by: ~samuel w.
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Halo Wars has been a very elusive game for being a Halo title. Few screenshots and even fewer bits of video have come out concerning the game and what has come out has been very little. Fortunately for us, E3 is here and with it comes tons of media, Halo Wars included. So let’s dive into it.
FYI, This page will be updated as more media comes in.
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• Videos
2nd Announcement Trailer
—>Hit the Jump for the Media<—
by: ~samuel w.
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Fable II remains one of my most anticipated releases of the game as I was a big fan of the original and cause I could just use a good RPG, you know? It looks like the sequel to one of my favorite games on the original Xbox is shaping up to be a great iteration into the ever growing library of RPG’s on the 360 and so far it looks great.
A lot of media has come out about the game today with Microsoft’s Press Conference and to help you, the reader, absorb it all, I’ve condensed it into one story, screenshots and video, it’s all here.
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•Videos
Fable II Opening Movie
—>Hit the Jump for the Media<—
by: ~samuel w.
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There’s been a lot of talk lately on the state of the current Xbox 360 Dashboard as well as the Marketplace interface and how desperately it’s been needing an update. Marketplace content has been flooded and is now cluttered and very difficult to navigate, specifically when searching for content. Switching between blades and then menus isn’t as smooth as it can be and when directly compared to the Xross-Media Bar (Playstation 3), the Dashboard looks a generation behind simply in terms of functionality.
This update is coming at the right time, with the 360’s price drop and a solid lineup of games from here to mid-09, more and more gamers will be coming to the house that Microsoft built, and because of that many things other than just the interface had to be addressed and have been. Microsoft has a lot in store with this new iteration of the 360’s software and because of that there’s a lot of confusion as to how everything will work, what will and won’t carry over and some of the lesser known features.
So without any further talking, here’s the breakdown of the New Xbox Experience (NXE).
—>Breakdown After the Jump<—
Continue reading ‘E308 • Breaking Down the ‘New Xbox Experience’’
by: ~samuel w.
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I will be “live” updating this page as details come in. After the conference is over I will go into detail on each and every big announcement via it’s own page. Until then, let these short recaps satisfy you until I can devote more time to each story individually.
Stories will be arranged most recent on top, least recent on bottom.
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~most recent.
• FINAL FANTASY XIII CONFIRMED FOR XBOX 360.
Scratch the below comment about no “big announcement”, this is huge. No word if it will launch along-side the Playstation 3 version nor if it will be on multiple discs (Likely) but this is huge nonetheless.
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• Square Enix’s president is making a “large” announcement as Microsoft’s Press Conference winds to a close. Stay tuned as to what that is and most likely the “one last thing” announcement at the very end.
Edit: Xbox 360 exclusive Infinite Discover will release on September 2nd in North America.
Star Ocean confirmed to be coming out Spring 2009.
The Last Remnant will be available as a 360 exclusive November 20th and from what we can tell from the footage they showed, it’s looking pretty hot and might just be a must-own RPG this holiday season. The Last Remnant will also be available on the PC via Games for Windows, no release date has been mentioned yet. Wada-san has come and gone and no “big” announcement really happened so… we can only hope something big comes out via a “one more thing” announcement Apple style.
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• Rock Band 2 will be getting AC/DC. This just leaves the as-of-yet willing Led Zeplin to be picked up by either Guitar Hero or Rock Band before the “holy rock trifecta” to be completed. My money is on LZ on Rock Band 2 but that’s just me.
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• Lips officially revealed. As seen in leaked photos, the microphones with Lips will have lights in the form of a cluster of dots at the bottom of the shaft that will change color and pulse to the beat of the song. The mic also has a motion sensor that will most likely have Rock Band, beat the top of the mic, functionality.
It’s confirmed that Lips will use your music collection, Zune and iPod Support confirmed.
Lips, other than the awful name, is actually looking pretty hot and I am actually considering buying it this “Holiday season”, specifically the “your music” stuff sounds very awesome.
