XBox 360 Rally

No, unfortunately, I do not have first-hand info on this, as I am just a little Xbox writer and get no respect or love from any of the game houses so that I might be -->lucky enough to get my hands on something as cool --> as a preview run of GTAIV. But Gamspot did…

Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned is going to be an Xbox 360 exclusive expansion pack for what some people are saying is the best game of 2008, um, Grand Theft Auto IV. GTAIV’s creator, Rockstar Games, says it’s a new game rather than simply an expansion pack. An exec for Rockstar says the game contains up to 20 hours of playtime. And we all love playtime, right?

The skinny

GTAIV: The Lost and Damned is coming February 17 and only to the Xbox 360. It’s still placed in Liberty City, but instead of GTAIV protag Niko being the star of the show, you get to play biker Johnny Klebitz and you are in a motorcycle gang. Neat. The storyline runs parallel to Nico’s, and Niko will appear as a supporting character from time to time.

Obviously, you must already own the Grand Theft Auto IV disk in order to be able to download the new “chapter” in Liberty City.

To check out Gamespot’s preview of Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned, you can either go to their site or just click here.

Rumor has it that Rockstar will be releasing another chapter for the Xbox 360 later this year, but mum’s the word so far.

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Yes, I know that the Tomb Raider chronicles have moved beyond Legend with the latest installment, Underworld, but I’ve mentioned before that I’d rather play older, used games sometimes over the latest games debuting. I may change that, but not today. Also, I haven’t really picked up a Tomb Raider game since the first movie came out.

So I finished Tomb Raider: Legend and frankly, I was disappointed in the ending. I also noticed that the Tomb Raider parent company has been disappointed by the latest game’s sales. Could there be a connection?

I bought Legend last year, and yes, it took me a year to finish it. Not because it is hard — it isn’t. I just never put it in my Xbox 360. It sat there, abandoned for months, looking sad and wondering what it did wrong. It just was rarely the game I wanted to play. The puzzle rooms were kind of fun at first, and then they seemed to be endless variations of each other.

I had tried exploring Croft Manor, but got bored quickly. Sure, maybe I missed something cool, but I really don’t care, because nothing else in that game was cool (except driving the motorcycles and the forklift through the wall, so why would something in Croft Manor finally be cool. The whole background of Lara and the Croft Family Saga never really did all that much for me.

It’s sad, too, because I remember staying up all night playing TR when I had my old Playstation. Did I have more of a video game constitution back then…no, quite the contrary, my proclivity to play video games all night has increased with age and quality. I didn’t have a hard time getting through Half-Life (at right) two months ago.

So, anyway, Tomb Raider: Legend was low on my list, until my friend, Nathan, told me he got it. And then after a weekend, he told me he finished it. A weekend? He had a lot of time on his hands, but still, it made me feel like a slacker. So I finished it just to say I finished it, but other than the fear of being called out as weak, I may never have finished the stupid game.

Rumor has it that Eidos is thinking about a major redevelopment for the series. I really hope this rumor is true.

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Ah, it’s nice to wake up in a world where Metal Gear Solid 4 rumors have been put to rest, and there are absolutely NO rumors of any games being ported to the Xbox 360. Yes, the sun shines brighter today. The air is crisper today. The water is more thirst quenching today. Why, this may very well be the perf… Crysis is coming to the 360? Son of a…

That’s right, boys and girls. According to Austrian video game retailer “GamesOnly.at”, Crysis is indeed coming to the Xbox 360 this November.

If Crysis is indeed coming to the Xbox 360, it will no doubt be toned down a bit in the graphics department.

Crysis was released on the PC in the US on November 13th, 2007. As of now its sales have been disappointing due to the fact that Crysis is an absolute beast that will chew up and spit out your girly man gaming rig.

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Before we get back to the business, I just want to wish you all a happy new year once again. I hope you all had a fun, and safe new year celebration, and I’m looking forward to shaming myself for your entertainment until this time next year. Now to business…

Remember when there were rampant rumors that Microsoft and Toshiba were working together in an effort to bring a new Xbox 360 SKU with a built-in HD-DVD drive. Now those rumors have been revived after several reports have indicated that Bill Gates and Microsoft may be ready to reveal a new SKU for the 360 at CES.

Unlike earlier believed, this new SKU will not be a stand-alone, but rather a replacement for the soon-to-be-discontinued Xbox 360 Elite. If true, of course.

