Friday, March 30, 2007

New Halo 2 Maps on April 17th

Bungie has posted news about 2 new Halo 2 maps that will become available for purchase ($4) on both the original Xbox and Xbox 360. Bungie says:
The maps ar Tombstone and Desolation - remakes of Hang 'Em High and Derelict, respectively.
That's right kids Frankie can't spell. It seems like April 17th that Andy, Josh, and Charlie will be back on the Halo 2 grind. I do have to argue that Hang 'Em High wasn't as popular as Sidewinder or Blood Gulch.

Read More

Boo Yaka! Ninja Gaiden on DS!

More news coming out of Tecmo that yes a Ninja Gaiden game is coming to the DS. It will be dubbed Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword, so that it stays with the DS initials naming scheme that most DS games have been using. The screen shots on IGN for the game look pretty tight. The game will be played in the vertical style, so it looks like a book and the graphics look great for a DS game. IGN notes that to throw ninja stars you tap the screen on the enemy you want to chuck them at. Seems easy enough. I'm excited about it.

Read More

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Yes, Virginia, There is an Xbox 360 Elite

Ok, Eric keeps picking on us because we haven't commented on the confirmation of Microsoft's Xbox 360 Elite. Picking on us despite the fact that he quit us and says that we're too Xbox 360 biased. :-P (Which I am)

Anyways, yes. The Xbox 360 Elite is coming. We can now confirm or deny what were once rumors.

  • It will be the third available model. The Premium and Core will still be available.
  • It is $479.99
  • It has a 120 GB harddrive. (That's twice the size of PS3's biggest drive and 100 GB bigger than the Premium's harddrive.)
  • It has an HDMI port and cable. (I don't really understand HDMI, but I hear it's better.)
  • It's black. And it comes with one wireless black controller.
  • It still comes with Hexic HD on the Harddrive along with 3-5 demos and some videos(demos and videos vary depending on region).
  • It also comes with the composite cables and the ethernet cable like the Premium does.
  • It will be released in April in the US, possibly June in Europe.

So, what if you just want the bigger harddrive? You can buy the 120 GB harddrive seperately for $179. And there is some sort of cable/transfer system so you can transfer your 20 GB harddrive's contents to the bigger one.

However, there are limitations. You can only load one 20 GB harddrive onto the 120 GB harddrive. Every time you load a harddrive onto a 120 GB harddrive, it first wipes the 120 GB harddrive clean. After it transfers, it wipes the 20 GB harddrive clean. You can't load from a 120 GB harddrive to a 20 GB harddrive.

I'd like to point out that as people start buying up the individual 120 GB harddrives, you might be able to get some 20 GB harddrives for cheap on eBay... Also, if you are technically savy, Joystiq once again points out that you can actually use a SATA Western Digital BEVS drive for your 360.

Read More

We Are Not Respected Game Journalists

Ok, I guess I can only speak for myself. But I did not get an e-mail invitation to E3 and all the invites have gone out. Shame on you, gaming industry! Recognize these skills and give me some swag!



And in other non-gaming news, I'm now sporting a goatee!

Read More

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

June Gets Two Big 360 Games

Two games that have been rumored to be coming out in June are now confirmed.



First, Mass Effect will be released in the United States on June 5th and in Europe on June 22nd. Sweet.



I might be able to defeat Mass Effect by the time the second game comes out. The Darkness is now confirmed for June 25th in the US. June 29th for Europe.

So in June, first I get to be "Jack Bauer" in space, fighting back the robots, and later I get to be a gangster turned master of the darkness.

Read More

Monday, March 26, 2007

Shivering Isles is Live!

That's right. Just in time for the Xbox Live downtime, Oblivion's expansion Shivering Isles is available on the marketplace for 2400 Microsoft Points($30). The expansion (which is available only through the marketplace) clocks in at 993.75 MB. Which sucks because Xbox Live will go down for 14 hours of maintenance in a handful of hours. So if you're quick, you might get it all downloaded. If not, you might have to wait.



Shivering Isles adds about 30 hours of gameplay to the already lengthy Oblivion world. In Shivering Isles, your character can explore a new world known as the Realm of Sheogorath where madness and chaos reign. There are also 10 added achievements totalling 250 extra points.

I'll probably get this when Xbox Live comes back online because I've been feeling like getting some more Oblivion in recently(I downloaded some of the very minor additions to it in the past but haven't played them all yet).

Read More

Always Bet on Black


I know it's been mentioned here before, but word on the wire, (and by wire I mean Wired) is that we should hear an "official" announcement from the big M this wednesday about that beautiful black bastard...the 360-Elite. Seems Chris Kohler received word via email from a Microsoft PR rep about this "big" news. Well I will be officially holding my breath starting now, so someone be sure to wake me if I pass out before the news....gasp....

