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TGS: Halo 3 Recon, the trailer

aliengroups — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 05:02:14 +0000

You want details? We don't got 'em. But, there might be something hidden in the video. Watch the new video over at Bungie's "Meet Our New Game" page to download the goodness of the Halo 3 Recon trailer, available in both Quicktime and Windows Media flavors. Bungie / Microsoft really didn't agonize over choosing a name for Halo 3 Recon, did they? Maybe this hints at a slew of Halo 3 Fill-In-The-Blank titles that'll stretch your H3 experince from now until the year 2041, when your brain just gets dropped right into the game. Who knows, by then you might actually be able to just get an injection that'll make you Master Chief. By the way, this Halo 3 Recon video footage is also available in sparkling high-definition on the Xbox Live Marketplace, so if you're really jonesing for something to pick apart and agonize over for the next umpteen months, then get to downloading. It's free and waiting for you.

[vodpod id=Groupvideo.1646091&w=425&h=350&fv=]

Microsoft illuminates new XBL Marketplace

aliengroups — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 00:59:53 +0000

Each week brings Xbox 360 gamers closer to the New Xbox Experience, Microsoft's substantial overhaul of the Xbox Live dashboard and online services. Leading up to that launch, the gamemaker has slowly been peeling back the layers of what can be expected from the update. Last week, Microsoft's marketing team gave interested gamers a look at the new, animated dashboard themes as well as friends lists. Today, Microsoft's Sara Nicholson returned to tip the publisher's hand on Xbox Live Marketplace's new look, promising more information will be readily accessible than with the current layout. By way of a handful of before-and-after screenshots, Nicholson explained that the XBLM will give gamers a wealth of easy-to-access information. "When you go into the new Games Store this fall, you will be able to check out screenshots of the game, watch trailers and read the back-of-the-box description like you are shopping at a retail store," said the Microsoft marketing rep. "The Games Store will also display every available download for the game you are looking for." Returning to the publisher's go-to prototype of Gears of War 2, Nicholson said that Xbox gamers can now readily access all pertinent information relating to the game through the Game Store, including previews, trailers, gamerpics, themes, game add-ons, and images. The Xbox Live dashboard update is officially slated for a late-fall arrival. Various sources, including an Xbox Live ad appearing on the current dashboard, have pegged the New Xbox Experience for a November rollout.

"Pure" Demo Impressions

Josh (josh60502) — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 02:00:47 +0000

The Xbox Live Marketplace is riddled with new demos nowadays, but I decided to give "Pure" a try because of its cool looking environments and open-ended gameplay. At least I thought there would be open-ended gameplay... playing the game, I quickly found out that it follows a more traditional "race to the finish" structure. But I also found out in my demo playthrough that Pure plays fast and fun, something essential to racing games.

Yet Pure takes racing games to new heights with its over-the-top environments. Beautiful and detailed, the two tracks on the demo were well-made and left plenty of room for stunts and tricks. Well, in the case of some larger jumps (off of cliffs, no less), room for 3 or 4 tricks. The trick system was handled interestingly in Pure. At the beginning of the race, you can only do simple tricks with the A button, but as you land more and more successfully, you fill up a bar at the bottom corner of the screen. When the bar reaches certain levels, you get to try tricks with the B button, the Y button, and beyond. However, this bar is also your boost gauge. Pressing X will send you hurtling forward at unnatural speeds, but this is actually a win-lose situation since you might lose the ability to try advanced tricks when you do so. The bar forces players to think - will they speed forward, or save it up for tricks? Will they use a mixture of both? While boosting is nothing new to the racing genre, Pure handles it very well, not only with the strategy aspect, but also with providing an excellent sense of speed.

The sound in Pure is also worth mentioning. When you're first starting the race, you can hear faint music in the background amid the loud rumble of 16 ATV engines revving up, but right as you take off you can hear the full sound of Wolfmother's "Woman" break out. Mixed with all the ATVs driving around you, the energy is explosive at the starting line, and for the most part, it doesn't let up for the rest of the race. Constantly you're faced with muddy ramps placed around the twisting Italian mountain scape, with each one outdoing the other. You begin with short hops, but by the end of just one long lap, you'll have literally jumped across mountains.

I'll admit, I was more than a little skeptical when I saw the Disney logo slapped onto Pure. After numerous Disney-licensed DS and Wii shovelware, I think it's perfectly understandable to expect little from Disney video games. However, Blackrock Studio's development has been great - I could tell right away when I started playing that they were actually trying to make a good game. And make a good game they did. While Pure isn't exactly innovative, it's one of the most polished and exciting racing games out there.

By Josh60502

Mirror's Edge Gets A Release Date!

DesolationPoint — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 21:04:30 +0000

Get your running shoes on and curb your fear of heights! Mirror's Edge, the innovative parkour game from developer DICE and publisher EA, has been slated for a November 11 console release. There is still no official word on when the PC version of the game will be released.

