http://www.360-hq.com Xbox 360 Downloads, News, Reviews, Forums with much more instore. en-us HQ Network 2009-07-04T09:39:40-04:00 hourly 1 2009-07-04T09:39:40-04:00 http://www.360-hq.com/article-3297-thread-1-0.html Looks like Valve's Doug Lombardi has set down with CVG and spilled his guts on all things Left 4 Dead, so i will do my best to sum up as much of what was said for the guys out there like me that just want to know the major points and not read over a bunch of pointless banter to get to the facts.


To start with CVG asked about the boycott and what effect it had on there plans for L4D and L4D2 just to find out it had no effect at all, Lombardi said: It really didn't change our plans at all. As I mentioned we had plans to keep releasing stuff. We put the Survival Pack out for free which I thought was pretty cool on 360 as well as PC - it's sort of uncommon to be able to get new stuff out that way.

We're already released the authoring tools and the matchmaking to get that content out to people, because the problem with mods and stuff like that is people make great stuff but then it doesn't really get propagated to the whole community properly.

So we're doing that. And then there's more new content that we're working on that we'll be announcing as I mentioned at the end of the summer.

I think there was just some confusion. When you go to E3 and make a big splash on a new product you're trying to get the retailer's attention and the press attention.

It's not really the venue for announcing DLC and whatnot. I think folks took our announcement as a sign that we were dropping Left 4 Dead 1 and that's just not the case.

Lombardi went on to say: Oh I don't think the fans are spoilt, I think that they're getting their money's worth, right?

We always look at it as, if we were a customer what would we want from stuff? How would we want to be treated as customers? I think as I mentioned with Left 4 Dead so far we've done a pretty good job with the Survival Pack, the authoring tools and there's more stuff coming.

You obviously can't do that forever, both technically and financially there's reasons why at some point you have to move on to the sequel.

But with Half-Life 1 folks got Counter-Strike, Day of Defeat and bunches of other stuff that was free for a long time.

With Half-Life 2 that got Deathmatch right away, Counter-Strike: Source came with it. Orange Box we thought was pretty good value and we're trying to make Left 4 Dead 1 feel like it's really great value and we'll try to do the same thing with Left 4 Dead 2.

For the PS3 fans out there who want to know what they can look foreword to i am sorry to say you will get nothing in this case, looks like the PS3 slips again.

When asked about the PS3 cut of L4D2 Lombardi said: The first thing that comes to mind is changing the finales at the way they work. That wasn't on the original list, it was something that came from watching people play the game in mass after launch.

We saw a lot of people in finales 'gaming' the game, backing up to the wall and waiting for zombies to come to them to make it much easier.

So we've change the ways the finales work now. The best way to describe it is we'll 'put you on the run'. The finales don't end until you get from point A to point B and if you try to back up against the wall you're just going to get smothered. They're going to keep coming and you're going to run out of ammo and run out of health.

So we're trying to push people to play the game a little more in the way it's intended rather than 'gaming' the game.

I'm sure that in the ideas that we come up with to counter that folks will find another seam and we'll come up with another idea to counter that.

That's one of the cool things about developing stuff and having the ability to iterate on the design really quickly: we're able to change things up and watch what happens.

I guess that will wrap up my key notes for this one and if you would like to read the full interview with Lombardi be sure to hit the news source link at the bottom.

360-Hq Game Database: Left 4 Dead 2

News-Source: computerandvideogames.com]]> Permalink: http://www.360-hq.com/article-3297-thread-1-0.html]]> 3297@http://www.360-hq.com Gaming 2009-07-03T11:02:49-04:00 Posted by wes213 http://www.360-hq.com/article-3296-thread-1-0.html
Even thought I built it in a Cosmos case and to me its very quite it may not for my guests.

Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.]]> Permalink: http://www.360-hq.com/article-3296-thread-1-0.html]]> 3296@http://www.360-hq.com Homebrew 2009-07-02T14:24:34-04:00 Posted by WheelieUK http://www.360-hq.com/article-3295-thread-1-0.html Fans of the original series will be happy to hear they can soon play the original revamped on a new engine (same one for Bad Company) and play it on Xbox Live with their friends next week

DICE, an Electronic Arts Inc. studio, today announced that Battlefield 1943™ will be available on July 8th on Xbox LIVE™ Marketplace. Battlefield 1943 is an all-new download-only action game that brings DICE’s first-class vehicular warfare to gamers for just 1200 MS Points.



