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Finish The Fight On September 25; Halo 3 Release Date Announced

Posted by Chris Pereira Categories: Bungie, First Person Shooters, Release Dates, Xbox 360, Xbox Live,

Halo 3 Mountain Dew Game Fuel With the Halo 3 beta just hours away from release comes this bombshell: Halo 3 will be headed to retailers on September 25 (26 if you’re unluckily living in Europe). The beta alone has caused a tremendous whirlwind of press coverage and buzz among the community, and the release of the game is only going to be bigger.

“‘Halo 3’ is much more than a video game release; it’s the biggest entertainment event of the year,” said Peter Moore, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business. “On Sept. 25, we intend to deliver a finale that will go down in entertainment history and leave people around the world with an experience that will be shared and enjoyed for years to come.”

Previous proclamations from Microsoft and Bungie placed Halo 3’s release this fall, which September 25 certainly qualifies for. Many people, myself included, predicted the game would launch in November, as to avoid the October release of Grand Theft Auto IV, and to be on store shelves by the holidays. Apparently, Microsoft is instead opting to ride on the initial wave of sales in September and October, and then benefit from the holiday shopping season.

Halo 3 will no doubt be working in tandem with Mass Effect in order to counter the onslaught of PlayStation 3 titles that will be seeing release later this year. Expect to see plenty more Halo-branded things in the coming months, too – another Halo novel, the Halo 3 Zune and that limited edition Master Chief Mountain Dew can you see on the right.

Shane Kim Responds To Shadowrun Pricing Structure Questions

Posted by Chris Pereira Categories: First Person Shooters, PC, Release Dates, Xbox 360, Xbox Live,

The upcoming Shadowrun has two price points on two different systems. That’s not all that unusual in itself – we’re used to seeing PlayStation 2 versions of games cost less than those on Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3. But when a game is seeing a simultaneous release on Xbox 360 and PC, and being put in a position to be the flagship cross-platform title, why are Xbox 360 owners paying $60 when the game is only $50 on PC?

Newsweek’s N’Gai Croal hunted down Microsoft Game Studios corporate vice president Shane Kim to get an answer.

The $59.99 for Xbox 360 and $49.99 for Windows Vista price points are our standard pricing for each platform. This pricing structure is not uncommon in the multiplayer-only first-person shooter genre, as numerous titles have seen success at this price point and gaming model. I think it’s premature to speak to pricing for all future projects, but as of now this is our pricing structure for our marquee titles like Shadowrun. Additionally, MGS has the same development costs as other developers and publishers out there. One advantage other publishers have that we do not is that they can leverage their marketing and development costs over all platforms, while we are focused on Windows and Xbox 360 as a first party publisher.

That still doesn’t quite answer the question; is it impossible to deviate from the standard pricing scheme? This is the first real Xbox 360/PC cross-platform release, so the standard pricing being referred to is nonsensical. And that’s not to mention, of course, the fact that much of the public is in upheaval over the price already – given that there is no single player and a limited number of maps, paying a “standard” price isn’t what gamers want. The studio manager of Shadowrun developer FASA Studios, Mitch Gitelman has frequently retorted that the game offers an innovative experience that adds “verbs” to the FPS experience. We’ll just have to wait and see how gamers vote with their wallets when the game is released on May 29.

GoldenEye On Arcade Or Virtual Console? “It’s Possible,” Says Rare

Posted by Chris Pereira Categories: First Person Shooters, Nintendo, Rumors, Virtual Console, Wii, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Arcade, Xbox Live Marketplace,

GoldenEye 007 is one of those titles that most gamers have fond recollections of. Released in 1997, it was the first console FPS that really got it - that is, up until that point, everyone looked at FPSs as something that only worked on PCs. But with a solid combination of single player and multiplayer mayhem, it captured the hearts of N64 owners to the tune of eight million copies sold. It seems only natural that a classic of this caliber would eventually makes its way onto the Virtual Console.

But there’s one problem – when developer Rare was sold to Microsoft, the rights to the title became, as Rare put it, “… caught up in a convoluted web of rights the likes of which would make the Weaver from Perdido Street Station jealous. That doesn’t mean it won’t happen, just that a lot of people with a lot of different perspectives are involved.”

Click to continue reading GoldenEye On Arcade Or Virtual Console? “It’s Possible,” Says Rare

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We are back with another episode of GamerAndy Live! This week GamerAndy, GamerEdie, and Gear Live‘s Andru Edwards are behind the mic, bringing you a fresh dose of this week’s gaming news. Be sure to hit us up on the forums and let us know what you think.

SHOW NOTES FOR EPISODE 79:

A recent ruling by the Copyright Royalty Board threatens Internet radio and independent musicians by increasing costs to webcasters by 1,200 percent retroactively…and even for non-RIAA music. Please send a letter to your representatives to help reevaluate this Draconian and dangerous decision!
Sony throws party to celebrate God of War II. Great. The centerpiece of this event? A partially decapitated goat—and guests are invited to reach into the still-warm body, grab handfuls of offal and eat it. Good lord, what were they thinking?!? (Warning: Photo slightly NSFW in the United States for slight nippleage.)
Edie discusses the relative difference of “titties,” “boobies,” “boobs,” and “tits.” Andy defines “gazongas.”
The Xbox 360 Elite: Does Andru care? Does Edie?
Hironobu Sakaguchi (Red Racer, Final Fantasy) + Ken Kutaragi = BFF? Apparently not.
Speaking of Krazy Ken: He’s gone. Sony doesn’t want him, and neither does Nintendo, apparently. Sayonara, Sony! Konnichiwa, Mickey-Dees!
Andy goes into more detail about his recent PS3 purchase… and it’s not pretty. Andru and Edie also discuss the possibilities for Playstation Home, both pros and cons.
Edie still hearts her PS2, and Bully.
Andy rails about Kotaku’s recent habit of using countless internal search links in their stories—frustrating as hell, he says.

