XBox 360 Rally

UK Halo fans, you have my condolences. It appears that all Halo 3 midnight launch plans in the United Kingdom have been scrapped. You see, the people in Westminster (no idea where that is) fear that so many people would show up for the midnight launch, that there would be panic in the streets of London.

Man, that must suck for you guys, not being able to get your Halo fix at midnight. As for me and my fat, stupid, bloated, self-righteous American ass? …yeah, I’ll be at my local GameStop, getting my hands on some Legendary Edition goodness. For those of you in Westminster… you’ll get yours on the 25th.

[CVG]

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I have emailed Hudson with no reply on whether this is pure lulz coming from the Dtoid guys, which though is possible, this is looking to be pretty true so far. A little background, much like sites such as Joystiq or Kotaku, Destructoid was a gaming blog, but with a little twist, they are more community driven and just a lot more fun, all while still keeping up with the video game news. Destructoid is pure indie, there is no AOL or other such “network” of sites backing them up, pure independent media. So for them to get the connections with Hudson, who is a company that would certainly have the fun enough attitude to support an indie web site that had a recognizable character that represents them (Mr Destructoid) into their game, it all does make sense.

If you see their announcement page for this news (Here) you will see the other new character models and levels that will come in the “Bomb Up Pack 2″ later this month. I have yet to get a press release for the pics of the new characters and levels, so I just await an email back from Hudson to at the least take this out of the Mill o Rumor section. No matter what, hats off from myself and JW here at Xbox360Rally.com for making it into one of the best XBLA games made (if its true!)

For now, here is the other updates that we should be seeing in the DLC pack:

* * Ten New Characters – In addition to Destructoid, other new characters include “Bomberella” the cavewoman and “El Bombito” the matador, resulting in countless new ways for players to customize their in-game Bomberman. Other characters include Alien Bomber, Bomb the Fool, Bomberbell, Flower Bomb, Debbie Downer, Bomber X, and Bomb of Doom. Check out the gallery for a first look at the other characters!

* * Two Additional Levels – New arenas include “Medieval Times,” a level in which bombs and sorcery collide and that allows players to select any gimmick they want, and “Full Tilt,” a level set at a racetrack which features speed circles that dictate how fast players move.
* * One New Game Mode – “Bomb Shelters” will allow players to hide from explosions in a small, fireproof building.
* * Two New Leaderboards – Dominate the competition on two new ranking systems on the Xbox LIVE® network. The new leaderboards will track performance on both a weekly and an all-time basis for the speed circle gimmicks on the new “Full Tilt” map.

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Xbox360Achievements has posted the complete list of achievements for the upcoming 2K Sports basketball sim NBA 2K8.There are a total of 50 achievements for 1000 points.

Most of the achievements are your typical basketball affair. Scoring 30 team assists in a single game, or having 15 team blocks will net you 20 points apiece, while achieving a certain “scoring line” (points, rebounds, assists) with a particular superstar will net you 25. (Example: Recording 35 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists will unlock the LeBron James achievement)

One of the more interesting achievements is the “Sprite Slam Dunk”, which you unlock when you win the Sprite Slam Dunk contest with LeBron. What makes this interest is that, to my knowledge, this is the first time I’ve ever seen a sponsor for a Xbox 360 achievement. I’ve heard of them being in games in the past, but I’ve never SEEN one in a game until now. Personally, I think it’s rediculous. I’ve been one who’s been against in-game advertising for a long time, but even those who approve of such advertising have to admit that this is a bit excessive.

UPDATO MAGNIFICO
Ok, I’m an idiot — I completely forgot about Fight Night Round 3. So there’s one.

[Xbox360Achievements]

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A Microsoft spokesperson, in a statement to gamesindustry.biz spokesman said, quote:

While we cannot comment on specific numbers for the US sales of the Legendary SKU, we can confirm that demand remains high and the highly-collectible version of the game is on track to be sold out by the time Halo 3 launches next week.

This isn’t really surprising, especially since it’s already sold out in the UK. Hell, even I have pre-ordered the Halo 3 Legendary Edition. I admit that at first I pre-ordered it simply because I was expecting to be one of the few who were, as my mother put it, “stupid enough to spend $130 on a video game”. However, as the time has passed (I pre-ordered in April), I’ve become very excited about getting my hands on this…

…even if my Xbox isn’t back by then.

