Xbox 360: Blog

Friends List

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 15:46:53 GMT

In case you were one few recently removed from my friends list, remember that you will always catch me on MSN Messenger (the_feds@hotmail.com). When I'm signed into live, I can use the Xbox 360 messenger to keep in contact with those not on my xbox live friends list.

Call of Duty 4

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 18:42:54 GMT

Please, someone explain this to me:

-You can play 16 players online in COD4.

-You can have 16 players system linked in COD4.

-You can play 4 player splitscreen on a single console.

-You CANNOT play split screen with system link or Xbox live.

What?

Dilemmas

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 18:38:40 GMT

So I just spoke to Kamshaft of Xboxaddict.com. I just told him that I'm fighting some serious mental block concerning my "Month in Review" article. Over the last 15 days we've not seen much new, exciting news coming out from hardly anyone. Do you have any ideas? What's been some of the biggest things that you've read about this month? Anything coming down the pipeline that's got you excited?

So far I'm leaning towards the "Goldeneye on XBLA" story this month. This is something huge for a lot of people, and there have been some great discussions already about what people are expecting from a possible Goldeneye release on the XBLA, and if those expectations are realistic.

I just listened to the Gamerscoreblog podcast. Generally they had some similar views on Burnout Paradise that I had in the December Month in Review. Me being the Burnout fiend that I've always been I felt like I had a strong base to stand on with my opinion.

Xbox Live hiccup, a song

Sun, 30 Dec 2007 06:31:19 GMT

To the tune of Don Mclean's "American Pie"

Chorus:

Down, down tonight went Xbox Live.

Turned on my 360 but my dashboard's awry.

Someone tripped over a cord,

And the servers got fried.

I'm saying,

Tommorrow I'll have to simply retry.

The Don Speaks

Sat, 08 Dec 2007 06:12:59 GMT

I just got done reading this interview courtesy of MSNBC. It took awhile to find it, so I thought I would post it here for your reading.

Xbox boss confident of holiday win

Microsoft exec says it has the best all-in-one package for consumers

By Kristin Kalning

Games editor

MSNBC

updated 12:53 p.m. ET, Tues., Dec. 4, 2007

Kristin Kalning

Games editor

• E-mail

In July, Don Mattrick came off an 18-month sabbatical to take the helm at Microsoft games. To say things were a bit rocky for the Xbox 360 makers would be an understatement.

(MSNBC is a joint Microsoft - NBC Universal venture.)

As the rest of the games industry was gearing up for E3, the company put out a public mea culpa about its Xbox 360 hardware failures. To pay for the extended warranties on the consoles, Microsoft announced that it would take a $1 billion hit against quarterly earnings. Before the month was out, Peter Moore, the head of Microsoft games, would resign to take the top spot at EA Sports.

But as Microsoft heads into the holiday season, Mattrick says he feels that the company has rebounded just fine from the summer’s bit of bad press – and is poised to trump the competition this holiday season.

“On a price-per-value basis, I think we win…relative to Sony and Nintendo,” he says. “Of course, I’m biased, given the role that I’m in, but if I really think about it using my consumer instincts and the experience that I’ve had, this is the best blend of performance, price, online and games – by far.”

Few game industry executives have the length of experience that Mattrick has. The “self-proclaimed math nerd” and Vancouver, B.C. native developed his first game, “Evolution,” at age 17. The game was a top 10 hit, and funded his company, Distinctive Software, which would become EA Canada in 1991. He spent the majority of his career at Electronic Arts, most recently as the president of its worldwide studios.

I spoke with Mattrick before the Thanksgiving holiday about his decision to jump back into the fray at Microsoft, about what the company has on deck beyond “Halo 3” and why he thinks “Grand Theft Auto IV” could be next year’s big hit for Xbox 360.

So, from heading up EA’s global studios to a company that makes hardware and software both. Did you have any ramping up to do, looking at hardware for the first time?

That’s a good question … obviously having 23 years of industry experience helps a lot. At my tenure at EA, we had an opportunity to work intimately with the people inside of Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo. The people inside of Microsoft, we had a very high opinion of, and I had a high opinion of in terms of their commitment to growth and excellence in the long term.

But software was your comfort zone. Is that fair to say?

Software was a core competency but again, during my tenure inside of EA, we went from 300 people to 8,200. So at different points in my career I had to do just about everything, including take the garbage out and clean up the facility. So it was a good base for any business, and to be honest, being in a leadership role is a natural place that I enjoy.

Of course, you came to Microsoft in a permanent role just as the company was coming clean about the Xbox 360 hardware failures and announcing that it would take a $1 billion hit against quarterly earnings to pay for extended warranties … that was definitely a rocky period.

It’s always challenging when you try to innovate and create a new product and it doesn’t go exactly as planned. What I found impressive was the straightforward way that Microsoft dealt with it. They acknowledged the challenge, they came up with a warranty program [that] is superior inside of the industry and drove that through retail … in a very thoughtful and direct way. It showed commitment, it showed responsibility and it showed dedication to the category.

Some would say Microsoft waited a bit too long to acknowledge it publicly, however.

Again, when you acknowledge something, I think what people are looking for a complete answer. I think it’s easy to speculate on well, gee didn’t they know? The challenges weren’t just a single thing that you could easily put your finger on, there were a few things that were interdependent … All those pieces needed to be together before you could have a complete communication with people.

Do you feel that the company has recovered from that and the hit against earnings?

Absolutely. I think the team’s done a fabulous job.

Microsoft saw a jump in hardware sales in September and October … largely due to “Halo 3.” Was the increase about what you expected?

Yes, we’re tracking against our plans. “Halo” is an important component. I think there were other factors that drove the success. I think we’re getting to the point of critical mass in terms of the number of hits. I think we have the highest rated content ever to exist on a gaming system.

Such as?

If you look at our quality ratings, there [are] more 85-plus rated games on Xbox 360, by a long shot, when you compare it with PlayStation 3 and Wii.

The “Halo” franchise has arguably been the crown jewel on the Xbox [platform.] I don’t think there’s any dispute there.

