XBox 360 Rally

The moment awaits, I AM FOURZEROTWO has made the report that the Beta site is back up and running. I am currently trying to log in and it is laggy as a *bleep*. Click this link to get to the sign up page ASAP, Here is what is said from FourZeroTwo

“We already have sign-ups coming in, so I can see the site is working well for a group of you. If the site is going slow or not loading for some of you, be patient. We are doing this 24-hour roll out so that everyone doesn’t have to hit the site at once.

I’m hand holding on this one and monitoring everything so if things go south, I’ll we have a back-up in place to still take sign-ups, don’t worry guys.”

Before making this post I was attempting to go through the slow ass process, well, I guess I made it!! (A chance that is!!!):

Your name will now be entered into a random drawing for Tokens into the Xbox 360 Multiplayer Beta. At 7pm PDT tomorrow, Tuesday August 28th, we will be drawing names for entry into the Beta. Within 72 hours of this Drawing, we will contact you via email with news on whether or not you were admitted. Even if your name is not chosen in the random drawing, there will be more ways to get into the Beta, and we will continue to update you on the details as soon as they’re finalized!

If you are selected in the Drawing, please be patient and wait until you receive your token. We will be sending out Token Codes in batches to ensure the Xbox Live servers are ramped up at a safe pace.

If you use an email client such as Yahoo, G-mail, or Hotmail, please be sure to check your junk mail folder for news on whether or not you’ve been selected. Also, please add Cod4beta@infinityward.comto your address book. This will ensure that you don’t miss out on any of the action.

Check back into Charlie Oscar Delta for Updates, and don’t forget: this is a Beta! You can send us your feedback at betafeedback@infinityward.com as well as post your thoughts on the Charlie Oscar Delta Boards. We’ll be reading your Feedback, so please let us know what you think!

It only took you guys eight minutes to reserve all the Call of Duty 4 Beta Tokens. Eight minutes. You go to the page now, and this is what you get:

Although Charlie Oscar Delta’s Token Codes have been reserved, there will be many more opportunities to get into the Beta! Check back into SITREP often, as we’ll be updating the site with information as soon as it’s finalized.

In the United States and Canada, we are working with GameSpot and GameStop on two new ways to reserve a spot in the Beta. Our International users will be excited to learn that plans to get into the Beta are moving along quickly, and we’ll have updates for all the countries listed in the FAQ soon!

WAI 2 GO!!11!!!!!1! First y’all crash the site over, and over again for two days, then you vultures suck up ALL the tokens in freaking EIGHT MINUTES!

…I’m impressed. I would post a screenshot, but alas, I can’t get on the page.

UPDATO MAGNIFICO!
NEW HOPE! If you go to FourZeroTwo, you can learn how to get back in on the BETA goodness! There will be an open registration for twenty-four hours starting today, and everyone who signs up will have an equal chance at a token!

Oh, happy day!

[CoD4 Forums]

Microsoft, Xbox 360, Infinity Ward, Call of Duty 4

Ensemble Studios Exec. Producer Harter Ryan has revealed in an interview with Gamespot that a demo for Halo Wars will be available tomorrow (Monday)!

Even though I am not a big fan of console-based RTS titles, there have been a notable few that haven’t completely fallen flat: Command & Conquer 3, Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth and Starcraft 64 immediately come to mind. If Ensemble is able to do with Halo Wars what they have been able to do with their Age of Empires franchise for a long time, I will be happy.

UPDATO MAGNIFICO!
Guess what, people! We have reason to believe that it is a video of the E3 demo, not a playable demo. Sorry for the mix-up… and on a personal note… clarify next time, Mr. Ryan. Or I’ll slap you. With a trout. Covered in tobasco.

You may not think much of that now… but have you ever felt a tobasco-covered trout slap your face? It scars a man… scars ‘em…

Microsoft, Xbox 360, Halo 3, Ensemble Studios

If you missed out on Maddenoliday the other week and still haven’t got to try this glitchy game, the demo is here for you to try. Coming in at just a little over 800mb, it should give you just enough of a tease to let you know whether you want to take the plunge on this very aging franchise.

Next demo up is the Medal of Honor demo, clocking in a just under a gig, get ready to get in a war plane and fight some epic battles in a WWII setting, something that no game has ever done. (Italics = sarcasm).

I just personal downloaded the Skate demo, but haven’t even touched it because I am working hard on Bioshock (on the hard level setting, damn im tough!) I think I am going to have to quit my job to keep up with all these games coming out.

You like Guitar Hero? Sure you do. The entire northern hemisphere does (and Australia, too). If you’ve been gnawing at the bit to get your hands on Guitar Hero III, but simply can NOT wait for Activision to release the demo, you’re not entirely out of luck.

Activision has announced that a demo of Guitar Hero III will be packaged in with Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground. This means, ladies and dudes, that you could get your Guitar Hero III fix as early as October 9th! But wait! What songs will be included, you ask?

Priestess - “Lay Down”

Pearl Jam - “Even Flow”

Tenacious D - “The Metal”

“Hit Me With Your Best Shot” as made famous by Pat Benatar

“Rock You Like a Hurricane” as made famous by Scorpions

You can read the full press release after the break if you want, but then you’ll be losing out on valuable practice time to prepare for GHIII. So get at it!

(more…)

No one can deny that the first demo for BlackSite: Area 51 was short. Damn short. I blew through it in less than ten minutes. However, shortly after my eighth or ninth run through the demo an employee working on BlackSite posted on an IGN blog that Midway intended to release a second, longer demo closer to the game’s launch.

Michael Jones, producer of BlackSite: Area 51, confirmed that the next demo for the upcoming FPS will include Multiplayer, and could even possibly have cooperative play.

