October 31, 2007
Barry the Bee’s Quest
It’s a wild ride with Bee Movie Game for Xbox 360, based on the Jerry Seinfeld and DreamWorks Animation film.
Originally Syndicated via RSS from Xbox.com Games RSS
Fanswag Weekly: Two Worlds and more
Filed under: Contests and Giveaways
We’re a little late on our Fanswag this week. For that we apologize. We’ve got a pretty good prize to make up for it though. Up for grabs we have one copy of Two Worlds, a copy of the hardcover Two Worlds tabletop RPG manual (the same one that comes with the collector’s edition), and a nifty dagger lapel pin to show off your Two Worlds leetness. But wait, there’s more! We’ve also got a few spare pins for other winners. Yeah, it’s not quite as cool as getting an actual game, but who doesn’t like free tchotchkes? No one, that’s who. If you’d like your shot at one of these fabulous prizes, follow these simple steps.
- Two Worlds is dungeon crawling MMO. Leave us a comment describing your favorite dungeon-dwelling monster. Or not, but leave a comment, mkay?
- Be sure you only leave one comment. Posters of multiple comments will be disqualified. We’ll accept entries until Friday, November 2, 12:00 Noon, Eastern Time. You must be at least 18 years old to enter. This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only
- On Friday, we’ll pick one winner via a random drawing
- One winner will receive a copy of Two Worlds, one copy of the Two Worlds tabletop RPG manual, and a Two Worlds lapel pin, worth about $70 total. Three runners-up will receive a Two Worlds lapel pin, worth about $1 each.
The dungeon-dwelling, official rules can be found by clicking here
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Originally Syndicated via RSS from Xbox 360 Fanboy
360 sells nearly 2X as many games per console as Wii, PS3
Filed under: News, Console wars
Joystiq got their greasy manhooks on some interesting market data from NPD. Savvy Xbox 360 fans know that the Xbox 360 sells quite a few games, but according to this data, the Xbox 360 sells nearly twice as many games per console as the PS3 and Wii. On average, there are nearly seven games sold per Xbox 360, compared to between three and four sold for every PS3 or Wii. Take a look at this delicious data.
- Xbox 360: hardware to software ratio: 6.59 (hardware total sold = 6.8 million; software total sold = 44.8 million)
- PlayStation 3: hardware to software ratio: 3.58 (hardware total sold = 1.9 million; software total sold = 6.8 million)
- Wii: hardware to software ratio: 3.44 (hardware total sold = 4.5 million; software total sold = 15.5 million)
Those numbers are bound to make current publishers happy, and serve as an attractive incentive to prospective publishers. It makes sense to publish your game for an audience that’s more likely to buy it, you see. With the Wii finally getting Mario Galaxy (arguably its next killer app) and the PS3 finally approaching a market-friendly price this holiday, we’re eager to see where the 360 sits at the end of the year.
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Originally Syndicated via RSS from Xbox 360 Fanboy
Video: NY is freaky, new Alone in the Dark trailer
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Okay, okay enough videos already, we get it. But come on, it is Halloween and you have to admit it is quite enjoyable watching brand new trailers of your favorite horror games … right? Right? We knew we’d win you over.
Atari just released a newly new Alone in the Dark 5 trailer entitled “Central Park”. From what we can tell there isn’t any in-game or gameplay footage, but there’s a heck of a lot of artistic license going on. The music, the camera shots and lighting (oh the lighting!) make for one enjoyable cinema experience. Enjoy the latest Alone in the Dark trailer, because we’re not sure how many more videos we’ll be posting today seeing that we’re kind of hitting our limit. And you probably are too.
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Originally Syndicated via RSS from Xbox 360 Fanboy
Halo 3 Infection spreads slower in pairs
According to Luke over at Bungie.net (and our own personal experiences) the Halloween exclusive Infection matchmaking playlist isn’t playing nice when you’re in a party. More specifically, going into matchmaking alone produces speedy results, but when you party up with a buddy or two then you’ll have to wait a while … a long while. A group of us sat in matchmaking for more than five minutes without getting paired up into a game before we quit and went our separate ways. Team Bungie is looking into the group slowness and we’ll be sure to update you once we get an update from Bungie. Going solo produces quick Infection fun, but we’re all about group zombie killing … fix it Bungie, stat!