Absolutely. But I don’t think we’d be enjoying the success we have if we just had “Halo.” We have “Halo” and an amazing lineup of content both from our first-party and our third-party lineup of partners. There’s 50 great games on Xbox 360, and “Halo’s” the pinnacle. I do agree with that. But what’s causing the critical mass … inside of our business is the fact that there’s “Halo” and 49 other really high-rated games.

Tracking ahead to exclusives for next year, what does Microsoft have on tap?

There’s a collection of exclusive and third-party hits, and we’re going to have a similar year to what we’ve enjoyed in 2007... We’re excited about “Grand Theft Auto [IV],” not only because it’s a great title, but there’s multi-play and downloadable content that consumers will only be able to get on 360. That’s a huge win. Arguably that title has the potential to be the “Halo” equivalent in calendar year 2008 in terms of number-one title revenue unit.

Sony is predicting that its tech for the PlayStation 3 will have the same lifecycle as the PS2 – roughly a decade. Do you think the 360 will have a similar shelf life, and moreover, do you want it to?

I think it definitely has the potential to have a similar shelf life. When I think about Microsoft, I think about an organization that has spent eight years inside of this category. Getting the original Xbox to market was a challenge, the company did that and achieved the goals that it set out but really hadn’t built the critical mass and muscle as it thought about the challenge of running an Xbox program and a 360 program at the same time.

So the company made a choice and said, “OK, we’re transitioning, we’re now going to be building Xbox 360 and continuing to scale the organization.” We’re at a point now where we’re eight years in, and there’s more resources, more third-party support, more retail support and more consumer support. And it’s very probable that this will be a longer life cycle.

I would argue, and I said the same thing to [Sony’s] Jack Tretton, that the success of the Wii, which is undeniable, and the DS, which is also undeniable, would lead me to believe that the mainstream consumer doesn’t care so much about high quality graphics. They just want fun gameplay.

We need to have fun games and I think we do. Again, our industry is getting to be a broad global industry. Nintendo traditionally, if you look at their company, they’ve done very well having fun games aimed at youth … we’re trying to build fun games targeted at youth and teenagers and adults. It’s a broader vision.

Xbox Live has been a phenomenal success…but the title lineup consists mostly of classic arcade game ports and few original IPs. Is that something that you plan to change, or do those arcade-y games that work for this forum?

First off, I think it’s incredibly hard to create a community that touches 8 million-plus. I wouldn’t want to move past that. In terms of the content and what we hope to do in the future … we want to continue to build that out in all fronts.

Games for Windows Live is quite a bit behind where Xbox Live is. Why is that?

We’re going through the natural learning curve of growing our products and offerings … Is it where our program is on 360? Definitely not. Do we aspire to get to a similar level of success in the future? We do.

While we’re on the topic, has Microsoft made the sort of progress with (Games for Windows) that it was promising? Seems like games are still slow to come to the PC, and not many are yet taking advantage of DX10 and Vista.

I think there are some samples of success. Would we like to have more? Yes we would. We’re working with our third-party partners to get more support. We have a good level of support already but we’d like to have a high degree of support and as many titles on Games for Windows that we can get to.

Short term and long term, what are your plans for growing the business, expanding things you’ve done particularly well, improving things that have been neglected?

I think we’ve got great fundamentals, and we’re going to continue to drive against those fundamentals to over-deliver value and satisfaction to consumers. [We have] the best and broadest lineup of hits, the best hardware, the best live service, and as we continue to expand that live service between the 360 and the PC … That’s the business that we’re in. I’m really pleased with how we’ve assembled the component parts for this holiday season and what it means in terms of our ability to grow in scale as we look into 2008.

My take on the interview? Don knows his stuff!

-Josh

Guitar Hero 3 & Beautiful Katamari

Thu, 08 Nov 2007 02:57:20 GMT

So a few people found out that I had Guitar Hero 3 and all randomly decided to come over last Sunday for a jam session. It just so happened hat I also had Beautiful Katamari and cookies as well. The games were fun, and the cookies were delicious. I've got the pics from the evening's festivities posted now, you'll probably see them on the right of the page.

Here's a few quotes from the evening:

"This game is hard, but once you get a song down you can't stop" - Unidentified Female

"We rock" - Unidentified Female's friend

"I beat Josh last night on this song" - Proud, and still Unidentified Female

"That's because real players play on hard" - Me

"..." - Ahem, Unidentified Female with glare

"I like the new Les Paul guitar rather than the old one" - Everyone

"The song selection is much better in this one" - Me

"Get your guitar up, up.....UP PLEASE!!" - Me

"Keep the cookies" - Unidentified Male

"Walmart blows" - Unidentified Male

Overall, our experiences with GH3 as a group were fantastic. It's been great to see a couple people outside my typical "gamer guys" group pick up a guitar and really have fun with it. In only a short 2 weeks my wife and her friend Jenni have been stepping up from the Easy difficulty to the Medium difficulty. There's probably no better feeling to me as a gamer to see those who didn't like it previously to start gaining an interest, nay a liking, to something so abstract to them before.

Besides GH3 we also had a Beautiful Katamari station set up in the same room so if you were done getting embarrased in GH3 you could try your luck with Beautiful Katamari. Surprisingly, everyone who picked up a controller to give it a try ended up liking it. For a game with such a foriegn style and a completely bizarre plot it seemed to be the gameplay itself that lured everyone to it. The game is easily playable by anyone, but it was only a few "missions" into the single player experience that the difficulty really went up in a hurry. Now that I've seen others playing it, and readily enjoying it, I think it's safe to say that its something that anyone could play and get into. The multiplayer was a smart addition.

Josh

Square container full of tropical fruit native to the state of Florida

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 07:01:35 GMT

I wasn't sold on Orange box a month ago. Even once the stellar reviews came out on it, I still wasn't sold.

I had a buddy bring over a copy of The Orange Box to my house a few nights back. We started on Portal at about 10pm or so. It wasn't until 2:30 in the morning until we stopped, having completely melted our brains into an unrecognizable pile of mush bringing the game onto it's defeated knees. I still wasn't sold on Orange Box. While Portal was fun, intuitive, and revolutionary, I found the experience to be a bit short.