Battlefield 1943 is a critically acclaimed First-Person Shooter (FPS) multiplayer game that puts players in the middle of a dogfight on land, sea or in the skies. The game introduces two thrilling new modes that can be played across four classic Battlefield tropical WWII maps: Wake Island, Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima and Coral Sea. These maps are inspired by the award winning Battlefield 1942™ game, but have been redesigned and reengineered using the DICE destructible Frostbite™ engine which takes down walls, blockades and cover spots, leaving players with almost nowhere to hide. The game delivers endless hours of social online gameplay for extraordinary value.

The Coral Sea map will be unlocked as part of a worldwide community challenge, where players will work together to reach 43million kills on both Xbox LIVE and the PlayStation Network. To help gamers reach that goal, up to 24 players can play together online in countless matches. They will have the freedom to compete by land, air and sea as either the US Marines or the Imperial Japanese Navy. Whether they choose to play the role of a rifleman crawling through the trenches, a steel-fisted tank commander, or a dog fighting ace pilot, gamers will have the power to rule the battlefield.

PC fans have to wait till September to get their hands on this download only game

360-Hq Game Database: Battlefield 1943
360-Hq Screenshot Database: Battlefield 1943]]> Permalink: http://www.360-hq.com/article-3295-thread-1-0.html]]> 3295@http://www.360-hq.com Live Arcade 2009-07-02T14:00:30-04:00 Posted by frozenfire1 http://www.360-hq.com/article-3294-thread-1-0.html Looking to be like an exciting new RPG, be sure to keep this one on the radar when it's released

Risen will make its international debut on October 02, 2009. The new RPG from the inventors of Gothic, Piranha Bytes, has already entered the Beta phase and is now being honed to perfection. Risen will be available for PC and Xbox 360®, the video game and entertainment system from Microsoft®.



"The release date for Risen enables us to introduce the game to the market in the best possible condition," says Daniel Oberlerchner, Brand Manager at Deep Silver. "We have been in the Beta phase here for several weeks, and now our focus lies on eliminating the remaining bugs."

The contents of Risen are already complete, and all dialogs have been recorded. A total of three quality assurance teams are working on the game – one directly at Piranha Bytes, one at Deep Silver, plus an additional external studio.

360-Hq Game Database: Risen
360-Hq Screenshot Database: Risen]]> Permalink: http://www.360-hq.com/article-3294-thread-1-0.html]]> 3294@http://www.360-hq.com Gaming 2009-07-02T13:35:26-04:00 Posted by frozenfire1 http://www.360-hq.com/article-3293-thread-1-0.html With the Maloof Money Cup taking place July 10-12, 2009 at the OC Fair & Event Center in Costa Mesa, Calif., during the opening weekend of the OC Fair EA is offering you the chance to play it out on your Xbox 360 with all new Skate 2 downloadable content.


Compete in the World’s Greatest Skateboarding Event with Skate 2’s Latest Downloadable Content

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) announced today that starting July 9 gamers can download and compete in Skate 2’s Maloof Money Cup Pack, based on the largest pursed event in the history of professional skateboarding. The pack will be available in the PLAYSTATION® Store for $3.00 and on Xbox LIVE® Marketplace for 240 points in North America.

“Skate 2 has been embraced by the gaming and skateboarding community across the globe, making it the perfect stage for the Maloof Money Cup’s videogame debut,” said Joe Maloof, President of Maloof Companies. “Now players everywhere can experience the world’s greatest skateboarding championship and revel in the high-stakes excitement of the competition for themselves.”

Skate 2’s Maloof Money Cup Pack will feature separate gameplay events both online and offline – freeskate, single player vert and street contests that put gamers against world class pros, and an online mode in which gamers will be able to compete against their friends in new activities and challenges for bragging rights. Xbox 360 gamers get an added bonus as there are 250 achievement points up for grabs.

