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Hopefully you put out your wooden Warthogs and left a plate of overshields and a glass of milk under the tree this morning, because (as you should already know) today's Bungie Day! So how does this stack up to other holidays? Well, it's Saturday, so many of you can pretend that you got off of work for it. Bungie Day: 1, Arbor Day: 0.
Also, holiday's don't typically bring us new, free picture packs and themes on Marketplace (available today only). Similarly, we can't remember the last time a fat dude or a bunny brought 3D screenshots from Halo 3and a page of info on the Brute Chopper, and Spartan variants C.Q.B. and E.V.A. Bungie Day: 2, Christmas and Easter: 0.
Unfortunately, Bungie Day offers no opportunity to steal candy from kids or dress up like a sexy nurse, which keeps holidays from getting shut out entirely. There's always next year, Bungie!Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Mistwalker founder Hironobu Sakaguchi has revealed that he is working on a new Xbox 360 title that is "50% MMO and 50% RPG," according to Total Video Games. Speaking at an anime event in Paris, France, Sakaguchi reportedly said that the project is not previously-announced titles Blue Dragonsequel or Cry On. (Though there has been talk about Blue Dragon 2going online.)
The announcement has not been confirmed and we have no other details, so consider this a rumor for now. Should the news end up being true, we just hope the 50% MMO and 50% RPG comment doesn't equate to twice the level grinding and only half the story of most genre-oriented games.
Tomorrow is Bungie Day for the Halo 3developer, as they've celebrated every July 7 in recent memory. Since it will be 2007 (i.e. 7/7/07, or triple 7s), there is some "extra special content" coming to Xbox LiveMarketplace, according to the developer's website, in addition to new content on Bungie.net itself.
As to what the goodies will be, exactly, Bungie isn't saying -- "don't get too excited, it's not Halo 3," said the newsbrief. We're predicting gamertag pictures, themes, and the like, of either Halo, Marathon or their long-running joke Pimps at Sea.
Regardless of what the content is, there's only a small window of opportunity, as the mysterious content will only be available from 5:00 am ET until 3:00 am on Sunday.
Forty miles below sea level, deep in the heart of the Joystiq bunker, the tiniest of blips lit up our Internets. Footage of Epic's Gears of War for PC had hit the web in an instant and vanished as quickly as it had appeared. Though we've known of a few clues regarding this release, nothing had been confirmed. But now that we have seen Gears running at higher resolutions, silkier framerates and with brand new content (see: Brumak above), we can no longer deny its existence.
Our only fear relates to requirements. With RoboblitzRainbow Six Vegas being the only Unreal Engine 3 testing bed on the PC, the glorious beauty of Gears is bound to melt a few systems. The video itself was tagged under "E32007," so we're bound to hear more solid information on this release very soon.
Hey Cliffy, Brumak will be available as downloadable content for 360 owners, right? Buddy?
[Update - Yes, Rainbow Six Vegas is just a touch more demanding than Roboblitz. Thanks, Blackmanfu!]
Following yesterday's announcement that Microsoft would be expanding their warranty program to cover the Red Ring of Death issue for up to three years from the purchase date -- at a cost of $1.05 to $1.15 billion -- we tuned into their conference call with Robbie Bach, President of Entertainment & Devices Division, and other Microsoft executives. We've transcribed the call for your edification:
Robbie Bach: Good afternoon everyone. Thank you for joining us this afternoon. I want to update you on the things we're rolling out across the Xbox 360 Before I get into the details of the announcement I want to give you a quick snapshot of the Xbox business. Overall the fundamentals of the business remain very strong. Our games attach rates remain the highest in the industry as seen at this stage in the console's life cycle. Xbox Live continues to add members and we're selling lots of games. If you look at customer recommendations, about 90% of our customers recommend our product to friends. And we're getting ready to go to E3 where we'll show what we believe to be the best slate of games the industry has ever seen. So the fundamentals are good.
Sega of America and Sega Europe have announced that the upcoming Xbox 360 version of Virtua Fighter 5 will indeed allow you to transfer your violent impulses to a complete stranger on the internet. Scheduled for a release in Autumn 2007, the game will feature an online two-player versus mode via Xbox Live, leader boards and several other enhancements over February's PlayStation 3 edition. That's what we jokingly refer to as a "technical knockout."
If you don't usually extract satisfaction from pugilistic polygons, you might be wondering why Virtua Fighter 5 is held in such high regard. Well, the reason is... uh, there are lot of reasons! Very good ones, in fact. "For a lot of very good reasons, Virtua Fighter 5 is regarded as the deepest and most revered fighting game available on next generation consoles", says Gary Knight, the European marketing director for Sega Europe. "Bringing Virtua Fighter 5 to the Xbox 360 will not only capture an entirely new audience, but will allow gamers to show their Virtua Fighter skills online against friends and foes."
