Unlimited Game Rentals Delivered - Free Trial

Saturday, March 10, 2007

Microsoft to scale back their backwards compatibility!

This is a quote from Microsoft at the (GDC) this week!

"At some point we're going to focus less on it. When you get to the end of this year there will be a reduced focus on backwards compatibility. There are so many 360 games out there. I don't know if it's important anymore."

Now I know some people like to play their old games but I really think people shouldn't be complaining about it because adding backwards compatibility is something Microsoft doesn't even have to do but for some reason everyone feels like it is a requirement.

It is time to move on people, let Microsoft spend their time on developing new products and features for XBOX LIVE. 

It is time to stop playing in the past and if you want to get really nostalgic, go play Galaga and Pac Man on XBOX LIVE arcade. Those games are being worked on by 3rd party developers who have the time to make them available.

One more thing I would like to add is, when you look at the most played games on the original XBOX on Live, all of those games are playable on the 360 along with 300 others. The games that you can play now are the most popular, they are not going to spend 100's of hours trying to make a game playable for 1 dude in Montana!

The Darkness!

XBOX LIVE activity for the week of 3/5!

Xbox 360 Top Live Titles (UU’s)
1 Gears of War
2 Crackdown
3 Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas
4 Call Of Duty 3
5 Alien Hominid HD
6 GRAW 2 MP Demo
7 Worms
8 Madden NFL 07
9 Oblivion
10 Lost Planet

Top Arcade Titles (Full Versions)
1 Worms
2 Alien Hominid HD
3 UNO
4 Paperboy
5 LUMINES LIVE!
6 Street Fighter II' Hyper Fighting
7 Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
8 Texas Hold 'em
9 Geometry Wars Evolved
10 Contra

Original Xbox Top Live Games
1 Halo 2
2 Battlefield 2: MC
3 Madden NFL 07
4 Star Wars: Battlfrnt 2
5 Counter-Strike
6 Forza Motorsport
7 Call of Duty 3
8 Ghost Recon 2
9 PGR 2
10 Rainbow Six 3

SOURCE: Majornelson.com

Bungie's weekly update, Frankie is still talking graphics!

Here Frankie talks about a waterfall that you will see in the new map "Valhalla":

One of our effects artists, implemented some spume, foam and spray for waterfalls. The only announced waterfall is to be found in Valhalla, but it’s such a pretty finishing touch and helps smooth out the somewhat abrupt collision of waterfall and river. Valhalla already feels a lot like Yosemite in some ways, and when you’re standing in the fast flowing water, up to your thighs in it, the effect is complete. Maybe just a little more alpine and open than the national park’s intimidatingly oppressive grandeur.

Frankie goes on to talk about the ‘Halo’ aesthetic, yes the graphics have been greatly improved but it still looks like Halo:

Now I keep discussing this stuff as if it’s photo-realistic. And sometimes it is, but again, from an artistic perspective, we’ve gone to great lengths to make sure that the new game retains the ‘Halo’ aesthetic. It still looks like a Halo game, but just rendered with vastly more detail and content and some visual effects that simply weren’t possible on Xbox. And part of that aesthetic is directly tied to gameplay. I was reading about DOF (Depth Of Field - the appearance of something being in or out of focus, as seen by a camera lens, but designed to emulate human vision) effects in another game yesterday – and thought about some of the ways that can harm and help something like Halo.

You can read the entire weekly update here!

Friday, March 9, 2007

Ok Sony, this means war!

This comes straight from Teamxbox.com, I didn't bother writing my own witty article since this pretty much covers it all, but I would like to mention that Sony has just started something that that they will later regret:

Speaking to Three Speech, a sort of official unofficial PlayStation blog, a Sony spokesperson has provided some answers for those of use that claim the new Home service is simply a rip-off of Ninteno Miis, Second Life and Xbox 360 achievements. When asked if Home isn’t a rip-off of Xbox Live, the Sony representative said:

Home is a first of its kind 3D community that allows for open interaction between consumers, SCE and third party partners. It is a truly interactive, global community of users. Xbox Live is a static, 2D, text-heavy environment that can’t match the rich community features found in Home. Xbox Live community interaction is much more passive and limited to the members on that friend’s list.

Someone should tell this Sony representative you can send voice messages and have voice chat conversations; plus, when you get the Xbox Live Vision camera, you can also do video messages and chat.
After Sony's weak and cheap response, we still believe Home is just a copy of the best the Xbox 360 and Wii have to offer. To read more responses from Sony regarding Home, click
here.

Microsoft responds to Playstation's "home"!

Microsoft's Chris Satchell finally broke the silence to CVG, calling the Home service:

"not a very game-centric approach".

He then says:

"it's a cool world but it's like a little game by itself. Our approach is the other way around; it's that games are the center and that's the star of the show, that's what people buy the console for".

And when compared to the 360's achievement system, Satchell said:

"they've definitely taken some concepts that we originated like achievements, but I think they're pushing in a different direction and we've sort of fundamentally got two different approaches going on here".

Phil Harrison knows why GTA4 is not a PS3 exclusive!

While speaking to a group of blogger's at the (GDC), Phil Harrison was asked how he felt about the PS3 getting GTA 4 the same time as the XBOX 360:

"I don't think PS3 has the install base to support Rockstar's investment in GTA IV on its own,"

To summarize, he said that the PS3 will gain more exclusives when the install base of the PS3 grows. 

Lets be honest for a second here, Microsoft was grabbing these exclusives when the 360 had a low install base at the time.  When it comes down to it, you and I know that Microsoft just whipped out that check book.  That is how you get exclusives these days, money talks!

