DS Ad Featuring Hot Japanese Lady

Yes, I know this is a strictly Xbox 360 blog (for now), so sue me for posting this Nintendo DS commercial. Nintendo's latest portable game platform is of course the current reigning champ of the console sales chart, worldwide. It's the World of Warcraft of gaming consoles, if you will. No one can touch them. And the advantage the DS has over WoW is, you probably won't need to tote a poopsock with you to play it.

Every time I think that I'm not very attracted to Japanese women, something like this comes around to test my faith. The fetching lady in this commercial is billed as,
Matushima Nanako Motto, a noteworthy TV personality/actor from the land of the rising sun. They really could have done away with the fast food restaurant scenario and just had 3 minutes of this girl saying, "THANK YUUUUUUUUUUUUUU". I would be good to go.

It wouldn't compel me to buy a DS, but I'd be good to go nonetheless.

TGIF people! I'll be returning to the regular Xbox programming very shortly.

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But Wait, There's More! GTA 4 Trailer

I would be remiss to not post about the GTA 4 trailer. Need I say more?


For those of you who prefer to download a copy to cuddle up to at night, check out Fileshack

Although it's only a montage of the city environment, I'll admit this trailer has me psyched up all over again for the GTA franchise. At first I thought I was looking at Liberty City, until familiar landmarks like the Statue of Liberty popped up. Ah, the Big Apple... and here I was thinking they'd do a near-future Tokyo or simply a near-future AnyCity.

The graphical detail is wonderous and lush. I'm all set to see some game play footage now!

Source: Destructoid, YouTube

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Cheap Game Patrol: Splinter Cell Double Agent

Heero (yes he's still somewhat associated with PMB) tipped me off to this bargain at Best Buy.

Thirty bucks for a recent quality game is a hard deal to pass up. Although I sort of made a silent vow to not buy any more Tom Clancy titles until they, oh I don't know, make a sequel to Rainbow Six: Vegas and actually finish the damn story and include an ending sequence that doesn't suck ass.

Anyway, the service is non-existent at my local Best Buy and I rarely have a reason to go there. It's still very likely I will swing by after work today and grab me the latest chapter in the Sam Fisher saga.

No other news to report today: it's been kinda slow. On the home front, PMB will be getting a little make-over next week, so prepare yourself for some sexy new blog graphics.

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Mass Effect, Effective June 5th

Forget the new SKU and Jetpac, I have the news that matters. As already hinted at in the post title, the guys at YouNEWB got wind of Bioware's next major RPG release via the French gaming site, PlayerOne.

The US release date has been set for June 5th, 2007 with the European shipping set for June 22nd. The US will get the usual choice between a metal-encased Collector's Edition along with a no-frills standard box. If that wasn't clear enough for you, read it straight from the horse's mouth:

Microsoft vient d’annoncer la date de sortie précise de son jeu Mass Effect sur Xbox 360. Le nouveau RPG des studios Bioware débarquera finalement le 5 juin prochain aux Etats-Unis et le 22 du même mois en Europe, confirmant ainsi les dernières rumeurs en date. Le géant américain proposera deux versions, dont une collector avec un boîtier métallique, un DVD making of et un artbook pour 5 euros supplémentaires.

Got that? Good.

It's about time those slackers at Bioware gave up a firm release date for their baby. This, plus the June release of Shadowrun means we are in for a hot, hot summer of sci-fi action and adventure.

Thanks Xbox developers. Way to deliver the goods yet create a conflict of interest for me: hole up indoors to game or spend time outside and oggle bare ass at the beach? Life choices do not come any tougher, kids...

Source: YouNEWB via PlayerOne

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News Overload

There has been a lot of activity in the Xbox world in the last few days. Juggling between surfing the various gaming sites and doing actual work in the office, I definitely felt a little overwhelmed. This was evident yesterday when I published Part 2 of my PC gaming missive in clear defiance of any of this "timely news" hoo-hah.

My eyes are feeling jacked today and my typing fingers are lazy, so I'll do my best bullet-point summary of our last couple days in Xbox Land. More after the jump.

You may have noticed a few "events" go down from Monday up to today:

• Yesterday Microsoft finally announces the release of the Xbox 360 Elite SKU on April 29th, 2007, putting to rest skeptical April Fools theories and ensuring comment-choked blogs the world over (except for mine *sniff*). Aside: I'm still not buying it


• Xbox Live went down for maintenance for quite a long time. Rumours started to fly about wonderous new features to be implemented and an impending Halo 3 beta release. All I know is that I was at work the whole time Live was out and I was able to get my Rainbow Six: Vegas fix the moment I got home.


