Halo: Reach Multiplayer Beta Trailer Released
Posted by Finnian Durkan Categories: Action, Bungie, First Person Shooters, Microsoft, Release Dates, Xbox 360,
The trailer for the beta version of the newest addition to the Halo family, Halo: Reach, drops today. From the footage it looks completely insane and has some pretty cool additions to make the multi-player aspects of the game that much more intense. For example, now when you headhunt people they collapse slowly to the floor shooting dozens of flaming skulls out of the tops of their heads. What, that isn’t normal? I know when I creep around Seattle in my ninja costume from 5th grade this happens all of the time when I come upon some hapless fool who has wandered into my territory. Well, maybe not quite; replace ‘shooting flaming skulls out of the tops of their heads’ with ‘stare at some idiot dressed in his pajamas from Christmas 1988 who just threw a plastic ninja-star at them’. Yep, that about sums it up. I am so alone.
Gallery: Halo: Reach Multiplayer Beta Trailer Released
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Call of Duty 4 Beta Ends September 30th
Posted by Paul Hamilton Categories: Activision, First Person Shooters, PC, PlayStation 3, Release Dates, Xbox 360,
Robert “402” Bowling from Infinity Ward has posted about some upcoming changes to the Call of Duty 4 beta on his blog. The most significant announcement is the closing of the beta on September 30th, but he also revealed that two days prior the level cap, which has been at 16 for a couple of weeks after being lifted from the initial cap of 11, will go up to 25. That gives beta testers only two days to jump from 16 to 25 before the beta closes down in anticipation of the game’s release November 5th.
Part of the post hinted that CoD4 had gone gold, but Bowling refused to come right out and say it, saving the announcement for more official channels. He did say that Infinity Ward had received congratulations from the Sony of America and the Xbox 360 certification team, which leaves little room for doubt that the game is in the final stages before shipping.
The beta has been an excellent marketing tool for Infinity Ward since the strength of the game is quite evident from the limited, multiplayer-only test version. Even though the game is likely gold, the beta continues for developers to continue gathering data for the inevitable title upgrades and expansion packs. The raising of the level cap so close to the end of the beta is, speculatively, due to the launch of a certain multiplayer juggernaut a few days prior.
Read More | Fourzerotwo's Blog
Gallery: Call of Duty 4 Beta Ends September 30th
Xbox Live Free For Three Days During Halo Launch
Posted by Paul Hamilton Categories: Xbox 360, Xbox Live,
In the midst of all the hype about the Halo 3 launch, one thing that is often overlooked is that not everyone who has a 360 is necessarily equipped to play the game in its entirety. Whether you’re staunchly against paying for an online service like Xbox Live or you just can’t afford it, for a few days at least it won’t matter.
Best Buy is sponsoring a three-day free-for-all granting all Xbox 360 users access to the Gold Service starting on September 25th and ending on the 27th. That means that Silver members get to experience Halo’s online multiplayer without charge for at least a handful of days after they pick up their copy of the game. Even if you’re not into the whole Halo thing, that doesn’t exclude you from taking advantage: Best Buy’s “the first hit is free” style promotion extends to all parts of the service so those without full access to Live could use the time to play some Gears of War online, check out the Call of Duty 4 beta (if it’s still up and running) or just use the time to play some free Uno.
Read More | Bungie.net
Gallery: Xbox Live Free For Three Days During Halo Launch
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,
The 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
Gallery: Harmonix Co-Founder Answers Questions About Rock Band
Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground Demo Released Today
Posted by Paul Hamilton Categories: Activision, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Sports, Wii, Xbox 360,
Following close behind EA‘s demo for new blood competitor Skate, Activision is dropping a demo of Tony Hawk‘s Proving Ground onto the Xbox Live Marketplace today.
Proving Ground is supposed to challenge Skate with enhanced customization features, especially centered around making videos, and plenty of refinements to the online experience like seamless solo to multiplayer transitions. They’re also throwing in a nail-the-grab feature to compliment the popular nail-the-trick mode from last year’s Project 8 entry and multiple career paths. There is no firm release date set, but the game is expected to hit store shelves for most current platforms sometime in October.
