XBOX LIVE activity for the week of 5/14/07!

You can pretty much expect the Halo 3 beta to knock Gears of War out of the top spot in next week's activity list.

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Xbox 360 Top Live Titles (UU’s)
1 Gears of War
2 Forza Motorsport 2 Demo
3 Crackdown
4 Blacksite Demo
5 Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas
6 Guitar Hero II
7 Double Dragon
8 Call Of Duty 3
9 GRAW 2
10 Oblivion

Top Arcade Titles (Full Versions)
1 Double Dragon
2 Catan
3 Pinball FX
4 3D Ultra™ Minigolf Adventures
5 TMNT 1989 Arcade
6 Soltrio Solitaire
7 Worms
8 UNO
9 Castlevania: SOTN
10 Centipede & Millipede

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

 

Top 10 Weekly Movie
1 Happy Feet (HD)
2 Blood Diamond (HD)
3 Death of a President (HD)
4 Beerfest (HD)
5 Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny
6 Employee of the Month (HD)
7 The Departed (HD)
8 Crank (HD)
9 The Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning (Unrated)
10 Jackass Number Two
 

Top 10 Weekly TV Titles
1 South Park (HD)
2 Comedy Central Stand Up
3 Fights (HD)
4 Enterprise (HD)
5 Jericho (HD)
6 Aqua Teen Hunger Force
7 Chappelle's Show: Uncensored
8 Robot Chicken
9 Supernatural
10 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (HD)

Another day 5/18/07! (with Halo rant)

Today was a pretty mild news day but it was pretty heavy on the Halo side of things.  I myself have been playing the beta a lot and I can honestly say that Halo 3 is going to be fantastic, the beta alone is so much fun that I could play forever.

From what I can tell so far, Halo 3 multiplayer seems to feel more like Halo 1 where there is more emphasis on rifles and grenades as Halo 2 was about racing to a power weapon and duel wielding.  In Halo 3, I feel like I could pick up any weapon or just use the standard AR and you would be ok which gives the game a very balanced feel.

I would like to talk a little about the graphics for a sec here because people are getting out of control by saying Halo 3 looks slightly better than Halo 2.  Apparently these people have not played Halo 2 in a while, trust me when I say that it looks like shit now and if you don't believe me just put Halo 2 in your 360 and you will see what I am talking about, it hasn't held up very well.  There is this look that Halo has, it has it's own style and it will never change so stop comparing it to Gears of War.  Gears would not look as good as it does if there were 16 people on screen in a map the size of Valhalla with the speed and pace of Halo so that comparison just needs to stop.

Ok this is going on longer than I wanted but I want to cover the things that make Halo a superior multiplayer game.

• Great on large open maps.
• Great at close quarter combat.
• Vehicle controls.
• You can go balls out or be quiet and stealthy.
• Great campaign mode with a great story.

All of the other great FPS's out there has never been able to nail all of those in one game.  Most of the greats handle close quarter combat but not large open combat area's or vice versa or the vehicle controls might suck or the campaign might be good but the multiplayer might blow (Prey).  Halo hit's the mark on all these that no other has touched since Halo 1, so until I see an online multiplayer shooter that has the versatility of Halo than the quest for the Halo killer will go on because there hasn't been one yet.

P.S

Why is there all this hype over Killzone 2? if the first one sucked, I can guarantee you that the sequel will too that's the way it works. 

Today's stories:

1. Bungie weekly update 5/18/07! 
2. Halo 3 beta impression by 1UP.com! 
3. Modders find new weapons, vehicles and gametypes in the Halo 3 beta code! 
4. Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena coming to the XBOX 360 and PS3! 
5. Ubisoft CEO demands PS3 price cut!

Bungie weekly update 5/18/07!

For some reason, today is turning in to a Halo 3 news day but that probably has something to do with Halo being the biggest game franchise in the last 7 years not to mention the release of Halo 3 is right around the corner, so people have Bungie under the microscope and print everything that Bungie post's on it's website.