2 New Lost Planet maps are here!

The 2 new maps for Lost Planet are "Radar Field" and "Island 902". The maps are 400 points and come in at approx 161MB.

Gears of War was once called "Unreal Warfare"?

Yesterday at the (GDC) Cliffy B went into detail about the development process of Gears of War, including some tidbits of trivia that was very interesting.

  • Gears was first called Unreal Warfare which turned into the Onslaught mode in Unreal 2004.
  • The "roadie run" only increases your speed by 20%.
  • The Locusts were originally called Geist, but a Nintendo trademark forced them to change that.
  • At one point they had nothing assigned to the Y button until an employee said "Why don't we make it the look at cool sh*t button?"

Forza Motorsports 2 U.S car list revealed!

  • 1987 Buick Regal GNX
  • 2004 Cadillac CTS-V
  • 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt SS Coupe
  • 2002 Chevrolet Camaro 35th Anniversary SS
  • 2002 Chevrolet Camaro SS
  • 1996 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport
  • 2002 Chevrolet Corvette Z06
  • 2006 Chevrolet Corvette Z06
  • 1969 Chevrolet Camaro Z28
  • 1969 Chevrolet Camaro SS Coupe
  • 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS-454
  • 1967 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray 427
  • 1970 Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1
  • 2004 Chrysler PT Cruiser GT
  • 1998 Chrysler Eagle Talon TSi Turbo
  • 2006 Chrysler Crossfire SRT6
  • 2005 Chrysler ME Four-Twelve Concept
  • 1968 Chrysler Plymouth Barracuda Formula-S
  • 2003 Dodge SRT4
  • 1996 Dodge Stealth R/T Turbo
  • 2006 Dodge Charger SRT8
  • 1999 Dodge Viper GTS ACR 2003 Dodge Viper SRT10
  • 2003 Dodge Viper Competition Coupe
  • 1969 Dodge Charger R/T-SE
  • 2003 Ford Focus SVT
  • 2006 Ford Focus ST
  • 2005 Ford Mustang GT 2000 Ford Mustang Cobra R
  • 2005 Ford Ford GT
  • 1970 Ford Mustang Boss 429
  • 1966 Ford GT40 MkII
  • 2003 Infiniti G35 Coupe
  • 2003 Lexus IS300
  • 2002 Lexus SC430
  • 2006 Lexus IS350
  • 2005 Panoz Esperante GTLM
  • 2006 Pontiac Solstice
  • 2004 Pontiac GTO
  • 1968 Pontiac GTO Hardtop
  • 2000 Saleen S281
  • 2006 Saleen S281 E 2004 Saleen S7
  • 2006 Saturn ION Red Line
  • 2005 Scion tC 2007 Shelby GT500
  • 1999 Shelby Series 1 1968 Shelby Mustang GT-500KR
  • 1965 Shelby Cobra 427 S/C

Thursday, March 8, 2007

GRAW 2 reviews are in!

GameSpy

3/8/2007

5 out of 5

100.0%

 

IGN

3/7/2007

9.1 out of 10

91.0%

 

Official Xbox Magazine

4/1/2007

9 out of 10

90.0%

 

GameBrink

3/8/2007

90 out of 100

90.0%

 

GameTrailers

3/8/2007

9.2 out of 10

92.0%

 

Cheat Code Central

3/8/2007

4.5 out of 5

90.0%

No Unreal engine 3 on the Wii!

At the Game developers conference this week, Mark Rein of Epic games commented on why their Unreal Engine 3 will not be licensed for Nintendo Wii games:

"Ummmmm, well, this is kinda a high definition engine. Designed for a certain level of graphics card and certain amount of CPU. You know, I'm sure one of our licensees will squeeze it down into the Wii. The way Ubisoft squeezed Unreal Engine 2 into the PSP," he explained in a little bit more detail exactly why the Wii and Unreal Engine 3 won't become best buddies, "Unreal Engine 3 is designed for a high level shader architecture and the Wii doesn't have that. I mean, you know, it's just not what we've been aiming for, so it's not something we're looking to do or support."

Peter Molyneux and his dog!

Peter Molyneux, the brain child of Fable and Black and White sat down with Brian Crecente of Kotaku.com where he talked about some innovations that we will see in Fable 2 and quite honestly, some of them sound revolutionary.

Peter Molyneux on what is different from Fable 1:

"We are going to give you more combat and then we thought we would give you better spells, and a bigger world. We will multiply the world size by, I don't know, 100, and we would fill that world with beautiful things. There are 15 million poppies in the world of Fable, we also have bluebells and pansies and all of that."

"What I came to realize was that the feature that Fable lacked and Fable 2 needed was drama," he said. "Yeah, we could make an impressive and incredible story with baddies, but we needed something else. The thing we really needed and this is the one you may not get is love."

"Why shouldn't you have a game which has at its core the ability for you to feel something from a game you've never felt before."

Peter Molyneux on what I see as revolutionary:

"You can get married, you can choose to have protected or unprotected sex and if you have unprotected sex you can have a baby and it can grow up and it will be as you, it can be evil or good,"

Peter is banking heavily on what will be your pet dog, a dog that you will train and it will develop it's own AI, you will not have direct control over your dog:

Molyneux spends a bit of time showing off his dog. He calls it over, his character squatting and waving his hands to the dog. The dog comes running.

He then shows us how the dog will act as a sort of living map, that he will guide you on our way through your adventures. There is no hud in the game, Molynuex says.

When Molyneux comes upon three people he attacks one with his rifle and the dog charges off to attack the other two.

After the battle the dog, whimpering and limping, comes slinking back to Molyneux, it is a genuinely sad and touching scene.

