Resorting To Danger!

Download a free trial of the upcoming Nancy Drew Dossier game, Resorting To Danger! The full game comes out in shops and online on August 25th. (I’ll have a Resorting To Danger! game review on my blog then)

Edit:

Just saw this video of Resorting To Danger!

Popularity: 19% [?]

Xbox Live Forever

My friend was recently got ban from xbox live. It’s xbox 360 online game. He was ban for using modified console. Modified console is an upgrade that enable you to use pirated games, which cost a fraction of the original price. Ban hammer as they call it struck once in a quarter, which permanently bans the console but not the account, so the member could use his unexpired subscription membership in another xbox 360console. He was really upset when he found out his console was ban. I told him that cheater never prosper and he maybe better of buying PS3 because playstation came with their version of online gaming. But he was so addicted to xbox live, and he kept on saying that he work really hard for his rank in NBA 2k9 and the equipments that he earned from his long hours of online competition in Soul Caliber IV. And he kept on pointing out that the number of members in xbox live will always outnumber the one’s that will subscribe to Playstation. So as expected he bought another brand new xbox 360 console, but he learned his lesson he never modified the unit, the unit only plays original games. I ask him one time what will he do to the old xbox 360 console. He said He’s planning to throw it in the river or something.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Gears Of War 2 Topping The Charts

I saw this today on Gears of War 2 Tops Sales Chart on PlayGirlz:

Nintendo might be sitting pretty at the top in the console wars, but when it comes to software, Microsoft’s got the lead. The economic crisis seems to be hitting everyone but the world of video games. Anxious shoppers tossed games into their carts like they were Halloween candy. And the results are in.

*
Gears of War 2 (Epic, Xbox 360) – 1.56 million units
*
Call of Duty: World at War (Treyarch, Xbox 360) – 1.41 million units
*
Wii Play (Nintendo, Wii) – 796,000 units
*
Wii Fit (Nintendo, Wii) – 697,000 units
*
Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo, Wii) – 637,000 units
*
Call of Duty: World at War (Treyarch, PS3) – 597,000 units
*
Guitar Hero World Tour (Vicarious Visions, Wii) – 475,000 units
*
Left 4 Dead (Valve, Xbox 360) – 410,000 units
*
Resistance 2 (Insomniac, PS3) – 385,000 units
*
Wii Music (Nintendo, Wii) – 297,000 units

The Xbox 360 managed to get 3 out of the 10 spots, including the number 1 and 2 positions, thanks to Gears of War 2 and Call of Duty. But Nintendo dominated in numbers once again, picking up half the slots. And that leaves only 2 slots for the PS3, with Call of Duty and Resistance 2. Alas, Resistance 2 was the only PS3 exclusive to make it on the list. Sorry, Sony.

I was pleased about this because someone who lives in my house works for Epic on GoW2 so it’s nice to see his work rewarded.

Via Gears of War 2 Tops Sales Chart

Popularity: 8% [?]

Modded Xbox 360

I have a friend who have been just ban from xbox live for violation of terms of use. Which modified xbox 360 console to play copied games. For one, I’m with microsoft, they have every right to ban modified users. Modified games cost a fraction of the original games, almost lower than 1/10 of the price. Plays the same, looks the same. The only difference is the packaging. Original games have instruction manual, brochures and stuff. Copy games sometimes gave you the bare cd. But the price says it all. I was really tempted to have my console modified. The thought of 30 games equivalent to 1 original game comes to mind. But I never did it, I’m always thinking it’s not right to rip off someone. So I go on buying only the one’s I really like games, so every game I have to see first the reviews before purchasing it. But the jealousy of seeing others play a lot of games never left my mind. But suddenly it happens, microsoft is indeed banning people in online play or xbox live. Xbox live rankings have been my life this past few months. Really anxious to be on top of the ranking in NBA 2k9. Now I see a lot of competitors, as fate my have it the arrogant or the trash talkers are ban from xbox live. This are the one’s that uses modified console, but doesn’t play fair in online game. All we can say is, what goes around comes around!

Popularity: 4% [?]

