Virtua Fighter 5 is out, one of the most notable titles in Sony's opening salvo of spring releases.  While the game looks phenomenal, it's hard to reccommend any game on visuals alone.  Does Sega's latest fighter stand up to its previous high standards?  And if so, is it worth buying for the PS3, or even the 360?

Continue reading "Virtua Fighter 5: Black Belt or Kick to the Balls?"

I don't normally post release dates for games.  Frankly, they're not usually announcements worthy of our time 'round these parts, but Bioshock is one of those games that has me absolutely falling all over myself with anticipation.  

Am I hyped?   Yeah.

This is why I've been lurking their community site over at CultOfRapture, where today the community manager flat out announced that Bioshock will be street legal on August 21st.    A little later than I hoped, but I won't complain -   Hey Irrational!  How bout letting us indie media in for a sneak peek?!

From the post:

BIOSHOCK STREET DATE IS AUGUST 21
February 28, 2007

The headline says it all: BioShock's street date is August 21st. That's a Tuesday, for all you who might be planning your "sick" days in advance.

Let the countdown begin!

Yet another slow week in gaming news, so i feel like feeding the fire of the rumor mill today. Recent rumor floating around have been the announcement of a Black Xbox 360 said to have a 120Gb hard drive, black controller  and HDMI.

Take this with a grain of salt mind you, the revelation comes from the site GamerReports reporting that they have an inside source that states Microsoft Australia has informed retail store Myers of this Black Xbox 360 with a price tag of $749 Aus dollars (Roughly $584 for you guys) which will be releasing in April, but as the rumor mill goes why release in April when you could release in late March to compete with the Sony's PS3 launch in Aus.

 I don't now about you guys but I could definitely use the 120gb Hard Drive as my current one is starting to get packed, more info if anything official happens.

It's an interesting thing.... Yesterday morning as I was perusing the latest XBL release info over at Major Nelson's site, one of the comments demanded the removal of Greg Canessa as GM of the Xbox Live Arcade.    Today, we find out he's decided to accept a job over at Popcap games.

For me, this brings up an interesting question - Is it more important to be a competant business man who has no real interest in games, beyond it being his business?  Or is it better to have a manager who understands the desires of gamers because, ultimately, he is one - even though he may be less experianced? 

The removal of Greg Canessa comes at an interesting time in the life of the Xbox Live Arcade Marketplace - the last game I bought was Small Arms, and I havn't felt like I was missing out.   On my console I have every single game downloaded, but have only purchased maybe five.   Why?   Even though I'm a hardcore gamer who does enjoy his gamerscore, I despise the repackaging of "Retro" titles.   In gaming, people use the word "Retro" like a compliment. "Oh, Pacman?   It's Retro!"  when in reality, some games are just old.    I understand the merits of titles like Galaga or Pole Position, but the fact of the matter is: If you havn't already played Pole Position, and you're a gamer - then you're not going to appreciate it.   Oh sure, you might claim to, but ultimately you just get that funky taste in your mouth and think "Hrmm, Maybe I should have played this before playing Grand Turismo 4". 

The practice of porting Retro Games to modern consoles is nothing but lazy developing.   While Microsoft is bad, Nintendo is even worse - somebody made a rather insightful comment on the VM for the Wii

From a development standpoing Nintendo has actually only released five items for the VC- an NES emulator, a SNES emulator, a Genesis emulator, a TG-16 emulator, and a N64 emulator. The rest are just ROM images.

So when you think about it, Nintendo is actually being even lazier!  The ROMS have been out there for years, as have the emulators.    No added features at all "to preserve the original feel", and they're expensive to boot.     Don't even get me started on the controls for Super Mario World when using a Gamecube controller.... 