In addition to the release date, EA announced that a demo will come to both the PSN and Xbox Live Marketplace at some point before the game ships. The demo will contain the both the tutorial for the game and something they call ". . . a scene from the single-player campaign". As an added bonus, a pre-order of the game after September 26 from select retailers (list not yet revealed) will snag you a code to unlock the time trial mode in the demo. Sweet!

(From Joystiq)

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed unleashes it's wrath on Xbox Live

Thrills Killa — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 18:09:59 +0000

I'm not the biggest Star Wars fan, but I've been keeping a watchful eye on the progress of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. I'm dying to execute some chokeholds with the force.

+1 for force beatdowns.

The demo is about 904.62 MB in size.

[Via Major Nelson]

-Michael "Thrills Killa" Pacheco-

"Galaga Legions" Demo Impressions

Josh (josh60502) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 20:48:40 +0000

Today Galaga Legions was released on the Xbox Live Marketplace. "What?" you're saying, looking at the above picture. "That doesn't look like the Galaga I know!"

That's because the same team at Namco who created the excellent Pacman Championship Edition has retooled this timeless arcade classic for the Xbox Live Arcade. After playing the trial game today, I walked away very impressed - and hungry for more. Let me tell you, the next Microsoft Points card I get will be spent on this and Braid. That might not happen for a while though, with school starting for me next Monday and, if I'm not mistaken, three games arriving from M80 next month.

Still, it's hard not to want to play more Galaga Legions. Just like Pacman C.E., the game feels fresh and original while still retaining the familiarity of the arcade game it's based upon. Your ship can only shoot straight ahead, as in the original, but this time around you can deploy what are called "satellites" anywhere on the screen facing up, down, left, or right. These satellites are like mounted guns; they shoot when you do (which, if you choose the "autofire" option at the beginning, is all the time). While that may sound like they make the game too easy, that's a false impression. Enemies fly in from literally every angle, and the satellites are essential tools for helping you attack fighter ships in positions you can't reach, such as right below you if you've been pressed to the top of the screen. And believe me, the enemy ships will push you into tight spots. The game isn't called "Legions" for nothing - there's always an absurd amount of opposition headed your way.

Thankfully for you however, is the ability to capture these entire legions and have them fight for you. I mean, why settle for one fighter ship when you can take them all, right? By shooting a black orb that pops up occasionally, all the surviving ships on the screen are sucked into the orb and shot back out at you, where they stay behind you and unleash a flurry of attacks every time you shoot. Fighting with a legion behind me was one of the high points of the demo.

The menu design is slick, as are the graphics, music, and sound. A female voice always seems to be warning you of something. Oddly, at the beginning where you come under attack, I was reminded of a Disney World ride where you sit in a moving "spacecraft" and get jolted around while watching a video where something is always going wrong on the pilot's end. But that feeling added to what I thought overall of this game - that it was arcade-worthy. And I don't mean that in a bad way at all. Galaga Legions is interesting and frantic enough to be a huge success in an arcade. The loud, but crisp sound work and stunning neon graphics reminded me of an arcade's wonderfully chaotic atmosphere.

That said, I had a great time with the Galaga Legions demo, which appears to be quite a meaty experience by the look of it - an Adventure Mode consisting of five different areas as well as a Championship Mode. Now that they have another DLC success on their hands, it's time for Namco to 1. release this in arcades, and 2. start working on DIg Dug!

By Josh60502

Review: Geometry Wars 2

Dimorphic — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 13:21:17 +0000

By Dimorphic

The fast paced and frantic action of the original Geometry Wars made it one of the most loved and unique titles released on the Xbox Live Arcade. The simplistic nature of its gameplay coupled with some of the most insane, over-the-top visuals we’ve ever seen secured its place in many of our hearts. And now we see Geometry Wars 2 unleashed on the world, bringing the same crazy visuals and heart pounding action we’ve come to expect.

However, Geometry Wars 2 brings more to the table. More gametypes and enemy variations mix up the gameplay and help evolve it into something more than the original was, and help make it another quality release to the Arcade.

The control system has stayed the same, the right thumbstick fires your weapons while the left moves you around, and the triggers fire the bombs. However the multiplier system has been changed.

Every enemy you kill drops small ‘geoms’, which increase your multiplier as opposed to killing enemies like in the last game. You also do not lose your multiplier if you die, which makes it possible to get radically high scores and really helps the game flow.

The gametypes that have been added to Geom Wars 2 are Deadline, King, Evolved, Pacifism, Waves, and Sequence, all of which have varying objectives and rules and really attempt to make it a worthwhile sequel, and not just a haphazard cash-in.

Deadline see’s you going up against the clock, with three minutes to get the highest score possible. Lives are infinite, bombs are not and the best way to build your score is to keep momentum going, as enemies take precious seconds to spawn in after a death. Deadline is probably the weakest gametype introduced to Geom Wars 2 as it feels like a watered down version of Evolved, which is just the gametype from the first game. Coincidently it is my favourite gametype and the ones that lends itself to the game the best.

