Category: Microsoft

XBL: GTA San Andreas Coming This Month

While I’m a big fan of the XBox Originals portion of XBox Live Marketplace, I’ve always felt that the overall selection of games was a bit lacking. Well, in what I hope to be a long line of sweet originals releaess, GTA: San Andreas is hitting XBL later this month.

This game will weight in at about 1200 MS points ($15 bucks) and you’ll be able to download it straight to the HDD. I actually never played this when it was out as Halo 2 and MGS 3 took up all my time that year, but I remember hearing great things about it.

Did anyone else play this? What are some other titles that that you’d like to see for download straight to your console, be it Sony, Nintendo, or MS based. Personally, I want KOTOR.

Source- IGN UK

Gears of War 2 Dev Diary: Pixels and Such

A new Gears of War 2 diary is out, this one detailing the design and look of the game. To be honest, seeing this game in motion at PAX, I really think that graphically the single player campaign blows the first GoW completely out of the water. GoW was the first game that I played on this gen that made me say “NOW we’re in the next gen”, and Gears of War 2 might shatter all of that.

Massive Gears of War 2 Impressions

Kotaku has posted a couple of articles detailing their Gears of War 2 impressions in a more in-depth way. Up until now, people have avoided things such as spoilers and the like, but it seems that lips are loosening and keyboards are typing away.

The two articles in question are about GoW 2’s campaign and GoW 2’s Horde Mode. They’re definitely great reads, comparing the second game’s campaign to Empire Strikes Back (which is kind of awesome), and calling Horde Mode the brightest spot of the game’s multiplayer. If you liked the multiplayer in the first, that’s definitely good news.

Who else is getting feverish over GoW 2?

Source- Kotaku’s Campaign and Horde Impressions.

Rumor: XBox “720” Will Be Forward Compatible?

Once again, a part of me frets in a major way that people are already bringing up the next generation so often. Especially hearing that they are testing and rumor leaking this info as well.

This one’s kind of interesting though. XBox Evolved is reporting that Microsoft is testing “forward compatibility” for their next console. What this means is basically that XBox 360 games will be playable in the console, but they will also be upgraded/enhanced by the new console’s powers.

Ideally, this would improve things like draw distance/ load times, all kinds of things. Now if it could only take the douches off of Live… Thoughts?

Source- XBox Evolved

Demo: End War

Has anyone had their eyes on Tom Clancy’s End War? Basically, it’s an RTS with a voice-command system, and it actually looks pretty cool. For those of you who’ve always wanted to pretend to be Patton, screaming orders at NPC vehicles and soldiers during a mock WWIII, this is your game.

I’m not sure how the voice command thing works as a whole, but hey, maybe I can try it out now that there’s a demo for download on XBox Live. Be sure to grab it and weigh in with your thoughts!

Source- Major Nelson

Fable II Gun and Swordplay

A new video is out showcasing some of the combat from the upcoming Fable II. I’m still very curious if this game can live up to all of the hype surrounding it, especially after the last one was considered such a letdown compared to all of the promises. I think I may ask my family for this one for Christmas, so I don’t spend my own money on it.

How about you guys? Who’s buying it?

Why Do You Love Your Favorite Console?

With apologies to Episode III: Revenge of the Sith…

Console War! Sony and Microsoft are battered by the ruthless onslaught of the Nintendo Wii. There are exclusives on all sides. Fanboys are everywhere!

So even the most non-partisan gamer has a favorite console. I hate the console wars, but I prefer my PS3 to all others. Why do you guys like your console?

Continue reading Why Do You Love Your Favorite Console?

First Day Co-Op for Fable II

So I guess we’re supposed to celebrate the fact that a new feature is finished for Fable II that should have been included in the game in the first place. Several weeks ago, Lionhead Studios let slip that Fable II’s co-operative online play wouldn’t be accessible when the game launched. Rather, they would be working on a patch for it.

However, it seems those crazy dudes have gotten their act in order, and the co-operative patch will be ready the day you buy the game. Joy!

Continue reading First Day Co-Op for Fable II

Halo 3: Recon is Not DLC

After the debut of Halo 3: Recon earlier today, people were speculating about the nature of the game’s release. Is it DLC, a simple expansion, a full game?

Well, word has come down that Halo 3: Recon drops in Fall 2009 and will in fact be a standalone DVD, complete with Forge, new multiplayer maps, 4 player co-op, all the normal Halo fixes. And apparently, people (including myself) have been wrong about the idea that the game is squad based.

While the game is set to be similar to other Halo experiences, it “will require players to employ more elements of stealth and cunning than ever before”, according to Microsoft. Metal Gear Halo? We’ll see how that works out.

Source- Shacknews

Halo 3: Recon Trailer

And now, we get a slightly more proper trailer straight out of TGS for the new Halo 3 DLC/expansion/prequel/franchise-milker which was teased just a few weeks ago.

The official name? Halo 3: Recon. I find the title odd, seeing as how it’s a prequel to Halo 3 and looks to take place during the events of Halo 2. Regardless, you’re a dude, you’re alone, and there’s some epic music and thunderstorms.