Taking Care of Xbox360

Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and NintendoWii. 3 newest gaming platform of our time. Provides great graphics and great gameplay. Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 took the lead and eventually because of xbox live, on line play, xbox 360 is taking the best seller. But giving great graphics and great gameplay came with a price. Xbox 360 is known to always breaks down. Overheat, game freezes that lead to the dreaded 3 red lights. Xbox 360 or the falcon edition as everyone knows it has defects but can be avoided. First place your console in a well ventilated place. Make sure the back of the console, where the exhaust air comes out, has a lot of space to breath. Second make sure your console has a stable power supply. The power cord is not inserted in an octopus type power switch, so the power of the console is not interrupted. When replacing games make sure place the disc is in a clean holding. Try not to touch the lower part of the disc, fingerprints make disc harder to read. Although you can clean it with a small cotton. Another way, to prevent it for overheating, is to install another fan in your xbox. My xbox sometimes sounds like an industrial fan ready to take off but it does the trick it never overheats. Lastly, try to have time outs breaks every 1 1/2 hours. Even you install a lot of exhaust fan, the graphics the console is producing takes a lot of toll to the console.

Popularity: 4% [?]

XBOX 360 3 Red Lights

Xbox 360 console most famous problem. The 3 Red Lights. AT first was known to be unfixable. When you encounter it better buy a new one. It occurs on the earlier model known as the falcon edition of xbox 360. People says the new one the jasper edition has the problem solved. Why do 3 red lights happen? First it’s overheat. When your playing atleast 4 hours a day without breaks. Your xbox doesn’t have the necessary cooling system. What to do? First there is the do it yourself fix. Well you’ll probably save a lot of money but you may cause permanent damage to your console. Example is the towel trick. You will see a lot of tutorial in the internet. What you do is wrap your console with 2 towels. Trapping the hot air inside. Otherwise known as cooking your xbox. But it is temporary solution which may lead to permanent problem. The other solution is open your xbox and apply thermal compound. Actually it’s the right thing to do, but I don’t think an ordinary person can do it. The materials are cheap, thermal compund, arctic silver 5 and oepning tools and your done. But the process is for the more technical people. The best thing you do is bring it to a professional. What I indicated before is what they will only do, so you can ask for a discount, because you know how cheap the materials they will be using. Then ask to install an additional fan inside it will prevent overheating. And finally limit your use 2 hours, have a break once in a while. That process, you will never see a 3 red lights again.

Popularity: 4% [?]

XBOX 360 vs PS3

Last year, christmas 2007, when I was planning to buy a new game console. I just owned a Playstation and Playstation 2. I was going to Playstation 3 immediately. Because I have known it games from the start. I’ve been a big fan of Metal gear, final fantasy and god of war. Games which I know will not appear in the xbox. Another factor in my decision is the upcoming god of war 3, I have just finish god of war 1 and 2 in ps2, and I have to say that was really a good game. To think I almost bought PSP just because of god of war chain of olympus game. But all that factors went to nothing when xbox offered its online or xboxlive. I’m a competitor I love playing against someone else. I’m getting tired of playing against the computer. Whatever good the developer makes it’s AI or artificial intelligence cpu it doesn’t beat a real player.
Until now I’m addicted to playing NBA 2k9 online. My ranking is under 100 and I’m planning to go to the top. I heard PS3 can now play online but it could never outnumber the number of people online in xbox live. Never regretted my xbox 360 even for the 3 red lights or stuff. Because PS3 has the lens problem and I heard Final Fantasy will be available for xbox 360 in the future. Who knows maybe even god of war 3.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Comments about 3rl Repair XBOX 360

I cannot use my Xbox console because of the 3 red light appears in the button. I think it is already broken. I have it repair to the experts but they told me that it is the common damage of Xbox console bought last 2007. There’s no permanent remedy but continuance repair once the red light appears again. They offer me the option of selling it and buy a new one. I got confuse. I asked for another opinions but still, they have common views. So, I decided to have it fix with a lifetime warranty since that the problem can still occurs anytime. I practice slightly use of this console. They attached a built in fan to avoid the console from overheating. Aside from the built in fan, I also attached my cooling unit. The disadvantage I see for now is that the loud sounds of fan occurs when the console is turn on.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Red Ring light in Xbox 360

This is a common problem with this console. Before it appears, the console will hang and you will see the red ring light in your console’s button. I’m not sure if this is the dead end. I can see lots of instructions from forums and other sites how to repair this one. But not all of them are successful. I just don’t know what’s the cause of this because it surprise me when these things happened. I can no longer play my xbox 360 console. I’m planning to have it repair but the fee is expensive. I am still canvassing for affordable one. This console is cool because of its graphics and features. But in terms of durability, I am not sure. It easily overheat so you will need a cooler for this one to play it longer than 1 hour. And there’s a red ring light that will stop you in using this console.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Banned Xbox 360 console

Microsoft executes a ban to Xbox 360 console whose users did’nt follow the terms and conditions or the agreement. One of this is to use pirated Xbox games disc. The Microsoft company detects the console whom uses this through their system. You are being detected if you are playing Xbox Live or online. The disadvantage of being ban is that you cannot play online again throuh your console but, you can still use your Xbox in offline playing. There are hackers and intruders who tried to unbanned their console but they, failed. Still, there’s no news that they are succeeded. Microsoft learn their lesson in Xbox1 so, they are now keen in implementing the ban this time.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Xbox 360

This game console is much fun. I love its features that you can play it online. You can play certain games and have match with another player through internet. You can also send messages to your playmates or even have a chat with them.

