August 7, 2008 – 5:38 pm
Fable II topped my recent list of my most anticipated video games, and it’s still the game I’m practically foaming at the mouth to play. Sure, Peter Molyneux might have fooled me once with Black & White. Or twice with Black & White 2. Or three times with Fable. Or… okay, enough, Fable 2 is going to be awesome. End of story. And now we know exactly when to expect that awesomeness to be landing on the XBox 360.
October 21 is the official release date, and courtesy of the Gamerscore Blog, here’s a rundown of what goodies you can look forward to if you pick up the limited edition:
- DVD with “Making Of” feature
- Extra in-game content, including a new dungeon, an additional weapon, and an “Otherworldly Bonus”
- A special edition Hobbe Qee figure
- 48-hour XBox Live Gold trial code
- Five printed Fate cards
The regular edition will be $59.99, and the limited edition will be $79.99. Both editions will net you a free download code for Fable 2 Pub Games if you place your preorder while supplies last.
Source: Gamerscore Blog
August 4, 2008 – 7:00 am
Way back when the XBox 360 first launched, I remember my inaugural dip into the XBox Live Arcade including the download of the Geometry Wars demo. GW was a psychadelic flurry of crazy, reflex-demanding action, and I played the heck out of that demo. I never got around to actually buying the game, but I definitely logged some time on that demo. Now Geometry Wars Retro Evolved 2 is out, and I did drop my hard earned Microsoft points for this one. Is it worth the 800 points, or should I have just stuck with my demo-playing practices of old? Read on for my review after the jump.
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August 1, 2008 – 6:00 am
Soul Calibur 4 hit video game consoles this week and has been wowing fans new and old alike. With as big an established fanbase as the Soul Calibur series already has, you can bet there’s a ton of cool fan art online. Here’s a look at some of the best. Be sure to follow the links back to see the full piece of artwork and to let the artists know you like their stuff! And please note that due to the ridiculous character designs on some of these folks, some of these pieces of art (ie: Ivy and Tira) might not be considered safe for work.
Soul Calibur by DXSinfinite
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July 23, 2008 – 5:30 am
If you’re interested in the XBox Live Arcade and have a knack for game development, you just might be able to turn a profit through Microsoft’s newly announced distribution plans. The XNA toolset has been out for a while, allowing average folks to program new games to submit to Microsoft for inclusion in some way in their XBox Live Arcade. The exact details have been sketchy until now.
In an interview with MTV Multiplayer, XNA head Chris Satchell revealed that users who develop games for the Arcade will be able to charge 200, 400, or 800 Microsoft points for their games, and they’ll be able to keep 70% of the revenue generated, depending on a few other details regarding Microsoft-assisted promotions.
You can see all the details over at the original article: MTV Multiplayer
July 21, 2008 – 6:00 am
Another E3 has come and gone, and, for better or for worse, we’ve seen the latest on most of the biggest (and smallest) video games for the coming year. In the wake of the conference, here’s a look at the ten games I’m most hyped for. It wasn’t easy to narrow the list down to ten, but here you go.
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July 11, 2008 – 2:28 pm
I posted a few weeks ago about Go! Go! Break Steady, the new breakdancing rhythm game that’s on its way to the XBox Live Arcade. I was fortunate enough to be able to talk with developer Ivan Tung of Little Boy Games, and he shared some more insight into what we can expect from the game, as well as some cool shots of the physical drawings that went into making the game’s unique art style. Here’s the full review.
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July 9, 2008 – 5:00 am
If you are a fan of the Ticket To Ride board game or just recently got hooked on the game via the new XBox Live Arcade version (as I did), you might be interested to hear that a new version of the game will be hitting shelves worldwide in September. Ticket To Ride: Nordic Countries is a new standalone game that follows the traditional Ticket To Ride rules and gameplay but features a new Scandinavian map with wintry landscapes and seasonal graphics. The English language edition of Nordic Countries will be a limited release, available only for a limited time, and it will cost around $50. For now, Nordic Countries is announced only as a traditional board game. There hasn’t been any announcement about whether Scandinavia will be added to the video game edition.
Source: ICv2
July 8, 2008 – 4:01 pm
The official XBox site has announced more details about the pub games that previously were announced for release in conjunction with Fable 2. Fable 2 is scheduled for release on the XBox 360 later this year, and preceding its release will be a series of gambling games that you’ll be able to download and play via the XBox Live Arcade. Gold you accumulate through those games will be transferable to your Fable 2 character once you get the full game. Gold really will be an in-demand commodity, considering that Fable 2 will allow you to buy literally anything and everything in the game world, from weapons to buildings to towns to kingdoms.