Which brings us back to Greg Canessa leaving his post as the General Manager of the Xbox Live Arcade...   I think what we're seeing here is either Greg or Microsoft (or both) realizing that your average executive just doesn't understand what we, the gamers, actually want.  And since We, the Gamers, are their entire market, it's a significant distinction.    Microsoft recently announced that starting this week (and for the next 9 weeks ), a mostly impressive list of titles will be hitting the XBLA including (but not limited to) Catan, Worms, Alien Hominid HD, Rootbeer Tapper, Paperboy, Band of Bugs,  and Castlevania: SOTN. 

First one out the gate?  Rootbeer Tapper.
The next day?  General Manager Greg Canessa no longer works for Microsoft.

About six months ago, I had a conversation with a friend within MS, and we got to talking about the way Arcade was being handled.   He told me that we (GamerAndy Live!) bagged on Arcade too much, and I said that when they started putting out games I didn't feel they should be embarrassed about charging real money for (Lame, overdone retro titles) that we'd say nice things about it.   He then told me that he agreed and there were alot of people within that division who were trying to push the original content out, but it was being stopped because some of the higher-ups had gotten it in their heads that you could produce retro titles very cheaply, and make money off the nostalgic gamers - Pretty much all profit.

Coincidence?

I think we're about to see a New Day for XBLA

-Andy
(Comment on this story here)

Ubisoft have released the Ghost Recon AW 2 demo on Xbox live, the demo weighs in at 625.54 mb. So what is my overall impressions of the demo, well honestly the demo is pretty horrid. XBL demo's have improved considerable recently with the release of Crackdown and Rainbow Six Vegas which where praised as pretty decent but it seems like GRAW 2 has just lowered the bar with its poor design and awkward controls.



More impressions after the jump

Continue reading "GRAW 2 Demo Hits Live"

So, after our extended Hiatus GA is back on its feet!     For the first time in months I woke up with the actual desire to write an article designed to get you guys hyped up about a game that I'm absolutely freaking drooling for, so welcome back!

By now i'm sure most of you have heard that Microsoft has delayed the much touted demo release of "Crackdown"... You know, that game that comes with the Halo 3 beta?  Don't get me wrong, i'm all for super-hero open world games - it's just that when I played it at e3 with Edie (coop), it felt....  Clunky.   I suppose thats actually the wrong word, but the bottom line is that it just felt like too much emphasis was being placed on "stylized graphics" and the "feel" of the game was taking the hit for it, specifically in the physics that govern your effect on the enviroment.

Even so, I was looking forward to the demo hoping against hope that it would suprise the hell out of me and turn out to be a winner.  Because really, the 360 NEEDS a good coop sandbox game and if Crackdown proves it works then we'll start seeing it more (SQUEE!).

But this post isn't about Crackdown really, it's about the OTHER demo that was (and still is) set to release on XBLM this thursday.

Battlestations: Midway.  
BS:M is a game that when I first heard about it (september of 2006) I totally wrote off as another sad WWII budget title that I would probably rent and not care for, goddamn was I wrong.  For the past 2 weeks i've my lurking the Forums over at Eidos dedicated to BS:M and reading up on the multiplayer previews...  I am so amazingly stoked for this game, you don't even know...  

Check out this video and join me after the jump for thoughts and bubbling enthusiasm

Make the jump for a bit of commentary (and an update on the podcast!) 

Continue reading "No Crackdown... but Battlestations:Midway! ftw!"

Hi folks, Cooper Hawkes here, asking you to take this with a heavy grain of salt:
 
Engadget is reporting that the next Xbox 360 will have HDMI built in. (They even have a very convincing picture to boot.)
 
Here's the text:
 
Ever wonder why Microsoft hasn't released an HDMI cable for the Xbox 360, or whether the AV port was really capable of digital out? Well, here's your answer: we landed pictures of what appears to be the second Xbox 360 -- the Xbox 360 v2, if you will -- codenamed Zephyr. (The original Xbox 360, if you recall, was codenamed Xenon.) The long rumored about and awaited update to the console won't just feature a new, cooler 65nm processor, it's also finally added an HDMI port for full digital 1080p pleasure, as well as a 120GB drive, just what the doctor ordered. The 120GB drive may or may not come bundled with the kit, we don't yet know, just as we also don't yet know how much a Zephyr 360 is going to run (we imagine it'll go for the same price as currently so they can keep up a little on their expanding margin). But our very kind Xbox insider seemed happy to let us know we'd be able to get them "soon."
 