Xbox 360 controller is wireless. It also have wireless headset with microphone. The downfall of this console is that it easily got overheat. The standard play time of it is up to 1 hour.But the Microsoft company introduce the Xbox Chiller to cool the game console while playing it even longer. The chiller includes the controller handle at their package.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Tekken 6 for xbox

Like every gamers know, Tekken is one of the best fighting games on which each fighter has his own fighting technical. You can select different characters like a boxing man, a street fighter, a kung fu fighter… there are a lot of different characters for any kind of players and if you want to master the technic, you have to pass a lot of times and after to participate to the real tournament organized by Sony and to be the best fighter of the world !!!
Normally playstation players have the privilege to play it but during the Tokyo Game Show, Microsoft has announced that Tekken 6 will be available for his xbox too but not until the end of 2009 !!! For PS3, it will be available normally beginning of the year 2009 !!!

Popularity: 4% [?]

Pure, off road quad game

Pure, which is an off road game for the Xbox 360 developped by Black Rock Studio, is a game which proposes you to drive a quad. Black Rock Studio has experience in this domain so we can hope that the game will have a lot of fun. Not only the game will try to seduce the players with his arcade mode but also by the fact you can do spectacular actions with your quad.

I played the game during an exhibition and i was quite impressed. After i was able to play in the house of one of my friends and i can tell you that Pure impresses a lot. Not only for his good realisation, the driving is very impressive since it gives a very good sensation but unfortunately i will prefer a little more circuits to extend the playing.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Xbox 360, more cheaper but only in Europe

Good news for people who wants to buy an Xbox 360, you dont need anymore to wait until Christmas to have one at home. Indeed, Microsoft plans to reduce the price of his console starting from the middle of this month, the bad point is that those new prices will be available in Europe only for the moment so if you have friends, familly or someone or yourself is planning to travel in Europe, you can catch one before to go home. The price for the Arcade model is about 179€, the Premium model with 60GB for 239€ and the last one the Elite model with 120GB for 299€ (to compare, the price in US is 399.99$) – a discount of 20€ for the 2 first models and a discount of 70€ for the 3rd one. Microsoft, who confirms to have sold more than 5 millions of his console in Europe, bets of this discount to attract new players before the end of the year.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Special edition Soul Calibur IV

If you like fighting game like Soul Calibur series, you should know that Soul Calibur IV is already at your favorite game shop but may be you dont know yet, it s that there will have a colector edition. You can find inside the kit : t-shirt XL, the game, a comic book, a tournament kit. Depending of your console, the t-shirt will have a different color. For Xbox, it s white and for PS3, it s black.

Popularity: 9% [?]

Star wars, the force unleashed

This new game in the Star Wars tradition will bring us to play a jedi and in some moment the player will be able to play Darth Vader. The action is occuring between Star Wars 3 and Star Wars 4 you will have to play an apprendice jedi of Darth Vader on which his mission is to track and to kill all good jedis. This game will use new graphic technologies and a new IA.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Microsoft builds Gears of War heat with cheap edition

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to state that Microsoft has perfected the art of marketing gigantic titles. Last year, Microsoft’s elaborate Halo 3 marketing campaign saw the game make a mockery of many video game sales records and now it is geared up to do the same with Epic’s Gears of Wars 2. The game is scheduled for a November 03, 2008 release but Microsoft, the game’s publisher, has already announced two new Gears of Wars editions – not Gears of War 2. There will soon be a two-disc collector’s edition and a generic game disc at a discounted price. The discounted copy will be priced $39.99 for the 360 and 29.99 for the PC, while the collector’s edition will lighten your pockets by $39.99.The collector’s edition will include previous GOW downloads and special GOW 2 content.

Popularity: 18% [?]