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• Metallica has been confirmed for Guitar Hero World Tour. Sorry Harmonix, there’s always Led Zeplin right? Riiight?
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• Zoë Mode showed off a game titled “You’re in the Movies”, an Xbox Live Vision Camera powered game much like Sony’s Playstation Eye. It seems to compete directly with the party nature of the Nintendo Wii and seems a lot more appropriate than the long rumored Xbox 360 Motion Controller (Stay tuned, the conference isn’t over folks)
Edit: More has been revealed about the game and the Playstation Eye-esk minigames are all just a ruse to get the player to perform actions which will then transfer the player into a movie trailer, using the motions appropriately. It really has to be seen to be fully understood but now that they’ve shown this, it’s definitely more than just a Playstation Eye ripoff.
Xbox Live vision camera included in the box. Fantastic.
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• Viva Piñata “2″ is looking just as amazing as the original. Dude… Piñata’s…
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• This just in. Shane Kim looks amazing as an Xbox Live Avatar.
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• Netflix on Xbox 360 confirmed, fee-free for current Netflix subscribers.
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• Geometry Wars 2 confirmed. Uno Rush (With Avatar support) confirmed. The first Galaga sequel ala Pac-Man Championchip Edition confirmed. Portal: Still Alive confirmed, exclusive to Xbox 360.
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• Xbox 360 to receive 100% dashboard and Xbox Guide revamp . Included is a new gamercard system with Avatars instead (Unconfirmed if Gamerpics are on the way out, hopefully not) which are fully customizable ala Sims/Playstation Home. Interface is looking slick, really slick.
Current ETA is set at fall of 2008, nothing more specific than that.
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• Xbox Live Video Marketplace to get NBC television, Universal Studios movies.
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• Gears of War 2 emerging (Had to say it) November 7th this year, Brumak Riding included. 5 player Horde Mode pits 5 players online against swarms of increasingly difficult enemies. Unreal Engine 3 still looks as amazing as ever.
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• Fable II to feature online co-op, drop in/drop out confirmed and shown off, looking slick. Releases October this year.
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• Resident Evil 5 to launch Friday the 13th, March 2009. Online co-op confirmed.
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• Fallout 3 looking AMAZING. To feature 360-exclusive downloadble content ala Oblivion.
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• Don Matrick is as annoyingly boring as he’s ever been. J. Allard we miss you more than ever.
by: ~samuel w.
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Tomorrow morning will mark the beginning of the Electronic Entertainment Expo or E3 2008, starting off like always with the big three’s press conferences. Tomorrow, Microsoft has the day to themselves with Sony and Nintendo holding their conferences on Tuesday, the official opening day of the show. I always have felt that Microsoft had the best stage presence and the best mixture of interesting and exciting announcements. With rumors floating around about the Xbox 360’s, now official, price drop, LIPS and Bungie’s new IP, we may be disappointed to only find confirmations this year rather than any shocking new information.
But whether or not Microsoft can simulate their 2006 press conference, we’ll be watching and I’ll be posting information as it comes in. So stay tuned to CBx tomorrow at 1PM EST/10AM PST for my live blogging of the E3 2008 Microsoft Press Conference.
by: ~samuel w.
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It’s times like these that I wonder about the sanity of Sony’s Marketting Department, I mean we’ve had years upon years of terrible ads for the Playstation brand and just when you thought it couldn’t get worse, it does. I think in some of these cases we were able to brush these faults off as “corporate” not getting modern trends or just trying too hard, but this? This is just too good to not bring up.
It sure seems that Sony took inspiration from a… competitor, doesn’t it? I can’t quite place it but every time I look at this image I have a strange case of déjà vu.
EDIT: Some users were having trouble with the links. Sorry for that everyone, they now work as they should.
by: ~samuel w.
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Rejoice those without 360’s as the day has come that you can be that much closer to owning the white, sexy beast. Microsoft announced this morning, most likely ahead of their Monday E3 press conference, that they will be dropping the price of all remaining 20GB 360 Pro’s to $299 to make room for the new 60GB model which will replace the Pro’s previous $349 price point.