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Originally Syndicated via RSS from Xbox 360 Fanboy
X3F Achievements 101: All Hallow’s Achieve
Filed under: News
Welcome to another wonderful edition of X3F Achievements 101. Today’s topics of discussion include Major Nelson’s warning about gamesaving, sludging through the online multiplayer Achievements of Fuzion Frenzy 2, my experience thus far with Project Gotham Racing 4, and the rather annoying list of Achievements found in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. Anyway, all the goodness that you’ve come to expect is included after the break.
Well, the first thing that should be brought up is Major’s post on Gamesaving and Gamertag sharing to inflate one’s Gamerscore. He even went so far to say that offenders may have their Gamerscore zeroed out, and in turn unable to unlock the Achievements again. You’ve only ever been able to unlock a given Achievement once, so it’s obvious that they’re not deleting those games from your gamercard. I’ve mentioned on previous columns that I think Gamesaving is a pretty low level to stoop to, and am happy to see Microsoft take further action.
This isn’t the first time they’ve addressed gaming saving. In last year’s (Northern Hemispherically) Fall Update, Microsoft drew a line in the proverbial sand by making the vast majority of gamesaves available at the time obsolete and unable to be played. This year’s Fall Update is just around the corner and we’re getting a warning from Major Nelson to not partake in the current means of illegitimately unlocking Achievements. It sounds like there’s going to be penalized gamers who have been engaging in these activities after the Update rolls out, but that’s just speculation at this point. We’ll just have to wait and see, but perhaps the first five pages or so of MyGamercard’s Leaderboard will have entirely new faces as cheaters get the scores reset.
As per the invite from the last Achievements 101, Geoff and I played Fuzion Frenzy 2 with a reader or two, and cleared off most of the online Achievements. I’m on my last one, requiring me to win 10 Mini-Game Frenzies online. That will only take another 15 or 20 minutes of play, depending on wins. A startling discovery was made when playing our first tournament: cutscenes can’t be skipped. Now, I’ve had the Announcer volume muted in the settings since pretty much the get go. If you do end up playing this online, I recommend playing with people you know who have a good sense of humor, that way you can mindlessly play and shoot the breeze, or mock the game together and share in the misery. If someone wants to finish up the mini-games with me, my contact info is below, just shoot me a message on Xbox Live and we’ll set things up.
I’m playing Project Gotham Raining Racing 4, and its Gotham Career mode and really enjoying it. I started out on the Hardcore difficulty, which I could definitely handle. It was pretty challenging, about par with the Platinum requirements for PGR 2. I later checked to see if any Achievements were associated with the difficulty played, and then found that there weren’t, so when I came to a few Hot Lap races that I was barely missing the time requirements for, I scaled it back to Normal. While I’m breezing through the events now, I’m still having a lot of fun. So far the Achievements for progressing are pretty steady as long as you keep winning. One thing to note, that actually had me confused, was that the “I <3 PGR” Achievement is a little misleading. It mentions either buying everything in the PGR shop or completion of PGR 3 and getting to Rank #1. I completed PGR 3 way back in 2005 and got to Rank #1 in that as well. Perhaps one needs to complete PGR 3 and get Rank #1 in PGR 4, either way, I’ll let you know how that one works for me.
I got my full 1000 in Halo 3 over the weekend, ending with “We’re in for some Chop” in Tsavo Highway in campaign. Today is probably a great day for people to finish off some multiplayer Achievements. Richard got his Two for One Achievement in an Infection game, from the Halloween playlist. I’d highly recommend that those looking for their Overkills and Triple Sword kills to spend some quality time either hunting for brains or preserving your own, as it should help your odds in picking up those stragglers.