The Black Xbox “Elite” Is Coming

The rumored black Xbox has now been confirmed. It will be called the elite and it will be limited edition. It will sport a few performance upgrades like all black casing for the case, live headset, and controller, and will have brand new packaging. After the Elite sells out, it will still be produced, but it will be produced and sold as the Xbox Premium. The Elite will run cooler than the normal Xbox 360. It will sport a 120gb Hard Drive, and unfortunately it wont have an internal or bundled HD DVD drive. Microsoft doesn’t currently have plans to do this to any edition of the Xbox 360. The Elite will be at a price point of US $479.

Popularity: 4% [?]

The Evolution of the Video Game Console 1972-Present

Magnavox Odyssey (1972-1973)

Atari PONG (1975)

Coleco Telstar (1976-1979)

APF TV Fun (1976)

Fairchild Channel F (1976-1977)

RCA Studio II (1976)

1292 Advanced Programmable Video System (1976)

Color TV Game(Nintendo, 1977)

Atari 2600 (1977-1989)

Bally Astrocade (1977-1985)

Magnavox Odyssey² (1978-1984)

APF Imagination Machine (1979)

Mattel Intellivision (1980-1984)

Epoch Cassette Vision (1981)

Atari 5200 (1982-1984)

Milton Bradley Vectrex (1982-1984)

Emerson Arcadia 2001 (1982-1983)

ColecoVision (1982-1984)

Sega SG-1000 (1983)

Nintendo Entertainment System
and the Nintendo Famicom
1985-1995: U.S. 1987-1996: Europe 1983-2003: Japan 1990-present: Nigeria

Sega Master System
1986-1992: US 1987-1989: Japan 1987-1996: Europe 1989-present: Brazil

Atari 7800 1986-1991: U.S

Amstrad GX4000 1990-1991: Europe

Commodore C64 Games System

NEC PC Engine / TurboGrafx 16
1987-1996: Japan 1989-1994: U.S.

Sega Mega Drive / Genesis
1988-1996: Japan 1989-1998: U.S.
1990-1998: Europe

SNK Neo-Geo
1989-2004: Japan 1990-2003: U.S.
1991-1996: Europe

Super Famicom / Super Nintendo

Commodore Amiga CD32
1993-1994: U.S., Europe

Laseractive
1993-1996

FM Towns Marty
1993-199?: Japan

3DO Interactive Multiplayer
1993-1995

Atari Jaguar and Atari Jaguar CD (add-on)
1993-1996: Japan, U.S., Europe

Sega 32x (add-on)
1994-1995: Japan, U.S. 1995-1996: Europe

Sega Saturn
1994-1999: Japan 1994-1998 U.S., Europe

Sony PlayStation
1994-2006: Japan 1995-2006: U.S., Europe

PC FX
1994-1997: Japan

Bandai Pippin
1995-1997: Japan 1996-1997: U.S.

Nintendo 64
1996-2002: Japan, U.S, Australia. 1997-2001: Europe

Sega Dreamcast
1998-2002

Sony PlayStation 2
2000-present

Nintendo GameCube
2001-present

Microsoft Xbox
2001-present

Xbox 360 (Microsoft)
2005–Present

Wii (Nintendo)
Fourth Quarter 2006

PlayStation 3 (Sony)
November 2006

Popularity: 66% [?]

Burning Man vs. Xbox 360 Launch

Now I’ve heard everything. Corporate giants are out to copy an anti-corporate festival … The release of Xbox 360 is going to mimic Burning Man … I’m not sure how I feel about this. It’s actually quite disturbing. But for you gamers, I suppose it’ll be a rockin’ event.

http://www.joystiq.com/entry/1234000697067435/

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Burning Man meets E3 for Xbox 360 launch
Posted Nov 10, 2005, 8:27 AM ET by Vladimir Cole
Related entries: Culture, Nintendo Revolution, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

Chris Di Cesare, director of Xbox marketing, spent a few minutes rappin’ with us about Microsoft’s plans for the Xbox 360 launch event out in the middle of the Mojave desert. Since we’ve already covered the basics (all you need to know is that event tickets are being given away throughout the day today at participating websites), we’ll spend a little more time deconstructing the event itself.

Chris noted that the event has been likened to the Burning Man festival that takes place annually in Black Rock desert, Nevada. That Microsoft acknowledges and even embraces the idea that this is “Burning Man meets E3” indicates that they’re shooting for a completely different vibe than the Times Square/Toys-R-Us location they chose to host the original Xbox launch on November 16, 2001.

With the Zero Hour event, the company is shooting for “overtones of being something that’s more of a festival or celebration…. We wanted to do something that was different, and something that was true to the audience that the box was designed for, and that’s the gaming audience,” said Chris.

