XBox 360 Rally

Since myself and JW’s days at Xbox360Rally, we have been able to provide some pretty good prizes for contests and giveaways. Today I bring to you something we have had under wraps for a while now, the motherload of prizes from just two poor gamers like ourselves. Right now you are about to enter to win a raffle for:

Call of Duty 4 Collectors Edition (Xbox 360 Version)
Call of Duty 4 T-Shirt (XL, has a cool design btw)
Call of Duty 4 Hardcover Art book (sweet!)
Call of Duty 4 Official Strategy Guide

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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!

EA is hooking up those who are preordering the Game of the Year! You get a “Homerball” as seen to the right. UGO describes the portion of the game it comes from as, “Homer’s appetite gets the better of him and he turns into a giant blob of fat, rolling about levels, knocking crap over.” Beautiful Katamarish much? We’ll see how it all plays, this game looks to be covering all game type genres.

I can’t get enough of Simpsons game footage, all have been amusing, and this one is no different, it has Mr Sparkle and the Comic Book Guy as a Sumo wrestler, you can’t go wrong:

For more The Simpsons Game media, lots of video mostly, click here and here and here.
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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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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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Quick update: Contest got put out at just the wrong time, but now its a little better. Who knew the day I started this Call of Duty 4 Beta Invite contest that all of a sudden Eurogamer AND GameSpot would copy our give-away and offer a crapload more invites. Rest assured, they are on our shit list. Well, the contest is still on, and as an added bonus, it is now 3 people who can win a code. Either way, if you get a code from elsewhere, go ahead and enter here too and find a friend to give the code to!

The Call of Duty 4 Multiplayer Invite only Beta. Didn’t get in?! Here is your chance. I received a copy of an invite myself just recently (Thanks EternalDarkWing of DESTRUCTOID), thing is, I had already been invited and have been enjoying the Beta for a while now, and it seems since our janitor JW doesn’t have a working 360 at the moment (DAMN YOU RED RINGS!), he is willing to give up his code as well on top of me giving up mine (I think it is safe to say our spots in heaven are reserved). We want to make this as quickly and painless as possible. Now, since the word on the street is they are going to cut the Beta till the 30th of this month (though nothing is confirmed), this contest is going to be a quick one to make sure you can get to playing as soon as possible so you can start leveling up! Without further adieu, the official rules on how to win one of the two beta codes we have:

Make a comment on this page including two things:

• Why you deserve to be in the beta.
• Your Xbox Live GamerTag.

• Make sure the email contact you are required to put in to leave a comment, is a valid address. Contest will end on Friday, September 14th at 11:59pm EST, so make sure to get your comment in before then.

Exactly like how the Golden Axe contest went, all entries will be thrown into a random.org list and the top 2 choices get to start kicking ass in the most played demo/beta out right now (you know you have someone on your friends list playing!) That’s it! That is all it takes, stop waiting, make a comment and just make sure your valid GamerTag is in there too!

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!)

When we announced the Sonic photoshop contest, I honestly didn’t expect to get some of the quality work from you guys that we received. Believe me, picking just 5 winners was hard, very hard. So below are not only the 5 winners, but also some bonus pictures that were near winners and deserve to be seen, they were quite amusing. Lets get this started.

First Place: Loved this piece, you got the gold Sonic turning into the blue Sonic right when PacMan bit the pill, so simple, yet executed well, congrats!

Second Place:Loved the detail’s of the cars hitting in the background shooting off the coins, quality on this was top notch. Click on the pic below to experience in its full size.

Third Place: I was surprised at not more Gears of War ones, but its okay, because this entry saved the day by not only being nice quality, but brought teh funny. Click on the pic below to experience in full size.

Fourth Place: Simple idea, pulled off perfectly, got a giggle out of me, and the caption helped a lot with the sarcasm, nice job for an underrated game (Dead Rising folks!)