Read More

Devil May Cry Fan's Cry

After Capcom spread the news that Devil May Cry 4 will come to the Xbox 360, Playstation/DMC fans went crazy and created a Capcom Petition to stop Capcom from spreading the love to other consoles. Very odd petition in my opinion. Capcom replied with:
You some crazy bitches. It's just a game, so get a life. Let us make more money and you keep buying Devil May Cry. By the way, thanks for giving us your name, now we have blacklisted all your names from buying the game you Devil May Cry babies. Ugh!
No that was my quote. Here is Capcom's:
We are certainly moved that people are so passionate about our products that they would go to such extremes. At the same time we feel that allowing more people access to our content pleases far more people than it displeases (after all, we're not denying DMC 4 to anyone that was already going to get it). It really is the best decision for the company and for consumers.
I'm a little lost as to why the fans would only want it on one console. If Halo moved to the Playstation 3 I would say "Enjoy and about time that console got a real game."

Oh and one more thing, I signed the petition as well. Check out petitioner 7767. That's me.

Read More

Friday, March 23, 2007

Listen All Y'all It's a Sabotage!

Apparently, PS3's Europe launch hasn't been going very well. And Microsoft isn't helping any. Reports are coming in of Microsoft agents pulling all kinds of stunts at some of Sony's PS3 release events.

Some of the stunts include driving boats past events with big signs saying "Xbox 360 (hearts) You", handing out chairs to people waiting in line with links to a site saying that Sony is late in coming to the Next Gen game, and sending out text messages of "The Xbox 360 team wishes you a good night" to game journalists.

One of the best things I saw was that Microsoft sent some bloggers £146 worth of Foster's. £146 is supposedly the difference in price between a Xbox 360 and PS3 although my calculations put it as $286.47 which seems wrong.

Hey, Microsoft! We're bloggers! But please, Bud Light instead of Foster's. Foster's gives me a headache.

Read More

Xbox Live Update 03.27.07

Major Nelson is giving everyone the heads up that Xbox live will be going through some maintenance work. What does this mean? There will be no Xbox live, Xbox.com, or Xbox.com forums for 14 hours on March 27th. Larry does state that this is not a dashboard update. The dashboard update is apparently coming in late spring.

Read More

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Black Xbox 360 Confirmed by Game Informer

Kotaku is confirming that Game Informer is confirming that next month a black Xbox 360 will be on the market. Microsoft still is not budging on whether this is true or not. What will this include. Well a 120GB hard drive (nice), HDMI connections (that's swell), and a low price of $479 (what the hell!).

Not included is the HD-DVD drive (why the HDMI connections) and no confirmation if IPTV software/hardware will be built in. Maybe they are saving that for another Xbox 360 release. Boo.

Read More

PS3 Price Cut?



Some analyst over at Goldman Sachs says that Sony will cut the price of the PS3 worldwide by $100 in October. Rumors have been coming out since before the PS3 was launched that the price would come down, but this one seems a little more credible. However, it remains to be seen if it is true. People have been guessing for a long time that the Xbox 360 price would drop by $100 and it still hasn't.

If you're really into the PS3, this news probably doesn't affect you. But if you feel like sitting around sans PS3 and waiting to see if the price comes down, you've got a target date to look forward to.

Read More

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Bungie Gets a Facelift

Bungie has updated their website. It looks cleaner and more in the vein of xbox.com. I likes the new look and the navigation makes more sense and I also like the "Halo 3 stats section coming soon". We all knew it would be there, but it's a nice confirmation from a company that confirms and denies nothing. Other things I've noticed:
  • Use Halo 2 Emblem for Avatar
  • # of Players Online in Halo 2
  • Custom Backgrounds for Profile
  • New Forum Layout

Read More

Devil May Cry 4 on Xbox

You heard it hear last, Devil May Cry 4 is coming to the Xbox 360 and PC. Capcom is wanting to expand their audience and is no longer keeping the title exclusive to the PS. The game is in production and will launch on both consoles on the same day. I've never played Devil May Cry, but my friend Chris has and he just got an Xbox 360 for Christmas. That works out pretty well for him.

Namco has also followed suit and is releasing Warhammer: Mark of Chaos, Ace Combat 6 and Beautiful Katamari on the Xbox 360 as well. I'm starting rumors that Mario Galaxy will come to both PS3 and Xbox 360, while Halo 3 will also release on the Wii with 33 person MP mode. Boo yaka.

