XBox 360 Rally

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…

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

Ah, I remember the summer of 2006…during a move, my clumsy boyfriend dropped the original Xbox and replaced it with the sleek, pretty Xbox 360. And the first XBOX 360 game that I purchase for the new toy was the highly-anticipated Dead Rising.

Unapologetically a zombie-lover, I was so excited to start smashing zombies and instead I got this boring game where I got points for taking pictures and every time I died I had to start all over again in some basement janitorial services office. I may have spent about four hour total playing the damn game, and perhaps that just wasn’t long enough for me to become infected with Dead Rising fever. I never did, and the stupid game sits on my shelf, waiting for me to even bother trying to to get into it in the future.

So far, no progress in that department. I guess maybe now I am just waiting for Dead Rising 2…

Gotta love that trailer.

Some screenshots from Dead Rising 2 are making the rounds on the web, and as this site is no exception to first-look-fever, let’s take a first look.

This is what the backside of a duo of chainsaws on a stick looks like…

Batter up…

I felt the same way when I was in Vegas…

I’m curious as to whether DR2 will be as boringly-maze-like as the first, or if it can be a little more FPS-style. I think I would prefer the latter, but then again, as I have yet to get through the original DR, I probably shouldn’t offer an opinion. Maybe I’ll wait until I’m stuck in the house, with my two-week supply of rice and pasta, water and jelly bellies to wait out the Swine Flu, er, I mean the H1N1, and then as the world falls apart around me, then it will be the perfect time to expose the conspiracy in that Colorado mall.

Dead Rising, Dead Rising 2, Xbox, Xbox 360, video games, screenshots

Yeah, that title only makes sense if you sing it to the tune of “Escape (The Pina Colada Song)“. And what’s the deal with that song anyway? A married couple each discover that the other wants to cheat because they are bored. It seems like such an upbeat song, but I just hope those two don’t have kids.

Whew, where was I? Oh, yeah, if you are a fan of flight combat games, you may want to get your ol’ 360 fired up around 5am EST/2am PST tonight/this morning (Feb. 11). The demo for Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. is being released for Xbox Live Gold members. Those goldies, they get everything first…

Personally, I’m not into flight simulator games, but checking out a demo is always fun. And who knows, I might just like it enough to play the real thing when it comes out on March 6th. I doubt it, because there are like a million other games I’m sure I’d rather play, but you never know.

The demo is Xbox 360 exclusive…for one day. The HAWX demo is available on PSN February 12th.

The demo includes two missions. One’s a training mission, appropriately enough. The second involves shooting planes down over Rio de Janeiro. You can even play co-op for 4 people, if you happen to have three friends.

The full game will include 17 missions, and if you are not great at flight sims, you may be in luck. Supposedly, Tom Clancy’s HAWX has training-wheels for those that are not thumb-joystick-capable. Some guy who wrote a pre-review of HAWX last summer mentioned that the game is more combat-centric, rather than flight simulator-oriented, which could be good or bad depending on how you like your flying airplane games.

And to leave you on a “ah, precious” note today…

Tom Clancy’s HAWX, HAWX, Tom Clancy, Xbox, Xbox360, 360, video game, demo, Xbox Live, exclusive, flight simulator, air combat, planes, Rio de Janeiro, co-op, hello kitty

Dead Space is Event Horizon crossed with Aliens, crossed with Solaris, and then add a little This Old House, and you got yourself a pretty fun 15 hours worth of game. I’m sure others will play this game faster than me, but I tend to let Isaac stand around while I take little snack breaks.

So, you are an engineer that is sent on a repair job, as the USG Ishimura has lost all communications. Why would anyone ever think that something as heinous as what has happened aboard the Ishimura would ever happen, right? So sure, send the engineers rather than the marines. And that is just the first disadvantage that you face as your ship crashes into the Ishimura, stranding you and two others (your captain and the science officer or whatever she is) aboard a ship full of corpses…some of which aren’t truly dead.

Personally, I adore games in which I get to kill copious amounts of zombies. I mean, if I didn’t kill them, they’d kill me and everyone I care about, and they are dead already, so no harm in finding a little joy in their dismemberment. And that is the key to Dead Space. You find out pretty quickly that these “necromorphs” that constantly pop out at you will only go down once you have hacked off enough limbs — or the one magic limb that will do the trick, but as there are usually three or more limbs, good luck figuring out what the magic limb is before the damn thing kills you.