I played Half-Life 2 on the original Xbox from start to finish and loved that experience. The story was gripping, the action was fun, and the puzzles set before the player were always rewarding to finish. I expected the same out of Episode One and Episode Two. Unfortunately, my friend Nicon22 was being a self-centered "if I can't play this then I'll just take my game home so you can't play it" crybaby about the whole thing and wanted to go home at 3am. Jerk. Gamers play all night sir, sleep is for babies.

Before he left for the evening I did see him play about 5 minutes of Team Fortress 2. Even by the end of the 5 minutes I was befuddled. I had no idea what class did what, and what each class of character was capable of. I wasn't too uppity on the graphics either. I know, the graphics don't make the game. But at the time I felt as if they weren't really helping anything.

I was wrong. I couldn't have been more wrong about the entire game. Long story short, I ended up purchasing the game for myself. Happy 3 month early Birthday gift for me! I sat down and forced myself to learn Team Fortress 2. I joined a game with Nicon22 and Knuckles Dawson and loved every minute of it. It's one of those rare games that even if you lose, it's still fun to play. I've had my share of wins thus far, but I've had nearly the same amount of losses. Team Fortress 2 has proved to be an extremely valuable game. It's depth is far reaching, and the visual style applied to the game fits exactly how a class-based game should. Listen to the developer commentary in TF2 before you make a judgement call on its graphical style. It made me look at things just a little diffrently, and made me realize how wrong I was in judging it. TF2 is a must buy.

I just think it's one hell of a bonus that you get 4 extra games included. I could rant and rave about those other 4 parts, but I know that if you go out and buy it, you won't need my opinion. I'm curious as to what you thought of Orange Box.

So I've been a bit busy...

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 06:40:20 GMT

Over the last few months I've been putting nearly all of my writing work into Xboxaddict.com. I've been writing a monthly column entitled "Month in Review" which summarizes each month's happenings in the Xbox world, and carefully putting them all together in an easy-to-read format. Head over to Xboxaddict.com and check it out. Come November, I'll have a busy October to write about.

Lingenfelter Performance Engineering. Who are these guys anyways?

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 02:50:06 GMT

If you've been sucked into Forza 2 lately as I have, then I'm sure you've encountered or been passed by a Lingenfelter 427 Corvette. I was fortunate enough to not only take an extensive plant tour of their facility in Decatur Indiana, but get a great interview concerning their involvement in Forza 2. Check it out!

(Also hosted on XboxAddict.com)

Lingenfelter Q&A, with Lingenfelter Sales Representative Kevin Jeffery

What can you tell me about Lingenfelter, more specifically about the late John Lingenfelter and a little of his background?
"Sure, this year is Lingenfelter's 26th anniversary John Lingenfelter had originally started in a small two to three bay garage, focusing on crate engines and it's what made his reputation. As John got into racing he was always known for horsepower, ran several different classes, dragsters, and pro-stock trucks. He got into the NHRA and had Summit as a sponsor, and built really nice campaign. After they got rid of the pro stock truck John got into the imports and the Chevy Cavalier. He did a 4-cylinder cavalier with 1400 horsepower and a single turbo. At the time it was Garrett's largest turbo available."

Why would a company like Lingenfelter be in Decatur Indiana?
"John was originally from Pennsylvania, moved to Decatur Indiana as an engineer for International Harvester in Fort Wayne. And that's the time John really got into turbo chargers on some of the semi's. He always had an interest in that, so it became something he grew a passion for outside of International Harvester and started living his dream. He was determined and nothing held him back, he made it happen."

In the plant tour you gave us today it was clearly evident how Lingenfelter goes above and beyond for it's customers. For those who weren't there, what were a couple of those things?
"The overall quality and craftsmanship, the attention to detail, and it's drive ability goes a long way for us. Other people out there can make a car with equal horsepower, but not the driveabiltiy. Our guys are meticulous in every detail, and they have to be. Our client el demand that type of service and our staff delivers just that. These are nice vehicles, they aren't doing just your average brake job, they take pride in what they do and treat every car as if it's their own."

Quite a few Lingenfelter cars have been featured in various media outlets such as Car and Driver. Any others?
"Car and Driver, Motor Trend, Auto Week and many others. We really try to focus on the bigger stories and articles. We always have something going on, but a good article with a great review can't be better for this company as far as advertising. We have a great word-of-mouth reputation as well, and the forums online have been very good for us. The forums can be good for us and sometimes not so good for us. It doesn't matter if you're Lingenfelter or Joe Down the Street, you'll always have critics. But where we set ourselves apart is taking care of anyone with a warranty issue, should one come up.

Forums can be dangerous territory for sure. The 2002 Lingenfelter Corvette 427 is featured in Forza 2. What other models are you known to work with?
"Mainly LS Series GM Rear-wheel V8 applications. That covers obviously the whole Corvette line, Camaro, Trans-Am, GTO, Cadallac CTS-V, any truck offered with a V8, the Escallade, Denalli's and so on. The trucks have been a great fill-in for the Camaro which isn't in production any more."

How has the import scene affected Lingnfelter's?
"Not much. The Corvette crowd is a huge, passionate crowd. Typically even on the foreign customers, a lot of times they will ask us to find a car for them and we'll put them in touch with a dealer for purchase."

How much money does the average person put into upgrades at Lingenfelter?
"Typically our upgrade packages range from about 8K to 250K. With our standard packages those run about 45K. The overall average is more realistically 25K. If someone can't afford the turbo package it's very common for them to select other options such as wheels, brakes, and other upgrades."

What are a few upgrades or modifications that are easily overlooked, but prove to be essential in maximum performance?
"Before the purchase we will make sure that all bases are covered, by a sales standpoint. We'll detail what all is possible, for what price, to make sure that the customer is fully aware of how they can maximize the performance of their car. We cover every option to make sure nothing gets missed."

Where does Lingenfelter perform its testing of vehicles for benchmarking purposes?
"We feature our own Dyno's in house for not only the engine itself but the chassis Dyno as well. It measures the power applied to the ground."

What is the highest amount of horsepower you've seen in a car from Lingenfelter?
"The car that we have now, we haven't released an official number yet, but I can tell you it's in the ballpark of 1500 horses at the crank. Another thing, it's hard to measure. When you get to that point in can become slightly inaccurate at the Dyno at the higher end. As far as Torque is concerned, at that HP range we're talking 1300 to 1400."

