XBox 360 Rally

Actual potential news on a Saturday! I’m so freaking excited! Ok, ok, ok…

Earlier this week, when news finally broke of the Xbox 360 Elite, making it official, I was quick to call my local Gamestop and ask if they were taking pre-orders. They said no. Fine. Two days later, I called back, and again they said no. Finally I called the Gamestop at my local mall (Genessee Valley FTW) and asked him if they were taking pre-orders. Again, he said no. But then something odd happened. He asked me if I owned an Xbox 360. I said yes, and he told me that I shouldn’t trade it in just yet. I asked why, and naturally he said he couldn’t tell me yet, but just to know that if I had plans to trade my 360 for store credit towards a 360 Elite (which was my plan, I admit) to hold off because “something big” is in the works for existing 360 owners.

And then I find this…

Over at the Xbox forums, a man with the gamertag “Xx KILLA KEV xX” tells us of his encounter with a Gamestop employee in regards to the Xbox 360 Elite. He says, and I quote:

I called Gamestop today to see what kind of value I would get for my Prem 360 and the manager told me that they would have to see it in person, of course we all know that, but after talking to him about the elite he said that corporate had sent a memo stating that MS was working on a special Trade in for existing 360 owners to get the Elite. Im guessing there is alot of truth to the statement due to all the negative feedback from the gaming community.
That would make things alot better if they did.

You know, after reading that, coupled with my own experience I am forced to believe that there is some sort of deal being hammered out that will benefit us 360 Premium buyers who are, shall we say, pissed off. Knowing Gamestop, I would expect a deal to be put in place that would sound enticing at first, but once you think objectively on the matter you realize that it’s just Gamestop boning you up the rump once again.

Regardless, keep an ear and eye peeled for more info about this deal as it becomes available.

UPDATO MAGNIFICO!
Ok, so I submitted the story to Digg because I think people should know about this rumor, and I do like the idea of my site’s traffic jumping another 200% in the next few months. Regardless, a man who works for Gamestop (and who’s screenname is my life motto) “Sega 4 Life” left this little gem:

I work for game stop and an E-Mail was sent to our store stating we “Will Not be giving special trade in’s on the 360 Cores and Pros for the Elite”.

Yes I know it kinda sucks, but hey you still get some nice cash for your used 360.

I’m just going to trade mine in.

Slight disappointment in reading this, but for now the scoreboard is still 2-1 in favor of something fishy. Sure, the scoreboard means nothing, but it’s nice to have.

, , , , , ,

I know I’m not the best Xbox blogger on the planet. Hell, I’m not even top five. But, over the past three months you all have bumped up traffic to X360R by 106%! Considering I’ve been slacking a bit because of work and school, I can’t tell you how appreciative I am of you all coming back time and time again to this little corner of the ‘net. And I promise you, big things are in store for you in the coming month or so, in addition to some classic articles from the site’s infancy.

1.) Reviews on Thursdays
In the next month or two, I intend to start reviewing new releases for the site. I can tell you now that the first review will be of Spider-Man 3 this may, and I hope to make it a weekly segment here on the site. But, Thursday reviews will not be just games, oh no. With your suggestions, I’ll even review hardware such as wireless 3rd party controllers, racing wheels, and whatever else you’re curious about.

2.) Q & A
I love you guys, in a purely platonic way. I want to know what’s on your mind, and while some of you do leave comments, you guys do not take advantage of the “Contact Me” option below the “About Me” link. If you have a question you want answered, just write in with your first name, where you’re from and your question and I’ll be more than happy to answer. Questions can be anything you want, whether game related or not.

3.) Classic Articles
You know, as new people come to the site I don’t want to lose the older articles. Starting Sunday, April 1st, by clicking the “360Classic” button, you’ll be able to read back at some of the more popular articles in the history of X360R. Included will be my first article about how the 360’s Backwards Compatibility is broken, as well as “Why Console Gaming Owns PC Gaming“, “Top Five Underrated Xbox Live Arcade Titles“, and the story that remains the #1 linked story in this site’s history, my story about the KotOR 3 development controversy.

But again, I want to thank you all for your continued support. As this site grows more popular, I promise you I’ll be here, watching over it witl keen, eagle-like eyes. And if you see a story I may want to cover, send it to me! I’m only one man!