Read More

I Wanna ROCK!!

Do you fancy yourself a Guitar Hero Master? Do you live in Florida? If you answered yes to either of these questions you may want to head over to Deland to show your skills in a tournament being put on by GameHQ and sponsored by Red Octane themselves. Word over at XBOX 360 Fanboy is that they will be celebrating the launch of the XB360 version April 7th at the Sunshine Bowling Center in Deland, FL. I'm sure there will be tons of prizes, fun, and loads of hot chicks, or at least prizes and fun. So sharpen your ax start practicing your chops, because I'm sure the competition is bound to be fierce. Wyld Stallyns Rock!!! Party on Ted!

Read More

Monday, March 19, 2007

Halo 3 XBox Live Cards

EBGames.com is selling Xbox Live Gold Cards with the Halo 3 logo on them. The weird thing is that they won't be available till April 27th. Rumors are already flying that this may be the Halo 3 Beta release date. Nothing on the Bungie boards except that the new Bungie site will be going live this week and that the Halo 3 Legendary boxset will be limited in numbers. April 27th is definitely within the Spring release time frame. Let's just hope it's that soon.

Read More

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Jack Thompson happy to be sued



Jack Thompson recently sued Take Two... again. Recently, Take-Two has decided to countersue Jack Thompson for "nuisance lawsuits."

Now Jack Thompson is back in the news saying he has been praying for Take-Two to sue him and that he will be able to use this lawsuit to destroy them.

You can read his whole e-mail over at Joystiq.

Read More

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night coming

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night will hit Xbox Live Arcade this week, Wednesday the 21st for 800 Microsoft Points($10 US).

It is the first Playstation game to cross into the Xbox Live Arcade. It is also the first Xbox Live Arcade game to exceed the previous 50 MB size restriction. I definitely plan on getting this one and killing me some undead.

Read More

Play S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Now



I stumbled across a multiplayer beta of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. for the PC over at WorthPlaying. It's around 500 MB. Unfortunately, I couldn't get it to work. It keeps crashing on me, but some of you might have better luck.

The beta's in Russian. There's a patch to change the menu into English, but when you're installing the beta, it's all in Russian. ... Maybe I installed it wrong since I can't read the buttons...

Read More

Saturday, March 17, 2007

No Mo' PS3 20GIG?

Click to enlarge you tard.Charlie told me about this article a couple of weeks ago, where a dude went out looking for some PS3s with the 20GB sku. He was unable to find any, and after talking to some of the stores he was told that those sku's were removed from their systems. Kind of weird. Now Joystiq has a Best Buy printout showing that the PS3 20GB is discontinued. Sony still says that they are manufacturing them. Are retailers phasing them out or is Sony?

If it's Sony, then I say good job Sony. Don't make the same mistake that X-Box 360 made with a 2 sku system. It only causes problems for the system later.

Read More

Friday, March 16, 2007

DS Headsets Finally Coming

So what I have a DS Fat, you want to fight about it.
When I first got my DS I asked Charlie what the headset port in the front was for. He said for a headset. I said "What headset you douche bag?" He said "It's not out yet you f#%@!ing tard!" About 2 years later it is making its debut. According to IGN, a DS headset is coming out near the release of some Pokemon game on April 22nd. Gamestop says the headset comes out April 23rd and will run you $14.99. Not bad and about time.

Read More

Nintendo Kicks Butt in February

I was told I need to post things on this page, and it should be Big N related so here you go...
NPD Data for the month of February shows one company clearly kicking butt. Can you tell which one?

TOTAL HARDWARE SALES

DS - 485,000
Wii - 335,000
PS2 - 295,000
360 - 228,000
PSP - 176,000
GBA - 136,000
PS3 - 127,000
NGC - 24,000

I did some math, and that adds up to 980,000 units of Nintendo systems sold. Even the Game Boy Advance out sold the PS3, which I don't necessarily think is a good thing, because if I could afford it I'd like a PS3, so I want it to do well.
The unbeatable Playstation name was good enough to sell 598,000 systems. We won't discuss Microsoft because they only have one system on the list, which is strange, because I would guess somebody had to buy a regular Xbox last month somewhere, right?

Read More

Halo 3 Box Art Done


Word from the Germans, along with pictures, is that the Halo 3 box art is done. Looks pretty sweet. Check it in ultra big size. Charlie and I both have our Legendary Editions reserved.

Read More

Jeff's SingStar Dreams Come True


We all had a good laugh at Jeff last week when he mentioned his uncontrollable anticipation for SingStar. For those not hanging out with Jeff and his American Idol friends, SingStar is a PS3 game that allows users to sing against their friends. The players are graded on how well they sing based on tone and pitch. It's got online playability and news has been released that it will be released on Blu-Ray with 30 smokin tracks (the smokin is my word not theirs).

