I thought that the DOA (Dead or Alive) movie was on the fast track to DTD (Direct to DVD). Now a new trailer has been released that makes it look like the game may actually have something to movie. And it has Kevin Nash as Bass! Check it out here!
God Bless the Hackers! They've dug through more beta code and found the achievement list! The Achievements also name some singe player levels so it's a double play! Here they are (originally posted at Team Xbox):
achievement_complete_mission_jungle
achievement_complete_mission_base
achievement_complete_mission_outskirts
achievement_complete_mission_voi
achievement_complete_mission_floodvoi
achievement_complete_mission_wasteland
achievement_complete_mission_citadel
achievement_complete_mission_highcharity
achievement_complete_mission_halo
achievement_complete_campaign_easy
achievement_complete_campaign_normal
achievement_complete_campaign_heroic
achievement_complete_campaign_legendary
achievement_find_jungle_skull
achievement_find_base_skull
achievement_find_outskirts_skull
achievement_find_voi_skull
achievement_find_floodvoi_skull
achievement_find_waste_skull
achievement_find_citadel_skull
achievement_find_highcharity_skull
achievement_find_halo_skull
achievement_jungle_training
achievement_jungle_no_casualties
achievement_floodvoi_no_flood_victims
achievement_spartan_recruit
achievement_spartan_graduate
achievement_spartan_officer
achievement_extra_crispy
achievement_banshee_surface_to_air_kill
achievement_triple_kill
achievement_killtacular
achievement_sticky_x5
achievement_brokeback
achievement_tripmine_vehicle_kill
achievement_flag_carrier_kill
achievement_kill_frenzy
achievement_triple_sword_kill
achievement_mongoose_splatter
achievement_melee_kill_x5
achievement_needler_kill_x5
achievement_sniper_kill_frenzy
achievement_headshot_kill_frenzy
achievement_full_warthog_kill
achievement_temporary_placeholder
These confirm a couple of things:
1. The Flood is back...*yawn*
2. The skulls are back
3. There must be a Flamethrower due to the achievement_extra_crispy
Very interesting...in other news:
Mad Tracks comes out tomorrow. From what I hear it's a lot like Micro Machines which was one of my favorite games on the NES. 800 points so I'll probably pick it up.
Shadowrun and Forza 2 both come out tomorrow! I'm buying Forza but I'll probably rent Shadowrun at first. I played the Beta for SR and enjoyed it. If anything I'll buy it after the Halo 3 beta.
I'm going to end this with the best two words I've ever seen together: Ninja Gold!
Sorry this is a little late but I've been fighting off a stomach virus for the last couple of days. Anyway, as you may or may not know, I am writing a book. Originally the entire book was going to be on gamers and their relationships but, after reading what I had gathered thus far, I decided that I couldn't write an entire book on relationships. So I've decided to take another approach.
The new focus of the book will be on the general lives of gamers; who we are, what we do things like that. Relationships will be a couple of chapters but there will others based on political opposition (like good ol' Jack Thompson), how games have matured, stereotypes, women gamers and other things.
In the coming weeks I will be looking for more help with some of the chapters such as personal stories and questions about different topics. I will be updating the forums as well. Thanks for taking the time to read this and I look forward to talking to many of you soon!
Well being that Sunday is always a slow news day videogame wise, I decided to do some other stuff. I went through my cd's and began the lengthy process of putting them on my computer, I finished the outline to the book I'm writing (which I'll talk about a little later on) and made a pizza.
After my pizza I checked Comingsoon.net and stumbled upon this: Star Wars: The Clone Wars trailer for the new animated series! It looks like and extension of the 2d animated series from a couple of years ago, expanding on the stories that were only three minutes long originally. It looks great, no I just wish we knew it was coming out.
Also, it seems that the season opener of Family Guy will be retelling Episode IV (The orignal movie for the two people that didn't know). That should be fun.
Oh and here's some news on Star Wars: The Force Unleashed here and the official site here. Force pushing through buildings FTW!
Team Xbox has some new impressions of Prince of Persia Classic, the new addition to the Arcade. It seems that the main stipulation of the original is still in effect here; you have to save the princess in sixty real-time minutes. Very nice, challenging, but nice. They also listed the Achievements, which I will now list for you here:
The Lost Weapon—You acquired the sword in the prison. (10 points)
The Immortal—You awakened the immortal in the catacombs. (10 points)
Seven Years—Break the magic mirror and free the dark prince. (10 points)
The Gate Keeper—Kill the chief guard. (15 points)
Feather Fall—Drink the float potion and glide down. (15 points)
The Mouse Trap—Receive help from the mouse to escape the trapped corridor. (10 points)
Upside Down—Drink both inverse potions. (15 points)
Slice ’n Dice—Kill a guard with a slicer or a spike trap. (20 points)
Elixirs of Life—Find all 9 life potions. (25 points)
Whole Again—Unify the prince and the dark prince. (20 points)
Final Embrace—Save the princess. (25 points)
Survivor—Finish the game without dying in survival mode. (25 points)
I love the PoP series. This is going to be fantastic!
According to a conversation with Mark Rein, by way of Team Xbox, A new title update coming for Gears of War will bring new achievements for the Hidden Fronts and the Annex game type! No achievement details were given but we should be looking for it soon.
In other news, there is some Worms DLC coming next week! A space landscape and a jungle landscape will be available for 150pts each. There is also a free soundpack coming to give your worm teams some more variety. I hope there is a new game coming and not just some DLC, Microsoft has been on a roll latley with the games...
Now how about some more weapons?
Wow 30 years ago, in a galaxy far far away, Star Wars was born and the world would never be the same again. Tonight on Attack of the Show they are having a 2 hour special from SW: Celebration and X-Play is having a special afterwords.
I've even been thinking about playing SW: Galaxies again.
I was watching Attack of the Show and they said that HAZE may have a "limited exclusivity" this fall to give the PS3 something to fight Halo 3 with. Apparently it will hit the 360 and PC in the Spring of 2008. I hope this isn't true, HAZE was looking really good...