The new announcement shows off some new screenshots and also specifies that the Fable 2 Pub Games will be one downloadable game that includes three mini games:
- Keystone: A combination of Craps and Roulette
- Spinnerbox: An updated take on Slot Machines
- Fortune’s Tower: A “press your luck” style of game
There also will be a “Shell” tutorial of all three games for new players.
The most interesting announcement is that you’ll receive a free download of the Pub Games if you preorder Fable 2 before its release. If you don’t preorder, you can get Pub Games for 800 Microsoft Points (but why would you play it if you weren’t going to be building your bank for Fable 2?).
Fable 2 Pub Games will be downloadable on the XBox Live Arcade in August.
Source: XBox.com
July 8, 2008 – 6:00 am
There’s no denying that games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero have become hugely popular and successful over the past few years, due in large part to their wide variety of featured songs and ever increasing music libraries. Since shortly after its release, Rock Band has been adding songs weekly, and the various Guitar Hero games have been expanding their songlists via download and spinoff games as well. Some of these featured songs are the master tracks, taken from the original bands’ original recordings, while others are uncanny soundalike studio bands doing usually faithful covers.
Recently there’s been a trend toward both game series wanting to drop the covers and go for master tracks only in their song collections. This has caused some trouble lately, as The Who’s much hyped full-album released of Who’s Next was canceled for Rock Band and replaced with a greatest hits compilation due to the original master tapes for some of the songs being lost. And most recently, Led Zeppelin has refused to lend their master tapes out to developers for security’s sake, so their songs likely won’t be included in the upcoming masters-only Guitar Hero World Tour and Rock Band 2. Zeppelin is happy to license out their songs for cover editions in the games, though.
So this begs the question: How much do the master recordings really matter in music video games? Is it so essential to have the original master track that the developers should decline including otherwise awesome songs just because they now shun covers?
I, for one, wouldn’t mind at all having a cover of “Pinball Wizard” on my Rock Band. After all, I’ll be the one making the music when I’m actually playing the game, and I have no illusions that I actually am an original member of The Who.
Source: Evil Avatar
July 1, 2008 – 11:23 am
Yesterday Harmonix dropped the official announcement of Rock Band 2, the follow up to their immensely successful music game that released late last year. The second installment in the series will not introduce a new instrument, as previously rumored, but it will be improving on the instruments that already are out there. The new guitar will be a replica of the Fender Stratocaster and will feature faux woodgrain buttons. The new drum kit will be sturdier than the original (which occasionally had problems reported of the plastic base pedal mount breaking) and should be designed to be quieter in use (as opposed to the original, which sounds like a herd of elephants running through whenever it’s played).
The biggest news about Rock Band 2 is that it will be completely compatible with any songs you’ve downloaded for Rock Band 1. In fact, all Rock Band song downloads will be universally playable across both games, which means that even if you don’t buy Rock Band 2, you’ll still be able to buy and play new songs with your original Rock Band game. This is exciting stuff that works in the consumer’s favor, and it looks like it’s becoming an industry standard for music games, as Guitar Hero World Tour will be adopting a similar policy for reverse compatibility with Guitar Hero 3 downloads.
Additionally, Rock Band 2 will feature brand new online play modes and over 80 new songs, all of which will be master recordings from the bands. There haven’t been confirmations about the new online modes, but the strong hint has been that you’ll be able to play the Band World Tour mode online now. Rock Band 2’s tracks will feature more female fronted bands, as well as a number of groups that have never been featured in music games before. Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopulos says in an AP interview, “With the original ‘Rock Band,’ the focus was on innovation. With ‘Rock Band 2,’ the focus is on perfection of the experience. We’ve had a year to listen to our fans and build out the scope, depth and polish of the experience, so it feels like a second-generation band game.”
Rock Band 2 will ship first for the XBox 360 in September and then later in the year for the Wii, Playstation 2, and Playstation 3. There’s no comment yet on how much the game will cost or exactly what configurations will ship. It’s safe to guess that there will be a big bundle that comes with all the instruments, as well as a standalone game and the ability to buy the instruments separately, though. The September release will put Rock Band 2 on the shelves a month before Guitar Hero World Tour’s October release.
Source: Yahoo! News and IGN