The Maloof Money Cup presented by etnies and Monster Energy boasts the largest purse in the history of professional skateboarding with nearly $450,000 in cash and prizes. The three-day competition and festival takes place July 10-12, 2009 at the OC Fair & Event Center in Costa Mesa, Calif., during the opening weekend of the OC Fair. All attendees can ride the virtual course for themselves in the Skate 2 booth, located near the front of the festival, where the Maloof Money Cup Pack will be available for playing.

Skate 2 ups the ante in delivering all the grit, creativity, and culture of skateboarding with all-new tricks that allow players to skate it their way – both on and off the board. Gamers can create their own epic skate spots which can then be shared and experienced by others around the world. The game also features a revamped Thrasher Hall of Meat mode that will have players spending countless hours pulling off bone-crushing wipeouts and bails.

Skate 2 is developed by Black Box, an Electronic Arts Inc. studio in Burnaby, British Columbia. The game is rated “T” for Teen by the ESRB and 16+ by PEGI.

360-Hq Game Database: Skate 2

News-Source: news.ea.com]]> Permalink: http://www.360-hq.com/article-3293-thread-1-0.html]]> 3293@http://www.360-hq.com Live Marketplace 2009-07-01T15:20:45-04:00 Posted by frozenfire1 & wes213 http://www.360-hq.com/article-3292-thread-1-0.html Any gamer can tell you that King of Fighters has a huge fan base and that Worms was a big hit on the PC and the 360 and for the fans of the games listed you can get them now on XBLA, if you got 800 MS points to burn go get one or both for 1600 MS points.


The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match comes to Xbox LIVE® Arcade! The KOF '98 fighting game has fascinated game fans all over the world, and now it's powered up and ready to be on Xbox LIVE Arcade. Additional characters have been added from the King of Fighters universe, and new battle systems and moves have been implemented. Extend the fight to opponents all over the world. Face off against others to prove who is the real King of Fighters. Use Practice Mode to learn, Challenge Mode to improve your skills, then go to battle to show what you've got!

The best of arcade fighting action: The Japanese arcade game comes to full life on Xbox LIVE Arcade, featuring the best of 3-on-3 2-D fighting action.

More characters: Ultimate Match includes more characters than the original King of Fighters '98, incorporating some of gamers' favorite characters from previous King of Fighters games.

Game Rating: T (Teen)
Suggestive Themes
Violence

Multiplayer Versus

In-game Dolby Digital

HDTV 720p

2 Players

Leaderboards

Player Stats

Voice Support

Cost: 800 MS points

360-Hq Game Database: The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match

Ten years on from Worms™ Armageddon and the turn-based mayhem and destruction continues! Worms™ 2: Armageddon is the most fully-featured digital version of the game ever. With four player online and offline multiplayer, voice support, a raft of new weapons (including the return of some iconic weapons from the past), all-new high-definition landscape themes, new play modes, hats, skins, speech-banks, loads of other customization and to top it all off, a highly-involving single player experience with tutorials, deathmatches, races, fort games, and puzzles. It's a package as high on fun as it is destruction!

Extensive single-player content: Play through three tutorials, three firing ranges, a thirty-mission campaign, plus five secret unlockable missions.

Online and offline multiplayer: Battle it out in four different ranked game types and extensive leaderboards.

Massively increased customization: Choose from new hats, skins, speechbanks, gravestones, victory dances, and much more.

Retro-themed landscape artwork: The high-definition artwork is based on the most loved Worms game ever made.

Return of iconic weaponry: You've got more than 40 weapons out of the box, including the return of fire weapons and the beloved Holy Hand Grenade.

Game Rating: E10 (Everyone 10+)
Mild Cartoon Violence

Players: 1-4

Multiplayer Versus

In-game Dolby Digital

HDTV 1080i

Storage Device

Players: 2-4

Content Downloads

Leaderboards

Voice Messaging

Voice Support

Cost: 800 MS points

360-Hq Game Database: Worms 2: Armageddon
News-Source: marketplace.xbox.com]]> Permalink: http://www.360-hq.com/article-3292-thread-1-0.html]]> 3292@http://www.360-hq.com Live Arcade 2009-07-01T12:22:12-04:00 Posted by wes213 http://www.360-hq.com/article-3291-thread-1-0.html The deal of the week this week should be good news for fable fans such as myself that hasn't picked up the knothole island DLC. Hurry up and jump on this reduced price for an add-on for an amazing game.