This isn’t the first time that Chris has adopted (some would say usurped) a fringe cultural movement. First, it was the wildly successful I Love Bees campaign that brilliantly adopted the ARG (alternate reality gaming) genre for marketing purposes, a success that subsequent imitators have failed to achieve. Now, by openly evoking Burning Man (and we assume designing the actual event so that it feels like Burning Man), Microsoft (and Sony for that matter) have been tirelessly campaigning to reform gaming’s image in a larger version of the reinvention personified by Xbox architect and Microsoft VP J Allard (pictured below).

Popularity: 8% [?]

Game Developer Lists Top 20 Publishers

For the third year in a row, Electronic Arts has taken top honors in Game Developer magazine’s list of the top 20 game publishers, according to a news release. EA reached revenue of more than $3 billion this year.

Activision, Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony rounded out the top five. Microsoft slipped from No. 2 last year, but hopes the release of XBox 360 will improve the company’s revenues as well as its stature among game publishers. Activision jumped up from No. 7, thanks in part to popular titles such as X-Men Legends and the Tony Hawk’s Underground series.

Atari slipped to No. 13, while a strong year for Bandai, LucasArts and Capcom have helped the companies secure spots on the list, knocking Koei and Empire of the list.

The guide will be available on newsstands through Nov. 14, or check it out on Game Developer’s website.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Halo 2 Update Takes Care of Cheaters

The announcement of the latest Halo 2 update was explicit enough regarding the policy about cheats, mods and various other hacks – and for those who use them as well:

Q: What will happen to a player if his or her Xbox contains modded content?

A: You will be banned if you are detected playing our game with modified Halo 2 content. Your ban will be from matchmaking, it will be permanent, and there will be no appeal process.
[...]
A: Playing with ANY modified content online is a bannable offense. Custom game types, created or loaded using Action Replay or similar devices, and then played on Live are considered modified content.

If one were to decide to not download this update, the consequences are also made clear enough – no access to the Live Servers anymore. Beware of softmods, too, because they’re included in what constitutes a bannable offense. As the saying goes: “this is at one’s ownrisks”.

Popularity: 7% [?]

“Fable: The Lost Chapters” Comes To Xbox

Remember the bit about “games and morality” published a few days ago about Fable? Well, good news for the Xbox RPG lovers: Fable: The Lost Chapter is definitively coming to Xbox – and IGN offers a nice article about it:

Microsoft Game Studios announced today that Fable: The Lost Chapters, currently in development for Windows and slated to release this September, will also be available in late Fall for Xbox®. Fable: The Lost Chapters builds upon the original best-selling Fable with loads of new content including new regions, quests and enhanced story elements that further enhance the mystical world of Albion. Fable: The Lost Chapters gives players the chance to fight new monsters, use epic spells to obliterate huge numbers of enemies, don new armor, wield additional weapons and interact with friends and foes using amazing new expressions.

You can read the full article here.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Devs Can Start Working Now

GameIndustryBiz.com reports that MicroSoft has now begun shipping development versions of the Xbox 360 to studios – not as powerful yet as the final product will be, but more advanced than the G5-based ones used for game demos at E3. In fact, the hardware seems to be much closer to the one of the final version, rather than the contrary.

It looks however like the launch being planned for the fourth calendar quarter, said developers will have to work quickly in order to finalize games. We’ll see, we’ll see. This at least sounds like good news, being able to work on more stable hardware than the alpha version.

Popularity: 12% [?]

Game Controller Family tree

Want to learn when the analog stick’s speciation from its ancestor the d-pad? or how about where the mutation known as shoulder buttons came from? Well, fear not, all your game controller evolution questions are answered in Sock Master’s Game Console Controller Family Tree. Starting with the classic Atari joystick, and Nintendo’s Game and Watch (alright I admit it, the only reason I know what that is, is Mr. Game and Watch and his flipping bacon from Super Smash Brothers) it covers everything up to the just released PS3, 360, and Revolution controllers, clearly illustrating the Nintendo, Sony, and Sega/XBox lineages along the way.

I was also glad to see that I’m not the only one that finds the original XBox controllers less intiutive and more badly mishappen than I’d hope. Fun fact for the day:

In what has perhaps become an industry first, the original Xbox controller has largely been abandoned in favor of the Controller S, which has now been adopted as the controller of choice.

I’ll just pretend that they left all these original controllers in the stores, and thats what I keep getting stuck with whenever I play the demo for five minutes, succeed in shooting everything but the alien, throwing a grenade not quite three feet, killing myself, and in short realizing I still don’t quite feel the need to buy an XBox just yet.

Popularity: 16% [?]