Players will also be able to upload their performance for all to see and heckle at. The videos on the Blu-Ray disc will be in HD, so make sure you upgrade your TV. Word is that new songs will cost ₤1.49 (AUD $3.64 / EURO 2.17). Where's Jeff? I'm going to let him borrow my pair for a while.

Read More

Thursday, March 15, 2007

PS3 Home Not New?

There's some chatter about Sony's PS3 Home not being a new concept and being ripped off from this person or that. In fact, some people keep pointing to this forum post from 2005 about the future of gaming.

But I say that even this post is not new. The concept of an interactive online world has been around for along time. Cyberpunk stories usually have an interactive internet as part of their world. Anyone who knows about Shadowrun (which was first developed in 1989) knows about the concept of the internet being a place where people have avatars and wander around a world that looks like the real thing.

Remember, basically everything has been thought of in one form or another at one time. So, is PS3 Home a new concept? No. Just look at all the comparisons to Second Life. But Sony has the capability of actually pulling it off and putting it into the mainstream.

Read More

Captain N to the Rescue!


Some of you may remember the cartoon Captain N: The Game Master which ran 1989-1993.

In it, a high school student named Kevin gets drawn through his TV into Video Land, a land filled with characters from Nintendo games including Mega Man, Kid Icarus, Mother Brain, GameBoy, Link, and Donkey Kong among others. Kevin helps the good guys fight Mother Brain and her group of bad guys.

Well, remember it or not, it's coming to DVD soon. Those of you who enjoyed it can relive the fun. Those who have never heard of it can check it out. I remember it. It wasn't groundbreaking, but it was enjoyable. Of course, I was in high school at the time...

Read More

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Shadowrun Coming in June

I told ya, and I was right! Shadowrun is not coming in April. As part of a recent press release about Games for Windows Live coming out May 8th, there's a small blurb about Shadowrun coming out in June.


Shadowrun will be the first game to be cross platform on both Games for Windows and Xbox Live. The second game that will be cross platform is Uno. Which seems less exciting to me.

Read More

Halo 2 Vista Release Date

If you have the Vista OS, then be sure to pick up Halo 2 Vista on May 8th. Microsoft announced that Games for Windows Live will launch on that day with H2V (Halo 2 Vista for those who aren't street, like me) as the launch title.

I did find out that Halo 2 Vista owners will only be able to play Halo 2 Vista owners. I swear I read that it was a cross platform game. Several other people on the Bungie forums thought it as well. Boo.

Read More

PS3 Home, what the F**K!!!

Well it looks like Sony has caved into the pressure and are going to borrow one more page from Nintendo's playbook. Sony reps have mentioned in an interview that their Home service will be censored for foul language and behavior. Gizmodo has an excerpt and link to the full interview here but you dirty little doodles better be on your best behavior because big brother is watching you.... Yes you Bryan. Not only will they censor language through chats in the public areas, but if somebody feels that you acted offensively after being invited to your private areas (hahaha, I said private areas!!) they can report you, which I assume if this occurs too often will get you banned. If you ask me, since Sony said that their system is for adult gamers, then why limit your biggest potential feature for the smallest possible niche, maybe just make a "kids zone", this is really going to discourage all those Second Life converts.

Read More

Monday, March 12, 2007

The 10 Most Important Video Games of All Time

A committee of two academic researchers, two game designers and a game journalist has named the 10 most important video games of all time. This committee came from a proposal submitted to the Library of Congress in 2006

Spacewar! and Star Raiders were before my time. And I've never heard of Sensible World of Soccer but not a bad list overall. How does one get a job on this committee?

Read More

Shadowrun Release Date Probably False



There's a rumor burning across the internet that Shadowrun will be released in April.

Looks like that rumor is probably false. I've been waiting since Day One to enter the beta so I ran over and checked the beta forums. The moderators over there say that no date has yet been set and it's probably not April.

The mass invites for the beta haven't even gone out yet! They just recently patched the beta. More educated guesses place Shadowrun's shelf date in May or June.

Read More

PS3 Home FAQ

Sony has released a 10 page Home FAQ in PDF format. It covers a large range of questions for both users and gamer designers. Some interesting points:
  • 64 Users Per Lobby
  • Sony is Shooting for a 500MB Download Initially
  • Users Will Be Able to Sell Items to Other Users
  • Integrated PSN Friends List, and Search Functionality for Spaces
  • Sony's Working on User Created Content
  • Closed Beta Starts in April
  • Open Beta Starts in August
  • Home Goes Live in October
This definitely is sounding more like Second Life with all the ads and virtual purchasing features. I'll be keeping my eye on this.