• Jetpac Refuelled graces XBLA today. Frankly, I'm still recovering from the triple-whammy of Worms HD, TMNT and Castlevania: SOTN. Now... give me my Double Dragon or give me death! (I think I bastardized a famous quote correctly there...)

This Xbox 360 Elite business is on everyone's lips right now so you can bet I'll be revisiting the topic once I've gotten my wits about me.

Hope you are all having a marvelous hump day. Until next time!

Source: Just every damn gaming blog in the universe...

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Teasey Hints of Crackdown DLC

There was a community Q&A published today at Eurogamer where Realtime World producers, Phil Wilson and Billy Thomson field fan questions about everything from their design philosophy and hints of possible new game modes to be included in the upcoming DLC release.

Hit the jump for s'more juicy tidbits.

Wilson and Thomson both seem like pretty nice fellas and were quite candid in their answers. Chief among the teasers related the upcoming Crackdown DLC was the much-requested "boss reset" feature, which Phil Wilson admitted was an embarrassing omission in the retail game. Also mentioned was the possibility of expanded co-op (more than 2 players) and competitive co-op game modes.

So far so good. The questions brought forth by Eurogamer's forum community were great and quite representative of the belly-aching feedback I've seen resurfacing on the official forums since Crackdown's release last month.

I was in lust with Crackdown for 3 solid weeks after its release but haven't touched it much since whacking off Wang (sorry, had to do it). These flirty DLC announcements from RTW makes me excited to return to Pacific City for another 10-15 hours of raucous, open-world mayhem.

Source: Eurogamer, by way of Xbox 360 Fanboy

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PC Gaming Dies Again: Part 2

Last week I put on my pink Pundit Cap (I have a yellow one too!)and discussed the current state (and possible future of) PC gaming. I concluded that the PC games industry will remain the resilient industry that it is, supported by innovative studios, indie developers, a dedicated hardcore audience and a growing mainstream market. The PC has fallen on rough times before but it has always remained the stalwart gaming platform for savvy gamer.

In terms of revenue potential and exposure, however, I'm afraid the consoles still have the upper hand on personal computers. As always, I have a little anecdote that (hopefully) illustrates this reality. Hit the jump for the full goods!

I have been a staunch supporter of PC gaming for years, reveling in the broad variety and innovation that seemed to thrive in the industry during the '80s and '90s. Ironically, I have never owned a cutting-edge gaming rig, always lagging behind the curve by a good two or three years. Despite my hardware deficiencies, there was never a shortage of worthy games to play. When a system-crunching blockbuster came knocking on my door, I only needed a minor upgrade and a few config file tweaks to get up to speed on the latest & greatest.

I'm older now with a lot more money to back my gaming habits, yet on the flip side, I have less time and less patience to deal with all the fringe activities related to PC gaming. Things like installing patches, upgrading hardware and optimizing performance settings are all things that I used to endure as my means to enjoying the best in electronic entertainment. Back in college, I didn't mind troubleshooting my Voodoo video cards or installing a new set of RAM into my aging rig. Nowadays, I can't be bothered. I'm always working out the time/effort ratio of fussing over my PC just so I can play a new game. These days, I just want to plug and play.

I was at an impasse prior to buying my Xbox 360. My current PC was still capable of playing recent titles but it was fast becoming a dinosaur in the face of quad-core processors and physics-processing cards. I knew I could throw wad of cash into upgrades or even a wholesale system replacement but the sensible part of my brain resisted.

"Whoa there, Mac. The computer you have now does everything you really need it to do. You can do your design work, surf the web, get your e-mail and download your pr0n. And now you're considering dropping more than a grand on upgrades just to play the newest games for the next year?"

Ten years ago, that sensible part of my brain would be have smacked down by my gamer's passion. Today, I admit defeat and take the path of least resistance.

In the end, I just want to sit down and get lost inside a great game. Each successive generation of game consoles have brought them closer and closer to the sophistication of PCs, yet still maintaining that ease of use that appeals to not only the "mainstream", but lazy old dogs like me.

Eventually, I will upgrade my PC to keep pace with the next phase of game releases. After all, I will need to play Spore the moment it hits store shelves, whenever the hell that may be. For now, I feel like I've picked a winning horse in the Xbox 360 and plan to use it as my main gaming system for a long time to come.

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Xbox 360 Elite... Oh Is It??

