[OFFICIAL] Xbox Live Latest Demos


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It seems whenever I download something, and choose Play Now, when the download is done, it does not run good at all. Actually, I never had it happen with Demos really that I can remember, but I have always had the issue with Videos. If I stop it, manually go to Videos and choose Play, it runs fine. So when I tried the NFS Demo I just chose Play Now originally, and it ran poorly. Then when I manually went to Demos and chose it, it seemed to run much, much better. Not sure what the is all about, but I may be calling MS really soon to find out.

I don't think that's why. I think it's just that the second time you ran it, a lot of the used resources in the game were already cached, so maybe that helped a bit. Who knows. Demos aren't usually indicative of the final game in terms of how smooth the game will run.

I don't think that's why. I think it's just that the second time you ran it, a lot of the used resources in the game were already cached, so maybe that helped a bit. Who knows. Demos aren't usually indicative of the final game in terms of how smooth the game will run.

That makes sense, it does, but do Videos get cached as well? Because it happens with Videos way more than demos, in fact this is the first demo it seemed to have made a difference really. :wacko:

That's an interesting theory. I remember during TGS I downloaded a video, played it under game videos and it stuttered pretty bad. Played the same video the next day from the other video menu and it was really smooth. Also, yesterday with the NFS demo I hit play now after it had finished downloading, and the frame rate was awful. I didn't even consider it might not be a problem with the demo itself until reading this topic. I shall have to try it again when I get the chance.

That makes sense, it does, but do Videos get cached as well? Because it happens with Videos way more than demos, in fact this is the first demo it seemed to have made a difference really. :wacko:

Oh, I didn't realize it was happening to videos too. Not sure. It might still affect it, maybe the "Video Player" is getting cached or something? lol, I dunno :wacko:

The weird thing is it ran better the second time I tried it. Although I still saw some slow down in the Drifting section, in particular the same section on the same curve (I played it through like 3 times just to see if i was crazy), everything else did run better... although I still did see some slow down overall, it was not as bad.

Just curious, what do you have your X Box output to? 480p, 720p, or 1080i? I am wondering if that has something to do with it, although I would like to think it would not have anything to do with it, I am curious.

It seems whenever I download something, and choose Play Now, when the download is done, it does not run good at all. Actually, I never had it happen with Demos really that I can remember, but I have always had the issue with Videos. If I stop it, manually go to Videos and choose Play, it runs fine. So when I tried the NFS Demo I just chose Play Now originally, and it ran poorly. Then when I manually went to Demos and chose it, it seemed to run much, much better. Not sure what the is all about, but I may be calling MS really soon to find out.

hmm that would explain it then, im using sdtv and you have a hd display yeah??

Rainbow Six: Vegas Demo coming Oct 23rd.

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Just like MikeBL I cannot wait either.

Earlier today I read we would have to wait until November for it to be on XBLM, so I thought you perhaps misread it. But then I read your link and saw that Ubisoft had the press release saying it would be released to everyone, not just OXM Magazine, on October 23rd, so that is great news indeed.

anyone know if a pro evolution soccer 6 demo is coming out before its released?

I just did a quick search of the main gaming sites, and I do not see anything saying yes or no to a release of the demo. Just that the game comes out in the US in January 2007 and Europe the 27th of October.

NFS: Carbon was a big let-down. I was hoping it would be better than NFS: Most Wanted. The car handling is almost "Test Drive" like. The muscle car feels like it's pulling a trailer behind it. I was all happy and anxious to play the demo too. I hope the real game isn't as bad.

NFS: Carbon was a big let-down. I was hoping it would be better than NFS: Most Wanted. The car handling is almost "Test Drive" like. The muscle car feels like it's pulling a trailer behind it. I was all happy and anxious to play the demo too. I hope the real game isn't as bad.

Unfortunately, I think the real game will be exactly the same as the Demo.