, , ,

Ok, earlier this week there was a petition floating around that demanded 2K Games release a collector’s edition of Bioshock, one of the coolest damn games I’ve seen this century. In under six hours, the petition had received over 5000 votes, and now 2K Games is going to give it to you.

Even though they probably were going to release one, anyways.

Over at the Cult of Rapture, you can currently vote on what you want added to the game’s Collector’s Edition. For the record, anyone who votes for an action figure rather than a “Making Of” or Soundtrack should have their genitals scalded with a curling iron.

, , , , ,

Growing up, I used to watch a lot of wrestling. Stone Cold, The Rock, Mankind/Cactus Jack/Dude Love/Mick Foley, they were all some of my absolute favorites. But now, outside of Shawn Michaels and John Cena, there is really nobody in the world of wrestling that I really care about. The one wrestling constant in my universe has always been the WWF Smackdown games. I’ve bought every single Smackdown title, from the original on the Playstation, right up to Smackdown vs. Raw 2007. So it brings me joy to tell you all that Smackdown vs. Raw 2008 has officially been announced.

Some of the features we can expect in SvR 08 include eight distinct fighting styles, which is designed to differentiate the nearly 100 superstars in the game, as well as something called “Struggle Submission System.” I honestly don’t know what the hell it is, but I assume it’s got something to do with the analog sticks.

My gripe with SvR 07 has also been solved, as ECW will now have it’s own brand. New rosters, environmental “hotspots” (I.E. announcer tables, barriers, etc.) and a combined GM/Season mode have all been announced as well. I can hardly contain my glee!

You can expect to find all your WWE goodness this fall on the Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PSP, DS and Wii. Freakin’ sweet.

, , , , , ,

You know, I just finished watching the GTA IV trailer… for the twelfth time. Without question, this is what GTA was meant to be, and I look forward to seeing and hearing much, much more about this upcoming classic-to-be.

If you haven’t yet seen the trailer, well… well, you fail. But secondly, you missed on a gorgeous view of New York (yes, the actual New York) followed by a narration of a man (presumably the main character), obviously Russian, telling of how he wants to make a new start in the Big Apple.

My jaw was left dropped. First off, without doubt this is the prettiest damn GTA game in existence, and it won’t even be done until October. Secondly, and most importantly, it looks to have a scope not matched in any GTA game. I don’t usually get childishly giddy for a game, but GTA IV is that game.

, , ,

Why, it’s GTA IV trailer day, Squire!

Yes indeed, today is the day we finally get to see the GTA IV trailer in all it’s next-gen goodness. By 6:00pm EST tonight, our eyes will salivate as even the most manly of men stop and stare in complete awe at what is surely going to be the title that makes Rockstar Games a proverbial shiite-load of money.

I don’t know about you, but I already have GTA IV pre-ordered and can not wait to see the footage for myself.

, ,

Ok, as we all know, Worms was in desperate need of an update. After all, by the time said update is released, the AI may actually make a move.

Over at the his blogspot account (Yes, I said blogspot), Martyn Brown, producer for Team17, announced that there will indeed be an update to Worms. What will be in this update, you ask?

No longer will the game crash when more than four players try to get into the lobby.
Some game exploits (whatever the hell that means) have been squashed.
The AI won’t be as deadly with it’s grenades.

And most importantly…

The AI will HURRY THE HELL UP!

There is also some info about upcoming downloadables for Worms, including dashboard themes, gamerpics and new audio. Wow.

For more details on what’s coming, and to read it in his words instead of my own, by all means, visit his blog.

, , , , , , ,

The worst-kept rumor in gaming has finally been made official by my personal merry men over at Microsoft. The Xbox 360 Elite is, in fact, real. And it’s looking freaking sharp. As you can see above, the images of the box were, indeed, most accurate.

Here is the rundown on the system’s important info: It’ll be released on April 27th for $479.99. Now, the core console itself is the exact same system as the one you have sitting in your living room — only black. What the extra money is paying for is the HDMI cables and the extra 100GB in your hard drive. You’ll also get a wireless controller and standard Xbox Live Headset, both black.

And no, it’s not “Special Edition.” This is the next evolution of the 360.