“The previous demo was a short one, it was just a teaser. The demo next month may have co-op and there will be multiplayer components to the demo.”

When asked about a possible release date for the demo, Jones said we could expect the demo “next month”. Now, if you don’t mind me, I’m going to go cash a $5 in for quarters and play the original Arcade classic.

Microsoft, Xbox 360, Midway, BlackSite: Area 51

CharlieOscarDelta.com has opened up the first wave of availablity to get into playing the COD4 Beta via their forums. The above screenshot was taken by me last night, which was just a sign that they were making sure their servers were set to handle the amount of traffic the site was going to get for all you players going to sign up for the Beta. Well, I was right, and it is up, they require answering some questions and sending off an email. Here is their official rules:

Copy and paste the text below into an email to firstwavelotto@beta.infinityward.com, fill in the answers and send it in. Make sure you copy and paste the text below EXACTLY otherwise your email may be lost. Now here’s the email:

Gamertag:

Location (city, state, country):

CharlieOscarDelta username (if you have one):

Rank on CharlieOscarDelta:

What is the current level cap for the beta:

What button do you press to activate your streak rewards (radar, airstrike, etc):

What button do you press to use your weapon attachments or explosives (m203, c4, etc):

What’s your all time favorite multi-player game (for reals):

Want the answers, here you go:

Level cap = 11

Streak rewards = Right on d-pad

Weapon Attachments = left on d-pad

If you aren’t registered on CharlieOscarDelta.com, go there now so you can answer what your rank and user name there is. Then keep an eye on this page for more ways to get in when or if they see fit.

Mid-September. That is the date Sega has given as a release date for their demo to their upcoming uber-sexy Sega Rally Revo.

This news is taken from a video on YouTube, curtesy of the British Gaming Blog, that you can see after the break. However, I am going to warn you here and now that the way the video is edited, it is very easy to get confused and think that they’re referring to another of their upcoming games, The Club.

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Skate., the next apparent rival to Tony Hawk’s skateboarding juggernaut, now has a demo on Xbox LIVE. So, if you can pull yourself away from BioShock long enough to download it, give it a twirl and tell us what you think.

…who the hell am I kidding. No one is even reading this. You’re all on BioShock, aren’t you?!

Microsoft, Xbox 360, EA Games, Skate

EA has announced today that their demo for the next installment in the Medal of Honor franchise, Medal of Honor: Airborne, will be released onto the Xbox LIVE Marketplace on Thursday, August 23rd 2007.

The demo will be the mission entitled “Operation Husky”, where you will play through a mission as a member of the 82nd Airborne on their first combat jump. After taking out four anti-aircraft gund, you are sent out to rendezvous with a group of Airborne troopers at the edge of a nearby villiage. After that, some Nazis come strolling around, blah, blah.

I would go into further detail, but alas we all realize that no one is going to download this simply because of the 1-2 punch of the BioShock demo, and Madden.

Microsoft, Xbox 360, Electronic Arts, Medal of Honor: Airborne

As I wait for the greatest game ever to grace us with its precense on Xbox Live, of course I speak of Hexic 2 coming tomorrow (not “some cell phone game” as another writer would leave you to believe!), I am now presented with the great news that I bring to you right away, Beautiful Katamari demo is now available for your gaming pleasure. If you haven’t played this on PS2 (I can embarrassingly say I haven’t), then now is your chance to see what all the craze is about with this very quirky title. Coming in at a very nice 432mb, you too can be enjoying this in about 5-10 minutes from now, so, get to downloading so you can roll everything up in a ball!

You know that “rumor” regarding the ever-dreamy Geoff Keighley and Bioshock? Well, we now know what the super-secret info Mr. Keighley was holding onto was: the demo for Bioshock is now available for download on Xbox LIVE.

Oh, and there was this spiffy trailer.

So there you go, people — now, get off your computer and download the damn thing!

Microsoft, Xbox 360, Bioshock

The servers are melting. Paco spilled his cola on the keyboard. JW’s out back trying to wrangle the horses. In short, we’re all kinds of FUBAR, so we may not be able to update as much as we’d like today.

Sorry, peeps. We’ll be back soon.

Major Nelson announced today on his blog that the absolutely MASSIVE Stranglehold Demo is now available for mass consumption on Xbox LIVE. If you haven’t heard of Stranglehold, I’ll sum it all up for you right now: It’s a sequel to the insane action film “Hard Boiled” starring Chow Yun Fat as Inspector Tequila.

The Demo will allow you, as Tequila, to run-and-gun to your heart’s delight through a fully destructable Hong Kong marketplace, raining death upon all those who dare to cross you.

One bit of warning, however. If you haven’t upgraded to the 120GB Hard Drive, this one is going to hurt you a bit, as the Stranglehold Demo weighs in at a rather stout 1.28GB. So you may want to make sure you’ve deleted some crap you don’t need anymore, like that Call of Juarez saved game you’re just never going to finish.

[Major Nelson]

Microsoft, Xbox 360, Xbox LIVE, Stranglehold, Chow Yun Fat, John Woo

Back in May I had once gave you vital information on how to get this game off of the Japanese Live Marketplace (Thanks to Nick Chester of DESTRUCTOID), now, there is no need for that. Major Nelson has announced the availability of this game for the U.S. and Canada! So go ahead and check your emails and your Myspace and etc etc later, get on your 360 now and enjoy. Here is my short review of the demo from May, I am now off myself to redownload this and see if my opinion has changed from when I had played it last.

(Note: Also, for the non U.S. audience, a demo of Vampire Rain has also been made available… but c’mon.. who cares.. Trusty Bell awaits!)