ThinkTank: Microsoft Press Conference.

As the E3 press conference for Microsoft the year comes to a close, and people who decided not to go to the conference or forgot to go are still punching walls over not getting a free Xbox 360 slim (Okay, maybe only I am).

Microsoft seems to have gone in the direction of the Wii Press Conference last year, trying to make a multi-media device instead of a console. They had mainly focused on the Kinect and features on Xbox Live. This isn’t necessarily bad, this is really good from a business standpoint, but many hardcore fans had shown distaste to Microsoft’s focus on Gizmos & Gadgets rather than Games and gore.

Call of Duty: Black Ops

Somethings never change, that being war and an on schedule, Read more

Motion-sensing, role-playing games and the rise of Nintendo

Thoughts on E3 2010

E3 2010 is now over and now that I’ve recuperated from all the news and announcements, it’s time to make up the balance. It’s a shame I couldn’t witness it first-hand, but luckily we live in the age of internet, so I got my daily updates of game trailers, interviews and what not. And from what I saw, the E3 didn’t disappoint as much as I initially feared: in fact, I’m quite satisfied. My expectations before hand weren’t especially high, but I crossed my fingers and hoped Nintendo would redeem itself and make up for the lost years. And for me, they did. Nintendo stole the show. I’ve seen so many good things from them this E3 I don’t know where to start. I got the feeling Microsoft really wanted their Kinect thing to be a big deal, but from what I saw, it’s pretty dull. You’d almost fear they follow in Nintendo’s footsteps and try to be popular with all target audiences except gamers (I don’t think they will, fortunately).

As for the assortment of games on both Xbox360 and PS3, I can’t say I’m particularly surprised but they’ve shown some good stuff. I’m really looking forward to Castlevania: Lord of Shadows, for instance. I have ever since the first trailers, but the new footage looked pretty rad and impressed me even more. I can’t wait to play the game! Furthermore, I was mildly enthusiastic about a new Silent Hill game, and although I found the trailer I saw pretty unimpressive, I still hope it will be a great game. Time will tell, I suppose.

The title of this article pretty much sums up the E3 for me. I was surprised by how many (relatively) high-profile role-playing games were shown this year. We have Fable 3, which hardly impressed me since all I’ve heard the developers say about it sounded like boring yip-yap to me and I’ve never really liked the series, and another similar game: Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned. A movie-license RPG, loosely based on the Pirates? That’s the last thing I expected to see (no news of this game had come to my attention beforehand, but this may have to do with the fact that any game that even has Pirates of the Caribbean in the title is instantly uninteresting to me). The movies (well… the first movie) have great settings and pirates are indeed cool, so it seems like a good idea on paper. However, I’ve couldn’t have been disappointed more by any pirate-themed game of the last few years, so how is this going to be better?

Furthermore, is it me or is this game similar to Fable (in style, at least)? I’m sure you won’t get to sim your own kingdom but the visual style seems familiar. And from what demo footage I’ve seen, so does the gameplay! Not necessarily a bad thing, but I’ll wait and see how it will turn out.

The biggest RPG this E3 (probably), was of course Star Wars: the Old Republic. Too bad I’ve heard nothing of Dragon Age 2 or Mass Effect 3, but with such a project on the way, I sort of understand Bioware may not have had the time. From what I’ve seen and heard, it seems the game is going to be pretty epic and bad-ass. Admitted, I have a minor dislike for the graphics (it’s a very weird cartoony style), especially when compared to the downright bad-ass FMV trailers, but I can easily adjust. The biggest problem for me is the fact that it’s a MMO. I don’t know what it is exactly, but MMO games don’t interest me that much. This is a shame, since the game looks actually promising otherwise, and I know how high the quality of Bioware RPG’s normally is. Were this a normal RPG, I wouldn’t probably eagerly await it’s release, but now I likely won’t touch is. I still hope it turns out to be a good game, though (I’ll wait for Mass Effect 3).

I’m also a little interested in Deus Ex: Human Revolution due to the trailer alone. I’ve no real experience with the series and it might not be my kind of game at all, but at least the trailer was fantastic and really got me into the atmosphere.

Also: Marvel vs Capcom 3. It’s like Tatsunoko vs Capcom was just a preview to what was to come. I’m sure the announcement got the fans crazy and it was good to see the game playable at the E3. We already knew this was coming before, but more info and footage is a good thing. I myself actually have mixed feelings: I know these types of fighting games are too over the top for me and I generally don’t like them too much, but I’ve got to say: MvC3 looks pretty damn good. I’m anxious to see how it turns out!

