We've all thought this at one time...

I normally don't link right to Penny Arcade comics but this one is fantastic!

Don't tell me you've never thought this to yourself :)

Elite Lauches Today and Other News

Even though some stores jumped the gun, the Xbox 360 Elite, 120 GB Hard Drive, the Black controller and other accessories launch today! Good luck finding them :)

Call of Duty 4 has been officially unvieled. But wait, what's this? No more WW II? Nope, CoD 4: Modern Warfare takes place in modern day (duh) which is a much welcome change of pace. Check out the trailer at the link above.

Team Xbox has the "attract mode" trailer of Spider Man 3: The Game up. This game just keeps looking better and better, can't wait till Friday!

Latino review, a site that usually gets a hold of all types movie scripts ahead of time, has cracked the Gears of War movie. The movie apparently starts ten years before the game, during the last big war with Marcus, Dom and the other CoGs (Cole Train FTW). After the war it seems like it picks up where the game begins. Click above, but there are spoilers ahead.

That's all for now kids.

Isn't the captain supposed to go down with the ship?

I used to love the Playstation brand. I actually drove to Connecticut (I lived in NY at the time) after working an all nighter to purchase an original Playstation that came with Ridge Racer. There were many, many games that were classics on the system: Final Fantasy VII, Crash, Spyro, Loaded, Resident Evil and Wild 9 just to name a few.

I followed them with the Playstation 2. I owned one on launch day and had only one game at the time: Madden. My collection grew quickly though (working at EB at the time helped) and games like Onimusha, Silent Hill, SOCOM and many others cemented Sony's position at number 1.

I'm going to say it right here, right now: I Hated the original Xbox when it first came out. I still worked at EB when the Xbox and the Gamecube launched and I was actually telling people to get a GC instead of the "Brick with the controller the size of a hamburger". I always said I would never own one. I was not impressed by Halo and Fusion Frenzy was a joke. I didn't care about online gaming on a console, I had a PC for that. But then things started to change.

My first obstacle was the controller: I hated "The Duke". Now my hands aren't small by any means (ladies...) but after so many years of playing with the nice, smaller PS controller the Xbox felt unwieldly. Then the controller "S" came out. Hmmm....interesting.

Xbox Live: What the hell is the point of that, I thought. I have my PC, I'm a fast typer (typist?), who the hell needs to talk to the person they are playing with. Xbox came online ready, but Live didn't launch until exactly 1 year later along side Ghost Recon. I felt a little tingley. Interesting again...

I finally gave into the fact that I would buy one eventually, but not until it was $150. I was happy with my PS2, my Gamecube and my PC. Then MS started to play dirty: the launched it in translucent green, packed in the "S" (now the standard controller) and included the original Halo for $179.99.

I converted and have been a loyal Xbox follower ever since (and realized that Halo is actually very cool).

I knew I was getting a 360 as soon as it was rumored. I had a huge investment in live already and made some really good friends (Hi S3 Prototype, BobHALO and many others). I got my 360 shortly after launch (1/31/06 to be exact) and have been happy with it ever since.

I was never interested in the PS3. The price was stupidly high for the "High End" system and frankly I don't care about Blu-Ray (I don't yet own the HD-DVD drive for the 360 either). Sony went from being an innovator to a copier: Motion sensitve controller (Wii), Matchmaking system (which does NOT work across all games), Spider-Man font (5/4/07 woohoo!).Third party game look exactly the same on both the 360 and the PS3.

Sony turned into a bunch of spin doctors (where's Bill O'Reilly?) led by Ken Kutaragi, Kaz Hirai and a few others. They made concieted comments about the longevity of the Playstation Brand. The PSone has been around for over 10 years but does it still count as a relevant gaming system if the only thing coming out for it is That's So Raven and Hello Kitty: I'm An Adventurer!?