EA is not known for taking risks, so I do not believe they would release a Demo without it being exactly what the game is going to be. Besides, to change something like the handling of a car, which I agree is a joke and now is way to arcady, but to change the handling this close to release is not going to happen. How it feels now is how it will feel in the main game. I am 99.5% positive of this.

I guess you're right. I used to think EA was a good company. Now I think they make games purely for money and not customer satisfaction. I might as well purchase NFS: Most Wanted. The demo for it was great.

I guess you're right. I used to think EA was a good company. Now I think they make games purely for money and not customer satisfaction. I might as well purchase NFS: Most Wanted. The demo for it was great.

You could say the same thing about Ridge Racer 1 and 2 for the PSP. I switched the games on my friend's PSP and I had to tell him before he noticed it was the original he was playing.

Well, the other recently released EA demo I thought was GREAT!! I loved the FIFA 07 demo. The graphics are incredible!! The Freestyle stick control seems to have been 'dumbed-down' a bit though and I HATE the auto-switching. There is no option to turn it off in the demo, but I'm sure that the full game has an option for it. I also really hate how they have their free-kick aiming system... you know, the one that doesn't exist!!! lol okay so there are a few things wrong with it, but the graphics really had my eyes wide open in amazement. Overall it feels very smooth and fluid and less 'plasticy' than previous FIFAs.

I won't buy this or PES until I try out both of them, I will definitely be renting them but this demo really made me look forward to FIFA 07. But the screens that I have seen from PES really look like crap imho. Unless I was seeing a really early build or something from it, they didn't impress me at all. Hopefully that improves a bit. :)

What'd you guys think of that demo?

awesome game, great gameplay

edit: hey magik, i just went to play now and i turned auto switching and pass assist off and it makes the gameplay WAY better. you should try it

Ah cool, I didn't know you could do it in the demo. Where is the option for that?

What does the pass-assist do?

pause the game and go to control options.. it will have auto switch and pass assist on there

pass assist just helps you pass to the target easier but makes the game feel too arcadey, so if you turn that down a few notches it makes you feel more free.

pause the game and go to control options.. it will have auto switch and pass assist on there

pass assist just helps you pass to the target easier but makes the game feel too arcadey, so if you turn that down a few notches it makes you feel more free.

Ah cool, thanks, I'll definitely try that out (Y)

NFS: Carbon was a big let-down. I was hoping it would be better than NFS: Most Wanted. The car handling is almost "Test Drive" like. The muscle car feels like it's pulling a trailer behind it. I was all happy and anxious to play the demo too. I hope the real game isn't as bad.

Really? I'm a huge NFS fan and own just about all of them :p BUT to be honest when I first played it I was "OMG! what have they done?!! they destroyed NFS!" but after playing it for a while and "adjusting" to how it played, I really enjoyed it :) (perhaps I'm the only one) my only problem with it, is that it doesn't run smooth...in some areas the frame rate is rock solid in other it's all over the place (Most Wanted on the 360 was the same though) but it is multi-platform though, so I guess EA wouldn't spend as much time getting it to run smooth as say Bizarre Creations would have...still I've probably been spoilt by PGR3 which runs like a wet dream on the 360 :p