And then, of course, there is Nintendo. Oh, how Nintendo has delivered this E3! A new Metroid and Zelda are always welcome and although those weren’t the real surprises to me, it’s good to see they’ve still got it over at Nintendo. The new Zelda looks like a Wind Waker/Twilight Princess mix to me and I don’t know what to think of it, but at least they keep the fans happy. Me, I’m not such a fan of the series (strange, I know) but even I admit it looks pretty good. With all the disappointments Nintendo has accumulated during the last few years almost anything looks good, but together with the other things they have in store for us the impact is enormous and their reputation might just be saved. For behold, it is the Nintendo 3DS! I of course have to start with how pointless the DSi and enlarged DSLite seem in light of this new handheld but fortunately they announced it fast enough so I know to keep the money in my pocket and just wait for the 3DS. Of course, I haven’t played on a 3DS yet so I couldn’t say whether it’s really impressive, but if it works I might be hyped up to get one (even though I’d be the first to complain about the whole 3D crazy of this day and age). 3D games might be a great thing if it works without problems, and I look forward to what it might have in store for us. Not too impressed with the games so far, but these are just the launch games and I have no problem waiting until more good stuff becomes available. As far as handhelds go, Nintendo has rarily (if at all) disappointed me.

But arguably the biggest thing Nintendo could’ve possibly announced as far as I’m concerned was a new entry in the Donkey Kong Country series. And they did it. They REALLY did it. It looks good, it looks fresh and comfortably familiar at the same time, it sounds good, it’s awesome! I really, really look forward to this game and probably hype it to the stars. I love everything that is and was DKC, and if this game is even only half as good as its predecessors, it’s still pure gold. I keep my fingers crossed!

Next to Castlevania, DKC is the thing I most look forward to, but there are many others great games at E3 this year. These were the ones I was most interested in, but be sure to check the news for a lot of other good stuff. Now we can only wait and see if the GamesCom can shed new light on the matter!

Microsoft Changes Xbox 360 Box Art?!

Microsoft has recently updated their cover art for new Xbox 360 titles.
If anyone that has pre-ordered, or even viewed the box art of Mafia II or Kane and Lynch: Dog Days, you might have noticed the updated Xbox 360 logo.

This is the old one:

And this is the new one

As you can see, Microsoft has lightened the shade of Grey on the Xbox logo, the green bar under the logo has been shortened, the circles logo has been replaced with this new ‘wave’ logo, and the Xbox Live symbol is completely gone all together.

This has not yet been officially announced by Microsoft, or has been placed on any new games as of yet. It seems to be of a possible pending design or used for certain games on the Xbox 360.

No More Room On Your 360 HDD? No Worry’s The 360 Will Support USB Soon

USB Memory support hits Xbox 360 on April 6 and  the Flash Drives hit in May.

This is what Major Nelson has to say about it:

On April 6th, we will be releasing a system update over Xbox LIVE for your Xbox 360 that will allow USB flash drives to be used for storing profiles, game saves, demos and more.  I’ve been testing this feature out for a few weeks, and I have to say it’s really great. Once you take the system update on April 6th, you’ll be able to connect your USB flash drives to your console and head over to the memory section to configure your new storage device. Once you do that, the system will conduct a one time performance and integrity check to confirm the drive is working properly. You will then be able to configure how much storage to use on the device, up to 16 GB. The remaining space on the flash drive will be accessible by your PC or Mac. USB Hard drives may work, but like flash memory, you’ll only be able to use up to 16GB of space. Since performance on flash based USB storage is usually better, I highly recommend using flash based instead of spinning media like a hard drive…it’s just going to give you a MUCH better experience.

We’ve also enhanced the memory management functions, so you’ll be able to have better control on what you want to copy or move between storage devices.

A couple of points:

• You can have 2 devices connected to the console at a time, enabling up to 32GB of simultaneous storage.
• The system won’t just configure the device once it is connected to the console. You’ll need to head to the memory area in system settings, select your USB Device, and choose from Configure Now (Format and Configure the Full Device), or Customize (you can choose how much memory you want configured for Xbox360 from the free space on the device.)

While any flash drive can be used, we are partnering with SanDisk to release an Xbox 360 branded USB flash drive in May that comes pre-configured out of the box and ready to go. I’ll provide links to those drives once they’re available. Until then, starting April 6th (when we release the system update) you can pop any flash drive over 1GB into your Xbox 360 and configure it as storage.

here is a look at the new memory management screens.

We hope you’ll enjoy this flexible new way to manage your Xbox 360 profile and game data.

Original Xbox live to be disconnected by April 15th.

Microsoft has announced that it will cut support for all of it’s original Xbox Live games. That means, no more DLC or online play.