Our system is so powerful you won't need a computer - strike one

Online gaming will be free - no dedicated Friends List, spotty voice chat, no private chat. strike two

SixAxis controller - Um, what? So you get sued by Logitech for the rumble feature patent and replace it with some half-ass tilt technology. And the controler is light as hell and feels very fragile. strike three

So where am I going with this? It seems that one of Sony's Spin Doctors is moving on in the face of some stiff competition. Ken Kutaragi, the inventor of the Playstation, is stepping down as CEO of Sony's game division as of 6/19. Kaz Hirai will be replacing him. Both Kutaragi and Hirai have had their share of attention-worthy quotes and I'm sure that's not going to change. But is this a white flag in the face of Microsoft and Nintendo?

The Wii and the PS3 both launched in a relativley close time frame. I can walk into any store I want and find a PS3 but finding a Wii means being at the right place at the right time. Nintendo is on top of the sales charts for home consoles for the first time in years and show no signs of stopping. Microsoft has shown that it has staying power and isn't going away anytime soon. Can the PS3 survive?

Hit up the forums and discuss!

HULK SMASH!!!!

Finally!!! The Marvel: Ultimate Alliance content has come out at last! The Hero and Villain packs each cost 500 points or you can get the combo Hero/Villain pack for 800 pts.

An interesting note however: The content description confirms the existance of the rumored "Marvel: Ultimate Alliance Gold Edition" which contains the DLC characters.

Zanzibar Version 2.0

What a nice Beta tester this guy is. He leaked some footage of Halo 3 on the the various internets and now it all over the place. It looks very nice.

The vidoe takes place on the updated Zanzibar map and features a reskinned warthog, the new mongoose more!

Can't wait till the beta May 16th!!!

Wakka Wakka

Just a quick reminder that the Pac-Man Tournament starts today. Sign up here!

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance content coming! (again, for real this time)

Hey remember the DLC that was supposed to come out on 4/10? And the AU that screwed some people out of their games and hard earned progress? Well it seems that it's being fixed as we speak. A new AU was released today that fixes the problems of the old AU and get the game ready for the new DLC. Hopefully it will be out later today or tomorrow. We'll see...

BTW here's a video of the new characters in action. Enjoy!

Jackie Boy's in trouble now

Oh Mr. Thompson. Your story's falling apart faster then you can sweep it up. What happened to your fact of Cho training on Counter-Strike daily? What happened to him playing all types of violent games? Hmmmm? Well?

Apparently that was a bit of a bold face lie. QJ.net (by way of MSNBC) say that there is evidence that Cho never owned a single game.

I think that they summed up our "virtual killing simulators" the best way that I've ever seen. Here's an excerpt:

As a commenter on Digg noted, the truth is that massive multiplayer killing fests are really just slightly more complex and themed versions of cops-and-robbers. An online and engaging visual form of "tag" wherein players "tag" one another in the form of virtual kills, in a world where there are no real consequences. A game of tag in a world where death isn't really malicious or evil, or "desensitising" - death only means waiting for the next play round or respawn.

It is a competitive environment where sportsmanship is still the norm; where it is expected that after all the boasting and chest-thumping is done, the winning party will get up and shake the losing party's hand and say "good game."

Overall it's a very good read and another notch towards blasting JT off the planet. :)

New Tom Clancy Game Finally revealed!

A couple of weeks back I reported that a mysterious website was hinting at a new Tom Clancy game that may tie all of the franchises together. Turns out that, so far, I'm half right: Tom Clancy's EndWar has just been announced for next-gen (when is it current-gen?) consoles.

Ubisoft Shanghai is in control of this one so expectations are really high. They have proven themselves time and time again so I'm not worried. But this doesn't seem to be being billed as a typical Clancy game, it's being presented as a war/strategy game. O.o?

That's kind of a vauge term but there is a little clarification. Apparently you will be able to lead armies against hundreds of players online in actual locations. So now is this a RTS in the Command and Conquer vein or is it more like The Outfit where the player has a few troops with him and can call for reinforcements but has more of an action vibe...

Time will tell and it looks to be sooner rather than later. The game is due out in "fiscal year 07 - 08" but EGM is going to have an exclusive story on it to be released on 5/8/07.

