XBox 360 Rally

Ah, the digital age. Soon, I won’t even have to stop playing games in order to go out to my mailbox for a new arrival from Gamefly. No, seriously, I don’t play games that much — I have a life, thank you — but Xbox Live is going to make it easier for us lazy gamers to get our crack, I mean, video game experiences.

Microsoft is slowly letting the cat out the bag about the upcoming Games on Demand service through Xbox Live. I try Microsoft’s press archive and nada. I guess the announcement came after the E3 all-press conference at a lunch for VIPs and the elite press corps. But I ran across an interview on Eurogamer with John Schappert, who is the exec in charge of Live, and he gives us a bit more detail as to what this whole on-demand service will be.

Shappert: “Right now the plan is to have classic titles. We’re talking about 30 titles at launch - I think we mentioned BioShock, Mass Effect, Sonic, Civilization Revolution. Some of these titles are great titles, but retail shelf space is at a premium, and not everything manages to stay at retail for as long as consumers would still like to buy it, and we generally think there’s a lot of legs left on the 360 - we think we’re only halfway through our cycle - so we want to pick up some of these older, great games you can’t buy at retail.” –Eurogamer

So, part of me is happy about this new service. It may be a nice way of picking up older titles (if you have yet to play them or don’t already own them). But my big question is how will the Xbox’s hard drive handle more than a few games? Maybe Microsoft could also offer some additional storage space, maybe on Xbox Live with some extra server space? I’m sure they will charge us for the off-site storage, but would it be cheaper than buying additional hard drive space? Maybe. I mean, I hope I don’t have to buy a new Xbox in order to accommodate full games on the darn thing.

And even though I am interested in the Games on Demand Xbox Live Service, I am really not sure how practical or useful it will be over time. Especially if I am strapped for memory, I may be inclined to delete a game or two, and if that were to be the case, perhaps I would be better off buying the disk for easy removal and easy “come back to later”.

Furthermore, this whole attitude that older games are not available to buy through retailers and thus that is the reason that the service will be offering only the older games is a little out of whack. There are plenty of copies of anything you would want out there, and I can guess those copies would be cheaper than a Microsoft product (call me crazy). But if you don’t like hunting down an older game, then perhaps the GOD (ha ha ha) service would be good for you. However, then there is the whole “how many older games and which ones would be offered” problem.

So, I guess, in conclusion (as if this were a coherent essay), the announced GOD for Xbox Live may be a good thing, or may be like the Netflix thing and rather redundant. We shall see…

Xbox, Microsoft, Xbox Live, Xbox 360, E3, games on demand, video games

Ok, first the name. Project Natal? That sounds super creepy in a wireless Matrix-y sort of way, doesn’t it? I’m sure the team that came up with the working name were trying to allude to a new birth in gaming, but I just cannot help but think of actual human childbirth. Ew. Or maybe the name is referring to the Brazilian city.

Either way, Microsoft shill Steven Spielberg came out to show off the Project Natal prototype at this year’s E3. Don Mattrick, the SR VP in charge of this kind of thing at Microsoft, introduced Natal (which is only a code name, whew!) as not a motion-control controller but a “breakthrough sensor that tracks 3D movements, and recognizes voices, this is controller-free games and entertainment”. No controller needed at all. Take that, Wii!

The Natal is instead a camera that tracks your movements in 3 dimensions and uses your motions to control the game. The sensor also takes cues from voice commands, both for games and for the Xbox itself. At the press conference, Spielberg and Mattrick claimed that the reason that Natal was needed was to get more people into games, because thumb-based controllers are intimidating to people.

And jumping around a room isn’t intimidating?

As a lazy gamer with a low BMI, I tend to see video games as a way of relaxing on the sofa after playing real golf or hiking. So the Wii has little to no long-term interest for someone like me. But the Natal on the other hand is something that I like, so far. Project Natal’s camera is a peripheral, and therefore not required for many games (I’m sure that there will be plenty of games that will utilize the Natal’s capabilities, but there will still be regular games, too). I like the fact that I am not forced to play with a little wand, when all I want to do is use my thumbs.

By the way, at the E3 press conference, Spielberg described compared the birth of Natal as “a moment as significant as the transformation from the square shaped movie screen to Cinemascope…” Dork.

