XBox 360 Rally

Yeah, that title only makes sense if you sing it to the tune of “Escape (The Pina Colada Song)“. And what’s the deal with that song anyway? A married couple each discover that the other wants to cheat because they are bored. It seems like such an upbeat song, but I just hope those two don’t have kids.

Whew, where was I? Oh, yeah, if you are a fan of flight combat games, you may want to get your ol’ 360 fired up around 5am EST/2am PST tonight/this morning (Feb. 11). The demo for Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. is being released for Xbox Live Gold members. Those goldies, they get everything first…

Personally, I’m not into flight simulator games, but checking out a demo is always fun. And who knows, I might just like it enough to play the real thing when it comes out on March 6th. I doubt it, because there are like a million other games I’m sure I’d rather play, but you never know.

The demo is Xbox 360 exclusive…for one day. The HAWX demo is available on PSN February 12th.

The demo includes two missions. One’s a training mission, appropriately enough. The second involves shooting planes down over Rio de Janeiro. You can even play co-op for 4 people, if you happen to have three friends.

The full game will include 17 missions, and if you are not great at flight sims, you may be in luck. Supposedly, Tom Clancy’s HAWX has training-wheels for those that are not thumb-joystick-capable. Some guy who wrote a pre-review of HAWX last summer mentioned that the game is more combat-centric, rather than flight simulator-oriented, which could be good or bad depending on how you like your flying airplane games.

And to leave you on a “ah, precious” note today…

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Resident Evil 5’s demo came out exclusively on Xbox Live last week. I got my download on Friday, and didn’t get to playing it until Saturday. Well, I wasn’t the only one. Numbers came out and it seems that almost 2 million Xbox Live users downloaded the ultra-violent, yet ever-so-much fun demo for the long awaited RE5.

I have not played a Resident Evil on the Xbox yet, so it was a treat to test it out on a 360. The demo gives you little or no info — or maybe it did and I was too busy killing zombies to notice — as to who you are or what you are doing there, but you can figure it out if you know anything about the Resident Evil franchise.

Hey, what do you know, seems I’m playing a character that you may already know and love, Chris Redfield. I have a new partner, and she is a hottie-ass-kicking zombie slayer named Sheva Alomar. I read somewhere that when the creators first started showing betas of this game, it came to someone’s attention that Chris was killing a bunch of black people in Africa and maybe that wasn’t so cool in this current political climate (or any for that matter). So the solution was adding a black-ish female partner. And who says video games don’t strive for equality? I wonder if Sheva is earning the same as Chris.

I have only played the single player portion of the demo, as my boyfriend doesn’t like playing shooter games (something about running around and looking for hidden stuff annoys him, no matter how many zombies are involved — I think it’s because he just can’t get the hang of it and he has a short attention span for any games other than sports). There is a co-op option, which I am going to play as soon as I make a friend to play against.

There are two scenarios: Public Assembly and Shanty Town. In Public Assembly, you and Sheva are outside one of those African towns that looks like it could have been a stand-in during Black Hawk Down. Once you get in a seemingly safe building, you witness a public beheading of someone who doesn’t quite get the respect he needs in this town in which everyone is going cra-zay. This huge hooded executioner swings this huge, serrated axe, and then of course, someone spots you. Now, you have all these zombies coming at you.

I went to the Public Assembly first, and I didn’t last that long. I couldn’t get used to the switch up from A’s to X’s for picking up ammo. Also, you cannot pull your left trigger to aim without standing still or moving really, really slowly, so it’s hard to run and shoot, but then you only have so much ammo, so it wouldn’t do you much good to run around shooting up the place. It’s pretty hard, which of course, makes me love it even more (wink).

Shanty Town is more running around and killing these poor souls that have undergone the “change.” But I lasted longer, although I do think that the demo is totally designed to kick your ass rather quickly, so you don’t start grumbling about it being a short demo more than you suck. But hey, it’s just a taste, and you are definitely going to want more.

It looks amazing, just like RE4. It’s totally fun and addictive and I cannot wait for March 13th.

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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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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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Hi, kids. I wanted to talk to you all about Iron Man for just a moment. As you may or may not know, the demo was recently unleashed on us gullible comic book fans. I’ve had the chance to take a few rounds with Iron Man, and have come to this conclusion: It ain’t bad.

