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Mario Kart Wii unboxing gallery

Posted by Andru Edwards
Categories: Features, Nintendo, Wii

The Mario Kart Wii box

Okay, so we’ve been graced with a copy of a few days early by themselves. We’ve played the game a bit, and will be will be reporting back with our initial thoughts, but for now, we wanted to hit you with an unboxing gallery. We have a bunch of images of the for you to take a gander at, as well as the box, game disc, and the like. Just a little something to tide you over until Sunday. Go ahead and click on over to our Mario Kart Wii gallery for the images.

Gallery: Mario Kart Wii unboxing gallery

  • Mario Kart Wii disc
  • Mario Kart Wii disc box
  • Wii Wheel rear view with Wiimote
  • Wii Wheel with Wiimote inserted
  • Wii Wheel sensor port
  • Wii Wheel: Inserting Wiimote

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Lost Odyssey Review

Posted by Andru Edwards
Categories: Adventure, Features, Microsoft, Reviews, Role Playing Games, Square Enix, Xbox 360

Epic scope

It is no secret to anyone who knows me that I have a deep appreciation for games in quirky, niche, genres, and also intelligent stories.  Frankly, it is rare that I get to find both of these needs met in a single game, but Lost Odyssey manages to do it.

But wait!  I thought Lost Odyssey was a Japanese-RPG and thus not really niche?  Sadly (in my opinion), the gaming landscape has changed so profoundly over the years that the once thriving JRPG is now increasingly a rarity; One with high-production values, so much the more.  Several early reviews would have you believe that Lost Odyssey does something fundamentally wrong simply for being true to its genre.  Mercifully, you are reading this review so at the very least let me try to paint a slightly different picture of Hironobu Sakaguchi’s latest opus.

Click to continue reading Lost Odyssey Review


Mass Effect Review: Bioware’s latest masterpiece

Posted by Sparky
Categories: Adventure, Features, Microsoft, Reviews, Role Playing Games, Xbox 360

Mass Effect Review

Not to rest on the laurels provided by Baulders Gate and Knights of the Old Republic, has created another instant hit: . Mass Effect is in many ways the spiritual successor to the Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR) series although it goes far beyond the capabilities and offerings of its predecessor.

Mass Effect is a third person shooter/space exploration game set in humanities future when alien discoveries have catapulted human technology ahead centuries and given our race a place among many in the galactic empire. Click through for our full thoughts on this stunning game.

Click to continue reading Mass Effect Review: Bioware’s latest masterpiece


Harmonix Co-Founder Answers Questions About Rock Band

Posted by Paul Hamilton
Categories: Accessories, Downloadable Content, Features, Hardware, Microsoft, Music, PlayStation 3, Wireless, Xbox 360

Rock Band Guitar ControllerThe Official Xbox Magazine’s podcast has an interview this week with Harmonix co-founder and president Alex Rigopulos about their upcoming game Rock Band. In the interview he talks about the game bundles, although light on concrete details he does confirm a band-in-a-box bundle that will include a guitar, drum kit and microphone. However, he goes on to say that the PlayStation 3 version will include a wireless guitar controller while the Xbox 360 version will have to include a wired guitar because Microsoft‘s wireless technology is too expensive to make the bundle reasonably priced. Since the 360 also has only two USB ports, the 360 Rock Band bundle will also be packed with a USB hub.

Rigopulos goes on to discuss the game’s career modes a little, saying there will be both solo career mode that progresses in a linear fashion similar to what Guitar Hero players are used to, but they are also including a less linear band career mode. In this mode you traverse to various venues trying to build up your fan base and in some cases return to previously played locations to maintain your fame there. Also it’s worth noting that the solo career mode will not include a bass career track so your options are vocals, guitar and drums in solo career mode. But Rigopulos did reveal that the finale songs for each career path (and therefore likely the difficulty distinctions throughout) will be different for each instrument, and he even said that at this point the drum finale will be The Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again.”