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Here are the full specs of it: Creative Sound Blaster AE-X Dimensions: 179 x 126 x 18 mm Weight: 263g / 9.28 oz Platform: PCI-e DAC: ESS ES9039Q2M Connectivity Options Side: Rear: 1 x HD Audio Front Panel Connector, 1 x ⅛“ Headphone port, 1 x RCA Line-out (Left) port, 1 x RCA Line-out (Right) port, 1 x Coaxial SPDIF-out port, 1 x ⅛“ Mic in/Line-in port, 1 x TOSLINK SPDIF-in port Surround: No DNR / SNR: THD+N: 0.0001% Dynamic Range 130 dB Recording Resolution: PCM up to 32-bit / 192kHz (Stereo) Direct Mode: Line Out (Stereo): PCM up to 32-bit  384 kHz Coaxial SPDIF Out: PCM up to 24-bit 192.0 kHz Headphone Amp: PCM up to 32-bit / 384kHz (Stereo) Native DSD: DSD64, DSD128, DSD256 Output Impedance: 1Ω, Supported Headphone Impedance: 8–600Ω, IEM: 0.5Vrms, Low: 1.5Vrms, Mid: 3Vrms, High: 6Vrms, Maximum output power: 350mW @ 32Ω (High), Maximum output voltage: 6Vrms (High) Front Panel Headphone Amp: PCM up to 32-bit / 192kHz (Stereo) Native DSD: DSD64, DSD128 Output Impedance: 10Ω, Supported Headphone Impedance: 32–300Ω, Maximum output power: 40mW @ 32Ω, Maximum output voltage: 1.9Vrms ASIO: ASIO 2.3 Total Harmonic Distortion: THD+N: 0.0006% Dynamic Range: 114 dB Scout Mode: Yes EMI shielding: No (but it passed all the FCC emission tests) Operating temperature: 0–45°C Input Power: 12V⎓0.5A Warranty: 1 Year (MSRP) Price: $179.99 / £169.99 The Sound Blaster AE-X was announced at the end of May, and it becomes clear that it is mainly for headphone wearers. I should also note that the card does not support DDL/DTS encoding technology, but it is said to support decoding through the coaxial SPDIF port. I was able to test this working with the classic Windows Sound properties, but I could not get a DTS (decode) signal through my Logitech Z906, it defaulted to 3D sound whenever I played DTS content through Plex or Emby. In addition, this card only supports two channels (stereo) over the speakers. The surround support is limited to the Headphone Amp, so before I get underway, what we have here is a card mostly intended for headphone use, especially with its SPDIF In (Toslink) port where you could connect another device like a console. So what about the highlights of this card? The AE-X is powered by the ESS SABRE DAC (ES9039Q2M), which is capable of a 130 dB dynamic range. In addition, it supports 32-bit/384 kHz playback for deeper detail and clarity. 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Usage Test System Our test system consists of the following: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D Gigabyte X870E AORUS MASTER (BIOS F12) Corsair RM1000x (2024) Thermal Grizzly Kyronaut (33x33x0,2mm) 2x 32GB Kingston Fury Beast RGB DDR5 6000MT/s CL36-38-38-80 T-Force Z540 2TB (PCIe Gen5) NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Founders Edition (NVIDIA) Creative Sound Blaster AE-X Windows 11 25H2 Pro I installed the card into the Gigabyte X870E AORUS MASTER which includes the RealTek ALC1220 onboard audio. For our subjective listening tests, I used the Coaxial SPDIF port to my Logitech Z906 speakers. For headphone tests I used the OneOdio Studio Max 2 Wireless DJ Headphones that I reviewed last month. After installing the audio driver, I installed Creative Nexus, which is a relatively new app designed for the latest Sound Blaster cards. Then I discovered the AE-X needed both a driver update from 1.00.15.0001 to 1.01.09.000 and a firmware update from 1.00.06.0000 to 1.00.06.0002, then I was set to go. 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When I reviewed the Audigy FX Pro, I went out and purchased a Logitech Z906 set second-hand for €100 specifically to use with the card, but in this instance all I could get on the AE-X was the 3D output of surround sound through Coaxial SPDIF and although it still sounded great, it isn't quite as good as DTS Interactive via my onboard Realtek ALC1220. Conclusion So what have I learned? The AE-X lacks multi-channel support for 5.1/7.1 setups and drops support for modern surround technologies like Dolby or DTS, functioning strictly as a stereo output device. So to really benefit, you will need Studio-grade headphones to "hear" the benefits of this card. With that being said, I can imagine it will appeal to gamers who are switching between console and PC. By utilizing the SPDIF in port, you could just plug your headphones into the AE-X (front or rear port) and then switch between PC and Console without having to move the headphones to a different port. 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