Microsoft announced that this week's Xbox Live deal is the Knothole Island game add-on for Fable II. Normally available for 800 Microsoft Points, this premium download for Fable II can now be purchased for 560 Microsoft Points. Below is the official description for this DLC:

Discover new quests, locations, characters and more in the premium Knothole Island download. Meet Gordon the submariner in the Bowerstone docks, where you'll be showered with unique gifts to entice you to the mysterious island. There you will embark on new adventures, fight new creatures and find Albion's rarest weapons, clothes and potions. You will also be able to check your standing in over 50 new Leaderboards on Lionhead.com. If you have the Knothole Island (Premium) pack and want to play co-op in any part of Albion, your co-op partner must have the Fable II Knothole Island (Free) or (Premium) pack. To enjoy the complete Knothole Island experience in co-op play, both players must download the Knothole Island (Premium) pack.

News-Source:: PlanetXbox360]]> Permalink: http://www.360-hq.com/article-3291-thread-1-0.html]]> 3291@http://www.360-hq.com Live Marketplace 2009-06-30T15:21:32-04:00 Posted by Dartht33bagger http://www.360-hq.com/article-3290-thread-1-0.html


Seattle Times reports: All sorts of changes are under way inside the dark and mysterious Kirkland bunker where Bungie, the renown game studio, is putting final touches on the next version of "Halo."

For one thing, Bungie is going into a dramatically new direction with "Halo 3: ODST," the latest installment in the blockbuster sci-fi shooting franchise that established Microsoft's Xbox console and has sold more than 27 million copies worldwide. It's also Bungie's first release since the studio became independent of Microsoft in 2007.

"Halo" is the Harry Potter of video games, a staggering success with devoted fans who can't wait for every new edition, so there's a risk in tinkering with the formula.

Apparently fans are pleased with previews they've seen so far. "ODST" remains the most-anticipated game of the year, with 53 percent of gamers in a Nielsen survey planning to buy the $60 title after it goes on sale Sept. 22.

In previous versions of "Halo," an armored supersoldier called Master Chief blasts his way along fixed routes, battling aliens and uncovering a Wagnerian story about giant rings with awesome powers.

"ODST" picks up the story of the supporting cast — orbital drop shock troopers, the "regular" soldiers who fought alongside Master Chief.

For "the kind of story we want to tell — which is a little bit more human story — they seemed like a really great candidate for a hero in the 'Halo' universe," explained Joseph Staten, writer and creative director.

Staten, who studied theater at Northwestern University and military history and political science at the University of Chicago, said the game has more drama and mystery than before.

"As far as the dialogue goes, we were trying to get a bit of hard-boiled, thriller, femme fatale and square-jawed gumshoe — a little touch of that," he said. "That most clearly comes through in the dialogue between Buck, your squad leader, and Veronica, this shadowy naval intelligence officer."

Structural change

The structure of the game is also different, for "Halo." Instead of trudging along a fairly set path, "ODST" begins in a dark and mostly empty city that players can freely explore, an "open world" model popularized by the "Grand Theft Auto" games.

Players who prefer traditional "Halo" can head directly to sites in the city that trigger "flashbacks," putting them into classic "Halo"-style missions fighting aliens and blowing things up. Clues to the mystery come from playing through these missions.

"We're doing a lot of pretty neat things in terms of mixing it up, introducing some non-linearity, some free exploration," Staten said. "This is also a mystery story so there's a lot more clue-finding and mystery-solving than you would normally find in a game of this kind — nothing that strays too far from the fun 'Halo' experience, but we definitely decided to take a little bit of risk and have some fun with this one."

Multiplayer option

Lifelike characters are just one way that "ODST" is more realistic and approachable.