Read More

Fable 2, too much

Well some more deets are starting to trickle in about everyones favorite XBOX rpg franchise. It seems Xbox360 Fanboy has a laundry list of features to expand on beyond a pretty puppy pal. One that I find interesting is the option to attempt to own any property in the land, with the completion of optional side quest. Want a castle? Then just get that to-do list done and it's yours. Also new Kindness/Cruelty and Wealthy/Poverty character traits expand beyond being just Good and Evil. Hmmmm, me finds me-self intrigued......

Read More

Cowabunga Dudes!!

Word on the 'nets is that TMNT arcade will fight its' way out of the sewers this Wednesday. If true look for tons of arguments in the multiplayer lobby about who gets to be Donatello. Bo staffs FTW!!

Read More

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Halo 3 Keeps the Good



With all the recent announcements of no splitscreening/no standard def support, etc, Bungie is keeping it real.

Frankie's weekly Bungie update assures gamers that Halo 3 will still have splitscreen co-op play. It will still be like Halo 2 where splitscreeners can't play on ranked games.

And Bungie still understands that a number of gamers still play on standard definition TVs so they aren't making text or symbols that SD users can't read clearly like many games have been doing lately(Dead Rising, Fight Night Round 3, etc.)

Some new developments are that weapons will actually appear a little bigger when they are on the ground so users can see them better.

And muting annoying players should be easier than ever.

Read More

XYBA Podcast Ep04 - The GDC

Boo yaka it is here. The XYBA Podcast Ep 04. With more than half the crew missing, Jeff subs and makes it feel like no one was missing. The breakdown is below.

0:00 - Called Charlie to bring into the call
0:20 - Opening Song by Engine Down
0:45 - Introductions with guest Jeff and I think Andy
1:37 - Games We Are Playing: Crackdown, Viva Pinata, Red Steel
2:10 - Jeff talks about how long it takes to get your 360 back from repair and don't mention you have it plugged into a power strip
4:10 - Games We Are Looking Forward To: Jam Sessions, TMNT, TMNT Arcade on XLA, Mass Effect in June, Andy's looking forward to the GTA IV trailer, Two Worlds, Blue Dragon, Lost Oddessy, and No More Heroes
7:36 - Ragging on Red Steels controls
8:40 - Gaming News: GDC News
20:30 - PS3 Home: We discuss the PS3's new online community interface
33:47 - Little Big Planet: We try to figure out what the game/game developer software is all about. Great press release reading by Andy.
38:50 - Singing Star: Jeff reveals his girly side
40:10 - Additional news from Josh: Halo 2 Vista, Steven Spielberg making a Wii game for EA, GTA IV countdown site, CliffyB and the weapon upgrade element that was left out of Gears of War, and Apple TV may play games.
45:10 - Game Ideas: Josh submits his idea for mini games to be available while waiting in lobbies
46:30 - What we would like to see in Next-Gen or This Gen:
47:10 - Rants: SSX on the Wii makes Jeff act the fool, Andy goes off on video game manuals and their lack of info
52:04 - Andy rags on the Gametap and Jeff questions Andy's copy of Windows
53:00 - Andy hates on press releases
54:00 - Josh goes off on Epic's douchebag lawyer, Zachary R. Bishop, and Jeff sides with the terrorist leader, Zach
57:30 - Josh tries to wrap it up, but Andy refuses to let it end
58:00 - We talk about destructible furniture on PS3 Home
59:55 - Josh wraps it up and the shot outs go out. Thanks again Jeff. Outro music by Ben Davis




Download XYBA Podcast Ep04

Read More

Epic's VP Apologizes

I would like to think that I single handedly got the VP of Epic, Mark Rein, to apologize for the I-Hate-Freedom department at Epic. I shot an e-mail to Mark telling him that I thought it was totally stupid that his lawyers sent the letter to Emilio Lopez. Mark actually replied with the message that he sent out to the fan sites. Check it out.
Ugh. Our lawyers are trying to do their job and protect our trademarks but I guess they didn't realize this wasn't a commercial project and they fired off a standard form letter. It is unfortunate when this happens but the problem with trademarks is you HAVE to protect them and Emilio's work looks so amazingly professional, right down to a cool package!, that they probably failed to notice this was a one-off gift for non-commercial use. What we need to do is come up with some sort of permission letter for things like these so that we're properly protecting our future commercial rights but not stopping people from doing cool fan art like this.