Microsoft, Project Natal, motion control, controller, gaming console, Xbox 360, Steven Spielberg, Wii, controller-free, peripheral, E3

As if they were inspired by the end of that Red Wings-Ducks game 6 when that dirty bird Niedermayer threw an elbow at my boy Datsyuk during that post-buzzer brawl, EA Sports has announced that the upcoming NHL 10 will feature new first-person fighting physics engine so you too can experience taking some punches from the biggest, baddest guys on skates.

I just have to wonder if the fights will last long enough to pull your opponents jersey over his head…

I'd rather this be Sidney Crosby...

Fighting is an essential component for anyone trying to truly replicate the heart and soul of hockey. Not only the fight itself, but that which leads up to the fight, and EA is definitely trying to bring it to the newest addition to the NHL franchise. Late checks, sneaky hooks, shoves to the back…everything we love about hockey and NHL 10 will have it, coming September 2009.

EA has added some new physics to NHL 10, including a board physics engine that will allow players to play the boards a bit more. You can trap the puck against the boards, shielding it from your opponent, and then kick-pass it out to one of your players. There are more additions to the franchise.

From the EA press release:

NHL 10 features more than 200 gameplay refinements that replicate the skill and finesse of hockey and deliver the most responsive and authentic action ever for the series. Players can one-time loose pucks, score from their knees, knock pucks out of the air and lift a leg to fake a shot on goal. A new 360° precision passing mechanic delivers control over the speed and direction of passes so players can bank passes off the boards or play the puck into space for teammates to skate on to it. Plus, all-new interactive crowds bring the emotion of playoff hockey to life with towel-waving fans, glass bangers and crowds that react to the action on the ice.

Furthermore, NHL 10 is going for realism in the chase for the Stanley Cup. I’m not sure exactly what that means in the sense of the game, but as I am sitting here writing this between periods of the Wings-Ducks game 7, I can tell you it’s harrowing. Go Wings!

NHL, NHL 10, EA, EA sports, sports, video game, Xbox 360, screenshots, Electronic Arts, new features, hockey

Alright, so yesterday BioWare (itself now a division of EA) announced the coming sequel, Mass Effect 2. And wouldn’t you know it, I just recently started playing Mass Effect (the first of a planned trilogy, so the sequel is hardly a surprise), as if I knew that I’d better get to it before the sequel does come out. Is it that I have a sixth sense for my gaming priorities based on upcoming releases of a game’s sequel or three-quel? No, I blame Gamefly.

Of course, I have Halo Wars on the tip-top of my Gamefly GameQ, but as the availability of that game is, like, impossible to get through the rental service that is too far away from me to give me a decent turn-around. So, the last time I updated my Q, I noticed that the service was giving me recommendations for games in which I may be interested. Mass Effect kept popping up as I was updating, so I clicked on it. I didn’t give it much of a read, however, relying more on the very high marks that Mass Effect had garnered from users and other reviewers on game sites. It was in the high 8’s, out of 10, and after a disappointing time with my last rental, Civilization Revolution, I was looking for something that scored high.

Not that I place a lot of weight in user scores or even editor/reviewer scores, but hey, if the scores are really low and consistently low among other sites, I am prone to skip the game. If I somehow got a quicker turnaround on my Gamefly rentals, I’d probably be a little more adventurous when it comes to lame games. But it takes too damn long to get the game in the first place for me to dillydally around with crappy games.

Anyway, it seems the Universe wants me to play Mass Effect. First, it was high ratings, but then it became about getting the 2007 game played before the arrival of its Spring 2010 sequel.

BioWare says that Mass Effect 2 will be available for both the Xbox 360 and the PC platform. No word on the PS3, but the first ME was an Xbox-only deal until it went to PCs, so it’s likely that ME2 will also be Xbox-only (in terms of consoles). Although now that BioWare is owned by juggernaut Electronic Arts, there may be more pressure to go multi-platform (more sales potential).

So far, few details about the game are out there, other than Saren and the Geth are defeated and now humans face a bigger threat. Gee, thanks for that.

If you want to check out the fairly pointless teaser (I mean other than to tease), click here to go to the Mass Effect website.