As I'm sure you are aware, the gaming community was a'buzz last week following non-official confirmation of a 3rd SKU for the 360, dubbed the Xbox 360 Elite. Aside from being black and actually color-coordinating with the rest of your high-end home theater posse, this new, limited-run model features a 120 gigabyte hard drive and native HDMI support. Suggested retail price? 479 clams.

How does this new "1337" Box affect us as gamers? Hit that jump, fella, and read on.

The Elite could interest me less, as I only bought my Premium package last December and haven't a HDTV to care at all for HDMI. The larger hard drive is great. Naturally, who would be against having more storage space? For an extra $79, newcomers to the Xbox 360 family are getting a very sweet deal. We suckers who only have the old 20 gigger have the option of purchasing the larger drive for a "mere" $200 (or $199.99, most likely).

From a games standpoint, the 120GB drive is terribly unexciting. Unless you're heavily into the Video Marketplace or simply have to download every new demo upon release, the drive should do little to change your Xbox-ing experience. It's a matter of practicality, really. First off, we still do not have any way of copying our legitimately purchased games onto our 360 hard drives. We can't "install" any full retail games and are stuck with the old fashioned disc swapping methods of yore. So last gen, if you ask me. It drives me crazy to have to pop in my copy of Xbox Live Arcade Unplugged every time I want to play Geometry Wars. My 360 knows I have it, I've logged achievements for it, so why can't I download a 2nd copy for free and shelve that Unplugged disc for good? So this new 120GB drive, luxuriously spacious compared to the old 20GB one, is really going to be glorified storage for more Live Arcade titles and over-priced gamertag pictures.

Secondly, the adoption of the new hard drive by existing 360 Premium owners means there has to be a method of transferring all those valuable save games and software patches. There is supposedly a special cable included with the 120GB drive for just that purpose. That's fortunate, because this whole process is already getting too complicated for a simple, plug n' play game console. Like it or not, we are veering dangerously close into "PC tinkering" territory. Which brings me to my next point...

The announcement of the new, larger hard drive only highlights just how puny the 20GB drive is. Consumers and critics alike are very right to question why a larger hard drive wasn't bundled with the Premium package in the first place. I mean, when I brought home my virgin 360 back in December, I had only 10GB to spare due to all the demos and useless video trailers that were preloaded onto the drive. After clearing out the junk, I just barely cracked 12GB of free space. Appalling, really. You mean to tell me the Xbox 360 firmware and GUI takes up 8GB of disk space?

But you know what, even after downloading several demos, trailers, arcade games and creating many saved game files, I'm far from feeling any kind of pinch. So if I'm into games and games only, that sexy new hard drive is "nice to have" but hardly crucial.

If you're fallen in love with your 360 as a media center, however, then we have a slightly different story. The Video Marketplace, at least in the USA, is rapidly growing. Downloading a single high-definition movie would set you back a few gigabytes of storage space. So yes, that new hard drive does have a valid reason for being. For myself, however, I still don't plan to bite, what with the many other, ahem, "channels" that are available for securing video content. Hey, you didn't hear it from me...

Source: Engadget

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A Night at the Arcade: Contra

Had my gaming bud over tonight and he peer pressured me into buying Contra on the Marketplace. Actually, I was perfectly content with leaving that game in my happy nostalgia place and going back to playing Heavy Weapon. Then my friend flashed some cash in my face and before you knew it, we were firing up the Contra.

Can I just say this? WOW.

Just, wow. Now I know why everyone was up in arms when this was first released. Simply, wow.

Even though my friend paid for it, I felt ripped off.

Try before you buy, peeps. Try before you buy...

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Perfect Dark Zero: How to Make a Good FPS

I'm baaaaaack... My arms are feeling much better, thank you for asking. Umm... good posture FTW!!!1

My 360 talks about me, and if she was perfectly candid, she would have reported something like:

Maclintok wasted a couple of hours last week playing Perfect Dark Zero. Has my owner gone completely mad? What the Dickens was he thinking?? Does he enjoy reveling in mediocrity? I'm going to give him the Ring of Death. That'll learn'im...

Imagine that, my 360Voice shaming me for not only failing to spend time on my Xbox, but also for playing lousy games.

OK, to be fair, PDZ is not a total failure. The game, with its litany of wasted potential and basic crimes against design, simply highlights the foundations of what makes a good first-person shooter. I speak on this not as any sort of authority of course. I am merely a gaming vet who has followed the 3D shooter genre since its inception, beginning with decidedly non-3D classics like Wolfenstein 3D and D00M, all the way up to modern-day titles like Half-Life, Halo and Rainbow Six: Vegas. So while I don't claim to be an expert on shooters, for the sake of this article, I am. Fair? Fair.