And here's the rant:

Continue reading "Xbox 360 with HDMI?!? Oh no you DIDN'T!"

Hi folks, Cooper Hawkes here, what begins here is a "blog" of my time without my Xbox 360. Please keep a sense of humor when reading it and know that while parts are quite serious, others are very tongue-in-cheek.
 
I leave it to you to figure out which is which.
 
December 21st 2006:
 
"Gimmie a beat boys and free my soul, I wanna get lost in your Rock 'n Roll and drift away" – "Drift Away" - Doby Grey  (Not the crappy remake)
 
Music has picked up the slack for my gaming addiction. I hadn't realized it but even when I wasn't gaming, I was at least turning on the Xbox 360 to download some form of content or another, usually sneaking in a quick Arcade game or two. I'm finding that there are songs on my iPod I haven't listened to in some time, whose lyrics are suddenly strangely gaming relevant. It's probably just my mind playing tricks on me.
 
Today I took my Xbox 360 to work.

Continue reading "Separation anxiety: The Cooper Hawkes Xbox 360 saga."

If you want a great new case mod for your 360, try this one. Suzuki has unveiled all it's 2007 model SUVs at the 2006 San Diego International Auto Show. Along with the lineup, they have also shown off a concept model. The SXBox. It's a part of the LIVE series of vehicles, designed for "life enthusiasts, adventurers and thrill-seekers." Life enthusiasts, hunh?

The vehicle comes with a 360 embedded into the dashboard and removable 360 controllers from the steering wheel and below the dash. It also has a close proximity digital projector to display the output from the 360 onto the retractable hood, activated with a single button, to play games and watch HD DVDs.

Personally, I would never want something like this. I don't need to be distracted while driving, at that, I don't think a vehicle is the best place to play video games or to watch a movie in. But that's just me. That, and that's why this is just a concept.

[VIA Xbox-Scene]

Sega today decided to share the love with their xbox360 fans by announcing the previously Sony exclusive Virtua Fighter 5 would indeed be coming to the Xbox360, all be it a little bit later than the Ps3 version.

There is not much more to say here other than I hope Virtua Fighter fans are happy that the game is coming out on the 360 and it will reach a new audience. I for one have never played the Virtua Fighter series, I was always a Mortal Kombat fan growing up and I have only recently discovered the joys of Dead or Alive but I will be sure to check this one out when it finally releases.

The game is set to ship late summer 2007 on the Xbox360 and it will be a launch title for the Ps3 in Europe.

I came home from work today to find this lovely bit of news about a game I am quite excited about. The game I am referring to is Crackdown. Not much has been heard about Crackdown since its delay a few months back. It had first been touted as one of Microsoft's flagship holiday 2006 releases but for one reason or another the game was delayed until the eerily vague "2007" release date.

That is until today when Microsoft and Real time worlds (the games developer) announced that the game will be in north American stores February 20th (still no firm release date for us Europeans but that date should not be far behind).

But even more interesting is that a demo will be available on the xbox live marketplace on January 18th. The demo it would seem will contain single and  multilayer portions which is a nice surprise.

Below is some more info about the demo and the retail game.

Continue reading "Crackdown demo and retail versions dated"

*Update* Ask and you shall recieve, today Call of Duty 3 was also patched. I have left a note (from the Call of Duty 3 team) further down detailing what the patch fixes.

This morning when you wake up and turn on your xbox 360 you will hopefully find an auto update for Splinter Cell: Double Agent. It appears to fix various issues that I personally was not aware of and some that had nagged me to the point of giving up on the game. So I am glad these issues are finally fixed and I can now go back to playing Double Agent.