[gamesindustry]

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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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Wow. Our exclusive game is looking nice. Released just yesterday, these videos put out show all game play. From start screen to choosing a level they just pressed the power button and started to tape. Separated into two files, here goes the first (if you want to know ahead of time, the second video has a hell of a lot more action, cool weapons powers used):

The second half is below
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Filed under humor, but the person/people who did this, SuBZ3r0, took their time, it is amusing but not wacky in any way. I said enough, watch this video.

(Slow news day, you guys don’t really want to hear every single Halo 3 news blip do you!?! We can bring it if you want! But its time to look in the mirror and know that you have heard enough! Other games are being ignored! Other sites agree! We are all going to buy the game anyways! /rant)
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Well, well, well, another week, another set of new releases for you Xbox fans out there. This week, with but a week before a release week that will be dominated by a particular Spartan fellow who I will not mention by name *coughJOHNcough*, we have a few games that will surely hold your attention for a week.

• Blazing Angels 2: Secret Missions of WWII
• Eternal Sonata
• Warriors Orochi
• Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights

• Now, I know that Eternal Sonata is one of those games that RPG fans are psyched for, and I get that. Also, Blazing Angels 2 seems like a perfect sequel for fans of the original.

  However, if you buy Juiced 2, you’re part of the problem.

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You know, last week I didn’t do t3h w31rd, and then this week… not too much happened. So I may be scraping the bottom of the barrel, but I did what I could. So, without further adieu, I present to you “t3h w31rd”…

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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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A nice deal of the day on this fine Saturday, for twenty bucks you can get yourself a shiney brand new copy of WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2007 on the 360. Metacritic gives the game a solid 81, with the first six reviews on the page giving the game a full 90. There is a demo on the Live Marketplace, and sadly, if you are into wrestling as much as my cousin is, you might buy the game based on the wrestler intro’s alone (I can’t lie, they were well done)

Click here and get your copy before they sell out (ie like with the Prey $11.99 deal)

Though a complete rip off of that World of Warcraft diet guy (link), the concept of Gamercize is that you have to keep working out (like on one of those walk/run in place type machines) and that will keep your controller on. The way I think it worked with the Warcraft guy was that the exercise becomes a second thought, as you are concentrating on the video game.

Some information directly from their site:
“Gamercize interacts with your game console’s controller stopping it working when you are not exercising and letting you play normally when you are exercising.

Gamercize does not limit gameplay by physical skill or ability, and does not make games harder to control. You choose the exercise level for maximum enjoyment of the game and greatest fitness benefit for you.

Gamercize can work with any type of exercise machine but cycle and stepper are the best choice, as these machines leave your hands free to operate the controller.”

Honestly, this isn’t a bad idea at all, sort of takes the Nintendo’s Wii Fit game idea and expands it to let you play any game, but there is a sad part to all this, the people who make this have the worst marketing team ever. Do yourself a favor and hit up Gamercize.net, where you too can find out that “Gamercize is 6 times more popular than exercise alone.” (I would like to see the scientific studies to back up such a claim of grandeur). Be prepared, the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions are coming soon!
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Much like the other recent “meet one of our characters” videos that are coming out as of late (Jericho, Mass Effect), another video is here, but this time for a maybe not so known game, Dark Sector. Check the video, then read below to get some information on this game which by the looks of the video, seems to have a feel like “The Darkness” .. in a good way:

Look for it on shelves Jan 22nd 2008. Some of the devs are co-creators from the original Epic Games’ Unreal. The game features no HUD, very cool, you will see how much damage is being done to you based on just physically looking at your character. 3rd person perspective. Powers that evolve as you play through the game. Multiplayer they literally said, ‘Details to be revealed at a later date.” .. so at least it is going to be there. With so many titles on a daily basis I deal with news on, this is one that I am looking forward to seeing how it progresses.
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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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Here is the first entry in a series of character spotlights revolving around the upcoming BioWare opus Mass Effect. The characters featured in pt. 1 include:

• Jeff “Joker” Moreau
• Urdnot Wrex
• David Anderson - Keith David owns your life
• Tali’zorah Nar Rayya
• Nihlus

• As though I needed yet another reason to get excited — we can’t show the HD video here, but if you WATCH it, you can see just beautiful this game is looking. Holy God.

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