King is a king of the hill variant, where circles pop up over the map, inside of which is the only place you can fire. The catch is that while you can only fire inside the circles, the enemies cannot get in. The circles only last for about six seconds however before collapsing in on you so you have to do the most damage and clear yourself a path to the next hill zone quickly.

Pacifism is a very novel approach to the game. Your ship has no weapons and the only way to take on enemies is to fly through ever spawning gates which explode as you pass through them and take everything nearby (apart from you) out. Pacifism is fun but tedious, it doesn’t really have the same frantic feel as the rest of the game.

Waves and Sequence are the best new gametypes. Waves see’s you fight off waves of spawning jets (the new enemy type) which fly back and forth on the map from where they spawn. This mode does get very hectic and the rate at which the jets spawn begins to overtake your ability to take them all out, and you have to start punching holes in their lines to fit through and keep yourself alive. Sequence throws you into a series of ‘levels’ which spawns in different types of enemies in different ways. You might get surrounded by a circle of jets or have three rows of purple homing trapezoids flying at you. You have 30 seconds to take out all the enemies to win the round. If you die you can continue on but you have finite number of lives to use.

While the new gametypes do change the formula of the game quite a bit, the same general feel is there. It is simply and evolution, not a revolution, which in this case is a good thing.

Visually the game runs at full 1080p and looks incredible. The array of colours coupled with screen bending effects really works and it is breathtaking to watch. The sound is still as sharp as it was, with a techno soundtrack reminiscent of Rez adding to the experience.

Overall Geometry Wars 2 is pretty much exactly what everyone was expecting from a sequel. The game is as fun to play as ever and the new modes add a longer lifespan to the game. As ever beating your friends high scores on the leaderboards is what it is all about and it’s perfect for a pick up and play session. Another great addition to the Live Arcade. Oh, and don’t forget to smile.

Gameplay - 7.5/10
Visuals - 8/10
Sound - 8/10
Longevity - 7/10

Overall - 8/10

Wii Gamecube DS Sony Playtation 3 Sony PSP Microsoft xBox 360 Repair

xboxpd — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 05:33:31 +0000

Is your Xbox or Xbox 360 displaying Xbox error codes? We can help with everything from PS2 repair professional PS3 repair and PSP repair to Xbox repair quality Nintendo DS repair and even GameCube repair MiamiComputersbiz 786343

Gamerscores for Friday 25/07/2008

Shepperton — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 13:26:05 +0000

Gamerscores for Friday 25th of July 2008 can be grabbed from here enjoy !

Also, check out this trailer for Mega Man 9, which is getting released on WiiWare, Marketplace, and the PSN. Nice :)

Move videos over at Gametrailers.com

Ninja Gaiden 2 DLC up, issues with new auto-update

Dimorphic — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 12:43:58 +0000

By Dimorphic

The new DLC content pack for Ninja Gaiden 2 is now up on the marketplace. The pack, which costs 800 Microsoft Points and is about 150MB in size, includes mission mode, a brand-new gameplay expansion. In this all new game mode, challenge your skills in self-contained missions featuring trials and tribulations not found in the standard story mode. Karma Attack missions task you with obtaining the highest score, while Survival missions give you a single weapon to fight off as many enemies as possible. Leaderboard support is offered for all the new modes.

On the flip side of the coin, there are reported issues of the new auto-update causing the game to freeze in cinematics, at the exact same point everytime. Kind of annoying as the new content has just been released, though I have myself not experienced this, it's probably because I haven't downloaded the update yet.

{ live} Atualização trará nova interface e avatares ao Xbox Live

Olímpio José Santos — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:15:00 +0000

Xbox live terá apresenta uma nova navegação, mais eficiente e avatares ao estilo Mii, da Nintendo;

O chefe da divisão Live(Jon Shappert), Software e Serviços da Microsoft, anunciou durante a E3 a novíssima e definitiva atualização para a dashboard do Xbox360. No "Fall Update", que será disponibilizado no último trimestre, a interface será tridimensional e terá a inclusão de avatares customizáveis, como os Miis no Nintendo Wii. Você confere abaixo.

São inúmeras opções de customização de avatares, além de uma série de novos recursos, como o "live party", que reúne seus amigos em um grupo e permite que eles compartihem atividades, sem perder a conversa por voz - eles podem iniciar jogos, trocar fotos e até mesmo iniciar a reprodução de filmes ao mesmo tempo.

Interatividade com Netflix. Assinantes Netflix poderão comprar DVD movies via Xbox 360 ou assistir mais de 10,000 TV show episodes e features de filmes via streaming, sem nenhum custo adicional.

Xbox LIVE Primetime. Microsoft anunciou o novo "channel" no Xbox LIVE chamado Xbox LIVE Primetime, que permite ao usuário jogar o “TV-style” contra outras pessoas online.