Here's a little bit of mobile blogging today. Apparently, while I'm here at work being bored to tears, the demo for DiRT has been relelased today for the Xbox 360.
I kinda got into Rally Racing games around Rallysport Challenge 2 on the original Xbox. No game had come close to that one in recent memory. DiRT has been getting some great reviews (OXM gave it a 9.0) so I'm really look forward to this one. Hopefully Sega Rally 2 will be just as good. Deformable Terrain has been a long time coming so I hope it's implemented well.
Rock Band + Guitar Hero III = Me in a lot of Debt (But really what else is new)
Well the first Tracks for GHIII were revealed today, according to 1up.com. There is one of my favorite Rolling Stones songs (PAINT IT BLACK!) and a couple of surprisea (and it called itself TENACIOUS D and the BEASTIE BOYS!) so I can't wait to see what others are in there. Here's what's been announced so far:
-Paint It Black (by The Rolling Stones)
-Cherub Rock (by Smashing Pumpkins)
-Sabotage (by Beastie Boys)
-The Metal (by Tenacious D)
-My Name is Jonas (by Weezer)
-Knights of Cydonia (by Muse)
-Rock And Roll All Nite (as made famous by Kiss)
-School's Out (as made famous by Alice Cooper)
-Slow Ride (as made famous by Fog Hat)
-Cult of Personality (by Living Colour)
-Barracuda (as made famous by Heart)
Hopefully there will be more master tracks than the last game, even though most of the covers were very good.
Oh the game will be coming with wireless guitars for ALL platforms from Xbox 360 to the Wii! Online Multiplayer confirmed too! More to come!
Confused by the title? Don't be; Rush'n Attack and Xevious were released for the Arcade today at 400 pts each. I was never a huge fan of Xevious but RA is one of my all time favorites. Go get it!
Looks like another special edition that I have to buy. GTA IV will be coming in the standard $59.99 flavor and an upgraded $89.99 flavor according to Team Xbox. The limited edition will come in a locked saftey deposit box and have a host of other features including:
-Grand Theft Auto IV on the Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system or the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, both with special packaging
-The Grand Theft Auto IV Art Book, featuring never-before-seen production artwork from Grand Theft Auto IV
-Selected soundtrack CD from Grand Theft Auto IV, featuring new material from top artists, only available on this release
-An exclusive Rockstar keychain for the safety deposit box keys
-Completing the collection is a limited edition Rockstar duffel bag
This fall is going to be expensive...
Real quick update. Bungie just added Big Team battle to the playlist for Halo 3! However it's not 8 vs 8, it's 6 vs 6. I'm thinking by the end of the Beta we will have full-on 8 vs 8 but for now enjoy playing with more that just 3 other friends on your team!
Here's the official word from the boys at Bungie:
Halo 3 Beta Matchmaking Playlist Updated
Posted by lukems at 5/21/2007 12:07 PM PDT
Like any good chef we're making some changes to the recipe in the Public tastetest we call the Halo 3 Beta. This week we're making our first change to the Matchmaking Playlist . We're swapping out Team Training and adding in Big Team Training. In Big Team Training players will play 6v6 on High Ground and Valhalla. In addition to some existing modes look for some new modes in Big Team Training, like Multi Flag CTF on Valhalla. Additionally, we've made some slight tweaks to the Team Skirmish playlist that should add greater variety in the opponents you'll face.
Wow there is so much new stuff in the new OXM this month that I haven't heard about yet. So let's get started:
-Unreal Tournament III is on the Cover and has a huge story in this issue.
-Quake III: Team Arena on the arcade?!? According to the Rumor Mole it's coming!
-Ever wonder why Riddick was never put on the BC list? That's because it is being remastered for the 360 with a whole new chapter AND a multiplayer mode!!! Oh, the original Riddick will never be BC. It was confirmed this issue.
-Nice big story on GTA IV. Some quick points:
*One loading screen and you never see another one the entire game
*No continuity between this game and the previous GTA's. Sadly that includes Lazlo
*You have a cell phone to call your contacts when you want to
*You can hear the radio from other cars, not just your own
*There will be multiplayer but no details were given
-Splinter Cell: ConViction pic. Sam has a Toupee'???
-Little bit of a Rock Band preview. Confirms 4 player online
-Timeshift looks good??
-Kane and Lynch. Everything is breakable. Fantastic
-Virtua Fighter 5 preview. Unfortunatley no mention of Live Multiplayer :(
-Rally game DiRT reviewed and it gets a 9.0. Quick points:
*Remarkable graphics and crisp handling
*Vast career mode with a huge variety of events
*No traditional multiplayer mode(??) but you can race against 99 other racers, Time Trial Like
-Tron Arcade games Reviewed!! Disc of Tron get an 8.0 and Tron gets a 7.0
That's it for the issue but Rush'n Attack and Xevious are coming out this week on the arcade for 400pts each! Love the Double Plays!
S3 Prototype here blogging his first report. ( yeah I know kinda late....) The movie will be directed by Gordon Chan, a guy from Hong Kong who spawned other Asian martial arts flicks like "The Medallion" (Jackie Chan) and "Fist of Fury" (Jet Li). Axis Entertainment's Joseph Chou ("Appleseed: Ex Machina") and Convergence Entertainment's Tim Kwok ("Wicked City") will handle the production, while Chris Chow will be doing the screenplay.
But according to QJ, reports say there is a King of Fighters live action movie coming out! For a long time a good fighting video game goes live action. This is a good chunk quoted from QJ
"After running for 21 years, the King of Fighters franchise has definitely racked up a huge fanbase. About 30 arcade games and a bunch of handheld/console ports have already passed, and this cross-media adaptation is almost inevitable for a famous martial arts fighting franchise.
A live-action movie of King of Fighters is in the works, and it's not gonna be from Hollywood (probably a good thing...).
The KoF live-action movie will see the light in Asia early 2008, while no plans for a western release announced as of now. Don't worry though, it's gonna be in English with authentic martial arts action."
