360 Rant Rave

Microsoft made some big announcements yesterday at E3. Among them were the 360 dashboard update, the addition of avatars and a new partnership with Netflix. That’s not all though. Let’s take a look at what they announced and what it all means to us as gamers.

First came the game announcements for the titles MS knows we’ve all been waiting for. Preview videos were shown for Fallout 3, Resident Evil 5 and Gears or War 2 (all of these videos are available on your Xbox 360 in the marketplace). Personally, I’ve never been that into the Resident Evil series (though the video was nice), but I’m really looking forward to Fallout 3 and especially Gears of War 2. I loved the retro look to the Fallout 3 trailer and they seem to have upped the gore factor even further for Gears 2 - and chainsaw dueling looks like a lot of fun. We’ll certainly have plenty to keep us busy this fall.

While all big companies like to tout their numbers, it was still impressive to hear MS announce that Xbox Live now has over 12 million members. It’s a testament to the fact that plenty of gamers out there still feel that the pay service that is Xbox Live is worth the money. Granted, not all 12 million of those members are gold members, but it’s still impressive.

Since the news of the dashboard update hit, there have been strong feelings on both sides. Some love it, while others truly detest it. Why all the controversy? (Video about the new dash HERE.)

Many feel that MS’ introduction of 3D ‘Avatars’ is too blatant a copy of Nintendo’s Mii characters for the Wii system. On the surface I tend to agree with that view, but I still really do like the overall look of the new dash, and I understand that some of the other new features would be far more difficult to implement without an avatar to represent your presence in the virtual world. 

The new avatars will work in conjunction with the new ‘Community Channel’, where you can see what your friends are up to, and the new ‘Primetime Channel’, where we’ll see new and massive games like 1 vs. 100, and playing for actual, real-life prizes.

Many fear that the dashboard themes and gamer pictures they’ve spent so much money on will become worthless once the new dash design arrives. Fear not. MS may be a bit money grubbing, but they aren’t about to screw over millions of gamers like that. The new dash will still allow you to use the themes and gamer pictures you’ve purchased over the past few years.  They simply didn’t have the time to demo this fact on stage. 

The other big announcement, that we’ve known has been coming for a while, is MS’ exclusive partnership with Netflix. Now, if you have an Xbox Live subscription and a Netflix account, you can access Netflix’s library of ‘watch it now’ movies from your Xbox 360. This gives you an easy way to watch your Netflix movies on your TV rather than having to watch them on your PC, which can really be a pain.

The Netflix setup is even integrated with the new community features of the dash, so you and up to seven other friends can all join up to enjoy a Netflix movie together (An Xbox Live Gold subscription & a Netflix account are required for each party member). I cancelled my Netflix account about a year ago but if they have improved their watch it now offerings (which have traditionally offered far fewer choices than their mailed films), I may seriously consider signing up again.

The last main announcement is something that Xbox fans have been waiting for (and that PlayStation fans have probably been dreading), Final Fantasy XIII has been confirmed for the Xbox 360. This was a big announcement, as the FF series has traditionally been joined at the hip with the PlayStation.  Some die hard FF fans are really up in arms about it. 

Other announcements included:
-Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 (Coming August 6th – See our feature on it HERE).
-Portal: Still Alive is coming to the arcade with all new levels 7 achievements.
-There will be a South Park arcade title.
-The first GTA IV downloadable episode will be out later this year.
-Viva Pinata 2: Trouble in Paradise
-Scene it 2: Box office Smash
-You’re in the movies
-Guitar Hero: World Tour
-Rock Band 2 (360 Exclusive - over 500 songs by year end)
-Infinite Undiscovery (360 Exclusive)
-The Last Remnant (360 timed exclusive - then PC)

It was an impressive press conference and it looks like the Xbox 360 is in for an amazing fall season. Watch 360 Rant Rave for more info on the Xbox 360’s new features and titles as more info becomes available.

Game on!

Electronic Arts Inc., announced today that NCAA(r) Football 09 is available in stores now. Feel the electricity of Big Play Saturday with NCAA Football 09! Powered behind the Break Away Engine, which provides all-new groundbreaking gameplay controls, NCAA Football 09 arrives on campus with wide open, high octane gameplay and all the excitement and pageantry of a storied college bowl game. Available for the Xbox 360 ™ video game and entertainment system, PLAYSTATION(r)3 and PlayStation(r) 2 computer entertainment systems and PSP(r) (PlayStation(r)Portable) system, NCAA Football 09 focuses on the wide-open collegiate style gameplay and unique atmosphere that can only be found during college football Saturdays. NCAA Football 09 All-Play, designed specifically for the Wii(tm), hits stores with unique features such as user-controlled touchdown celebrations, a mascot mode with 78 mascots, and a unique, fan friendly control scheme that uses specific Wii remote motions to snap and kick the ball, complete passes and avoid defenders.