In researching this concept they talked to psychologists and looked to hollywood, where they learned that one golden rule of movie making was to never kill an animal. That's the gold rule.

I recommend you head over to Kotaku.com and read the whole interview because this game is looking to be absolutely amazing.

Cliffy B wants to see Jazz Jackrabbit on XBLA!

Today at the GDC, Cliff Bleszinski said that he would like his classic platformer Jazz Jackrabbit on XBLA.  Cliffy said that epic does not have the time right now to do so because they are so busy with Unreal 3, he went on to say this:

"If anybody knows a person out there that can do it for us, more power to them,"

Cliffy also said they are busy on a "potential sequel" to Gears of War.

Also if you didn't know this, Jazz Jackrabbit was released on the PC in 1994 and was Cliffy's first game at Epic.

7th annual Game Developers choice Awards!

Nominations were free of charge and open to all IGDA members, ensuring that the nominees reflect the international development community's opinions. The IGDA membership voted on the finalists.

The recipients for the 7th annual Game Developers Choice Awards are:

  • Best Game
    Gears of War (Epic Games / Microsoft Game Studios)
    - Cliff Bleszinski, Michael Capps, Rod Fergusson
  • Audio
    Guitar Hero II (Harmonix Music Systems / RedOctane)
    - Jeff Allen, Eric Brosius, Izzy Maxwell
  • Character Design
    ÅŒkami (Clover Studio / Capcom Entertainment)
    - Mari Shimazaki, Sawaki Takeyasu, Kenichirou Yoshimura
  • Game Design
    Wii Sports (Nintendo)
    - Keizo Ohta, Takayuki Shimamura, Yoshiaki Yamashita
  • Technology
    Gears of War (Epic Games / Microsoft Game Studios)
    - Michael Capps, Ray Davis, Tim Sweeney, Daniel Vogel
  • Visual Arts
    Gears of War (Epic Games / Microsoft Game Studios)
    - Jerry O'Flaherty, Chris Perna
  • Writing
    The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo EAD / Nintendo)
    - Kyogoku Aya, Nate Bihldorff, Mitsuhiro Takano
  • New Studio
    Iron Lore Entertainment (Titan Quest)
    - Paul Chieffo, Jeff Goodsill, Brian Sullivan
  • Innovation
    Line Rider
    - Boštjan Cadež
    ÅŒkami (Clover Studio / Capcom Entertainment)
    - Atsushi Inaba, Hideki Kamiya
    Wii Sports (Nintendo)
    - Keizo Ohta, Takayuki Shimamura, Yoshiaki Yamashita

Recipients for the evening's special awards were:

 

  • Lifetime Achievement
    Shigeru Miyamoto
  • First Penguin
    Alexey Pajitnov
    Maverick
    Greg Costikyan
    Community Contribution
    George “The Fat Man” Sanger

"Once again, the Game Developers Choice Awards have shown that gaming greatness can be found within every type of game—from the most hardcore of experiences, to those that have brought all new audiences into our industry’s fan base," said Jason Della Rocca, Executive Director, IGDA. “Each year, I am humbled by what our members can do with this great art form.”

Rainbow six Vegas patched!

Bug Fixes:

  • Optimized the network replication of custom faces. You should see everyone’s custom face much faster in an online match.
  • Fixed a bug where you can get stuck on a ladder in Border Town.
  • Grenades no longer go through walls.
  • Fixed the sound loop on weapons.
  • Observers no longer cause a Team Unbalance penalty on experience points.
  • Fixed a crash related to throwing an incendiary grenade and then quickly using your snake cam before it exploded.
  • Leaderboards are now correctly updating results from ranked matches.
  • Fixed a bug where you could lose your weapon.
  • Killing terrorists with incendiary grenades now works correctly in Terrorist Hunt.
  • C4 explosives are now properly seen by clients when placed on moveable objects.
  • Players are now vulnerable to grenades when using mounted weapons.
  • Fixed bugs related to the Survivor and Special Operations achievements.
  • Host can no longer kick players once the match has started. Players can only be kicked in the lobby, or automatically kicked by excessive team-killing.

Gameplay Tweaks:

  • The weapons have been rebalanced based on the feedback you’ve given us. Thank you for your patience and continued support in making Rainbow Six Vegas the great multiplayer game that it is. Without further delay, here are the changes we’ve brought to the

weapons:

  • Sub Machine Guns
    SMGs are now less lethal at long ranges. The damage they do at long range has been reduced in order to bring them more in line with how this type of gun should behave. SMGs remain very lethal at short to medium range.
  • Assault Rifles
    Assault Rifles are now where we wanted them to be. They’re more maneuverable than before and you can more accurately take aim at your target. The Assault Rifles excel at medium to long range when fired in short controlled bursts.
    Light Machine Guns
    The amount of recoil when firing light machine guns has been significantly reduced, therefore making them much more accurate than before. This weapon excels when fired from a stationary position. It’s not meant to be a very manuverable weapon.
  • Shotguns
    Damage at long range has been reduced for shotguns. However, they’re still extremely lethal at short range.
  • Sniper Rifles
    Sniper Rifles have gotten the attention they deserve. Sniper fles are more accurate and benefit from an increase in damage. The key to being successful with a sniper rifle is to remain stationary when aiming at your target.
    Gadgets

 

Frag Grenade: The explosive radius of the fragmentation grenade has been slightly reduced.

GPS Device: The scanning radius of the GPS has been slightly reduced, along with the number of uses it has.

Wednesday, March 7, 2007

Sega wants your vote!