An employee at Microsoft was quoted saying;

“I wanted to let you know that on April 15, 2010 Microsoft will discontinue Xbox LIVE service for original Xbox consoles and games, including Xbox 1 games playable on Xbox 360. Our first step in this process will be to turn off auto-renewals for those members who only use Xbox LIVE on a v1 Xbox. While I can’t comment on the specifics, this change will allow us to continue evolving the LIVE service with new features and experiences that fully harness the power of Xbox 360 and the Xbox LIVE community. We did not make this decision lightly, but after careful consideration and review we realize that this decision will allow us unprecedented flexibility for future features.”

“They could of just migrated the original xbox service over to the 360, I don’t see why they just simply closed it down.
DLC removal is stupid for the same reasons”
-Replied a fellow online gamer. John Smith, AKA PS360.

Many fans are quite disappointed by this decision, worried that they will never get to play their favourite titles online anymore.

Some of the downloadable content for the original Xbox Live has been placed on the 360 live service. Which may be a glimmer of light for other games with DLC’s.

The Dark Void demo is available for download on Xbox LIVE!

With the launch of Capcom’s sci-fi shooter, Dark Void, right around the corner, Capcom is giving gamers a chance to test drive The Void for themselves this week with a downloadable demo coming to Xbox LIVE and PlayStation Network. (PlayStation Network on January 7, 2010.)

The demo will give gamers a chance to strap on their jet pack for the first time and explore the mysterious and miraculous world of Dark Void through a combination of thrilling aerial dog-fighting, unique vertical cover action and on-foot combat. The teaser level will be a nice introduction to gamers who plan to try out the full game when it ships on January 19, 2009.

Fable III Will Use Project Natal and the In-game ‘shop’ will bring micro-transactions.

According to reports from Peter Molyneux’s BAFTA Video Games Lecture in London Fable III will make use of Microsoft’s Project Natal controller. nicholaslovell is twittering all over about Peter Molyneux’s Video Games Lecture. Apparently, Molyneux also joked that Natal would be featured in the form of a “feces simulator” for the game. Also he apparently said “Do you really think … knowing me … I wouldn’t want to use something like Natal?” Molyneux said at the PICNIC Conference in the Netherlands earlier this month. “I mean that’s just mad, man.”

Peter Molyneux isn’t just pushing the curve on Xbox 360 with now-confirmed Project Natal support in Fable 3; during his speech at the annual BAFTA gathering, the legendary designer revealed his intent to integrate an “in-game shop” within the game world, enabling players to purchase premium items without disrupting the game experience. In its report on the presentation, That VideoGame Blog noted that Molyneux had suggested special weapons, for example, could be sold for about £1 ($1.70).

Also mentioned were plans to offer “travel” to new areas of the game world (think Fable 2′s DLC destinations) for a fee. Molyneux thankfully didn’t suggest that such things as tattoos, hair dye and the like — which were purchased using the in-game currency of Fable 2 — would be for-pay in its sequel. We imagine that getting the town crier to announce you as “Supreme Ruler of the Universe Who’s Better Than Anyone Else at Fable 3 Ever” will carry a modest fee.

Source: Joystiq and Kotaku

Abbey Road will be the first downloadable album for The Beatles: Rockband

Harmonix has announced that the next downloadable content for The Beatles: Rockband is the rest of Abbey Road. That includes: “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer, Oh! Darling,  Because, Her Majesty, You Never Give Me Your Money, Sun King, Mean Mr. Mustard, Polythene Pam, Golden Slumbers, She Came in Through the Bathroom Window, and Carry That Weight.”

For the Wii, Individual Abbey Road singles will be available, that includes: “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer, Oh! Darling, Because, You Never Give Me Your Money, and Her Majesty for 200 Wii Points each.

The rest of the album will be $16.99 on the PSN Network, or 1260 Microsoft points. You can also buy these tracks individually for $1.99 on the PSN Network or 160 Microsoft Points.

This Downloadable Content will be available October 20th for the Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii. October 22nd for the Sony Playstation 3.

Fudzilla claiming that a new AMD powered Xbox comes out in 2010

ATI already won next gen Xbox deal

Claims Fudzilla on their website. Also

The consoles refresh was supposed to happen in 2010 but due to the recession both Microsoft and Sony have decided to push its plans for 2012 and keep the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 alive for more than it was originally planned.

A pretty bald claim and we do not know that what they say is true. But we do not believe that Microsoft is letting off the 360 so soon. So up to now NiSuTe puts this one under the Rumor section.

Game releases: USA, EU and Japan

Thanks to the guys at Gamasutra:

Gamasutra’s regular round-up of worldwide video game releases, “Release This!”, takes a look at every game title we know to be shipping to stores this week, in an exclusively compiled list.

