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XBLA marches on with avatars

July 17th, 2009 (Visited 897 times) Tags: virtual goods, xbox live

Are you ready to pay $2 for a new jacket for your Xbox 360 avatar? It’s coming this fall… and there will be more than just clothing, it seems:

The range of virtual goods Microsoft is rolling out for avatars includes branded apparel, animated items called props, and items only earned by playing specific games called “awardables.”

– Virtual Goods News: Microsoft To Launch Avatar Marketplace This Fall.

Is virtual item gifting far behind?

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7 Responses to “XBLA marches on with avatars”

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Skip said on July 17th, 2009 at 6:29 pm:
I think that one of the Tiger Woods 10 achievements is supposed to give your avatar a green jacket.
Xoduz said on July 18th, 2009 at 1:15 pm:
You almost sound as if you don’t approve, Raph?
Raph said on July 18th, 2009 at 9:52 pm:

Hmm, not sure why you have that impression…?
Xoduz said on July 19th, 2009 at 4:04 am:
Ehm. On a second reading of your post, I’m not sure myself. Though to me, paying $2 for a jacket for an Xbox 360 avatar sounds ludicrous, so maybe I saw sarcasm where there was none, or some such. Hard to say
Scott said on July 20th, 2009 at 11:39 am:
How long before the avatars are given the ability to play coffee-break mini-games ($2 apiece), to escape the monotony of their virtual prison?

Eventually, they may become bored with the poor fare of these games and demand better games – FPSs, RTSs, RPGs.

Oh, the wacky world(s) we live in.

I think there’s a very real danger in modeling the real world too closely.
Yukon Sam said on July 21st, 2009 at 12:08 pm:
Is virtual item gifting far behind what? I already trawl the Second Life grid to get something nice for my wife’s rez day.
Ben said on July 22nd, 2009 at 12:22 am:
I guess there is more point to buying clothing for Xbox avatars than there is in Sony Home, since Xbox avatars can actually be used in some games, where as Home avatars can do nothing but stand around and chat.

But then again there are so few games to incorporate the avatars that most of the time you’ll only see your purchased brandname jacket as you skip past the profile select on the dashboad, so perhaps its even more pointless than Home.

Make avatars a more integral part of the Xbox community first – then I’ll think about spending money on him.

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