Category: XBox 360

What Do Bad Company 2 and Mass Effect 2 Have in Common?

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If you first answer is “the number two”, then you’re only half correct. The other thing these two sequels have in common is that they’re both playing host to EA’s new online initiative which asserts that all major forthcoming releases will have heavy back-end support and a lot of additional content available post-launch. Just as purchasers of brand new copies of Mass Effect 2 obtained a Cerberus Network Card which gave them access to free day one DLC, customers who buy unused copies of Bad Company 2 will receive a VIP code that will offer up a couple exclusive multiplayer maps. If you buy a used copy then you can still gain access to these promotions, you just have to pay around $15 dollars first.

By 2011, EA expects that all of its games will have an online component and this is a major step in the company’s efforts to combat both piracy and the used game market. By making the bonus content available to paying consumers, it keeps those of us with weaker scruples out of PC matchmaking (at least for a little while), and it also provides additional incentive to drop $60 on a title, a little extra enticement which is beneficial in these trying time.

I for one applaud this movement, but how do you guys feel? Now that DLC and online support is becoming more and more popular, should companies attempt to assert their monopoly? While publishers have a right to protect their games, do you feel that shunning the used game market is the right way to go about it? Let us know how you feel!

Source: The Escapist

Assassin’s Creed II DLC Trailer Stabs Some Dudes

I bring good news for my fellow Assassin’s Creed II fans as it appears that the second bit of downloadable content is going to be dropping tomorrow. Sure, it is on short notice, but I can’t complain about the prospect of playing some more Assassin’s Creed. This is the last of the announced digital extras for AC2, and, while I haven’t tried out the first bit of DLC (Battle for Forli), I’m looking forward to picking both of them up tomorrow and giving them a go. Check out the trailer for the Bonfire of the Vanities DLC:

It’s available on both X-Box LIVE and the PlayStation Network and will be included in the PC release of Assassin’s Creed II in March. Who else is downloading this, and did you play the first DLC? If so, what did you think?

Leaked Off-Screen Footage of Sonic 4 Revels in Nostalgia

Man, people holding preview events behind closed doors need to implement tighter security, because the guy with the camera built into his hat keeps getting through. In the grand tradition of alpha gameplay getting leaked, I now present some off-screen footage of the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1.

So, despite the shakiness, I think it gives us a good indication of where Sonic 4 is headed and that is the series’ salad days of 1994, specifically. I’m still not a fan of his running animation, but if things keep moving in this direction, I’ll pick it up for sure. How about you guys?

Life After Halo: What Does Bungie Have Planned?

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When you’ve been basing all your games for the past ten years around one franchise, at a certain point I’d imagine that you’d like to spread your wings a bit and try something different. With Halo: Reach drawing ever closer, various Bungie employees are starting the hype machine for their next title after Reach, a game that will be set in a brand new universe; “something totally original from Bungie”, in the words of Brian Jarrard, the studio’s Community Director.

It’s been a recurring theme whenever anything Halo crops up: people come out of the woodwork maintaining that Bungie can’t do anything but make sub-par (yet extremely popular and lucrative) shooters set in the same generic sci-fi universe. As an avid Halo fan, my automatic response is to defend these claims but after ten years I’d like the see what else Bungie can make. While their talents for building worlds and back-stories haven’t really come across in the games themselves, those of us who cared to read the Halo novels found that the setting of Halo was a lot more deep and varied than a guy in green armor smearing aliens into paste. I for one would be interested to see Bungie take a stab at a Western-style RPG, but that’s just me.

Now that Bungie is an independent studio it’s no longer tied to Microsoft’s whims, so it’ll be interesting to see where their next title ends up. I’m guessing that they will still be a 360-focused studio, but the thought of Bungie making a PlayStation 3 title has me interested. What do you guys want to see out of Bungie post Reach? Do you think this is actually Bungie’s last Halo game, a claim they’ve made in the past? Sound off!