Gamers will experience the exhilaration of making big plays on the field with the ability to directly control and influence the game through the Break Away Engine. The Break Away engine allows players to break in and out of moves, giving the user ultimate control with instant responsiveness on the field. With huge cut-back lanes, new tackling animations and wider blocking holes, NCAA Football 09 offers a host of offensive opportunities.

NCAA Football 09 also brings the atmosphere, pageantry and tradition of college football to life. From the college stadiums to the dynamic sidelines filled with school colors, cheerleaders and mascots, players are sure to feel the excitement of college game day. This year, players can revel in their touchdowns by enjoying animated celebrations with their mascot. All 120 Football Bowl Subdivision schools are represented in the game and players can customize the in-game atmosphere with their own personal music collection.

“NCAA Football 09 showcases everything that makes college football exciting and unique,” said Executive Producer Jeremy Strauser. “From enhanced gameplay and presentation, to our online Dynasty Mode, this game truly reflects the electricity of big-time college football at its best and captures the true emotion of football on Saturdays.”

Off the field, NCAA Football 09 features its most robust Dynasty Mode(tm) yet, inviting fans to create and manage a perennial powerhouse program from landing blue-chip recruits to winning championships on the field. For the first time ever, Dynasty Mode goes online with up to 12 competitors to recruit head-to-head, customize schedules and play for up to 60 seasons.

This year, the packaging for each of the NCAA Football 09 console platforms features an exclusive cover athlete. The console specific pack fronts feature Darren McFadden on the Xbox 360, Matt Ryan on the PLAYSTATION 3, DeSean Jackson on the PlayStation 2 and Owen Schmitt on the PSP. To commemorate the franchise debut on the Wii, fans voted to determine the college mascot that would grace the NCAA Football 09 All-Play cover, with Michigan State’s Sparty the Spartan earning the spot.

Game on!

At E3, a new trailer was released for Dead Space.  It has been banned in the US because it’s a bit ‘disturbing’ (well, not rated by the ESRB, which is tantamount to a ban), but you can view it here anyway.

Here it is.  Enjoy!

Game on!

As you may have heard in the Microsoft keynote yesterday, Bizarre have finally
announced a game which I know you’ve all been waiting for for quite some time:
Geometry Wars Retro Evolved 2! The game will be available on 6th August, exclusively
on Xbox Live Arcade.

GWRE2 is vastly bigger than the original, including not only a remixed version of
Evolved, but also 5 additional game modes which each provide a unique challenge.
Waves returns, but has been supercharged and tweaked. Fan favourite Pacifism has
been promoted from achievement to full game mode, and newcomers King, Deadline, and Sequence round out the package.

Each game mode can be played solo, or with up to 4 players on a single Xbox 360
console. Either team up with a friend in co-operative play, or every man for himself
in competitive mode. You can also play Co-Pilots, where one player drives and the
other shoots.

GWRE2 features full XBLA leaderboard support as you’d expect, as well as 12 new
achievements designed to encourage players to see the game from a different angle.
Retro Evolved 2 has been created entirely in-house at Bizarre, led by coding veteran
Stephen Cakebread (creator of the original Geometry Wars games).

Bizarre will be unveiling more details on the new game modes, multiplayer options, enemy types, achievements, etc. on their website between now and launch. Please do stay tuned.

Screenshots:

Shot 1

Shot 2

Shot 3

Shot 4

Shot 5

Shot 6

Shot 7

Shot 8

Shot 9

Shot 10

Video:

Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 Trailer

Game on!

Microsoft is giving consumers more gigabytes for their buck. The company today announced an Xbox 360® console with triple the storage space of the original console, but for the same price of $349 (U.S.) estimated retail price.

Available in retail stores in the U.S. and Canada starting in early August, the upgraded Xbox 360 will include a 60GB hard drive for storing the growing wealth of digital entertainment available for the console, including music, movies, television shows, and game content. In addition, Microsoft today dropped the price of its 20GB Xbox 360 console in the U.S. and Canada to just $299 (U.S.) (ERP) while supplies last, a savings of $50.

“We know consumers need more and more space to store the amazing digital content Xbox 360 offers, and we’re giving it to them at no extra charge,” said Albert Penello, Xbox director of product management at Microsoft. “No one device offers the depth and breadth of entertainment that Xbox 360 can deliver, and now you’ll have three times the storage to manage all that great content.”