As long as they have my "fireball" grenades I'm a happy Panda :)

Another 2-fer!

Another double shot of XBLA Wednesday! Eets and Pinball FX are coming out this Wednesday for 800 pts each.

Eets looks like it could be a lot of fun, kinda looks like it has a Worms vibe to it. Pinball is pinball but chances are I'll buy it for the achievements eventually.

If you really want to be 1337...

Head over to Wal-Mart. Apparently certain stores have broken the street date for the Xbox 360 Elite which isn't due out until 4/29. Personally I'm just getting a black controller and the the bigger hard drive till the new chipset comes out for the system.

The MCP is my Bitch

Holy crap in a hat! According to the recent ESRB listings, Discs of Tron is coming to XBLA.

Now only if the original arcade Tron title would come out. I want to play the lightcycles.

C & C Demo is out!

A day late but the Command and Conquer 3 demo is out. The very cool thing is it has live multiplayer and camera support. Pick it up now.

I Hate Jack Thompson

I've been doing my best not to curse on this blog and for the last couple of weeks I've been very good. That ends today: Jack Thompson is an ASSHOLE!

For those that don't know Thompson is some yahoo lawyer from Florida that latches on like a leach to any story that can be related to video game violence. Columbine: Oh that's DOOM's fault. The DC Beltway sniper: Oh that's Counter-Strike's fault. Violence against hookers: Oh that's GTA's fault. Oh yeah, The Sims is corrupting our kids also. Yes, he seriously said that.

Well in the tragedy that has unfolded at Virgina Tech good ol' JT is at it again. He wrote an open letter to everyone, including Bill Gates, about stopping "murder simulators". Here is the letter, in it's complete form:

April 18, 2007

Bill Gates

Microsoft
1 Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA 98052 Via Fax and e-mail

Dear Mr. Gates:

On Monday, April 16, at 3:10 pm, I was a guest, as I often have been in the past, on the Fox News Channel. News anchor Bill Hemmer asked me to profile the Virginia Tech rampage killer. I did so, noting that until that day the worst school massacre in world history was at the hands of Robert Steinhaeuser, who literally trained on the Microsoft on-line, hyper-violent shooter game, Counterstrike. I mentioned your company’s game by name. I explained that the rehearsal for such a massacre is key to being able to pull it off, as efficiently as Cho, whose name we didn’t even know at the time. Cho and Steinhaeuser were able to do what they did the first time because it was not the first time. This is why the military uses this same virtual reality simulation to train soldiers to want to kill and how to kill calmly, as the witnesses of Cho said he did.

Sure enough, last night I was doing a west coast radio interview when the host said to me, "Mr. Thompson, you are right. The Washington Post is reporting right now the following:

‘Several Korean youths who knew Cho Seung Hui from his high school days said he was a fan of violent video games, particularly Counterstrike, a hugely popular online game published by Microsoft, in which players join terrorism or counterterrorism groups and try to shoot each other using all types of guns.’"

I thus went back on the Fox News Channel, and Bill Hemmer and I explained not only that I was right about your game figuring in the Virginia Tech massacre but also that the Washington Post excised the above excerpt from the story this morning. That is yet another story. The bad news for the Post however is that you can still get the excised excerpt at http://www.washingtonpost.com/...AR2007041700563_3.html?hpid=topnews. Thus, the cat is out of the bag, and his paw prints are still on the bag. Is this a great Internet, or what?

As you know, I similalry [sic] went on NBC’s Today Show with the DC Beltway Sniper still unidentified and at-large a few years ago and told Matt Lauer and the nation that the triggerman would most likely be a teen video gamer trained on a sniper video game. The tarot card was a clue, but there were other clues. I was right, as Malvo trained on your Microsoft game, Halo. NBC reported that three months later, and it was part of the criminal trial of Malvo.

