Cliffy B hates Bill Gates

... and eats puppies! Ok, those statements might be exaggerated, but Gears of War designer Cliff Bleszinski has been quoted as talking about porting Gears to the PS3.

So far this is just noise, and Microsoft isn't having any of it. Sources say that this is the result of the recent fights between Microsoft and Epic, mainly Epic keeps wanting to put out free content for Gears of War and Microsoft keeps wanting to charge for it.

While overall, Epic's give free shit away strategy has made them a fan favorite, but this talk of helping out "the enemy" with a port is causing some fanboys to rebel against Epic.

And this might all be a case of wanna be rockstar Cliffy B shooting off his mouth when he shouldn't have been. After all, everyone knows you don't cross Mr. Gates.

Nobody Puts Baby in a Corner

If that title got you excited, then I have more exciting news for you. Dirty Dancing is coming to the PC. No that's not a typo. Yes you'll be having the time of your life. The movie we've all been waiting to be translated to a video game is finally here to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Dirty Dancing the movie. I've never felt this way before. Check out Codemasters.com for more information and to join their mailing list.

As a note, Ashley and I actually saw the re-release of Dirty Dancing in theaters this month. It was great to see it on the silver screen in all its dirtiness. "I carried a watermelon."

Another Gears update on the way

Mark Rein, VP of Epic, has announced that there will be a free auto update sometime soon. Part of it will be another attempt at fixing the roadie run/sticking to walls problems. Part of it is supposed to take care of some other bugs/exploits. But the most exciting part? New achievements!

250 points worth of achievements, to be exact. Some of which will deal with Annex and some of which will deal with the newest maps. So as long as you have all the updates and maps, the achievements are free. Otherwise, you'll have to wait until September for the maps to be free.

SIMS = Blockbuster Movie

Of all the video games to become movies, SIMS is one that I think would be impossible to translate into a movie, but not according to SIMS Studio head Rod Humble.

"The SIMS has done an interactive version of an old story, which is what it's like to have infinite power and how do you deal with it . . . Given that that's an old story, you can imagine how easily that would translate to traditional story telling."

I would rather see Lost Planet become a movie before SIMS. I can't see where this story could possibly go or how entertaining it will be to watch someone build a house and then make friends and pets to interact with. Some producers in Hollywood have too much money and not enough brains.

Guitar Hero ... III?

More news about Guitar Hero III. That's not the official name yet, just what the kids on the street are calling it. And not to be confused with Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s.

Anyway, as we've stated before, it will be released on the PS2, PS3, Wii and Xbox 360. It will feature wireless guitar controllers, new play modes, online multiplayer and downloadable content. The guitars will have removable faceplates.

However, now some of the songs that will be playable have been named. These will be played and sung by the original artists:

• The Rolling Stones - "Paint It Black"
  
• Smashing Pumpkins - "Cherub Rock"
  
• Beastie Boys - "Sabotage"
  
• Tenacious D - "The Metal"
  
• Weezer - "My Name is Jonas"
  
• Muse - "Knights of Cydonia"
  
• Living Colour - "Cult of Personality"

The developers have also acquired the rights to four songs that will be performed by cover artists:

• Kiss - "Rock And Roll All Nite"
  
• Alice Cooper - "School's Out"
  
• Fog Hat - "Slow Ride"
  
• Heart - "Barracuda"

Fallout 3!!!

That's right, I put in three exclamation points! That's how excited I get about the next installment of Fallout. I loved Fallout and Fallout 2. I even enjoyed Fallout Tactics and Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel. Of course, they were no Fallout or Fallout 2, but I love post apocolyptic worlds. The Fallout world captures this beautifully.



Anyway, here's a recap of all the info so far: Yes, it is being created by Bethesda. Bethesda also owns the rights to create Fallout 4 & 5. When is it coming out? I have no idea. Bethesda actually finalized their rights to it in 2004 but apparently weren't concentrating too heavily on it until Oblivion came out.

Liam Neeson will do some voice work for Fallout 3. New screenshots were released today. And a trailer will be out in June(possibly the 5th).

Geometry Wars: Galaxies

Nintendo Power has announced that Geometry Wars is coming to the Wii and Nintendo DS. If you haven't played this game, it's a really fun game with very simple graphics. The games will include multi-player mode along with the single player campaign. Currently you can get the game from Xbox Live Arcade.

Smashbros.com is Live

For those who can't wait for another installment of Smash Bros., you can now check out the new www.SmashBros.com site for news about Super Smash Bros. Brawl. It just went live today and comes in several languages. There's a section on how to play the game for those who don't understand how to smash buttons on a controller to make things happen.

Starcraft II announced

Blizzard has announced their next big game: Starcraft II.

I'll try to throw up some more info later. Right now I'm late getting ready for a wedding. Here's a link for the trailer they showed at the Korean event where they announced it.

Edited by Jester013 5/21/07

Sorry for the delay. Hangovers and travelling... Besides, now there's more news to share!

First off, Starcraft II will be only for the PC and Macs, no consoles. There will be single player and multiplayer modes. Battle.net is expecting some changes to rock out Starcraft II's multiplayer more. The Humans, Protoss and Zerg will all return with some new units and with some new powers for the old units. No word yet on if there will be other races.