On Sega.com they are holding a vote on which game you would like to see return.  The games in the list are: Nights, Streets of Rage, Samba de Amigo, Virtua Cop and Flicky.  As of now Nights holds the top spot with 58%, Streets of Rage is holding second at 22% with Samba de Amigo coming in 3rd with 12% while Virtua Cop and Flicky round out the last 2 spots with 7% and 2%.

I myself would love to see Nights brought back, but I was also a huge fan of Streets of Rage as well.  But I do have a question for Sega, what the hell is Flicky doing in that list?  How about Shinobi, Eternal Champions, Panzer Dragoon, Golden AXE and Comix Zone? 

One more thing I would like to tell Sega and that is, please do not let the same people who ruined the Sonic series (Sonic Team) do the same thing to Nights even though Sonic team worked on the original nights but that was when Yuji Naka ran the show.

If Nights was remade I wonder if it would come with a special controller like it did when it was released on the Saturn?

Peter Jackson's Halo Game to Be Episodic!

At X06 last September, Microsoft announced a collaboration with director Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings, King Kong) on not only an adaptation of the Halo series to the big screen, but several videogame projects, including one related to Halo. We've heard nothing on the team-up since, but Gamasutra reports Microsoft executive Shane Kim revealed Jackson's project would be one of two episodic series they're working on, while speaking at GDC

"Our deal with Peter is not about a film guy who wants to make video games. We're in the design phase now. The first series will be set in the Halo universe. In addition to this deal, Jackson continues to executive produce the currently on hiatus Halo feature film."

The typical model for episodic content has been delivering individual episodes via the Internet (or, in this case, Xbox Live) and then distributing a retail product encompassing all the released installments on a disc. Though too early to know if Microsoft will follow that model or something new, the Jackson collaboration is already unique.

SOURCE: 1UP.com!

Playstation 3 is coming "home"!

Today at the (GDC) Sony officially announced "home" a community where you can interact with other players and jump from game to game, kind of like Halo 2's party system.

From what I can tell it looks like Sony took XBOX LIVE's achievement's, Nintendo's Mii creation and Second Life and then threw it in a blender and out came "home".  I must admit, it does look interesting but I will wait until it is released next fall to place my opinion because of Sony's track record of creating a shit load of hype and not delivering so we will have to see.

If you want to see it in action click here!

Below is a press release from Sony:

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Announces Ground-Breaking, Next-Generation 3D Online-User Community For PlayStation®3 - "Home"

Free Download to Allow Broad User Interaction in Highly Detailed Community Environment; Opens Door to User-Created Content, Collaboration and Commerce

TOKYO and SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., March 7, 2007 – Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI) today announced the unveiling of a first-of-its-kind 3D online user community service for the PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3™) computer entertainment system. The service, known as “Home,” will enable users to create their own avatar and explore a real-time virtual community, as if they are playing a detailed 3D game for PS3. The service will become available globally beginning in fall 2007.

Home will be demonstrated at the Game Developer’s Conference (GDC) in San Francisco, California on March 7 as a key element of SCEI Worldwide Studios’ President Phil Harrison’s keynote presentation titled “Game 3.0: Developing and Creating for the 3rd Age of Videogames.”
Home is a real-time online 3D, networked community available on the PLAYSTATION®Network. It allows PS3 users to interact, communicate, join online games, shop, share private content and even build and show off their own personal spaces to others in real time. Home will be available as a free download from the PLAYSTATION®Store and will launch directly from XMB™ (XrossMediaBar) on PS3.

With an avatar uniquely customized according to each user’s preference, users can explore the 3D community that is Home – a sleek, modern environment featuring spacious common areas; custom spaces dedicated to specific games; and personal apartments. Each user is assigned an apartment in Home where they can invite others to join them as they show off their own style in an area they can personalize themselves with furniture, art and other items – even a different view from their windows. They can also show their personal video, pictures and other digital media content found on their PS3 hard drives in their apartments. Very rich interactive communication with others is achieved through built in text, audio and video chat, along with sophisticated emotional animations for each character.

Sharing continues in the “Hall of Fame,” where users can display new 3D trophies that will be unlocked through in-game milestones for the games they own as well viewing the trophies of other users across the PLAYSTATION Network and for other games they’ve yet to purchase.

“This is a significant step forward in the area of user community services and emergent entertainment experiences,” said Izumi Kawanishi, Corporate Executive and CTO Software, SCEI. “While the 3D graphics demonstrate the power of PS3 and the PLAYSTATION Network, the most impressive feature in Home is the variety of ways in which multiple consumers, as well as our third-party partners, can experience the next generation of communication by interacting and sharing among each other. I feel strongly that this unique blend of community, user-generated content, collaboration and commerce will expand the future of computer entertainment.”

Home will go into a closed beta test this spring with a full launch targeted for later this year. By having a broad range of business partners participate in Home – from 3rd party publishers and developers to brands outside traditional gaming categories - along with a powerful selection of upcoming game software titles for PS3, SCEI will continue to expand the horizons of networked entertainment and vigorously promote PS3 as the next generation computer entertainment platform.

LIVE for windows priced, XBL accounts confirmed to work on Vista!

This comes via Joystiq.com:

Microsoft revealed yesterday the pricing for Live for Windows, the Vista equivalent to Xbox Live. The pricing plan is identical to Xbox Live: a Silver membership will be free and Gold will cost you either $8 for one month, $20 for three months or $50 for a full year, according to Game Informer.

Click here for all of the details!

Worms is available today!