Nintendo Wii:
- Animal Planet: Pet Vet
- Chicken Blaster
- Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
- Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2
- NHL 2K10
- Our House: Party!
- Pacific Liberator
- Tornado Outbreak
- Toy Story Mania

Xbox 360:
- Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
- Heroes Over Europe
- Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2
- Need for Speed: Shift
- NHL 10
- NHL 2K10
- Panzer General: Allied Assault (online)
- Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection
- Qubed
- Tornado Outbreak
- WET

PlayStation 3:
- Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
- Heroes Over Europe
- Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2
- Need for Speed: Shift
- NHL 10
- NHL 2K10
- Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection
- Tornado Outbreak
- WET

PlayStation 2:
- Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2
- NHL 2K10

Nintendo DS:
- Animal Planet: Pet Vet
- Ant Nation
- Bleach: The 3rd Phantom
- Chicken Blaster
- Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
- Dreamer: Top Model
- Learn Geography
- Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story
- Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2
- My Boyfriend
- Naruto Shippuden: Ninja Destiny 2
- Our House
- Princess in Love
- Scribblenauts

PlayStation Portable:
- Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
- Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2
- Need for Speed: Shift

PC:
- Age of Empires III: Complete Collection
- Batman: Arkham Asylum
- Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
- Madballs in Babo: Invasion (online)
- Majesty 2: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim
- Need for Speed: Shift
- Race On
- Red Faction: Guerrilla
- Resident Evil 5
- Runes of Magic Chapter II: The Elven Prophecy
- Supreme Ruler 2020 Gold
- Time of Shadows

Nintendo Wii:
- Cate West: The Vanishing Files
- Clever Kids: Pet Store
- Go Play: Lumberjacks
- Hasbro Family Game Night Volume 2
- Kart Racer
- Love is…in Bloom
- NewU Fitness: First Personal Trainer
- Spectrobes: Origins
- Toy Story Mania
- Wacky World of Sports
- Yu-Gi-Oh 5D’s Wheelie Breaker

Xbox 360:
- Heroes Over Europe
- Need for Speed: Shift
- NHL 2K10
- Raven Squad
- WET

PlayStation 3:
- Heroes Over Europe
- Katamari Forever
- Need for Speed: Shift
- NHL 2K10
- SingStar: Motown
- WET

PlayStation 2:
- SingStar: Motown

Nintendo DS:
- Blood Bowl
- Casper Scare School: Spooky Sports Day
- Cate West: The Vanishing Files
- Charm Girls Club: My Fashion Mall
- Charm Girls Club: My Fashion Show
- Charm Girls Club: My Perfect Prom
- DJ Star
- Happy Party with Hello Kitty and Friends
- The Humans
- Kirby Super Star Ultra
- Littlest Pet Shop: Friends City
- Spore: Hero Arena
- Teen Queen: The Clique
- Yamaha Super Cross

PlayStation Portable:
- Blood Bowl
- MotorStorm: Arctic Edge
- Need for Speed: Shift

PC:
- Batman: Arkham Asylum
- Blood Bowl
- Clever Kids: Creepy Crawlies
- Clever Kids: Pet Store
- Dawn of Magic 2
- Heroes Over Europe
- The Humans
- Majesty 2
- Need for Speed: Shift
- Supreme Ruler 2020 Gold
- Order of War
- Pole to Pole
- Raven Squad
- Red Faction: Guerrilla
- Resident Evil 5

Nintendo Wii:
- Forever Blue 2: Umi no Yobigoe
- The House of the Dead: Overkill

Xbox 360:
- Fuel
- Terminator: Salvation
- Velvet Assassin

PlayStation 3:
- Fuel
- Makai Senki Disgaea 3 Append Disc: Raspberyl-hen Hajime Mashita
- Tales of Vesperia
- Tears to Tiara Gaiden: Avalon no Nazo
- Terminator: Salvation
- WET

PlayStation 2:
- Canvas 3: Tanshoku no Pastel
- Hachi-One Diver
- Jigoku Shoujo Mioyosuga

Nintendo DS:
- Bae Yong-joon to Manabu Kankokugo DS
- Clash King V201
- The Idolm@ster: Dearly Stars
- Kintaihi Shounen no Jiken: Kyakusen Eris-Gou no Sangeki
- KORG DS-10 Plus
- Motto! Hamster to Rasou: Akachan ga Umare Tayou
- Ookami to Koushinryou: Omiowataru Kaze
- SaGa 2: Hihou Densetsu – Goddess of Destiny

PlayStation Portable:
- 428: Fuusa Sareta Shibuya de
- Amagoushi no Yakata Portable: Ichiyagi Wa, Saisho no Junan
- Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu Portable 4
- Katekyoo Hitman Reborn! Battle Arena 2 – Spirits Burst
- Memories Off #5: Encore
- Memories Off: Sorekara Again
- Taikou Risshiden V
- Tantei Jinguuji Saburo: Hai to Diamond
- Ys Seven
- Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s Tag Force 4

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