While the idea of a Xbox 360 with built-in HD-DVD is a good one, I just feel it’s a bit late. Also, the inclusion of an internal HD-DVD drive would surely drive up the cost of the console, so maybe its best we wait and see before we get excited.

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Nintendo succeeded, Sony failed, and now Microsoft looks like they want in on the motion sensing market.

According to XboxFamily, Microsoft has contracted a company out of Saratoga, California, Gyration, to develop motion sensor technology for the Xbox 360. Does the company sound familiar? They should – Gyration is the company that developed the prototype for the Nintendo Wiimote, and is currently working on a motion-sensing controller for Microsoft’s Media Center.

Xbox 360 modders have had access to motion sensing for a little while. Devices like the Xilt have given gamers the ability to emulate motion-sensing, albeit if they’re good with a soldering gun. For those of you who aren’t handy with technology (or, like me, scared to death of voiding the warranty) however, the idea of a motion control from Microsoft is sure to make many people happy.

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The Witcher a PC RPG which is in no specific terms contains mass amounts of both “epic” and “awesome”, is making its way to the Xbox 360.

Maybe.

You see, the developer of The Witcher, CD Projekt, has said publically that The Witcher is never, ever going to be on the consoles. However, the developer now has a job opening posting where they state that they are looking for someone who is skilled in “parallel programming” for the Xbox 360.

For those of you who are completely illiterate with computers, I’ll sum it up for you: They’re looking for people who can translate code from one platform to another… okay, I’ll dumb it down a little more: A port! They want to PORT something… make sense now? Good.

Now, unless they intend to port “Football Manager 2008″ to the Xbox 360, odds are we can see The Witcher sometime in the not-so-distant future. Cool, huh?

[CD Projekt]

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Hi, boys and girls. It’s just me, your friendly neighborhood JW, here to remind you all that we’re currently looking for people to replace us here at Xbox 360 Rally. All you have to do is go HERE, fill out the form, and wait to hear back. It’s really not that hard.

So, get to it already — so Paco and I can get to the NEW site!

An anonymous e-mail to 8BitJoystick has spurred a bit of controvery, as the e-mailer claims that Microsoft has, essentially, fired Bungie.

Citing Microsoft’s distaste for how Bungie interacts with its fans and Bungie’s handling of its profits, as well as Bungie’s distaste for how Microsoft’s marketing and overall handling, the anonymous e-mailer cialms that Microsoft has allowed Bungie to become its own third-party developer, essentially leaving Microsoft.

The e-mailer goes on to say that Microsoft was to issue a press release on the matter today, but opted to wait until October 6th so that the announcement wouldn’t impact their quarterly results.

You can read the e-mail after the break.

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Ok, people, here’s the deal — Paco and I are on our way out. We’re taking over at 1PStart.com in an effort to restore it to it’s former glory. …that, and I just plain want to write about another game every once in a while, is that so wrong?!

Anyways, here is what we’re looking for: A competent, capable writer with a love for all things Xbox. Now, by competent writer, we mean someone who spells “you” correctly, and knows when to capitalize. If you can do that, you’re a shoe-in. So, CLICK THIS DAMN LINK, do the required stuff, then get paid to play video games and write about stuff.

…hell, Mike and I did the hard stuff already, and YES, the GTA4 Banner contest will continue, and I will still give you a copy of GTA IV… or something. So, hop to it.

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I have emailed Hudson with no reply on whether this is pure lulz coming from the Dtoid guys, which though is possible, this is looking to be pretty true so far. A little background, much like sites such as Joystiq or Kotaku, Destructoid was a gaming blog, but with a little twist, they are more community driven and just a lot more fun, all while still keeping up with the video game news. Destructoid is pure indie, there is no AOL or other such “network” of sites backing them up, pure independent media. So for them to get the connections with Hudson, who is a company that would certainly have the fun enough attitude to support an indie web site that had a recognizable character that represents them (Mr Destructoid) into their game, it all does make sense.

If you see their announcement page for this news (Here) you will see the other new character models and levels that will come in the “Bomb Up Pack 2″ later this month. I have yet to get a press release for the pics of the new characters and levels, so I just await an email back from Hudson to at the least take this out of the Mill o Rumor section. No matter what, hats off from myself and JW here at Xbox360Rally.com for making it into one of the best XBLA games made (if its true!)