Here now, are some helpful pointers for you budding (and experienced) game designers who want to create an FPS that doesn't suck:

• Feeling, feeling, feeling: Much like the rule of thumb for opening a retail business is location, location, location, the feel of a shooter is often times the critical factor that separates the men from the boys. Your FPS has got to feel right. This is mainly the tactile component of the user interface but it also includes the little things like the HUD layout, weapon animations, weapons sounds and the sound of your avatar's footfalls. Every little thing counts and can make or break the experience. Since Perfect Dark Zero is my whipping boy today, I'll prop it up as an object lesson. This game gets the feeling all wrong. The viewing angle feels too close and claustrophobic (also an issue with level design); the diving and cover controls are atrocious; the crosshair is ugly and difficult to aim; Joanna Dark feels like she's gliding instead of running; even the footfall sound effects are erratic and unconvincing.
  
  
• Don't have your FPS be a Jack-of-all-Trades, unless you're Warren Spector: There's a reason why most games are either purely stealth based, tactics-based or all-out action. Having a singular style of gameplay gives your game focus and is much easier to do than mixing and matching opposing design elements. PDZ tries to incorporate stealth and "espionage" play mechanics into what is essentially a linear shooter and it is all done quite poorly. After playing games like Thief and Splinter Cell, there is no excuse for anyone to endure half-baked stealth gameplay. Nice try, Rare, but no cigar. Actually, bad try, and no cigar.
  
  
• Story isn't everything, but it still matters: Let's be perfectly honest here and state for the record that most FPS storylines are utter crap. It's commendable when developers layer on intricate background mythology or complicated plotlines for their games, but all they really need is a pretense/justification to wander around a industrial-military setting and shoot aliens in the face. I think so long as the writers can keep the story simple and create characters you can relate to in some way, that's enough to propel the player forward and get them involved in your game world. Shall we beat up on Perfect Dark Zero again? Sounds good to me. The PDZ "story" is nonsensical garbage, made worse by sub-par voice acting and budget-looking cutscenes. As a player who needs to feel involved on a basic emotional level to stay interested in an entire solo campaign, everything in PDZ is skippable. Voice briefings? Don't care. Dramatic cutscenes featuring stiff animations and shoe-string voice talent? Get it over with already.
  
  Game stories have a long way to go before they are even considered fit to sit in the "young adults" shelf in the booksktore. Great games like the recent Tom Clancy titles have shoddy, cliche-ridden storylines as well but at least they compensate with fantastic game play. There's just enough plot to keep me going and it doesn't ever get in the way of the flow of the game.

FPS's are easily my favourite genres of video games. I could go on & on about the ingredients that make an addictive shooter. And I probably will. But I don't feel like stomping on Perfect Dark Zero anymore today. Hell, I bought this game and I still want to get through the game and enjoy it. It's just that every time I play it, it reminds me how important it is to not screw up the fundamental principles of FPS design.

Have a good weekend everybody! Hug your Xbox.

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Postage Break

Some bad news for my loyal readers (yes, all 10 of you): my typing hands are currently suffering some minor tweakage, so I'm going to take a slight breather from blogging for a few days. See, that's what you get when you work a full-time computer job, game non-stop and spend even more time at the keyboard when at home.

This shall pass, as it always has in the past. I just need to give my overworked mitts a little R&R!

I'll be back by the weekend to wax philosophical on all things Xbox 360 gaming related. Until then, check on over to Mostly Harmless, where Taylor delves into the darker side of in-game advertisements.

Wishing you all a good gaming week. Later!

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Castlevania: Symphony of the Night This Wednesday!

In a pique of irony that I couldn't resist indulging in, I'm announcing the release of the much-anticipated PS1 Castlevania to XBLA, just two days ahead of time, after griping last week about Microsoft's unbecoming habit of doing the same, when in fact they actually had the wherewithal to announce the game just a day after TMNT dropped.

And if that wasn't one ugly run-on sentence, I don't know what is.

So take that, MS! IIIIIII'll be the one giving the 2-day heads up on new XBLA releases from now on!

I'm looking forward to this game. Never played it and I think the graphics look rather junky, but I was a huge fan of the old Castlevania's 1 through 3 on the NES.

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PC Gaming Dies Again: Part 1

Are the days of gaming on the PC numbered? That's the perennial question put forth by Jimzzor on the You NEWB blog.

This is a huge, complex subject rife with fanboy bias, armchair speculation and gross exaggerations. I'd like to tackle it from a broader perspective of the overall games industry before commenting on it from a more personal standpoint. Come, let's peer into our smudged crystal ball...