I am not going to give away too much in this review, as I would hate to be the one who spoils a good, though somewhat predictable, storyline. It is a linear time-line, with a ticking clock aspect that adds some excitement. I can tell you that as Isaac, you are mostly wandering around the ship trying to fix certain systems that at first let you know how badly off you are on board the Ishimura, and then offer you the possibility of escape.

Dead Space makes it easy for you to navigate the ship and your objectives. You have a suit, called a rig, that allows you to check out maps of the ship, in addition to a right stick click option that points you in the right direction following a blue line that lights up rather like a GPS unit. It helps to pay attention to the other characters that guide you along the way, as they often give you advice on how to solve certain puzzles by way of repairwork. If you don’t pay attention, like me, you can bring up you rig’s handy view screen to read Isaac’s take on his objectives.

I will admit that I used the cheat codes to recharge my oxygen when outside the ship, scurrying around the broken hull (while paused X,X,Y,Y,Y). I also used the cheat for recharging my stasis (used to freeze things enough to make them move in super slo-mo in order to kill them more easily) and kinesis (which helps move large objects around, as well as pick up useful items to hurl at necromorphs) units (while paused X,Y,Y,X,Y). The use of these cheats is not necessary, as you can purchase or find packs around the ship that will recharge the aforementioned tank and units for you. But you can only carry so many items with you and “stores” where you can either buy or sell items are few and far between, so if I can lighten my load so as to be able to carry more health packs or lucrative items, then yes, I am a cheater.

And that is another thing that I liked about Dead Space. Some games reward you (?) with higher scores if you run around, knocking on every door in order to find stuff. In Dead Space, the more stuff you find, the more stuff you can sell to the store in order to buy “power nodes”, which in turn allow Isaac to upgrade his rig and his weapons. There is a true purpose to enter rooms that have no real bearing on the game — to find booty.

Dead Space ends in a way that is conducive to a sequel, which I will totally be down for, as I really like the sci fi survival horror genre. Also, I like the rather practical way the game plays out. Something is broken, you must fix it, and oh, yeah, there are lots of things that want to rip your head off.

Dead Space, video game, review, survival horror, Event Horizon, Aliens, Solaris, This Old House

Even though I had to wait a whole extra day to get Dead Space from Gamefly — thank you very much, Dr. King — I think the wait was worth it. Oh, wait, no, the wait is never worth it, but I am dealing with it the best way I can.

Dead Space came out a few months ago, so it’s not like I was waiting for it on the first day of its release, so a extra day in honor of a great man and civil rights leader is just fine. Although, my boyfriend did try and tell me that Inauguration Day was also a federal holiday and there would be no mail today either, but he said the look of abject horror on my face was enough to tell me the truth — eventually.

So, first impressions…it’s a pretty intense game. I am playing it on easy, and I’m glad I did. I reminds me a little of Dead Rising in that once a zombie-like necromorph you struggle and have to press a button repeatedly to try and knock the damn thing off.

You play a guy named Isaac. You are a mechanic-kinda guy on the way to one of the largest mining ships in the, I don’t know, Federation or something. The mining ship, the Ishimura, has lost all communications — a communications blackout, if you will, and you are there to figure out what’s wrong and to fix it.

The problem is akin to Aliens. You have some expensive equipment rotting away in space, a lot of people are part of the mystery, and you show up ill-equipped to deal with the problem. And that is what makes a great video game.

Also like Dead Rising, you get objectives to achieve and a little map helps you get there. There are your teammates to tell you what to do as well. I am happy to have some direction…

The visuals are pretty amazing. The derelict hull is blood-spattered and graffiti-ed out. Abandoned luggage is everywhere, so you know those on the Ishimura were in a hurry to get the hell away from something. Maybe this guy…

Dead Space, Xbox 360, Dead Rising, Aliens, video game

Speaking of prettier, some screen shots of the upcoming Atari-made Race Pro made in online this last week, and I would be remiss if I didn’t share them or comment.

