XBox 360 Rally

So, I finally plugged in my internet connection to my Xbox. Not that I never have before, it’s just that my router is in the office and the HDTV is in the living room, and I don’t want a damn cord running through the entire house, and I haven’t got off my lazy butt to get a wireless adapter for my Xbox 360 because truthfully, I don’t go online that often with my Xbox.

Not often at all…

Which means that tonight was finally the night when I upgraded my dashboard on the ol’ 360 (among other things). I am sure that I haven’t spent enough time on it to see how awesomely awesome it is, but what is the big deal?

I think the whole Netflix thing is nice, and I imagine I will love it. As I mentioned before, I am not on Xbox Live all that much to make that a big draw for me, but then again, maybe it will be a good reason to log in more often. It does get tiring to have to hook up my laptop to the tv to watch something instantly on Netflix, but still, It’s not like it’s that hard. I’ll live.

Other than that, I am not big into keeping a bunch of pictures and music on yet another hard drive, so that option does nothing for me.

I do have a kickass avatar, but I don’t know when she’ll ever come into use. Don’t you just dig her warrior scar and black (I hope they are rubber) gloves? Unless I am missing something, I don’t think the avatars get to play in, say, Tomb Raider, so yeah, what’s the point. I like my little panda icon. Isn’t that enough?

I know I must sound like a troglodyte to some of you, but seriously, I like to play video games. I don’t care if someone else plays with me or not. So other than downloading stuff, I have little need for Xbox Live. And that’s too bad, because my dress is so cute.

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Let my friend be a cautionary example to the rest of you…

Mark* is a late bloomer when it comes to video games and next-gen consoles, but he is an enthusiastic newbie at any rate. He is a Madden freak, so much so that he bought a guide book for it. I mean, yeah, I like Madden 09 just fine, too, but not enough that I am going to plunk down an extra 20 bucks just to read about the back-up kicker on the Miami Dolphins and what are the general defensive strengths of the Detroit Lions (ha, that last one was a trick — the Lions have no strengths).

Anyhoo, my Red Ring Of Death moment happened last October. Mark’s just happened.

He was devastated, naturally, and he worried about Microsoft fixing it, as he bought his Xbox 360 off of craigslist from some other guy. He was in luck. Microsoft would fix it, and all seemed okay. He dutifully sent it into the service center, like we all have, and about two and a half weeks later (he was freaking out because MLK Day kept his beloved 360 out of his hands for an extra day), he got his Xbox back.

I haven’t heard from him since. But then I talked to a mutual friend who worked with Mark last night.

Oh, Mark got his Xbox back. He plugged it in and played happily for ten minutes. Until the RROD happened…again.

I don’t know the whole story at this point but it seems that the Xbox was further damaged after the RROD occurred. Mark went to Circuit City and now owns a totally new Xbox. I imagine as Circuit City is going out of business that he got a great deal. Or at least I hope he did.

Don’t be a Mark. The RROD will be fixed by Microsoft, and if not, there are videos out there showing you how to fix it yourself.

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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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Aw, too bad that PS3 users will have to wait until next week (February 5th, I believe) to get a taste of the highly-anticipated and long-awaited (RE5’s maker, Capcom, announced the game back in 2005) Resident Evil 5. But starting today, Xbox Live Gold Members can download the demo. Xbox Silver members can start downloading it Thursday.

Ah, Resident Evil, a pinnacle in survival-horror. Here’s the pretty sweet trailer to the fifth installment in the series.

Purportedly, there are three levels in the demo, and for Gold members, there is also a 2 person co-op option. New characters, new weapons, new environments, but it is a sequel that takes place ten years after the first Resident Evil.

The biohazard threat has not ended. Just when it seemed that the menace of Resident Evil had been destroyed, along comes a new terror to send shivers down players’ spines. Returning hero Chris Redfield heads to Africa where the latest bioterrorism threat is literally transforming the people and animals of the city into mindless, maddened creatures. Take on the challenge of discovering the truth behind this evil plot. In Resident Evil 5, you will learn to fear the daylight as much as you have feared the shadows before. –Xbox website

I am not a gold member, even though I do have a free month or three months that I got in return for experiencing the heartbreak and boredom of the Red Ring of Death, but still, I don’t feel like upgrading my membership just for a demo that I can get in three days. Besides, I’m deep in the bowels of the USG Ishimura in Dead Space right now.

