What would you like to see?

I’ve been kicking around a couple different ideas of what cool Xfire stuff you might like to see on this blog. Stuff like the top 10 games on Xfire are generally accessible right from the homepage, as the newest files released are similarly easy to find. I could discuss new features as they come out (did that one already), or just answer questions. But it’s all up to you. I’ll start putting out info and see what works and what doesn’t, but if you want anything in the particular, leave a comment and I’ll see what I can do.

::Kiskis::

Music Tracking & Xfire Plus

So apparently Google has added a music tracking option to Google talk. They’ve made the top tracks by genre publicly available, so you can check out which songs are actually popular and being listened to (as opposed to just what’s on the radio). While Google Talk is hardly a huge sample population, it still is a pretty sizable sample, though definitely skewed more toward the techy crown. I see this a lot like what Xfire does for games with our top 10 list on the homepage – you’re able to see what people are actually PLAYING, not just what sells at the retail counter. We go one better by giving you the number of minutes played, though we don’t do it by game genre.

So then I was thinking – there’s no real reason the Xfire Plus team couldn’t do something similar for Xfire. If you haven’t heard of Xfire Plus before, you really should swing by their site. They’ve got a bunch of cool plugins for Xfire, including a cross-IM service, a web version of Xfire, as well as a music plugin that will display your current music in your Xfire status. Theoretically they could have an opt-in option that would upload that music to a similar list on their site. Their news page says they’ve passed 7000 unique users of the plugin, so that’s pretty good in my book.

::Kiskis::

Microsoft Gamefest

I’ll be up in Seattle starting tomorrow attending the Microsoft Gamefest. Microsoft is rumored to be revealing some elements of their upcoming Panorama service – described as Live for Windows, in some form or other. I definitely believe they’ll be showing off something. We’ll see how much of that Live functionality they’ll be bringing anytime soon. What’s especially interesting to me is the pricing question. Are PC gamers ready to put up some money for access to a gaming environment like Live?

Live on the Xbox is a fabulous experience – seamless, simple, and (relatively) secure. I have far more fun playing on Live than any other multiplayer system, with the exclusion of our office LAN (can’t beat smacktalk down the hall to the boss). The ability to more accurately rank players, and then place them against players of similar skill with immediate voice communication and easy friendship making is really a powerful combination.

I’m actually of the mind that a big chunk of the PC gaming community will be willing to pay for that experience, once the early adopters get in and start spreading the word. Will they be willing to pay $5 a month? Maybe, maybe not. It’s a deal on Xbox, but with services like PlayLinc coming down the line to provide free servers (in exchange for watching 30 second spots each time you launch) on the PC, and so many existing services for staying in touch with friends, downloading content, etc…it’s a much tougher sell. But throw in the matchmaking and ranking, global leaderboards, and some other gaming-specific services (voicemail? email? web services designed as well as Xbox Live, but implemented on any platform?) and it starts to look a lot more interesting.

Of course, they’ll probably have a free membership level which gives you access to at least some of the community for free. Friends list, text & voice communication, access to Arcade downloads, etc – almost a certainty. So those somewhat diminish the value of any pay service. But access to the leaderboards and playing against friends on a 360 from the PC, including matching against people of my skill level, high speed servers, in-game access to a whole slew of services…I’d probably be putting in my credit card.

Anyway – if you’re going to be up in Seattle as well, drop me a line.

::Kiskis::

MTV Video Music Awards

This is the first year that MTV has added game music to the Video Music Awards (VMAs). As part of that, they’ve asked us and Gametrailers, our fellow MTV gaming site, to hold a vote in our respective communities. The results of that voting will help determine which of the finalists will eventually with the VMA. The vote runs until August 28th, and you’ll be able to see the final winners on MTV’s Overdrive on August 31st. (You can access Overdrive through MTV.com, under “Games”.)

There’s been some posts in the forum asking how the finalists were chosen, or why so-and-so’s favorite game wasn’t chosen, or that this or that game’s music is crap, etc etc. The short answer is – those are the finalists. You may not agree with why some game was left out, but those are the ones that the MTV gaming folks decided on. So maybe your favorite’s not there, but get out there and vote anyway! Here’s why.

The long answer is that this is the first time MTV has done this. So it’s entirely uncharted territory. So if they run this vote and we get 50 votes for the winner, chances are that next year they won’t be bothering to do the vote at all. On the other hand, if we rally together, get your friends to swing by and vote, and get up to tens of thousands of votes – then suddenly this community is a pretty serious force to be reckoned with. So that when MTV is looking for gaming advice in the future, they’ll know where to come – right to the source of the world gaming community, you all.

So get going, and let your voice be heard

::Kiskis::

Release

Been awhile since I posted, but it’s been quite busy here at Xfire. A couple things of note over the past 2 weeks:

• New Xfire release is out. One cool feature is the new LAN Server Browser.  Our friends over at 20ID were recently in town (winning the CAL championship, by the way – congrats!) and pointed out that Xfire could be very useful at these tournaments and LAN events by simply detecting what servers were available on a local network, rather than only looking at Xfire’s master server list. Now, when you hit your local LAN center, check if they have Xfire installed (most do). You can hit the Servers tab and see what servers people around you are on. Easier than ever.
• We also just launched our new Xfire Store. We’ve had tons of requests for Xfire shirts, hats, whatever – some way to show off the love of Xfire. Well, over the past few weeks we’ve been building up a cool new store with Func Industries. Right now we’ve only got a few products – couple t-shirts, a hat, and mousepads – but you can use Func’s nifty flash tool to completely customize your mousepad. They’ll print it out on their industrial printing machines and send it to you within a few weeks. These aren’t the crappy foam mousepads that you can print photos on at Walgreens – these are professional, high quality mousepads that the pro gamers are using to win. So go customize one! We’ll be adding more new shirts, sweatshirts, and cool stuff over time. Got a suggestion for a cool product or design? Contact me.

There’s a bunch of other new stuff, including new games, in this release, which you can find out about in the release notes. Enjoy!

::Kiskis::

Tesla Motors

I’ve read an article or two about this company, but hadn’t had a chance to dig through their website yet. Very cool. While I’ve never been one for jumping up and down over electric vehicles (I like my combustion too much – it can be hydrogen combustion, but still combustion), it’s more the principle with which they’re approaching this industry. The website actually feels like it’s been built by people who know what makes a good website (rather than the overwhelming flash-filled but really insubstantial websites typically deployed by American car companies). And a real blog, direct from the CEO? I’m hoping this infusion of Northern Californian culture into the auto industry can not only spark growth in these entrepreneurial automotive ventures (I know of at least one other, founded by a former employee of Tesla – anyone know of more?), but hopefully influence auto design and manufacturing more widely. At worst – hopefully someone will crank out some hot little autocrossers. Can you imagine what a flow of venture capital and intense competition around the Bay area could do for grassroots motorsport?

What do you think? Think there’s a chance of a legitimate entrepreneurial car industry sprouting up around here?

::Kiskis::