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A Shadowrun Retrospective
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Culture, PC, Retro, Role Playing Games, Xbox 360, Xbox Live,
One of Microsoft’s big initiatives for the upcoming year is the launch of the Live Anywhere service, which seeks to bring PC gamers and Xbox 360 gamers together across the Xbox Live service. One of the games that Microsoft is using to push the service is the new version of Shadowrun. The Shadowrun franchise has its console gaming roots in both Genesis and Super Nintendo versions of the game. Some of the iterations in the game’s history have been fairly faithful to the pen-and-paper roots of the role playing game, while others have been decidedly less so.
Unfortunately for fans of the original game, it looks like Microsoft’s effort is going to be the least accurate portrayal of the Shadowrun universe yet. Ryan McPherson at eToychest reviews the game’s historical console releases, and briefs gamers on why the Microsoft release may be Shadowrun in name only. The game deviates so far from the paper RPG gameplay that the licensee of the tabletop version, FanPro, issued a statement that the computer version “…is not in continuity with the tabletop RPG. It may be more accurately described as a game loosely based on Shadowrun.”
Microsoft hopes that Shadowrun will be one of the titles that will help Live Anywhere succeed, and the fact that the game doesn’t closely follow the Shadowrun universe doesn’t preclude it from being a good game. But one does have to question why they would bother licensing the original intellectual property if they were essentially going to disregard the gameplay and back story of the tabletop version in favor of their own revised continuity.
Read More 
| eToychest
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Future Xbox Live Releases Dated
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Internet, Puzzle, Retro, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Arcade,
The latest issue of the Official Xbox Magazine has the upcoming schedule of game releases on Xbox Live Arcade. According to Ars Technica, the next series of games and their associated release dates will be:
August 9: Pac-Man
August 16: Texas Hold ‘em
August 23: Time Pilot
August 30: Scramble
September 6: Lumines Live!
Pac-Man, while popular, probably won’t endanger the record set by Street Fighter II’ Hyperfighting for sales, but should be a reasonably decent classic game title. At the very least, the conversion should be much less challenging than the Capcom fighter. Texas Hold ‘em might be interesting online. It is a little disappointing that Microsoft decided not to offer the game for free, and the ultimate price point has yet to be revealed. A couple of Konami classics in Time Pilot and Scramble hit next. Gamers will get Lumines Live just a couple of months before Lumines 2 for the PSP hits the United States. Depending on the pricing and the implementation of online play, Lumines has the opportunity to be another big seller on Microsoft’s Xbox Live service.
Read More | Ars Technica
Call Of Duty Maps Sell $1 Million
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Activision, Corporate News, First Person Shooters, Internet, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Marketplace,
Gamespot today is reporting that Activision has sold nearly $1 million in Call Of Duty map content on Xbox Live. CEO Bobby Kotick announced the numbers during a post earnings release conference call. According to Gamespot:
The free bonus pack, which included two maps, tallied 334,000 downloads. The $5 Skirmish Map Pack was downloaded 105,000 times and generated $368,000, and the $10 Invasion Map Pack invaded 66,000 360s and raked in almost half a million dollars.
Obviously, gamers are far more willing to download free content rather than pay. The price point that makes gamers balk doesn’t seem to have been reached. Though the Invasion Map Pack has sold fewer copies to date, the Skirmish Map Pack has been on the market for three more months.
More interesting are the actual dollar amounts. 105,000 copies multiplied by $5 is $525,000. If Activision’s $368,000 reported is their take from these sales, then Microsoft has made around $157,000. From the Invasion Map Pack, Microsoft took in about $160,000. If all of the downloadable content has similar fee structures, the Xbox Live Marketplace has the potential to become a huge cash generation machine for Microsoft. Activision isn’t likely to bemoan Microsoft’s cut, though. Clearly, downloadable content is a great moneymaker for them as well.
The danger of the success of downloadable content means that it makes more sense financially for game companies to have less content in the main game and provide add-ons through paid downloads. Hopefully, this doesn’t become an actual trend and downloadable content remains restricted to nice to have add-ons that don’t impact the fun factor of the original game.
Read More | Gamespot
Street Fighter II Lag
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: CAPCOM, Fighting, Retro, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Arcade,
So, Capcom’s Street Fighter II’ Hyperfighting has hit Xbox Live, and so far, gamer response could be considered mixed at best. Numerous complaints have hit the Internet both via blog posts and the official Xbox forums. Some gamers have reported horrible lag in the game, while others say that while they have experienced a few problems, most of the time the gameplay is smooth. Others have slammed the insane difficulty of single player mode, singling out the computer AI for Ryu as being particularly cheap. According to some, quarter match has worked sporadically, and some gamers have seen the game crash in quick match and custom match modes.
The hardcore Street Fighter fans are even less pleased. In a post titled “Capcom Screws Everyone Again,” gamer Jared Rea slams the game. The version of Hyperfighting that is on Live is not arcade perfect, and with the technology available in the Xbox 360, it should be. Rea blames both Microsoft and Capcom. Microsoft gets blame for passing the game through certification with all of the online bugs present. Capcom’s responsibility lies in giving development of the title to Sensory Sweep; while having one of Capcom’s in-house development teams work on the game would not necessarily ensure a better experience, the version on Xbox Live apparently has glaring gameplay bugs.
Feedback on the game is still early; there is still hope that a later patch could fix some of the online lag and matching issues. But if the accusations of inaccurate gameplay are correct, this will certainly dissuade the hard core Street Fighter crowd.
