All Systems Go!

EA Sports Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 for Xbox

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 19:16:29 +0000

I have this vid in 720p, I'm going to try and rip it and upload it later today.

God Of War 3

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 17:34:08 +0000

Yes believe the hype People , this game is incredible on every level , the scale , the action , the graphics just are unmatched to what we have on display in this tile . Honestly its just incredible, what is happing on screen, and it plays and controls brilliantly .

Xbox 360 gaining USB storage support in 2010 update

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 17:15:58 +0000

Cool. Its capped to 16GB (can use up to 2 usb devices) but anything is better then nothing. More details at the link below...

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/03/18/xbox-360-gaining-usb-storage-support-in-2010-update/

GameStop "Secret" sale

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 14:33:44 +0000

Through the end of the day today (3/18/10) you can get 10% off any in stock item using the coupon code SECRET.

Splinter Cell Conviction Demo

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 13:30:23 +0000

So excited to play this!!!

http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/games/offers/0ddf0001-0000-4000-8000-000055538840?cid=SLink

Final Fantasy XIII - success or disappointment?

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 07:29:04 +0000

This is the very first Final Fantasy game I've ever played. It's a shame, I know, but being a SEGA loyal for the previous years didn't help in this matter.
So I picked up Final Fantasy XIII with not so big expectations of the loyal fanbase but with much curiosity.

I'm now ~25 hours in the game: what a disappointment.

Calling it a game is a compliment for a title which let the gamer play for so little. Cut-scene after cut-scene, activated just by simple walks or few battles are telling a story which fails to catch my interest. Epic - yes. Boring - Yes. JRPG have always been full of prerendered scenes, no problem about this, but it simply lacks pacing, slowly introducing characters, story, gameplay elements. Characters are also very flat in my opinion.

The battle system is crawling into the game, forcing repetition for the newly added feature over experimentation, with it's automatic settings which basically lets the game autoplay itself. Suffice to say that I've beaten almost all the battles just pressing "X" all the time. Boss battles offer a more varied approach, but everything else is linear like the freeway.

Maps are more linear than any other JRPG: just walk straight to get to the next point of interest, triggering a battle or a cutscene. Leveling up is linear: you have an exotic crystal map which offers no customization at all. You can't change your party - except later in the game as far as I've read - and you can't decide what actions they perform, except their role in the party as supporter, attacker, healer etc...

For all the disruptive approach in FFXIII trying to bring an overall new experience for the genre, I feel the most important elements have been widely overlooked.
It's a technical marvel which will enchant eyes (best art, graphics and direction ever, Bioware needs to learn how digital characters should act!) but so far it left my heart very cold. I agree more with the EDGE review (5/10) than with all the other bunch of 9 and 10/10.

Xbox 360 Valhalla Motherboard Leaked?

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 17:24:03 +0000

If these pics are real, then this marks a huge revision of the 360 mobo, possibly hinting at a potential revision (Xbox 360 Slim?) coming to the console itself.

More importantly, finally with a single chip solution (the size of which, hints at 45nm), and what hopefully looks like adequate cooling. Finally a permanent end to RRoD and E74 . . . and it only took them a little over four years

Quote

Xbox 360 'Valhalla' motherboard leaked on Chinese forum?
By Richard Lai posted Mar 17th 2010 10:04AM

Been to the gym lately? If not, then let this be your new motivation. What we're looking at here is a purportedly forthcoming Xbox 360 motherboard redesign that takes aim at slimming down the portly figure of Microsoft's console. Sure, there's a small chance that this diet could be the work of a scarily talented console modder, but it'd still be a near-impossible task to work in what appears to be a CPU / GPU combo chip (pictured after the break) under that greatly reduced heatsink. Note that there's also an extra SATA port at the top left corner. Perhaps this is the "Valhalla" revision that we've all been waiting for? On a related note, Microsoft is currently hiring a Motherboard Design Engineer for the Xbox 360 Console Development team, with such saucy tasks as "specifying, designing, implementing and verifying the mother-board and other various sub-system boards that make up the XBOX 360 product line." Feel free to sign up if you think you can hack out a better motherboard.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/17/xbox-360-valhalla-motherboard-leaked-on-chinese-forum/

Supreme Commander 2 Impressions - Initial

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 05:52:41 +0000

Supreme Commander 2 is the follow-up to the original Supreme Commander on Xbox 360. The game originated on the PC with multiple add-on�s that the 360 version never received. The game genre is a Real Time Strategy (RTS). The original game on 360 was plagued with various performance issues, lack of polish and a pretty poor port of the PC version. While the game had issues, it was still fun to play and had some depth that most console RTS�s do not have. The other issue with the original game on 360 was that it received no support from the developer, no patches or DLC. While issues were recognized, nothing was really done to fix these problems. The game was just a straight port with modified controls for the console with little optimization.

With all those issues, it is hard to give the Developer your hard earned money for a sequel to a game that was poorly ported, received no support and the community left to wonder why they �jumped in�. But what the developers at Gas Powered Games (GPG) have done is craft a game that was developed for both PC and Xbox 360 platforms and when you first start to play the game, you will be greeted with an impressive smooth frame rate and a game that looks like they took the care to make for a console.

While some PC players have complained that some things have been toned down because of the console version, all I can say to that is if your are exclusive or preferred console player that loves RTS�s, Supreme Commander 2 is for you. As mentioned above, from the get go you know that you are playing a quality game, with excellent menu�s and great initial impressions. Having played the PC Demo, I was really surprised when I played the tutorial and found the game running extremely smooth. While on my capable laptop, I was able to enable some additional AA, the 360 version still looks really good without it. When it first booted and it panned over the game field it just looked really high-res�something that could not be said about the original game.