Now, I recently sold my Xbox 360 to Gamestop for a small amount of money — I figured I’d sell it to them before it completely crapped out on me (it was making this scraping noise when I put discs in), and I was going to go out next week and buy a new console — but with this news, I may wait the few extra weeks and pick up an elite.

Read after the break for the full, official press release. And a few pics.
(more…)

Digital Something has gotten their hands on an early copy of the Toys R Us ad, which shows a pretty cool offer involving the Xbox 360. I was hesitant to report this, since if you’re at this site you almost certainly have an Xbox 360, but all the same — if you don’t, for whatever reason, this Sunday Toys R Us will have an offer where you can receive a free $50 Gift Card with the purchase of any Xbox 360 unit.

In addition to the $50 Gift Card, there is a good deal on Activision games — Buy 1, Get 1 Free. At last, I have an excuse to buy Marvel Ultimate Alliance back.

, , , ,

For about an hour and a half today, Gamestop had amongst their items for sale, a 120GB Hard Drive, as you can see above. This hard drive, according to Gamestop, is set to ship on Aprin 1st. Now, Gamestop has since caught onto this wee error, and has taken the item off of their site.

This only further proves that there is going to be a new 360 model coming to the masses, and you know what? I’m getting my hands on one, dammit.

View entire screen cap

, , , ,

According to those heartless vultures at EB Games, the release date for “The Simpsons: The Game” is slated as November 1st. This goes against earlier expectations that Electronic Arts would release the game to coincide with the release of the movie on July 27th.

While some sites are “speculating” that this game is based on the Simpsons movie, and some sites are using words like “alledgedly” with regards to Electronic Arts… EA IS working on this game, and it IS based on the movie. That much is actually old news.

November 1st, 2007. Look for this game.

, , , , ,

Ok, you really don’t need to know how to speak Chinese for this, but I guess it’d help. Some wise thinking fellow over in China had the bright idea to take a few cell phone shots of the new Xbox 360 Elite. While the pictures themselves are nothing spectacular (they’re fuzzy), this proves without a shadow of a doubt that the Xbox 360 Elite IS real, and we’ll be seeing it… soon. Hopefully.

, ,

Last Friday I told you that there were new downloads coming to the game Marvel: Ultimate Alliance. I said to take it with a grain of salt because the article this was originally reported in was taken down.

Well, I can tell you now that it has been confirmed, and that in addition to these new heroes, there will be new achievements. Because of the nature of some of these achievements, one can not help but speculate that these achievements focus around unlocking all costumes. This pleases me.

But there’s still no Punisher, and therefore Activision still fails.

, , , , , , ,

Those sly bastards over at Xbox360Fanboy.com have posted an image of an upcoming Gamestop poster for what looks like a 120GB Hard Drive. The fact that it says “120GB Hard Drive” kind of gives it away. One of their readers had the mind to take a snapshot of it via his Blackberry and sent it in. Impressive.

Now, does this mean that this confirms the Xbox 360 Elite? No. Mostly becuse the hard drive itself is white in the image posted. But it is a step closer, and a good news item to start off the day with.

Now if you don’t mind me, I’ve got an orientation to go to.

[Xbox360Fanboy] <–Click for Image

, , ,

(Weekly NSFW Warning: Now Issued)

You know, every week something happens that keeps warranting this segment. In all honesty, I never intended for “t3h w31rd” to be a weekly segment here at X360R. But people continue to do what is, for lack of better wordage, stupid shit. So, it is with this in mind that I welcome you to this week’s round-up of all things odd, here in teh w31rd.

This w33k’s Top Story:
Never Fuck With Lord British. Ever.
Ok, so about a month ago a bunch of college kids broke onto some property in Texas. While on the property, the college kids proceeded to help themselves to some rather expensive alcoholic beverages, including high-priced wines, champagnes, and my personal poison, Scotch.

One problem: While they were partying, the nitwits forgot their digital camera. What’s even worse is that they had images on said camera of them breaking onto the property. But… who’s property did they break onto? Why, none other than Richard Garriott’s. Strangely, this is nothing new to Lord British — he’s had people break onto his rather elaborate estate before. I mean, it’s built like a castle for Christ sake — I’d be hard-pressed to not try to get in there.

The moral of this story: Don’t fuck with Lord British. You will never win.
(more…)