I havent been this excited since the first Mortal Kombat movie. (cause the second didnt make too much sense and they replaced Raiden/Highlander and Sonya Blade/Billy Madison teacher)
Wow, look at what some astute gamers/modders have found! Some previously unanounced weapons, vehiclesm custom settings and more were found according to this article but even more interesting is this little gem:
Scrolling through the list of on-screen text for party menus, one sentence revealed the following:
The game cannot start because all players are set to observer. Too many players for splitscreen. Only 2 players may play splitscreen coop on the same Xbox 360 console. The party size is too large to start the game. Up to 4 players may play coop on Xbox Live or System Link. Loading information from Xbox Live…
Very Nice. And for the lazy, here is the entire list that they found:
Weapons
Assault Rifle
Battle Rifle
Beam Rifle
Brute Shot
Carbine
Excavator
Gravity Hammer
Flamethrower
Magnum
Missile Launcher
Needler
Plasma Pistol
Plasma Rifle
Fuel Rod Cannon
Rocket Launcher
Shotgun
SMG
Sniper Rifle
Spartan Laser
Spiker
Sword
Vehicles
Mongoose
Warthog
Hornet
Pelican
Scorpion
Ghost
Brute Chopper
Spectre
Shadow
Banshee
Phantom
Wraith
Game Types
Capture the Flag
Invade your opponent’s stronghold, heist their flag, and bring it back to your base to score.
Slayer
Kill as many of your opponents as you can. The player with the most points wins.
Oddball
Find the ball and hold on to it to earn time. The player with the most time wins.
King of the Hill
Gain control of the hill to earn time. Keep your opponents off and earn the most time to win.
Juggernaut
Work together to take down the Juggernaut. Beware, you kill the Juggernaut, you become the Juggernaut, and only the Juggernaut can win.
Territories
Find and control the territories on the map. The more territories you control, the faster you earn time.
Infection
Destroy the Flood or become infected. Score points for killing flood or big points for infecting a human. The player with the most points wins.
Assault
Da bomb!
V.I.P.
Protect the V.I.P. from dying at the hands of your opponents. If you are the V.I.P., you must stay alive or your opponents score a point.
Variations
Apparently, you'll be able to share these with other users much in the same way you do with movies
Team Slayer
Team Swords
Team Rockets
Team Shotguns
Team Fiesta
Team Phantoms
Slayer Duel
Sword Duel
Rifle Duel
Rumble Slayer
Rumble Swords
Rumble Rockets
Rumble Shotguns
Oddball
Fiesta Ball
Team Ball King
Phantom King
Crazy King
Team Crazy King
Multi Flag CTF
CTF Wraiths
CTF Classic
Shotgun CTF
1 Flag CTF
1 Flag CTF Fast
Multi Bomb Assault
Rapid Assault
Neutral Bomb
Neut. Bomb Fast
3 Plots Land Grab
Then, a glitch in the beta allowed some users to access the custom games menu option, which revealed the following settings (you can see pictures of these settings here):
Damage resistance
Shield multiplier
Shield recharge rate
Immune to headshots
Grenade counts
Infinite ammo
Weapon pickup disabled
Player speed (25%, 50%, 75%, 90%, 100%, 110%, 125%, 150%, 200%, 300%)
Player gravity (50%, 100%, 200%)
Vehicle use (passenger only)
Motion tracker range (10m, 25m, 75m, 100m, 150m)
Appearance
Vis effects (black glow, team glow, white glow)
Active camo (good camo that might fool and elite, poor camo that might fool a grunt, invisible)
Indestructible vehicles (on, off)
So much goodness! I can't wait till 9/25/07!!
Ok I have two new movie trailers for you. One is real: The New Transformers trailer. The other one I'm not too sure. It's supposedly for the a new Matrix movie, The Matrix ReEntered. Check it out for yourself, I'm a bit skeptical:
Transformers:
Matrix ReEntered:
I put the video here directly so here's the link
Here's the CGI announcement trailer:
Some actual Gameplay Footage:
And some pretty pictures. I'm working on getting them to the right size:
Now all we need is a release date!
At least according to Blizzard it is. In what has to be the worst kept secret in recent memory, Blizzard made their surprise announcement today: Starcraft II. Korea will probably explode soon; Starcraft has a whole different kind of following over there. There are some wallpapers and other downloads available on the site and here is the feature list from the official site:
Features:
Fast-paced, hard-hitting, tightly balanced competitive real-time strategy gameplay that recaptures and improves on the magic of the original game
Three completely distinct races: Protoss, Terran, and Zerg
New units and gameplay mechanics further distinguish each race
Groundbreaking single-player "story-mode" campaign
Vibrant new 3D-graphics engine with support for dazzling visual effects and massive unit and army sizes
Full multiplayer support, with new competitive features and matchmaking utilities available through Battle.net
Full map-making and scripting tools to give players incredible freedom in customizing and personalizing their gameplay experience
Hopefully more news will be available soon. I'll update here as soon as it's available.
I was still kind of hoping for World of Starcraft...
Not a lot of news for today since everyone is just kind of waiting for the big announcement tomorrow from Blizzard. So while we're waiting I'm putting up a couple of commercials that were pulled because Quiznos customers didn't like the creatures in them and threatened to boycott. Enjoy!
I loved these things!
Wow, 25 or so responses in about 2 hours. I'd say I'm off to a good start. I forgot to mention that you must be 18 or older to participate. Post in the forums also, they're lonley. I posted a little about the book and myself there.
Microsoft is cracking down on modded consoles. Here's what they have to say about that:
As part of our commitment to our members, we do not allow people that we have detected to have modified their console to connect to LIVE. This is an important part of our efforts to try and maintain a fair gaming environment for the large majority of gamers that play by the rules.
This topic is more important than ever given the recent release of the Halo 3 beta. As a result, some consumers that try to login to LIVE who we detect have illegally modified their console will get an error code (Status Code: Z: 8015 - 190D) when trying to connect to the service. These users will not have their account automatically banned from LIVE, but they will no longer be able to access the service from the console they modified.
