XBox 360 Rally

I ran across a title to an article in the St. Louis Dispatch.

“The Xbox 360 is the worst video game console in the world”

I am a little surprised the author didn’t claim it’s the worst in the galaxy or the universe. I mean, if you are going for drama, why not go big or go home, right? Worst video game console in the world? He’s got to be kidding. So, yes, I read the article.

Unfortunately, the author, the Game Guy aka David Sheets, makes a good case…if he were talking hardware only. Yes, the actual console in terms of hardware can be a piece of sh*t.

How many times has your Xbox 360 died? The Game Guy has had four 360’s, and all of them have died. I almost want to ask him if he is performing “gamicide” on purpose to make his point, but when I think about the first four Xbox 360-owning friends that come to mind, three of them have also experienced the RROD. Add me into that equation and that’s an 80% failure rate. Seems a bit higher than Microsoft’s 3%.

Although the Game Guy has a point about hardware failure, his tone throughout his article is one of pure disdain for the system as a whole. He claims that he plays it not by choice, but “out of necessity” because of his horrible job as a game and gear reviewer.

To the St. Louis Dispatch: I will be more than happy to take the Game Guy’s position. I love all games, and I don’t hold any grudges against any system. I will never complain because you are forcing me to play the Xbox 360. Nor will I write such over-dramatic op-ed pieces.

Back to the Game Guy…In defense of the Xbox 360, Microsoft gladly, no-questions-asked fixed my 360. Sure, I had to wait 2 weeks between packing it up in the supplied box and receiving it back from an commiserating UPS guy, but that’s what I have a PC for. And you know, I could always go outside for a walk or read a book while on my gaming hiatus. It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.

Although I understand the Game Guy’s frustration with the hardware problems with the Xbox 360, I cannot agree with his summation that the Xbox 360 is the worst console in the world. If you consider the ease of playing Live, and the awe-inspiring graphics, as well as the convenience of the Xbox marketplace, as well as the calibre of games designed solely for the Xbox 360, well, “Methinks the lady doth protest too much.”

The Xbox plays hard and it breaks hard. I’ve had much more problems with my damn Dell, and at least when my Xbox did break, I didn’t have to spend five hours on the phone with India trying to explain to them that no, they didn’t fix my motherboard…again.

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Not one of the reviews I read for Bioshock said anything at all about how the undersea world of Rapture is straight out of an unwritten Ayn Rand novel. Does this mean that gamers don’t read American lit?

It’s not like it’s a stretch to see the Rand influence. You notice the literary reference almost immediately, if you know your Rand. Unfortunately, I know Ms. Rand’s rants. As soon as I swam my way to a Great Lighthouse at Alexandria look-a-like after my Pan Am hit crashed into the sea, I came face to face with a large red banner that proclaims “Not Gods or Kings. Only Men.” and a plaque from someone named Ryan going on about how he could not live in a state that won’t allow him to be himself…an unapologetic capitalist.

Ryan…R-Y-A-N = Ayn R. Yeah, subtle.

First things first, BIOSHOCK is amazing to look at. The opening sequence is awe-inspiring. I kept telling my boyfriend to “look-it, look-it” as the bathysphere gave me an unguided tour of Rapture, a city-behind-the-waves (and international law). The city itself is an Art Deco dream. I happen to be a fan of Deco, so BioShock is a total treat for my aesthetic sensitivities. Even as you peer out of the glass windows, the graphics go all watery and change as you move your perspective. The designers and programmers spared no effort to make this game a detail-oriented gamers delight.

And then, as you, er, I mean, Jack enters the city proper, he is lead on missions by a underground resistance leader named Atlas.

Atlas…Like Atlas Shrugged? To be honest, I couldn’t finish Atlas Shrugged. I read The Fountainhead, and got through the Ellsworth Toohey 30-page speech about altruism, and when I ran across the same diatribe in Atlas Shrugged, courtesy of John Galt; well, I just closed up the book and gave it away. Rand is not hard to read as in she discusses difficult issues and uses hard words; no, Rand is difficult to read because there is a lot of repetition and it gets really, really boring.

Besides, she is such a response to perceived socialist agendas during the 40’s, that it comes across as somewhat silly…until you place BioShock’s politics into the present fears of an American return to a quasi-socialistic Big Government. But that is probably more of a coincidence than the creators’ statement on capitalism and how money makes morals.

But I digress…

And now that I am in the third “level” of BioShock, I can say that the game takes its cues from Rand in more ways than one. BioShock can get a little repetitious, too. I can honestly say that I am sick of hacking security “bots”, vending machines, and safes. At first, it was kind of fun, but now I try to get as many auto-hack tools as I can find or build with rubber hoses and random screws.