Mr. Gates, your company is potentially legally liable the harm done at Virginia Tech. Your game, a killing simulator, according to the news that used to be in the Post, trained him to enjoy killing and how to kill. You knew five years ago that your on-line game, Counterstrike, so clearly figured in the massacre by a student in Erfurt that the event and the game impacted the race for Chancellor in Germany at the time!

Yet, here you are, five years after "Erfurt," still marketing Counterstrike. having done nothing to disable the server(s) for this mass murder simulator, and it looks like "Virginia Tech" is a consequence. There’s more going on in the world than Vista. Just ask the bereaved Virginia Tech families.

Mr. Gates, pull the plug on Counterstrike today, or do we need more dead to convince you? "Virginia Tech" was the 9-11 of school shootings, and it appears Microsoft is in the middle of it, in more ways than one.

Regards, Jack Thompson

Ok, first off his facts aren't straight: Microsoft did not originally release CS. Yes, they published it for the original Xbox but I guess becasue it runs on Windows it's Microsoft's fault. Next: WTF Ties a Tarot card to Halo? That was his "clue" that the Beltway Sniper used Halo to "train". O.o? Did he find a rechargable energy shield too?

I'm am sick and f'n tired of games being blamed for violence. Nobody ever bitched back in the day when I was playing Contra of Rush'in Attack mowing down thousands of soldiers. Hell, my father and even my uncles used to play them with me.

As a parent I monitor what my kids play. More parents should do that. There are so many parents that don't have a clue what they're kids are playing that it amazes me. Here's a hint: If a game's title is Grand Theft Auto, little Timmy shouldn't play it.

But that's besides the point. In the cases of Cho, The Columbine kids and the Beltway sniper they all have something in common: They are all batshit insane. There is something not right with you if you can't discern real life from a game. A GAME! I play a hell of a lot of Burnout but I'm not checking station wagons into guardrails to build up boost. And I play a lot of FPS's and I have yet to take aim at anyone.

I guess what I'm saying is the insane Jack Thompson has to be stopped. I believe he is either disbarred or in the process of being disbarred but people still listen to this asshole. He must be stopped.

And thanks to S3 Prototype for this link to Gamepolitics.com

Wow

Anyone who is reading this must check out this video. I saw this link on Penny Arcade. Watch it now!

Halo 3 better have action like this.

BTW The Command and Conquer 3 demo is coming out Thursday.

Ooooh! Surprise DLC!

Wow what a nice surprise! Along with the two arcade titles released today Ubisoft quietly released some DLC for Rainbow Six: Vegas. It adds a new mode to the game and some extra goodies. I can't get into the details right now because I'm at work, but I'll update it later or Prototype will post about it.

Looks like the points I was saving for the M:UA DLC is going towards the R6 DLC instead...for now at least.

GH III, Halo III and even some Wii news!!

Wow, a triple shot of news! Let's get started:

The mysterious "X" button, revealed!!!: According to bungie, 1UP and a couple of other sites, the final use of the X button (long a hush hush secret) has now been revlealed!! Apparently it is the "equipment" button that enables the Bubble Shield, Trip mine and an as of yet unrevealed other item. The items are dropped, not thrown and are not common; they will be hidden on the map, not in your loadout.

On the Guitar Hero front apparently the Auto Update bricked some consoles, but fixed the whammy bar problem that many gamers had. They said they are working on the brick problem and I used the AU and knock-on-wood have not had any problems. But good job on fixing the whammy bar so you can't play it on your bricked system. YEAH!

Some more GH news. Two words: Wireless Guitars. Yup, Guitar Hero III for all systems will have wireless controllers, online play, a special feature that has not been disclosed and there will even be special guitars to purchase for the hardcore fans. It will be coming out for 360, PS3, PS2, Wii and Nintendo DS(!?!?), but not till '08 for DS.

Now some Wii news. God bless the Virtual Console. I think they could stop making Wii games and just keep putting stuff on the VC and the system will still sell. Up on the Virtual Console today is Virtua Fighter 2, Bonk's Revenge and (wait for it) Punch Out but with Mr. Dream, not "Iron" Mike Tyson. They should have put the one with Tyson. I would have been eating children, biting off ears of opponents and taking Zoloft right now!