BioWare, Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, EA, Electronic Arts, video games, Xbox 360, sequel

Aw, too bad that PS3 users will have to wait until next week (February 5th, I believe) to get a taste of the highly-anticipated and long-awaited (RE5’s maker, Capcom, announced the game back in 2005) Resident Evil 5. But starting today, Xbox Live Gold Members can download the demo. Xbox Silver members can start downloading it Thursday.

Ah, Resident Evil, a pinnacle in survival-horror. Here’s the pretty sweet trailer to the fifth installment in the series.

Purportedly, there are three levels in the demo, and for Gold members, there is also a 2 person co-op option. New characters, new weapons, new environments, but it is a sequel that takes place ten years after the first Resident Evil.

The biohazard threat has not ended. Just when it seemed that the menace of Resident Evil had been destroyed, along comes a new terror to send shivers down players’ spines. Returning hero Chris Redfield heads to Africa where the latest bioterrorism threat is literally transforming the people and animals of the city into mindless, maddened creatures. Take on the challenge of discovering the truth behind this evil plot. In Resident Evil 5, you will learn to fear the daylight as much as you have feared the shadows before. –Xbox website

I am not a gold member, even though I do have a free month or three months that I got in return for experiencing the heartbreak and boredom of the Red Ring of Death, but still, I don’t feel like upgrading my membership just for a demo that I can get in three days. Besides, I’m deep in the bowels of the USG Ishimura in Dead Space right now.

Resident Evil 5 is so highly-anticipated and such a big deal that a Resident Evil bundle for the Xbox 360 is being packaged for our consumptive pleasure.

Does that mean I have to trade in my Simpsons Xbox 360?

Resident Evil is set to hit stores in the US March 13. Japan gets it first.

Resident Evil 5, Resident Evil, video game, survival horror, Capcom, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Gold, Silver, PS3, demo, downloads

A demo version of Project Origin/F.E.A.R. 2 Project Origin is coming next week on January 22. Xbox 360 users can download the free demo on Xbox Live.

First, they give you a taste and get you hooked, then they jack up the price.

FEAR 2: Project Origin will be released to the public for general consumption February 10th. Europe has to wait a few days for their fix.

Originally, he he, the name for the FEAR sequel was only going to be Project Origin (which was the name chosen in an online contest), but there was this merger see, and the name went with the merger. Thus the new name. But then someone, Warner Brothers who owns Monolith Productions, the creator of F2PO, thought better of going forward without the name of the original celebrated brand, I mean, name attached.

FEAR 2: Project Origin will follow the previous overall story of FEAR. There’s a vengeful, psychic little girl, there are things to shoot, there’s the mystery of it all. It’s survival-horror in a paranormal universe after a city is destroyed.

The character you play is a special forces guy named Beckett, and you are dropped off in the middle of the city thirty a half-hour before the first FEAR ends. You are sent into this city to arrest Genevieve Astride from FEAR.

The website gives some good teasing visuals, lots of blood and robots, but of course, it doesn’t really tell us too much. You can log on to Xbox Live next Thursday for your first taste.

FEAR, FEAR 2: Project Origin, Xbox, Xbox Live, Xbox 360, Warner Bros, Monolith

No, this isn’t a full review — because I’m not done with it yet. But let me just tell you what I think of the game to this point: It’s absolutely fan-freaking-tastic.

Everything from the graphical polish in every street corner, to the ambient sounds of city life going on all around you have been given great care to. The story, from what I’ve discovered so far, looks to be the best in the series and the protagonist in particular, Niko Bellic, is easily the most likable of the bunch.

I haven’t gone online with it yet (I have a thing about completing single-player games before going online), but the single-player is simply second to none. The improvements to the controls, especially the combat, work to the game’s benefit and overall this latest entry into the GTA franchise is, far and away, the best.

A full review is coming, but for now, I’m getting back to the goods.

If you were like me and grew up having a childhood where a lot of things went kaboom, rejoice! Metal Slug 3, what I consider to be the best in the series is making its home on Xbox LIVE.

Like most games that come to the Xbox LIVE Arcade, Metal Slug 3 will include online co-op over Xbox LIVE, as well as improved graphics. You can also expect to see things like a leaderboard and whatnot. Sure, it hasn’t been confirmed yet, but with a game like Metal Slug, you almost have to have it.

So when can we expect to be able to get our hands on this fun little bugger, you ask? Why, January 2nd, 2008 of course! It’ll cost you 800 MS Points.

