Tag Archives: Microsoft

Making Halo 4: First Look Documentary: 343 Takes It To A New Beginning

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With the latest entry in Microsoft’s seminal console FPS franchise headed to the Xbox 360 later this year from a “new” dev team, it’s nice NOT to see so much secrecy now that things are well under way. Then again, it’s pretty obvious that 343 has a great deal to live up to and wants to show that they KNOW what they’re doing now that Bungie’s no longer at the helm. From what I can see, I’d say even the most diehard fan has nothing pressing to worry about, but that won’t convince the non-Halo fans or others who should know better. Me, I just want a longer yet supremely written and paced campaign so that running around shooting other live players in the requisite multiplayer modes isn’t the ONLY thing the game gets noticed for (*yawn*).  Let’s hope we see MORE of these “making of” videos for the game as Halo 4 gets further along in development…

Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor Gets a Heavy Date (Finally)…

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That date would be a release date: June 19 in North America and June 22 across European territories. Rats. Now, I’ll just HAVE to buy a Kinect it seems. No more slacking off and hanging out at a friend’s place just because he’s not using his as much as I think he should. Oh well.. but I guess I’ll be a happier camper in the end. Nope, I’m not going near a dancing or exercise game (other than Double Fine Happy Action Theater, as you’ll find yourself dancing, exercising and playing in lava before you know what hit you), nor do I want to get all “pew-pew” with a shooter that works fine with a decent controller. I missed out on the original Steel Battalion thanks to the expense and not enough space here for that ridiculously awesome custom controller setup, but this time, it looks like Capcom will get me. Now, if they’d only sell enough copies of the new game to fund a proper HD remake of the original just so those who’ve missed it can see what was (and still is) a pretty unique game experience. That, folks, would be even more spectacular…

Yes, I Still Review Stuff, Silly…

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This should be interesting. I talked a Kinect-owning pal into buying Double Fine Happy Action Theater and I’ll be moseying on over to his place later to see what’s what. The XPlay demo last night made me do it, so blame them. Although, my heads up from him and his kids says the game is nothing but stupidly entertaining. In a really good way. If I don’t throw my back out kicking a pigeon or making fireworks with my fingers, I’ll be back with a review later tonight. Wish me luck…

Sine Mora: Digital Reality & grasshopper manufacture’s Xbox Live Exclusive Shmup

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Yeah, yeah, I’ve not REALLY been ignoring this one at all (hey, I’m a huge grasshopper fan, so how could I?). I was just hoping we’d see a retail release for the Vita or some other handheld over yet another download only title that’s just going to be buried in a dashboard update down the road. And it’s a 360/XBLA exclusive for now, so there’s that. Disappointments aside, the game does look quite lovely and fun to play, so there’s that. More updates to come (but don’t expect the game to migrate to another platform unless it’s headed to PC at some point, as this is a Microsoft produced project).

Gallery: Xbox 360 Library

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Well, it’s weird, I’ll admit it, but I have to say that both my 360 and PS3 collections are VERY fluid. As in games come in, get played and traded/sold faster than with anything else I’ve collected. I’ve probably owned close to 200 – 250 games for the console, but here’s what I have at the moment, minus about 15 titles out on loan. I have a few region-free imports as you can see, but I’m not much interested in a Japanese 360 at the moment (other than a ton of cool shmups we never got here that I’m not too interested in playing and a few interesting titles I might like, I’m not urgently pursuing an import console). Yeah, that Shadow Ops DVD should have gone in the Xbox library, but it was on the bottom of a stack of games that I just got around to relocating (oops).

Gallery: Xbox Library (US)

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Here you go, minus about 80 or games I sold off to make room, so some key titles are gone (but most of them are dirt cheap if I ever want to repurchase them at some point). It still amazes me that a lot of what’s here wasn’t made backward compatible with the 360, but that’s why I have a few original Xboxes around here for. Like any marriage, you have to take the good with the bad, so yup, i have a bunch of not so hot games. For me, everything is worth playing once, as playing bad games can help one understand what shouldn’t go into better ones. That and you can often find likable aspects of almost any game if you look hard enough.