Fifth Place (A TIE!!!): How can there be a tie you say, well, it is because h00d00 entered a million times! For the most part his were all top quality too. In fact I couldn’t just pick one of his entries as the top five, so I went ahead and gave up two spots for him (don’t worry, he is still only getting one copy of Sonic). Now this first one just was such an obvious choice to have as an entry, c’mon, Sonic, in a race, basic, yet perfect. Click on the picture to enlarge to full size)

h00d00’s second entry came close to home with me, because it touched on an issue I remember covering not too long ago, about the XBLA game Durandal and people getting motion sickness (link)

So there are the five (and a half) winners! Hope you agreed, if not, drop a comment. I also want to leave you with some of the ones that didn’t get to the top five, but damn, they are well worth a mention and a view:

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Last week sometime while on Bomberman Live, I got the dreaded red rings. Inconceivable I thought, I mean, I just got a nice “new” refurbished machine no more than a couple of months ago. Before that, I was running on my launch console for years. Well, I shut down the machine and turned it back on ten minutes later with no problems since then.

Forward to this week, my Bioshock pre-order arrived, woohoo, game of the century and all that, I turn it on, I play for hours and hours. The next day, I play some more hours… then… it happened.. RED RINGS! I couldn’t believe it. I tried using that new service.xbox.com page Microsoft set up, it gave me errors. I didn’t want to towel trick just yet, because the 360 does work if I let it cool off, so screw it, whatever, I just waited to give a call as soon as I woke up (which was roughly an hour ago).

Spoke to my fine Indian friend at the Microsoft call center, I always have found them pleasant even though the whole situation is a hassle to have to make the call in the first place. As I was on the phone, memories of a gamer getting a free game out of Microsoft came to mind for having to get a third 360 because of the red rings (Note: I can’t find the link to that guy’s account, but when I do I will update this post so you see how he did it too). Either way, the long and short of the conversation was:

Me: Hey, I run an Xbox web site, this is now my second time having to get a refurbished machine, and I have only had this for a couple of months now, is there anything you can offer me, a controller, a free game, something, to make sure that I do not have to give Microsoft bad press over this issue.

Them: Hold on, let me check on that *puts me on hold*

*comes back* I have Kameo, Xbox Live Arcade Unplugged, Project Gotham Racing 3, and Viva Pinata which I can offer you.

Bam! So not only do they send me an extra 1 month of Xbox Live Card (if you have got a refurbished machine, you know this is what you get already), but now a free game. I highly highly suggest doing this yourself I am having no hopes of getting an HDMI machine, but I the free game is making me feel all happy. Now, if problems arise before I get my coffin, I will in fact just towel trick till I get the box to ship my 360 in.

There you go, get the red rings, get a free game, here is the cliff notes to do it yourself:

• Call 1-800-4MY-XBOX (Screw services.xbox.com)
• Say this is not the first time this has happened and you run a web site and will give bad press, tell them “What can you offer me!?” (be polite)
• Pick a game, say thank you.
• Now, just play the waiting game.

• “Ah, the waiting game sucks. Let’s play Hungry-Hungry-Hippos!’” - Homer J Simpson

  UPDATO MAGNIFICO:
  September 4th, and I have already received my copy of Viva Pinata! I thought it would be inside the box or something, awesome job Microsoft! (I guess it would be more so awesome if the machine never broke in the first place, but they admit their mistakes and are definitely fixing it!)

First, thanks for the many entries for the contest. After taking like ten minutes weeding through the entries that were valid (c’mon folks, I said you had to put your GamerTag in the post!), I was able to get them all in to a random.org list click that “Randomize” button and come up with the top 5 commenters, so in order, with their winning entry comments:
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If you missed out on Maddenoliday the other week and still haven’t got to try this glitchy game, the demo is here for you to try. Coming in at just a little over 800mb, it should give you just enough of a tease to let you know whether you want to take the plunge on this very aging franchise.

Next demo up is the Medal of Honor demo, clocking in a just under a gig, get ready to get in a war plane and fight some epic battles in a WWII setting, something that no game has ever done. (Italics = sarcasm).