Today's Bungie weekly update was done by lukems because Frankie is in Europe pitching Halo 3 to numerous game rating review boards for it's European release date of Sept 26th.

lukems talked about some of the hiccups that people have encountered with the beta and how the feedback is important because Bungie can take care of these issues before the retail game ships, that's why it's called......... a (beta):

Some folks are still having the odd issue with the Beta – occasionally not seeing text for the interface. There’s an easy fix for that problem, repeated here for reference:

No Text in the UI Fix:

• If you encounter this issue, you can fix it yourself by doing the following:
• Restart your Xbox 360
• Boot up the Halo 3 Beta
• While the Halo 3 Beta is loading, immediately press up on the D-Pad and hold the A button until you see the Bungie logo. If you perform this correctly a dialog box will appear confirming maintenance has been done to your system.
• Resume the Halo 3 Beta!

The “Game Over” screen problem – and some of the issues with file sharing and slow matchmaking – were related to our servers being overwhelmed and should be drastically improved by the time you read this. The great thing about a Beta test is that it helps everyone identify these types of hiccups BEFORE the final game ships. So, thanks everyone for slamming our back-end infrastructure. This is the precise reason we needed such a large scale beta in the first place.

And again, we’re sorry for the inconvenience and headaches from the past two days and we hope the fun you have playing the game makes up for the drama.

You can read the entire weekly update by clicking here!

Halo 3 beta impression by 1UP.com!

Modders find new weapons, vehicles and gametypes in the Halo 3 beta code!

A group of modders recently got in to the Halo 3 beta code and have noticed a few things burried in the code that is not in the beta.  This group claims to have stumbled accross new gametypes, weapons and vehicles that Bungie has said nothing about (yet).

Now what I am about to post is from a modding community forum that was recently posted on Gamesradar.com.  Also, none of these new weapons, vehicles and gametypes have not been confirmed either but knowing how secretive Bungie operates, it is very likely that there is going to be a shit load of things about Halo 3 that no one knows about.  Remember how tight lipped Bungie was about the Arbiter being a playable character in Halo 2? no one knew about that until the game was released.

New equipment:
Instacover
Smoke (suggested this might be a smoke grenade?)
Jammer

New vehicles:
Chopper
Pelican
Shadow

New weapons:
Flamethrower
Claymore Grenade

New mode:
Infection (described as "Destroy the Flood or become infected. Score points for killing flood or big points for infecting a human. The player with the most points wins."

New rankings:
The highest rankings are now Killpocalypse and Killionaire, instead of Double Kill and Triple Kill.

A reference to a map editor has also been found, a returning feature from Halo 2.

The information has since been removed from the forum in question.

Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena coming to the XBOX 360 and PS3!

Starbreeze has confirmed that it's working on a next-gen makeover of the Chronicles of Riddick for the XBOX 360 and PS3 called, "Assault on Dark Athena". 

Starbreeze is shooting for a late 07 release and the game will feature 50% more single-player content and will support online multiplayer.

Ubisoft CEO demands PS3 price cut!

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot seems a little concerned over the price of the PS3 and is demanding that Sony drop it's price or risk losing the console war to the XBOX 360 and Nintendo Wii.

"They have to decrease the price quite significantly" Guillemot said at the recent Reuters Global Technology, Media and Telecoms Summit in New York.

It's a bit of no-brainer that lowering the cost of PS3 would make it more appealing to consumers, but we're still too waiting on the real killer games that'll make Sony's console a must-have. However, perhaps we'll see such in the 34 titles due to release for the machine in the coming year.

According to April's NPD numbers that were released yesterday, he has a point.  Not only is the PS3 being obliterated in sales, Sony's cheaper PS2 barely outsold the XBOX 360.

Source: Computerandvideogames.com!

Another day 5/17/07!