When you guys are playing that, though… just remember my Xbox 360. Never forget.

Microsoft, Xbox 360, Xbox LIVE Arcade, Metal Slug 3

Odds are if you’re reading this, you’re not on Xbox LIVE. Not because you’re a fan of the site, but rather because Xbox LIVE won’t let you log in. In fact, Xbox LIVE won’t let a lot of people log in. While Microsoft isn’t explaining what is wrong, when you check the Xbox LIVE Service Status you will see the image to the right acknowledging that there is a problem, and that Microsoft has people working on it right now.

Stoners, Insomniacs and Australians everywhere are heartbroken at the news of Xbox LIVE being offline, I’m sure. Not to fear though, the big M is usually quick to fix these problems.

[1PStart]

Microsoft, Xbox 360, Xbox LIVE

Do you own a pre-HDMI Xbox 360 that HASN’T Red Ringed on you yet? If you do, then listen up — MadCatz is bringing HDMI to you in the form of the HDMI Conversion Kit. Outside of the fact that it it will give you the crystal clear quality of HDMI that we’ve been enjoying for a while (this reminds me, I need to buy a bigger monitor), we also know that it will support 1080p, and it comes with HDMI and optical audio cables.

The entire package will sell for $89.99, and will be available at or shortly after the new year.

[GameStop]

MadCatz, Xbox 360, HDMI Conversion Kit

I own it. You own it. Odds are your friends own it. There is simply no denying that Halo 3 is an absolute beast of a game. In its first day in the US, Halo 3 made nearly $200 million, and helped Microsoft by being a definite system seller, pushing 527K consoles out the door in September. But just how impressive are the numbers?

Well, according to the NPD numbers through November, 4.1 million copies of Halo 3 have been purchased in the US. Meanwhile, there have been 7.9 million Xbox 360 consoles sold in the US since its launch just over two years ago. Doing the math, a whopping 52% of all Xbox 360 owners own Halo 3.

That’s more than half, people. And with Christmas looming but a week away, you can expect both Halo 3 and the Xbox 360’s numbers to increase.

[GameDaily]

Microsoft, Xbox 360, Bungie, Halo 3

Tempest is an arcade classic. To say otherwise is to speak blasphemy, and you know this. That’s why I’m so happy to tell you all that Tempest, the game that single-handedly stole several hundreds of dollars from my childhood (rough estimate) is making its way to the Xbox LIVE Arcade!

…oh, and there’s some Sensible World of Soccer game, too. But come on, this is all about the big T, baby! Tempest goes on sale on December 19th, and will retail for 400 MS Points.

If you are by chance a soccer fan (and a big hello to our international readers), Sensible World of Soccer will sell for 800 MS Points, and will also be available on the 19th.

Microsoft, Xbox 360, Tempest, Sensible World of Soccer, Xbox LIVE Arcade

If you live in the United Kingdom, you have reason to rejoice as Microsoft has announced that the Xbox LIVE Video Marketplace, which has allowed manu of us stateside to download some of our favorite films for God only knows how long, will finally be available to UK 360 owners on December 11th. Standard Definition films will run UK owners roughly 250 points, and 380 points for High Definition.

The list of films (which you can see in full after the break) includes the likes of 300, Training Day, and Oceans Eleven. Unfortunately, along with the good you have to take the bad, such as Swordfish and Superman III. But hey, you’re finally getting the Video Marketplace so be happy.

…does England love George Clooney or something? Ocean’s Eleven, The Perfect Storm, Three Kings? Good Lord…

(more…)

Odds are if you’re playing Call of Duty 4, you’re not reading this. If you are, I commend you for your multitasking. Regardless, it has been announced that the fellas over at Infinity Ward are currently working on an update for CoD4 that is sure to make many a player happy.

A full list that I was more than happy to copy/paste from fourzerotwo himself can be found after the break, but some of the highlights of the upcoming update include host migration, kill cam for airstrikes and claymores, and the inclusion of the much talked about “N0M4D” control scheme.

(more…)

Tecmo has released the first image of the Ninja Gaiden II box art, which will surely have fanboys squealing like gleeful children from now until they get to slice their first head off of “Poor Bastard #1″ in the sequel.

God, I can’t wait to get this damn game.

[HIGH RES]

Ninja Gaiden II