Resident Evil 5 is so highly-anticipated and such a big deal that a Resident Evil bundle for the Xbox 360 is being packaged for our consumptive pleasure.

Does that mean I have to trade in my Simpsons Xbox 360?

Resident Evil is set to hit stores in the US March 13. Japan gets it first.

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Since last September, I have wanted Spore, but I’m going through a phase right now where I am just over PC games. Don’t get me wrong, I still play them incessantly and I will get Spore, but it would be nice if Spore were to come out for the Xbox 360. Sometimes a girl just wants to sit on her couch, backward and upside down and play video games. You just cannot do that on a computer.

Maxis created crack for nerdly gamers back in the day and it goes by the names of the Sims or SimCity. Well, Maxis is trying to capture lightning in a bottle once again, and it could happen with Spore.

But Spore, if it does evolve into the game of choice for all levels of game addicts, will only be a PC or Mac-based game…oh, yeah, and a DS and a Wii game.

That’s right. Spore is being developed for play on the Wii and the Nintendo DS, but not the damn Xbox. Why, for the love of jove, why? Maxis and Nintendo are the evil heart of this conspiracy, and players like me that would like to be able to play all games on a large LCD HDTV instead of my 17″ laptop screen are the ones who suffer.

Bad Maxis, bad.

However, for all those who play on PC’s or mac’s, DS’ or Wii’s, you will be getting Spore either for the first time (Wii and DS) or you will have available for your gaming pleasures two new Spore games in Spore: Galactic Adventures and Spore: Creature Keeper (developed for younger players, and kinda like a sim-habitat-thing).

To be fair, the exec in the interview does not not say that Spore is being developed for the Xbox and PS3.

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Sometimes, I like to look at ads and commercials to see how they reflect on what it is the ad is selling. I believe in good ads, and I honor them; however, I do really love criticizing ad campaigns and today, I plan on doing just that.

Recent news has it that Xbox 360 sales are beating Playstation 3 sales. Of course, one could look at the price tags of each system and maybe that would be enough evidence as to why Xbox 360 is more popular than PS3, but I think that it would be remiss to overlook lame commercials that don’t do anything to sell the PS3.

Such as this one…

So, first, PS3 totally disses on girls in this ad. The boyfriend tries to explain technology to her like she is an idiot, and then she railroads him into watching 50 First Dates. Come on. Why must all girls only watch romantic comedies? Is it that men, vis a vis the boyfriend, are afraid that their girlfriends might be better at video games than they are, so they try to keep the women in their life from playing in the first place.

Or is it that Sony doesn’t seem to need women to buy Playstations?

Which brings me to the next huge problem with this ad…of everything this new awesome “movie downloading machine” can do, the proud new owners are stuck watching a movie from what four years ago? Why would this PS3 ad feature an old, not very good Drew Barrymore-Adam Sandler vehicle to try to resurrect the lightning-in-the-bottle of The Wedding Singer? I don’t understand the thinking behind that choice. If you are trying to sell a very expensive new toy, why would you try to sell it by showing how it can play regular old movies.

It’s too bad. I remember seeing an ad for Heavenly Sword, and that ad made me want the PS3. Maybe Sony should go back to that ad agency…or the drawing board.

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Even though I had to wait a whole extra day to get Dead Space from Gamefly — thank you very much, Dr. King — I think the wait was worth it. Oh, wait, no, the wait is never worth it, but I am dealing with it the best way I can.

Dead Space came out a few months ago, so it’s not like I was waiting for it on the first day of its release, so a extra day in honor of a great man and civil rights leader is just fine. Although, my boyfriend did try and tell me that Inauguration Day was also a feederal holiday and there would be no mail today either, but he said the look of abject horror on my face was enough to tell me the truth — eventually.

So, first impressions…it’s a pretty intense game. I am playing it on easy, and I’m glad I did. I reminds me a little of Dead Rising in that once a zombie-like necromorph you struggle and have to press a button repeatedly to try and knock the damn thing off.

You play a guy named Isaac. You are a mechanic-kinda guy on the way to one of the largest mining ships in the, I don’t know, feederation or something. The mining ship, the Ishimura, has lost all communications — a communications blackout, if you will, and you are there to figure out what’s wrong and to fix it.