If anything the demo is short. Really, truly, ridiculously short. However, it’s a pretty fun little demo that lets you experience the most basic of what Iron Man has to offer. The only complaint I had was with the control scheme — there is a lot going on with the controls. No button is left unused, and if you’re like me (inverted = life), you’ll have to fiddle with the settings for a minute. Ultimately, though, it’s a fun game that may do the film justice.

Which is good. No offense to gaming, but video games based on movies based on comic books aren’t necessarily good. Maybe Spider-Man 2 breaks the mold.

Maybe.

Iron Man comes out this week, but you all won’t care — you’ll have GTA IV. Just like me.

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!

Unlike the very terrible terrible (terrible) demo of Crash Bandicoot’s “Crash of the Titans” (that was released on the holy Halo 3’s day of birth), two very good demo’s have hit the marketplace today, both hitting opposite sides of the gaming spectrum so you will probably be at least downloading one of the two. Let me once again let you know, Crash of the Titans is horrible, the graphics, the game play (still staying away from true 3D gaming, fools!), just don’t waste your time at all unless you have a child under the age of 10 or so (seriously).

A game I have been waiting for, Jericho however, is going to be making me turn on my 360 in literally a few minutes so I can try any part of this (click for some video goodness). The demo for this game weighs in at 885.17mb.

NHL2K8 demo is out, I am still on my ban of 2KSports games (link), however, so you know, the demo is here and is just over a gig. Be happy 2K isn’t charging for this demo (those bastards).
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Wow, I Could have about a million things to say on this, or I could just let the image to the right do the talking by just throwing a big “Stupid” stamp on Crash Bandicoot’s forehead. I will try and meet somewhere in between. Crash Bandicoot, what I remember as the mascot of sorts back when it was Nintendo (N64 with Mario of course) vs Sega (Saturn with Sonic) vs Sony (PS1 with Crash), it was a mildly fun platform type game. Though it was 3D, it was no true Mario 64 3D game.. but I digress, I am not here to crash the Titan’s party, so I won’t insult Crash himself. Just the fact that whoever at *quickly Googles whoever publishes Crash*… whoever at Sierra Entertainment, must not keep up to date with what is going on in the video game world. Halo 3 just got released today! C’mon, is this really the time to release a demo!?! I mean, I wish the best for the game, but in a couple of months when that new Halo smell wears off, will the Crash demo still be listed on the Live Marketplace in the “New Demo” section, where I assure you that will be the only place people will even have heard that this game is coming out, let alone they have a chance to play some of it (other than us gamers who keep up with this sort of thing, but even us will easily forget about it, who out there is a true Crash fan?! Exactly!).

Sorry, anyways, I will stop short on a rant, I need sleep, you see, I have been playing Halo 3 for a little over 10 hours (with one food break). Haven’t even touched the campaign, all multiplayer for me baby! But hey, that will be coming up in my next post, where I will bring you a great picture of the midnight madness that occurred when I had to secure not one, but two copies of Halo 3, without pre-orders (my little brother calls me and said he needed a copy too, he had school today, ma won’t let him stay up so I have to be the good big brother and help, again though, I digress, I am tired). What were we talking about again? Oh yeah, this is Crash of the Titans time to shine, demo out, download it, only 530.76MB so you shouldn’t have to delete anything off your hard drive if you want to try it out.
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For just the cost of under one gig of your hard drive, you can be the proud owner of a demo for Viva Pinata Party Animals. This complete Mario Party rip off game looks pretty damn good (Overlord ripped off Pikmin and that was fine and dandy by me). To see what you are getting yourself into, check a little video of some game play below:

Also note, when you did fire up your ol Xbox, there was a system update. Keep in mind, this is not the huge system update we are all waiting on, this is all about that big-button controller preparation, in fact, Major Nelson makes sure to point out “no new features beyond this big button pad support are included in this update and, once again, this is not the ‘fall dashboard upgrade.’ When I have firm details on the next major update, I will share them”
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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 been keeping up with this game since I first heard the announcement. Well it was written it was coming mid-September, and now the time is nigh!