So if you want to take advantage of the new deal, you’d better hurry as it won’t be too long that 20GB Pro’s will be come as elusive as Wii’s.
The 60GB 360 is set to launch sometime August. Expect more information at E3 and stay tuned to CBx for all your E3 coverage.
All of the Content – None of the Hassle.
by: James “Ironfingers” Hsiao
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Despite being released four years ago, Half Life 2 and the Source engine are still going strong, spawning countless mods, spin-offs, and original content. In the shadow of such Valve hits as Counter-Strike Source, Day of Defeat Source, and Team Fortress 2, as well as the newest episodes of HL2, there lies a dedicated community of modders and people who aren’t forced to play by the rules of the industry. Out of these few, comes a gem called Insurgency.
The quintessential modern combat game, INS pits the US Marines against Iraqi insurgents in pitched battles over control of towns and strategic areas in middle-eastern hot zones. You might think you’ve seen it all before, but when you jump into a battle, you’ll find yourself sadly mistaken. You’ll die. A lot. You’ll die so many times that you’ll want to take a chair to that fancy 37″ monitor of yours. But you know what? You’ll want to keep on going. It’s that good.
The best way to describe it is Day of Defeat 1.3 ported to Source and moved forward 60 years. Gameplay is fast-paced and far less realistic than a dedicated combat simulator like Armed Assault, but still far more realistic than Counter-Strike and Team Fortress 2. One or two shots will kill and weapons are dead accurate, making the silence tense and the action brutal. Even for the action gamer more used to Call of Duty 4 and Battlefield, INS will still satisfy… provided you can stay alive long enough. Did I mention it was easy to die?
In the media maelstrom that is E3, with the titans of the gaming industry clamoring for attention, little things like this are easy to miss. But I’m just rambling again. It’s out, it’s awesome, and it’s free. Go download it. Now.
Pick it up HERE.
You’ve definitely noticed by now that there is a lack of content on the site, this is both due to the busy summer I’ve had and the way the Games Industry is at the moment. We’re on the eve (Not literally) of E3 and companies are holding all their best announcements close to their chests until the big show, so big news is few and far between. So instead of deluging the blog with meangingless stories and uninteresting posts, I’m spending this time on how I am going to approach E3, after all, it is only 4 days away now. So without further ado, here is the plan for E3 coverage and how it’ll work.
• Any E3 Related Stories will be Denoted by the Image Above
• Coverage will begin Monday Morning, July 14th with a Live Blog of the Microsoft Press Conference.
• Following every Press Conference, Recaps of the Biggest Announcements will be put up Soon After.
• Coverage will Focus On Details and New Information Opposed to Hands-on and Screenshots
It’s good to keep everyone in the know and I hope this has given you a very brief insight into what we’re doing and the fact alone we’re doing anything.
Do not expect too much content between now and Monday, possibly a review or two concerning the new iPhone 2.0 Applications and it’s functionality with games.
If calling what Sony has done with the PlayStation 3’s pricing model a strategy, then you can bet their long-term goal is to completely confuse the average consumer. Price drops immediately followed by new models with new, or should I say, less features led to more than cofusion among buyers, but also lossess for both Sony and shareholders, as half of these models sold poorly, if at all.
So when I read this, it made me very depressed but it made all too much sense. Sony is once again going to push a new model of the PS3 into the market, trying to keep consumer’s interest in the system high, but all that is going to end up doing is keep the consumer confused about which PS3 is which and why one is more or less than the other.
If one thing Sony has learned that is present in this rumor, it’s that pushing a new package into the stream and then keeping another on the market has not worked. If this rumor is in fact true, Sony will be getting rid of the current Backwards-Compatibilityless 40GB model in exchange for an as of now, unnanounced model, possibly a smaller HDD with a cheaper price tag.
But price drop or not, Sony has confused enough potential customers that even a significant price drop like $50-$75 might not be enough for people to even understand what their buying with HDTV and Blu-ray confusion still rampant among the uninformed populous.