No Halo 3 beta for you! NEXT!
I'm going to be writing a book about Gamers and Relationships. I've come up with some questions that will get me started with the research and I just need your help in order to get started. Anyone who is interested can email me at halfassedninja@hotmail.com and there is also a spot in the forums for the book. Check it out and thanks in advance!
**UPDATE**
I'm actually getting a decent response to this. Overnight I've had 5 responses and a couple more since I woke up. Keep em coming. Once I get around 100 responses I can move to the next step!
**UPDATE 2**
I updated the forum with some history of the book
Well the Halo 3 public beta has officially started (yes even for us Crackdown owners) and I had about 3 hours with it last night. I won some, I lost some, I met a douchbag (I'm looking at you Ninj4 Mast3r), got a box of donuts and some combat boots and had a grand old time.
Admittedly I was never a "great" Halo player (BobHALO and dCash can attest to that) but I've always had a good time playing. I'm stronger in a Team environment then solo as evidenced by this example right here (Who got the MVP? This guy :)). I can hold my own in an every-man-for-himself game but for the most part I prefer teams.
But enough about me, let's get to the beta. Let's start with the obvious: Graphics. Graphically you can tell there is an improvement, just not a ground breaking one. Honestly I was able to tell the improvements better in the Red vs Blue PSA. You can really tell when the switch from Halo 2 to Halo 3, but it's hard to tell the difference when you are trying to avoid being shot. Now the game isn't ugly by any means and I'm sure the single player will a be more graphically intensive due to latency issues while playing online. I honestly think we were all just spoiled buy Gears of War. Gears set the bar so high that it's hard to top that.
Next up, controls. Here is where I noticed an improvement. The controller mapping is similar to the previous Halos but there are a couple of difference:
-The Bumpers. The Right Bumper (RB) Is now the action button. You use it for everything from picking up weapons to getting into vehicles to picking up flags. The Left Bumper (LB) is used for picking up a dual wield weapon, switching grenade types, of which there are three (more on them later) and, in conjuction with the right bumper, reloading your left and right weapons independently.
-The D-Pad is now used for team chat. Proximmity chat is still in effect and and since there is no white button they had to map team chat somewhere. It takes a second to get used to but just remember this: You don't just hit up to talk, you can hit any direction to talk.
-There is a toggle in the options menu for "Toggle or Hold to Crouch". Hooray for Toggle to Crouch!!
-The "X" Button. X is now the Equipment Button. There is a Personal Grav Lift, Bubble Shield, Energy Drainer and Trip Mine. These are on the map, not in your initial loadout. The Grav Lift is fun a much hilarity insues when you drop it in front of an enemy vehicle that's about to run you down and watch them fly over your head. Good Times. The Bubble Shield is good as a temporary defense, but enemys can run through it to get you. Not exactly the cage match death trap I was hoping for. I used the Energy Drainer but I don't fully know what it does. I couldn't find the tripmine but I don't think it's on every map. I only played two out of the three maps available (Highground and Snowbound. No Valhalla last night) and I think the mines are only on Valhalla for the beta.
The other controls are basically the same. Right Trigger fires your main weapon, Left Trigger is your left handed weapon or grenades, Y switches weapons, B is melee, A Jumps, all the standard stuff.
The two maps that I played were fun. Highground has a base on a hill leading down to a beach. There are at least four Mongoose ATV's and a lot of nooks and crannies to hide in. Snowbound has a main structure in the center of a map surrounded by Turret Guns. Don't step too far outside or you will get lit up like a firecracker. Hopefully I'll get to play Valhalla tonight. I can't wait to see what fun the Man Cannons will be.
Which leads me to what I'm sure is the biggest new addition: The Movies. After any game you can save a video of all that you did in the game and view it later. Think of it as football players studying game films. You can learn from your mistakes, build your strengths and relive every humiliating teabag you gave (or recieved). If I'm not mistaken in the final version you will be able to edit the films, a virtual highlight reel if you will. In the beta only one person can view the film but I thin that in the final I believe you can watch it with your entire party.
The weapons, with the exception of a couple of new ones, have not changed much. Of note, the Battle Rifle and the Assault Rifle are both in the game. I didn't see an energy sword anywhere but that doesn't mean anything. Right now my favorite weapon is the Spiker. It's like a cross between the Needler and the SMG. It can be dual wielded and just leaves spikey destruction in it's wake.
There are now three types of grenades: Frag, Sticky and Brute. We all know about the first two but the Brute's are like a hybrid. They can stick to enemy but when they explode they also send spikey distruction. I gotta tell you, I'm loving Spikey Destruction. I think I may trademark that.
So basically this is a refinement of all things Halo. They have evolved the game to a point of near perfection. Hopefully the final build doesn't drown in it's own hype.
That's all I can think of now. I'll be posting more impressions the deeper I get with it.
Problem fixed, along with a note about the beta. From Bungie:
UPDATE: HALO 3 / Crackdown FIXED!
Posted by SketchFactor at 5/16/2007 5:22 AM PDT
UPDATE : 5/16/07 7:05 PM
Halo 3 Beta Downloads via Crackdown are fixed!
It's been a long day for a lot of people but we're happy to announce that effective immediately, a title update for Crackdown is available on Xbox Live that will fix the issue that previously prevented you from downloading the beta. The Microsoft team just deployed this fix and when you launch Crackdown you should receive a prompt to download the update.
Please note that it could take up to four hours for your console to receive this update based on various factors. However, the good news is that we're in the clear and Halo 3 gameplay is just over the horizon.
We realize this has been a pain for many and an inconvenience at the very least. Given the circumstances, we've decided to extend the duration of the Halo 3 Beta from June 6th to June 10th at 11:59 PM PDT. So, you lost almost a full day of play today but to make up for it we're tacking on four more days (and a weekend at that).
We apologize for the delay and hardships this issue has caused and hope that it quickly becomes a distant memory clouded by good times playing Halo 3 with your friends.
