XBox 360 Rally

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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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!

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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Look, I’ll be straight up with you guys — today is Saturday. Tennessee is playing Florida, Michigan is playing Notre Dame, and my Spartans are currently beating that Pittsburgh ASS! So, there won’t be any “Games We Want on Xbox LIVE” this week — however, I will be back next week with Aladdin.

See y’all later.

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Dear Rare:

It’s time we talked about the future, or actually, the present plus the future, and hell, the past too. Presently there is no good fighting games on the Xbox 360, yeah, I honestly can’t wait for Soul Calibur, but Dead or Alive… meh, Virtual Fighter.. well, it is better than Dead or Alive at least. The other choices are Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter. I thought RPG’s would be the top genre that would be ignored on the 360, however with Blue Dragon here, Eternal Sonata coming up, plus a decent amount more on the way, that is covered. “Casual” games, covered. Shooters, well covered (CoD4 Beta is win btw). So, now to get to the future, I think its time to bring back the past, with a little Killer Instinct.

To be honest, I would accept an XBLA version of Killer Instinct, maybe take a second out to HD the graphics (or go all out like that Street Fighter II HD Remix game). Just some nice online lag free play and throw in an extra character or level for good measure. Though I was honest, lets get down to business. Okay, Banjo-Kazooie is coming out, I am excited, but now time to move on to the next project. I realize you guys are hard at work on something already I’m sure… but, its still early, take a few of your staff (90%), and get started on Killer Instinct 360.

We all love you Rare, Perfect Dark wasn’t perfect, but, it wasn’t that bad. I have never heard anyone who has played Kameo say bad things about it. All Viva Pinata users are hooked from what I can tell. However, we want that “Goldeneye” game that will make people compare Rare to the mighty Bungie (which pound for pound I already think there is good arguments for who is “the best” out of each developer..but I digress).

Lets talk the game, 3D or 2D, I would honestly take either. I know you at Rare know the 360 inside and out by now, so go all out in the graphics department. Breakable and interactive stuff everywhere. Fire, explosion, electricity, etc. Oh, and bring back the combo system, so fun. New characters of course. As a bonus, maybe a throwback level. Killer Instinct, at the time of it coming in both arcades and even Super Nintendo, blew people away by being different and graphically amazing, now is the time to do both again. We are not alone in this way of thinking, look at these many requests:
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Welcome to the second of the new series Games We Want on Xbox Live, where I tried and tried (and tried) to think of a game to bring to XBLA, all I kept thinking of was RC Pro Am, but I believe I expressed my love for that enough before (link), but right behind RC Pro Am, I instantly thought of Super Off Road. I have such fond memories of going to the arcade that was in the local movie theater and being late to a flick cause I wanted to play another round of Off Road.

It was a rare treat to see one of these machines back then, more so now (all I am left with is Crazy Taxi and Time Crisis in most places). Game play for Off Road was simple enough, control with the wheel, win the race, on the way you grab cash upgrade your wheels and win another race.

Now, the true arcade version of Super Off Road was “Ivan Stewart’s Super Off Road” .. I am not sure if he is even alive anymore, but if he is, I bet he wouldn’t mind some pay if they came out with this title having his name on it to keep it true to arcade. Honestly though, that is the last of my worries, as long as the game features four cars that can be played off just one console sharing a screen (ala Bomberman Live) or take the racing online. If possible, crank it up to 8 cars, but I am not sure if that would get too crowded.

Very important part of this all, an XBLA game that can incorporate the 360’s Racing Wheel. You can’t get more arcade perfect than that. Pricing on this game is iffy, I mean, I could see it being fine at 800 points, but 400 would be the sweet spot and guarantee that people would be online with this. Especially the people who already own a racing wheel (a refreshing change of pace from the normal 360 racing game which tends to be just racing simulations).

Something interesting about this becoming a reality or not, is that it has been released on “Midway Arcade Treasures 3″ compilation title, the yet game was not developed or published by Williams, Midway, or Atari Games. Either way, unless it was made by Sony or Nintendo, which it wasn’t, there isn’t a company out there that wouldn’t work with Microsoft.

(This article dedicated to the XBL Radio forum guys)
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Welcome to the first in what will surely become a new series of articles here at X360R, where either PacoDG or myself will highlight a particular game that we want to see show up on Xbox LIVE. Now that we have the mandatory introduction out of the way, let’s get to it.

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