Personally, I am not a big racing fan in terms of games, but this particular game may make me change my mind. When I first glanced at the screen shots, I almost took them for real images. Prettier, indeed.

Out of the twenty or so images I saw, only “cockpit” shots looked like a video game.

But then you get a shot like this next one, with cars all around you as the driver, and then check out the detail in the driver’s side mirror, and yeah, that’s pretty neat.

Originally slated for a November 2008 release, Race Pro — which is exclusive to the Xbox 360, people — has now been officially slated for a February 17, 2009 release. Europe will be getting Race pro a few days ahead of the US on February 13th.

Race Pro, Atari, Xbox 360, racing, video games

Even if you can’t read a lick of German, numbers and percentages shouldn’t escape you. Take a look at the image at the bottom of this story a moment. Do you see that “90% Komplett”? Yeah, Unreal Tournament 3 (talk about retro linkage) is almost done. So done, in fact, that according to this very German article that you can easily view below, UT3 will be storming the people next April.

If you remember back to E3, there was a big stink about how the PlayStation 3 would be getting UT3 before the Xbox 360. In fact, many PS3 fanboys got ahead of themselves and started bragging on various message boards that Unreal Tournament 3 was in fact a PS3 exclusive. Obviously that isn’t the case, and I would even venture to guess that the Xbox 360 version, like so many other games brought to both systems, will be the superior effort.

But only time will tell, and we’ll know by April.

[MaxConsole]

Unreal Tournament 3

Rare has sent over a Christmas Card to the hard workers over at CVG

(Click to enlarge)

From what we can gather in the stocking with the KI3 is they are teasing like a mother f’r about bringing that series back (which I believe they are, they have to). I am surprised at the lack of Kameo appearance in the picture. Even Grunty gets props. (Big Note: Keep an eye out for possible news of a Banjo game coming to XBLA, it really seems like it could happen)
—

Rare, Banjo, Killer Instinct, KI3

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!

After the extremely lame announcement that went across the Xbox sites that a “Saints Row 2″ website had been launched (not all the Xbox new sites fault, just the publishers fault for throwing out such a tease and lack of content for the site, bastards!), not much further has been shown to us from the THQ camp, that is until French site Xbox-Gamer.net posted scans of the EGM issue with a preview of what is to come. Check the screens below for new images and info (scans are large enough where you can actually read the text, woo!):

—

Saints Row 2, THQ, Volition, Electronic Gaming Monthly, Scans, EGM, Grand Theft Auto, Crackdown, Preview

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

EA sent out 9 new screen shots for us to ogle at. Bioshock Game of the Year, I don’t think so, you are looking at it right here. All shots were taken from the 360 version.

Now, I want to say those pictures don’t do the game justice on how it looks when in movement. Though they do show how crisp and colorful the game is going to be, if you teh funny, click here and here.
—

Simpsons, EA, Medal of Homer, The Simpsons Game, Fox, Xbox 360

I can’t say I am excited about all three, but, hey, I never say no to demo’s, I download all, no joke. Juiced is coming in with an 8 player online demo, so that should be fun, I am particular on racing games, but I am willing to give them a shot (even though I haven’t found the time to play the one player demo which I have sitting on my hard drive). This is running 1.37GB.

Spider-Man Friend or Foe had me turned off from the first screens and demos. The concept of the co-op with villians is so so, but, again, I will download anything, plus this is running in at only 431mb)

Though I am no ‘futball’ fan, EA just released some FIFA screens, and they are HUGE, but you can see such awesome detail, that even if it isn’t a game you are into, you can appreciate the eye candy of it all. (Demo runs in at 702mb btw) Check the screen below, I left them original size, EA hooked it up with these pics, I must remind you again, they are HUGE (4856×2731 resolution):

—

Xbox 360, Spider-Man, Juiced, FIFA, Soccer, Screenshots, Demos, Xbox Live Marketplace

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:

(more…)

The inner speed demon in me just squeeled in delight, as Bizarre Creations announced that Project Gotham Racing 4 has gone GOLD. For those of you who don’t know what that means… that means it’s done. The final car count, for those of you who are curious, is 122, split into groups A thru G.

Full Press Release, and new screenshots after the break.

(more…)