Click to continue reading Harmonix Co-Founder Answers Questions About Rock Band

Read More | KOXM Podcast

Apparently That Xbox 360 Red Light of Doom Problem Hasn’t Been Fixed

Posted by Andru Edwards
Categories: Editorial, Features, Hardware, Microsoft, Xbox 360

Xbox 360 Red Lights

The image you see above isn’t some generic image we grabbed off the net - it’s my personal . I know what you might be thinking - another one? Yeah, another one - but there is a bit more to this story. This Xbox 360 you see above has been used for all of 20 minutes. You see, about three weeks ago my old box 360 crashed and was giving me the three Red Lights of Doom. I sent it in for repair, and today I finally got a replacement. This actually is a replacement - they didn’t fix the one I sent in, they just sent me a new one. This one happened to have been manufactured on 8/15/2007. Anyway, I got it in the mail, hooked everything up, went through the Dashboard configuration, and started playing a demo. Fatal Intertia. We got tired of that after about ten minutes, and decided to boot up the demo of Stranglehold. We got through the opening sequence when everything froze. Fair enough. I had to manually turn the Xbox 360 off because it wouldn’t even respond to the guide button. I turned it back on, and was presented with yes another Three Red Ring Circus.

Now, if that isn’t enough, this flies right in the face of something that told Engadget and Joystiq back at E3 - in mid-July:

I think that there is a lot of confusion with the consumer in exactly how this issue has been remedied. Not just with the extension of the warranty but with the hardware. Exactly what has had to go on to fix the problems that people have been having?

I’m not sure that the consumer needs to understand the complex technical fixes that we need to do for the multiple different problems that come together to create the three flashing red lights. I think the ability for us, all the consumer cares about is my console going to be ok? And if it isn’tm are they going to fix it and take care of it immediately? And if I [already] paid them to fix it, will I get my money back? And the answer is yes to those questions.

But are you guaranteeing or insuring that the systems that are rolling off the assembly lines now and the systems that will be returned to consumers will be fixed properly this time. It won’t be a situation where there are multiple replacements.

Yeah. I mean, nothing is perfect, guys. And the other two hardware companies have their problems as well. I can’t guarantee everyone in the world that we go fix one thing and then something else [won’t] happen. No I’d be stupid to make that guarantee. But I feel very, very good about the quality of hardware now. You guys know this, every day in the factories where we are building these and where we are learning more about it. Sony’s very good at it, Nintendo is very good at it, and we’re very good at it. You’re constantly tweaking, moving parts around, you’re renegotiating with suppliers because your goal is to continuously raise the quality of the box, and bring the price down. Because you have to get your costs down to be able to move your pricing to the level you want. If your costs never came down, then price would never change.

So yes, you can’t guarantee that something won’t go wrong - we get that. But at the very least, Microsoft, you should be able to guarantee that if something like this does happen, that you have some sort of expedited method for dealing with it so that your consumers who spend hundreds of dollars on your hardware aren’t sitting without it for 8-12 weeks because of your hardware problems. Also, I think it is a fair expectation that if you said everything would change in mid-July, that a console manufactured a month later would be clear of these issues.

UPDATE: As always, there are trolls who are claiming that this story must be made up, because a console manufactured over two weeks ago could in no way make the 8 hour plane trip from where it was made all the way over to here in Seattle in that timeframe. I must be some sort of Sony or Nintendo fanboy, just making up the story - they want images to prove I’m not lying. I grabbed a couple of shots of the back of the console, which you can check out after the break.

Click to continue reading Apparently That Xbox 360 Red Light of Doom Problem Hasn’t Been Fixed


Is BioShock a Perfect Game?

Posted by Paul Hamilton
Categories: Features, First Person Shooters, PC, Reviews, Xbox 360

BioShock: 10/10?

The reviews have been coming in for a week now, and they have been phenomenal. Consider that according to GameRankings.com, BioShock is the 4th best game of all time. On Metacritic, has received more perfect 100 scores than even The : Ocarina of Time, usually the game cited as the best of all time. Clearly, ‘s Mature-rated, failed utopia FPS is a critical smash hit.

Perhaps then there is little need for another glowing review of the game. Except this is not a glowing review in the strictest sense, because BioShock is not exactly the masterpiece of perfection indicated by these scores. Instead, BioShock is a wonderful game that happens to draw to light the inadequacies of the way games are typically reviewed and the inherent inconsistencies of how games are judged.

Click to continue reading Is BioShock a Perfect Game?