Is this street legal?
"Absolutely."

Does Lingenfelter feature any corporate partnerships in upgrades and tuning?
"No not really. All of our work is done in-house. It's nearly all exclusive. Of course there's hackers out there that can read our programming. It seems like there's someone out there who can hack anything..."

But then you're getting into the final touches and the customer service than Lingenfelter is known for, that someone else is going without.
"Exactly. We've got engineers in house who fine tune everything for each individual car. So each job is treated differently in that respect."

You had mentioned before that you were involved in the ASA and NHRA. Any others?
"Nothing anymore. The ASA had bankrupted. They contacted us once they got going overseas again, but since then we had built a small run of engines. From a racing league standpoint, no involvement really."

Lingenfelter is now represented in a completely new market to them, videogames. Specifically, Forza Motorsport 2 on the Xbox 360. What does this mean to a company like yours?
"This is huge for us. To see that they've done this in all types of games in this generation is huge, as this is becoming more and more mainstream than where it was in the past. I'm confident this will become a huge influence in the future. And maybe even some now. Most people don't call in and say they saw our car in a game and now they want one, but it broadens the awareness of the brand and even the upgrades available on our models. We're excited to be a part of this now and in the future."

Thanks for your time Kevin!
"Anytime."

You can see more of Lingenfelter's work at Lingenfelter.com.

Forza Owns me

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 04:07:29 GMT

Have you played Forza 2 yet? This game is absolutely owning me right now. I downloaded the demo about a month ago, tried it, and really didn't like it that much. I found it too difficult to keep my car on the tarmac, as I was spending more time in the sand and dirt than I was on the pavement. Then I got my hands on the retail game. Once I figured out how to tune the car to my liking, I was immediately hooked. The graphics are great, sound is excellent, and the controls feel just right. My only complaint at this point is the fact that you can't expect to spend all your time and budget on a single car, as you're forced to use different classes and makes to progress through the game. I wish I could take a single car and max it out and race it over the course of an entire career if I choose to. Oh well, there's always Forza 3.

I had some time to try my best at some paint jobs. These are certainly nothing compared to some out there, but I'm especially proud of the Crazy Taxi design. Check it out!

Make your own weapon!!

Wed, 09 May 2007 05:30:31 GMT

EA handed this down to me:

Army of Two Weapon Design Contest

When you’re a two-man army, your weapons are your best friends.

EA launched today an ARMY OF TWO™ weapon design contest via the game website www.armyoftwo.com. From May 7 to June 15, gamers can submit their ultimate weapon to be included as a special unlockable pre-order item in the Xbox 360 version of the game.

Delivering a groundbreaking strategic 3rd person co-op shooter unparalleled in the action genre, EA Montreal’s ARMY OF TWO focuses on gameplay centered around TWO man missions, TWO man strategies, TWO man tactics and a TWO man advantage. Throughout the game, players can customize and upgrade dozens of deadly weapons and share them with their friends off or online.

To enter the contest, gamers will need to submit an image of their weapon and a brief 500-word description. Please click on the game website to see the official rules. Gamers can also access new gameplay screens on the site as well as see examples of customized weapons in the game. Once gamers submit their designs, the images will be posted on the site for the community to vote on. Come June 16, the top weapons will be reviewed by the development team who will then pick two lucky designs to be created and included in the game.

In ARMY OF TWO, players can seamlessly transition from AI to live partner as they fight their way through war, turmoil and a conspiracy so vast it threatens the entire world. When one man is not enough, it’s going to take an army of two, and a whole lot of weapons, to save us.
http://www.ea.com/armyoftwo/weaponslab.jsp

So you wanted a black 360?

Mon, 30 Apr 2007 02:58:32 GMT

If you wanted the Xbox 360 Elite because it was niiiiiice lookn', check this out. You can send away your 360 and have it professionally done up for less than 25% of what an Elite would cost you.

Not a bad alternative, especially if you don't need the 120 GB HDD and the HDMI.

Need more "wacka-wacka-wacka" in your diet?

Thu, 26 Apr 2007 01:22:04 GMT

(UPDATE BELOW)...if so, I've got just the thing! Post a comment as to which ghost featured in Pac-Man is your favorite and why (Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde), and you'll have a chance to win one of three copies of Pac-Man for the Xbox Live Arcade. There is a global tournament being hosted by Xbox Live for Pac-Man! For more information, CLICK HERE. The more original the post the more likely you are to win! Good luck!!!

Courtesy of Gamerscoreblog.com

"A total of nine finalists will advance to the finals, based upon the highest Xbox LIVE Arcade leaderboard scores. There will be one finalist from each of the following countries and geographic areas: Asia, Australia/New Zealand, Canada, Japan and Mexico; and two finalists from Europe and the United States.

The winner of the finals will also receive other great prizes, including 26 years of free Quiznos toasted subs (one sandwich a week for 26 years), 100,000 Microsoft Points for games, movies and other fun content available on Xbox LIVE, and a one-of-a-kind Xbox 360 featuring a special design inspired by “Pac-Man.”

Sounds awesome!

UPDATE:

As of 4-27 all codes have been awarded!

The 4 winners thus far have been notified! Check the comments for more info.

Suggest an Xbox Live Arcade title!!!

Fri, 20 Apr 2007 14:20:44 GMT

Check this thread out over at the Xbox Forums! You have a chance to suggest an Arcade title that will be voted on later! Stop in and suggest your favorite title (if it's not already on the list).

Josh

GHII Song Pack Announcement

Wed, 11 Apr 2007 21:52:44 GMT

Xbox 360 Fanboy just posted an article describing the new pricing structure for upcoming "song packs" downloadable on the Xbox Live Marketplace for Guitar Hero II.

Each pack contains 3 songs and is currently priced at 500 points each.

What do you think? Is this price too high? Just right?