Thank you all for your patience and understanding. We'll see you online!
Note : A rare bug has been discovered that sometimes results in improper text display in the game UI. Basically, you won't see any text at all. If you encounter this issue, you can fix it yourself by doing the following:
Restart your Xbox 360
Boot up the Halo 3 Beta
While the Halo 3 Beta is loading, immediately press up on the D-Pad and hold the A button until you see the Bungie logo. If you perform this correctly a dialog box will appear confirming maintenance has been done to your system.
Resume the Halo 3 Beta!
From Bungie.net:
Halo 3 / Crackdown : UPDATE!
Posted by SketchFactor at 5/16/2007 5:22 AM PDT
Frankie writes:
UPDATE : 5/16/07 3:55 PM
We're happy to finally announce that the issues being faced with the Halo 3 beta and Crackdown will be resolved shortly. The Microsoft team has found a solution and it's undergoing final testing now. Assuming the test pass goes according to plan, the fix will come in the form of a Crackdown title update within the next three to six hours.
We understand many of you were eagerly awaiting your chance to jump into the Halo 3 Beta and this technical issue has put a damper on your plans. Thankfully the fix is incoming and we're sincerely sorry for any inconvenience this has caused. Ultimately we hope this will all soon be a distant memory once you pick up the Spartan Laser, launch yourself from a Mancannon and enjoy online shenanigans with your friends.
As a reminder, people who already have the Halo 3 Beta are unaffected by this issue.
We'll keep you posted as soon as we have more information.
Well apparently if you are trying to get the Halo 3 beta through Crackdown you are, for the moment, S.O.L. They are hoping to have it up by tonight. Cross your fingers xxx
Happy Halo 3 Beta day everybody!!
Now for everyone that was wondering why the beta is so short, we got our answer today. We all assumed that H3 was coming out in November. Well it actually turns out that the game is closer to done than we all thought; September 25th Halo 3 will start rolling out to stores nationwide. Unfortunatley I'm at work right now so I cant link the press release (that also mentions a Halo 3 Zune) but I'll link it later. If the Zune is translucent green I have to own it. Damn my love for translucent green!
**UPDATE**
Here's the link to the press release, by way of teamxbox.com.
I haven't dl'd the beta yet but there were other releases today that are no doubt being overshadowed by Halo 3.
Aegis Wing and Solitare both came out for the Arcade today at FREE and 800 points, respectivley. I downloaded AW before I left for work but haven't had a chance to play it yet. I'll pass on Solitare. If I want to play with myself I'll play Guitar Hero. Perverts...:)
Forza Motorsport 2 also came out today. I'll be picking up this game soon, probably a week or so. Just a warning: I play to have fun and (to quote Days of Thunder) rubbin' is racin'. If I hit your car don't whine like a little girl with a skinned knee, hit back. Shake and Bake baby.
A new video is up on the marketplace from Rooster Teeth, the geniuses behind Red vs Blue. It gives you a little introduction to the Halo 3 beta and it's really funny. It's only a few minutes long and well worth the viewing.
That's it for now. I actually have an announcement coming up soon. I'm in the planning stages now but once I'm ready you guys will know.
See you in the beta! If you want a cage match (you'll see), come look for me. Later.
Hey all. Just to folllow up on yesterday's Prince of Persia on XBLA here's a gameplay video. It looks freaking awesome!
Looks like us gamers are in for a treat this week. Aegis Wing is coming out for XBLA this Wednesday for FREE! F R E E ! This game was developed internaly by 3 Microsoft employees and they are releasing it Wednesday for all of us for free for a limited time. Carbonated Games (the Developers behind UNO) helped out with it. It's a 2-D side scrolling shooter in the vein of R-Type and Gradius, a genre that has been poorly represented (read: nothing at all) on XBLA.
Tony Hawk's 900 has been renamed Tony Hawk's Proving Ground. I loved THP8 and with the promised improvements it sounds really fun.
In more XBLA news, the original Prince of Persia is coming to the arcade with a bit of a facelift. I think I'm slowly falling in love with Ubisoft all over again. They are just so good to us. This PoP looks an awful lot like the hidden one level remake in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. I'm a HUGE fan of the PoP series dating back the original PC version so I'm super hyped for this. Hopefully after Assassin's Creed comes out there will be a new installment in the series.
That's all for now! Don't forget the Halo 3 beta starts on the 16th. Killtacular!
Ah, Blizzard. How they like to play with us. We know about the "Major Announcement" due for May 19th but now the offical Blizzard site has a timeline of all the games they have released over the last decade.
Ok, here's what I think: Starcraft 2, World of Starcraft or quite possibly the long rumored WoW for the 360. Or maybe, just maybe, World of Starcraft will be on the 360. It would make sense: Third person shooting, more action oriented....
Guess we just have to wait for May 19th. Mark your Calendars....
Or maybe just Starcraft: Ghost lol
Well the Crackdown things I told you about yesterday have been officialy released today. There is also a theme and a couple of picture packs (150 points for theme, 80 for packs) but that's not all...
The Blacksite: Area 51 demo by Midway was also released today. Area 51 on the Xbox was a fun, if not spectacular, game so I'm anxious to see how it is. It's DL'ing now so I'll post some impressions after I try it out.
**UPDATE**
I played the Blacksite: Area 51 demo and I must say it's pretty cool. It's running on the Unreal Engine 3 and the action runs very smooth. The demo gives you just enough to get excited about the game. Keep an eye on this one.
Wow, is next weekend going to be "countdown weekend"? Earlier this week it was announced that Blizzard has a "Major Announcement" on May 19th in South Korea. The popular rumor going around is that it's a game set in the Starcraft universe, possibly the anticipated "World of Starcraft". It would make sense considering that in Korea Starcraft is on everything from Dorito's to PJ's.
Now Ubisoft is set to unveil Splinter Cell: Conviction this Friday with and exclusive trailer next week on Spike TV's Gamehead. What's nice about this next installment in the SC series is it's exclusive to the 360. Double Agent looked great, but it was multi-platform so it didn't take full advantage of the hardware. I can't wait to see how this one looks.