That's not to mention the contest that's going on to start up your own show via Xbox Live. It's to long to explain here so check the link and get crackin'!

Double your pleasure, Double your fun!

Wow, Microsoft is stepping it up with two, TWO releases this week! Gyruss and 3d Ultra Mini Golf are both coming out Wednesday for 400 and 800 points, respectivley. Head over to Team Xbox for the full scoop.

Now where's my Puzzle Fighter and my 200th version of Street Fighter II????

Achievement Unlocked, along with a bit of my soul

One of the things that I'm really looking forward to with the upcoming dashboard update is the update to the achievement display. Ah, achievements. Ask an Xbox 360 owner (or their spouses) about them and their eyes glaze over at the thought of amassing an even larger Gamerscore. Spouses on the other hand, unless they are gamers themselves, don’t understand the appeal of them. They just think it means that it’s a number that represents how much of a life you don’t have. I think the song “Achievement Unlocked” by Archie Gates sums it up perfectly. My friend bobHALO told me about it and I have to say it’s probably one of the funniest songs on the subject I’ve ever heard (if not the only one).

As I type this my GS is almost at 19,000 points. I never really thought that achievements would mean anything to me, but boy was I wrong. Last night, while playing Guitar Hero with one of my friends, we must have played Surrender on co-op for at least an hour to get the 100% notes on co-op achievement. We didn’t get it but I did get the 200k in a song one. It was almost like a boot-camp type mentality, “You will do it again until you get it right soldier!!”

I think that one of the things about achievements are that they make you do things in a game that you wouldn’t normally do. The first one that comes to mind is the “Pacifism” achievement for Geometry Wars. Would you really have not fired your weapon for 60 seconds if there wasn’t some type of reward for it? Or would you have escorted 8 female survivors at one time to the safe room for the “Frank the Pimp” achievement in Dead Rising during a normal play? The list goes on and on.

What is it that gives us that “just one more” mentality when it comes to Achievements? Plain and simple: Bragging Rights. Last night, again during my co-op GH session, I was thinking “Hah! Prototype doesn’t have these yet!!!” He actually just got 5 digits in his Gamerscore (it was like watching a baby bird fly for the first time, so proud *sniff*) and it sure took him long enough (just kidding bud).

There are some achievements, however, that are just plain ridiculous or ridiculous to obtain. “Frank the Pimp” is hard but some games take it to a whole new level. Dead or Alive Xtreme 2’s achievements are all just so time consuming that all but the most die hard fans (or fans of the most unrealistic boob physics I’ve ever seen. Seriously, they each have a mind of their own and they each want to go in opposite directions) are going to get them. A couple of the XBLA games have super hard achievements too (get to wave 100 in Robotron comes to mind).

The best site that’s out there for achievements is Achieve360points.com. The Monsters (the guys that run the site, Monster 1 of 2 and for Monster 2 of 2) have put together the definitive data base for every achievement out there. They have sections in their forums where you can find an “achievement buddy” to help you with difficult of multi-player achievements (one of the guys there helped me with all of my Prey achievements). It’s a great site and if you don’t know about check it out.

Do you all have any achievement war stories? Post in the Achievement Whores section of the forums and share with the rest of the class. See you online!

Downloadable (Dis)Content

First off I would like to put a little bit of a disclamer: I have not very many complaints about my 360. My original conked out on me and MS replaced it relativley quickly. Since then it's been fine and I've been a proud supporter of Live and all that it entails for the past 3 years, even though I had to change my original Gamertag recently. The original was Halfassedninja, but apparently the word "ass" makes little children explode. The same thing happened to my friend MadMetalMatty two days later (his orignal name was Assthunder).

That being said, I keep getting a little nervous when a game says it's going to have dowloadable content. Now I have no problem for the most part, but some titles have seemed to dip a little deeper than they should have.

