Good news everyone, the much awaited patch for Rainbow Six Vegas is now available for download via Xbox Live.

The patch will address the following issues:

Single Player

• Fixed bugs with voice recognition
• Fixed a bug that made the game crash when killing Dr. Smythe under a specific circumstance.

Multiplayer

• Getting stuck at briefing screen when joining a match in progress
• Fixed a coop crash when failing a mission numerous times
• Fixed an exploit where observers received same kills as host in terrorist hunt
• Fixed a intermittent coop crash in map Factory
• Fixed a disconnection bug when host changes map
• Fixed a bug with live camera that forced a reboot.
• Fixed an issue with max players not being related to recommended players for maps.
• Added better feedback in the game search menus.
• Fixed a bug with the siege specialist achievement.
• Fixed players crashing when using shield and entering a game with shield restricted.
• Fixed a rare crash when starting a coop story game
• Fixed a bug that made the shield become invisible in certain circumstances.
• Fixed a display bug with weapons disappearing while using shield
• Fixed a crash while using the Live Vision Camera
• Fixed a display bug with the canister in retrieval staying visible after being taken.
• Fixed a random crash for clients in COOP game.
• Fixed a display error that showed 14 players instead of 16 for dedicated servers.
• Fixed a bug with score limits not working properly.
• Fixed a bug that sometimes prevented grenades from being used at game start.
• Fixed a crash through the world bug related to starting COOP games while playing Terrorist Hunt.
• Fixed a crash through the world bug in Casino COOP.
• Fixed a bug with invalid recommended players in COOP maps.
• Fixed a lockup in COOP mode related to clients joining a game late.
• Fixed a bug where a dedicated server set for 16 players only accepted 14.
• Added better feedback in the game search menus
• Remove proximity voice chat from team games.
• Adjust TerroHunt XP based on density setting:
• Fixed bug regarding voice chat  Now voice chat works for all players
• Fixed a crash where clients crash when host change map or quit the game before they have time to load lobby
• Fixed a crash when clientnt selects Option/ Map name either in the lobby or In game
• Fixed a bug related to the infiltration specialist achievement
• Fixed a bug where when score limit is 10 a game does not end when canister is deposited
• Fixed a bug in splitscreen:Crash when player 2 Press ready before player 1 in the login profile menu
• Fixed a bug where game occasionally crashes on boot at the Title Screen.

Good news for Gears of War players using VGA cables on non-widescreen monitors, a fix for the aspect ratio problems is on its way.

Mark Rein, who is vice president of Epic Games, posted the following in the Epic Games forums:

Good news folks. We think we’ve fixed the VGA aspect ratio issue. This still has to go through testing and then certification but provided we didn’t mess anything else up by making this fix it should be in the next update. I can’t predict when this update will be released because we’re still working on a few other things for the update and, as I said earlier, it needs to go through the cert process. As soon as we have a good idea when that will be, and what ended up making it into this update, we’ll publish some information about it on this forum.

It now looks like Ubisoft jumped the gun in announcing their much anticapted update for Splinter Cell Double Agent. From Ubisoft:

Unfortunately the auto-update mentioned below has been delayed for technical reasons. Getting it on Marketplace is our priority. We’ll communicate a new release date asap. Apologies for the inconvenience.

An update for Splinter Cell Double Agent is now available via Xbox Live. The update contains a number of fixes for lag, connection issues, and miscellaneous bugs.

Connections issues

• Fix some connection issues when the host has ended the session.
• Fix the de-connections in the lobby.
• Once the lobby reaches 5 or 6 people, random players drop.
• After kicking the 6th player from a team, the leader couldn’t invite another player.
• Fixed a case where the group leader hang in the “joining session” screen if the host quits while he is joining.
• Improvement of the server’s selection so that the server is more reactive.
• If a player leaves a session immediately when he arrives and they are some packet loss (he is in a resolving state), the resolving time out is not reset and in the next session he will kick all the players as soon as he arrives !!!!
• Only 1 disconnect function to each peer when resolving is timed out.

Lag-related issues

• In-game freezing : treat a limited number of Unreal packets per frame to avoid freezes in some specific conditions.
• Increased network thread priority over Sound thread that can reduce lag issues.
• Fix the case when a player got flashbanged while lagging as a mercenary; the player can remain permanently flashbanged until the player reboot the game.
• Fix FPS loss due to a sound problem.