Achieve360points.com has the achievements up for Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Looks like going through the game can get you an easy 1000 gamerscore boost. Hopefully this game will be better than the last two FF games...
Looks like Crackdown will be sticking around for a while after the Halo 3 beta.
Team Xbox has an exclusive look at the DLC coming for Crackdown this week. There are actually two DLC packs coming out: one free (Called the Free-For-All pack) and one not so free (The Gettin' Busy Bonus Pack) and an auto update that adds loads more to the game as well, including an air to ground smash attack (finally!). There is way too much stuff included in both packs but one of the cool things, besides adding achievements, is that if you haven't bought the Premium Content but a friend has you can try it out (but there are 2 achievements that yuo won't be able to get). I'm not going to list all of the new features here (click the link you lazy sumbitch) but I will list the new achievemetns here:
Confiscator *
Impound all the chosen vehicles and store them in the Agency Garage
40 Gamerscore
Psych Out *
Complete all Time Trial missions at the Psychotic Difficulty level
100 Gamerscore
Stockpile Supreme **
Complete any Stockpile mini-game in less than 2 minutes and 30 seconds.
10 Gamerscore
Flippin' Crazy **
Complete three flips of any type in a single jump in any vehicle
20 Gamerscore
Body Armor **
Use the Harpoon gun to attach five corpses to a single vehicle
10 Gamerscore
Street Racer ***
Win all Street Races using any vehicle
20 Gamerscore
Street Racer Elite ***
Win all Street Races using all available vehicles
150 Gamerscore
* Available with Free DLC
** Available when one player has Premium DLC
*** Available only with Premium DLC
No word one cost yet but I'm sure I'll find out by the end of the day. When I find out I'll post it here.
**UPDATE**
Hell I could have guessed this but the Premium DLC is 800 points according to Major Nelson
The Forza Motorsport 2 demo went live this morning. It's about 691 MB so go get it now!
Woohoo! Shadowrun has gone glod and will be released on 5/29. Here's the press release:
Cross-Platform Innovator “Shadowrun” Goes Gold, Twice, For Windows Vista and Xbox 360
Gaming communities on Xbox 360™ and Windows Vista™ will come together for the first time over Xbox LIVE and Games For Windows – LIVE, when “Shadowrun™” teleports to retailers May 29
Microsoft Game Studios today announced that the eagerly awaited and innovative first-person shooter (FPS) “Shadowrun” has gone gold and will begin hitting retailers throughout North America on May 29.
From renowned developer FASA Studio, the team that brought you the Xbox LIVE launch title “MechAssault®,” and the lead designer behind the original “Halo®,” “Shadowrun” incorporates ancient magic and advanced technology into strategic and clever teambased gameplay for an unparalled combat experience.
Utilizing both the Xbox LIVE and Games For Windows – LIVE network, “Shadowrun” tears down the walls between friends and gamer communities on the Xbox 360 and Windows Vista-based PC by letting as many as 16 gamers play together, regardless of platform*. Not only does “Shadowrun” bring these communities together, it also extends the features gamers love on Xbox LIVE, such as gamertags, achievements, friends lists and integrated voice communication, onto the PC through Games for Windows — LIVE. “Shadowrun” is optimized for a multiplayer online experience – which requires an Xbox LIVE Gold account on Xbox 360 or Silver account on Games for Windows – LIVE.
“Shadowrun” will ship with nine unique maps and an additional three map variations, showcasing dynamic environments set in a futuristic Santos, Brazil, and its neighboring, ancient Ziggurat. “Shadowrun” includes six training chapters, allowing gamers the opportunity to fine-tune their strategy and lethal combinations against the intuitively smart and talented A.I. bots. Gamers can also play with bots at four levels of difficulty on every map and with every game type.
After a 5,000-year absence, magic has returned to the world of “Shadowrun.” It is 2031 and global corporations battle a relentless ancient order to harness this reawakened power. Be a part of the RNA, a global mega-corporation, and bring order (and profit) to a world of chaos. Or join the Lineage to keep magic wild and free at all costs. Choose a side and wage war for the future of magic in the new world of “Shadowrun.” Players vie for supremacy in an intense FPS experience, in the “Shadowrun” universe, that rewards cleverness, cunning and split-second improvisation through a unique combination of modern weapons, ancient magic and advanced technology.
Humans, elves, dwarves and trolls, can pick up ”Shadowrun” for the estimated retail price of $59.99 for Xbox 360 and $49.99 for Windows Vista. “Shadowrun” is rated “M” for Mature, for gamers 17 years old and above.
About FASA Studio
Steeped in a deep history of innovative online games, FASA Studio is composed of the extraordinary talent that brought gamers “MechWarrior;” “MechAssault,” the first game to debut on the Xbox LIVE service; and “Crimson Skies” for the PC and Xbox. Leading the design team on “Shadowrun” is John Howard, who was also lead designer on the first “Halo.” Just as “Halo” broke ground in being the first great shooter on the console platform and the first to integrate vehicles into an FPS, together FASA Studio and Howard will again break new ground with “Shadowrun” by being the first to successfully implement gameplay-changing mechanics such as Teleport, Enhanced Vision and Glide, as well as creating the first-ever FPS that connects players on Xbox 360 to Windows gamers.
About Microsoft Game Studios
Microsoft Game Studios is a leading worldwide publisher and developer of games for the Xbox® and Xbox 360 video game systems, the Windows® operating system and online platforms. Comprising a network of top developers, Microsoft Game Studios is committed to creating innovative and diverse games for Windows (http://www.microsoft.com/games), including such franchises as “Age of Empires®,” “Flight Simulator” and “Zoo Tycoon®”; Xbox and Xbox 360 (http://www.xbox.com), including such games as “Gears of War” and franchises such as “Halo,” “Fable®,” “Project Gotham Racing®” and “Forza Motorsport®”; and MSN® Games (http://www.games.msn.com), the official games channel for the MSN network and home to such hits as “Bejeweled” and “Hexic®.”