A lot of times the content does add a lot to the game. For example, GRAW was the first game that offered a bonafide expansion pack for 1500 MP. I found this to be a good deal, but many people felt like they had suffered a headshot. But how quickly people forget the past! The Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon games were notorious for having you buy a game and then 6 - 8 months later buying a psuedo-sequel with a couple of new maps for $40.00. At what's roughly 20 - 25 bucks you could buy an expansion that allows you to use the same disc and adds to the multiplayer experience. I had not one complaint about it and paid willingly. And when the Rainbow Six: Vegas content comes I will gladly pay again.

Now another game that has added greatly to the experience is Oblivion. Now the new pack is a little pricey (2400 points!!) but adds an entire new world to the game. That's not to mention the Knights of the Nine, Thieives Den, and countless other mini-expansions to the game. See, not every download was Horse Armor.

Certain publishers have been a little greedy however. Now I don't want to name names, but the one company that comes to mind starts with and E and an A. Charging for content is one thing, but charging for codes that allow you to access the content is ludicrous. And classic stadiums and uniforms, a staple of Madden for years and content that is built in the game for "last-gen" platforms) is now taking money out of peoples pockets when we are being charged $10.00 more for the game alone? Need for Speed: Carbon was another one that got a little crazy with the content.I call shenanigans.

The latest offender to this is Guitar Hero II. A couple of days ago the released three song packs of tracks from the original GH. Each pack contains 3 songs and each pack costs 500 MP. Now yes the tracks were reworked, made a little cleaner and work with the newly enhanced co-op mode but we are basically paying for ported content. Now I understand that many gamers (myself included) never had the chance to play the original GH, but this pricing seems a little outrageous. There are other ways they could have done this:

-Make your own 3 pack of songs: DL what you want
-Charge like 80 MP per song
-All 9 songs in one pack for 800 points (the logical choice)

Hopefully if there is more DLC one the way (which may not happen since GH III is sooner than later) I hope that they are priced a little better. Or at least some NEW songs. I wouldn't mind a little bit of Fall Out Boy or Green Day personally. What do you think? Post in the forums and let your voice be heard!!

You can never go wrong with monkeys...

Wow look, a post not exactly about gaming, but about the game industry broadening it's audience. No, not really, but this is an interesting story. CNN has a story about a couple of Orangutans in the Atlanta Zoo that have a video game installed in one of their trees. It's an interesting read, go check it out and discuss it in the forums.

Command and Conquer 3 demo coming!

Well EA today solidified a release date for Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars for the 360 - May 10th. Gamespot also confirmed that there will be a demo available, but we don't know when yet.

Hi, my name is Ninja and I'm a videoholic...

1up.com has an interesting feature called "Warning Signs" that gives you symptoms that may indicate you have a little bit too much love for the video games...

I think I have a problem lol

More Test Drive Content

Wow Atari is really standing by their word when it comes to Test Drive Unlimited. They said they would release new content for the game every month and so far they have lived up do that. More cars were released today for those of you that still play it. If you haven't check it out it's a very enjoyable racer.

Speaking of racers, this months OXM has a cover story on PGR. Well worth the read.

They Did the Mash!

I just downloaded the Monster Madness: Battle for Suburbia. It seems like a fun game, if not a very deep one. It's a top down shooter in the same vein as Zombies Ate My Neighbors way back in the day for the SNES and Sega Genesis. It have "B-Movie" written all over it and features all the stereotypical characters you'd find in the leading characters:

-Geeky Guy
-Withdrawn Goth chick
-Skateboard Punk
-Hot blonde chick with big boobs

It does have online multiplayer for up to 16 (though the demo is 4 player online) so it could be fun for a while. I'll probably check it out, maybe not buy but definatly rent.

Massive GTA 4 info (well maybe not massive...)

Look what magazine got the scoop on GTA 4 this month! Game Informer (by way of an article posted at various sites including Gamespot and Team Xbox) caught wind of some major details:

-Liberty City is now a Rockstarified version of NYC
-It's going to be using the Table Tennis engine, but we all figured that
-Hugely enhanced physics
-MULTIPLAYER!!! But no other details about that...