Everything You Could Want To Know About LOGOS In Tabula Rasa

Posted by Chris Pereira
Categories: Features, MMORPG, PC, Screenshots

Tabula Rasa LOGOS NCsoft’s upcoming MMORPG Tabula Rasa certainly seems to be shaping up nicely – as well it should be considering how long the game has been in development for. Finally scheduled for release this fall, one of the game’s features includes the ability to harness the power of LOGOS (which is what that strange image is to the right). As the developers put it:

In Tabula Rasa, you are a Logos-receptive soldier of the AFS, and are able to learn the language of Logos at shrines throughout the worlds you travel to.  Not only can your knowledge of Logos be used to activate special abilities that can help the AFS win this war, but the ancient symbols you uncover can also unlock hidden locations where you can further your training and enhance your skills.  Ancient secrets will be revealed to you as you collect more and more Logos to your tablet.

Intrigued? Check after the break for screenshots and a description of the power of LOGOS.

Tabula Rasa screenshot

Click to continue reading Everything You Could Want To Know About LOGOS In Tabula Rasa


Exclusive: Guild Wars: Eye of the North Friends & Allies

Posted by Chris Pereira
Categories: Features, MMORPG, PC, Screenshots

Guild Wars Eye of the North boxartWe’ve got an exclusive first look at some of the friendly NPCs you’ll be meeting along the way in your journey through Guild Wars: Eye of the North. Eye of the North is the first expansion in the Guild Wars series – prior GW titles were standalone, but connected with one another, whereas Eye of the North will require you to own a previous GW campaign. The prerelease bonus pack is now available, with the game’s release set for August 31.

Check after the break for the first ever look at these friends from Eye of the North - longtime Guild Wars fans might spot a familiar face.

Click to continue reading Exclusive: Guild Wars: Eye of the North Friends & Allies


E3 2007: Live Notes From Microsoft Media Briefing

Posted by Andru Edwards
Categories: E3, Features, Microsoft, Xbox 360, Xbox Live

Xbox E3 2007

We hope you guys are ready, because while E3 may be quite a bit smaller this year, the announcements coming from all the game companies should still prove to be large. The Microsoft briefing is right about to start, and we expect to see and hear some fairly exciting announcements. Halo 3 anyone? Fable 2 FTW? Any unannounced exclusives? Check back here in 30 minutes for the full scoop.

UPDATE: Alright guys, hit the break for the news!

Click to continue reading E3 2007: Live Notes From Microsoft Media Briefing


Chatlog: The Halo 3 Beta: Two Weeks Later

Posted by Chris Pereira
Categories: Bungie, Features, First Person Shooters, Xbox 360, Xbox Live

Halo 3 teaser Master Chief

The Beta has been available to the public for nearly two weeks, and with well over a hundred games between the two of them, editors Chris Pereira and Kyle Ulrich have a discussion about the experience thus far - what they like, what they don’t, what needs to be changed, and more.

Kyle: First off, the graphics. While the beta looks good, it’s absolutely clear that what is there is merely a foundation for what the finished product will become. A lot of people have been quick to criticize the game for looking too similar to Halo 2, without taking into consideration that the majority of the assets that we’re seeing in this beta - the levels, weapons, and character models - have been finished for months, as early as last October. Particle effects are nonexistent - grenades and muzzle fire lack flourish. From my perspective, we’re going to be looking at almost an entirely different game come September. I’d imagine that there are layers and layers of polish that have yet to be implemented. Believe.

Chris: You’re right. is the type of developer that waits until the last moment to slap on that extra layer of gloss that makes everything oh-so-pretty. And unlike many games, gimmicky bloom effects aren’t what make Halo look good. And after all, this beta isn’t a tech demo; don’t expect it to wow you with its graphics.

Kyle: The gameplay is an entirely different story, though. Even in this early, unfinished stage, the balance is remarkable. Nothing feels particularly unusable and the power weapons are exactly what they should be: hard to use, one-hit skill kills. Everything from the recoil of the sniper rifle to the shortening of the Shotgun’s ammo chamber make major strides at leveling the playing field. The even smattering of spray and prays and one-shots coalesce and riff off each other beautifully. For my money, an unfinished product has never played so marvelously. Also, the tweaking of the objective game types shakes things up well. Territories is simply awesome.

Click to continue reading Chatlog: The Halo 3 Beta: Two Weeks Later


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