Interested parties may enlist on the Xbox 360 "later this year" for the budget price of $39.99.
Activision calls in the budget Secret Service
Interested parties may enlist on the Xbox 360 "later this year" for the budget price of $39.99.
Rumor: Mirror's Edge demo releasing Nov. 6th
According to the Mirror's Edge pre-order page over on Gamestop.com, the long promised Mirror's Edge demo will release to the XBLM on Thursday, November 6th. Which, if true, would be in line with EA releasing a demo prior to the game's retail release on the 11th. So, we say bank on November 6th being the release, because the only reason we're slapping a rumor tag on this is because EA hasn't officially confirmed it yet. We can't wait!
[Thanks, thw]
World at War beta tokens being awarded
Activision has unleashed the Call of Duty: World at War beta token flood gates and officially launched the friends and family beta. What? Not considered to be part of the uber l33t CoD friends and family? Then know that they've also started the beta code awarding process where, if you're a prestigious member of the Call of Duty community you'll get an invite in the coming days. Or, for the not so loyal, you can simply pre-order World at War at Gamestop and you'll be guaranteed beta entry. Good luck and play safe![Thanks, to everyone who sent this in]
A look at the NXE's Marketplace online
With the November 19th launch of the New Xbox Experience, not only will we see a complete dashboard overhaul, but changes are a coming to Xbox.com and the Xbox Live Marketplace.
The Gamerscore Blog just posted a image preview of how Xbox.com will look with its enhanced XBLM features, including the ability to browse all XBLM content, purchase goodies using your Microsoft points and queue up downloads that'll insta-download the next time you turn on your Xbox 360. We already know this is going to be an extremely useful XBLM searching tool and one of convenience, thumbs up to the Microsoft peeps.
Cliff claims Gears 2 is 'Epic's best work yet'
Epic Game's Cliff Bleszinski has a confession. Something that he has to get off his chest. His confession; Gears of War 2 is the best game to come out of Epic Games. We agree.
"After two years of pouring our heart and passion into Gears of War 2, the team is immensely happy with what we've created," admitted Bleszinski to CVG. "This is Epic's best work yet, and we can't wait to see the response from fans and newcomers to the series alike." You know, we can't wait to see what the response will be either as we sit here sharpening our chainsaw blades in eager anticipating for Reaver riding and all the joy Gears 2 will bring us this November.
[Via Game Stooge]
Halo 3. Double XP. Rocket Races for me
It's time to fuel up your Mongoose, get an infinite supply of rockets and take to the dirt on a mission for EXP, because it's time for another Halo 3 Double EXP Weekend!
From now through this Sunday, Halo 3 players can partake in twice the EXP earning fun with a new "Rocket Race" matchmaking playlist. The playlist only requires the Heroic map pack, so enjoy the rocketing fun! Oh, and if you don't know what Rocket Races is ... boo to you and get learned.
MS lays into Blu-ray, dispells latest rumors
Another month and another Xbox 360 Blu-ray rumor. Though, this time we don't really have to talk about its validity, because Microsoft has already debunked it and gone on record as saying the latest round of 360 Blu-ray rumors are false.
Edge Online received a "Microsoft has no plans to introduce an Xbox 360 Blu-ray add-on" comment from the MS folks, which puts it ever so bluntly that, again, no Blu-ray Xbox plans are in the works. Even more juicier is Microsoft product manager Aaron Greenberg's Blu-ray dissing, telling Major Nelson in an interview that "no one knows what Blu-ray will be. It's pretty clear it is not the next DVD, right? The days of one physical format being the standard are gone." Burn!
[Via Eurogamer]
Rock Band DLC: Mötley Crüe's Dr. Feelgood album
As if we didn't already see it coming, Harmonix just announced that Mötley Crüe's entire Dr. Feelgood album (minus the intro "T.N.T.") will be available as Rock Band / Rock Band 2 downloadable content next Tuesday, October 14th.
The Dr. Feelgood album DLC is comprised of ten tracks bundled together for 1280 Microsoft points or individually for 160 MS points. Point your eyes below for a complete listing of next week's Mötley Crüe Rock Band DLC.
