Posts filed under 'games'
The Xbox 360 community is buzzing re: next week’s big announcement from Epic. For those who’ve missed out on the early buzz, Gears of War appears to be a true next-gen title with amazing visuals, and we hope for great gameplay.
screenshots here
videos here
Mark Rein set things off by posting on Monday:
“BIG announcement coming next week! “
Gamespot followed up with a lengthy post explaining the possibilities:
This week, a new theory began circulating that Microsoft will time the release of another top Xbox 360 game to trip up the PS3’s launch. …Since Microsoft launched the Xbox, Xbox 360, and both Halo games in mid-November, many assume that Gears of War will hit stores then, especially now that the PS3 is going on sale during the time frame….This, in turn, spawned a second theory–that the announcement will be for a Gears of War demo on Xbox Live.
My money is on an Xbox Live demo. If you have any tips please send our way :)
July 25th, 2006
We haven’t had a chance to test this game yet, but according to several of our readers and hardwaregeeks.com the wide aspect ratio is not properly supported in the Xbox 360 version of MLB 2K6. Hardwaregeeks.com reports that:
“HDTV users beware this game is not an HD Game and there for when played in widescreen there are stretched logos, jaggy’s and frame lag.”
If this is true, and it appears to be, it will really fly in the face of what the Xbox 360 is all about — next generation games on next generation hardware … and for our money, next generation means HD.
Technorati Tags: MLB2K6
April 20th, 2006
Hot on the heels of the xbox360 game news, Edios today unveiled the real life model for their upcoming series, a 20 year old Londoner whose current employment is that of a sales clerk. Karima Adebibe, pictured below, was selected from thousands of hopefuls.
more photos here and here
Technorati Tags: lara croft
February 15th, 2006
Let me first preface this quick review by saying that I love soccer — or ‘football’ as it really should be called. I played football growing up, it was my first sport, and I watch about an hour of week of various games/highlights etc. I also follow the world cup very closely, and will even purchase some football jerseys when I am travelling in a new city.
OK, with that disclaimer out of the way, let’s get in to the game.
The good: Stadium details are strong, uniforms look very real, and the FIFA franchise has always had the best commentary — and this version is no exception.
The bad: What happened to improving on prior efforts ? The gamepaly is a step backwards. The physics seem off — as if the ball is guessing where it should be, and the camera angles reveal all kinds of visual problems - ghosting and strange player models.
The ugly: I think the PS2 and Xbox versions were better, and visually on the same level. This game was rushed out, or simply neglected by the EA folks. Online play is also poorly setup, using their own EA lobby method instead of the superior microsoft default one.
Conclusion: Stay away from this title. Major step backwards, and a worrisome pattern with EA rushing out sports titles for Xbox360 — which in my mind includes Madden 2006.
February 9th, 2006
Original review, update #1
So I’m now over a month into the Gamefly Xbox360 rental experiment, and wanted to share a few more observations.
Game availability: I don’t want to jinx it, but every game I’ve wanted has shipped out without any delay or short wait time. Perhaps this will change as people finally get their Xbox360’s — but for now, I have no complaints — and I know that availability is a major problem with some of the other game rental services.
Shipping Process: As I mentioned earlier, it took a week or so to receive the initial games, and I was concerned that the total return trip, confirmation of receipt, and then the shipping of the next game could really take a while.
But fear not ! Even for people like me in NYC, the total turn around has actually been less than a week for most of my games. How is this so ? Gamefly is using the power of technology to quicken the ‘confirmation’ / return process. They have partnered with the post office, so that as soon as the USPS scans the return envelope, they communicate that back to GameFly, and GameFly immediately ships out yor next game ( they call it FastReturn). pretty smart, eh ? here is the official blurb:
FastReturn will start the processing of your next game as soon as we receive confirmation from the U.S. Postal Service that a game has been returned in the mail. You may no longer need to wait until we receive the returned game in our warehouse before we send the next available game in Your GameQ!
How does FastReturn work?
When you return a game in the mail, the U.S. Postal Service will scan the return and send a confirmation to us. We will then send the next available game in Your GameQ BEFORE we have received the game in our warehouse.