Read More | Team Xbox
Gallery: Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground Demo Released Today
Games With Online Multiplayer Sell More
Posted by Paul Hamilton Categories: Corporate News, Downloadable Content, Internet, Microsoft, Nintendo, PlayStation 3, Sony, Wii, Xbox 360,
A research paper from Electronic Entertainment Design and Research has been released that suggests that games with online support can be crucial to a game’s retail success. Not surprisingly, another way to boost sales is to create a quality game (defined as those with a 90+ score on Metacritic), with these well-reviewed titles outselling the average release well above 5-to-1.
While making good games typically means making good money, naturally, it is a bit surprising to see the report indicate that sales can be doubled by dropping in an online mode. With online games selling twice the number copies that offline titles do, it’s curious to note that over half of games released don’t offer even basic online support.
Click to continue reading Games With Online Multiplayer Sell More
Read More | Ars Technica
Gallery: Games With Online Multiplayer Sell More
MarioKart on Wii Supports 16 Players Online
Posted by Paul Hamilton Categories: Driving, Internet, Nintendo, Nintendo DS, Wii,
Nintendo‘s popular arcadey racing game, Mario Kart is inevitably coming to the Wii. When it does, a blurb clipped from the Official Nintendo Magazine UK says it will support 16 players in the popular battle mode.
Mario Kart DS solidified the WiFi features of the handheld unit and it’s quite possible that the Wii version is being positioned to do the same.
As with earlier versions the Wii Mario Kart will include updated versions of older tracks (in this case Wii translations of DS tracks) as well as all new racing locations. Mario Kart for the Wii is scheduled to be released next spring.
Read More | Go Nintendo via Evil Avatar
Gallery: MarioKart on Wii Supports 16 Players Online
Quake Wars PC Demo Coming
Posted by Paul Hamilton Categories: First Person Shooters, PC,
Splash Damage, developer for the upcoming multiplayer shooter Enemy Territory: Quake Wars based on the Quake property, announced that it will be releasing a PC demo of the game on Monday, September 10th in anticipation of the game’s October 2nd release in North America.
Quake Wars was originally slated to be released in 2006 but was pushed back to allow for more testing and polish. The game is a team-oriented multiplayer skirmish game that takes place prior to Quake II in the game’s chronology and features objective-based missions, vehicles and full bot support for solo play.
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars is due in Europe and Australia September 28th.
Read More | Gaming Today
Gallery: Quake Wars PC Demo Coming
Gears of War For-Pay Map Pack Available Free Today
Posted by Paul Hamilton Categories: Downloadable Content, Third Person Shooters, Xbox 360, Xbox Live Marketplace,
The Hidden Fronts map pack for the popular Xbox Live title Gears of War, originally offered for 800 Microsoft Points several months back over some protestations from gamers and Epic themselves, is now available for free as promised.
Hidden Fronts includes four new multiplayer maps, Bullet Marsh, Garden, Process and Subway. For those looking to stretch a bit more life out of their Xbox Live multiplayer experience until Halo 3 hits, this may be the way to do it.
Gallery: Gears of War For-Pay Map Pack Available Free Today
Guitar Hero III’s Wii Online Woes
Posted by Paul Hamilton Categories: Music, Nintendo, Wii,
Despite Nintendo packaging the Wii as an internet-ready and capable device, they seem to still drag their feet whenever it comes to online gaming. The latest evidence of this is the eerie quiet surrounding the online features of the upcoming Guitar Hero III, broken by The Bits Bytes Pixels and Sprites when they contacted a Red Octane PR specialist, Bryan Lam about what Guitar Hero III will be like online with the Wii. He distressingly told BBPS, “We’re working closely with Nintendo for an online solution, though at the moment we’re unable to confirm the status of the online multi-player.”
Considering the other GHIII versions are all set to have online modes and there ought not to be any technical hurdles, this can really only mean Nintendo is having a hard time letting go of the secret to their ultimate online strategy which is so secret not even the consumers can figure out what it is. Online versus and co-op modes may be bad enough as possible omissions from the Wii version, but a follow-up from BBPS suggests that the same hurdles exist for downloadable content as well. While it’s difficult to determine why Nintendo would want to feature-deprive third party developers from online action, it’s even less comprehensible why they would cut off money-making endeavors like song packs as well.
Read More | The Bits Bytes Pixels and Sprites via 4 Color Rebellion
Gallery: Guitar Hero III’s Wii Online Woes
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