Today's stories:

1. April's NPD numbers are in and Sony must be freakin out by now! 
2. Microsoft has a zero tolerance policy for modded 360's! 
3. Halo 3 beta "Three ways to Play" promotion causing some problems. 
4. Is MGS4 being prepped for the 360 just in case? 
5. Halo 3 Zune details surface! Square Enix announces The Last Remnant for the XBOX 360 and PS3! 
6. Microsoft squashes Blue Ray support rumors! 
7. Kia uses PGR3 as a PS3 game in promotion!

April's NPD numbers are in and Sony must be freakin out by now!

April 2007 vs. March 2007

Nintendo DS: 471,000 vs. 508,000

PlayStation 2: 194,000 vs. 280,000

Wii: 360,000 vs. 259,000

Xbox 360: 174,000 vs. 199,000

Game Boy Advance: 84,000 vs. 148,000

PlayStation 3: 82,000 vs. 130,000

PSP: 183,000 vs. 180,000

GameCube: 13,000 vs. 22,000

Microsoft has a zero tolerance policy for modded 360's!

I'm not sure what has caused Major Nelson and Gamerscoreblog to post about modded XBOX 360's and their zero tolerance towards people cheating.  Something tells me that the XBOX LIVE team has detected an influx of modded 360's logging in to the Halo 3 beta and have decided to release the following statement:

Keeping Xbox LIVE Fair

One of the great things about LIVE and the unified community is that we work hard to create a level playing field for all gamers and have a no tolerance policy towards inappropriate behavior like hacking or cheating. As part of our commitment to our members, we do not allow people that we have detected to have modified their console to connect to LIVE. This is an important part of our efforts to try and maintain a fair gaming environment for the large majority of gamers that play by the rules. This topic is more important than ever given the recent release of the Halo 3 beta. As a result, some consumers that try to login to LIVE who we detect have illegally modified their console will get an error code (Status Code: Z: 8015 - 190D) when trying to connect to the service. These users will not have their account automatically banned from LIVE, but they will no longer be able to access the service from the console they modified.

We have stated in the past that customers can only enjoy access to the Xbox LIVE community through the use of a genuine, unmodified, Xbox console and we will continue to enforce this rule to ensure the integrity of our service, the protection of our partners and the benefits of our users.

Remember kiddies, this isn't Halo 2 on the original XBOX, Microsoft can detect this shit now so fuck you and your modded 360's!

Halo 3 beta "Three ways to Play" promotion causing some problems.

Some people that were selected for the "Three ways to play" promotion that Bungie was running are saying that they haven't received their codes to get in to the beta.  Today, Bungie's very own Sketch Factor put up a statement on the Bungie website hoping to clear this whole issue up:

Thousands of lucky gamers around the world won their way into the Halo 3 beta via the “3 ways to play” Microsoft sweepstakes earlier this year. Beta access codes were sent out to everyone on Wednesday 5/16 but we understand that apparently not everyone has received that mail. However, the majority of winners did received a mail and are playing Halo 3 right now. The only explanation we have is that many people likely had the mail blocked by their ISP or they ended up in a junk mail or spam folder. The first thing you should do is check to see if the mail was intercepted and might be buried in your inbox somewhere.

Microsoft is going to send out beta codes one more time to everyone who won at 3pm PDT today.
This will be coming from the email alias  halo3beta@microsoft.com. Please keep an eye out for this mail. This is a second mailing and is NOT a new code. Anyone who originally received a mail the first time can disregard – this is the same code you already have.  The original mail was sent from halo3beta@bungie.com. This is the same mail, different alias.
We understand many of you have been waiting and hopefully this secondary mailing will clear things up. If you still do not receive your code, you are advised to contact Xbox Support – unfortunately there isn't anything we (Bungie) can personally do to assist you. Once the Xbox support team verifies your identity, they will attempt to retrieve your code for you.

Is MGS4 being prepped for the 360 just in case?

Let's just say theoretically speaking, that Konami poked it's head in Kojima's office and said, "we have decided to go multiplatform so tell your guys to get-a-portin", how much work would have to be done? and is Kojima productions making sure that the current build of the game would work on the 360 just in case this scenario went down? according to 1UP's latest pod-cast, Kojima Productions is thinking PS3 only.