On behalf of Epic I apologize to Emilio and anyone who was offended by this.


Mark Rein
Epic Games, Inc.
Way to go Mark. *Gives Mark a soft punch to the arm*

Read More

PS3 Home Trophies Optional

In our most recent podcast(#4), we talk a lot about PS3 Home. I stumbled across some further information today so I'll post it up even before the podcast is live.

While the Xbox 360 requires all games to have achievements, Sony is considering making trophies optional for developers. They are leaning towards not forcing companies to come up with trophies for every game they make.

I, however, think this would be a mistake. As we talked about in Podcast 3, achievements really bring something to gaming so knowing that there are trophies for every game would also help Sony.

Sony also said if they did make it mandatory, it might be something as simple as getting a trophy for owning the game. To that, I say lame!

Read More

Miyamoto wants to compare Miis

Shigeru Miyamoto announced at the GDC that he is working on a new Wii Channel where people around the world can compare and rate each other's Miis.

Sounds like the "Am I hot?" website but for Miis! Eric can enter his 200 Miis he has created. I like the Dr. Venture Mii he created.

Read More

Developer apologizes to Wii

Maxis developer Chris Hecker(currently working on Spore) went on a little rant at the GDC this year. Some of his choice statements were "It's not clear to me that Nintendo gives a shit about games as an art form.", "[Nintendo needs to] make a console that doesn't suck ass." and the inflammatory "The Wii is a piece of shit!"

Now he is taking it all back and apologizing for his comments. Now he says "I do not think the Wii is a piece of shit. Nintendo needs to be applauded for trying to interface on the controller front, the user interface front, on making games accessible, on making a console that you don't need to mortgage your house to afford."

Way to think before you speak(especially at a podium with a microphone), Chris.

Read More

Thursday, March 8, 2007

Epic Lawyers Hate Freedom


Epic representative, Zachary R. Bishop (The Douchebagger), has sent a letter to an Emilio Lopez to remove any Gears of War logos from a Munny doll he made or they will take legal action. A Munny is a figurine that you can customize to your liking, but apparently Epic's I-Hate-Freedom department says that fans of the game and franchise aren't allowed to do such "illegal" acts. Everyone should write Marc Rein, VP of Epic Games, and tell him that he should put a big Gears of War style boot in the ass of Zach.

Hey Epic, do like Bungie and allow your fans to have the freedom to do things with your precious IP. Without your fans you wouldn't have a Gears of War franchise. And fire that Zach Douchebag guy.

Read More

Wednesday, March 7, 2007

PS3 Home Video at Gametrailers.com

Jeff mentioned earlier about the PS3 Home rumor, but it seems a video is up at Gametrailers.com. I have to say that PS3 Home looks insanely awesome. The amount of customization you can do to your character and the environment is more than I was thinking the system could handle. It basically looks like a Sims game, but it's a gateway to interact with your friends. It allows you to jump into other peoples games, but also you can play "arcade" games in this world, as well as share your music, pictures, and videos that are on your PS3 all in this virtual world. Download the video and watch in awe as PS3 has just changed what Xbox and Wii just introduced. Xbox Live will need to step it up to compete with something this nice.

Read More

How much is that doggy...

So it seems that Peter Molyneux has been showing off his newest creation in the world of gaming AI. A dog. Yes folks now you will have a faithful companion to help you kick chickens in Fable 2. Over at Game World Network they drop some details on the upcoming features mentioned by Mr Molyneux, and the one feature confirmed for showing was a new sidekick. He also mentions that players can now choose male or female, and family life should be expanded to include procreation. So theoretically your female main character could get knocked up, kill some trolls, pop a bun out of the oven, then go play fetch with her dog......sounds like a winner to me. One thing to keep in mind though is that Peter is well known for describing game ideas that are far beyond feasible in application so take that "birthin' babies" stuff with a grain of salt. Still, it's nice to see Peter Molyneux's time spent playing Nintendogs has paid off. Here's some pics of hot, doggy-style action to get you all worked up.

Read More

Microsoft/Xbox bragging rights

Microsoft has released a stats sheet letting everyone know how well they're doing.

Some interesting things I saw were that since the 360 came out, over 300 million achievements were achieved for over 7.5 million gamerscore.

Also, more than 6 billion Microsoft Points have been purchased. After using the handy Microsoft Points Converter website, I found out that 5 billion MSP is equal to $62,475,000. (I also discovered that the converter doesn't covert numbers higher than 2,147,483,647.)

And out of the 10 million Xbox 360s out there, 6 million of them are members of Xbox Live.

Most the stat sheet boils down to "Yay! Xbox Live kicks ass!" And I actually agree. Here's to you, Microsoft.