LIVE Party. Esta função te permite criar uma festa virtual com até 8 amigos. Você pode conversar em um chat enquanto assisti um filme ou programa de TV, compartilha fotos, ou joga online.

Avatars. Buscando o mesmo sucesso que a Nintendo teve com seu "Mii", Microsoft está adicionando um sistema similar ao Xbox360, através dele os usuários podem criar um avatar 3D que o represente online.

Xbox LIVE Marketplace. Microsoft's online Storefront está expandindo para atender a crescente lista de conteúdos que estarão disponíveis em breve.

Microsoft Announces Avatars for Xbox 360, New Dashboard

vaultdweller13 — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 23:21:45 +0000

Turns out the rumors that Xbox 360 would be getting custom avatars are true. It was announced during the E3 Microsoft Press Conference that they will be added during the fall update, along with a complete overhaul for the 360 dashboard.

It makes sense that these custom avatars would be implemented. Nintendo has its Miis, and Sony will eventually have its Home service with its custom avatars. Microsoft needed to create a system similar to that of its competitors, and this is it.

Personally I can't stand the idea of having these custom avatars. I play video games so I can get away from being myself. The last thing I want to do is have a virtual representation of me on my gamer card. I also don't need them in any of the games I play, although I assume that most of the games I play will be unaffected since the avatars will most likely be used in family/group style games.

I will say that these avatars look MUCH better than Miis. Miis are painful to look at with their distorted bodies, strangely blank stares, and clothes you can't change. Yet another reason the Wii is a paperweight compared to the rest of this generation. At least with these avatars you will have the ability to completely change their appearance in a very Sims 2 like manner and they look a bit more alive.

The new look of the dashboard is interesting. I'm not really attached to the current "blades dashboard" so I'm open to the change. I couldn't help but notice that during the Microsoft E3 Press Conference the game in the tray when they were showing off the new dashboard was Lego Batman. Was that just there to make us anxious? Anywho, the new sound effects when the 360 boots up made me laugh a lot when I first heard them. That's going to take some getting used to.

Despite showing the changes made to the dashboard and the new avatars system, the Xbox Live Marketplace was not mentioned. XBLA is desperately in need of an overhaul, and I was looking forward to seeing what they had planned for it. Oh well, anything they come up with has to be better than what's there now, right?

E3 2008: Too Human Demo now available

thewilleffect — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 12:32:20 +0000

The time has come for Too Human to put up or shut up. Influence from Silicon Knights head Denis Dyack or any forum need not matter (more on that in the future). Does Too Human have a chance of surprising gamers as BioShock did last August? Does that really matter? Are you still reading this? If so, what are you doing, go download the demo already.

Content: Too Human
Price: Free
Availability: All Xbox LIVE regions except Japan
Dash Text: [ESRB: T (Teen) BLOOD,LANGUAGE,MILD SUGGESTIVE THEMES,VIOLENCE] Step into the world of "Too Human," the third person epic action game from renowned Canadian developer Silicon Knights. As the cybernetic god Baldur, players are thrust into the midst of an ongoing battle that threatens the existence of mankind. In "Too Human" an ancient machine presence has forced the god's hand. Baldur is charged with defending humanity from an onslaught of monstrous war machines bent on the eradication of human life. Size: 1.09 GB

Demo: Too Human [Major Nelson]

*Two additional videos after the break

-William "thewilleffect" Bell-

Too Human Skill Tree Commando

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Too Human Co-op Battle Cries

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Geometry Wars 2 annoucement tommorrow, released later this week?

Dimorphic — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 07:19:25 +0000

By Dimorphic

Joystick is reporting a very interesting rumour that Gemoetry Wars 2 will be officially announced at Microsoft's keynote conference tommorrow and could be released as early as this week. The achievements for the sequal were leaked to Xbox.com late last month so the announcement of the title is no suprise, but how close the game is to release is.

Apparently it has already passed the XBLA certification process which is the hardest hurdle for titles to climb, and is now sitting pretty waiting for its release. We could even see the title release tommorrow after the keynote!

We'll keep you informed. The achievement list can be found after the jump.

Unlocked All Modes
Unlock all game modes. 25

Magpie
Collect 500 geoms in a single game. 15

Millionaire
Score at least 1,000,000 points in all single player modes. 15

Phobia
Score 1,000 points in Waves without collecting any geoms. 15

Slalom
Chain together 5 gates in 5 seconds. Crossing at least one gate every second. 15

Surf
Dodge 8 lines of enemies in Waves without firing a shot, or destroying any enemies. 15

Treaty
Activate 30 zones in King without firing a shot, or destroying any enemies. 15

Rebound
Destroy 75 enemies in a game of Deadline using bullets bounced off of gates. 15

Wax On
Rub your ship along all four arena walls in Pacifism. 15

Wax Off
Perform the Wax On achievement twice in a single game, don’t forget to breathe. 15

Game Over
Reach the end of sequence. 15

Smile
2, 4, 11, 15, 17, 18 and 19. 25

Cold Storage free on Bungie Day - 7/7/08

Dimorphic — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 01:53:00 +0000

By Dimorphic

Come the 7th of the 7th, Cold Storage, Bungie's newest map creation for Halo 3 will be avaliable for download, free of charge!