Coming in at just 700mb, its time to see, is this the game that will kill Forza and at the same time put to rest Project Gotham Racing (note: I think people have already forgotten about Gran Turismo). I am about to boot up my 360 to find out if my comparisons to this game and Beetle Adventure Racing are true, check it out yourself!
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First, thanks to all who entered! So many replies, most good reads (including my mother doing an entry it seems), but since the comments do nothing (”My eyes! The goggles, they do nothing!”), it is all up to random.org, here is the results, with the winning comments because you weird people took the time out to write this stuff (not the first guy, but you other two!):

-”Yeah, I do not think I that I deserve the beta more than anyone else. But if I did get it, I would definitely get the most I could out of it, so it would not go to waste. Only less than 2% chance so far.”



-”count me in its one of a few reasons that will get me away from my responsibility’s and kill ,kill kill,reload and kill,kill some more.I absolutely love military games and this is worth my wife bitching at me after about 6 to 8 hours of brutal assaults…..Hoorah!”



-”I deserve this because it hurts when I pee, I need some relief.”

As a bonus, I am sending all three of you friend requests (Is this really a prize), catch me online and we’ll play some Beta and I’ll catch you up on some tips and strategies (more likely though you can help me because I wouldn’t call myself the best). Hey, are you already in the Beta?, leave comments on things you like and don’t like about the game so far, any comments you want on it, and who knows, we here at the Rally may just take those questions/concerns/etc to Infinity Ward themselves.

Thanks for playing folks, sorry we didn’t have a couple of thousands of invite codes to give away (ala GameSpot.. those bastards!), but we do what we can to get some free swag to you!

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I can’t say I am excited about all three, but, hey, I never say no to demo’s, I download all, no joke. Juiced is coming in with an 8 player online demo, so that should be fun, I am particular on racing games, but I am willing to give them a shot (even though I haven’t found the time to play the one player demo which I have sitting on my hard drive). This is running 1.37GB.

Spider-Man Friend or Foe had me turned off from the first screens and demos. The concept of the co-op with villians is so so, but, again, I will download anything, plus this is running in at only 431mb)

Though I am no ‘futball’ fan, EA just released some FIFA screens, and they are HUGE, but you can see such awesome detail, that even if it isn’t a game you are into, you can appreciate the eye candy of it all. (Demo runs in at 702mb btw) Check the screen below, I left them original size, EA hooked it up with these pics, I must remind you again, they are HUGE (4856×2731 resolution):

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Boot up the ol’ Xbox this stuff up for grabs today. Download your FREE Halo 3 Themes and Pics (courtesy of Best Buy, I am going to go ahead and assume their logo will be put in somewhere).

After you set that to download, get to downloading that Tony Hawk demo (Runs about a gig). Now is the time you can finally compare it with Skate, which ended up being not too shabby.

While that is downloading, you can ponder over whether you are going to purchase Sonic 2. Well, it is only 400 points, and I know I own the first one myself, but the second was always my favorite. I think I just might pick it up.

From what JW had confirmed and now I am reading from hahauk.com, it seems people are using the below method to get extra people in and selling beta’s on eBay. I think you know how we feel at The Rally about selling things early on eBay (if not, you are an idiot, don’t support this sort of crap!). Well a nice guide has been made for you to not go and become one of the retards who put bad things one eBay, this is a guide for you to get your friend into playing the Beta with you! Your only requirements is the GamerTag and Pass of the friend in question and a second controller, easy enough so far:

• 1. Plug in 2 Controllers.
• 2. Sign Controller 1 into the shared account (the one with the Beta)
• 3. Leave Controller 2 signed out
• 4. With Controller 1, go to ‘Account Management’ under the Marketplace Blade then ‘Download History’
• 5. With Controller 2, press the Guide Button then A to access profiles
• 6. With Controller 1, select YOUR account and sign in
• 7. Press B on Controller 2 (to exit the guide) then unplug Controller 2
• 8. Select the COD4 Beta onscreen, then press ‘Confirm Download’
• 9. The Beta will now download with YOUR account and once done, will work with your account

• At the time of me typing this, I hope this still works out for you! Just remember you are doing this at your own risk