I played the beta and the game is really really tight. Once you get past the fact that it's not an RPG, it's fantastic!
Good morning! Here's what's going on so far:
The Dashboard Update is LIVE! The next time you boot up your 360 you should be prompted for the auto update. I've talked about the new features before but if you forgot just click the press release above.
Ubisoft Strikes again! The quietly released the Rainbow Six: Vegas Red pack a couple weeks ago and now they have released New maps for GRAW 2. Well not entirely new; they are seven retooled maps from the original GRAW. I don't know which maps they are yet but I am starting to investigate that now. I'll update this post when I find out.
**UPDATE**
The new maps, according to Xbox Addict are Bonfires, Desert Gulch, Fishing Village, Jungle Mines, Mountain Base, Mountain Falls and Peninsula.
Double Dragon's out now. Go get it!
That's all for now. Later
Wow there is a lot of news today! Some surprising, some not so surprising and some it's about damn time. Here we go:
The Dashboard Update goes live TONIGHT! Well tomorrow morning technically, 2:00am pst. The downtime for Live probably won't be that long so woohoo.
The is an Army of Two contest going on with one of the coolest prizes ever: Your gun that you design will actually be the pre-order bonus in the game! Start sketching!
There are a TON of new XBLA games coming out! The description for these games are taken from Team Xbox:
Undertow: Undertow is a fast-paced action shooter from Chair Entertainment Group that thrusts players underwater as they battle for control of the oceans, and features a robust single player/co-op campaign and up to 16-player multiplayer action over Xbox Live.
While many of the maps have level-specific goals, the core gameplay of Undertow centers on this maxim: Kill as many enemies as you can – and stay alive for as long as possible!
Players select their race (Iron Marine, Nemoidian, or Atlantian) and unit type and are then launched into battle. Each of the three races features four unique, upgradeable unit types ranging in ability from the fast and agile to the large and powerful. Players have the ability to unlock and purchase unit upgrades as they acquire points. Each unit type has three levels of permanent upgrades.
Through conquest-style battles, players obtain points by killing enemies, accomplishing team goals, and taking check points. Points and a variety of power-ups can be used to further upgrade unit abilities
Street Trace: Street Trace: NYC is the all-in-one jet-board racing and arena battle game featuring multiplayer over Xbox Live with up to 8 players and up to 4 way split screen.
A war for corporate control has transformed society’s streets into a grim industrial battleground. In New York City, powerful business cabals lord over Manhattan, as the oppressed scrape out survival within its outer boroughs. From the ashes of a failed rebellion emerges a new and dangerous sport – Street Trace. Choose from 9 characters, play tournaments over the urban wastelands of NYC, and trick-out your Board and Gun.
Street Trace:NYC has something for everyone and stands to change the face of Xbox Live® Arcade, appealing to both casual and hard-core gamers, bringing them together over Xbox Live.
Spyglass Board Games: From Strange Flavour Ltd. and Freeverse, this offers classic versions of the world’s most beloved board games, including chess, checkers, mancala and reversi, as well as the ability to enjoy video chat with friends via the Xbox LIVE Vision camera.
Soltrio Solitare: From Silver Creek Entertainment, Soltrio Solitaire is a collection of 18 different solitaire games, offering co-op and competitive two-player solitaire game modes.
Rush'n Attack: Deep behind enemy lines, dozens of American POWs are being held inside a heavily armed base. Your mission is to free the captives and destroy the base.
Also known as “Green Beret,” from Konami Digital Entertainment Inc., this is a faithful next-generation update of this classic coin-op arcade title where the player assumes the role of a special forces agent sent behind enemy lines to infiltrate an enemy military complex and free captured prisoners of war.
Mad Tracks: Developed by Load, Inc., Mad Tracks is a 3-D racing party game that recalls all the fun of playing with toy cars from childhood. Up to four players can race micro cars in a variety of gameplay modes in familiar settings such as a living room, a restaurant and a toy store.
These toy cars are equipped with spring engines that need some reloading. When you accelerate, stored power goes down. When you release the accelerator, power goes up again.You will have to manage your engine stored power to complete certain challenges. Your main task is still to drive around and have fun with the 12 pick ups and power ups. Mad Tracks is not a plain racing game. Some of the game is racing (all types of races), the other part is made of mini games like mini golf, foosball or pool table. You will battle on 15 different challenges in unique environments and it's up to you to be the best (or just have fun).
Microsoft announced today that Mad Tracks will be released soon.
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More tidbits:
Liam Neeson is going to be in Fallout 3
Postal III has been announced. God Help Us All.
That's it for now. Later.
I will never forget the day it happened. My friend Chad and I were playing Double Dragon in the arcade in the mall near where we lived. We were pounding quarter after quarter in the machine and we finally reached the end. We cleared out the rest of the gang/kidnappers and were about to face the final boss. The door opened and...no one came out. Then it turns out the your brother, your friend that has been fighting along side of you all game, was the girlfriend stealing bastard all along...
Relive the greatest twist in history when Double Dragon gets released this Wednesday on the Arcade for 400 points. On and Offline co-op, leaderboards and some special features make it worth the purchase.
Any memorable moments from your gaming history? Talk about it on the forums.
Yes, I'm retarted BUT the 360 Dashboard Update is due this week according to Major Nelson's blog. There are also a couple of Videos up on the marketplace that go over some of the finer features of the Update. The are under the Demos and Videos tab --> Gaming community --> new releases. Enjoy!
Ok, so Spider-Man 3: The game wasn't exactly the greatest game (but still fun). Well there is another Spider-Man game due out this fall. Activision has launched a teaser site for a game called Spider-Man: Friend or Foe. The game was formerly known as Spider-Man Trilogy and it promises a new take on the games and a new take on the movies.
Lately it seems to me that games just don’t have the longevity that they used to. I remember near the end of the original Xbox life cycle I could pop in Crimson Skies and still find a few people to play with. Now I’m hard pressed to find people to play Tony Hawk’s Project 8 and that just came out a few months ago.