  • Name: Worms
  • Price: 800 Points
  • Availability: All Xbox Live regions
  • Dash Details: Single Player, Xbox Live Multiplayer 1-4, 5.1 Surround Sound, HD (High Definition). Gird your loins, grow a spine, and prepare yourself for war! The worms are back, ready to kick some dirt, and itching to give you all the mayhem you can handle! In the full version, you can battle up to three other players on one of three random landscape themes, change the multitude of game settings, collect all of the 12 achievements, and write your name in the “Worms” hall of fame. Don’t delay, show some backbone, and buy “Worms” now -- the invertebrate army wants YOU!
    Size: 42.29 MB

A map of every hidden orb in Crackdown!

Are you playing Crackdown? are you pulling your hair out trying to find all of the hidden orbs?

Well finally, there is a map with images of each location that you can use to finally get that achievement.  Herman Gatevold went out of his way to take pictures and build a map with the location of every hidden orb in the game.

Check it out here!

Thank you Herman, you are the man!

Viva Pinata sequel has been confirmed!

Lee Schuneman, head of production at Rare has confirmed that a sequel to Viva Pinata is in the works.

"We're pleased with the overall support that it's got and there's more to come within that franchise,"

"We'd obviously like more sales, but we were happy with the game and critically it's gone down very well."

Tuesday, March 6, 2007

How do people figure this stuff out?

Halo 2 for Windows Vista wil have achievements!

Designing Achievements for “Halo 2” for Windows Vista

The Xbox version of “Halo 2” obviously predated the era of the Gamerscore, so this represents one of several compelling reasons to give “Halo 2” another spin. For the team, designing fun and significant rewards in a game that is already well-established was a bit challenging. This was accomplished with the help of the talented staff at Bungie Studios and Hired Gun, with a watchful eye on the latest trends in the gaming community. The achievements were designed with some fundamental goals in mind – keep the game fun, encourage beginners to join our “Halo 2” community, and provide a new challenge with a few tough or interesting achievements for our most dedicated fans.

 

Achievement Development Process

Designing anything for an existing and best-selling game can be arduous and risky, as options are weighed heavily against already-popular and well-trod game aspects. We started by brainstorming every possible achievement that trickled out of our caffeine-addled minds, and then whittled our list to a beefy 40+ achievements. It was a process we performed in lockstep with Bungie Studios and their designers and producers, through the course of many design meetings and reviews. What we ended up with was a set of achievements that beginners and skilled “Halo 2” players alike will immediately tackle with different results, but we were sure to include several that any veteran will only get to after some serious work.

All of the details can be found here!

The first pics and trailer surface of Jetpac refuelled!

Teamxbox.com has posted the first screens and trailer of Rare's first XBLA title: Jetpac Refuelled. The first thing you will notice when you view the trailer is the huge improvement in graphics over the original.

Check out the images and trailer by clicking here!

Blu Dragon in AUG, Lost Odyssey by Christmas!

Today at the (GDC) Microsoft announced that Blu Dragon will land in north america sometime in AUG while Lost Odyssey will land sometime around Christmas.

EA: "Sony's dominance is over"

For over 10 years Sony has been in the number 1 spot with no signs of change.  Until recently Sony has never really seen Microsoft or Nintendo as a threat, but statistically no one company has ever held that spot for more then 10 years. 

If you go all the way back to Atari, Nintendo to Sega, they have all had their runs at number 1. 

When Sony came into the market their only competition was the Sega Saturn which launched at a very high price point and no games (sounds familiar) and they have been riding that wave for some time now but a change is on the horizon.

Sony now has 2 very strong contenders to deal with and it isn't going to be easy this generation and they know it, they would be in complete denial if they didn't see that and I am not the only one who feels this way, EA see's a change on the horizon as well.

Electronic Arts Inc.'s outgoing chief executive Larry Probst on Monday said at an investors meeting with Morgan Stanley:

 

"We expect that there will be a more level playing field this time around than last time," said Probst, who expects Sony to win the new console war, but with a less commanding lead.

"I think the issue is that (the PS3 is) expensive,"

He went on to say:

"No one should count Sony out at this point in the game. This is going to be a long race,"

What he says there is true, I see Sony hanging in there but not being the dominate force they once were.

XBOX LIVE stats!

Gamerscoreblog.com has posted some amazing stats that were gathered about the XBOX 360 and XBOX LIVE.

Here are a few statistics that you might find interesting:

 

Xbox LIVE Connectivity & Usage:

  • More than 6 million people are members of Xbox LIVE.
  • Following the launch of the Xbox LIVE online gaming network in November 2002, gamers have spent over 2.3 billion hours on the network playing games online with their friends around the world.  This is equal to 95 million days of gaming or over 260,000 years.  With our top title, Halo 2, which is being played on both the Xbox and Xbox 360, gamers have spent over 710 million hours playing online with over a half a billion games played.
  • In fact, online gaming through Xbox LIVE is now a proven form of mainstream entertainment. The 18-34 male audience is comparable in size to the same audience tuning in to see the most popular network TV shows like CSI or The Office.
  • Xbox LIVE on Xbox 360 continues to grow as a social community; we are seeing an average of over 2,000,000 text and voice messages sent every day between members on the service. 

· The average Xbox LIVE Gold subscriber has 22 friends on their Xbox LIVE friends list.

· To date, Xbox 360 owners have unlocked nearly 300 million Achievements. All of those unlocked Achievements have created a total combined Gamerscore of nearly 7.5 billion.

  • Top WW Xbox LIVE Titles on Xbox 360 to date:

1 Halo 2

2 Gears of War

3 Hexic HD

4 Call of Duty 2

5 Ghost Recon 3

6 Call Of Duty 3

7 Oblivion

8 PGR3

9 Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six® Vegas

10 Perfect Dark Zero

            (Based on the number of unique users)

Head on over to Gamerscoreblog.com to read all of the details!

TMNT has been confirmed for XBLA!