As much as I dislike the growing trend of games needing to be patched I am glad to see developers at least trying to fix their mistakes with these auto updates. Lets just hope the promised call of duty 3 patch comes sooner rather than later.

Below is a list of the fixes contained in the update.

Continue reading "Splinter Cell: Double Agent and Call of Duty 3 patched"

October 19th, 2005:

Saddam Hussein walked into an Iraqi courtroom for the first time.  The UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan asked for more money to help aid the victims of the earthquake in India.  Madonna proudly told the world that she didn't let her children watch TV. (Probably so they couldn't see their mom being such a media whore.) And somewhere in Asia, an Xbox 360 was stamped and sealed into its box to be sent to California.

That was my Xbox 360.

Continue reading "Born: 10-19-2005. Died: 12-20-2006."

Slow news day today, eh?

To get the new moving, I've decided to post something about what I feel is interesting. Perhaps somebody else out there would find this just as interesting.

The XCM XFPS keyboard and mouse adapter for the 360 is out now. You can pick one up at Video Game Advantage for about eighty bucks. Yeah. Eight... Zero...

If I had a 360, a few FPS's, extra keyboard and mouse, this is something I really would consider to buy.

[Via Gizmodo]

Contrary to rumors that surfaced over the weekend, Konami has stated that it has "No plans to Bring Metal Gear Solid 4 to the PS3 at this time," in a press release with Computer and Videogames Magazine.

Frankly, I'm suprised this even became an issue. If there's one title that Sony will do just about anything to keep exclusive, it's MGS4. And more importantly, the originators of this rumor --Noos.com - -has the delightful track record of such gems as "Time Crisis 4 to be released exclusively for PS3 at launch." I recognize the potential profit motive behind any future MGS4 port, but it was pretty obvious that this site, if none other, has little in the way of credibility when it comes to this claim.

Don't have a gaming collection? Don't know where to start? Well, markcz5581 is selling his collection at a starting bid of $25,000. Buy it now for $75,000 and you get a Wii with that.

List after jump!

Continue reading "Massive Console Collection!"

According to Major Nelson and the Ubisoft forums, Rainbow Six: Vegas is getting a sprucing up today. When you log in, don't be surprised if you're sent to an auto-update screen.

Thankfully, one of the major parts of this update package will be fixes to the voice-chat system.

The entire list of fixes after the jump...

Continue reading "Rainbox Six: Vegas Patched"

Howdy!

Back from my ten-day hiatus, which involved both housesitting and being sick. This is GamerAndy.... Well, written?

Bottom line, I'm back -- expect posts :)

And, to start things off on the right foot we've got some news from a Belgian Microsoft employee via YouNewb re: seven-minute Halo vid on marketplace that'll contain two and a half minutes of gameplay footage.

From the post:

On December 20 a new Halo 3 video will be available on marketplace. It’s a seven-minute video that will be released next week. It highlights the emergence of the Brutes as playable characters in the game. It touches on their skills, origins, and how they are being created. It has about two and a half minutes of gameplay footage.

Brutes as playable characters, eh? My immediate reaction to this is how will they be balanced? We can assume they'll be playable in multiplayer, and that leads us to a kinda risky area.  In Halo 2, Spartans and Elites worked well because they were essentially the same unit, just with different skins. Even so, people complained and whined about imagined "advantages" that one model had over the other, whether it be hit-boxes or crouch-jumping height.

Frankly, I'm concerned that Bungie is taking more of a class-based approach to Halo 3. One of the series' greatest stregnths is that everyone starts the rounds on even ground. There's no advantages or disadvantages.

Is Bungie throwing that out to have a Brute character model?

I guess we'll see.

I'll keep this short and sweet, Microsoft last night accidentally let part of the new backwards-compatibility list slip out onto the web. Once the information leaked out there was nothing Microsoft could do to stop it.

The smart folks over at Xbox360fanboy and joystiq managed to save the list before Microsoft pulled the information down.

So why am I posting about the backwards-compatibility list? One word: Psychonauts.