Others issues

• A new GameVersion to avoid LAN matchs between master and update versions.
• The loading video was always the same, now it’s changed at random.
• Fixed a bug on the score calculation of the Maxpercent challenge.
• Challenge Best score is wrong if the player has just beaten it.
• Improved checks to avoid accessing an invalid leaderboard.
• Allows to write leaderboards of live challenges.

Some time today (Thursday, November 30), Microsoft will be launching a minor update of the Xbox 360 via Xbox Live. This update will be automatically applied the next time you login to Xbox Live.  The update will include the following features:

• Improved support for HD video output over VGA, including 1080p resolution
• Improved plug and play performance for wired headsets when being used with wireless controllers
• Changes made to recently played games list to improve accuracy

Today sees the release of an autoupdate for Texas Hold ‘Em. The update will fix some problems and add some new features.

• Game-play has been sped up.
• Post the blind and play right away! – Players can now, if they wish, start playing immediately when joining a table by posting the big blind, rather than having to wait for the blind to come to them.
• New ‘Away’ mode – Players can now set their status to ‘Away’. Hands will be auto-folded and blinds auto-posted until the player returns.
• New ‘Auto-boot’ mode – Players who continuously let the timer expire (more than three times in a game) will be booted from the table.
• Faster overall pacing – Timers and messaging durations have been adjusted to speed up game-play among experienced players, but still allow novice players plenty of time to play.
• Improved blind structure – Initial blinds, as well as blind increases, are now more proportional to table stakes, ensuring more meaningful increases during game-play.
• Matchmaking improvements – Players are no longer matched into games they cannot afford.
• Improved interface controls – Improvements to controls, such as increasing/decreasing stake amounts.
• Leaderboard display – A player’s full winnings and rank are now properly displayed.
• Art and text improvements – Game art and spelling issues have been addressed.
• Online exploits addressed – Certain known exploits that enabled cheating have been addressed. As a result, the online multi-player leaderboards will be reset to eliminate inflated scores as a result of these exploits.

Just a quicdk updte on the November dashboard update from majornelson.com:

An updated version of the Fall Update is now available on Xbox Live which has elminated issues relating to new or refurbished consoles failing after applying the Fall Update. Users who have already applied the Fall Update and are seeing an error message should call their local Xbox Support telephone number. If you already have the update, you will not be prompted for another update.

Well looks like MS have messed things up a bit with the November Xbox Live update. Details are a bit sketchy at the moment but it is looking like anyone with a brand new Xbox 360 will have major problems installing the new update. People attempting to do so are getting a System Error E71 on the dashboard, basically meaning that they can’t use their Xbox.

MS are reported to be on the case and are advising people not to apply the update, and a patch should be ready in a day or two to fix the problem. In the meantime, if you are having the problem, it has been suggeste that you try the following (although I haven’t done this myself so don’t hold me responsible for anthing that goes wrong). If in doubt, just wait for the patch.

Option 1
- Turn your console off
- Disconnect all the cables
- Connect the cables
- Turn your console on

Option 2
- Turn your console off
- Disconnect all the cables
- Remove your harddisk
- Add your harddisk to your console
- Connect the cables
- Turn your console on

Option 3
- Turn your console off
- Disconnect all the cables
- Remove your harddisk
- Remove your poweradapter from the wall-socket
- Wait 60 seconds
- Connect your poweradapter to the wall-socket
- Add your harddisk to your console
- Connect the cables
- Turn your console on

Further details can be found at:

http://www.xboxic.com/news/1897
and
http://forum.teamxbox.com/showpost.php?p=8310370&postcount=210

Microsoft have just released a minor update to the Xbox 360 Dashboard. There are no new features, just a small fix that improves character recognition for those users that are using the localized Chinese language version. This is a mandatory update and you will get prompted to do the update next time you login to Xbox Live.