"I can tell you honestly at this point, we have not changed the game in any form with the idea of 'oh, we got to do this on 360.' Put aside whether or not we're developing for 360 or not, the game is built on the PS3 hardware, as you guys have known for the past two years or so."

Interesting but I am not convinced that MGS4 is going to stay exclusive to the PS3.  With Microsoft's money and installed user base it only makes financial sense to go multiplatform and since Konami is 3rd party, nothing is guaranteed and I am willing to bet the farm that Shane Kim is on the horn to Konami daily.

MGS4 will be announced for the 360 at E3, you watch!

Halo 3 Zune details surface!

Some more info has surfaced about the Halo 3 Zune that will go on sale June 16th. 

For starters, the special edition Halo 3 Zune will only be sold at Gamestop and will come pre loaded with the entire Halo soundtrack, concept and story board art along with the Halo 3 starry night trailer.

Square Enix announces The Last Remnant for the XBOX 360 and PS3!

Today Square Enix officially announced, "The Last Remnant"  their Unreal Engine 3 powered RPG for the XBOX 360 and PS3 that will be released simultaneously in Japan and the U.S.

Company's First Next Generation, Multiplatform RPG to be Released Simultaneously in Japan and North America

LONDON (17th May, 2007) – Square Enix, Co., Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan, Square Enix), a leading developer and publisher of interactive entertainment software and services, announced today its first next generation multiplatform title, THE LAST REMNANTTM. Revealed at a press event held in Tokyo before the company’s "Square Enix Party 2007," held on May 12 and 13 at Makuhari Messe, the new game is planned for release on PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system and Xbox 360TM. THE LAST REMNANT is positioned to take on the world, with a simultaneous release in Japan and North America and a European release planned.

THE LAST REMNANT is a completely original RPG title, taking advantage of the power of next-generation hardware to build a lush, realtime fantasy world. Making full use of the power of Epic Games' flexible middleware solution, Unreal® Engine 3, Square Enix can now achieve simultaneous development on multiple platforms.

The game's battle system has been carefully crafted to deliver a brand-new experience for gamers, as they control forces in massive battles between up to seventy different units at once. Today's press conference also featured a demonstration of the game, showing off the dynamic world and sprawling landscapes of THE LAST REMNANT.

About THE LAST REMNANT

PRODUCT SUMMARY
Platform: PLAYSTATION 3, Xbox 360 (Multiplatform)
Release: TBA (Simulatneous in Japan and North America)

Microsoft squashes Blue Ray support rumors!

There has been a rumor circulating that Microsoft would put out a Blue Ray player add-on for the XBOX 360 and stop supporting HD DVD if they feel that Blue Ray is winning the format war. 

Today, Microsoft's very own Gamerscoreblog.com released a statement that completely takes a shit on this rumor:

'Just want to clear up a few things surrounding several erroneous stories regarding alleged comments from Peter Moore about Xbox 360 supporting Blu-ray.  Simply put...These reports are completely incorrect.

Some online media outlets have picked up this story and are citing Internet speculation of an alleged Associated Press story that does not exist, along with comments taken out of context from a story in ITmedia that appeared back in January.   This information is being reported as news and as a result of a recent interview, neither of which are true.

In an interview with ITmedia back at CES in January of this year, Peter said Xbox 360 has the flexibility to adapt to consumers’ needs, allowing Microsoft to add features as consumers demand them - as evidenced by the offering of the HD DVD Player as an accessory.

It is important to understand the context in which that statement was made. We firmly stand behind the HD DVD format as the best choice for consumers.   Current reports indicating that Microsoft has a back-up plan, which includes Blu-ray support are incorrect.  We’re fully committed to HD DVD and have absolutely no plans to support other optical formats.

That's it.

Later,

FightinSunDevil

There you have it folks!