Cold Storage is a recreation of the Halo 1 classic, Chill Out and will be perfectly suited for games of slayer and team slayer, as well as objective based games like Oddball, King of the Hill and Capture the Flag.

Along with the free map, Bungie are also releasing seven free gamerpics and a theme celebrating Bungie Day, as well as lowering the price point of the Legendary Map pack from 800 to 600 Microsoft Points.

DRM tool is now live!

Dimorphic — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 01:54:48 +0000

By Dimorphic

The long awaited fix to people's downloaded content troubles has arrived and the DRM (Digital Rights Management) tool is now live.

To use the tool you need to sign into Xbox Live on your console and follow this link (this one for those outside Australia) and follow the prompts. A page will appear that shows you the console's linked to your gamertag and how many licences you have purchased on them. The tool then tells you to go back to your Xbox and re-download all the content that you want fixed and vollia, its all fixed, the way it should be.

As good as it is however to have a working DRM tool, the way it works is a little annoying. It would become a real chore for anyone who does not still have the DLC that they want working on their HDD (I know that I deleted some arcade games that were taking up space as I couldn't play them offline). Imagine if you had downloaded Shivering Isles on an old console and want to get it working offline on your new one. Thats a gig worth of re-download just to get something you already downloaded.

But at least the tool is there now, and I can watch AVI files (the optinal media update that allows iPod and AVI playback was downloaded on my old console) without having to connect my console to Live every time.

Please Digg me, baby!

Game Dame — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 19:08:47 +0000

Hey, intarwebs, I got a favor to ask ya. Today I got my first Digg badge on one of my WoW Insider posts and I was hoping to drive that puppy up the link-love food chain! Can you help me out? If you have a Digg account, please go press the Digg button on my article. If you don't have a Digg account, well, this is your perfect excuse to create one!

I am to be thanking you muchly! And I promise, more Game Dame content very soon!

NCAA Football 09 demo now available on XBLM

thewilleffect — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:54:09 +0000

It's that time of year again. Time for the rah rahs and the cheering for your favorite school, fight song and all. No over paid pro's here. Ha!

Content: NCAA Football 09 Demo
Price: Free
Availability: Canada and United States
Dash Text: [ESRB: E (Everyone)] Powered behind groundbreaking gameplay controls and unique college-style animations, NCAA Football 09 arrives on campus with all the excitement and pageantry of a storied college bowl game. Develop a loyal fan base with adrenaline-pumping home field atmosphere and see if you can run the table in the all-new online Dynasty mode or utilize the all-new Quick Call Recruiting system to lock down five-star recruits. With authentic collegiate gameplay and hundreds of school specific playbooks, college Saturdays jump to life like never before with NCAA Football 09. Size: 1.44 GB

[Via MN]

-William "thewilleffect" Bell-

Impressions: Bad Company Demo

iamthemonkeyhead — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 08:11:18 +0000

By Iamthemonkeyhead

Battlefield. A series about massive team games in huge maps, competing for objectives and fulfilling class roles to support your team to victory. A series that has found replacements in Call of Duty 4 and Quake Wars. And now, a series that turns its gaze to single player and character development in an effort to find something fresh for the series. I have to say, I have mixed feelings about DICE's new game.

You start the demo introduced to your character and your new squad: "Sarge" is your leader and you have another two guys that seem to have something going on that extends... how to put this? "Beyond the call of duty". None of the characters hold any real interest except the two lackeys that inject some humour into the dialogue. Your Sergeant is a cold-but-soft-hearted token black guy along the lines of Johnson from Halo, and your character is a meek recruit who alludes to his criminal past in a very clichéd starting monologue.

The first thing you notice when you start to move around is that the pretty graphics from the cutscenes are actually the in-game engine. Sharp textures, huge tracts of land, and an overzealous bloom artist's pipe dream. Character movements are brilliantly animated, faces move realistically, the map stretches for kilometres in front of you and it's all ripe for getting blown up. You might also notice that everything looks sort of small.

The game has chosen to go with wide angle lenses which means that at long distances, even zoomed in, everyone still looks pretty tiny. Sure, you need to see your massive environment but there is nothing to compensate for the distances so it becomes pretty hard to aim. Especially when your enemies have Call of Duty 4's "Superman Syndrome" and you're getting shot through grass before you spot anyone.

And here's where the demo falters again. Movement and aiming is clumsy at best, with your APC turret moving at what is most likely a real life speed and not a game speed. Enemies are hard to spot and it's even harder to shoot, due to a slow first person camera and the most confusing button layout for a modern FPS to date.