Conclusion and thoughts after 1 month: So far so good. Between Xbox Live demos and new games arriving with GameFly I have no complaints. I think one immediate lesson of this experience is that it confirms that the day is drawing near where everything is on-demand. Why do we need NetFlix and services like GameFly ? With decent broadband access I’m happy to wait 2-3 hours to download a full game or movie. Don’t get me wrong, these serices have setup great businesses — but I wonder what these rental services plan to do when microsoft, sony, time warner, and others roll out full on-demand offerings ? Time will tell.
gamefly, xbox360
February 5th, 2006
Got a few emails about this, so I figured I would post. People are buzzing about the latest Tomb Raider game, and it’s ‘next gen’ engine that will debut this spring.
New screenshots were released today, and the trailer that has been out since October is probably worth checking out — especially if you are waiting on some xbox360 porn :)
If anyone knows when the demo will be out on Live please let us know. I’m sure many of you played the first game on your PC a few years back, but has anyone actually kept up with this series ? Maybe this new version will breath some life into the Tomb Raider franchise. Stay tuned !
Technorati Tags: xbox360, tomb raider
February 4th, 2006
I’m sure all of us remember seeing the madden footage on MTV or ESPN back in late April 2005. The press was buzzing, and future Xbox360 owners were salivating ! Fast forward a few months, and Madden 2006 is in our hands, and my reaction is very mixed.
The good: Graphics are top notch, stadiums look great, and the game controls feel solid.
The bad: Features are weak. There is no owner’s mode or training camp, no spring training details, no goals, no team management , etc. The mini-camp is gone, although EA promises that it will return in ‘07.
The ugly: Jaggies, vysnc/video tearing problems, and slow downs ! I’m running with HD component cables ( plan to try VGA soon ), and I get jaggies, some video tears, and some slow downs at the end of plays ( obviosuly cables are not at fault here ). For a top game game like this, I would expect perfection.
Conclusion: If you must have a football game, go pick this up, since it’s the only game in town. For anyone else, this game was rushed out, so skip it this year, and plan on getting the 2007 version.
Technorati Tags: madden06, xbox360
January 28th, 2006
If you have Xbox Live, walk — no run, and download the demo !
Fight Night 3 on an HD setup is simply an incredible looking game. Definitely one of the first truly ‘Next Gen’ games we have seen.
Release date is scheduled for late February, but you can play the demo now or check out these amazing screenshots:
Technorati Tags: Xbox360, Fight Night 3
January 18th, 2006
We posted earlier about our game rental research, and how we selected GameFly. Now for an update.
Two games shipped on Jan 3rd, 2006. They both arrived on Tues Jan 10th. Given that it was shipped in CA, and I live in NYC, I was expecting it to take about a week, and was not surprised that it arrived on the 10th.
The games arrived in nice red envelopes with GameFly branding. I didn’t have a chance to open them up when they first arrived, and when I returned home later that day I could not find them ! Turns out my wife mistook the envelopes for AOL CD junk mail and tossed them ! I was quickly able to retrieve them from the top of the kitchen garbage, but a warning to all of you out there, they do look very much like promotional / junk mail :) I also was concerned that since they were marked as coming from GameFly that they would be targets for mail theft.
Inside the envelopes were pre paid envelopes for shipping it back. No instructions are included for the game, but they do post all the info on the GameFly site (ex: PGR3 ) — which is a nice touch. I now also have the option to purchase the game for $44.95, which if I choose to do, GameFly will send me the original case and manual.
I’ll post another update once I get a few rounds in of returning and requesting other games.
January 13th, 2006
Peter Moore — Microsoft’s head of Interactive Entertainment — made some very bold statements at CES this year. Along with the HD-DVD announcement, Moore made the claim that 90% of Xbox 360 owners either have an HDTV or are planning on buying one within 6 months. His exact quote was:
“In fact, Xbox 360 is the killer app for HDTV adoption. It’s driving HDTV monitor sales. A recent study concluded that 9 out of 10 Xbox 360 owners have either purchased or intend to purchase an HDTV in the next six months. And 90 percent of them say that it was Xbox 360 that is the primary reason for making that purchase, 90 percent of them say it’s about Xbox 360.”
GamesDaily Biz and Ars Technia made mention of it as well. While all of us here have embraced the next gen console, and feel that getting an HDTV is a must, we do wonder if that 90% is accurate.
Technorati Tags: xbox 360, hdtv, hd-dvd
January 9th, 2006
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