Source: Kotaku

Alan Wake for PC Gets Lost in the Dark

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Bad news for all you PC hopefuls out there: it turns out that Remedy and Microsoft have officially canceled the PC version of Alan Wake, a story about a novelist with writer’s block who goes to vacation in a small town Stephen King style, only to get embroiled in some paranormal shenanigans. Originally announced as a PC exclusive when Remedy started making the game five years ago, the development had since shifted to be 360 centric but up until yesterday it was assumed that a PC release would be following shortly after the 360 version drops in May.

As to why the PC version got canned, a Microsoft spokesperson had this to say:

“Some games are more suited for the intimacy of the PC, and others are best played from the couch in front of a larger TV screen. We ultimately realized that the most compelling way to experience “Alan Wake” was on the Xbox 360 platform, so we focused on making it an Xbox 360 exclusive.”

The spokesperson goes on to maintain that although Microsoft and Remedy both have a history of crafting PC titles, this choice was all about making the right decision as to which platform could best represent the game.

How do you guys feel about this development? Considering that Alan Wake was a PC title first, this seems to be a bit of a slap in the face, but that’s just me. Not to toot the “PC is dying” horn, but this is just one more nail in the coffin. Tell us you thoughts!

Source:1up

Halo: Reach ViDoc Prepped for Combat Insertion

Microsoft’s X10 event wrapped up yesterday, and what a day it was for casual fans and X-Bots alike. Long-coming psychological thriller Alan Wake actually has a release date, and Crackdown 2 is looking very fine in my opinion. The only real disappointment to come out of X10 was the rough-looking trailer for Dead Rising 2, which tempered my excitement for the zombie-slaying sequel a bit. The best news to come out of X10, though, was the announcement of the date for the Halo: Reach beta! Slated for May 3, this beta may be a bit far away but I’m sure that Bungie has some excellent treats to keep the rabid fans sated for a while, like the following ViDoc.

This documentary, even though it’s full of Alpha footage and concept art, has me ridiculously excited for this game. Honestly, when the video gives you a comparison of the graphical changes of the Marine and assault rifle models from Halo 3 to Reach, it’s enough to warm my jaded heart. What do you guys think? Can Bungie finally pull off a more human Halo story? Who else is getting this game?

GamerSushi Asks: Your Gaming Setup

Over the weekend, I became the proud owner of a new 46″ Samsung LCD TV. Needless to say, I’m rather excited by this new development. For the past few years, I’ve been gaming on a 32″ Samsung LCD, so this isn’t much of an upgrade in quality (though the last TV was showing some awful image retention issues) as much as it was in size. What was once small is now huge in comparison. I played Mass Effect 2 like crazy today and loved every minute of it.

I know it’s goofy (and maybe more than a little obvious), but I haven’t been this excited about something I’ve purchased in quite some time. The wife and I have said for years that once we bought a house, we’d buy a big TV to match the new living room, so it was time to finally cash in on that deal. Hopefully by the end of the year we’ll pick up a new surround sound system, as ours is old and more than a bit dated.

Anyway, this upgrade got me thinking about you guys, and what you play your games on. So, tell us about your gaming setup. Go!

Review: Mass Effect 2

mass effect 2
OK, word of warning first: this review might contain words that, when strung together to form a sentence, may or may not become spoilers. You’ve been warned.

If you’ve been paying attention to the pre-release hype for Mass Effect 2, one thing that BioWare was constantly touting is this: your Commander Shepard can die. Not like the cheap video game deaths where you re-load a save and try again, but permanent death. This applies to all members of your party, and you’re constantly reminded of your mortality as Mass Effect 2 progresses. The Grim Reaper is waiting for you out in the reaches of space. Will you sacrifice yourself to save humanity or will you pull through against impossible odds?