I've already recieved over 10 messages from people voicing their opinion, most of which contained some kind of naughty language, (bad feedback on you!!! j/k :D ) which obviously wasn't in approval to the pricing of the song packs. I saw a great comment today that seemed to place everything in perspective, it went something like this:

"In a day where you'll pay over 6 dollars for a latte and a muffin and your local starbucks, 500 points isn't bad for a song pack you'll enjoy for months to come." I have to agree, but I'll b honest when I say that when I first saw the 500 point price tag I was a little shocked.

What do you think?

GTA IV Video

Tue, 03 Apr 2007 04:21:28 GMT

In case you missed it, (is that possible?) the Grand Theft Auto IV trailer was released on Xbox Live Marketplace last week. Turn your 360 on and download it in HD!

Impressions: From what we've seen in the video, it looks as if Liberty City has been mirrored to New York City, down to the last ticker on Wall Street. This makes me wonder how large the city will actually pan out in the game. I'd love to see the entire city mapped out for gameplay.

The gentlemen in the video who's speaking speaks of a past history of crime. From his dialogue it sounds like he's either looking for a new peaceful, productive life, or he's looking to make Liberty City his bitch. I'm betting on the latter.

Again, the cars are unlicenced, but already look to have much more character than the boxish types we've seen in previous GTA's.

The population is much more "busy" looking. I'm hoping to see a large difference in night life vs day life in the city as far as pedestrians and social activities are concerned.

It sounds like we're getting more of the same, only bigger and more detailed. I'll take it.

Jetpac Refulled!

Tue, 03 Apr 2007 04:07:03 GMT

I recently had the chance to play through Jetpac Refuelled on the Xbox Live Arcade, and left the experience feeling impressed, and yet ashamed as a gamer... I'll explain.

I know Rare. I know they make good games. I've been a huge fan of their games in fact. I spent more time on Donkey Kong 64 and Diddy Kong Racing on the N64 than I did playing Goldeneye and Perfect Dark together. (I loved Blast Corps by the way.) I dived into the games industry head first as the N64 gave way to the all powerful Dreamcast, and I found myself becoming more familiar everyday with not only the hot games of the time, but the past games I missed as well.

Unfortunately, the original Jetpac is one of those "classic" games I never played. There, I said it. I never played it. Fast forward to today. I know what Jetpac is, I know what Jetpac has done for Rare, and I know how it's played. Going into Refuelled I wanted to try today's version, since I had no sentimental feelings towards the old version. So after 20 minutes of fun with Refuelled, I gave the retro version a chance. (You gotta love that option.) It was awesome to see how the game had been updated to play to today's audience while keeping the main addicting gameplay intact from the original.

In short, the graphics are great, the sounds are spot-on, controls feel tight, and the gameplay is very fun. My only complaint is that I feel like the gameplay is a bit shallow. Follow these three steps, kill stuff on the screen, assemble your stuff, get out. Go to next planet, repeat. On the other hand, the live suppport has been surprisingly deep. Not only are their many different scoreboards to sort through (yes, I found a scoreboard that made me look godlike :D ) but there is live gameplay available to extend the replay value waaaay past the 400 points necessarry to purchase this one.

This one's a no-brainer, buy it. You'll like it.

Crackdown Review

Mon, 12 Mar 2007 08:39:18 GMT

Okay, it's true. I haven't updated my blog for over a month. Life called.

Anyways, it's 2:30 here in Seattle, I just arrived for the 2007 MVP Summit here in Seattle WA and I'm tired. No, tired is not even close to an accurate statement. I'm rung out, beat up, ragged, weathered, and just down right sleepy. I will post a more detailed review of Crackdown later (hopefully tomorrow), but until then know this:

-I've played crackdown for approximately 20+ hours in the last 2 weeks. It's all I've played until Worms came out on the Arcade.

Graphics - 9/10 Nothing completely floors you, except the beautiful explosions of course. The graphical style here is presented perfectly for a game like this.

Gameplay - 8/10 After defeating the bosses and maxing out my character I had nothing to do but search for mystery orbs. It ends up being more frustrating than enjoyable after that point. But before that happens you'll be experiencing blissful jumping and blowing crap up. It doesn't get much better than that!!

Sound - 9/10 The varied sounds from pedestrians give this title a sense of realism grounded in reality, then you jump 36 feet in the air, throw a car and hear it crunch against the pavement and a gang member's hip bone. I love it.

Live Capability - 8/10 Co-op through and through. The progress saves for each player have some glitches to work through yet.

Overall - 8.5/10 Worth the 60? Yes. Co-op and a great gameplay experience make this worth it. Don't expect much replay once you beat all the bosses though.

I'll try to go into further detail tomorrow. More things to come from Summit 2007 in the coming days!

Crackdown: Demo Impressions

Thu, 25 Jan 2007 05:30:18 GMT

After playing through the demo twice, I thought I'd post a small write up of my impressions of Crackdown thus far. First off, when playing the demo the first time around I had a very hard time adjusting to its controls compared to Saints Row, which I've been playing the **** out of lately. Thus, when playing it through the second time I paid closer attention to the tips given to the player. Once I figured out that capturing the control points on the map was the first objective, I concentrated my efforts on traversing the city to get to each. It was when I was doing this that I realized how fun just moving though the city really is once you figure out that you can grab any pole, ledge, building, etc. Freakn' amazing! Once my agility was upgraded twice I was able to move more fluently though the city on the rooftops than I ever could in Spiderman 2. For once I really felt like a true superhero has come to life on the screen. I had total control where I was moving, how high I wanted to go, what I wanted to do, and what I wanted to accomplish.

Once learned, I found the controls to be absolutely wonderful. The left trigger in aiding the auto aim was a brilliant touch. Here's a hint; once you hold down the left trigger, tap the right stick up and you'll see that in the aim indicator the head of your opponent will now be in red. Wait for the recticle to center around the head and you have an easy headshot. Of course, I was able to do this later once my weapons skills had increased. But having the ability to not only auto-aim, but take further control past just pointing your weapon towards the enemy was awesome!

When I saw first saw screenshots of the game I wasn't too sure what to think. But I can tell you that the graphical style presented fit this title perfectly. The explosions are top-notch visually and audibly. My only concern is that most of the weapons I've played with so far have the a similar rattling noise when fired.

I haven't played co-op yet, but once I get the chance I'm sure I'll enjoy it.