Read More

Tuesday, March 6, 2007

Live for Windows Vista details

At the GDC 07, Microsoft revealed more information about their Live for Windows Vista.

If you're already an Xbox Live Gold member, good news! You're already a Live for Windows Vista Gold member! Your achievements and gamertag will be the same for both.

Live for Windows Vista will work exactly like Xbox Live. There will be a free Silver package. The Gold package retails for $49.99 for a year subscription, $19.99 for three months and $7.99 for one month.

Not many more details are available, but I'm betting you'll need a Gold membership to play most Windows Vista games online just like Xbox 360. And definitely for cross platform games.

Read More

The Commodore Returns

Pro-G has a blurb about the Commodore returning to PC gaming. Stay tuned to CeBIT in Germany because on March 15th they are launching it and making some announcements that should be "surprising". The jokes are already rolling in on Slashdot, with people wondering if it will be a 64bit system, so they can start calling it the Commodore 64 again. Here's a picture of Andy dreaming about his Commodore 64, while punching me, while it looks like I'm trying to kiss him.

Read More

Monday, March 5, 2007

No Split Screen for Shadowrun

It may be the first actual use of the cross platform system, but it has been confirmed that there will be no Split Screen for Shadowrun. That's pretty disappointing. Especially for a multiplayer only game.

The developers said they really wanted Split Screen capabilities and did a lot of work on it, but they basically ran out of time.

This makes me sad. Just as sad as the fact that they haven't invited me to the beta yet. I signed up on the first day of the beta selection and have played every Shadowrun game made. Please, let me in!

Read More

Even Sony bashes Sony

Found this blurb over at Next Gen that sums up an article that ran in the Wall St Journal. Apparently even the Sony Execs think that Kutaragi is a madman of epic proportions, or at least difficult to work with. Don't get me wrong, I love all game machines, but sometimes a company needs to step back and realize when they are ruining things for the consumers that provide their paychecks. Maybe Ken will lighten up now that he's been reshuffled, and bring back some of that Emotion Engine magic. One can only dream.

Read More

GDC all week... interwebs to be full of gaming announcements..

Along with the GDC announcement of bigger memory cards today, MS officially revealed that the limit for XBLA games would increase threefold to 150MB. This is of course very exciting news for gamers, as well as small time developers, who can now sell me even more bloated, and shiny versions of free web based games. This was of course leaked a while ago when Konami mentioned that Castlevania SOTN would never make the 50MB limit, but it's good to see Microsoft officially helping out the little guys.

Read More

Bigger 360 Memory Units

Microsoft announced at the GDC that they will start selling larger 360 memory units. A 512MB will retail for $49.99 starting this April. This ain't a big surprise since we all knew they were going to have to bump it up to make up for the larger Live Arcade size limit. The surprise is that for a limited time the 512MB card will come preloaded with Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved and that the 64MB unit will drop from $39.99 to $29.99. I say they should go lower for the 64MB unit. Look at the price to MB ratio. You are getting ripped off if you buy the 64MB unit, so stay clear of it.Andy Crying Over the Loss of the 64MB Memory Unit. Boo Hoo.

Read More

Sunday, March 4, 2007

Electronic Gaming Monthly Rumors

In the rumor section of Electronic Gaming Monthly, there were two interesting rumors.

The first one is that Gears of War is trying to change their achievements so they don't require "ranked" games. I don't know if this is possible, but it'd definitely help me out since I play mostly player matches.

The other one is that they want to release a version of Dead Rising that is co-op. The rumor mill also says that there would be a patch which would be downloadable to make current versions co-op as well. That would be awesome. However, I highly doubt it.

Read More

Saturday, March 3, 2007

Two Worlds

I saw something about Two Worlds a while back but never really paid attention to it. When compiling the lists of March game releases, I came across the name again. It simply said "March 2007" release.

I looked deeper into it because I was interested. I highly doubt a March 2007 Xbox 360 release. I imagine the May release I saw for Europe to be closer to the US release. However, I saw that it is supposed to be crossplatform. Windows and 360. This peaked more interest because I didn't think that was available yet.

It's not. While the game should have crossplatform capabilities in the future, at release it will not. That's pretty disappointing but not unexpected.

However, the game still looks good. While originally touted as an "Oblivion killer," I don't think it'll be that in depth. But it still should be fun.

Single player and multi-player modes seem to be very different. Single player you can only be a human and have some quests. Multiplayer(up to 8 players in a world) allows you to choose from a list of races and you have different quests. You cannot use your single player character in multiplayer and vice versa.