Finally after months and months of gamers (and the developers) pleading for Microsoft to add Psychonauts to the backwards-compatibility list it has finally been added.

Rejoice! Break out the party hats!

Of course when Microsoft was contacted as to whether we were allowed to break out the party hats or if Psychonauts was indeed being added to the backwards-compatibility list during the next update, it simply said the list was NOT final and it may change in the future.

This of course could mean more or fewer titles. But until we receive more info, this is NOT official.

The list also contains a few more surprises, like Splinter Cell: Double Agent, Scarface, and Mortal Kombat: Armageddon.

Full list after the jump!

Continue reading "Microsoft Lets Back Compat List Slip"

UPDATE:So it seems that this isn't the trailer that will be released on Friday, despite multiple reports otherwise. The trailer set for XBL on Friday will be five minutes long and be "similar" to this one, according to major gaming sites. Now, how "similar" remains to be seen. Until then, look at the pretty pictures until the download is available. Then we'll compare notes.

It only took three months to get here.

Bioware previewed its new trailer for Mass Effect at the X06 game show in September. Since then, nada. Bupkiss.

On Friday, that changes, for on that day the very same trailer will be available on XBox Live for download.

Now, I'm not a big fan of trailers. A developer can put together anything it likes, CG-render it, and make it look amazing. But a trailer does not always translate into actual gameplay.

That being said, YouTube has posted this low-rez version of the a trailer. What you'll get on XBL will be a much higher resolution, so you can get your ya-yas off tomorrow if this doesn't do it for you.

Enjoy.

It's the perfect holiday gift for every boy with a curious, slightly creepy, and possbly unhealthy obsession with Master Chief.

Homestyle gadget-gearhead Ben Heckendorn, famous for mods like the XBox 360-to-PC, the nPod, the PPS2, and the N64p, has been at it again. He's come up with what seems to be a rather workable one-handed, wireless XBox 360 controller.

Developed at the request of an Iraq War veteran, this controller allows for full functionality of the 360 controller using your left hand. The right side must be leaned against a surface, but your right hand can do anything it wants while you're playing.

And who doesn't prefer your right hand? Am I right?

If this thing catches on, I predict an upsurge in sales of Dead or Alive Xtreme 2.

[From BenHeck.com]

It was only a matter of time before something like this happened, I just didn’t expect it so soon.

Some budding entrepreneur has taken it upon himself to sell on his "rare" pokemans....wait, piñatas. He's selling 11 of them, to be exact (just check the guy's other auctions).

For the ridiculous price of $10, you can bid on one. Or, if you really want one now, you can use the handy "Buy it Now" option for the even bigger rip-off of $15.

I really hope no one is stupid enough to actually buy these piñatas. Sure, they are hard to get, but isn’t that part of the fun with a game like Viva Piñata? I can’t imagine someone feeling a sense of achievement after acquiring one of these creatures via EBay.

Find the info here.

Just a quick note here.

It appears that the story we ran earlier today on the Halo 3 Beta and its presumed exclusivity to North America may have been due to a communication failure in the press release that announced it.

An additional release went out a few hours ago with links to get that still shot from the upcoming trailer I'm sure we've all seen by now, and this quote was at the end of it:

---

"Please also note that while this media alert was North American focused, other regions of the world will be having similar unveilings of the trailers, and registrations for the Halo 3 multiplayer beta."

---

So looks like you're in luck, Euros! We at GA don't discriminate, and all are welcome into the GA Halo 3 beta clan!
-Andy
(Watch, now I'll get a note from somebody who lives in Cuba telling me I should refer to them as well.)

Fanboys rejoice! The day of reckoning is upon us!
From the GamerScoreBlog:

Starting Monday, Dec. 4, visit http://www.halo3.com, those of you in North America will be able to register for the opportunity to be one of the select members to join the Halo 3 public beta program, scheduled to kick off in spring 2007. This is the first path of entry to participate in the program. Through the resulting feedback, Bungie Studios will be able to further refine and hone the end result of Halo 3.

