark 3'. You can use it on any kind of drive. You will have to do some googling and wikipediaing to understand what all the different numbers mean. In essence, if the USB 2.0 flash drive has the typical 4MB/s sequential write speed, it's a slow one. It should be 10~20MB/s write speed for good performance.
 
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