While playing Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter, I hear a lot of questions about rank. My bud Jimmy888 suggested I make a post about it, and I also got a question in email over the weekend, so here goes.

To rank up in GRAW, win. That’s it.

Most of us play team games in GRAW, so that’s what my focus is.

When playing a team game, it’s all about the win. It doesn’t matter if you got 47 kills and 2 deaths, 44,700 points for seige or domination, or if you won by 1 point. A win is a win is a win.

The win and who is on each team are the only factors in rank scoring for team games.

Here it is straight from the horse’s mouth:

“Q: Does the TrueSkill ranking system reward individual players in a team game?

A: The only information the TrueSkill ranking system will process is

1. Which team won.
2. Who were the members of the participating teams.

The TrueSkill ranking system takes neither the underlying exact scores (flag captures, kills, time etc.) for each team into account nor which particular team member performed how well. As a consequence, the only way players can influence their skill updates is by promoting the probability that their team wins. Hence, “ball &*%@#”, “hill &*%^”, “flag fruits”, “territory twits”, and “bomb &^$$#@” will hurt their individual TrueSkill ranks unless what they are doing helps their team. Obviously, it is difficult to update individual players’ skills from team results only. To understand the difficulty and the solution consider the following analogy: Suppose you have four objects (players), each having an unknown weight (skill). Suppose further that you have a balance scale (game) to measure weight (skill) but are always only allowed to put two objects on each side of the balance. If you always combine the same pair of objects, the only information you can get is which pair of objects is heavier. But if you recombine the players into different pairs you can find out about their individual skills. As a consequence, the TrueSkill ranking system will be able to find out about individual players’ skills from team outcomes given that players not only play in one and the same team all the time but in varying team combinations.”

Microsoft TrueSkill Ranking FAQ

So, in a team game, does it matter if you’re a 3 and you kill a 12? Nope, unless you win. And then it doesn’t matter who you killed or who killed you, it just matters who won. However, a team full of low ranks beating a team full of high ranks will gain much more rank than vice versa.

I’ve seen this question come up a few times, so I thought I’d address it here.

The xbox.com page on the subject makes the answer as clear as mud.

The main difference is you get online multiplayer with Gold. With silver, you can download content, demos, trailers, arcade games, etc. You also get achievements and all basic Live functionality.

Punch it up to the Gold level of service, and you get to game with others around the globe, online on Live. So, for example, without Gold, your Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter experience is going to be limited to single player. On Xbox Live Gold, you get to play with your buds in multiplayer games on Live.

James at joystiq fixed his own 360 that was flashing three red lights, which indicates an internal error.

If you have this problem try to fix it yourself before sending the unit in.

1) Remove your hard drive and/or memory units.

2) Run “Initial Setup” under the system blade.

3) Decline inserting HDD or memory unit when prompted.

4) Sync your controller and pop in a game.

It might save your xbox 360 a repair return.

*** UPDATE *** Microsoft has a new free warranty of 3 years for the 3 red light error. If you have this problem, send your console in for free repair.

More details here:

Microsoft Extending Xbox 360 Console Warranty

Do-it-yourself repair - Joystiq

Gamersreports have shown us how to wire up the 360 headset adapter to use any headset we want.

You basically unscrew the adapter housing, unsolder the wires from the 360 live headset, and resolder the wires from any other headset.

I recommend that you pick up a female headset (mini) plug and wire it to the adapter so you can plug in any type of headset, or easily replace one later.

Great mod, easy to do if you know how to solder. If you don’t, get some help from someone who does.

All headsets have four wires, two for the mic and 2 for the speaker. The bare and the white wire are for the mic usually, and the blue and the red are for the speaker. Now, any headset you want to use should show these wires when you strip off the jack at the end. Once you figure out which is which, unscrew the Xbox360 Live headset adapter using the 2 screws on the back. You should see something similar to the diagram.

GamersReports - Via Gaming-360

So you know you want a 360, but which package do you want?

I broke down the specific differences of Core vs. Premium earlier.

Basically, you want the Premium. The Core system has a wired controller, and no extras.

Of course, you can get the Core system now for $299, and add the accessories as you can afford. However, buying them up front in the Premium package will save you over $100.