This weekend also marked the release of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, which has a wider variety of Achievements than its predecessor, but not in a good way. I touched on this in the fancast with a rant about some of the absolutely stupid Achievements in the game. Beat the Hard or Expert Career with a standard controller? Beat an Expert song with all the sound settings to zero? Win 500 ranked Online Matches? Seriously, Neversoft, Achievements are supposed to be fun challenges, not stupid chores. Playing a career left flip is fine, because it’s not difficulty dependent. Some of the “challenges” are pretty cool, like I’m working on getting 200k on Cult of Personality without using Star Power, and I think I can pull it off on Hard, as I got about 185k but messed up on the second solo, which isn’t that difficult, especially with the neutered Hammer Ons and Pull Offs. Thankfully, the Co-Op Achievements (outside of Career ones) can be done online. Another thing that needs to be cleared up is the point requirement for “Now That’s Impressive”, it’s either 750K or 1 Mil, as the text and the Achievement picture contradict eachother. We’ll have to wait and see. Either way, I find Rock Band’s Achievement list to be far more appealing, less focus on completely making the game your bitch and more on being well rounded, while still proficient and challenging.
That covers this edition of Achievements 101. I just wanted to thank all the support from the X3F readers regarding the streak who left comments and sent in congratulatory emails. Incidentally, I haven’t missed a day since the 5th, but I’m not really holding myself to anything now. As always, you’re welcome to contact me through the means listed below, or in the comments section. I try to reply when possible to keep the conversation going. Anyway, take care and we’ll see you next time.
Email: david [at] xbox360fanboy [dot] com | Subject: Achievements
MSN: knuckles_dawson@hotmail.com | AIM: Knuckles Dawson
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Originally Syndicated via RSS from Xbox 360 Fanboy
Rock Band kiosks being installed at Best Buy
Filed under: News
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Originally Syndicated via RSS from Xbox 360 Fanboy
Video: Condemned 2 teases us with new trailer
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Yesterday, we highlighted a mini 1UP discussion video on Condemned 2: Bloodshot and our only complaint was the fact that the video didn’t showcase more in-game goodness. Talking about the game, its features and what we can expect is good and all, but we like to see skulls bashed in first hand.
So, late last night we called in a favor to SEGA (on our super special red phone) and demanded more Bloodshot footage. We went a step further and said we wouldn’t settle for anything less than a new teaser trailer. And, as you can see above, they caved in to our fanboy wishes … no questions asked. So go ahead and enjoy the bloody good Bloodshot trailer (mannequin included).
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Originally Syndicated via RSS from Xbox 360 Fanboy
Harmonix working on new guitar-less game
Filed under: News
And guess what? It won’t feature any plastic instruments at all. Not one. The news comes from a GDC 2008 event page detailing a lecture in which the folks at Harmonix (Guitar Hero II, Rock Band) will discuss the challenges of creating a new kind of music game. The new game, currently known only as the “OTHER” project, generates beats algorithmically, rather than on a pre-recorded track. We assume you have to match these beats with proper inputs — in much the same way as Guitar Hero — but there definitely won’t be any special peripherals involved. Given the point of the lecture is to explain “how a road-tested design must adapt to new opportunities and constraints,” we’re starting to wonder if it might be a portable project. We’ll just have to wait and see.
[Via Joystiq]
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Originally Syndicated via RSS from Xbox 360 Fanboy
Get your horror movies fix with XBVM
Filed under: News, Video Marketplace
Too old to trick or treat? Too introverted to go to a Halloween party? Or are you just too darn tired to get your scare on this evening? If you answered yes to any of these questions then you are a prime candidate for some horror movie rentals off the Xbox Live Video Marketplace.
If you’re all about staying home tonight, then we advise curling up on your couch and renting a frightfully fun horror movie. It doesn’t matter if the flick ends up being freaky scary, somewhat corny or totally absurd, because it’s the experience of watching a scary movie on Halloween that you’re after. And to get you started in your Halloween movie rental spree, we posted a list of the top 25 XBVM horror movie rentals after the break. Prepare to cry bloody murder tonight, because the Video Marketplace will take your soul … BOO!
Top 25 Horror Movies on XBVM
The Reaping (HD)
Return to House on Haunted Hill (HD)
Curse of Alcatraz
Freddy vs Jason
Creepshow 3
A Clockwork Orange
Jason X
Snoop Dogg’s Hood of Horror (HD)
Bad Reputation
Head Trauma
Spawn
Halloween Night (Director’s Cut)
A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors
The Blair Witch Project (HD)
The Hitchhiker
Wes Craven’s New Nightmare
Dead Clowns
Final Destination
Murder Game
Cube Zero (HD)
A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master
Tamara (HD)
The Abandoned
Isolation
Bones
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Originally Syndicated via RSS from Xbox 360 Fanboy