I came up to a point where I had to take down an enemy tank with a rocket launcher I just picked up. Only I had to switch to a rifle for a bit to take out a soldier shooting at me. So after I had that taken care of, I couldn't find my rocket launcher, maybe I dropped it. After cycling through my weapons (with the right bumper) I ended up switching to grenade launcher. So I hit Y (the standard weapon switch since Halo: CE) and this made me take out my knife. By this point the tank had moved up to the house and blasted the walls. With nowhere to run and not knowing the grenade launcher was effective as anti-tank, I ran up to the armour and stayed near enough that it couldn't fire on me, all the while trying to find my rocket launcher. After about five minutes my teammate grenaded the tank to death and I ran around trying to find the missing weapon. 10 minutes later I realised my rockets were stored on the left bumper. A bumper for "gadgets" like my health injector. Frustrated, I eventually finished the demo with a boring run/gun sequence with little to no tactical movement or the touted "tactical destruction".

I ran through a lot of trenches and having henchmen asking for my attention, getting blasted in the face and flailing about with very unsatisfying rag doll physics. Clicking in the left stick will get you sprinting, but unlike CoD4, you have to hold it down if you want to keep moving fast, one click won't do. Crouching is handled by clicking the right stick, which is another confusing decision. Sometimes, the intuitive button you're used to having for an action, like weapon switching or crouching, is simply replaced by something redundant. I don't think B did anything besides let you into vehicles and that could've been placed on a bumper.

The demo left me a bit underwhelmed, so I took my adventure online to see if I could get something more satisfying out of the demo. Initially there was a lot of trouble finding a game, it kept looking and failing to find anything. Ready to give up, I was suddenly placed on a massive map with a confusing set of health bars up top for my objectives, no idea where I was supposed to defend and the same clumsy tank movements from the campaign. Left trigger is forward and left bumper is backwards. A terrible choice, and likely the death of a lot of players come the retail version. Sniping was difficult as lag was probably very prominent and enemies appeared in the distance as very tiny objects and no visible zoom button. The most satisfying moment was when I blew up a gasoline tank and removed a wall from a building only to see a stunned enemy look around then make a run for it while I took pot shots at him. Needless to say, we lost the match eventually as I wasn't defending anything in particular and had no idea what I was doing.

The game has great graphics and a neat destructible environment, but there are far too many tweaks to the AI, the camera and the button layout that should have been resolved in early development for this game to make it worth my money. There are some very strong points that seem undercooked in the demo that is most likely a very close-to-final code so I'll probably rent or check out Bad Company 2 if it ever comes out. If you already own Halo 3, CoD 4 or even Quake Wars I would recommend trying before you buy. If you have the chance, check out the demo and let me know what you think.

Impressions: Ninja Gaiden 2 demo

Dimorphic — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 02:47:11 +0000

By Dimorphic

I was never a fan of the original Ninja Gaiden but I could appreciate what Temco were trying to accomplish. The ultimate action game, the best hack & slash game ever created and one of the most difficult games ever crafted. I'm not sure if they lived up too the first two points (though many will agree they did) but they certianly made it one of the hardest games ever to crack. Timing was everything as you parried, blocked and counter-struck your enemies as well as going on the full blow offensive with an arsenal of unique weapons and stylish combos.

It was also very violent, violent enough in fact that it was tonned down for its Australian release. And now Ninja Gaiden II is just around the corner. Released on the 12th of June in Australia the demo was recently released to the Xbox Live Marketplace at around an 850 MB download. So not being a fan of the series I felt that I could go into the demo (and then at some point the review) free of bias and with an open mind.

I fired up the demo to be greeted with a beautiful opening cutscene. The graphics arn't on the Gears of War, Devil May Cry 4 scale of beautiful but nonetheless are quite good. NG2 is set in a futuristic Japan shown off by the flying cars and dropships. The camera pans around the city below and the graphics engine runs along nicely, showing off the skyscrapers, traffic below and the hundreds of lights with ease. The camera then cuts to a woman named Sonia entering a small store and asking for the legendary ninja Ryu Hayabusa. The shopkeep, Muramasa (returning from previous iterations) hasn't seen him and thats when things go bad.

Enemy ninjas from the Black Spider Ninja Clan kidnapp the girl just as Ryu appears on the scene, and the demo proper begins.

The combat system in NG2 is the bread and butter of the game so with that in mind Tecmo have crafted a system that is both easy to use but deep enough for any hardcore fighting fan. The X and Y buttons are the main attack buttons, X for quick attacks and Y for strong attacks but use them in any combination and you can pull off out of this world combo attacks which look as painful as they do awesome. Holding down the Y button collects energy and unleashes a huge combo sequence whereby you totally decimate any enemy unlucky enough to be in the road of you. These are called Ultimate Techniques and are new to NG2, but the great thing about them is that they never feel over powered. There are enough enemies coming at you so that you can't always use it so when you do its deeply satisfying. The left trigger you pull to block and I presume in the final game there will be stronger combos unlocked as you progress.

