XBox 360 Rally

There has been a lot of controversy regarding a recently posted rumor regarding SEGA’s possible Tokyo Game Show line-up. Now, I was originally very defensive of this piece because of who sent it in. He, a long-time go-to guy named Rob, has sent me exclusive tips for four years, and until this most recent one, they were ALL accurate.

Regardless, after the link had been posted by reader “Cedge”, I immediately contacted Rob via GoogleIM.

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Tomonobu Itagaki is one of my favorite personalities in all the gaming world. He’s the Slash of gaming, if you will. Recently the fairly cool cats over at Joystiq (although we here at X360R firmly believe that their Xbox exclusive brother is much, much cooler to drink beer with) got the opportunity to sit down with the legendary game designer to probe his mind about Ninja Gaiden 2, Code Chronus, and which console is the favorite of the man in black.

First thing first: Ninja Gaiden 2. Try as they might, Joystiq couldn’t get crap from Itagaki regarding NG2. While they blame our weak, inferior beer products, I firmly believe this is because Itagaki will only give away information to you about as-yet-unannounced projects if you play Russian Roulette with him. Well, I have news for you, Itagaki-san: Deer Hunter is one of my favorite films. Let’s dance.

We did learn about the pet project over at Team Ninja, Code Chronus. Namely, we learned that it will feature DOA characters, and… no, that’s it. Damn.

Who am I kidding? I don’t care about Code Chronus, and we know that NG2 will rule once we finally see it. This is ALL about Itagaki’s continued hatred for all things Tekken. A while back, 1UP asked Itagaki to list his favorite, and least favorite games of all time. While his favorite games were a diverse collection of modern and classic, his least favorite games went like this:

Tekken
Tekken 2
Tekken 3
Tekken 4
Tekken 5

The man hath spoken. And he says Tekken blows.

[Joystiq]

Microsoft, Xbox 360, Tomonobu Itagaki, Tekken, Dead or Alive

I don’t know much about Bungie’s Curtis Creamer. I know that he’s an employee of Bungie, and a Producer on Halo 3. I also know that, with a name like Creamer, he was probably picked on in grade school. Thankfully we’ve moved beyond that sort of childish behavior (sans the picture), and will not be making any jokes at his expense. Because he could probably cream me in a fight. *snickers*

Seriously, though. Creamer was the most recent honoree of the “Meet the Team” feature at Bungie’s official website, and in the interview he gave us, the people, a few insights regarding the Halo 3 Single-Player.

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In an interview with Game Informer, Capcon great Kenji Inafune (aka the Father of Mega Man) sat down with Game Informer’s Billy Berghammer to talk about the present, and future of Capcom.

During the interview, Berghammer asked the question all Xbox 360 owners are curious about — will there be a Dead Rising 2? Inafune didn’t waste time to crush all our hopes and dreams by flat out saying no.

This is something we hear a lot from the press—Dead Rising 2, and we’re not making it right now, but it is something I would love to make.

So there you have it, kiddies — No Dead Rising 2 on the slate any time soon.

The interview itself is a fascinating read, as GI picks Inafune’s mind about Okami, the possibility of resurrecting old Capcom IPs for this generation, and whether or not there is still a place for 2D gaming in this, a 3D age. You can read the whole interview by clicking the link below.

[Game Informer Online]

Microsoft, Xbox 360, Game Informer, Capcom, Dead Rising, Mega Man, Kenji Inafune

Good Lord, I’m going to miss Peter Moore. Like… really miss Peter Moore. For reasons much like this one.

In an interview with MCV, Peter Moore took one last pot shot at Sony and it’s PS3. In the interview, Moore had some words for both Nintendo and Sony, praising Nintendo’s innovation while criticizing the cocktease Sony game us with their temporary price-drop.

They need to find a way to get to $399 and then see what happens. I’m not sure the 80GB model is going to have a profound effect. I’m also not sure what they’re going to do with all that extra space. I was expecting an announcement of a full video download service, but it just isn’t there.

This is why Peter Moore owns you, and everyone who looks like you.

But, Moore was not all hostility. When asked about Nintendo, Moore had nothing but kind words for the Big N.

The numbers bear it out. Nintendo deserves more respect. Maybe they’re still a bit weak on third parties – their record has never been great in that area – but they’re doing something about that and looking to address it. At his conference Reggie (kicker of ass, taker of names) said he was aware that some rivals had indicated that DS and Wii would turn out to be fads. Well I, for one, certainly don’t think that. Maybe he was referring to something that Sony has said. I’ve been a fan from day one.

I have to say, he’s right. About Sony, anyways. A temporary $100 drop in price for a SKU they’re taking out of service is hardly enough. As for his comments on Nintendo, all I can say is “different strokes for different folks”.