I just personal downloaded the Skate demo, but haven’t even touched it because I am working hard on Bioshock (on the hard level setting, damn im tough!) I think I am going to have to quit my job to keep up with all these games coming out.

The Xbox LIVE Marketplace is a true cornucopia of stuff. Whether it be classic arcade games like Paperboy, Time Pilot and Contra, or downloadable content for your favorite games, like Santa Claus outfits for Saints Row and expansions for Oblivion, Xbox LIVE is chock full o’ stuff for just about everyone. If you have the MS Points, you can open the door to all the world’s delight and joy.

But what if you’re broke? Are you just left outside in the snow, to stare in the window from behind the bushes to see all the joyous boys and girls playing with their horse armor and their extra Crackdown skins? Of course not! There’s stuff for you, too, cheap ass!

In fact, there is a LOT of free stuff for you. Whether it be extra content for your favorite game, or the most worthless of things (*coughgamerpicscough*), there is a surprisingly large amount of free stuff for your downloading delight on Xbox LIVE.

Read the whole list after the break!

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Sega, kind enough to give us here at The Rally 5 copies of Sonic the Hedgehog on Xbox Live Arcade for you. Here is how to get it! Take Sonic and put him in another Xbox 360 game. This can be a full title or arcade game. Scour here at the Rally for screenshots, or just do a Google image search, however you want to find the screens, do it (Note: If you find an image that is watermarked, points will not be taken off). Next, take a picture of Sonic and put him in the game screenshot you just got however you see fit, add rings for bonus points. I did quick entry of my own as an example using Sonic in Crackdown, I know you can do better:

Here goes all the official mumbo jumbo:

• Image of Sonic on Image of some Xbox 360 Game (Full title or XBLA title)
• Post here in the comments with a link to your image or email myself () or JW () directly with the image.
• Include with your comment or your email with your GamerTag.

• Enter as many images as you like, however you can only win one copy. Contest will end on Monday, September 3rd at 11:59pm EST, so you have two weeks to figure something out and get it to us.

Some Helpful Tips:

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Xbox Live Arcade, home to so many arcade classics. When I think of arcade classics, I think of Golden Axe. I remember my friend getting his Genesis for Christmas and this being one of the earlier titles we used to play as much as we could. Easy enough beat em up type game play, balancing between magic and using the beasts themselves as weapons, to even fighting off little trolls/elves to get power ups, it was just plain fun. Well JW and I want you to have fun too! Thanks to Sega, The Rally has been hooked up with 5 copies of Golden Axe on the Xbox Live Arcade to give up to our readers… I’m talking about you. Since there is a couple of millions of you readers and all of you are like our children, we can’t just pick 5 favorites, so it shall be decided randomly, literally, with the help of random.org. Here is the official rules on how to qualify:

Make a comment on this page including two things:

• Why you deserve Golden Axe.
• Your Xbox Live GamerTag.

• Make sure the email contact you are required to put in to leave a comment, is a valid address. Contest will end on Saturday, August 25th at 11:59pm EST, so make sure to get it in before then.

That is it. I will throw all valid comments into a random list which will then pick the top 5 choices on who will receive a copy of Golden Axe. Sega has also done us a solid with some copies of Sonic on XBLA, a contest is in the works for that title, which will require MS Paint (or Photoshop) plus a little creativity, not just on detail though, we know not everyone is elite with Phothoshop, but hey, we’ll get to that later in the next day or so, but for now, leave a comment on why you are worthy of a free game, and make sure to include your GamerTag. Winners will be announced on Sunday (26th). Don’t worry about holding out for Sonic, you can enter both contests and win them both (damn we’re nice).

Random note and update: Thanks to all the people who have entered for the “Win Grand Theft Auto IV” contest we are having (link). If you haven’t heard by now, GTAIV was pushed back a bit, however, the contest is still ending October 1st. The prize of GTAIV will still be valid, unless you would like a game sooner, then we *might* possibly just let you pick another title that is available at the time.