Starcraft II takes place four years after the Brood War expansion for Starcraft. The humans in Starcraft II will be the "evil empire" of the Terran Dominion. The ancient Xel'Naga will figure into Starcraft II's storyline, but no word if we'll actually see any or if they still exist. No plans for any water battles.

Halo 3 Beta Extended

In an effort to appease upset gamers, Bungie and Microsoft have extended the end date of the Halo 3 beta. Now, instead of ending June 6th, the beta will end on June 10th 11:59 PM PST. That's four extra days! Hooray!

This will give me a chance to show the beta to my friend Will when I'm up in Pennsylvania.

See how I'm updating the blog because my beta download is taking forever while Josh and Charlie are both playing without me!

How to Get Halo 3 Beta to Download

You need to clear the cache on your 360. Here are the steps.

1. Go to the system blade and then select memory.
2. Press Y on the HD symbol and then press X,X,Left Bumper, Right Bumper, X,X.
3. Once you do this a messsage will appear saying: Do you want to perform maintenance on your Xbox 360 storage devices?
4. Hit Yes
5. Go into Crackdown
6. Go to Download Content and Select Halo 3 Beta
   

Edit by Jester013:

And here's some photo evidence that Josh is telling the truth.

And in more Halo 3 related news..

For all you Halo fanboys (looking at you Josh), if you really want to prove your loyalty head on down to your local video game store monopoly (Gamestop) and pre-order your very own Halo themed Zune!. That's right kiddies, not only do you get a pretty sweet media player (f' those lame ass Apple lovers) but it comes pre loaded with a metric shit ton of Halo related media, songs, videos, images, and a real live version of Cortana, the artificial intelligence female program, well... maybe I made that last part up. Anyhow I actually have regular old Zune, and it really is a good media player, but I don't think having a Halo design on it will help it pass up Apple's stranglehold on the mp3 market. Still very nice fan service on Microsoft's part. Good job uncle Bill.

Bungie Announces Halo 3 Release Date

Bungie announced the release date for America and Europe. They are Sept 25th and 26th respectively. Boo yaka.

That's the good news. The bad news for anyone trying to download the beta through Crackdown is that it isn't working yet. Boo (no yaka)

Halo 3 Beta Guide

Tonight was the final episode of the Gilmore Girls an annoying show on the CW. It was also the night that Bungie released the Halo 3 Beta Guide. Check it out for the following:

• Getting Started
• Controls and Voice
• Matchmaking and Parties
• Saved Films and File Share
• Halo 3 Beta FAQ
• Halo 3 Networking FAQ
• Identity and Appearance
• Weapons and Vehicles
• Equipment
• The Maps

Enjoy the Halo and rejoice that there is no more annoying Lorelai and Rory. Boo yaka.

Shadowrun Priced

Shadowrun comes out on May 29th. Right while I'll hopefully be enjoying some Halo 3 action. The release date has been out for a little bit, but now the prices are confirmed.

Since Shadowrun is a multiplayer only game, there had been some speculation that it would come out at a lower than $60 price. Unfortunately, Micro$oft says no. Shadowrun for the Xbox 360 will be $60. Interestingly, Shadowrun for Windows Vista will only cost $50.

Microsoft says it is because those are the standard prices for those systems. However, I know of a number of games which are released at lower than $60 for the 360. My guess: wait a few months and you'll be able to find it cheaper.

Halo Stuff

So Luke is at Bungie now and got to post his first post for the weekly update. The Bungie site now shows how many people are playing Halo 3 (over 1000 as of right now), also it shows how many Halo 2 games have been played in the last 24 hours (over 400,00 as of right now).

The Friends and Family invites went out today. I checked my Bungie private message section and found no invite. It must be from all the ball kissing I talked about.

A new Halo novel is coming out this fall. It is titled Halo: Contact Harvest and is written by Joseph Staten, the writer of Halo:CE and Halo 2. So it should be interesting to see a story coming straight from the creators.

Bungie released a video showing gameplay of the Halo 3 beta. I've posted it below. Also Bungie has posted a bunch of new screen shots. The missile pod looks pretty cool. I know Eric is just as excited as I am.

There is also a new Halo 3 Beta forum section. Some things mentioned on the forums: needler rocks and makes a good weapon, one guest is allowed, crouching is faster than Halo 2 so teabagging is easier, the game films are saved to the harddrive or to file share and the user determines the amount of space to allocate for this, and slow downs with downloading the game. Seems like the 16th we won't be playing as much as we'll be downloading.

Crackdown New Content is Live

The new downloadable content for Crackdown went online yesterday. There are three different sets of downloadable content, the free title update, the free Free-for-All Pack and the 800 MS($10) Getting' Busy Bonus Pack.

The title update lets you completely reset the gangs in campaign, orbs now make more noise the more orbs you gather, new ground strike attack for 4 star strength agents, improvements to explosives, improved targeting and stunt rings are now more visible among other things.

The Free-for-All Pack adds a cheat mode, a vehicle impound option and co-op trophy sequences.

