Microsoft Spring Update Leak

Leaks, although their namesake maybe somewhat Welsh in nature are good things.

Tiny snippets of the future without having to take chances with a post-menstrual bint on a page directly opposite Striker in the Sun newspaper.

Back to the point in hand. Kotaku today report that they received an anonymous E-Mail listing the updates for the forthcoming Microsoft spring update. Rather than list all 80 of them it'd probably much easier for me to provide you with a link.

Notable updates in this list include some of the following:

8. More fields present in Personal Profile - recent achievements, interests, games, movies, links, custom section

This would have been useful last week when I was comparing my friends to see if I was the first to whoop their asses at achievements in GTA IV. Of course it goes without saying that I was, but it makes me feel more of a man to see it in person all the same.

14. Long descriptions of items on Marketplace can be scrolled using right stick.

It goes without saying how annoying this is at present. When making purchases on marketplace,

reading a description of what your getting shouldn't be a slideshow.

30. Option to donate Microsoft Points to anybody with a Windows Live ID.

A great feature, especially as most my friends are all jobless bums/students. Hopefully you can also donate them gold membership cards.

33. Disable notifications to friends of user repeatedly signing into service (set period).

Again, incredibly useful. Especially as two people on my list (who shall remain unnamed) always do this. One of them continuously signing onto XBL.COM every 10 minutes and another who insists on patching all his games one after the other, which requires a disconnect/reconnect.

There's a few other good'uns and a few rather bad ones;

39. Support for limited 'winks' that display on dashboard interface. Option to disable 'winks' and 'nudges' added.

God no. I don't want messages full of smileys and other annoying fuckery. Consoles are for gaming, not conversations.

One update I would have liked them to make would be so that peoples profiles wouldn't take a year or more to load up. Which has nothing at all to do with the size of my own *hint*.

EDIT: It has since been announced that there will be no 'spring update'. Time will tell if this means the above still won't be implemented in some shape or form.

GTA IV - Welcoming Publicity Seeking Lobbyists

As you are most likely aware, the lobby group MADD (Mothers Against Drink Driving) released the following statement condoning the inclusion and portrayal of drink driving in the game of the moment GTA IV. For those in the dark they go as far to call the game 'irresponsible against society' and suggest as such that the title be reclassified in American terms from mature towards AO (adults only) which would all but completely remove it from store shelves there. (Not that this is entirely a bad shout judging by some of the people who grace XBL's multiplayer).

Despite the various arguments that anyone who's actually played the game would already be aware about (E.g. that drink driving is more destructive for Niko then it is beneficial). Having completed the game myself there was a slightly more questionable activity throughout the proceedings that I thought would have been raised by now.

No, it's not the fact Niko's entering the country illegally, carjacking bystanders, concealing illegal weaponry, committing arson, murder & manslaughter on a daily basis. Who indeed doesn't indulge themselves in transporting weed from a dubious Jamaicans car strictly between 2pm-5am?.

I believe the understated real issue to be that game protagonist Niko Bellic continuously uses his cellphone while driving on the roads of Liberty City.

For those unaware of the law, use of a phone while driving can disburse you a hefty £60 fine and 3 points on your license. I also fail to see any hands-free kit or blue-tooth headset around his ear to lead you to believe that he has full control of the steering wheel while he's trying to comprehend LJ's rambling patois nonsense (or trying to care about the Ray/Phil Bell story arc).

I suggest therefore to keep future alarmist, publicity seeking, opportunistic lobby groups such as MADD happy. When Brucie calls to invite your participation in a joint venture down to the polygonal tit-tape club that you park your vehicle in a safe, legal location before taking that call.

Or alternatively you could contact MADD's publicity & marketing team to tell them to politely perhaps get a fucking clue?

Just make sure you're not drunk and in a moving vehicle when you do so.