All in all, I love the plot. I like killing the “splicers” (though I do wish for a little more diversity in these crazed foes) and random other bots and Big Daddy’s. I even like rescuing the little sisters — I haven’t “harvested” one yet. It’s just hard for me to kill a child, even if she carries a giant syringe that she likes to plunge into her victims’ heads.

I am actually playing BioShock on both easy and medium (whatever they call it in the game). So far, easy just means less bad guys and more first aid kits to find. But as your character never really dies in BioShock (you are immediately revived at a near-by “vita-chamber” and everything remains as it was when you “died” including a lack of first aid kits and angry enemies), I think the medium is a better choice for anyone other than a newbie to FPS games.

Much like Dead Space, you are given objectives and maps as to what you are supposed to be doing in Rapture. You also have an option of a “hint” to help you along the way, as an example telling you where certain slicers are located when you have to get some research photos (which reminds me of Dead Rising). I can say that the game is self-contained enough that I have not even bothered to look up a walkthrough or cheats for BioShock. Not that it is that easy (it kinda is, though), but rather that the game makes sense as to how to play it. Unlike say, Tomb Raider: Legend…

And yes, I know that BioShock is a bit old now in terms of release date, but I had to get to it before BioShock 2 comes out later this year.

I love this trailer, because it tells me all evil comes from little girls! He he he.

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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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Dead Space is Event Horizon crossed with Aliens, crossed with Solaris, and then add a little This Old House, and you got yourself a pretty fun 15 hours worth of game. I’m sure others will play this game faster than me, but I tend to let Isaac stand around while I take little snack breaks.

So, you are an engineer that is sent on a repair job, as the USG Ishimura has lost all communications. Why would anyone ever think that something as heinous as what has happened aboard the Ishimura would ever happen, right? So sure, send the engineers rather than the marines. And that is just the first disadvantage that you face as your ship crashes into the Ishimura, stranding you and two others (your captain and the science officer or whatever she is) aboard a ship full of corpses…some of which aren’t truly dead.

Personally, I adore games in which I get to kill copious amounts of zombies. I mean, if I didn’t kill them, they’d kill me and everyone I care about, and they are dead already, so no harm in finding a little joy in their dismemberment. And that is the key to Dead Space. You find out pretty quickly that these “necromorphs” that constantly pop out at you will only go down once you have hacked off enough limbs — or the one magic limb that will do the trick, but as there are usually three or more limbs, good luck figuring out what the magic limb is before the damn thing kills you.

I am not going to give away too much in this review, as I would hate to be the one who spoils a good, though somewhat predictable, storyline. It is a linear time-line, with a ticking clock aspect that adds some excitement. I can tell you that as Isaac, you are mostly wandering around the ship trying to fix certain systems that at first let you know how badly off you are on board the Ishimura, and then offer you the possibility of escape.

Dead Space makes it easy for you to navigate the ship and your objectives. You have a suit, called a rig, that allows you to check out maps of the ship, in addition to a right stick click option that points you in the right direction following a blue line that lights up rather like a GPS unit. It helps to pay attention to the other characters that guide you along the way, as they often give you advice on how to solve certain puzzles by way of repairwork. If you don’t pay attention, like me, you can bring up you rig’s handy view screen to read Isaac’s take on his objectives.

I will admit that I used the cheat codes to recharge my oxygen when outside the ship, scurrying around the broken hull (while paused X,X,Y,Y,Y). I also used the cheat for recharging my stasis (used to freeze things enough to make them move in super slo-mo in order to kill them more easily) and kinesis (which helps move large objects around, as well as pick up useful items to hurl at necromorphs) units (while paused X,Y,Y,X,Y). The use of these cheats is not necessary, as you can purchase or find packs around the ship that will recharge the aforementioned tank and units for you. But you can only carry so many items with you and “stores” where you can either buy or sell items are few and far between, so if I can lighten my load so as to be able to carry more health packs or lucrative items, then yes, I am a cheater.

And that is another thing that I liked about Dead Space. Some games reward you (?) with higher scores if you run around, knocking on every door in order to find stuff. In Dead Space, the more stuff you find, the more stuff you can sell to the store in order to buy “power nodes”, which in turn allow Isaac to upgrade his rig and his weapons. There is a true purpose to enter rooms that have no real bearing on the game — to find booty.

Dead Space ends in a way that is conducive to a sequel, which I will totally be down for, as I really like the sci fi survival horror genre. Also, I like the rather practical way the game plays out. Something is broken, you must fix it, and oh, yeah, there are lots of things that want to rip your head off.

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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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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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