So far I've had an absolute blast playing this, I can't wait to get a hold of the retail version.

-Mordeux

What happened to Windows Media Connect??

Sat, 20 Jan 2007 17:00:47 GMT

Okay, so I was looking to put WMC on the wife's laptop today. I go to xbox.com/pcsetup. I click on Windows XP SP2. I'm then led to a page where I must download Zune Setup software, coming in at 5 mb. Before doing that I search google for any windows media connect software still out there, without Zune attached to it. None. So I'm forced to download Zune setup. Great.

I download the setup. 5 mb later I launch it. I'm then presented with a rotating billboard of such filled with Zune ads and general gibber-jabber only to be told that my zune setup software was now downloading while I get the privilage of watching the ads. WHOOO HOOO! I downloaded 5 megs of ads!! YAY!

For a company that I take pride in, knowing that they were the ones that gave customers choice when it came to their next-gen format I was shocked to see the Zune brand shoved down the throats of everyone looking to connect their media. I'm very dissapointed in that.

Off-Topic as ever

Thu, 21 Dec 2006 06:28:10 GMT

Yeah, this is about as OT as it gets. But it must be shared!

What are you giving for Christmas?

The wheel keeps on turning

Wed, 29 Nov 2006 00:28:17 GMT

So something showed up at the door today...you'll see pics on the right.

In one word, the new Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel is supreme. Forget about the Burger King guy, this wheel will rule on your favorite racers on the Xbox 360. One wheel to rule them all.

This wheel was tested only with PGR 3 (included with the Wireless Wheel).

Quality of Materials - 9/10
From the wheel itself to the table clamp to the pedal assembly, this entire unit is the most solid wheel built for consoles at the retail level. I've used wheels in the past, most notible the Mad Catz MC2 steering wheel for the Xbox/PS2/Cube. The first difference that you'll notice with this wheel over any other is the overall feel when steering the wheel from side to side. You'll notice a level of resistance that doesn't make it feel phony. The others I have used have simply felt too weak, to chincy and simply not satisfying on any level. This wheel provides the level of resistance that feels just right. Like you're really grabbing onto the steering wheel of a 400 horsepower beast, and not a toy. The resistance on the pedals is wonderful as well. With your foot resting on the pedals they won't quickly fall to the ground like it will with the others.

While it's a small detail, you'll notice chrome at the bottom of the wheel, as well as a stainless steel ring around the center of the wheel. You'll also spot the right pedal of the pedal assembly is also based in stainless steel. While this doesn't advance the playability of any racing title, it's certainly flashy enough to keep out in the game room and not be ashamed to show with your setup by any means. You'll also notice that the top of the wheel is completely coated in a full rubber suit with a grip pattern worked into it. After an hours worth of play, even damp hands wasn't enough to detract from gameplay. The grips kept the wheel well under control at all times.

Ease of Setup - 10/10
Absolutely nothing had to be assembled, other than the power cord to the steering wheel base (for force-feedback), and the RJ-11 cable from the pedals to the wheel base. Other than that, everything was plug and play. To connect the wheel to the system is the same procedure as connecting any Xbox 360 wireless device to the system. Piece of cake.

Value 9/10
At $150.00, this is an absolute must for any hardcore racing fan, or anyone wanting to get the most out of their investment in a next-gen system. If you're going to invest in an HDTV set, why not get the most out of your games? This wheel does just that. Precise control, great looks, and compatability with the most popular racers on the Xbox 360.

Features 9/10
This wheel has all the features you're going to need in any next-gen wheel. The wireless capabilities are simply astounding. Every turn was razor-sharp, and I noticed absolutely no delay with any control in-game. The force feedback is my only complaint, if you want to call it that. The overall force feedback feature is on par with any force feedback feature of any wheel on the market. But what I expected was something closer to an arcade experience, where if you hit a wall or any other barrier the wheel is nearly taken out of your hands to one direction of the next. This didn't happen. That said, the force feedback was very noticeable and added a good measure of realism to the game. With the force feedback on, the rumble effect of the wheel wasn't overly noticeable. This may change with a different game being played. The force feedback is automatically on with any force feedback enabled racer when the power cord is plugged in to the wheel base. But a small feature that hasn't been noticed or talked about, is that this wheel will also act as a charging base for your rechargeable battery packs for your other wireless devices for the Xbox 360. So when it is in use or not, this assembly will charge all your wireless packs, one at a time.

Overall 9/10
Simply, this is the best wheel ever produced for a home console. It doesn't get much better than that folks. Bottom line, if you want a true next-gen experience with all your games, get the Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel for all your racers for a truly great experience. I can't recommend this enough.

Josh

Gears, reviewed!

Thu, 09 Nov 2006 16:25:45 GMT

This review may sound extreme, but please bear with me...

This is by far, bar none, the most rewarding multiplayer game I have ever played. Period.

A little history of my gaming experiences, I am nearly 23 years old, and was raised on NES and the SNES. When I was able to start paying for my own games I bought a Nintendo 64 and had Goldeneye matches at my home, weekly. (who didn't?). I also played DK64 from start to finish in less than 40 hours over the course of 3 days. I then bought a Dreamcast. 25 games and 600 dollars of accessories later the Dreamcast was starting to die off. I then purchased an Xbox, and played every splinter cell, ghost recon, and halo 2 to death.

Then came the 360. I've played every major release, including but not limited to, PDZ, PGR, Madden 07, Kameo, Ghost Recon AW, SC:DA, CoD2, and many others.

What does Gears have that these other titles do not? Grit. Sheer exhilaration. Constant action. Forced teamwork. A new visual style all its own, never captured in any game before it.

This is the first and only game where I will be curb-stomped, shot in half, and cut down the midsection with a chainsaw and still have the time of my life. I always feel like everyone has a decent chance to make a difference for their team, which draws everyone out of the woodwork and into the action. Simply an unbelievable experience unlike anything you've ever played before. (And the ability to turn off the excessive gore and blood certainly makes this more appropriate in front of sensitive people, a great touch!)

Go out on foot if you have to, to add this game to your library. Take the time to really learn the cover system and find out what it takes to get around each map. I haven't played on every map yet (about 5 hours of multiplayer in so far) but I can honestly tell you there's not one stinker in the bunch that I've run into. Fantastic!! I can't wait to see what Microsoft Games Studios and Epic have in store for us next.