As you play the game and get to the understanding of the controls, you can easily see that GPG took a lot of time customizing the control configuration and the menu system to suite the game pad. While by nature, RTS�s in general are better due to the Keyboard/Mouse configuration, what GPG have done was take the simplicity of control that Halo Wars introduced, but applied it to a more capable RTS that is not as toned down for casual players. While Halo Wars in my opinion was a great game, it was highly considered a RTS-Lite due to the simplicity of the game. While SC2 is not as overwhelming (again my opinion) as the original, it is still very deep and gives you a ton of more units to manage.

My biggest concern going into the game was the performance of it and how it would handle the higher population that the game allows for each player. While I have not been in a 4 player, 100 units x4 battle, from the few games I have played it has ran smooth. With that said, there are some tech issues I already have noticed. The game features what it calls �strategic zoom� that the original had�it basically allows you to manage all your units from what looks like high orbit and all your units are represented by different icons. You can zoom from close up to this bird�s eye �strategic view� and here is where there are some sound glitches. You can have a large 80 units vs. 80 unit�s battle and depending on the zoom level, the sounds cuts in and out. I noticed at the default zoom level the sound is good and is stable, but it seems like as you zoom out it struggles to know what sounds to send out.

This was a major issue of the first game, but much worse in the original. In the original when completely zoomed out you can hear all the units fighting and it was just a cluster of mashed up sound and was extremely loud. In SC2, the game just can decide depending on the zoom level what sounds to send out. But outside of that, I have not run into any other issues and for the most part, this glitch is not too bad, but needs to be looked into.
Overall, I am extremely impressed with the game and the performance of it. The game ships with 20 MP Maps/Skirmish maps. There are 3 playable factions as well. Game Stop is offering the game for $49.99 and included 2 additional DLC Maps. One interesting note, it seems like Game Stop is the only place to get the game now, since according to the developers forums, the game still is street dated for 3/16 and that is why the 2 DLC maps are not available. With 2 free maps and $10.00 off, it is hard to beat the Game Stop deal.
If you are at all interested in RTS games on consoles, you cannot miss Supreme Commander 2. It plays very good, looks very good and when the sound is not glitching in and out, it sounds really good as well.

Some other interesting tid-bits: The game is only 2 GB installed. That is one of the smallest retail 360 games I have played. MP is limited to up to 4 players max, which I think if we had at least 3vs3 it would have been better, but with the high population cap given to each player, I think this was done due to performance.

Supreme Commander 2 is highly recommended�go get your copy now!!!!

Woot! I'm an APB beta Tester!! (Baby!)

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 11:11:16 +0000

Downloading the client, can't wait!

Heavy Rain

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:22:29 +0000

Heavy Rain seems like more of an interactive story than a traditional game, but don't let that scare you off. The story is intriguing and gripping; I'm really getting in to it. Last night, some tough choices came in to play and I felt hints of real emotion and conviction in some of the decisions I made. I even made a serious mistake and felt bad about it.

It was a genuine mistake; I had no intention of doing what I did ... or did I? The game gave me a small window of time to push one of four buttons. In that moment, I wasn't sure what the button I pressed would do - as soon I saw the life-changing effect, I regretted not being more cautious. In a way, it felt like a real mistake someone would make in real life. Of course I'm sure some people would argue I actually did the right thing. I considered hitting the power button before the auto save kicked in, but that would be cheating ...

As for the gameplay: In a typical level I'll spend some time walking around freely, talking with people or interacting with items in the environment - simple stuff like switching a radio on, opening drawers, flipping through mail or a magazine. Then there's more interesting stuff like ... investigating a crime scene. However, when something important is going or the action is heating up, expect a flurry of Shenmue-style QTEs, although a bit more complex.

Heavy Rain features a decent amount of SIXAXIS motion controls - and does so very well. Perhaps some of the best motion controls I've experienced and that's largely because the motion controls are limited to short, deliberate movements. For example, you might swipe the controller to one side to use the character's arm to clear a messy desk. You might yank the controller down hard to break something or tilt it one direction to narrowly miss a collision.

Short Attention Span PSA: There will be a lulls in activity - maybe a loading screen or a non-interactive cinematic - and then you will suddenly be required to press a button within 1 second or it registers as a failed input. Not a game over fail, but a failure that could affect how the rest of the scene plays out. I have found that I have to be focused on the game at all times if I want to perform well. Considering my short attention span, this has been ... not going well.

Amazing technology: The character animations and how they interact with objects in the world - very impressive. Characters details, especially the faces, are amazing. There are certain scenes, where the camera briefly shows a character's face and it almost looks like a real person. Upon close inspection, the faces don't look so real, but just given quick glimpses, I think it would be difficult for an unprepared eye to differentiate from the real thing.

Overall, the voice acting is very good. The voices match the characters and what they're doing in the scene. Easily some of best in-game voice acting I've heard.

Great musical score too. Sets and fits the mood of the game perfectly.

I'm really enjoying the Heavy Rain story and overall experience. I highly recommend a rental.

FYI on trophies: There's an in-game menu for viewing unlocked trophies. Some of the trophy descriptions could be considered minor spoilers. For this reason I advise against viewing the trophies in the PS3 menu. I haven't looked at the PS3 menu for these trophies - the descriptions might be hidden until unlock, but just in case ... now you know, and knowing is half the battle.