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‘The Outfit’ Demo Available On Live Marketplace
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Action, THQ, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Marketplace,
For those of us who wait with baited-breath for new playable content to hit the Xbox Live Marketplace, we can now breath easy while we download the latest demo. The Outfit demo is available in all Xbox Live regions, which rocks because this one is multiplayer (up to 8 people) if you are an Xbox Live Gold subscriber. Silver members get to play as well, but they get an offline experience. Here are some level details:
Name: Estate Assault
Game Type: Strategic Victory
Overview:
•After a coordinated offensive - Allied Command has commandeered a French villa just across the river from the Axis HQ.
•Choose your side (Allies or Axis) and squad leader to play (3 from either side; 6 total) and lead your squad into battle to destroy the enemy’s HQ, while defending your own.
•Capture strategic points located throughout the map to earn Field Units (F.U.s) – that can be used on the fly to call in Destruction on Demand™ - air-dropped into the action at any time. Everything can be called in from tanks, jeeps and half-tracks to squad reinforcements, machine gun nests, anti-tank guns and even air-strikes on enemy positions.
This one weighs in at 440.89 MB.
Read More 
| Major Nelson
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The Xbox Live guys have pushed a new dashboard upgrade out, available now:
The March 2006 Xbox 360™ update will prepare your Xbox 360 console for future system and title updates. This free* update is available to all Xbox Live® members. Your console will be updated the next time you sign in to Xbox Live.
*Requires a broadband connection and an Xbox Live account.
Being that the last Dashboard upgrade bricked my Xbox 360, I am not to keen on installing one that doesn’t give details on what’s in the upgrade.
Burnout Revenge and Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter Ready To Roll
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Driving, First Person Shooters, Release Dates, Xbox 360,
Finally, some quality non-sports Xbox 360 titles are starting to trickle in. It has been confirmed that both Burnout Revenge and GRAW have gone gold, and will be on their way to retailers. You can get your hands on them next week, as Ghost Recon launches on March 9 (with original Xbox and PS2 versions shipping March 30) and Burnout Revenge dropping on March 7. The rest of the month will be rounded out by Far Cry Instincts Predator, The Outfit, Blazing Angels, and the much-anticipated Oblivion.
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TextPayMe: Send Money With Your Cell Phone (And Get An Xbox 360)
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Internet, Xbox 360,
Wow, is this service long overdue or what? TextPayMe is a PayPal-like service that allows you to send and receive money by simply using SMS over your mobile device. Even better, they are currently giving anyone who signs up a free $5.00 deposit into their TextPayMe account. Here are a few of the suggestions they offer for using the service:
- Split restaurant bills on the spot
- Settle your roommate’s rent and utility bill from wherever
- Pitch in real money for a split gift rather than an IOU
We will definitely be giving this one a spin. Having the ability to do this from wherever you are using your mobile phone works a lot better than having to sign in to Paypal from where we stand. If you sign up soon, you can qualify to be in the running to win a free Xbox 360. An Xbox 360, plus an additional five bucks for free? What’s not to like?
Read More | TextPayMe
Oblivion Achievements Being Earned, Release Near
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Adventure, Release Dates, Xbox 360,
Looks like Oblivion isn’t that far off, as someone is already earning achievements for playing the game. Likely someone with an early gold copy, Xbox Live member Vark currently has earned 3 of the 50 achievements available in Oblivion. Even more exciting, Xbox.com now shows March 20, 2006 as the official release date for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Here’s to hoping that sticks.
Read More | Oblivion
Japan Sales Numbers
Posted by Brandon Gribin Categories: Corporate News, Culture, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Gamecube, PlayStation 2, PSP, Xbox, Xbox 360,
Next Generation recently posted an article with software and hardware sales numbers - and the DS is kicking ass on the software side of things. DS English Training though…? On the hardware side of things, it looks like the PSP is at the top - while the Xbox 360 and Xbox are suffering.