Death comes repeatedly for Commander Shepard, though, who gets turned into space dust by a brutal surprise attack in the opening moments of the game. Not one to let a little incineration put him down, Shepard’s body is recovered by shadowy pro-human black-ops group Cerberus, headed up by the Illusive Man, ably voiced by Martin Sheen. It seems that after you saved galactic society at large two years prior, the threats presented by the Reapers, sentient machines that harvest all life in the galaxy every 50,000 years, have been swept under the rug. Only Cerberus knows who the true enemy is, and they’ve brought you back to deal with them.
Continue reading Review: Mass Effect 2

Get Your Games in Now: Original X-Box Losing LIVE Support

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It seems like the end of an era somehow, but as the current generation pushes into the future it had to happen. Microsoft announced their plans to discontinue support for the original X-Box on LIVE today, and that includes playing backwards compatible games online on the 360. X-Box LIVE general manager Marc Whitten explains this move as necessary to facilitate the continued evolution of LIVE as a service, but I’m sure that more than a few people will be disappointed with this action. Microsoft has continually stated that the furtherance of original X-Box games have been holding up certain LIVE features on the 360 such as raising the friend list cap to 100 Gamertags.

While the official press release does do a lot to trumpet the Microsoft horn, it’s good to see that the LIVE team is taking steps to make sure that those who will be adversely affected by this move are being taken care of. Users who are still subscribed to the base LIVE service will receive prorated refunds, and Mr. Whitten had this to say about those being left behind:

“We will contact the X-Box LIVE members directly impacted by this change and if this includes you, I encourage you to check your LIVE messages and associated e-mail account over the coming weeks for more details and opportunities. We view you as a partner in this process.”

Interesting developments indeed, but what innovations are coming to LIVE that required this change? Who here is going to get in a few more games before the serivce gets axed on April 15? Just for kicks, what were your favorite original X-Box games to play online? Halo 2 was a good one, obviously, but who played Crimson Skies? Oh yeah, have you heard that XBL Arcade crested a hundred million in sales last year?

Source: Major Nelson and X-Box 360 Press

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Trailer Begins the Sonic Cycle

Back in September I posted a teaser video for Sega’s next Sonic game, tentatively titled “Project Needlemouse”. Now, after a few months of waiting, Sega has finally dropped an actual trailer for the game that unintentionally reminds us how long it’s been since we’ve had a true Sonic title. The trailer is a progression of Sonic’s sprites from 1992 to 1994 and then it jumps to 2010 and shows off the new 3D Sonic. Right then and there, becomes clear just how much Sega is betting on nostalgia to sell this game. Take a look at the trailer and never forget.

All bitterness aside, who’s thinking about getting this game? I mean, it is a return to form for the blue bomber, and the split second you see of the game is enough to make the ten-year old me leap for joy. To be fair, a lot of things do that because I have maturity issues. Anyways, sound off! Who’s getting this, and for PSN or 360? And did you notice the little room for an icon with a lock on it? What could that be?

Rumor: Final Fantasy XIV Coming to the XBox 360?

Final Fantasy 14We’ve known for quite some time that Final Fantasy XIII was going to be gracing Microsoft’s gaming console with its JRPG presence in 2010. In fact, just recently we’ve found out how many stinking discs the game is going to occupy when it finally releases for the 360. That’s three discs for those of you keeping score at home. Yes, more than Mass Effect 2. Gasp! Outrage!

Anyway, while we’ve known what the deal was going to be with Final Fantasy XIII, speculation still swirled around the next title in the long-standing series from Square-Enix. Final Fantasy XIV was a big announcement unleashed by Sony at E3 2009, along with the apparent promise of exclusivity. However, a recent LinkedIn profile from a Square-Enix employee suggests that the in-production MMO is going to see a simultaneous release of sorts on the XBox 360 as well. No, that has not been announced, but last year the RPG maker’s executives hinted that talks just might be in the works. While this seems like a genuine confirmation that the speculation is true, it could just be an honest mistake from an employee.

Honestly, this isn’t altogether too surprising, seeing as how many Japanese developers are doing everything they can to garner more of a Western audience, which means opening up to the XBox 360’s predominantly Western core. So what do you guys think about this? Excited? Reserved? Indifferent?

Source- 1UP and Siliconera

GamerSushi Top 10 Games of 2009

Well, we’re a bit late on this, but that’s because we were waiting to make sure we had all sampled enough of these games to confidently vote on what we felt were the best 10 games of 2009. This kind of list needs next to no introduction, but suffice it to say that 2009 was one incredible year for our hobby. What once seemed barren and unimpressive became, honestly, one of the best years I can remember, and probably was the best year for the whole generation to date in a lot of ways. We saw new IPs, old ones re-vamped, and got some of the same awesomeness from franchises we already loved.