Being A Halo 3 Extra

Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Bungie, Culture, First Person Shooters,

Master Chief Chris Anderson, Editor-in-chief at Wired Magazine, and GeekDad recently got a chance to record some of the voices for some of the “extras” in Halo 3. The GeekDad blog has full details, including a short video with Marty O’Donnell, audio director for Halo 3, but one can also get a glimpse at a couple of redacted script segments for the game. Of course, nothing major is revealed in the scripts, but there Commander Keyes and the Flood both get a quick mention. While the multiplayer aspects of Halo 3 have been getting a lot of attention, the storyline for the third game has been held very close to the vest by Bungie. With the cliffhanger ending of Halo 2, Bungie would seem to have a bunch of storylines to resolve if the upcoming game is to complete the trilogy.

Top Ten Improvements in Halo 2 for Windows Vista

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Action, Editorial, Features, First Person Shooters, PC, Xbox 360, Xbox Live,

So, Halo 2 for Windows Vista is launching on May 8, 2007, and we have been able to spend some time reviewing the title. Since everyone is familiar with Halo 2, we felt a full review wasn’t in order. Instead, we wanted to clue you in on the ten best improvements we experienced while reviewing the game. These ten features raise the bar for Halo as a whole, and may be a foreshadowing of things to come in Halo 3:

Achievements: If you are looking for something fun that adds another level of fun and challenge to the Halo 2 world, this is it. We have said it before, and we will say it again - Microsoft hit a gold mine with the notion of achievements. No sooner than when we finished a multiplayer deathmatch did we rack up a total of three achievements. Meleeing five people from behind (and thusly earning the Ninja achievement) was nice, but Meleeing someone who already had the Ninja achievement (and thus earning the Flaming Ninja achievement) was even better. We have the achievement to prove it. For those wondering, yes, the achievements you earn in Halo 2 for Vista (or any other Games for Windows game) is counted towards your Xbox Gamerscore.

Click to continue reading Top Ten Improvements in Halo 2 for Windows Vista

Halo 3 Beta Details Announced

Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Bungie, First Person Shooters, Internet, Xbox 360, Xbox Live,

Master Chief Bungie today announced the details of the Halo 3 beta for qualifying gamers; those that either got into the original registration period, those that won spots during the “Rule of Three” contest, or those that bought copies of Crackdown with the golden ticket inside. At midnight May 16th Pacific Time the beta goes live and will continue through the end of June 6th. Bungie is currently promising three maps for the beta program, Valhalla, High Ground, and Snowbound, available through the beta version of Bungie’s matchmaking service. Some of the new weapons and vehicles will be present in the beta, including the Spiker, Spartain Laser, and the Spike grenade. It sounds like some of the mysterious functionality of the “X” button will be revealed; from the video Bungie has released, it looks like the button will act as a “deployment” function for some of the new equipment in the game. Further details and information on the road leading to the beta can be found in Bungie’s new Vidoc, linked from their beta announcement.

Metroid Prime Wii Pushed Back Again, Fils-Aime Wants “Perfect”

Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Adventure, First Person Shooters, Release Dates, Wii,

Samus from Metroid Bad news for all you Nintendo fans out there - it looks like we may still be waiting a while longer for the Metroid Prime trilogy to be complete. Newsweek talked to company figurehead Reggie Fils-Aime, who had this to say:

Where is Metroid? Metroid is not going to ship by June. We’ve announced all of our games through the end of June. And the fact with Metroid is we want to make sure that that game is perfect. Unfortunately, Metroid Prime 2 didn’t live up to our expectations, it didn’t live up to Retro’s expectations

Evidently, Nintendo’s looking to put out a lot of marketing for this product, and they want it to be the best that it can be when it releases. (And if it sells more copies than Echoes, they’d prefer that too. Given that this is one of the first FPS titles to have a chance of not sucking on Nintendo’s new console (i.e. not Red Steel or Medal of Honor, I think it’s safe to say that this game will sell pretty well. Here’s hoping that the game’s as close to “perfect” as they can make it too.

Bungie Dropping “New” Maps For Halo 2

Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Bungie, First Person Shooters, Internet, Xbox, Xbox 360,

Bungie today announced that coming in April, two “new” multiplayer maps will be available for download in Halo 2. The maps, new to Halo 2 are recreations of original maps found in the original Halo: Combat Evolved. The two maps, “Hang ‘Em High” and “Desolation,” will be downloadable on both the original Xbox and Xbox 360 for $4 on April 17th; luckily, original Xbox hold-outs won’t be left in the cold for this content update.

The full press release continues after the jump.

Click to continue reading Bungie Dropping “New” Maps For Halo 2

Resistance Adds New Modes, Maps Via Download

Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: First Person Shooters, PlayStation 3,

Insomniac Games is preparing a couple of updates for their flagship launch title for the PS3, Resistance: Fall of Man. Speaking with IGN, the company indicated there would be a couple of releases. First, a patch release in March will fix a bunch of multiplayer issues and exploits and will add two new game modes, “Team Conversion” and “Assault.” In May, gamers will see a downloadable expansion that will bring two new multiplayer maps along with some exposition regarding the backstory for the Resistance universe. No mention was made of any new weapons, or a cost for the map pack, but the IGN interview does offer a little insight into the plans to extend the life of the game world.

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