I actually played THP8 the other night and still found some enjoyment in it (and unlocked two achievements, woohoo!). But why don’t people play certain games after only a couple months? I’ll admit, I’m guilty of this to an extent, but for the most part I try to either keep an old game or at least re-buy it down the road. I can’t tell you the amount of times I’ve re-bought Tom Clancy games because I would get frustrated with them, trade them in and then two months down the road re-buy them because I missed them.
This seems to be a problem that affects consoles; you don’t seem to see this problem on a PC. I’m willing to be that if you installed the original Age of Empires or even the original Unreal Tournament you can still gather up a few people for a game. I’ve even been tempted to buy Diablo II again because I know that the game is still getting a ton of playtime.
So the question is why? Why are people so willing to part with a game that they’ve barley taken the wrapping off of? The trade-in programs at stores like EB Games and Gamestop can shoulder some of the blame. An new release game that sells for 59.99 will have a trade-in value of anywhere between $25 - $35 dollars, as long as it’s traded in within the first couple of weeks of release. While this is all well and good for a lot of people, it puts gamers in an unending loop of constantly being subliminally “forced” to get rid of a game they may not necessarily want to get rid of. A lot of times we gamers wind up buying the game again (it’s ok, I do it too).
Peer pressure also contributes to the quick turnaround time on games today. This syndrome is called “IGYBFY” or the “I Got Your Bike For You”. This is named after the kid you were friends with when you were little. You know the one that always wanted to play something with you that you really didn’t want to play at that time. This friend would get out whatever he wanted to play with and say to you “Hey I got your (insert item) for you” like he was doing you a favor. There’s no stopping him (or her), you just know that you’re going to wear down eventually and get it.
One of the problems that have cropped up on the 360 that make some games not have a long enough life is our beloved achievements. The initial crop of games are primarily to blame such as King Kong, Fight Night Round 2 and any 2K6 that came out around launch time seems like it was made just to boost our collective Gamerscores. A lot of people feel that they’ve “finished” the game when they get 1000 points but a lot of times there is still fun to be had with it.
A lot of developers are making strides to keep their games in the Limelight at least a little bit longer. Developers such as Ubisoft and Bethesda have been releasing expansion packs for their games. The Rainbow Six: Red Edition is available on the XBL Marketplace for 800 points and adds a few new maps and the completely new modes to the game. Bethesda, makers of the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, have been releasing expansions on a pretty consistent basis since the game was released last spring. Other companies such as Epic Games, Valve Software and Capcom have been releasing update such as maps, costumes and new game modes for a lot of their newer games.
Spring and summer this year have a lot of high-profile titles coming out such as Mass Effect, Forza Motorsport 2, Half Life: Orange Box and (hopefully) Fable 2. If the developers keep supporting their products hopefully these will keep these sure-fire gems from being traded in. Until then, go get Rainbow Six: Vegas and the Red Pack. I’ll get your bike for you.
I'm sick today so I'm going to make this quick...
Spider-Man 3 came out for pretty much ever platform in existance today (along with the movie). Go get it!
Guitar Hero rocks the 80's has started showing up in EB's and Gamestops systems, according to 1up.com. Since Microsoft doesn't want expansions coming out as a stand alone product this probably means we are looking at a downloadable expansion pack. Either that or we are looking at two more Guitar Hero releases this year.
Achieve360points.com has a couple more achievement lists up including Forza 2 and Shadowrun. Check it out and start planning your attack!
Ok I'm going to tak another nap...
Splinter Cell: Conviction was been unvieled in Finnish game magazine Pelaaja. Exclusive to 360 and PC no less! BALLER!
Not a lot going on in the gaming world today so I'll consolidate them all here:
Remember Fallout? If you don't, Fallout was a post-apocolyptic RPG before post-apocolyptic RPG's were en vouge. It was a rather open ended game, and it was followed up with an even better sequel. Well Fallout 3 is on the way brought to you be Bethesda, makers of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. The link above brings you to the teaser site that is counting down towards the debut of the trailer. If it's anything like Oblivion we're in store for another fantastic timesink.
Team Xbox has some new Virtua Fighter 5 screenshots up. These are the first shots from the 360 version and it looks just as good as the PS3 version. If they add online play then this is a must-buy. If not it better be damn impressive, or I need to get some more Real life friends :)
Attack of the multiple XBLA games again. This one is kinda a three way, but not really. Catan and the combo pack of Centipede and Millipede were made available for 800 and 400 points, respectivley. S3 Prototype tried out Catan and said it was ok but not his type of game. I haven't had a chance to try out Centi/Milli but I know one thing: It's just not the same without a trackball.
Right now I'm going to predict the future: Jack Thompson will be all over this. This one may be a legitimate concern though since the police aren't coming forth with everything right away...
That's all for now kids. Visit forums (They're lonley) or hit me up with a friends request. By the way, if anyone knows anything about podcasting let me know. I'm thinking of some things...
Thursday at 9am GMT there is a new map pack dropping for Gears of War. It's 800 points if you need to have them right now (which I do) or if you wait until 9/3/07 they'll be free. Here's a description of the maps, taken from Major Nelson's blog:
Bullet Marsh: In this Kryll-infested swamp, an old generator still powers the area lights. A few stray bullets could easily knock out the generator, leaving combatants to fend for themselves against the Kryll.
Garden: This overgrown and crumbling conservatory still has a working fertilization and pesticide system. This system can pose a serious hazard to anyone who ventures into the greenhouse without first venting the air.
Process: Teams must fight for control of this subterranean Imulsion processing plant, still active despite the cessation of the Pendulum wars.
Subway: Timgad's Central Subway station used to serve as a central hub for commuters. Now the tunnels are crawling with Locust.
Maybe I'll start playing Gears again :)
Hey all. Remember I said Discs of Tron was coming to the arcade? Well it looks like it may be a double pack with the original Tron arcade game according to the newest issue of OXM!
Looks like someone listens. I'll but some more news from the mag up later.