Previews of the game seem to indicate a "card type" of skill/item/magic system. You can stack the cards on each other, making them better. You apparently can ride more than just horses, such as big lizards and other mounts. And of course, you can be good or a self-centered jerk. It's up to you. Necromancy is not in the world, but you can release it upon the world. So if you want to learn necromancy, others will start to use it against you. All in all, this game bears watching.

Read More

Game Releases for this month

I'm going to post this month's scheduled game releases. However, because I don't want to clutter up the front pages, all the dates and games will be in comments. Check the comments for the info.
  

Read More

Gametap

Jeff Cohen had sent me a link before the last podcast talking about how Gametap is running a 1st month for $0.99 special.

I decided to check it out this week. I had seen the site before but thought that the $15/month was too much to try it.

Interesting? Yes. Nostalgic? Yes.

Also frustrating! Older, DOS games like from Infocom or Sierra will not save. It always has an error or says the disk is full or copy protected. Those games were not made to be played in one sitting.

Now I'm playing X-Com which I think I actually still have on CD around here. It's fun, but every so often it crashes out. Also, I accidentally built my base in Africa. Africa is very safe from aliens, but everyone else is pissed at me.

Also, you have to download every game you're going to play through Gametap. But you can only run them through Gametap.

So I'll probably end out the month, but that's it. Still, it's worth the 99 cents to play some old games from when I was a kid. But no save on Space Quest I means that the desert is frustrating and I get eaten. And I don't feel like going through the ship again.

Read More

Friday, March 2, 2007

Rumble on the PS3 Coming Soon

So what was the real reason that Sony didn't add rumble to the sixaxis? I recall they said it was because it interfered with the gyros in the controller. Another reason was that Sony claimed rumble was so 2005. Turns out that Sony didn't have the permission to use the technology from Immersion Corp. Sony is finally following Microsoft's lead and paying millions to Immersion for the patent. From the AP Wire article the monthly payments breakdown as such.

As part of the truce, Sony will pay San Jose-based Immersion $97.2 million in damages and interest, as stipulated in the original court award that Sony was appealing. Sony will also pay $22.5 million in licensing payments through 2009 plus an unspecified amount of fees and royalties.

In total, Sony will cough up at least $150.3 million to settle the litigation, when factoring in $30.6 million in compulsory license payments the Japanese company has already paid.

Not a bad chunk of change for Immersion. Apparently their stock jumped 32% after this news broke. So how long will it be till we see a sixaxis controller with rumble now that Sony has the permission? I'm guessing PS4.

Read More

Thursday, March 1, 2007

GTA IV dated

GTA IV is scheduled to be released for the Xbox 360 and PS3 on October 16th.

And supposedly exclusive episodic downloadable content for GTA IV will be released for the Xbox 360 in 2008. Of course, rumors also exist that the PS3 will get entirely different exclusive downloadable content for GTA IV...

Hopefully with all the great sandbox games lately, GTA IV will step it up even more.

Read More

Fresh hot PS 3 rumor...smells like BS

The rumor mills have been churning out in full force since GDC executive director Jamil Moledina let slip that Sony Nutjob... I mean Exec, Phil Harrison would have an announcement that would make PS3 owners "very happy". I know you were all hoping for a $200 rebate and a handjob, but word on the grapevine is Sony will finally release their version of the Mii and Accomplishment systems. Dubbed Playstation Home an anonymous inside source listed on Kotaku.com mentions "basically, you get to make an avatar for your console (like a Mii) and this avatar has a room. As you play games and accomplish certain tasks, you will receive items with which to adorn the room that are specific to the game (achievements). The kicker is that this is going to be a new requirement for every PS3 game...". A little late? maybe. original? maybe not. Do PS3 owners care? Well they should, as mentioned in the last podcast here, the Achievement system is really addictive, and who doesn't like customizing an avatar ala Mii, Sims, etc. If this is not the case though, many a fan boy are going to be sent into a spiraling depression that would rival the dental industry tenfold.

Read More

Lost Planet Map Packs

I'm just doing my job by reporting the news about games even if it means for games I loath. Capcom is releasing a series of map packs which start March 9th with 2 maps, Radar Field and Island 902, costing the user 400 M$ points. Can you say rip off? I can. There will be a free map on it's way. It is the free map, Battleground, that came with the Limited Edition version of the game. So it will be new to some, but not all.

I think maps should always be free. 6 months from now the online community for this game will have dramatically decreased (hopefully to the levels of Prey). No one is going to want to buy these maps if there is no community to support them. Plus the developers just divide up their gaming pool by not allowing certain players to play against each other because of different maps. Boo to you Capcom. Boo.

Read More