The problem is akin to Aliens. You have some expensive equipment rotting away in space, a -->lot of people are part of the mystery -->, and you show up ill-equipped to deal with the problem. And that is what makes a great video game.

Also like Dead Rising, you get objectives to achieve and a little map helps you get there. There are your teammates to tell you what to do as well. I am happy to have some direction…

The visuals are pretty amazing. The derelict hull is blood-spattered and graffiti-ed out. Abandoned luggage is everywhere, so you know those on the Ishimura were in a hurry to get the hell away from something. Maybe this guy…

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Speaking of prettier, some screen shots of the upcoming Atari-made Race Pro made in online this last week, and I would be remiss if I didn’t share them or comment.

Personally, I am not a big racing fan in terms of games, but this particular game may make me change my mind. When I first glanced at the screen shots, I almost took them for real images. Prettier, indeed.

Out of the twenty or so images I saw, only “cockpit” shots looked like a video game.

But then you get a shot like this next one, with cars all around you as the driver, and then check out the detail in the driver’s side mirror, and yeah, that’s pretty neat.

Originally slated for a November 2008 release, Race Pro — which is exclusive to the Xbox 360, people — has now been officially slated for a February 17, 2009 release. Europe will be getting Race pro a few days ahead of the US on February 13th.

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Having had my Xbox 360 since August 2006 (when my Xbox was dropped during a move), and having gone through the whole Ring of Death Debacle, I am happy that a Microsoft exec let it slip out that the Xbox 360 will not be replaced/upgraded anytime soon. With as much as I spend on games, I don’t have enough for a new system just yet…

Xbox division president Robbie Bach told Bloomberg this week that flashy graphics won’t be enough for consumers to adopt a new platform.

“Just coming up with something that’s faster and prettier isn’t going to be sufficient,” said Bach.

Additionally, he predicts products from Sony Corp. and Nintendo Co. will hold a longer life span.

“The life cycle for this generation of consoles — and I’m not just talking about Xbox, I’d include Wii and PS3 as well — is probably going to be a little longer than previous generations.” -PunchJump

Faster and prettier is always good, but I tend to agree with Bach. Something very new needs to happen, kind of like what has happened with the Wii, insofar as a new way to game must be the next step and the reason that I will trade up my gaming console.

Not to mention, Microsoft is still paying through the nose to correct hardware issues with the Xbox 360, so I doubt that the R&D budget for the new-gen Xbox has not been affected by the ongoing problems.

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A demo version of Project Origin/F.E.A.R. 2 Project Origin is coming next week on January 22. Xbox 360 users can download the free demo on Xbox Live.

First, they give you a taste and get you hooked, then they jack up the price.

FEAR 2: Project Origin will be released to the public for general consumption February 10th. Europe has to wait a few days for their fix.

Originally, he he, the name for the FEAR sequel was only going to be Project Origin (which was the name chosen in an online contest), but there was this merger see, and the name went with the merger. Thus the new name. But then someone, Warner Brothers who owns Monolith Productions, the creator of F2PO, thought better of going forward without the name of the original celebrated brand, I mean, name attached.

FEAR 2: Project Origin will follow the previous overall story of FEAR. There’s a vengeful, psychic little girl, there are -->things to shoot -->, there’s the mystery of it all. It’s survival-horror in a paranormal universe after a city is destroyed.

The character you play is a special forces guy named Beckett, and you are dropped off in the middle of the city thirty a half-hour before the first FEAR ends. You are sent into this city to arrest Genevieve Astride from FEAR.

The website gives some good teasing visuals, lots of blood and robots, but of course, it doesn’t really tell us too much. You can log on to Xbox Live next Thursday for your first taste.

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In a year when just about everything didn’t sell as well as last year, sales of the Xbox 360 increased by 8 percent this lame holiday season over 2007’s sales figures for December. The 360’s final yearly sales showed an increase of 19 percent over 2007 sales.

Not bad, but the bigger news is that the Nintendo Wii won the Holiday sales war with over 3 million units sold. The PS3 didn’t come close to a million at a bit over 700,000 sold. The PSP topped over a million units sold, and for some reason, about 400,000 Playstation 2’s were sold. Do people really still buy those and why?

The Xbox 360 outsold the PS3 nearly 2 to 1. Prices may have something to do with that. The Wii package runs about $250 base and you have to spend another $40 to $50 on a second controller. The Xbox 360 runs about $300 for the mid-level model and another $40 for an additional controller. The PS3 runs about $400 for the base model.