This just makes waiting for October harder.

Guitar Hero II Songs and more DLC!

The song packs have finally come out for Guitar Hero II and the prices are...well let's not talk about the price right now. There are three song packs, they each have three songs and they each cost...500MP. Commence bitching in the forums but I know I'll buy them eventually anyway.

Like I said yesterday, Boom Boom Rocket is available now for 800 points. Seems Like Fantavision on crack.

The Marvel content is still MIA. Hopefully it will be released later today.

XBLA Tomorrow

Word on the mean streets of South Jersey (by way of 1UP) has it that Boom Boom Rocket will be out tomorrow and will cost 800 mp. If it's half as addicting as Geometry Wars it should be great.

Halo 3 Beta News and some DLC

The beta is starting May 16th as reported on bungie.net. For those of you who havn't picked up Crackdown yet that pretty much your only way in now. There is also a new Halo 3 video to download in the Marketplace.

Speaking of DLC, there is a Monster Madness theme up there as well. and don't forget that the Marvel Ultimate Alliance characters are supposed to go up later today.

Striking While The Iron Is Hot

I know that popular games get sequels but damn is this quick. I've barely started the one I have now. Sheesh!

Gears of War Update is LIVE (Sort of)...

The GoW update is live, according to Major Nelson. It's a rolling auto update which means it'll be live sometime today (and includes the new game type Annex) but everyone may not have it at the same time. But this next bit of news isn't so pleasing...

Epic has a long history of giving additional content for their games free to everyone. That was their original plan with Annex and the new maps that will be coming but apparently it's not going to go down like that. According to 1UP Annex will still be free (included in the AU)but the maps will be free eventually but they will charge for them first as per Microsoft.

While I understand Microsoft's position from a retail standpoint (Why buy the cow when you get the sex for free--Brodie), it does seem a little greedy. Gears has sold over 3 million copies since release, a feat that game that have been out longer haven't been able to accomplish, which I'm sure pays for any DLC that will be coming for the next three games. People will buy it regardless, but I hope they don't overcharge for what I believe is 2 maps. 400 points is more than fair, but no price has been set yet. Guess we'll have to wait and see what develops...

New Demo

Shrek the Third Demo is out on the Marketplace. Should be good if you have some little ones.

Forums Up!

Hey all, the forums are now up, pardon the construction. The colors are being worked on so they should all be finished later today. Click the link to the left >>>

New Songs on April 9th?

Ok, the rumor going around the official Guitar Hero Boards is that new songs will be available on April 9th, which is today. Let's see what happens...

Halo 2, Now With Achievements!?!?

Look at this and wonder if it's coming to the 360 with the map pack. Halo 2 for the Vista is going to have achievements! If they add achievments to the game for 360 owners I may have to pick it up again...

Tell me something I don't know...

Microsoft has "officially" unveiled the dash update and QWERTY keyboard in one post. They expand on what I wrote the other day.

Lookee Lookee there's a QWERTY

Well look who can't keep their mouth shut again. According to Team Xbox, Gamespot leaked MORE information. There is an new QWERTY attachment coming out for the 360. Check it out here.

I love when people can't keep their mouth shut. Makes life more interesting :).

Guitar Hero Fix?

Hey this is a follow up to the Guitar Hero story from the other day. There is supposedly a better fix out for it than the MacGuyver Rubber band. I'm going to try it out in a bit so I'll let you know how it works.

**UPDATE**
It WORKS!! I followed the directions and plugged it in and fired up Surrender. The Whammy Bar worked perfectly!! Victory is mine!!!! Just be careful when you do it because if you screw up you have no one to blame but yourself :)
**END UPDATE**

Happy Easter, Now Grab a Chainsaw

Happy Easter everyone! Ok now eat some candy, get a sugar rush and get ready for tomorrow!