The game also adds a new multiplayer option called Firefight that's designed to be quick and easy for small groups of friends to play on the same console or online. Groups of four cooperatively work through sessions that may last about 30 minutes.

It's an alternative to the more intense, competitive multiplayer sessions that draw about 1 million players per night to the Xbox Live online-game network.

Firefight is also a nod to the real-world demands on players' time, especially now that most original "Halo" fans are well into the parenting years. The average age of video-game players overall is now 35, according to the Entertainment Software Association.

Players like Staten, a 37-year-old father of two.

"To find an hour to play, or five hours a week, that's asking a lot of me," he said. "Firefight, from my point of view, is aimed at guys like me who have families and have lives outside of playing games and work. We love to play games, but we want them to be compatible with our real lives. For Bungie, at least, Firefight is really a nice first step down that path."

360-Hq Game Database: Halo 3: ODST
News-Source: seattletimes.nwsource.com]]> Permalink: http://www.360-hq.com/article-3290-thread-1-0.html]]> 3290@http://www.360-hq.com Gaming 2009-06-29T13:29:25-04:00 Posted by wes213 http://www.360-hq.com/article-3289-thread-1-0.html While this report holds no real substantial info on the price cut amount and words it in a way that would make you want to list it in the rumor section what the report did give us as an insight of the plans to the 360 and PS3 as far as bundles that they may be offering for the upcoming holidays.


Kotaku reports: Anyone not expecting a price cut on the PlayStation 3 this year? How about the Xbox 360? Well, if Ars Technica's "Mole" is right—and it has been before—both consoles will be cheaper by the fall.

A relatively easy prediction, yes, but Ars' source lays out how it might go down, with the PS3 80GB model becoming more and more scarce. The constant bundling that Sony is doing at U.S. retail outlets will make sure that decrease in supply comes to fruition, about 2 months from now according to the Mole.

But the Xbox 360 retail offerings will also be changing, for the better value. According to the rumored price drop scenario, the Pro version of the Xbox 360 will phased out in favor of making the Elite the standard. Ars hints that another bundle configuration will hit before the holidays to replace the Elite, but doesn't offer specifics.

Does it all sound possible? Definitely. Will we get that PS3 "Slim" and a slightly modified rebrand? That sounds possible too.

News-Source: kotaku.com]]> Permalink: http://www.360-hq.com/article-3289-thread-1-0.html]]> 3289@http://www.360-hq.com Hardware 2009-06-28T13:40:30-04:00 Posted by wes213 http://www.360-hq.com/article-3288-thread-1-0.html (Can you believe this crap!) Our poor pals in Australia just cant catch a brake when it comes to games that have a little blood or some foul language, so in a land ware no one knows what a bad word is and violence dose not exist the government has decided for you that you will never know.


Gamepolitics reports: Australia's federal government said yesterday that it plans to block access to websites which host and sell games with content edgier than what is allowable under an MA-15+ rating. The unprecedented censorship policy will apply to Australians of all ages.

As reported by the Sydney Morning Herald, a spokesman for Communications Minister Stephen Conroy (left) said that the filtering scheme willl apply to downloadable games, Flash games and websites which sell boxed copies of MA-15+ games via mail order.

Colin Jacobs of Electronic Frontiers Australia, an online users' lobbying group, criticized the plan:

This is confirmation that the scope of the mandatory censorship scheme will keep on creeping. Far from being the ultimate weapon against child abuse, it now will officially censor content deemed too controversial for a 15-year-old. In a free country like ours, do we really need the government to step in and save us from racy web games?

Mark Newton, described by the SMH as an ISP engineer, told the newspaper that the plan could affect online-only games like World of Warcraft and Second Life as well:

That [online games] exemption [on content ratings] is the only reason why multi-player games with user-generated environments are possible in this country; without it, it'd only take one game user anywhere in the world to produce objectionable content in the game environment to make the Australian Government ban the game for everyone.

News-Source: gamepolitics.com

]]> Permalink: http://www.360-hq.com/article-3288-thread-1-0.html]]> 3288@http://www.360-hq.com Xbox Live 2009-06-26T14:04:42-04:00 Posted by wes213