Read More | 1up
Rockstar’s “Table Tennis” Demo Available for Download from Xbox Live
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Hot Deals, Sports, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Marketplace,
Rockstar’s surprise foray on the Xbox 360, officially titled Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis, is now available as a demo download from the Xbox Live Marketplace. For those of you that are on the fence as to whether Rockstar’s non-GTA product is worth your while, this should help you decide. As noted on Microsoft guru Major Nelson’s blog, the demo is available for download now but is a limited time trial. At the end of August, the title will expire - turning into a useless lump of 526 MB on your 360’s hard drive. If you’re hooked by then it’s time to shell out $39.99 for the full version.
Read More | MajorNelson.com
Japanese Bomberman Act: Zero Gets Budget Price
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Action, Xbox 360, Xbox Live,
Japanese site GameDaily reports that Hudson’s Bomberman Act: Zero for the Xbox 360 will get a budget price upon its release in Japan. The new game will be available on August 3rd for a low price of 3129 Yen, or approximately $30. Act: Zero has been a little controversial since Hudson is ditching the cartoon-like graphics of the previous games for a “dark and gritty” makeover. The gameplay seems largely the same, however, with the exception of the new large playfields. The game will support multi-player via Xbox Live for up to eight players. The single player mode will have the user attempting to survive through 99 levels of action. GameWatch also has several new screen shots of the game in action. The game is still targeted for an August release in the US, but no price drop has been announced. It will be interesting to see how the new updated look impacts sales of the franchise.
Read More | GameWatch
Microsoft Bundles To Compete with PS3?
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Driving, Rumors, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Arcade,
Microsoft may be happy with the position they’re in—current counts have the Xbox 360 at about 5 million consoles sold, and the PlayStation 3 seems to be a bad press magnet recently—but that doesn’t mean they’re not taking the competition seriously. While up until this point Microsoft has denied that they will drop prices to compete with the PS3, speculation and rumors have been circulating that the 360 might start coming with bundled games and/or Xbox Live credits at the same $299/$399 price point.
Ars Technica, one of the more trustworthy blogs, points to “reliable sources” saying that a new 360 bundle may include Project Gotham Racing 3, a free 3-month Xbox Live Gold account, and 1250 Live Marketplace credits along with the current $399 Xbox 360. The value of the add-ons would total roughly $85 retail, but in the end this probably costs Microsoft very little (especially since PGR 3 is published by MS). If true, it’s probably quite a smart move by Microsoft - by introducing more folks to their online features for free, MS stands to make a lot more off of Xbox 360 owners. Plus they’ll be able to brag about a > 60% connect rate to Xbox Live.
Read More | Ars Technica
Saints Row Developer Q&A
Posted by Josh Smith Categories: Corporate News, Third Person Shooters, Xbox 360, Xbox Live,
One of the developers working with Saints Row is answering questions about the game over in the Neoseeker forums. He is giving out a lot of information about the in-game characters, the vehicles, game play, and the in-game environment.
Can we go Swimming?
Yes, you’ll be able to swim. Also, in case you fall in the drink and the nearest exit point to land is far away all you have to do is press a button and you’ll instantly warp to the nearest exit point.
Are police complete morons like GTA where they are happy to run down 500 peds to stop you after bumping their car?
I wouldn’t say police are morons in our game but in the interest of design and how our notoriety works when the cops come after you they can be relentless.
Will our allies have decent AI? Like not get killed a few minutes into the battle?
Allies are very useful and as long as you are fighting with them they won’t die very easily. But I also must mention that you can revive allies infinitely! Even important, mission critical ones. So no more failing a mission due to bad AI (I hate it when other games do that!)
Head over to the forums to check out even more info on Saints Row.
Read More | Neoseeker
Achieve360Points.com, the best source for finding out what achievement points exist for the latest Xbox 360 games has listed the points for Dead Rising. The list weighs in at a whopping 50 requirements, each worth 20 points. The list contains a good mix of killing, photography, and miscellaneous challenges. Check out a few below.
32. Transmissionary - TYPE: 1 Play REQ: Answer all calls from Otis. ( 20 )
33. Indoorsman - TYPE: 1 Play REQ: Spend at least 24 hours indoors. ( 20 )
34. Outdoorsman - TYPE: 1 Play REQ: Spend at least 24 hours outdoors. ( 20 )
35. Freefall - TYPE: 1 Play REQ: Drop from a height of at least 16 feet (5 meters). ( 20 )
36. Marathon Runner - TYPE: Total REQ: Cover a distance of 26.2 miles (42.195 km). ( 20 )
37. Carjacker - TYPE: 1 Play REQ: Steal the convicts’ vehicle. ( 20 )
38. Stunt Driver - TYPE: 1 Play REQ: Jump a car at least 33 feet (10 meters). ( 20 )
39. Stunt Rider - TYPE: 1 Play REQ: Jump a motorcycle at least 33 feet (10 meters). ( 20 )
40. Zombie Road - TYPE: 1 Play REQ: Walk over 33 feet (10 meters) on the backs of zombies using the Zombie Ride. ( 20 )
41. Karate Champ - TYPE: 1 Play REQ: Defeat at least 1,000 zombies barehanded. ( 20 )
42. Sharp Dresser - TYPE: Total REQ: Change into at least 20 different costumes. ( 20 )
Read More | Achieve360Points.com
NCAA 07 Demo Available
Posted by Josh Smith Categories: Release Dates, Sports, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Marketplace,
A demo for NCAA 07 is now available on the Xbox Live Marketplace. NCAA 07 hits store shelves on July 18th. The demo allows you to play as Florida or Florida State and weighs in at 1.05 GB. Unfortunately in their desire to lock down the demo EA has limited the quarter length to 1 minute. This setting limits you to roughly 1 set of downs per quarter with a large disruption in play at halftime. I was excited for NCAA 07 but if the final product looks and feels like the demo, it will be a long wait for a decent football game on the Xbox 360.
Read More | Major Nelson
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