For now, here is the other updates that we should be seeing in the DLC pack:

* * Ten New Characters – In addition to Destructoid, other new characters include “Bomberella” the cavewoman and “El Bombito” the matador, resulting in countless new ways for players to customize their in-game Bomberman. Other characters include Alien Bomber, Bomb the Fool, Bomberbell, Flower Bomb, Debbie Downer, Bomber X, and Bomb of Doom. Check out the gallery for a first look at the other characters!

* * Two Additional Levels – New arenas include “Medieval Times,” a level in which bombs and sorcery collide and that allows players to select any gimmick they want, and “Full Tilt,” a level set at a racetrack which features speed circles that dictate how fast players move.
* * One New Game Mode – “Bomb Shelters” will allow players to hide from explosions in a small, fireproof building.
* * Two New Leaderboards – Dominate the competition on two new ranking systems on the Xbox LIVE® network. The new leaderboards will track performance on both a weekly and an all-time basis for the speed circle gimmicks on the new “Full Tilt” map.

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Megatonik is cool. Really cool. So cool, in fact, that they would have been the first recipients of the monthly “JW Seal of Awesome”… if I wasn’t lazy as hell. Regardless, zizzy (semi-frequent commenter here) has made a most intersting discovery while reading up on Halo 3 that supports our earlier story about Clan Support on Xbox LIVE.

While looking through some Halo 3 details on his Dashboard, zizzy discovered the following message under Halo 3 > Expand your LIVE Experience > Online Game Play:

Clans are one option for playing ranked matches. A clan is a player-created group for playing ranked matches as a team. With clans, you know the players backing you up are dedicated, and the players you’re going to face will be just as dedicated.

Now, keep in mind that Bungie has confirmed that there is no Clan support build into Halo 3. So, unless Bungie changed its mind, you would have to think that this is feature would have to come via an update.

So, does this mean will we see the fall update in the next two weeks?

[Megatonik]

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Firefly fans, rejoice! It appears that Captain Malcolm Reynolds himself, Nathan Fillion (seen left, looking manly), will be doing a voice over for Halo 3! Now, the speculation started after someone saw this video from Gamersyde, and realized “Holy crap, that sounds like Nathan Fillion!”.

The V.O. in question comes about 37 seconds into the video. The line in question is “Chief’s got the right idea. Let’s mount up, and get the hell out of these caves.” Now, if you keep listening you’ll hear the same voice again around the 2:10 mark of the video. So go ahead, click the link and give it a watch and tell us what you think.

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Stranglehold, the game that surprised me by being a tad more fun than I thought it would be (download the demo to see for yourself). Has now been pushed back to a later date. Luckily for fans who were awaiting this title, you won’t have to wait too much longer. A post was found at AdultGamingEnthusiasts.com that user “Kyleia” went through some Matlockery means to get a camera phone snapshot of super secret GameStop internal emails.

My hands are tied as far as calling this anything but a rumor for now until official word is out, but with all the other big name titles coming out at this time, it is very crucial for the game makers to be extremely picky on when they release their games, and trying to release Stranglehold so soon after the game of the century, BioShock, it just makes sense to give it just a couple of weeks until its release. So if you were waiting on Stranglehold, just pop the demo back in and enjoy it until September 5th, its only a couple of weeks more.

Those Xbox message boards are always a cornucopia of information that Microsoft really doesn’t want us to know. That seems to be the case again, as Xbox.com forum goer by the name of “Post Up” has posted what appears to be the list for what we can expect in this fall’s Dashboard Update…

…which you can read after the break. Ha ha.

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NOTE: I’ve re-classified this as a rumor until an English Gamespot (whether it be US, UK, whatever) reports this story. Just taking the safe route here, people, especially considering the “less than desirable” outcome of the last TGS story we ran.

Gamespot Korea has learned today that Ninja Gaiden 2 has been confirmed for the Xbox 360, and that it will be shown for the first time at the Tokyo Game Show… I think… I can’t read Korean.

Citing a, quote, “????????? ??? ??? ?????? ?? ????” (or “Industry Insider” for those of you who actually HAVE a translator built in to your internet browser), Ninja Gaiden Deuce will be shown using an Xbox 360 console. He went on to say that the game will be shown on the Xbox 360 because of the good relationship Team Ninja has with Microsoft.

The Insider went on to point out that Microsoft wants to get the game released on their platform first due to it’s potential to push consoles in Japan.

[Gamespot Korea] (Original)
(Other English Reports)
[MaxConsole] (English 1)
[Gamers-Creed] (English 2)

UPDATO MAGNIFICO:
After the break is the most comprehensible translation of the original Gamespot Korea article I could find.

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