Ryu also has in his possession a number of weapons, including the famous Dragon Sword. The Sword is a fast striking weapon but also inflicts a lot of pain and it probably the most balanced weapon in the game (or at least the demo). But there are cooler weapons to make use of. The Eclipse Scythe is a huge over-the-top Scythe that when equipped is about twice the size of him and deals out massive damage but is slower to use. You also have access to the Falcon's talons which are claws on Ryu's feet and hands that allows for very quick strikes and my personal favourite from the demo; the Lunar staff. The Lunar staff is a large staff with almost a mace on one end and a giant spike covered ball on the other. Its a little slower than the Dragon Sword and deals out a little less damage than the Eclipse Scythe but is just the most satisfying to use, in my opinion anyways. Ryu also has access to other quick attack weapons such as the bow and arrow and ninja stars.

As well as the weapons you can summon nimpo's, which are basically magical attacks. These attacks inflict a wide spread of damage on enemies and are useful for when you start to get overwhelmed by the number of people on screen trying to kill you. While there will be no doubt more in the final game, in the demo you only have access to a flame and blade nimpo. The flame nimpo sets enemies on fire while the blade nimpo tends to cut a lot of them in two.

Also, in keeping with the Ninja Gaiden tradition the violence factor has made a bloody return indeed. The Australian version this time around has not been censored, so you can hack and slash limbs and decapitate heads until your hearts content. More that just visually however, severing limbs in NG2 has a use. Enemies that have befalled your blade but not died will run at you, tackle you to the ground and and planting an incendiary shuriken on you, killing them and inflciting large amounts of damage on you. To counter this, you now have access too brutal Obliteration techniques. By pressing Y near an enemy that has lost a limb you will enter into a move where you unceremoniously end their life with an instant kill attack, that usually results in someone loosing their head.

The demo itself is of quite a good length, it seems like the first mission or at least a large part of it is packed in there so you do get bang for your buck (or download). The difficulty however is tonned down for the demo, with only the Path of the Acolyte, the easiest of the NG2 difficulties, avaliable for play.

Nonetheless after playing through the demo a number of times I actually quite enjoyed the game. The demo has done its job and chalked up another purchase. Stay tuned for a review coming soon after release.

Battlefield: Bad Company Demo now available

thewilleffect — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 21:54:38 +0000

If you've been waiting for the Battlefield: Bad Company demo you can get your mits on it now. A portion of the single player game is also available along with the multiplayer, so if you weren't apart of the beta don't feel bad anymore.

Content: Battlefield: Bad Company Demo
Price: Free
Availability: All Xbox LIVE regions
Dash Text: [ESRB: T (Teen) ALCOHOL REFERENCE,STRONG LANGUAGE,VIOLENCE] Battlefield: Bad Company follows a wayward band of ordinary soldiers who decide that sometimes the gratitude of a nation just isn't enough. Featuring a dramatic storyline loaded with a unique attitude, the game delivers the series' trademark sandbox gameplay in a universe where almost everything is destructible. The game also features the all new, objective based multiplayer game mode "Gold Rush". Size: 1.50 GB

[Via MN]

-William "thewilleffect" Bell-

Gears of War re-release

roadkill619 — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 00:03:12 +0000

By Roadkill619

Gears of War 2 is still a fair bit off its E-day November release, so to pass the time Epic is re-releasing the original in a swanky new package.

"According to the folks over at Microsoft's Gamerscore Blog, the updated Gears of War will get a new price -- $39.99 for Xbox 360 and $29.99 for PC -- and an extra disc...

The new edition doesn't have a fancy new name (especially not Gears of War Refresh, the Gamerscore folks are quick to point out), but it does have everything you need to have the full Gears experience, minus the map-glitching Xbox Live hooligans and shotgun lag. Those are an added bonus when you play online.

Although both map packs released over Xbox Live are on the extra disk, the additional Gears content included with the PC version is definitely not. Sorry, no Brumak fight"

So I guess those who have not picked up the PC or 360 version, can pick it up real cheap with a bonus disc containing the Gears of War 2 video's, gamerpics and the extra maps on June 24th. Keep in mind however that those prices are quoted in American dollars, so who knows what the price will be here. Best bet is $50 AUD.

Source:
IGN.com

Braid

dilinator — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 20:00:39 +0000

Braid

Number None inc.

A Must Have

Worth it?

Addictive and rewarding.

Very unique in gameplay and story.

Play this game before someone spoils it.

Not Worth it

Very short

Limited replay value

steep £10 price tag

Braid is not for everyone, and it's not game to be taken lightly. For most, spending 1,200 Microsoft points on an action platformer with roughly 5 hours of gameplay is a waste of time, money and stress pills. However, for those willing to take a leap and enter into the mysterious worlds of Braid, you will be rewarded. Maybe not exactly as you'd like, but you will have definitely experienced something outside of the mental debauchery that is today's games market.

