XBox 360 Rally

Hi, boys and girls. It’s just me, your friendly neighborhood JW, here to remind you all that we’re currently looking for people to replace us here at Xbox 360 Rally. All you have to do is go HERE, fill out the form, and wait to hear back. It’s really not that hard.

So, get to it already — so Paco and I can get to the NEW site!

Coming from Thrillhouse17, representing Platform Nation (formerly XBLRadio, now a full powerhouse of gaming communities coming together), is a video detailing what things you can do in Halo 3’s new multiplayer game type, “Forge” as well as whipping out the very bad ass flamethrower and actually using it.

First, the intro video for Forge, more of a tutorial, runs in at about 10 minutes, and I can’t lie, is a little boring at times, but this is for you hardcore Halo fans who just need to see the forge in action and how things are done, so when Tuesday comes, you can just jump right in knowing what you need to know, for those with a short attention span, scroll down to the second video:

This second video is where the Forge shines a little more, not because more is revealed than the first video, but because you can see the split screen, showing one character in regular mode and the other in the Forge edit mode as a camera… oh yeah.. and the bad ass flamethrower! Plus a few more things.. just roll the clip:

So there you go, satisfied?

Of course not, but it’ll have to do for now, unless you also want to see some in game menu’s.. and no doubt there will be more videos to come as we all prepare for what is to come in the couple of days, check back for more updates at Platform Nation

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Halo 3, Forge, Multiplayer, Xbox 360, Platform Nation, XBLRadio, ThrillHouse17, Game Footage, Early Footage, Flamethrower, Editing, BAD ASS FLAMETHROWER

You know, watching this video made me very envious of Japan. They have somehow found a way to find the perfect balance of style and substance, where as here in the US, it’s usually for former over the later. Either way, the video itself shows off some of the titles on the Xbox 360 that you fine folk in Japan can expect in the near future… although I’m not sure why you’d want NBA Live 08.

That is why you are a mysterious and captivating people.

Microsoft, Xbox 360, Tokyo Game Show

For just the cost of under one gig of your hard drive, you can be the proud owner of a demo for Viva Pinata Party Animals. This complete Mario Party rip off game looks pretty damn good (Overlord ripped off Pikmin and that was fine and dandy by me). To see what you are getting yourself into, check a little video of some game play below:

Also note, when you did fire up your ol Xbox, there was a system update. Keep in mind, this is not the huge system update we are all waiting on, this is all about that big-button controller preparation, in fact, Major Nelson makes sure to point out “no new features beyond this big button pad support are included in this update and, once again, this is not the ‘fall dashboard upgrade.’ When I have firm details on the next major update, I will share them”
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Viva Pinata, Party Animals, Rare, Rareware, Microsoft, Demo, Update, Xbox 360

EA is hooking up those who are preordering the Game of the Year! You get a “Homerball” as seen to the right. UGO describes the portion of the game it comes from as, “Homer’s appetite gets the better of him and he turns into a giant blob of fat, rolling about levels, knocking crap over.” Beautiful Katamarish much? We’ll see how it all plays, this game looks to be covering all game type genres.

I can’t get enough of Simpsons game footage, all have been amusing, and this one is no different, it has Mr Sparkle and the Comic Book Guy as a Sumo wrestler, you can’t go wrong:

For more The Simpsons Game media, lots of video mostly, click here and here and here.
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The Simpsons Game, Homberball, Fox, Xbox 360, Japan, Mr Sparkle, Comic Book Guy, Game Footage

Ok, people, here’s the deal — Paco and I are on our way out. We’re taking over at 1PStart.com in an effort to restore it to it’s former glory. …that, and I just plain want to write about another game every once in a while, is that so wrong?!

Anyways, here is what we’re looking for: A competent, capable writer with a love for all things Xbox. Now, by competent writer, we mean someone who spells “you” correctly, and knows when to capitalize. If you can do that, you’re a shoe-in. So, CLICK THIS DAMN LINK, do the required stuff, then get paid to play video games and write about stuff.

…hell, Mike and I did the hard stuff already, and YES, the GTA4 Banner contest will continue, and I will still give you a copy of GTA IV… or something. So, hop to it.

Xbox 360 Rally, JW, Stuff, Job Openings

I found this video at GameTrailers a few minutes ago. For those of you who just can NOT wait the week until Halo 3 is released, you can keep reading after the break to see the OPENING CINEMATIC to Halo 3.