Xbox 360 is just one of three Xbox 360 gaming and entertainment systems Microsoft offers. Microsoft’s Xbox 360 Arcade, which comes with a 256MB memory unit and five Xbox LIVE Arcade games, is a value for the whole family for $279 (U.S.) (ERP), and the premium Xbox 360 Elite console is available with a 120GB hard drive for $449 (U.S.) (ERP).

Game on!

A new trailer has surfaced for the upcoming LucasArts title, The Force Unleashed.  Enjoy!

Game on!

After sifting through over 80 submissions from a wealth of genres and gameplay hybrids from ‘exploratory puzzle’ to tactical to rhythm/action, The PAX 10 panel of industry experts selected the ten best submissions in terms of gameplay and “fun factor” for inclusion in The PAX 10. Penny Arcade was pleased to announce today The PAX 10 winners to be displayed at the upcoming Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) at the Washington State Trade and Convention Center in Seattle Aug. 29-31, 2008.

The PAX 10 are (in alphabetical order):

- The Amazing Brain Train by Grubby Games
(http://e2ma.net/go/1192364912/1082934/39678696/goto:http://grubbygames.com)
(puzzle/strategy)

- Audio Surf
(http://e2ma.net/go/1192364912/1082934/39678695/goto:http://www.audio-surf.com) by
Dylan Fitterer (rhythm/action)

- Chronotron by Scarybug Games
(http://e2ma.net/go/1192364912/1082934/39678694/goto:http://www.scarybuggames.com)
(puzzle/platformer)

- Impulse
(http://e2ma.net/go/1192364912/1082934/39678693/goto:http://www.impulse-game.com%20)
by a team of Rochester Institute of Technology students (puzzle)

- The Maw
(http://e2ma.net/go/1192364912/1082934/39678692/goto:http://www.WhatIsTheMaw.com)
by Twisted Pixel Games
(http://e2ma.net/go/1192364912/1082934/39678691/goto:http://www.TwistedPixelGames.com)
(action/adventure)

- Polarity
(http://e2ma.net/go/1192364912/1082934/39678690/goto:http://www.polarityonline.com)
by a team of Carnegie Mellon University students (platformer/puzzle)

- Project Aftermath by Games Faction
(http://e2ma.net/go/1192364912/1082934/39678689/goto:http://www.gamesfaction.com%20)
(tactical/action)

- Schizoid by Torpex Games
(http://e2ma.net/go/1192364912/1082934/39678688/goto:http://www.torpexgames.com)
(action/strategy)

- Strange Attractors 2 by Ominous Development
(http://e2ma.net/go/1192364912/1082934/39678687/goto:http://www.ominousdev.com)
(puzzle/strategy)

- Sushi Bar Samurai
(http://e2ma.net/go/1192364912/1082934/39678686/goto:http://www.mollyrocket.com/sushi.html)
by Molly Rocket (exploratory puzzle)

Announced earlier this year in cooperation with the DigiPen Institute of Technology, The PAX 10 is a games showcase open to independent developers worldwide. The winners will be shown in the PAX Exhibit Hall alongside over 70 other exhibitors - including top publishers like Activision, EA and Ubisoft - allowing those publishers, attendees and media to view their home-grown potential.  Attendees will have the opportunity to vote on the exhibited games, honoring one of The PAX 10 with the “Audience Choice Award,” to be announced on www.penny-arcade.com following this year’s expo.

“The variety and caliber of the titles blew us away,” says Robert Khoo of Penny Arcade. “Narrowing down the group was a challenging process for the judges, but we’re incredibly proud to have these ten games as our kickoff showcase and can’t wait to see them on the show floor.”

Game on!

EA is running a kick ass sweepstakes for Dead Space. Basically, you can win 100 of the DVDs the Dead Space team used in their research on Sci-Fi and Horror. There are some great movies here!

The link to the sweeps is http://deadspace.ea.com/sweepstakes. There is a funny
picture of EA’s intern, Dan, there on the page as well as the full list of the movies
(which is also below). Good luck!