Though originally though to be released August 28 across all three platforms -- Xbox 360, PC and PlayStation 3 -- Medal of Honor: Airborne won't be landing on Sony's console until months later.
Gamestop noticed a brief addendum on the bottom of yesterday's press release announcing Michael Giacchino as the game's composer that stated the PS3 version would arrive in November. A previous trailer for the game, embedded after the break, gave the release date August 28 and implied that it was identical across all three platforms.
No reason was cited for the delay. The game appears to still be on track for an August 28 release in North America (August 24 in Europe) for Xbox 360 and PC owners.
Every time that a new video from BioShock is released, it does more than just promote the game, it further inflames our desire for the invention of time travel ... and we doubt we're alone. To that end, we'd like to make a bold proposal: That BioShock continue to be delayed until some FPS-crazy inventor creates the technology to leap into the future and snatch it from Ken Levine's hand.
Does this request pain us? Of course it does. Look at that video, you think our heart doesn't ache when we see the player using telekinesis to reposition a tripwire? Do you think we don't cry a little bit when a dude gets frozen and then shattered with a wrench? As hard as it is for us though, perhaps, much like Russia nipping at America's heels in the race to the moon, we need the inspiration of BioShock being at some point in a time that we can not reach to lead us forward to greatness.Permalink | Email this | Comments
With Halo 3 less than three months away, Bungie is beginning to lift the veil with a couple of big reveals this week. The first was a whole slew of post-beta screenshots and details, revealing two new multiplayer maps (remake of Zanzibar FTW), armor customization, and the brand new, super-fast Brute Chopper vehicle.
The second big Bungie revelation was the first publicly-released screenshot of Halo 3's single-player campaign. Seen above, the screen leaves a great deal to speculation. The stunning mountains mean that it's probably Earth, and the mysterious smoke on the far right may very well be where the survivors crash-landed on Lost (uh oh, spoiler alert!). What's for certain, however, is that Master Chief is looking damn fine in HD. Is it September yet?
After reading about Microsoft's admirable decision to extend their warranty coverage for those suffering from the Xbox 360's Red Ring of Death error, we were given an opportunity to speak with Peter Moore about the move. When asked why this move -- a sort of mea culpa of a growing failure rate -- has taken so long, Moore replied that it was important to "gather data and weigh the financial implications" in addition to "preparing logistics and identifying problems." While it may have seemed like a long time for those of us in the grips of the hyperkinetic blogosphere, Moore assures us that, for a multi-billion dollar mega-corporation like Microsoft, they acted with some celerity.
So, they've identified problems? What exactly has been killing these Xbox 360s? Moore said there were "a number of issues" that they discovered from collecting data. When reminded of the great job they've done in servicing 360s to date still hasn't stopped some people from having to get their console serviced numerous time, Moore said that they've put "fixes in place" to address them. He pointed out that Joystiq was a great conduit to that very community and extended (what sounded to us like) a sincere apology. They're fixing these systems because the level has been unacceptable of late ... and no, Microsoft has "no intention" and sees "no value" in sharing what percentage of failure there is.
Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, Microsoft stands up and takes some responsibility for what appears to be an epidemic amongst Xbox 360 owners: the dreaded Red Ring of Death! Announced today in both press release and open letter formats, Microsoft has pledged to extend the warranties to three years from date of purchase for those who suffer from RROD, and will reimburse those who already paid to have it fixed. Seeing as how the 360 hasn't even been out for two years, that means everyone is covered. This is after they already extended the warranty from a puny 90 days to the more reasonable one year warranty that consoles are still covered under, unless they specifically suffer from the Red Ring of Death (marked by three blinking red lights).
Xbox exec Peter Moore also published an open letter to the "Xbox Community" addressing hardware failure and promising "policy changes intended to keep you in the game, worry-free." Whether or not these policy changes include actually fixing the underlying hardware issue or just improving the support after the fact is unclear, but Moore finishes saying, "If we have let any of you down in the experience you have had with your Xbox 360, we sincerely apologize. We are taking responsibility and are making these changes to ensure that every Xbox 360 owner continues to have a great experience." Classy show, Microsoft. Real classy. Let's hope this move is coupled with hardware revisions to keep your customers -- and shareholders -- happy.
Read - Microsoft Expands Xbox 360 Warranty Coverage (press release) Read - Open Letter From Peter Moore (Xbox.com) Read - Expanded Xbox 360 Warranty Coverage FAQPermalink | Email this | Comments
Square Enix has unveiled its "debut" trailer for The Last Remnant. The trailer is certainly pretty, powered by the Unreal Engine 3, and the gameplay (for better and worse) is eerily reminiscent of Koei's Dynasty Warriorsseries.
The text serving as bookends to the one minute, 22 second trailer make a point to highlight that this is an RPG "for the world" that will see simultaneous release in North America and Japan (what about Europe?) on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The actual date of that simultaneous release is unknown. Video embedded after the break.