- "Dr Feelgood" by Mötley Crüe
- "Slice of Your Pie" by Mötley Crüe
- "Rattlesnake Shake" by Mötley Crüe
- "Kickstart My Heart" by Mötley Crüe
- Without You" by Mötley Crüe
- "Same Ol' Situation (SOS)" by Mötley Crüe
- "Sticky Sweet" by Mötley Crüe
- "She Goes Down" by Mötley Crüe
- "Don't Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)" by Mötley Crüe
- "Time for Change" by Mötley Crüe
Gears of War 2 is so gold, you don't know how gold it is
Developed by Epic Games, Gears of War 2 continues the adventures of Marcus Fenix and his ragtag team of military misfits in a quest to kick Locust butt. Promising a longer campaign experience than the original, Gears 2 has added more weapons, enemies and modes to give Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare a run for their money on the top of the Xbox Live most played list when it hits stores on November 7.
We're not pre-reviewing the game or anything but we're going to go ahead and assume it'll sell like cakes. That are hot. Hotcakes, if you will.
Joystiq tries out the NXE, the news is good
It all sounds pretty sweet to us. Oh, and it's fast. Head over to Joystiq for their full impressions.
MS to offer NXE 'storage solutions' to those in need
After learning that the New Xbox Experience and Avatar customization would require, at minimum, a 256MB memory card, it spawned more questions than answers. Would the NXE install take up all 256MB? If so, what about Xbox 360 Arcade owners and their tiny 256MB memory card? Wait, what about Core customers who don't have storage or own a 64MB memory card? What are they to do and is the NXE update a mandatory download? CONFUSION! So, we reached out to. Major Nelson and, thankfully, he cleared up said confusion ..."The new Xbox experience will require 128MB of free space. A hard drive is recommended for the optimal experience, to take advantage of some new features, and to be able to enjoy the great movies, TV shows and games available on Xbox LIVE. While we expect the majority of consumers to download the New Xbox Experience without a problem, a small percentage of Xbox 360 owners do not have enough memory to accommodate the update. To help ensure all Xbox LIVE members are able to download the New Xbox Experience and enjoy its new features, Microsoft will be offering storage solutions to the Xbox LIVE community. We are not sharing details of this offering yet. Be sure to check xbox.com for more details in the coming weeks."
There you have it. The NXE is a required dash update, will need roughly 128MBs of storage, a HDD is recommended AND (shocker here) for those who own little or no 360 storage, Microsoft will be offering some sort of "storage solution". We wait for more info ...
First Halo 3: Recon details emerge
- "It will be a standalone disc sold in stores in boxes next Fall. It's also going to include some multiplayer maps."
- "It is a first-person shooter still ... It's not a squad-based shooter."
- "As an ODST, compared to playing as in invulnerable Spartan, you are going to have to sort of pick and choose your encounters a little bit differently."
- "It is going to very much feel like Halo. Full feature parity."
Gallery: Halo 3: Recon
Vampire hunters find new Castlevania at TGS
And that's all we know. No gameplay details, no release date. Let's just hope it's good ... or evil, as the case may be.
[Via Joystiq]
Video: Banjo-Kazooie 360 vs. Banjo N64
The Gametrailers folks posted a comparison video that pits upcoming Banjo-Kazooie on the Xbox 360 versus old-school Banjo-Kazooie on the N64. After our expert analysis (watching the video) we can attest that the 360 version is nearly identical to the N64 version in terms of content, but has the added benefit of crisper models and a deeper color palette. The other bonus is the replacement of all Nintendo references with Microsoft Game Studios logos. Huzzah!
[Via Game Stooge]
Video: Halo Wars demo (with the Flood!)
Without a doubt though, the most intriguing part of the video happens right at the end of the demonstration, when we get our first glimpse at the Flood. We only get a general idea of how the Flood base is structured and also a brief look at the Infection Forms as well as what look like (former) human Combat Forms.
Now, if we can just get this time machine working, we can play it right now.