Ubisoft has confirmed that the classic 1989 TMNT arcade title is coming to XBLA.  The will be available for download this month and it will be available for 400 points or $5.00.

Ubisoft confirmed the the game and price to IGN this morning.

"The release of the TMNT classic arcade game on Xbox LIVE Arcade is Ubisoft's homage to a world-renowned franchise that for almost 20 years has captured the hearts of gamers," said James Regan, director of new business development at Ubisoft. "Ubisoft is breathing new life into the video game franchise with the launch of our downloadable console games while remaining true to the unique core values that make the Turtles so timeless."

IGN made mention that this was the most requested game for XBLA in a poll they held in 2006.

"Voted the number one most wanted Xbox Live Arcade game by IGN's readers in 2006 (see Xbox Live Arcade: Most Wanted), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is finally coming home. But if you just can't get enough turtles and the coin-op version is leaving you starving, Ubisoft also has a brand new Prince of Persia-ified version that's due to hit Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, PSP, Windows PC, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Nintendo GameCube and Wii to coincide with the upcoming CGI movie. Turtle power, baby!"

6 million gamers are now live!

Microsoft announced today that more than 6 million gamers worldwide are connected to Xbox Live, a milestone that was reached 4 months ahead of schedule. At E3 2006, Microsoft announced it expected to reach that target by June 2007.

SOURCE: Teamxbox.com

Diddy Kong racing on XBOX LIVE ARCADE?

On Rare's home page there is a Q&A section up that was last updated on FEB 28th.  After reading the question I scrolled down to see what Rare's reply would be because it is a good question.  After all, Rare made a lot of hit games for Nintendo so what franchises can they legally work on?  Well according to this it sounds like Microsoft wants Diddy Kong racing as an XBOX LIVE arcade title.

With the (GDC) going on this week I would expect an announcement soon If this can actually happen, legally speaking. 

Dear Rareware:
I am a young video-game player, who also owns a Wii. I am registered on the Nintendo forums and talk about Wii and Diddy Kong Racing DS, awesome game by the way. Anyway one concern I have is the decision if Rareware titles such as Banjo-Kazooie and others will appear on the Virtual Console. I would like to know if possible you could give me an answer, I know you probably don't have an answer, but I'd like to know, as I've yet the chance to play Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie as I'm 12, and never owned an Nintendo 64 console. I also would like to say what a great job you did making Diddy Kong Racing DS, again I never got to play the original, so it's nice when titles like these are re-made with new features and gameplay alike. Anyway I hope this question can be answered, and you can continue making great games for Nintendo if possible.
Sincerely,
Steven Schwartz

 

Rare replied with this:

 

This is where we finally edge into territory that could see Scribes neutron bombed from management level. The only Rare-developed title on Virtual Console right now is the original Donkey Kong Country, and unofficially there's a strong likelihood that its sequels will follow. But the Donkey Kong series of games is a Nintendo-owned franchise starring an established Nintendo character, whereas something like Banjo isn't (and even Diddy Kong Racing is less clear-cut), so it's nowhere near as easy to call. Especially when you also consider the existence of Xbox Live Arcade. So right now, the best answer we can offer (for either download service) is "it's possible". I like your sausage casserole mix, by the way.

Monday, March 5, 2007

This is one bad ass looking mech game!

Best Buy is at it again!

This comes straight from G4TV.com, they posted an article from consumer watchdog George Gombossy who has exposed BestBuy for having 2 web sites, Bestbuy.com and an intranet site that apparently has higher prices than their web site.  The problem is that they use this intranet site which looks exactly like BestBuy.com to confuse the consumer.  You see, if a customer approaches one of their employees about a price they saw online, the employee pulls up their intranet site and says "no it is this much" as an example. 

This article here is a short synopsis on what  George Gombossy wrote. To read the whole thing go here!

After reading this, I myself will probably never go there again because the place has always seemed a little shady to begin with and this has happened to me before on an item I was buying.  I brought up a price I saw online that wasn't on the particular item, the employee then guided me to a computer and began to look it up, he than spun the screen around and said "the price I saw must have been for a limited time only and it must have ended"  Not to mention their employees don't know jack about the department's they work in.

Sometimes what you see is not what you get...

In a move that exposes Best Buy as a money grubbing machine, George Gombossy, the Consumer Watchdog for the Hartford Courant, recently reported that Best Buy has two websites. The first is BestBuy.com, while the other is a secret website or intra-store web site being used inside the Best Buy stores that fixes prices higher than they appear as advertised.

Ain't that a crapper!

At first Best Buy declined to comment on this intra-store web site, but after much pressure from both Gombossy and Connecticut state investigators, Best Buy's company spokesperson Justin Barber went on the record stating that they do in fact have an intra-store web site and that their "intention is to provide the best price to our customers, which is why we have a price-match policy in place."

Well, it sounds like the price-match is only applicable if they like the price they themselves want you to match.

Barber tried to explain himself and Best Buy's policy by saying that they have an "intra-store web site in place to support store operations (including products and pricing)," and that they are reminding their "employees how to access the external BestBuy.com web site to ensure customers are receiving the best possible product price."

G4TV.com

New XBOX 360 games this week!

Xbox 360:

  • Def Jam: Icon
  • Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2

Bungie puts the duel Halo 3 beta's to rest!

You may remember last week there was a rumor going around that Bungie was going to hold 2 separate beta test's for Halo 3. One test was going to be for the people who signed up and were accepted and the other test were going to be the people who purchased Crackdown.