UPDATE: Seems in a subsequent press release that there was some missed communciation. The beta will indeed be available for Europeans. Check out our follow-up story here.

Microsoft is worried, ladies and gents. Worried that people in Europe and America are getting things that they just shouldn't have. A fully fledged and quite well-stocked media marketplace simply should not be in the hands of the Europeans! And a demo (which is actually rather good) of Rainbow Six: Vegas should by no means be played by people in America before those in Europe!

In case you were unaware, you can become one of the chosen millions with access to this or that piece of content simply by creating an Xbox Live Silver account in another country. People based in the UK, for example, may want a US account to download South Park or some such show.

However, up to this point, it's all been above board with MS, who hadn't really spoken up about said problem. According to German site Xbox Archiv, a confidential plan was leaked to them, presumably via Microsoft. It has taken down the article since, and attempts to contact Microsoft's UK representative have been met with a stern "no comment."
While some people are put off by this account hogging (Gamertags are bloody hard to come by, though I think I had a lucky break with Refridgeron), it's more about contractual details between Microsoft and, say, Comedy Central. I think Eurogamer said it simplest.

Via Eurogamer

Microsoft’s outlet for all the Xbox Live! news that's not fit to print, Major Unpronounceable Nelson, recently posted an interesting bit 'o news on his blog. Apparently MS and FASA, the guys developing the new Shadowrun game for 360 and PC, are going to be hosting an open beta of the game's multiplayer sometime in the mysteriously murky future (360 only for now).

I personally will be attempting to get in, as I'm sure others around GA will. So go sign up and hopefully we'll see you online, again. Because we play a lot. Perhaps too much...

Here's what ya do:

1. Visit the beta Web site at http://connect.microsoft.com.
2. Click on "invitations" on the left-side menu.
3. You will need to sign in using a valid Windows Live ID before you can continue to the "invitations" page (if you have already registered for the Connect site, skip to Step 5).
4. Please read and accept the Terms of Use Agreement, then follow the instructions to register for the Connect site.
5. Enter your Invitation ID in the blank field. Your invitation ID is: SHBS-6YMT-YKHC
6. Click "go."
7. Complete and submit the short questionnaire. Please enter MAJOR1 for the beta code when
asked at the beginning of the questionnaire.
8. If you are not redirected immediately to the Shadowrun Beta Selection homepage after completing the questionnaire, click the "my participations" link on the left-hand navigation bar and then click the Shadowrun program link.  This will redirect you to the Shadowrun Beta Selection homepage.
9. Once you are on the Shadowrun Beta Selection homepage, you will need to complete the rest of the registration process by signing up for the forums by clicking the "join the forums" button then click the "welcome to the official Shadowrun Community Forum sign in" button.
10. Wait patiently for us to contact you with further instructions.  Check back at http://connect.microsoft.com for further beta announcements.

We got this email from Chris over at the Gears of War forums a few days ago, and I havn't gotten around to posting it until now:

---

Andy,
Just wanted to let you know that we made an impact. Mark Rein, himself, reopened the closed thread regarding the letter on your site (closed yesterday by Flak, reopened about three hours later by Mark Rein) and commented directly on this issue. I've copied his initial response below and a link to the thread (because he made a few more comments also). Nothing totally solid, but this is the first time since the game's release they've specifically made any comment about the lobby system in any form.

Happy Thanksgiving!

-Chris

"We're looking into whether we can do something like that for this game or not and it isn't something we are going to decide in a scant two weeks because it could involve multiple man-years of work. In the meantime, we're already implementing some suggested changes in an upcoming update. Unfortunately it's too early to say when that update will appear or what will definitely make it in because (a) it's not done and (b) even when it is done it has to pass Microsoft's certification and testing process before we can release it. ... "
(Full Post here)

---

So thanks. guys. Thanks for helping us draw attention to the issues with Gears of War and help show Epic that we're not happy and we're not going to shut up until we get a response. Mark has now confirmed that something is being worked on to fix things in the short term and that they're going to try to put in a party system as a long-term fix. I think we can safely say that, at the very least, we've secured a "party system" for Gears of War 2.