Can't wait until August 28th to play the Xbox 360-exclusive JPRG Blue Dragon? You could always import the Japanese release and stumble your way through three discs of inscrutable Japanese text or, if you can settle for a slightly smaller experience, just download the demo on Xbox Live Marketplace July 20th. The Japanese language Dengeki Online claims a 1.1GB demo will be released overseas (that's over here, folks) on July 20th, containing roughly 120 minutes of playtime. But you'd best make sure you download it in that 2-week window, since the demo will fly away on August 3rd. Now let's see, if we only play for about three and a quarter minutes a day, this demo should just last us until the retail release. Just ...
While consumers in North America still aren't sure what to make of Microsoft's muddled Xbox 360 Elite, it hardly matters; the machine has been in short supply since its April 29th launch. Is it selling like crazy or just being short stocked? If the former, who's buying 'em and if the latter, why?
While we were busy pondering these questions, Microsoft went and made plans to distribute the SKU in Japan. Set to launch on October 11th for ¥47,800 (about $390, much lower than the $480 US retail price), we're left thinking that the Elite will have an even harder time finding an audience in Japan than it has here. We'll see what happens to the charts this October, so place your bets now.
A 28-acre plot of land owned by Nintendo of America has just been sold to Microsoft, according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Both Redmond, Washington-based companies are located close to one another, actually separated by this land.
The deal will reportedly be finalized in the middle of this month, according to NOA's VP of marketing and corporate affairs Perrin Kaplan. The financial details have not been disclosed, but the land had previously been appraised for $23 million.
According to Kaplan, there is no relation to the sale of the land and the recent decision to move its sales, advertising and marketing departments to New York. (NOA Headquarters is staying in Redmond.) Her comments echo what she said back in May when they confirmed the company was taking bids on the land. The employee shift has also sparked rumors that key players Kaplan, George Harrison and Beth Llewelyn were leaving the company. Those murmurings, rather unsurprisingly, were not addressed in the Seattle P-I report.
You heard right. Just in time to celebrate Independence Day in the good ol' US of A, we can now download the gorgeous Fallout 3trailer on the Xbox Live Marketplace -- in 720p glory mind you -- and admire what a post-nuclear apocalypse Washington, D.C. might look like. A little too unpatriotic for the 4th of July? Then why not just download a pack of Fallout 3 gamer pics going for 100 Microsoft Points (about $1.25) featuring Vault Boy (of course) and a Brotherhood of Steel image. Want something a little bigger? Try a Fallout 3 theme for 150 points (about $1.87) featuring the gorgeous concept art we've been seeing for months. Or don't. Exercise your freedom to choose.
Yet again we've got a story about Nintendo dominating the Japanese game market. For the month of June, total sales in the region were up 25.4 percent, according to a report from Famitsu Market Data Service (via GameDaily). That breaks down to a 48.4 percent increase in hardware sales and 7.5 percent increase in software sales.
Those who keep up with our Japanese hardware sales feature won't be surprised to see these total monthly sales figures (values are approximate):
DS (Phat and Lite): 535,000
Wii: 271,000
PSP: 113,300
PlayStation 2: 49,000
PS3: 41,600
Xbox 360: 17,600
According to the report, the DS and Wii combined are responsible for 81 percent of total software sales in June, selling 1.7 million and 392,000 units of software, respectively. GameDaily has more information and details on the top 20 bestselling titles (hint: there's a lot of Nintendo games on there).
When we read the name of the new downloadable "Nightmare" map pack for F.E.A.R., our snarky blogger sense went haywire. "Oh, this will be rich," we said in our heads as we planned our first line, which would have gone something like "The real nightmare is being asked to pay $10 for these things!" (lolz!) But then we saw the price: 500 points ($6.25) for four new maps. Which is annoyingly reasonable.
"Well what the blood clot are we supposed to write!?" we shouted angrily, chucking our half-empty Diet Pepsi Max at our favorite kitten calendar. That's when we realized it: The names of the maps! We could include those and then hopefully make some sort of great zinger. So ... Heliport, Spill Kill, Asylum and Cafeteria. ... Nothing. OK. Well, F.E.A.R. packs are available. Go get them, or don't. We're going to go curl up with a pint of Chubby Hubby and a Nicholas Sparks book and figure out what we're even doing in this business.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Footage from showdownLAN has surfaced on showing off a public playtest of Left 4 Dead, an ambitious zombie-centric team game from Turtle Rock Studios (Counter-Strike) and Valve. Four survivors take on waves of the Infected (think 28 Days Later) and four Super Infected as they make their way to a helicopter landing point.
Shown in the clip is footage from four player-controlled survivors. Though the Super Infected can also be player-controlled, we don't have any video of that in action. There is, however, a moment where you can spot The Smoker strangling a survivor with its tongue. The video is grainy and shaky at times, but it's the best we've got on this so-far reclusive game.