Well today Bungie's Frank O Conner responds: 

"Like, we have time to be working on two separate betas? No, people have confused the issue. Bungie’s going to have a friends and family program which is basically a tiny alternative to the Crackdown BETA program. We’re going to get a bunch of beta invites sent to people in the Bungie community as well s those people who have bought Crackdown. Some people have decided that it was this whole separate beta but it’s the same beta, we’re just giving out our own tokens."

"It’s going to be a great place to see what weapons people enjoy and how they like the levels that we’re going to share with them and all that game balance stuff. But the really important data is going to be about networking and match making and population. The only realistic way to get that data, is to put it out on some scale. So it’s very useful for us. We could try to translate a lot of scaled information from smaller populations and figure out how things are going to scale, but it’s very, very useful for us to see how it works in real life and in the field."

Microsoft wants you to "Dream-Build-Play"

In a press release today at the (GDC), Microsoft wants developers to compete in it's game making contest using their XNA developer tools.

 

Microsoft Unlocks Game Development and Encourages Everyone to “Dream-Build-Play”

 

Microsoft challenges developers to bring ideas to life on the Xbox 360 and Windows platforms.

Providing the opportunity for game developers to create visions in a world where they make the rules, shape the characters and create the evolution of the story, Microsoft Corp. today kicked off the Dream-Build-Play game development contest, offering a $10,000 (U.S.) grand prize and the opportunity for a winner’s game to be published on Xbox LIVE® Arcade, the premier destination for digitally distributed, high-definition original and classic games. Enabled by its XNA™ developer tools, the Dream-Build-Play contest was announced at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2007 in San Francisco.

 

Delivering on its commitment to offer the best and most accessible hardware, software and services for game developers on the Microsoft® gaming platforms, Microsoft and its partners also showcased a suite of new products that will help developers of every level turn their dreams into reality. From the hobbyist to professional developers in the largest studios, Microsoft’s investments in game development technologies are helping to spark a new creative era while ensuring the best games are being built for Microsoft platforms.

Dream-Build-Play XNA Contest Offers $10,000 Grand Prize

 

Dream-Build-Play is a global contest that offers aspiring game developers the opportunity to showcase their innovation and talent to the world. More than 20 winners will be selected to win fantastic prizes with a total value of more than $40,000 from Microsoft, Alienware, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Inc., Autodesk Inc. and Softimage Co.

The contest will culminate in the extraordinary grand prize that includes an opportunity for the winner to receive an Xbox LIVE Arcade publishing contract, providing a chance to showcase the winner’s game on Xbox LIVE Arcade. Dream-Build-Play is open to any user of XNA Game Studio Express, including the GarageGames Torque X platform. No purchase is necessary to compete. The contest ends July 2, 2007, and winners will be announced Aug. 13 at Microsoft Gamefest 2007 in Seattle. Additional contest details, including detailed eligibility and entry requirements, are available at http://www.dreambuildplay.com.

 

Great Games by Great Storytellers Using Great Tools

Also at GDC this week, Microsoft will spotlight the ways that some of the most innovative game creators in the industry are bringing their visions to life on Microsoft gaming platforms. On Tuesday, March 6, Microsoft Game Studios will present “The Evolution of RPG Development,” a panel discussion hosted by journalist Geoff Keighley that will feature Hironobu Sakaguchi of Mistwalker, Peter Molyneux of Lionhead Studios and Ray Muzyka of BioWare Corp., the creators of the most highly anticipated role-playing games of the next generation.

 

In addition, to celebrate the launch of the Dream-Build-Play global contest, Microsoft will showcase a new era of game creators through the XNA Game Studio Express Challenge. GDC attendees will have a chance to see some of the brightest beacons in game development from around the world gathering at the XNA lobby bar at the Moscone Center in San Francisco to create four games in four days using XNA Game Studio Express tools.

The power of the XNA tools is demonstrated with today’s announcement of “Schizoid™” (Torpex Games LLC), an upcoming game that will be the first Xbox LIVE Arcade title built using XNA Game Studio Express. “Schizoid” is a co-op action game in which teamwork matters like never before, as gamers and their friend or AI ally protect each other from barrages of glowing enemies. The title is scheduled to launch on Xbox LIVE Arcade before the end of 2007.

 

New XNA Tools for Game Developers of All Levels

In December 2006, Microsoft launched XNA Game Studio Express, a set of free software tools for use on Windows® that enables anyone to build, play and share their amazing game creations. Microsoft simultaneously launched the XNA Creators Club, enabling the development and playing of XNA Game Studio Express games on the Xbox 360™ system as well. Microsoft today announced new software tools that will work with XNA Game Studio Express to make game development for Windows and Xbox 360 even easier.

  • GarageGames Torque X Engine. Members of the XNA Creators Club will receive a license to the Torque X Engine, including the Torque Game Builder toolset for Torque X, as a free membership benefit.
  • SOFTIMAGE|XSI. Softimage is developing new 3-D solutions based on its XSI 3-D software for game creators and exclusive content for members of the XNA Creators Club to support the XNA platform scheduled for release later this year.
  • Allegorithmic ProFX. In addition to the free MapZone 2-D texture editor released today, Allegorithmic is developing an enhanced version exclusively for XNA Creators Club members that will offer support for procedural textures, additional texture libraries and custom content processors for use with the XNA Framework Content Pipeline. The enhanced version of MapZone will be made available to active members of the XNA Creators Club at no additional cost and will be available later this year.

The XNA Creators Club is available on Xbox LIVE Marketplace for $49 for a four-month subscription or $99 for an annual subscription.

XBLA titles receive size boost!

At the Game Developers Conference today, Microsoft revealed the new XBLA size limit has increased from 50MB to 150MB.