And Honestly, that's something to look forward to.

-Andy

To match those furry XBox 360 controllers, Talismoon has come out with 360 faceplates. They also come with nice stickers that go over the chrome bezel to give the full fur effect. No animals were harmed in the creation of this faceplate. Really. It's synthetic.

Synthetic fur... eww. Give me real mink.

[Via Xbox-Scene]

If you didn't end up getting one of those Amazon $100 XBox core systems on Thursday, you have another chance.

Sort of.

Those wacky folks at Engadget are running a contest on their site wherein if you leave a comment on a particular thread, you'll be entered into a contest to win a XBox 360 premium bundle!

And they're throwing in a PowerSquid black Surge3000!

Just go to this page and leave a comment. Maybe they'll choo-choo-choose you!

(I really shouldn't be telling you this, should I?)

Now I've been known to take things to extremes when it comes to my gaming. There has definitely been more than one occasion where I've gotten a game and not moved from my seat for upwards of 22 hours. These things happen with me

Knowing that about me, hear me when I say that the Xbox Live Video Marketplace is an absolute time sink, money sink, and blood-pressure aggravator.

In all honesty, i've been an XBL subscriber for two years and this is absolutely the most irritating thing I've ever come across.

The day the service was released, I spent maybe 20 minutes going through the catalogue of content, looking for something that was -- first -- in high definition and -- second -- that I hadn't seen. My apartment is maybe seven minutes' driving time away from a Hollywood Video that stocks more movies than I'll ever have time to watch, but being the kinda guy I am, I figured I'd give Microsoft's service a fair shake at my business.

Eventually I settled on Mel Gibson's pre-tPotC epic: We Were Soldiers.

I'm a sucker for war movies, and this was one that I had missed because the girl I was dating didn't like how MG's face looked -- and I'm a guy who likes to keep his lady happy. Right, TMI. We'll just move on.

So it's 1 p.m. when I start downloading the 1.9 gig SD file (they didnt have anything in hi-def I wanted to see). I'll now mention that I have a 8 megabit upload and a 1.5 download, so my connection is speedy.

Long story short, 36 hours later (as I get home from my folks house, having left the console on through my Thanksgiving), the file is only 60 percent completed.

Wow.

Anybody had similar experiences? Join me after the jump for a little discussion of MS, expectations and responsibility.

Continue reading "Xbox Live Video Marketplace: Avoid Like The Plague"

So, by now you've heard about our big movement to get some form of response from Epic on their broken ranked multiplayer system in the blockbuster hit of the season, Gears of War.

Early next week (following the holidays), I'm going to start sending daily emails to Epic in hope that I'll just get annoying enough for it to respond. In the meantime, however, I think there are still some people out there who actually buy into this post made by a Gears of War developer, Joe Graf, who essentially says, "It's Microsoft's fault, talk to them."

I, like many of you, was willing to buy into that excuse (despite Saints Row's lobby-based system that apparently "slipped through the cracks"). But no longer.

In an interview with several Bungie (Halo 3) developers published yesterday on 1up.com, Luke Smith brought up Epic's recent accusations (though not in so many words):

1UP: Recent Xbox Live games have made it difficult to party with your friends for ranked games, the reasons have been cited as Microsoft's certification and TrueSkill system. Will players be able to enter ranked games as a party in Halo 3?

Allen Murray, producer: Of course! Core features from Halo 2, such as the Party System, will remain intact and are being improved upon. You will most definitely be able to create a party with your friends and enter into ranked matchmaking -- that's where the fun is! The Xbox certification process and TrueSkill system do not prevent games from having a feature that allows parties of friends to enter into ranked matchmaking as a team -- but they also do not provide that feature as part of the core set of matchmaking services. This system is something that Bungie has built into our game that is uniquely ours and a key ingredient in our special sauce.

