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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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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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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The Def Leppard Track Pack for Guitar Hero III is now LIVE, ladies and gentlemen. In addition to live recordings of both “Nine Lives” and “Photograph”, you’ll get the studio recording of “Rock of Ages”, all of which are performed by Def Leppard… well… a cover band. They’re respectable covers, but if this is the actual Leppard, then I’m ashamed by just how far they’ve fallen. It sounds almost nothing like classic Leppard.

So how much will these tracks set you back? About 500 MS Points.

[Major Nelson]

Odds are if you’re playing Call of Duty 4, you’re not reading this. If you are, I commend you for your multitasking. Regardless, it has been announced that the fellas over at Infinity Ward are currently working on an update for CoD4 that is sure to make many a player happy.

A full list that I was more than happy to copy/paste from fourzerotwo himself can be found after the break, but some of the highlights of the upcoming update include host migration, kill cam for airstrikes and claymores, and the inclusion of the much talked about “N0M4D” control scheme.

(more…)

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!

In two pretty unrelated Halo 3 blips, “Chevmeister” over on the Bungie.net forums has posted downloads for all the multiplayer maps sans weapons, power ups, vehicles, etc, just a nice empty sandbox for you to fill (not sure why Forge wasn’t made like this already). Click here and start downloading those right away, awesome job to all the users that helped out with that, this should come standard with Forge and placed as part of the first update that Halo 3 will receive, but for now, at least they made it easy enough for users to share such things (possibly they can share their information with the Unreal Tournament devs).

The second part to these quick blips, Halo 3 madness has invaded even the intelligent people over at MIT, known for their pranks, have transformed a statue of John Harvard into Master Chief with his assault rifle in hand. For larger pictures with different views, click here, they made sure to get some pretty detailed shots in before the prank was taken down at the early hours of 8am where I guess only those in on the prank got to enjoy it, and of course all of us with an internet connection and a love for good old fashioned shenanigans.

[Thanks to Xbox360Fanboy for Cleared Maps info | MIT Prank info thanks to Brian over at TalkingNFL.com]
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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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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.

Only 8 tracks (plus one bonus), I wish I knew who the artists were (I am sure its in the credits, someone can get me that info, im lazy). Seems to be encoded at 192kbps or above. Thanks to the uploader and for sharing with us here! I also noted on the torrent page, is that if you want the Hexic HD original soundtrack, that can be found on this web page.

Remember, this download is a Torrent file. So, Xbox360Rally is hosting none of these files, download at your own discretion.

P.S. If you are new to Bit Torrent and need help, see this link for a good tutorial video. If you have any other questions, leave comments on this story and I will try to reply to help you out.

(If you didn’t catch the first ‘Xbox Sounds’ look no further than clicking here for Guitar Hero II soundtrack, but not the covers, all the original songs!)

So you booted up BioShock on your 360 in the past hour or so to find that you had to download an update. Seeing no other choice, you go ahead and initiate the download, and now you’re trying to figure out exactly WHAT the update was for.

Well, 2K isn’t saying. At least, not yet. Many speculate that it may be a fix for the widescreen issues. However, there are no new options to fix anything that I can find.

Considering some of the questionable decisions 2K has made over the past week, it wouldn’t surprise me if 2K somehow found a way to tie copies of BioShock to your Xbox 360, thus making it impossible to play your copy of the game at your friends house.

Vultures.

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If you are one of the many people who have purchased the newest entry in the Tiger Woods PGA franchise, you may already have experienced the bug that locks your game up. It’s on the “Henriette Brockway” event in the Tiger Challenge, where the game will lock up while loading the third hole.

EA has sent the patch to Microsoft for certification, but if you can’t wait for Microsoft to approve the patch, EA has posted a run-around to get past the bug. When launching the game from the dashboard, hold down the A button. That should allow you to bypass the bug in the Tiger Challenge event.

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I admit it, I am a Bomberman fan. I know the game isnt’ for everyone, but I even like the N64 versions and the side scrolling Game Boy ones, I just love this franchise, Hudson is a great company. Well here is the info along with pictures of all the new goodies, the 2 new levels will feature a Vegas style theme while the other will be on a Zeppelin of sorts “which features tornado environmental hazards that incapacitate players.” Very cool. To make things even better at this nice cheap cost, they are offering up 10 more costumes for you to choose from, and I love the variety they present here. See pics below for a Fear and Loathing Johnny Depp throwback, a prisoner, a monopoly looking man, and afro bomberman, and.. man, just click the images below to see for yourself, one of the better updates to a game on the XBLA to date. Remember, not only do we get all these great visual upgrades, a new game play mode called “Frag” which will allow players to pre-set the number of enemies they must bomb in order to win the game. I wish I could just give Hudson a hug. So mark your calenders for August 29 (Tomorrow!!)