For the list, we put this together by having the GS staff (myself, Nick, Jeff, Anthony and Mitch) vote on our top 10 games, and then associated a point system with each to determine which games came out on top. So, without further ado, scroll down for the GamerSushi Top 10 Games of 2009!

 

GamerSushi Top 10
Continue reading GamerSushi Top 10 Games of 2009

AvP Trailer Proves That Survival is the New Deathmatch

I’m sure that most of us played Goldeneye 007 for the N64 back in our heyday and the majority of that time was spent slotting our friends in the Deathmatch mode. In almost every subsequent game, developers have tried to shoe-horn in a competitive match whether the title needed it or not, mostly based on the popularity of 007’s multiplayer. With the success of games like Left 4 Dead and Gears of War’s Horde Mode, it seems that four-player co-op survival against overwhelming odds is the new mode du jour. The thing is, with the Aliens versus Predator setting, it really, really works. Huddling in a corner with three buddies while the motion tracker makes its incessant beeping showing the xenomorph hordes getting closer and closer…should make for some entertaining games, to say the least. Take a look:

Most of us are still the in throes of Mass Effect 2 addiction, but who thinks that this game might derail them from that most epic of sci-fi RPGs? I think this and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 are strong contenders in that regard. Tell us your thoughts!

GamerSushi Asks: Achievements Hurting The Experience?

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I’m an achievement whore. I get the biggest kick out of earning new rewards, trophies, unlockables, points, you name it. I’m not really sure what bone in my brown body makes me this way, but some primal and awful thing is triggered in my core when I see that “achievement unlocked” bumper accompanied with that sweet melodious noise. While I’m not as into trophies on the PS3, the principle is the same and I love accomplishing these goals.

However, lately I’ve been noticing the way developers are handling the doling out of these rewards, and it’s been a curious study. While early games of this generation were heavy on rewarding players with achievements based on a certain kind of behavior (be it in a solo or multiplayer setting), I’m noticing a new trend. Take Mass Effect 2, for example. The first game rewarded players for reaching certain good/evil (paragon and renegade, to be more precise) levels, while the sequel does not. Honestly, I’m finding that this makes for a better experience the second time around, as I’m not feeling like I have to always lean in one direction to be sure I don’t miss out on the achievement.

Likewise, multiplayer games are dropping the focus on weapon-based achievements (with the occasional ludicrous exception), and are leaning more towards gameplay and gametype exploits. I think one of the worst offenders of this early on was Gears of War, which offered achievements based on what weapons you killed with. This lead to irritating matches with people doing nothing but using one kind of weapon like the torque bow or the pistol, and lead to lots of grumbling when players couldn’t find the weapon they wanted. This is different than say, Left 4 Dead 2’s achievements which rewards playing as a team (spitting on somebody that is being smoked, etc).

So what about you guys? Do you find that this kind of design lends itself to better gameplay styles? Do you even care? Or am I just that much of an achievement nut?

The Internet is an Evil Place: Battlefront Sequel Rumors Persist

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The Star Wars: Battlefront franchise has had a strange and tortured history for a product that should be a no-brainer. You take the famous space and ground battles of the Star Wars universe, mash them together with Battlefield style game-play and let the players muck around as Jedi once in a while. Well, after forcing the famous conflicts of Star Wars onto the tiny screen of the PSP not once but twice, the hotly anticipated third iteration of the sci-fi combat series has hit wall after wall, going through multiple studios like a hot knife through butter.

Originally being tinkered with by Free Radical before they closed down, Star Wars Battlefront: III has shifted gears completely, now rumored to be titled Star Wars Battlefront: Online. The current developers are none other than SOCOM Confrontation makers Slant Six Games. As it stands right now, the title is in pre-production, so it may be canceled before we hear anything more about it. The current plan is to have it in presentable form by 2011, but given the unfortunate history of Battlefront III, I’m not getting my hopes up.