[MCV]

Peter Moore, Sony, Playstation 3, Nintendo, Wii, smack talk

Since his leaving and then hiring announcements that took place yesterday, video game blogs and news sites worldwide had time to make sure something was said about this pretty big news in between all the E3 recaps taking place. There is no denying, this is pretty random huge news. With all the many sites out there, some having more exclusive information than others, it was hard to keep track of things you may have already read about the situation. So here is the Official Unofficial Peter Moore (2003-2007) Mini-FAQ. As moore news becomes available, it will of course be posted.

Why leaving?
-“it’s all about family” Peter takes time to go into a good amount of detail that being with his family in Cali is priority number one. - Major Nelson Podcast 2007-17-07 (Small note: This podcast is only 12min25sec, if you liked Moore, this is a nice audio of his final goodbye, gives many props to Microsoft and Don Mattrick)
Did the 3 year warranty have no part?
-“Peter’s reason to leave Microsoft was not related to the warranty question, John Riccitiello has tried several times to recruit Peter to EA. We’ve been working on the agreement with Peter for several weeks prior to the announcement. EA regulatory filing will show that we struck an employment agreement in early June.” - Multiplayerblog.com
How much is EA paying to leave M$?
-“EA is helping with relocation, providing an annual salary of $550,000 and also offering a whopping bonus of $1.5 million. (Paid Better than President of the U.S.)” - GameDaily BIZ

Thoughts from others:
Microsoft
-”Peter has contributed enormously to the games business since joining Microsoft in 2003 and we are sad to see him go. Since that time, he presided over the global launch of the Xbox 360, spearheaded a revitalized and rebranded Games for Windows business, and helped steer the console’s ascent.” - Robbie Bach (President of Entertainment and Devices Division) (VideoGameJocks.com)
EA
-“(Getting Moore for EA Sports) is about making better and more innovative games and building the business for the future, and getting the best people is a key part of that.” - John Riccitiello (CEO of Electronic Arts) (IGN Interview with John Riccitiello)
Don Mattrick
-“(I was) surprised by Peter’s decision to leave Xbox” - (Joystiq talks with Don Mattrick and Robbie Bach)
Sony
-“We wish Peter the best of luck in his new role at Electronic Arts and look forward to working with him.” - Jack Tretton (GGL.com)

Some recent final words on a couple of games:
Metal Gear
-“..it’s a franchise that of course we would love on our box, that’s going to be Konami’s call” - Kotaku Peter Moore E3 2007 interview
Final Fantasy
-“Mr. Moore said he would “go all the way to Japan” to make Final Fantasy an exclusive on the Xbox 360 and he mentioned that there have been talks about bringing Square-Enix’s RPG series to the Xbox 360.” - Siliconera interview with Jeff Bell and Peter Moore

A quick blip on the future, Don Mattrick:
-“formerly worked for Electronic Arts before becoming an advisor to Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices Division. A 23-year veteran of the games industry, Mattrick has high hopes for the company’s future success. “I’m thrilled to join an already strong team that’s delivering truly amazing gaming experiences to customers around the world. I’ve never been more excited about the future of the industry, and firmly believe Microsoft will lead the next great innovations in gaming,” Mattrick stated, not that he’d say he thought the company’s due to bomb any time soon.” - Jim Sterling, Brit, DToider (Destructoid)

((Peter Moore image via YTMND.com user radioheadrule @ petersrolleyes.ytmnd.com))

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Peter Moore, Don Mattrick, Electronic Arts, Microsoft, Xbox 360, EA Sports, Robbie Bach, Kojima, Major Nelson, YTMND, Metal Gear, Final Fantasy, Jack Tretton, John Riccitiello, Destructoid, Kotaku, Siliconera, GGL

The man behind some of the best RPGS did a a very quick sit down with Xboxyde, but had very good information within, here are the highlights:

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Lost Odyssey, RPG, Hironobu Sakaguchi, Mistwalker, Blue Dragon, Cry On, Artoon, Cavia, Nobou Uematsu, Dubs

The artist for the little yellow guy you see to your right, had a nice sit down with GameIndustry.biz touching on the Live Arcade itself, as well as delving into the benefits of being an “indie” game maker.

One of the most obvious things about the XBLA no one seems to state in print, that should help push upcoming devs into snagging an XNA account if they don’t already have one, Dan states,“XBLA has come just in time; it’s profitable and it works for everybody. The consumer pays less, the developer sees more and Microsoft has to be happy because they set it up. So everybody is happy in the end and that’s awesome.”

He speaks on an upcoming XBLA game called Castle Crashers saying “It’s a beat-em-up, a brawler of sorts, with RPG elements. It’s also an adventure. It’s 2D but you have a playfield that you can move in and out of, like River City Ransom.”
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Giorgia Vecchini is arguably the best Cosplayer in the world. Her costumes have won her countless first place victories, and she is by and large considered the #1 cosplayer on the planet. Oh, and I have a major thing for her.

So when I got to sit down and talk with the Italian beauty, I was as giddy as a school child. We talked mostly about her past, and cosplaying. She opened up about some of her cosplay experiences, as well as gave me a slight peek inside her personal life. It was a fascinating interview, and I hope her and I can share some time again in the near future.

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