1. 12 Monkeys
2. 28 Days Later
3. 2001: A Space Odyssey
4. The Abyss (Special Edition)
5. Acacia
6. Alien
7. Alien vs Predator
8. Aliens (Collectors Edition)
9. Altered States
10. The Amityville Horror (1979)
11. The Andromeda Strain (1971)
12. The Audition (Special Edition)
13. Bad Taste
14. Basket Case (Special Edition)
15. Battlestar Galactica Mini Series
16. Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds
17. Blade Runner (4 Disk Collector’s Edition)
18. The Brood
19. Cemetery Man
20. The Changeling
21. The City of Lost Children
22. A Clockwork Orange (Special Edition)
23. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Ultimate Editition)
24. Creepshow
25. Cube
26. Dawn of the Dead (Ultimate Edition)
27. Dead Alive
28. Deep Rising
29. Le Dernier Combat (The Last Battle)
30. The Descent
31. David Lynch’s Dune (Extended Edition)
32. Event Horizon
33. Evil Dead (Ultimate Edition)
34. eXistenZ
35. The Exorcist (The Version You’ve Never Seen)
36. The Eye
37. The Fog (1980)
38. Freaks
39. Friday the 13th
40. Gozu
41. Halloween (Need Date)
42. Halloween 2
43. Haute Tension (High Tension)
44. Hellraiser
45. The Hills Have Eyes (1977)
46. Hostel
47. House of 1000 Corpses
48. I-Robot
49. Ichi the Killer (Special Edition)
50. Inferno
51. In the Mouth of Madness
52. The Iron Giant (Special Edition)
53. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Collector’s Edition 1978)
54. Jacob’s Ladder (Special Edition)
55. Jeepers Creepers
56. Ju-On
57. Logan’s Run
58. Metropolis (1926)
59. Minority Report
60. Night of the Living Dead (30th Anniversary Edition1968)
61. Nightmare on Elm Street
62. Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
63. Oldboy
64. The Omen (1976)
65. The Orphanage
66. The Others
67. Pan’s Labyrinth
68. Phantasm
69. Pitch Black
70. Planet of the Apes (1967 Collector’s Edition)
71. Poltergeist
72. Predator
73. Psycho (1960 Collector’s Edition)
74. Re-Animator (Limited Edition)
75. The Ring
76. The Running Man (Special Edition)
77. Saw (Saw Trilogy)
78. Saw 2 (Saw Trilogy)
79. Saw 3 (Saw Trilogy)
80. Scanners
81. Serenity (Collector’s Edition)
82. The Serpent and the Rainbow
83. Session 9
84. Seven (Platinum Series)
85. Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (Special Editions)
86. The Sixth Sense
87. Slaughterhouse Five (1973)
88. Solaris (1972 Criterion Collection)
89. Soylent Green
90. Stephen King’s IT
91. Sunshine
92. Suspiria (Special Edition)
93. A Tale of Two Sisters
94. The Terminator
95. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974 Ultimate Edition)
96. They Live
97. The Thing (Collector’s Edition)
98. The Time Machine (1960)
99. Total Recall (Special Edition)
100. War of the Worlds (Spielberg)

Game on!

“Once this city used to pulse with energy; dirty and dangerous, but alive and wonderful. Now it is something else.” – Faith. DICE, an Electronic Arts Inc. studio (NASDAQ: ERTS), today announced that writer and story designer Rhianna Pratchett is responsible for crafting the intricate script for Mirror’s Edge™ - a unique first-person action adventure. Pratchett introduces players to Faith, a ‘runner’ in a world where communication channels are highly
monitored and the movement of human traffic is closely watched. When Faith’s sister gets framed for a murder she did not commit, Faith finds herself on the edge of the city, on the wrong side of the law.

“It was a great experience working with the team at DICE to help breathe life into Faith; her world, relationships and backstory,” said Rhianna Pratchett. ”My heroines and heroes have always been the ones who were ordinary, but through the events of a story, became extraordinary. Faith is skilled, but she’s certainly not a superhero. She has her flaws, like all of us. In short: she’s real. That’s her appeal.”

Mirror’s Edge delivers players straight into the shoes of this modern day heroine as she traverses the vertigo-inducing cityscape, engaging in intense combat, fast-paced chases and challenging puzzles. With a never-before-seen sense of movement and perspective, players are drawn into Faith’s world.

“We were excited to work with Rhianna to develop the story, setting and character of Faith,” said Owen O’Brien, Executive Producer, DICE. “We were extremely lucky to be able to work with someone who is not only a writer, but also a core gamer, to create the world of Mirror’s Edge.”

Pratchett has been recognized by the videogame entertainment industry for numerous achievements in her 10 year gaming career including being voted by Next-Gen.Biz as one of the 100 most influential women in the games industry. She’s also worked on a number of high profiles games including Heavenly Sword and Overlord that have been nominated for a BAFTA and Develop Award for creation of story, character and new intellectual property. For more information on her work, please visit www.rhiannapratchett.com.

Game on!