What do you guys think? The Battlefront series has always been a favorite of mine, and the space combat in the second game was a heck of a lot of fun. It’s sad to think that Battlefront: Online may become the next “Duke Nukem”, forced to spend eternity in pre-production while we get strung along with concept art and teaser videos. Who else is hoping for some more Star Wars action?

Source: Kotaku

What The? Gears of War in Lost Planet 2?

As far as video game cross-overs go, we’ve seen some great ones (Marvel vs Capcom 2) and some not so great ones (Spawn in Soul Caliber). This new promo for the X-Box 360 version of Lost Planet 2, I just can’t place. On one hand, Marcus and Dom have had a lot of experience slaughtering strange abominations of nature; on the other, putting two characters from an exclusive Microsoft game in a Capcom multi-platform title seems odd. One wonders who the PS3 purchasers will get as bonus characters.

Consider me officially intrigued, though. I tried the original Lost Planet but couldn’t really get into it, though I’ve always felt that the title may have some merit. What do you guys think? Worth a purchase, or more of a rental? Who do you think the PS3 owners will get, if anyone?

GamerSushi Asks: What Are You Playing?

Left 4 Dead 2This Spring is going to be an usual one for us gamers. Heck, even this January is going to be odd. With some well-reviewed games like Bayonetta and Darksiders already hitting the shelves, as well as Mass Effect 2 dropping this week, it seems that we’re going to have our hands full with more than our Christmas gaming purchases. And that’s not even considering that Heavy Rain, Bioshock 2, Splinter Cell, Final Fantasy XIII and Crackdown are all on the way before the summer.

So, before (yet another) flood of good gaming options, what are you guys sinking your time into? Are you still working on the games you just got, have you purchased new ones, or have you returned to the old favorites?

Right now, I’ve been playing Left 4 Dead 2 on the XBox 360 and really enjoying the enhancements to the game. As much as people griped about its release, I’m impressed with just now how much content there is, and how well some of the new mechanics have been implemented. Really, kudos to Valve on proving some people wrong. In addition, I plan on starting some Brutal Legend tonight or tomorrow while I wait for Mass Effect 2 to be in my sweaty and anxious hands.

So, what are you guys playing? Go!

Halo Legends Clip is a Thing You Can Watch

Most of you have probably figured this little factoid out already, but I am GamerSushi’s resident Halo fan-boy. I seriously loves me some Halo, so naturally you would figure that a series of animated shorts would be right up my alley.

Well, as anyone who becomes engrossed with a franchises’ fictional history can tell you, if you outsource a project to a collection of companies and they do not get it exactly right you will have a large amount of butt-hurt nerds on your hands. That sounds weird, but I digress. If you haven’t caught any of the Halo animes on Waypoint, now’s your chance to see what you haven’t been missing.

The full DVD/Blu-Ray (irony lol) release is in early Feburary, but I think I’ll pass. What about you guys?

Mass Effect 2 Launch Trailer is Epic

I’m looking forward to January 26 with more than a little bit of trepidation because I’m seriously worried about what Mass Effect 2 will do to my life. The more excited I get about a game the more sponge-like I become, absorbing as much information as I can until I burst at the seams with hype and PR speak. Since the game comes out next week, I think this is the last in the deluge of videos that have been put out for this title. Sit back and enjoy Mass Effect 2’s launch trailer.

So, who else is getting this game, and for what system? I’m also curious to know if you’re going to pick up the Collector’s Edition. I certainly will.

Fake Dragon Age DLC Trailer is Hilarious

One thing that makes PC gaming great: the ability to infuse new life into a gaming via the modding community. In what I hope to be the first of many Dragon Age: Origins releases, a new DLC trailer is available that showcases some hilarious tweaks made to the game and how it’s played.

Not only is this a look into what is available to modders, it also showcases some of the machinima tools available to users. I really can’t wait to see more of what people come up with. I’d have to say my favorite portion is the Morrigan slapping, as well as mastering “the taint”. Do watch this. Now.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDeawqKzEVM[/youtube]