Left 4 Dead 411 has impressions from people who attended showdownLAN, as well as a gallery of the event. The game is due out this summer for PC and this winter for Xbox 360. Video embedded after the break.
Microsoft and Turn 10 might be determined to seek and destroy acts of hatred and discrimination plastered on Xbox Live, but the publisher and developer of Forza 2 couldn't act fast enough to prevent a 1957 Mercedes 300SL, defaced by pro-Nazi symbols and sentiments, from being offered through the game's online auction mode. 360-gamer recently pointed to the unsettling item, criticizing the moderators for their inability to keep this kind of content off of the Xbox Live servers; or at least promptly remove it (apparently the car's been Live for a while).
Whether adolescent mischief or true delusion, a small percentage of user-generated content is always going to incite "discrimination, hate, or violence towards one person or a group." While Microsoft clearly defines the boundaries of condemnable content in its Online User Policy*, the company fails to suggest how it might protect its users from being victimized by such content. Probably because it can't.
Ever hear the song that doesn't end? Our rendition would be for this continuing Red Ring of Death debacle: This Red Ring mess just doesn't end. Yes it goes on and on my friend. Xbox owners started getting it not knowing what it was. And we'll keep on reporting it 'til someone fesses up. (And now just keep repeating.)
The latest news comes from DailyTech who says that the failure rate is somewhere around 33%. Now let's just slow it down and take a step back. DailyTech came to the conclusion with the use of unnamed sources and no documentation. The Microsoft version of the Pentagon Papers this is not.
But, they did put some effort into the work, which although being anecdotal, does give a better picture to the situation. DailyTech contacted retail outlets that offer in-store extended warranties and found the Xbox 360 to be the least reliable. They also mention conference calls for EB Games stores which led to warranty policy changes due to the failure rate. A former EB Games employee by the name of Matthieu G. says, "The real numbers were between 30 to 33 percent ... We had 35 Xbox 360s at launch I know more than half of them broke within the first six months (red lights or making circles under the game discs). Two of them were dead on arrival." Of course, this is referring to launch Xbox 360s, an issue Microsoft has already addressed.
The rest of the article beyond that is just a chronology of everything that's been covered before, culminating in the cringe inducing Holmdahl interview with the Mercury Times. As more and more media outlets join the bandwagon, it's amazing that Microsoft hasn't just released the numbers regarding the failure rate, which they say is less than 5%. If you were a corporation with the evidence to make this all go away and you were telling the truth, why wouldn't you just do it at this point? And the next media outlet to report on the Red Ring of Death is?Read | Permalink |
All Articles for Joystiq Feed: Xbox 360 News 
Tomorrow is Bungie Day for the Halo 3 developer, as they've celebrated every July 7 in recent memory. Since it will be 2007 (i.e. 7/7/07, or triple 7s), there is some "extra special content" coming to Xbox Live Marketplace, according to the developer's website, in addition to new content on Bungie.net itself.
After reading about Microsoft's admirable decision to extend their warranty coverage for those suffering from the Xbox 360's Red Ring of Death error, we were given an opportunity to speak with Peter Moore about the move.
A 28-acre plot of land owned by Nintendo of America has just been sold to Microsoft, according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Both Redmond, Washington-based companies are located close to one another, actually separated by this land.
You heard right. Just in time to celebrate Independence Day in the good ol' US of A, we can now download the gorgeous Fallout 3 trailer on the Xbox Live Marketplace -- in 720p glory mind you -- and admire what a post-nuclear apocalypse Washington, D.C. might look like. A little too unpatriotic for the 4th of July? Then why not just download a pack of Fallout 3 gamer pics going for 100 Microsoft Points (about $1.25) featuring Vault Boy (of course) and a Brotherhood of Steel image. Want something a little bigger? Try a Fallout 3 theme for 150 points (about $1.87) featuring the gorgeous concept art we've been seeing for months. Or don't. Exercise your freedom to choose.
Microsoft and Turn 10 might be determined to seek and destroy acts of hatred and discrimination plastered on Xbox Live, but the publisher and developer of Forza 2 couldn't act fast enough to prevent a 1957 Mercedes 300SL, defaced by pro-Nazi symbols and sentiments, from being offered through the game's online auction mode. 360-gamer recently pointed to the unsettling item, criticizing the moderators for their inability to keep this kind of content off of the Xbox Live servers; or at least promptly remove it (apparently the car's been Live for a while).
Ever hear the song that doesn't end? Our rendition would be for this continuing Red Ring of Death debacle: This Red Ring mess just doesn't end. Yes it goes on and on my friend. Xbox owners started getting it not knowing what it was. And we'll keep on reporting it 'til someone fesses up. (And now just keep repeating.) 
