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.

(more…)

HookedGamers has gathered some good info on the upcoming Guitar Hero 3, here are the highlights:

-Better/higher resolution look (though still cartoony)
-Singers lips actually sync with lyrics now
-More actual tracks instead of covers
-”Attacks” in multiplayer (can range from everything between forcing your opponent to play with a lefty flip to destroying his sound equipment or even breaking a guitar string)
-Co Op Career Mode
-”Boss Fights” uses attacks like in multiplayer, against musical icons such as Slash (Gun n Roses/Velvet Revolver

Meh, nothing against Guitar Hero 3, but right now I am pretty focused on Rock Band. I do like that the lips sync better now, but the “attacks” idea doesn’t sit well with me, I guess I am a purist, however, I completely understand they have to do something to keep the game fresh and new.

Who wants to see the epitome of eye-sex?! Yeah, this video from on10.net that features Peter Molyneux showing us a prime example of the combat system featured in Fable 2 is… it is the sex. It is freaking awesome.

Microsoft, Xbox 360, Lionhead Studios, Peter Molyneux, Fable 2

Self proclaimed attention whore and Gears of War mastermind CliffyB has updated his site with some of his thoughts on these upcoming titles. On Bioshock, “The atmosphere in this title is second to none and the play is smooth and solid. I whipped through the first demo without much trouble and then proceeded to take down a Big Daddy in the second, much to the dismay of the person staffing the kiosk. My mad FPS skills came through yet again.”

A little insight on some things you can do with Crysis, “I was able to run up to guys, hit USE and then lift them up by their necks and toss them at other fools. But the fun doesn’t stop there - while holding this poor fella in a death grip I can hit FIRE and PUNCH HIM IN THE HEAD repeatedly.”

His thoughts on Condemend 2 were nice, but what struck me was the comment that preceded the actual game talk, a little smack against the marketing team behind the game, “I snuck into a demo for the sequel to the best game that was marketed horribly at the 360’s launch - Condemned - and I’ve got to say that the sequel is shaping up to be yet another glorious journey into madness. The player’s character is an alcoholic murdering sonofabitch - you can actually flip people off in first person while then proceeding to get into a brutal fight involving fists, boards (that you can now toss!) and finishing moves. I chuckled when my “hero” broke a guy’s arm and then held him as a human shield as the other foe slung a 2×4 at him - he then yelled out in pain as the board hit him. We then saw the poor sap’s head driven into a tube television.”

Lastly, Stranglehold, “Stranglehold is looking slick and as underhyped as ever. Everything’s destroyable in the game and they actually have a Mexican Standoff mode complete with slo motion - and birds everywhere.” Check out the rest of his thoughts on how his full E3 trip went over at CliffyB.com
—

CliffyB, Epic Games, Gears of War, Bioshock, Condemned 2, Stranglehold, John Woo, E3, Crysis

The guys at IGN have been happily receiving extra hits on the site lately because of their hands on preview of Rock Band, but also worth noting is they now have played Turok as well. Here are the cliff notes of the finer points made about the games.

Rock Band:

Guitar is larger and more realistic (compared to the very toy like Guitar Hero guitar, which I personally was fine with, but having a larger guitar definitely would have been nicer)
Buttons feel stiff, but Harmonix pointed out that IGN was still using prototypes and that final versions are still being tweaked out.

Guitar effects such as reverb, delay, and phase are being experimented with.

Vocals are handled similar to that of Karaoke Revolution.

Drums are similar to the guitars just doing the beat/color matching.

If one person in the band is doing poorly, the other players can “rescue” them by keeping up the groove.

“If you can play the drum parts on hard, you can pretty much play the drums.” - Harmonix Rep

Whew, that last one about the drumming has to have someone other than myself intrigued. Full Rock Band 3 page preview here, it makes for a pretty good read.

(more…)

Holy Freaking Crap, Soul Calibur IV is looking better and better and better with each passing day. The latest bit of true news is that Soul Calibur IV, which many believe will be the last in the series, will FINALLY have online play. In the most recent issue of EGM, Soul Calibur IV director Katsutoshi Sasaki stressed that Soul Calibur IV WILL have Online Play, explaining that with the build-in online infrastructures that both the Xbox 360 (Xbox Live) and the PS3 (Playstation Network) have, there really would have been no excuse to NOT have it in.

Now, as for the pretty pictures… Xboxygen has the scans from the recent EGM article, to which the above image is from. Now, I’m warning you that, depending on where you work, the images of Ivy (My #3 Video Game Crush, by the by) may be a bit NSFW.

And finally, rounding out the trio of Soul Calibur IV stories… someone at Namco-Bandai loves boobies. Like… really, really loves boobies. Games Radar noticed that Ivy’s chest has grown… exponentially since SC III. I mean, those are freaking huge! And that’s not the most telling part, oh no. There has been a recent trend in the later Soul Calibur titles of increasing the average chest size of their characters, as Games Radar also notes.

Microsoft, Xbox 360, Namco-Bandai, Soul Calibur IV, Online Play, EGM

The game that is taking over 451press slowly but surely (PCGamingRally, 1pstart, ToyBender, and hell, I am pretty sure LezKeepItReal has an upcoming review of the game!). The 1UP Show crew brings to you a pretty full preview of the game, clocking in at just over 16 minutes, this is something to hit play, then pause it to let it load fully, grab yourself a snack and a drink, then come back and pop that play button again and enjoy!

—

Bioshock, Game Footage, The 1UP Show, Xbox 360, 2K Games, Water, System Shock, Big Daddy, Rapture

CVG had the opportunity to sit down with this game and gave a pretty good preview of what is to come. Some selected quotes:

” This level of interaction with the characters, and not just the world, is something that BioWare is really hammering home. We don’t think Pixar will be off to the job centre any time soon, but it’s obvious the people at BioWare have buckets of talent behind the camera. The game’s intro sports the kind of cinematic flair and attention to detail Kojima pours into the Metal Gear series.”

” This nearly-finished build delivers on its promise of “digital actors”, who gesture and fire off their lines with realism unseen in games before.”

“Combat plays more like a Ghost Recon game than any of BioWare’s previous RPGs. Heavy weapon and character customisation is what keeps strategy in the combat. “

[Read about the full hour here]