The best game in the universe ever has had itself patched. The update fixes lots of the bugs that appeared in the game, thus allowing me to complete several quests that had been blocked.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue with falling through collision in Fort Wooden Hand.
• Fixed issue with remapping controls in French, German, Italian and Spanish versions.
• Fixed issue with some shadows not lining up.
• Going to jail while equipped with bound armor or weapons no longer crashes the game.
• Fixed issue with bound weapons not dispelling properly after dismounting a horse.
• Fixed issue with player shadow being delayed after fast travel.
• Fixed infinite gold issue on some dead NPCs.
• Fixed issue with disease resistences that made it impossible to contract vampirism under certain circumstances.
• Fixed an issue where occasionally skills would not increase properly after you received an increase in a way other than skill uses like as a quest reward.
• Fixed issue where spells, powers and lesser powers were being improperly resisted when the player cast them on themselves.
• Fixed an issue where creatures and NPCs would not go into combat properly after being hit by a projectile.
• Fixed an issue with duplicating items and unequiping the bow.
• Fixed an exploit that allowed you to sell equipped items to a vendor more than once while on a horse.
• Fixed an issue with items reappearing in dead bodies after saving and reloading.
• Fixed crash when NPC with active light spell on them unloaded from memory.
• New Very Low Quality graphic setting available under Launcher options with improved support for low end FX cards (5700 and lower). To use this setting, go to the Launcher, select Options and click Reset to Defaults to allow the auto detect to check your system.
• Implemented SLI-mode optimizations on Nvidia cards, and Crossfire optimizations for ATI cards.
• Fixed a crash issue where loading a save would crash if the player had extra data on them.
• Fixed an issue for LOD art for city was not unloading quickly enough when exiting an interior.
• Fixed an issue where Aylied doors would not open when activated in Miscarcand.

Quest Fixes

• If you are permanently expelled from Mages Guild, you can now go back into the Mages Guild buildings.
• In The Siren’s Deception, the door to Gweden farmhouse is prevented from locking too soon if player exits too quickly.
• In the Light the Dragonfires quest, player controls are prevented from being locked if player accidentally hits Ocato during the final battle in the Imperial Palace.
• In the Confront the King quest, fixed an issue where Mannimarco would occasionally stop fighting the player while the player’s controls are locked.
• In Corruption and Conscience, fixed an issue if player got to Llevana’s house earlier than expected and she would initiate trespass behavior rather than move the quest forward.
• In Theranis’ Mistake, it is no longer possible to get multiple copies of Ahdarji’s ring. Also, fixed an issue with player receiving Blood Price topic too early in the quest.
• In the Leyawiin Recommendation quest, it is no longer possible to bypass Kalthar in Fort Blueblood.
• In Revenge Served Cold, Corrick will now recognize when player had the jade amulet in their inventory if No Stone Unturned quest had been previously completed.
• In Infiltration, player can no longer kill Blackwood Company members and stop progress in Fighter’s Guild.
• In Dark Brotherhood, if you kill fellow members and get kicked out of the guild, you can no longer continue to progress in the questline until you redeem yourself and get back in.
• In The Master’s Son, the player now properly receives their reward when completing the quest.
• In Caught in the Hunt, fixed an issue where NPCs would not go into combat properly.
• In the Cheydinhal Recommendation quest, fixed an issue where Vidkun’s body would disappear if you left the well.
• Getting disqualified from the first Arena match no longer blocks you from further matches.
• In Till Death Do They Part, the Count no longer rewards player with gold more than once. Fixed an issue with not receiving the Vampire Ashes topic if the player picked up vampire ashes before getting the quest. Fixed issue where Bloodgrass topic was not added if player finished the Main Quest before starting quest. Hal-Liurz will now follow player properly when asked about the cure.
• In Mystery and Harlun’s Watch, the dead body you are supposed to find will no longer disappear from Swampy Cave if you cleared out the dungeon before starting the quest.
• In Blood of the Daedra, Martin will now recognize Spellbreaker as a Daedric artifact.
• In When the Vow Breaks, additional instance of Rockshatter are now prevented from appearing on Bjalfi’s dead corpse after saving and reloading.
• In Paranoia, game no longer crashes when Bernadette Peneles exits the city while you are following her.
• For Clavicus Vile quest, fixed crash with giving or refusing to give Umbra to Clavicus Vile.

Plugin Fixes

• Fixed issue with saving your game while an actor is in a new interior cell created in a plugin, and re-loading the save game without the plugin.
• Fixed issue with loading previous saves with plugin that contains new base objects that are containers, NPCs and creatures.
• Fixed issue with linked pathpoints scripted to switch on/off that are modified by a plugin.
• NPC’s companions no longer disappear when they fast travel with player to an exterior cell that is modified by a plugin.
• New scripted spell effects created in a plugin now work properly.