To be happy with the Core system alone, you’ll need to:
Not want to play any original xbox games. (HD required)
Not want to connect to Xbox Live (HD or memory unit required, plus a headset)
Not have a problem with a wired controller. (ok, so we’re already used to that)
Not want game saves. (HD or memory unit required)
Not want to connect to an HDTV via component. (Cables required)

So basically, the Core system sucks, to put it bluntly. Why did they even produce it? To hit that consumer-driven price level of 300 bucks. If you get something to that price point or lower, it will sell. So, they offer this base system to people who don’t know better, or don’t care for the extras. (I think that would just be due to ignorance, but I’ve been wrong before. Once.)

Go for the Premium rig!

I just came across the xbox team blog by John Porcaro last night, and it seems like he’s a legit xbox insider.

In an effort to squash some recent rumors, he comments on stock replenishment, the recall (non) issue, and hardware replacement when having a problem. Here’s what he said:

Keep Checking Back for Xbox 360
Today, a couple of us spent a good deal of the day today pouring over feedback from forums and blogs. There are a couple of particularly nasty rumors that I’d love to address. I know Molly continues to work with the mainstream press, so you should expect news stories to continue.

Recall Rumors are 100% False: The nastiest RUMOR that’s making the rounds is that Microsoft is going to do some sort of a recall of the Xbox 360. Several forum threads I’ve seen are talking about folks going into retailers, only to be told that there will be no more units coming because of a Microsoft recall. NOT TRUE! If you’re told this by a retailer, let me know.

Replenishment Units Are On The Ground: Also, there are reports of some retailers saying they won’t have units for weeks or months. Also not true (in most cases). My theory is that some people might be tired of the constant calls, so they’ve made something up to get people to quit calling. We are shipping units constantly (we have chartered 747’s regularly flying in with units). Some retailers have a backorder wait list, and might not have units that will be on shelf for some time, and some retailers might allocate more units to one store over another, but all stores that have placed orders are getting replenishments regularly.

In fact, we have confirmation that units are on the ground and on their way to retailers this week. When those will go from our warehouses to retailer warehouses, then to retailer locations is largely up to those retailers, so there’s no easy way to say which store will get product on which day. You should call your local retailer to find out. We remain on track to ship 2.75 to 3.0 million consoles in the first 90 days.

Hardware Replacements in as Few as 5-7 Days: I saw a couple of posts where people with problems were postponing calling 800-4MYXBOX. Not sure if it’s because of long wait times (now the rush of launch is beginning to die down, those are diminishing), or that they think they might be weeks without a console. Truth is that we’re turning around replacement/repaired units extremely quickly, in as few as 5-7 business days. Our support reps have been trained to troubleshoot your problems over the phone. When a return is necessary, we overnight a prepaid box to you, which allows you to overnight your console back to us. In most cases, we troubleshoot/repair/replace your Xbox 360 in 1-2 days, and we overnight it back. We planned for world-class customer satisfaction, and have plenty of consoles, parts, and trained employees to handle the volume.

We’re Not Holding Back: I’m continue to see comments/questions about Microsoft holding back inventory to keep the price inflated/keep hype going. We have shipped every console we’ve made, and we’re making more as fast as we can. Fact is, there is significantly more demand than supply, and will be for some time. We’re all gamers, and we all understand how frustrating it is to wait. We’re doing all we can to get Xbox 360 controllers into the hands of those that have waited so long. But believe me when I say, we aren’t holding units, and we’re not creating hype for hype’s sake. There’s no good economic justification for that (but that’s the subject for another blog post…).

That all sounds good, let’s hope gamers nationwide see some shelf stock this weekend.

Xbox Team Blog

A frequently asked question is whether your live account will still function on your original xbox, once you switch the account over to your 360.

The answer is yes, except for your account management. If you have both machines you’ll be fine. However, if you transfer you account to a friend’s 360, you won’t be able to update your account manager info on your original xbox.


Source

Here is the list of original xbox games that are compatible with the Xbox 360. Currently, there are 201 games from the original xbox library that will work on the 360.

AirForce Delta Storm
Alias
Aliens versus Predator Extinction
All-Star Baseball 2003
Amped: Freestyle Snowboarding
Army Men: Sarge’s War
Atari Anthology
ATV: Quad Power Racing 2
Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance II
Barbarian
Barbie Horse Adventures Wild Horse Rescue
Batman Begins
Battle Engine Aquila
Battlestar Galactica
BMX XXX
Brute Force
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds
Cabela’s Dangerous Hunts
Cabela’s Outdoor Adventures 06
Cabela’s Deer Hunt 2005 Season
Cabela’s Deer Hunt 2004 Season
Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth
Call of Duty: Finest Hour
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