Josh

-Wireless headset review coming in a couple days!

HD-DVD vs. BluRay - The Consumer will decide

Sat, 02 Sep 2006 02:52:24 GMT

While the message of this posting will be brief, the underlying issue here speaks volumes of the high definition format war.

Since the launch of the Xbox 360 we've heard the issue of BR vs. HD-DVD time and time again. But how will a winner be defined in this format war? The customers will decide. You will decide. My wife will decide.

I've had a theory since the announcment of BluRay that because of the name alone, the majority of consumers will choose HD-DVD over BluRay simply because of the name. This theory sounds elementary in nature, but comfort and consumer confidence is what drives our economy. I decided tonight that I would test this theory.

10 minutes prior to posting this, I posed the question to my wife:

"Do you know what BluRay is?" I asked.

"No," she replied.

I then asked, "What's HD-DVD? Have you heard of that?"

"No, but I would guess that's High-Definition DVD."

"Good guess," I replied, "now let me ask you this. Let's say we just bought our first HDTV.
Would you feel more comfortable purchasing a 400 dollar HD-DVD player? Or a 400 dollar BluRay player?"

"A HD-DVD player," She said.

"Why?"

"Because I already know what that is," She replied.

Now how many times will this same thought process happen across the United States? How many times do you go into an electronics store and want to be badgered and educated by the sales staff as to what's what? Not many people, and customer service certainly isn't what it used to be in most cases. In a Google world of self-education and comfy couch 'net shoppers, people buy what they're comfortable with. You may not be this way, but we are the minority. The majority of consumers buy their groceries, electronics, outdoor equipment, and clothing from the same store. HD-DVD and BluRay will be in those stores. Which do you think people will buy?

Just a thought.

What I'm playing now and what I want to be playing...

Thu, 31 Aug 2006 04:39:29 GMT

What do I have in my 360 right now? A lot of Madden 07 actually. I promised myself that I wouldn't be playing it this year unless there were proven enhancements to the game and not a tech-demo ('06). It only took about 2 hours of casual play time with a friend to make me bum money off of another guy to get the game. So not only do I owe someone money in Texas Hold Em (you did download that for free right?) but now I owe money to someone in the real world.... ouch.

Other than Madden 07, I have been playing a ton of Texas Hold 'Em. The game is a bit slow-paced compared to some PC-online equivalants but hey, IT WAS FREE!!! Did I mention it was free? Yeah, it was free.

After reading about the recent back-compat update for the 360 I decided to go through some of my Xbox games and try em again for the first time. I popped in Crimson Skies, and to my amazement the game was still a blast to play. I'm also eyeing Jade Empire again, truly the first RPG I fell in love with.

Anyways, I have way too many games I'm interested in now which is a big change from about a month ago. Now if I can only find another person to bum 60 bucks off of for Saints Row I think I'll be well satisifed until Gears of War.

Current games in the rotation:
Madden 07
Burnout Revenge
Burnout Takedown
Crimson Skies
Texas Hold 'Em
UNO <---- camera support in this one makes it a blast!!!

Games Wanted:
Saints Row
Dead Rising

Money needed:
$60.00 + Tax

Driving your buddy to Freckle Bitch's cuz he's jones'n for a funbag? Priceless.

Saints Row Demo Impressions

Thu, 03 Aug 2006 02:51:38 GMT

In case you missed it, the demo for Saint's Row has now been released on Xbox Live Marketplace. First of all, I gotta say that this game thus far has been just as fun as I thought it would be.

Pros
- Fully customizable character in single player
- "Rag-Doll" physics + the Havok engine bring a great sense of possibility and realism.
- Voice acting is more "real", and not so cinimatic or scripted as I thought GTAIII and Vice City were.
- Some great voice actors thus far
- Control scheme works very well once fully understood

Cons
- Framerate seems as if it occasionally hits as low as 15 fps in most areas. Not good. The only time I saw 30fps or better was when I was standing in the end of a dead-end alley looking at near bare walls.
- Police AI is intellegent at times, yet utterly dim-witted at other times. Example - I took shelter during a chase in the gun store, barracading myself in a room. The cops surrounded every exit and then entered taking me down, but not without a fight!! Soon after, I found myself in trouble with the law again. I jumped into a large body of water as one cop jumped in to chase me and then drowned as I swam away. Meanwhile there's a line of 12 cops running along the shore line. After 15 minutes my wanted level went down and they just left. Only a couple shots were fired at me and the rest of the cops ran to the nearest bakery.
-Not enough vehicle diversity. Sedans, wagons, vans and a couple sporty cars were the only ones found. I hope this is different in the retail release.
-Weapon switching interrupts gameplay. Unless there's a better method, holding the B button and picking your next weapon with the analog stick takes away your mobility. You're a sitting duck if you switch weapons.
-Graphics are certainly not up to Next-Gen quality. Low poly counts are everywhere. This may be excusable if the FPS were up to 30 or better.
-Sound effects are average. Every bit of debris you run over sounds like some amount of cardboard being thrown into a corner of a soundroom.

Overall this is a fun demo, but it hasn't gone out of it's way to impress me.

Marketplace content ratings

Sat, 15 Jul 2006 03:40:11 GMT

Dear Microsoft,

I understand the entire game certification process that it must undergo to recieve a rating from the ESRB before it's retail release. And I also understand why demos are not given a rating because they are still in production.

However, why aren't trailers for movies that ARE rated given a rating? Why are parents not able to filter downloads on a child's account based on movie ratings? With Digital Entertainment, it's either you have access to it all, or none of it. This is something that I think could be improved upon. It would give movie studios a captured audience, especially in the 9 and younger age group if the only trailers they were able to view would be PG and under, etc. Those settings would be up to the parent or guardian. Can more specific parental settings be another addition in the fall release?

Especially in the case of the Halo 3 documentary I'm glad I didn't watch it in front of any "young ones". Granted, those of us familiar with the Halo franchise know that it will most likely carry an M rating. But what about those that don't know? Can't these clips carry some type of rating as well?