The story starts with Tim a colourful sprite from the Amiga generation sporting a strapping tie and blue-suit combination. Well, technically, it doesn't really start at all. In Braid, there is no logical start-to-finish storyline apparent and everything takes place in the form of these mystical 'worlds' which can, to an extent, be attempted in any order you like. The first world is, confusingly, the house in which you start and so you actually begin your journey in world 2, labeled Time and Forgiveness, introduces you to the core concepts of the game.

Braid, at its core, is an action platformer with a gimmick. The familiar foes with springy temples, the elusive princess, the inexplicable reason for everything in sight trying to eat you with a satisfying *crunch*. However, what braid does is turn the familiar on its ass. The ability to alter the flow of time is introduced and what was once familiar disappears. Dying no longer matters, you can fall into a spiky pit; be treated to a wall of flame and spring into the unknown with no consequences, everything can be immediately rewinded by holding the X button and using the bumpers to alter the speed of time travel. This is not revolutionary, other games have attempted this, however, in Braid, it really takes a form of its own. Braid's time travel has no limitations inside of its own world, no clunky ball-and-chain bullshit that many, more mediocre game designers would adopt. By removing the danger associated with platforming, the action is solely centred on correct execution of the puzzles, which are crafted so meticulously, with such attention to detail, you'd think that Jonathan Blow was the architect behind the Holy Grail temple.

If You'd think that freely traversing time would make the game easy. You'd be wrong. Very. Fucking. Wrong.

Each world has its own form of time manipulation, which I shall not spoil here, half the fun is finding out what you can do! After a brief introductory level, you are thrust into the complex, often controller-smashing puzzles. Braid never takes your intelligence for granted and never makes any preconceptions as to what you may understand and the game is better for it. The puzzles are solved by gaining puzzle pieces to make a picture. Once you have completed the world's puzzle, the world is 'solved', although you can traverse the world without gaining a puzzle pieces for a fairly pointless achievement.

The story, although interesting, is my major gripe with the game, it feels a bit... tacked on. The story comes in little book podiums that you can read before levels but once in the world, the main goal is to get the puzzle pieces. The puzzles don't directly affect the story and only unlock your ability to progress, it's all just a bit shallower than I expected and the story seems separate from the game. That said, the mood of the storybooks preceding a world will ultimately affect how you perceive the world, maybe giving it a darker tone or making the background art and music more meaningful. To be honest, anything making the music more meaningful is welcome, the music is a fairly banal mix of genres including some classical and nursery rhymes and gets annoying very quickly especially when you have to listen to it over, and over and over again. But, like everything indie, it's impossible to blame them for trying.

After visiting all the worlds and piecing together fragmented bits of the story, you can get a general sense what is going on. The joy in Braid's storytelling lies in its abstractness. Like a good poem or novel, much of the interpretation is left up to the participant. In fact, after many hours of pondering and discussion, you may even find it hard to believe that this is a video game story. When I talk to my friends about it, the conversations divert into the realm of the metaphysical and complex notions of time and its affect on us. I'm not completely sure if this was the creator's intent or whether he was just dicking around. I think both are entirely possible.

It would have been nice to have a more immediate and complete story, but the inherent whimsicality of Braid makes that impossible. The whimsicality that is present from the moment you enter the world. These dreamlike worlds that are so separate and distant from the theme of the first world in which you start. The art is beautiful and befits the game perfectly and the score befits the art, it all comes full circle, it is complete. Unlike the castle that you have built from your dreams ;).

All of which I have said in praise of this game just leads to the ending, which I believe is possibly the most amazing ending to a game I have seen in a long time. It's positively, absolutely mind-fucking to the point of making me almost wet myself with glee and despair at 4:30 in the morning, covered in chocolate and Cheetos. I won't spoil it.

Braid, like all serious puzzle games suffers from a major downfall. The inherent inability to replay the game. Once you've completed the game, all the difficult puzzles become ingrained in your mind and the game will forever be easy and the original times when you threw down your controller in frustration will be an amusing memory. So, I implore you, do not play this with the aid of a guide, of which there are many. This problem is somewhat alleviated by speed runs, which you must complete certain levels or the entire game against a challenge time, this is an interesting addition but is limited and it won't be long before you've completely finished everything the game has to offer.

It is not the game for the average inhabitant of Xbox Live. Or at least the inhabitants I am accustomed to, screaming down the microphone like banshees having unanaesthetized leg amputations; hurling often racial abuse at innocents as if they'd sexually assaulted their grandfathers and unable to stop twitching unless they're shooting large guns. The game requires a great deal of patience and a certain amount of natural ability, however, for your effort, you are greatly rewarded with a spectacular ending and some of the most satisfying puzzles ever created.

There we have it. Braid, a landmark in independant game design. It's not a game for everyone, but everyone should play it, at least once.

P.S. This is probably longer than all of the coursework I have ever written. Combined.