WIN FREE STUFF! Fusion: Genesis Code Giveaway – ACT FAST!

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Hey, you DO like free stuff, don’t you? Well, listen up: I have TWO codes here for Starfire Studios’ upcoming XBLA exclusive (the game launches tomorrow) and yes, you can grab one for your very own. All you need to do is follow DAF here on WordPress, reply to this post, THEN (and this is the important part), send me an email at geelw2@gmail.com so I can reply back with your code.

Don’t post your email in the reply here or I’ll give it to the troll in the basement who will ship you a box of smelly socks instead of a game code. Um, having an Xbox Live account as well as a working Xbox 360 in your home would be a good idea as well. Anyway, get moving, as I know these won’t last an hour…  Read the rules below the jump BEFORE you enter. Continue reading →

Review: The Lord of the Rings: War in the North

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Platform: PS3 (also on Xbox 360, PC)

Developer: Snowblind Studios

Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (WBIE)

# of Players 1 – 3 (online 1 – 3)

ESRB Rating: M (Mature)

Official Site

Score: A-

Attempting to expand upon a revered and well-established canon such as J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-Earth saga is indeed tricky business, particularly in the case of The Lord of the Rings trology. Get it wrong and it’s a trip into the bowels of Mount Doom as some poor development team and publisher face the wrath and ruin of legions of longtime fans. Fortunately, The Lord of The Rings: War in the North delivers an epic (and Mature-rated) tale that ties in nicely with the trilogy as well as an addictive hack & slash that’s challenging and highly replayable. It also marks Snowblind Studios’ first current generation title (finally!) and yes, they’ve done a very solid job here. The visual presentation is grand and fitting, the music is perfect and the familiar gameplay is brutal, simple and about as fun as can be for a game of this type. The game is not without its flaws, however. Some chinks in the armor show up in the form of a a weird sound bug in one area, occasional AI stumbles plus a wee bit too much repetition of quest-related dialog. Nevertheless, this is one journey well worth taking whether or not you’re a fan of the books and films. Continue reading →

Sega Offers FREE Rise of Nightmares Comic Download

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Sega’s campy/scary Kinect horror game Rise of Nightmares is generating a decent amount of interest among gamers (warts and all) and now there’s even a comic book tie-in to pore over. You can download it HERE if you’re interested in the game ad want a bit of cool back story.

Writer Al Ewing and artist Marc Olivent’s “The Lost Tapes of Roland Childs” tells the tale of the private detective whose tapes and experiences players can collect as they explore the world in the game. As I don’t currently own a Kinect, I’ll have to hope Sega brings the game over to the Move at some point. I kind of need a bit more room in my place for a Kinect as well as that Nyko Zoom add-on so I can actually play some of those games and not knock all the air out of the room in the process.

Please note: This comic contains adult language and scenes. Reader discretion is advised.

Dragon Ball Z Ultimate Tenkaichi Hands-On

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If there was any doubt that Dragon Ball Z had staying power after all these years, Namco Bandai’s upcoming brawler should squash that like oh so many bugs under a hard heel. The game is intense, insane and from what I played last week at their NYC press event, pretty non-stop in terms of the all-out action fans expect. Looking even better than the anime it’s based on, the game might even get some non-DBZ fighting game fans to pick up a controller once they get a peek at the speed and visual flash of the battles. Yes, there are indeed quick time events in these fights, but both players can either get in attack or defense moves by being the fastest to jam on a certain button when prompted. The Super attacks are impressive and can absolutely turn the tide in battle, provided you’ve been beating on your opponent enough so your cinematic blow can get.

Controls are solid, as noted, the game looks fantastic (the huge destructible environments get blasted up pretty good) and yup, there are ridiculously fun boss fights that feel like something from a classic 3D platformer, memorizing pattern attacks and all. The boss demo ended JUST as things were getting good, so it looks as if we’ll have to wait until October to see how it all turns out. PS3 and Xbox 360, of course…