Full Story

Unfortunately, since it's Thanksgiving and I'm at my folks house on dialup, I'm unable to put up a picture or even stay to comment further on this rather revealing comment. I encourage YOU though to post your thoughts. Anybody think that GA and the Gears community is unfairly dealing with Epic? Does this latest comment from Bungie entirely invalidate Epic's excuses and reveal this missing funcitonality to be, in fact, due to a rushed game?
Either way though,

HAPPY THANKSGIVING FROM GAMERANDY.COM!!

While cruising the net for sound clips to construct the intro for the new GamerAndy Live!, I came across this tidbit.

While the current content of Microsoft's new television and movie download service for XBox Live leaves a bit desired (you know, the service that takes about 15 hours to download a low-def movie... a-HEM!), there's good news.

South Park episodes are on tap to be available for download as well!

Cool beans, except it will cost cash for what I get for free with my Replay (TiVo). But for those with out a HDR, it's an option to be able to re-watch that one episode... you know the one... when Cartman says something mean to Kyle about being a Jew... and then Kenny dies?

I love that episode!

EDIT: Whups. Kyle's the Jew. Changed.

So Emergence Day has arrived for us down under. Unfortunately the game has been on store shelves since last Sunday (my store was Saturday), four days before launch. My own store pulled them off the shelves (insert comment about boss), but fortunately for me I got a copy before they were pulled.

Now, curious me wanted to know who was selling copies and how many they had, so I walked around the shopping mall where I work. Pretty much Big W, JB HiFi, EB Games, and Games Wizards were practically sold out of all their Gear games, but it was when I got to EB Games that I found a jewel Gears of War, pre-owned, for $79.95, down from $99.95.

Interestingly enough, the boys from AUSTHUND3R brought this to my attention:

If you don't have Gears of War yet, get down to your local Target store on Thursday morning and grab yourself the standard version for just $79.95. This price will only be for Thursday before it goes back to its recommended retail price of $99.95, says Serva.

Also, Aussie gamers will have a free Gold weekend from the Friday, Nov. 24, at 3 p.m., and continuing until Sunday, Nov. 26, at 10 p.m. So if you are a gamer and you do not have XBL Gold, here is your chance to see what it's like. Yep, it's a marketing push by Microsoft to get more Aussie subscribers to XBL. Anyway, if anyone is interested in playing some Gears of War this weekend, you can hit me up at MrD86, I hope you guys have a good one.

Aus Gears Site 
AusThund3R

As those of you who listen regularly to GamerAndy Live! know, Amazon was running a poll for what crazy holiday deal it should offer Thanksgiving Day. The contestants included a Mongoose bicycle for $60 (normally $139), Barbie Interactive Princess for $25 (normally $50), $100 of toys and an Amazon prime membership for $120 (normally $179), and an XBox 360 core system for $100 (normally $299).

The winner?

The XBox, of course!

Only 1,000 units will be available for sale at this price beginning Thursday at 11 a.m. PST. So, between basting your turkey, you might want to make a date with your computer to pick up this steal of a deal!

[From Amazon]

UPDATE: These 1,000 units sold out in about two mintues. I know. I tried. The demand was so strong that the Amazon.com home page locked up for about 15 mintues. Congrats if you got one.

UPDATE 2: I overestimated the sell-out time. According to the Associated Press:

Heavy traffic during a Thanksgiving Day sale disrupted Amazon.com's Web site for about 15 minutes, the company said.

The page-load problems began at about 11 a.m. Thursday, while the online retailer was offering Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 video game systems for $100 to the first 1,000 customers. An entry-level Xbox system normally retails for about $300.

"We saw dramatically more traffic than what we anticipated," Amazon spokesman Craig Berman said Friday.

The Xbox sold out in 29 seconds, Berman said. Amazon also sold out of discounted Mongoose mountain bikes, Barbie dolls and Amazon Prime memberships with $100 gift certificates in about 15 minutes.