More news this week…Xbox 360 games topped the rankings for video game rentals. Xbox 360-platform games took all the top five spots in the list, and took another two spots among the top ten. Three Wii games placed in the remaining tops spots. And missing from the top ten were any PS3 games.

The Top Ten (as compiled by Rentrak)

PC World Mag also published a listing of anticipated Xbox games for 2009. You can click here to see the article. Notables on the list include Halo Wars, I am Alive and Alpha Protocol.

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Over at my friend, Marcus’ house, on a break from playing Madden 09, Ninja Gaiden II was loaded into the ol’ Xbox 360. He played a bit, we all ooh’d and aah’d over the graphics and the fountains of blood, and then he turned to me, and offered the controller.

Like an idiot savant (the words are my friends, not mine), I quickly picked up my sword and started hacking away at anything that came at me. And many, many things come at you during the course of Ninja Gaiden II. I quickly and rather fantastically made it through the first chapter, easily defeating the bad ass monster at the end of the chapter. In that aspect, Ninja Gaiden II is that common format of killing lots of things, find you way through a maze-like setting, and then kill something big and bad before moving onto the next chapter. Yawn.

I have yet to play the original Ninja Gaiden. I will correct that situation, but not today. Instead, let’s talk about Ninja Gaiden II. Reading a quick little blurb about NGII in my latest Game Informer magazine (that I got with my membership at GameSpot that the Nerd behind the counter talked me into — I just wanted to get out of the damn store, so I agreed quickly to whatever he wanted), it said that Ninja Gaiden was notoriously difficult to play, but the NG II was developed to make it a bit easier. I cannot add my opinion on that yet. NG II is pretty easy.

Ninja Gaiden II has some sort of larger storyline involving a statue that looks more like a skull of something pre-historic, and there is a girl involved, but I am only in Chapter Three right now, and I am not paying attention to the cinematics and the story built therein.

The controls are quite simplistic, if you ask me and you always do. You can jump, throw a projectile, quick attack or power attack. There are other secret ninja moves that require a combination of buttons, like the mighty Ninpo you can inflict on your enemies with the Y and B combo. You can also block attacks with the left trigger. The right trigger aligns the camera behind your Ninja’s back.

You have lots of weapons to choose from, like the wolverine claws in the image above, even though I seem to always go back to my trusty sword.

All in all, I like playing the game, and I am going to try and finish playing it this coming weekend. I’ll let you know how it goes…

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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?

Careful. You may have a preciptious drop, Lara...

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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Yes, we do. Maybe not the lame girls that have no hand-eye coordination…but even those girls are starting to enjoy playing video games. My friend, Brittanie, never played video games, and then her gamer brother introduced her to Baldur’s Gate Dark Alliance II. Who doesn’t enjoy kicking troll ass?

There’s a New Writer in Xbox360Rally Town

Looks like this site has not been active since last May, so I do have some catching up to do. The world of video games may seem to be more of the same to some people, but this last year saw some interesting developments in video games. Mostly the way that video games have been advertised. Some of the best commercial spots of 2008, especially those for Fall Out 3.

A little background on me as a video game enthusiast. First favorite game was Parsec on the old Texas Instruments home computer. I also liked Frogger on Atari, and of course, Pitfall, Pac-Man, and Donkey Kong. The game I played at the arcade was usually Space Invaders or Galaga or Centipede.

Started playing some PC games like Civ and Sim City and even Wolfenstein, and then kind of forgot about my latent love of all things pixelated until the Playstation came out. However, that now seems like a long time ago.

The original Xbox became my gaming console of choice about five years ago. My boyfriend broke it during a move and replaced it with the newly arrived Xbox 360.

Sure, I kinda want a Wii, but I love my Xbox360. I play games usually every day, but I do tend to stick to a game that has been out for a year or two before buying for myself. I tend to buy my games used, as $60 a pop for games is rather steep, especially when I start thinking about kids who don’t have food or school supplies. I will gladly wait a year for a game to come down in price, and have that extra money to donate to food banks around town. But don’t let me lead you to think that I am all goodness and selflessness.

I will now be signing up with gamefly now that I have an excuse to write it off on my taxes as a business expense. Sweet.

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