I was dissapointed to find that once content downloads are restricted, the user loses all access to Digital Entertainment. I would assume that they'd also lose content such as the Halo 3 documentary. This is a huge loss to developers, film studios, and any other content providers. Perhaps a new Bob The Builder movie comes out and a trailer is released. My 7 year old cousin with a profile won't be able to download it on his own, and if I download it for him I'll have to make darn sure he doesn't try to view a Rumble Roses preview or something like that. However, if the clips were given a rating, (or a projected rating) then market-specific content can be released for everyone.

Xbox Live is supposed to be kid-friendly now, let's make it happen.

Mordeux

Throw an Xbox Live Arcade party!

Sat, 15 Jul 2006 01:27:23 GMT

Grab some of your friends, and Microsoft wants to send you 1000 microsoft points, some free music downloads, and papa john's pizza for free!

Details here

Frogger + Van Halen downloads = Mandatory Mullets.

nuf said :) Let me know if you're hosting a party, and I'll gladly host pictures! The best party pics will be entered into a contest exclusively from myself and a winner will be given an awesome reward...more details coming soon.

So True!

Mon, 03 Jul 2006 02:14:24 GMT

If you never had an NES you probably won't find this funny..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p95wwBqR65A

My new ride

Tue, 27 Jun 2006 01:58:23 GMT

Check out the latest pics added today (6-27-2006) on the right hand side. My new ride in Moto GP '06 is hotttt! :)

I. Want. Crackdown.

Fri, 09 Jun 2006 20:56:53 GMT

After seeing this video on Gamerscore blog, and seeing the e3 video for Crackdown, I can honestly say I can't wait to get addicted to Crack...down.

Seems like a perfect mix between the do-anything style of GTA, the "bust some heads" style of Narc, and the free flowing kick-ya-ass superpower style of Spiderman. I've got this one on my preorder list, do you?

I cannot wait!

Don't say I didn't call it...

Wed, 17 May 2006 02:28:28 GMT

Check this out

Was I on it, or was I on it? :)

Call of Duty 2 "Game of the Year" Edition??

Mon, 08 May 2006 04:12:01 GMT

According to EB GAMES, Activision has been working on another release of CoD2. This one given the Game of the Year treatment. What does this mean? Here's my guess:

-All bug fixes and patches already applied. No need for download.

-Fancy packaging with a more robust manual. Most likely, we'll see bio's on all the playable soldiers.

-All "soon to be released" downloadable maps already on this disc.

This is just my educated guess. :)

It's official, the name blows.

Fri, 28 Apr 2006 04:42:27 GMT

In case you haven't heard, it's not the Nintendo Revolution any more. It's the Nintendo Wii. (Pronounced Weee)

Here's the ungodly terrible, while still official, press release:

"Introducing ... Wii

As in "we."

While the code-name "Revolution" expressed our direction, Wii represents the answer.

Wii will break down that wall that separates video game players from everybody else.

Wii will put people more in touch with their games ... and each other. But you're probably asking: What does the name mean?

Wii sounds like "we," which emphasizes this console is for everyone.

Wii can easily be remembered by people around the world, no matter what language they speak. No confusion. No need to abbreviate. Just Wii.

Wii has a distinctive "ii" spelling that symbolizes both the unique controllers and the image of people gathering to play.

And Wii, as a name and a console, brings something revolutionary to the world of video games that sets it apart from the crowd.

So that's Wii. But now Nintendo needs you.

Because, it's really not about you or me.

It's about Wii.

And together, Wii will change everything."

Holy Crap where do I begin??

"But now Nintendo needs you."

No SH** Sherlock. Who was the moron that came up with that brilliant press release? I think what Nintendo really needs is a boot to the head, and fast.

I liked Nintendo, I really did. But this just pisses me off. It's like they're honestly putting forth effort for failure and I can't understand why people don't see it. Sure they have a handful of franchises, but they are selling on handhelds not home consoles (with the exception of Zelda, I'll give you that.).

"Wii will change everything." Yeah, well can you change my shirt please? I think I threw up a little bit by the time I got to the bottom of this craptastic press release. While you're at it please change your strategy for North America, and start taking us seriously. Just because it might appeal to Japan does not mean it will succeed here. No matter how you translate "Wii" it's about the worst name I've ever heard for a console. I'd take Colecovision or Jaguar any day over that steamy pile. I swear to god, I'm going to walk into an EB next year and hear some kid say "You got any of those W two's?" And then I will walk out of the store angry, remembering that I wrote that this would happen some time ago.

What was so wrong about "Nintendo Revolution" in the first place? Who cares if it was close in definition to 360, it was still catchy dammit. And I was starting to believe some of that crap when they were talking about some of the virtual consoles and other features in development.

Oh and one more observation. What's this "Because, it's really not about you or me." bulls**t?? Um...does Nintendo really utilize their own marketing department? Excuse me Nintendo, you may be new to online games (thanks for catching up) but as I recall I go online to interact with other humans for better experiences for me and other gamers, not Wii.

I don't think Nintendo was on the right page in 2001 when they stated "Gamers just aren't interested in online gaming," and I don't think they're on the right page now. I'm sorely dissapointed.

Just my two cents.

-Mordeux

Viva Pinatahhhh......what the hell?

Thu, 16 Mar 2006 05:24:32 GMT

Have you seen this game yet?

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/v/vivapinata/default.htm

I want to give this game a fair chance, I really do. But when looking at it and reading about it I'm getting flashbacks of Ooga Booga for the Dreamcast. I really liked Ooga Booga, I sincerely did. But it was a very unique game. Either you really liked it, or really hated it. This game looks to be no different. Extremely unique, and I see a potential failure in catching on with the general public. On the otherhand, could this be Microsoft's answer to the Pokemon series? It kinda sounds like it...

So this announcement brings me to this question for you: Do you think Microsoft's investment in Rare has paid off? Let's remember they paid over 375 million for this company. Financials would prove that it hasn't, but will it pay off in the future? I'm really interested in what you have to say.

Thank Goodneess for Gamerzones and Feedback...

Sat, 25 Feb 2006 17:24:15 GMT

You may have run into Prozac Jr.

Check out the video HERE

Poor keyboard!!