New Avatar Props/Features Will Require Per-Title Updates for Older Games

Come August 11th, Microsoft is going down the road well-trodden by Sony as they will allow their users to purchase new items for their Avatars to carry around, including Secret of Monkey Island telescopes and the chicken seen at right. And please, no jokes about the strangulation of said creature, for we are all far too classy and well above such things, are we not?

The purpose of such material is rather amusing, as it is to help set yourself apart from other players… by utilizing the very same catalog of items as everyone else. Sort of like those people who say they want to be different from everyone else, and so they dress like every other *insert social stereotype here* there is out there.

However, these items will unfortunately not be carried over into Avatar-based games at this time. The reason for this is elementary: the games in question will require individual title updates before props, or any of the other new dashboard features, for that matter, will appear in-game.

As it pertains to the utilization of Avatar props, Xbox Director of Program Management Ben Smith said:

“When we build the core technology that we put into our software developer kits, they also have to have the base Xbox Live update so developers can enable [new features]. So we won’t see games built with all of that functionality that we see in the Xbox Live update until after the update launches. It’ll be in either one of two paths. Either new games would have those new features or old games would need a title update to integrate that functionality.”

It makes sense, I suppose. Though I thought that the games simply pulled whatever was there from the Avatars, including new clothes and the like, I guess certain allowances need to be made for chickens.

As a result of the present lack of integration, the props will only be appearing on your Xbox LIVE dashboard, maybe a friend’s as well, if they’re checking you out on their friends list. With that in mind, one may want to wait until they’re more widely utilized in games before plunking down their cash for little-to-no good reason. That is, unless you like the chicken that much.

On the other hand, word is that there will be free “rewardable” props, which might be more enticing. No harm there.