Gears of War 2: Multiplayer Diary

The new Gears of War 2 Developer Diary hit today, this time highlighting the game’s multiplayer fun-itude. Right now, it’s being hosted at ESPN, which is kind of odd, but hey, it is what it is. It’s cool to hear the devs talk about their philosophy of multiplayer and to see a little bit of new footage.

So far, looks fun. I was decently entertained by the GoW multiplayer when it first hit, and I even went through the trouble of getting most of the achievements. I’m really looking forward to the co-op modes, but this should still be a pretty awesome distraction when I first grab the game.

Source- ESPN

Gears of War 2: Horde Mode “Do-Nots”

For those of you who don’t know, Gears of War 2 features “Horde Mode”, where you and 4 friends are holed up in an area, attempting to survive wave after wave of next gen baddies.

While this sounds like co-op heaven, multiplayer games are tarnished by just one d-bag that doesn’t know how to play the game or refuses to play by the rules.

Well, OXM has released its list of the “7 Deadly Sins of Horde Mode” in preparation for the big GoW2 release date.

Read up and get familiar with the sins in question so you don’t muck up my Horde game!

Source- OXM

Gears of War 2: Das Weapons

Once again, Gears of War 2 news is starting to spill out left and right. While the hype for the game is building, I really don’t think it’s seen the stupid-iculous proportions that say, Halo 3 saw (Mountain Dew Master Chief, wtf?).

Kotaku recently posted a few hands-on impressions of the game, which includes a brief list of Gears of War 2’s weapons. There is even a list of vehicles in there, which was a fun and slightly unexpected addition. A tank? A helicopter? Tell me more.

Best of all, the writer says that he never played the first one, and even hates shooters- but loved what he got his hands on. Sounds like a good time. Go read!

Source- Kotaku

Flying the Reaver in Gears of War 2

While it is an unusually slow time for video game news, there is apparently an unending well of information regarding Gears of War 2.

Some new Gears of War 2 screenshots were released today, showing off some more of the game’s gorgeous visuals and fairly varied locales. While somewhat similar, they at least look more colorful than the first game, which was mostly just brown places. One of the screenshots in particular that is eye-grabbing is the shot of the heroes atop a flying Reaver, escaping from some terrible and gigantic beast-thing. Hype level: rising.

Source- Xbox360Fanboy

Halo Wars Gameplay Footage

Well, it’s a rather slow weekend in terms of video game news, so at the risk of turning into Halo-sushi, I thought I’d post some Halo Wars actual gameplay footage, rather than just the trailer from the other night. It seems to be standard RTS fare, with that Halo-rific twist on the gameplay.

It actually seems to work pretty well from the screen, and is probably simple to control to boot, given that it’s designed for the 360. I do worry about how fun the game will be though, considering that there seems to only be 2 races, Covenant and Human. I doubt we’ll see the Flood making any appearances. Thoughts?

Bungie Introduces “BuTube”

Ok, it’s not really called that, but hey, a man’s got to dream. For those of you that play Halo 3, this will be some rather cool news. And even if you don’t, it’s kind of a crazy step forward in terms of console conline communities go, that you can look forward to seeing in your favorite games down the road.

Bungie is adding a feature on their site in the near future that will allow Halo 3 players to upload their saved film files and then render them into WMV files. That’s right, you don’t need a capture card any longer to share your video clips with the Web.

Continue reading Bungie Introduces “BuTube”

Halo Wars: Field Trip to Harvest Trailer

A new trailer has surfaced for Halo Wars, finally giving us a glimpse into what specifically the story is going to be about, besides Halos and/or Wars. For those of you who don’t know, Harvest was the point where the Covenant first attacked humanity, and it seems that they must return their for some mysterious purpose before the events of Halo proper.

So, is anyone else but me excited about this game? I mean, I’m not jumping out of my chair for it, but I’m still keen to see more about the mythology of the franchise.

Introducing: Skorge in Gears of War 2

In light of the end of the Gears of War 2 Campaign NDA, news and screens are starting to break all around the Web about the single player portion of Epic’s upcoming game. One of the announcements that hit that is seemingly unrelated is that Skorge, the predator-looking locust seen in some recent screenshots, is going to be playable in Gears of War 2 Multiplayer.

He is kind of awesome looking, though it seems that his dual-chainsawed staff will be toned down or removed in order to keep things balanced. Also, he’ll be the end boss that shows up in the co-op Horde mode, which pits 5 players against AI armies of locusts. Cool stuff!

Source- AddictGaming

Gears of War Dev Diary: Story

While the Dev Diary from Epic from a few weeks ago covered the weapons of Gears of War 2, we finally have something that dives just a little bit into the story of the game, which I am excited about. Even though the story in the first game was in the background, with the grizzly gory beefy guys in the foreground, I thought the foundation was there for a potentially cool narrative. Hopefully, we’ll get that in the sequel.

The Halo MMO That Almost Was

In case you didn’t know, Ensemble Studios, creators of Age of Empires as well as the upcoming Halo Wars, is closing shop soon. This announcement came rather suddenly, and makes a few wonder what’s going to happen to any future titles of those properties.

With this announcement, some information is starting to leak about old projects that got the axe at Ensemble, too, including a Halo MMO that was in development until last year.

Continue reading The Halo MMO That Almost Was