Here are the lists:
Software:
DS English Training (Nintendo, DS): 72,290 (424,214)
Train Your Brain 2 (Nintendo, DS): 70,407 (1,213,603)
Animal Crossing: Wild World (Nintendo, DS): 57,335 (1,850,063)
Siren 2 (SCE, PS2): 49,780
Otona no DS Training (Nintendo, DS): 32,082 (1,520,843)
Machigae Museum (Namco, DS): 21,132
Tourist Trophy (SCE, PS2): 20,433 (80,087)
Monster Hunter Portable (Capcom, PSP): 20,126 (4,67,180)
Shin Onimusha (Capcom, PS2): 19,916 (295,721)
Mario Kart DS (Nintendo, DS): 18,304 (1,098,472)Hardware:
PSP: 24,977 (310,253)
PS2: 23,383 (217,840)
DS: 10223 (351,802)
GBA: 5405 (52,337)
GBMicro: 2934 (32,588)
GC: 2025 (30,577)
Xbox360: 1288 (22,657)
GBA: 150 (1478)
Xbox: 84 (671)
Read More | Next Generation
WSJ: The Power Players
Posted by Brandon Gribin Categories: Culture, Nintendo, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Gamecube, PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PSP, Wii, Xbox, Xbox 360,
The Wall Street Journal has put together a great article featured in this weekend’s paper. The article’s subtitle is as follows:
Videogames are reshaping the entertainment business. But the moguls who make them are still largely unknowns. Our look at how the game is played.
The article looks at everyone from “The Game Gurus” like Shigeru Miyamoto to “Hardware Heavies” like Ken Kutaragi to “Entertainers” like Peter Jackson to “Team Players” like Tony Hawk. I’d highly recommend checking out the article - you have to been a subscriber to see it online. Otherwise, run out and grab a copy of this weekend’s paper starting tomorrow. Oh, you may learn about news issues outside of the video game world as well!
Read More | WSJ.com
Playfeed Interview: Outpost Kaloki X Creator Steve Taylor
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Features, Simulation, Strategy, Xbox 360, Xbox Live Arcade,
We had the opportunity to talk with Steve Taylor of NinjaBee and Wahoo Studios. If you own an Xbox 360, you may know these guys as the creators of the Live Arcade hit Outpost Kaloki X. We talk with Steve about Outpost Kaloki, the process of shipping a game for Xbox Live, and the importance of Xbox Live Arcade to an independant game producer:
Steve, thank you for taking the time to talk with us today. To start out, can you give our readers a rundown of who you are and what your position entails?
I’m the president of NinjaBee and Wahoo Studios, but we’re a small company, so in practice I just manage projects and write code.
Give us some background on NinjaBee/Wahoo Studios.
Wahoo Studios is about four and a half years old. We got started as a contract development company, doing work for hire for game publishers and other developers. When we released Outpost Kaloki for the PC, we decided we needed a separate name for the “Indie” side of the company. NinjaBee is the name we use for anything we develop and release on our own.
Turning to the Xbox 360, you guys developed the hit Outpost Kaloki, which later hit the Xbox Live Arcade as Outpost Kaloki X. Can you give us some insight into how you go on board with Microsoft, and the process of virtually shipping a game for Live Arcade?
Originally, we designed what we thought was a pretty cool tycoon game for console play. It was aimed specifically for the console player in control and other gameplay elements. We pitched that idea to a ton of publishers, and while they were very complimentary of the game, nobody was willing to risk a traditional development budget to get the game on a console system. So we eventually redesigned the controls for the PC and released the game on our own in the PC downloadable market.
We later had the chance to show the game to Ross Erickson at Microsoft and explain our original vision for the game. He believed in it enough to get us signed up for doing Outpost Kaloki as an Xbox Live Arcade game. For us, this meant a return to the original vision we had, but also an expansion into a bunch of new areas including a ton of Xbox 360 specific features, new gameplay, new technology, new graphics, new stories, and more…
Click to continue reading Playfeed Interview: Outpost Kaloki X Creator Steve Taylor
Don’t Confuse Jewel Quest With Crystal Quest
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Strategy, Xbox 360, Xbox Live Arcade,
For all of you less-attentive types out there, here’s a heads up on a couple of game titles that can be confusing on the Xbox Live Arcade. Crystal Quest went live a few days ago, and later this month we should see a game with a very similar title hit Xbox Live. Jewel Quest is your typical “match the shapes and make the disappear” puzzler, but looks and plays nothing like Crystal Quest. We have been playing both titles over the past few days, and haven’t been too impressed with either. Check out an image of each game after the jump.
Click to continue reading Don’t Confuse Jewel Quest With Crystal Quest
Secret Xbox 360 Console Achievements Revealed
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Culture, Internet, Xbox 360,
The folks over at CheapAssGamer certainly had us chuckling at their secret Xbox 360 achievements list. I mean, imagine that you reboot your console after having it overheat, only to be greeted by a notification that you have just earned 10 points for the “En Fuego!” achievement. The list pokes fun at the more noticeable problems and complaints that users have been having with their 360 boxes. You see, it’s funny because it’s true. Follow the link for the full list.
Read More | CheapAssGamer
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