I’ve never really seen the appeal of spending real money on your Xbox 360 Avatar, especially given that they’re rarely used inside games (apart from some Indie games, of course). I’m aware that people do, mind, my Friends section of the new dash is populated by little guys wearing and holding all kinds of things.
According to ‘Raczilla‘ over on the Epic forums, though, those guys won’t be holding weapons – or at least won’t be able to buy new ones, come the new year.
“Starting on Jan. 1, 2012, the Lancer and Hammerburst avatar items will no longer be available on Xbox LIVE Marketplace,” says the post. “If you’ve purchased the items prior to Jan. 1, you will be able to keep them. A new policy goes into effect for all gun-like avatar items on the Marketplace, so get them while they’re hot.”
I’m assuming that this is because whilst games with guns are safely behind age rating, the option to view Avatars holding them is not: they’re right there on the dashboard. Whilst it makes sense on one level, what happened to Microsoft’s ‘hardcore’ gamer stance?
Death_In_Flamez
In respose to this Sony has just announced it’s new range of XXX Avatars. Eight porn stars posing for your PS3 in the festive spirit!
Sympozium
Oh they already had Rio (AV star)…but that was her Yakuza 4 counterpart
Sympozium
I never saw the appeal of guns anyway, now they might as well design swords since that’s less gangsta and more family friendly.
The Lone Steven
Erm, they do know that the Xbox brand is popular with FPS players right? (at least, from what i heard) So why remove the guns. It’s not like they can rob other avatars or go on a killing spree.(yet).
Come on, MS, stop pandering to the kiddies and focus on your main auidence(which is/was the Hardcore crowd.) Surely, they can try to focus on both. I was interested in getting an xbox but if MS keep pandering to the casual gamer whilst ignoring the hardcore one, i won’t be giving MS(their gaming division) any cash soon.
Crocadillian
This is such a pathetic form of censorship. People know what a gun looks like, even small kids, and avatar guns sure as hell don’t kill anyone or even look threatening. This is another stupid, typical american business decision that has little clear, conscious thought.
rossthebassist
wouldnt have made more sense to add a parental control option so avatar weapon items do not show on your childs profile, even if it is an item on someone elses avatar, if your parent controls are on then the items wouldnt appear for sale, and wouldnt display on your friends avatar.