Now, before you guys get all up in arms… the opening cinematic, as far as I know, contains no spoilers. I only watched 92 seconds of it, but still. What I saw was a starry night sky, and heard Cortana do a VO, talking about Master Chief, or apple pie, or whatever the hell holographic AI talks about. Either way, after the break is the full video. Enjoy… or don’t, I really can’t blame ya either way.

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Wow. Our exclusive game is looking nice. Released just yesterday, these videos put out show all game play. From start screen to choosing a level they just pressed the power button and started to tape. Separated into two files, here goes the first (if you want to know ahead of time, the second video has a hell of a lot more action, cool weapons powers used):

The second half is below
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Much like the other recent “meet one of our characters” videos that are coming out as of late (Jericho, Mass Effect), another video is here, but this time for a maybe not so known game, Dark Sector. Check the video, then read below to get some information on this game which by the looks of the video, seems to have a feel like “The Darkness” .. in a good way:

Look for it on shelves Jan 22nd 2008. Some of the devs are co-creators from the original Epic Games’ Unreal. The game features no HUD, very cool, you will see how much damage is being done to you based on just physically looking at your character. 3rd person perspective. Powers that evolve as you play through the game. Multiplayer they literally said, ‘Details to be revealed at a later date.” .. so at least it is going to be there. With so many titles on a daily basis I deal with news on, this is one that I am looking forward to seeing how it progresses.
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Here is the first entry in a series of character spotlights revolving around the upcoming BioWare opus Mass Effect. The characters featured in pt. 1 include:

Jeff “Joker” Moreau

Urdnot Wrex

David Anderson - Keith David owns your life

Tali’zorah Nar Rayya

Nihlus

As though I needed yet another reason to get excited — we can’t show the HD video here, but if you WATCH it, you can see just beautiful this game is looking. Holy God.

Microsoft, Xbox 360, BioWare, Mass Effect

Much like Team Fortress released videos of the characters, Jericho starts a similar series off with a pyro loving character named Sgt. Frank Delgado. After the video, have a read of the press release that came with this video for more background on this very unique game (I tell you Gears of War meets Resident Evil!), that I really doesn’t go passed up by gamers (c’mon, they got the God of War composer specifically picked out for this game!):

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Thrown into my email box from Sega, come these lovely new screens. I will admit though, I could use some more video promos.. in fact, lets show the most recent video I could find first, then check the screens after the break:

Mmm… smooth fighting action. I won’t lie, I haven’t been into the series, but Im dying for any really good fighting game on the 360. Now, for the 19 screens, all nice resolution, no watermarks:

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Wow, Microsoft is kicking ass at a recent briefing in Japan during the Tokoyo Game Show. Some pretty big news, not only is Team Ninja developing Ninja Gaiden 2 exclusively for the 360 it is also being published by Microsoft themselves. Awesome news. Keeps getting better. We also have the Ninja Gaiden official brand spanking new trailer:


Square-Enix jumps on stage to discuss with everyone two new titles, “Infinite Undiscovery” and “The Last Remnant” (Though we have covered Last Remnant on the Rally before)

As JW just pointed out that Lost Odyssey is 95% done .. it also has a release date of February 2008! Not too far away, not like there isn’t enough games in the mean time to play. I have been waiting on Lost Odyssey for so long I had to make sure this news hits you from two posts!

A lot more random, not as important, but still read worthy information on just about all the games coming out for basically the holiday season, has been put out in a press release, to read, just click below:

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GameTrailers has released their list of the top five reasons why they can’t wait to play Halo 3. All the Wal-Mart advertising aside, it’s a pretty kick ass list of things to be excited for. However, I don’t think this is so much a list of things to be excited for, as it is a list of reasons why Halo 3 will own you, your family, your friends, your spouse, your dog Sparky, your job, your manhood, your spleen, your car, your self-esteem, and after about two weeks, your hygiene.

Microsoft, Xbox 360, GameTrailers, Bungie, Halo 3

GameTrailers has a new video interview with Turtle Rock founder and CEO, Michael Booth. It’s an interesting interview which is accompanied by very pretty in-game footage, but some of the discussion points Booth brings up concerns me a bit.

For instance, Booth himself said that you can complete each campaign in “about an hour”. Sure, there are going to be four campaigns in the initial game, but still — that’s only four hours. For anyone who likes to spend more than, say, an hour playing a game, this is not good news.

Also, I would’ve liked to have heard more about the single-player elements with Left 4 Dead, but oh well.

Finally, the game’s release date? “When it’s ready.” …sound familiar?

Microsoft, Xbox 360, Valve, Turtle Rock, Left 4 Dead