 

“The new size limit offers developers increased flexibility and continued opportunities for innovative game development, while also ensuring that the millions of gamers on Xbox LIVE can continue to easily access, download and play all Xbox LIVE Arcade games on Xbox 360,” said Chris Early, product unit manager for Xbox LIVE Arcade and Microsoft Casual Games at Microsoft. “If you take a look at current games like ‘Roboblitz’ and ‘Small Arms,’ it’s clear that our developers deliver amazing game experiences within a compact size limit. Our focus is on continuing to provide developers with an environment that allows for the creation of cost-efficient games and that nurtures an artistic and creative approach to game development.”

“As we prepare to launch our first Xbox LIVE Arcade game, ‘Boom Boom Rocket,’ we’re able to see how dynamic and creative this platform is,” said Chip Lange, vice president of Online Commerce for Electronic Arts Inc. (EA). “Having ‘Wing Commander Arena’ on Xbox LIVE Arcade allows us to take full advantage of the online play and bring to life a 16-player online arcade experience that delivers unparalleled arcade action.”

512MB memory card to include a little Geometry!

The 512MB memory card has been pushed back to April 3rd.  Microsoft has decided to sell the memory cards, pre loaded with Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved.

The new memory card will sell for $49.99 while the old 64MB card will be reduced to $29.99.

Sunday, March 4, 2007

What does your Gamertag say about you?

Gamesradar.com did a great article about the psychological connection between you and your gamertag.  Can someone really tell what kind of person you are by your Gamertag?

With the help of Dr. Frederiksen, Gamesradar gathered a list of Gamertags and broke it down to 6 categories.

Violence, sexual, animal, pop culture, ALL CAPS and leet speak. Dr. Frederiksen takes a look at the selected gamertags and gives his opinion on what they say about the person.

 

  • Category: Violence

Examples: Ikilya, Blood 4 Blood, Nightprowler888, Sniper5982, Psychopathic, DeathxDealer13, Knives2, Reaperman, KiLLeR918, Hitman4Hire 88

Dr. Frederiksen: "Saturated with aggression and deviance, this category is often the most troubling to outside observers. While they can be the choice of some truly troubled people, in most cases it is likely to be a relatively harmless way to fit in with the game culture that puts a premium on bravado. In reality... probably more conformity than meets the eye."

 

  • Category: Sexual

Examples: Lalopornstar, southsidepimp24, Wild Cat 69, LORDFOUL69, KareBare07, BUSTED NUT99, StripClubDj, Buff My Pickle, GoopySplooge

Dr. Frederiksen: "This category might be generally thought of as 'aspirational.' This is who I wish I were. Designed to titillate, tease or boast, there is often a big fantasy component. Freed from the constraints of the real world, you can assume a sexual identity more to your liking."

 

  • Category: Animal

Examples: Cute Bunny Ears, Stallion83, Donkey Punch 06, ButterflyFlame, Wombat Wrangler, WizenedPigeon, Moose Matt, blackpython89, Lobstah 1125, FishSwish, NamelessMonkey, Red Wolf66, Depressedsnail

Dr. Frederiksen: "Most animal themed tags are probably not driven by a love for a particular animal species (ok, ok... with the exception of cat lovers). More likely, they rely on the stereotypic characteristics of animals. A fox is crafty, elephants don't forget and monkeys... well, you get the picture. Because of this added layer of abstraction, these tags tend to be some of the more creative and use some of the best humor."

 

  • Category: Pop Culture

Examples: IrateCartman, DTenacious, StJimmy521, GHOSTGUNDAM, Frostythebatman, Scareface neilo, Yoda 40111, Kornholio33, S1LENT H1LL, Zelda64

Dr. Frederiksen: "Conformity is a common theme in many pop references. The gamer is expressing his or herself by identifying with a pop icon. Oddly enough, even the reference to characters that symbolize non-conformity or rebellion can be a type of conformity itself."

 

  • Category: ALL CAPS

Examples: SUPREMEPLAYER, DA CHOZEN ONE, JOHNJINJONNY, CHOPKING, OMFGBUTTCHEEKS, BOTTERLIVE, MR CON MAN, SATANIC METAL, MEL AND ADDS, DESERT FOX 666, CARPE DIEM 99, NEWCITYBOYZ

Dr. Frederiksen: "Assuming the cap lock on your keyboard isn't broken and you know how to use it, these tags can signal a need to draw attention to yourself. HEY, LOOK AT ME! Sometimes hiding an underlying insecurity or need for attention and recognition is common in tags from other categories as well."

 

  • Category: Leetspeak (13375p34k)

Examples: l31ade, b0ngzi11a, D34dly N1nj4, H34DRU5H, XxSWEETN3SSxX, KLZ g3rMzZ, Wh1TeSn4Ke, R1Pt3h5Y5T3m, xREL3NTL3SSx.

 Frederiksen: "Exclusion is the foundation of this category. We know something you don't. By setting yourself apart as a member of an exclusive group that has specialized knowledge you can feel different and special. It is sort of the gamer's equivalent of the 'secret handshake.'"

 

And once again, if you want to read the whole article click here!

Free South Park episode in HI DEF!

South Park fans and HD aficionados will be happy to know that the first ever high definition episode of South Park will be coming to the XBLM ... for free! WIRED is reporting that as part of South Park's eleventh season premiere this Wednesday, Comedy Central has teamed up with Microsoft to offer the HD exclusive episode "Good Times With Weapons" this Tuesday for free. Best Buy is also offering this HD episode for free on HD-DVD with the purchase of any Xbox 360 console or HD-DVD player add on. Note to Comedy Central, we love South Park, we love HD content, and we love free content ... so keep this up. We must ask, anyone looking forward to watching South Park in high definition this Tuesday?

SOURCE: XBOX360fanboy.com