The Getting' Busy Bonus Pack introduces three new vehicles, five new weapons, street racing and four new game types. Personally, I look forward to roasting Josh in Rocket Tag.

And one cool thing: you can preview the new content without buying it by joining someone's game who already has it. Sweet.

Xbox Spring Update is Live

The Xbox spring update is now live. No mention of it from Xbox.com, but Kotaku is showing they are able to download it. There are some complaints on the forums about teenagers not being able to use the IM feature because it's for an 18+ audience. I'll check it out when I get home, but I'm sure Andy will beat me to it since he gets home sooner.

XYBA Podcast 07

So we are up to our 7th episode now. I got a mixer and we have 4 mics, but the audio still sucks. I think I got phased out because my audio is really low for having my own mic. We recorded it at Chuck's place. Here's the breakdown.

00:00 - Intros with Josh, Andy, Eric, Charlie, and Grant
00:42 - Games that we're playing: Princess Peach on DS, Halo 2, LOTR online, GoW, Paper Mario, Guitar Hero II, Hotel Dusk, America's Army, and Farcry
04:17 - News which is mainly 360 news
27:47 - Roundtable about fanboys
44:00 - Slamming controllers
44:40 - PS3 Home Beta Invites: Chuck didn't get in
46:10 - Games We're Looking Forward To
53:15 - Counter Strike
54:20 - No Rants
55:00 - Gaming Magazines and their contribution to gamers
59:25 - Shout Outs and Satan makes an appearance
1:01:00 - Outro



Download XYBA Podcast Ep07

Why the 360 Needs a Required Harddrive

Rockstar Veep Dan Houser told the Official Playstation Mag that the Xbox 360s without harddrives is creating limitians and challenges for GTAIV. Thank god a developer is saying this. I don't know how many times Chuck and I have had this conversation at lunch that Xbox made a big mistake by offering a sku that didn't come with a harddrive.

Will Rockstar dumb down GTAIV to make it easier for consumers who don't want to buy the harddrive? Only if they want to see a shelf full of GTAIV at local stores.

Design a Halo 3 Emblem Contest

Bungie is holding an emblem contest where Bungie.net (Bnet as it's called in the streets) readers can design an emblem that will be used in the final shipping game. The guide lines include:

1. Your emblem must consist of only two colors.
2. Your emblem must be able be identified if the secondary portion is toggled off. See below for examples.
3. Your emblem must look good when it’s tiny.
4. Your emblem must be original art. Do NOT copy anything. All entries that look remotely like other logos or corporate images will be ejected. Same goes for National flags.
5. Nothing offensive. Nothing rude, racist, -blam!- or otherwise stupid in nature.
6. 128x128 pixels and in either gif or Jpeg format
7. 128k file size limit

Bungies says.

"The winner will have their emblem design featured in Halo 3, and we will pick the winner based on purely aesthetic considerations. We will pick the one we deem best suited to appear in the game and if we don’t get one we like, we won’t use one."

Email your entry to 7themes@bungie.com or if you like to keep the postal service in business then send it to:
Emblem Assembly
Bungie Studios
One Microsoft Way
Redmond
WA
98052

So are you entering Eric?

In your face, Jack Thompson!

Violent gaming has saved a family from burning to death.

In Shelby, NC, a 9-year-old boy named Davien Hayden likes to wake up early to play Mortal Kombat. When he woke up to play, he heard breaking glass and smelled smoke. He was able to alert his family to the danger and all 7 family members got out safely, although the house was pretty much gutted.

Here's a TV news story on the incident from WCNC.

Home Beta Starts

I'm not sure if Jeff Kazbek or Chuck got the invite from Sony, but Sony's Home beta kicked off today. Regardless of which system you support or have allegiance with, Home seems like a very promising UI for interacting with other players and getting into game lobbies. If you haven't seen the Home demo, then check out the video below. Sony says more invites will go out soon enough so more people can test.

Mass Effect Book

Need something to hold you over until Mass Effect comes out? Well there's a prequel book available that became available today, May 1st, which happens to be my birthday. Titled Mass Effect: Revelation, it's written by Bioware's head writer, Drew Karpshyn. The story takes place 35 years before the game, but it should be a good way to get into the Mass Effect universe before the game comes out.

May Game Releases

May is here. And what games will the studios release upon us? Check the comments to find out. Remember, most of the dates are provided by EB Games with a few changes.

 

Gears of War DLC this week!

Apparently, those new rumored maps for Gears of War will be available on Thursday. They are:

• Bullet Marsh - Apparently a swamp map with generators you can destroy. Why would you want to do this? To kill the lights so the Kryll will kill your enemies. Sweet.
  
• Garden - A convservatory and greenhouse map. Apparently, people can die in the greenhouse from pesticides if proper precautions aren't taken.
  
• Process - An underground Imulsion processing plant map
  
• Subway - A subway hub map
  

I like the concept of traps or hazards on the map like they're doing with Bullet Marsh and Garden. We'll see how they work out.

If you want to get the maps on Thursday, they will cost you 800 Microsoft Points($10). But if you refuse to pay for stuff on the Marketplace, wait until September 3rd when they become free to all!