Why you ask? Because tomorrow the new DLC for Gears of War is coming out (allegedly). The content will be free because Epic is good like that, ever since Unreal Tournament on the PC any extra content is always free. The new mode sounds fun and having respawns should provide a fresh twist on the "ok I'll sit out because I'm dead" gameplay. So grab it and start revving that chainsaw. Just watch out for S3 Prototype. He likes to 'nade tag.

By the way, speaking of Prototype, we just started up GRAW 2 and the rebirth of the very small clan that I started when Rainbow Six: Vegas came out known as "609". If you're looking for a couple of guys that like to just play and have fun (and launch a few grenades) send either of us a Friend Request. Here's his tag:


609. That's How We Roll.
Later

God's Waiting Room

I'm posting this from my Motorola Q at work. I work in the VZW kiosk at BJ's for those that don't know. Anyway here it is, the Saturday before Easter and this joint is packed to the brim with old, cranky people. There are 2 or 3 retirement villages around here and every day the same old people shuffle through here. Guess they really need a 5 gallon jug of mayo and a crate of Depends.

To keep this post at least a little game related I have a bargain basement deal for you. BJ's has Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth II for the 360 for 18.50. Not a bad deal and it's a nice warm up for Command and Conquer 3 this May.

In the next couple of days I'll be putting up a forum also so this isn't such a one way conversation :)

An early morning news break

**UPDATE**
This is all supposed to go down the morning of May 7th. Exactly 1 month away. Team Xbox just reported that gamespot broke the story early and then pulled it. Now the story is that they broke it early. Ironic, no?
**END UPDATE**

So I woke up this morning and was bored so I decided to take a look at youtube. While I was poking around I found a new video for the upcoming features for the 360 via the spring update. Some of the Highlights:

-Adding MSN Messenger contacts to your friends list
-Marketplace gets it's own blade
-Low Power Downloading mode so you can set up a bunch of stuff to DL and go to sleep.
-When you unlock an achievement you now get info on what you unlocked, not just "Achievement Unlocked". Hooray for Achievements!!!

Take a look at the video, it's only a couple of minutes long. Later.

Digg

I set up a digg account but I'm not sure what to do with it. Anyone want to help me out?

Ok, so maybe I lied a little...

I must have missed this. There may be a new Tom Clancy game on the horizon, one that may tie all three franchises together. Check it out here.

All quiet on the western front

Wow it's been a really slow couple of days for gaming news. There is really nothing going on.

All quiet in my around me too. I hate when it gets like that. Always afraid somethings going to pop up...

Oh yeah I'm on myspace too (isn't everyone?). I started it as a goof but a lot of people have found me there. So swing by and drop me a line. Later.

Welcome!!!

Hey everyone! What you are seeing now is my first step in taking over the world! mwahaha!!!

Not really, this is where you will find the news, rumors and rants of the day as it pertains to gaming, mostly on the Xbox 360. There may be some other random offerings as well but I'll try to limit them. Well what's new this week...

Guitar Hero II launched for the Xbox 360 and I am glad to say that it rocks the casbah (even though that song isn't in it :)) The game is fantastic but there are apparently 2 different versions of the guitar available. One version has the pedal port (yes, the pedal port) next to the USB cord. The other one has the Pedal Port next to the headset jack. There have been reports that the first version has problems with the whammy bar and prevents it from responding 100% of the time unless you pull it up first. The "tainted" versions model number (which can be found above the ESRB rating on the back of the box) is 95055. The other version is, I believe, 96055 but the simple rule is if there is a 6 in the model number than you're good. I currently have the "tanited" one and will hopefully be exchanging it. I have the whammy problem but it doesn't seem to be as bad right now. There is a fix out for it but if I'm paying $90 for a game I better not have to be MacGyver to play it.

In case you hadn't heard there is new DLC coming for Marvel: Ultimate Alliance for the Xbox 360. It seems like a good deal for 800 points and it comes with a whole new group of achievements. Hooray!!

Apparently there are new Resident Evil games on the horizon for the Wii. Good news for people growing tired of Wario Ware and Cooking Mama (even though CM is hella fun).

That's it for now. Stop by often for updates!!