Remember that awful buzzword, convergence? Yeah, I cringed a little too. Buzzwords can die a slow, painful death for all I care, but this one applies to the current state of game consoles versus PCs more than ever. With each successive generation of consoles, the technological divide between them and your typical gaming PC narrows. Microsoft is spearheading their Games for Windows program to close the gap even further offering, among other things, the promise of cross-platform play experience between computer and console gamers.

So what lies ahead for PC gaming? Will the platform eventually be absorbed into the console world or maybe vice-versa? Games for Windows appears to be Microsoft's best attempt to bring console-like features to the PC games experience: ease of use, plug & play, standardized packaging and... Windows LIVE. Whether PC users will warm up to these new initiatives is still up in the air, but the outcome will have profound effects on the evolution of the games industry.

As development costs for B- or even C-list titles continue to climb, more developers are looking to release their product on multiple platforms to ensure profits for their years of hard work. And while piracy is a problem for all forms of electronic media, nowhere is it more rampant than on the "open-system" PC. How do publishers and game studios recoup the costs on their multi-million dollar titles? MMO juggernaught, World of Warcraft has established the model for a successful online game, never mind single-handedly propping up the PC as a viable gaming platform. But surely not even this game, 8 million subscribers strong, can keep PC gaming alive through the next generation and beyond. What will it take to ensure survival?

Survival is a non-issue. The way I see it, computer games have long been the domain of the hardcore and a breeding ground for the newest innovations. Developers with innovative, ground-breaking ideas thrive in the PC market, a market that is bereft of prohibitive licensing fees and a comparatively mainstream mindset on what constitutes a successful, profitable game. Although programs like XNA and Live Arcade are bringing that "indie" spirit to the console stage, it's still a far cry from the unregulated world of modders, open-source applications and bleeding-edge hardware you can only get with the PCs. THIS is what always has and will continue to set the PC apart from its console brethren. It's the grassroots, DIY-spirit of computers that will always keep them around as a perfectly valid option to gamers. Not to mention that small, yet passionate set of consumer who will always demand the best hardware to drive the latest technological marvels. Crysis anyone?

Hey, it can't just be the "1337" hardcore gamers sticking with the PC. I mean, look around you. Look at your friends. Your buddy, he just waited in line at an obscenely early hour this morning to snag a Wii, yet he still compulsively logs on to WoW to level up his second Blood Elf. Your other friend, he still plays hours of Battlefield 2 and Counter-strike (Source version... blasphemous!), but every so often he'll fire up his 360 to pull off crazy car stunts in Crackdown. To them and to a growing segment of the gaming-buying population, the issue of console and PC games is not an either-or proposition.

The question of whether PC gaming is dead or alive is practically the wrong question to begin with. Gaming continues to move into the mainstream and the average consumer is getting more savvy and accepting of games, regardless of platform. Unless the PC goes the way of the dodo bird for its myriad of other uses like, accounting, design, commerce, Internet, word processing, etc. etc., people are unlikely to stop using it to just goof off.

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TMNT Half-Shell Lag Fest

Heero and I reunited last night for a long overdue gaming session. We decided to put the "new" TMNT Xbox Live Arcade game through its paces. I had been holding off on unlocking the full game until I had a chance to do some co-op. Based on the initial demo level, I could tell nostalgia alone was not going to make me fall in love with this game all over again. Still at only 400 points and the promise of solid, old-fashioned co-op turtle goodness, I knew I could still get some enjoyment out of this dated game.

Let me start and end this by saying a review of TMNT is impossible due to the ludicrous lag we experienced during our session. How much lag you ask? How about getting an intrusive "WAITING" icon plastered across the screen every, oh, 3-5 seconds. There were already reports of bad lag but I did not expect such a poor performance, considering that our in-game latency bars were both showing as green and healthy. Bollocks, as they say.

When a "technically intensive" game like Crackdown can run silky smooth in co-op, I don't quite understand how an 8-bit, 2D side-scrolling beat'em up from 1989 can't run without acting like a stuttering slideshow. This is likely some sloppy netcode combined with Xbox Live issues and clearly, some kind of patching will be required. The lag in TMNT is laughable.

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Ten Classic Beat'em Ups Honoured

Destructoid linked to a great video on GameTrailers today which lists the Top 10 Beat'em Ups of all time.

As with any "definitive" list, there are omissions galore as well as questionable choices with the ranking order and the actual games included in this esteemed list of classics.

• Double Dragon for the NES was honoured, but not the arcade version? As I remember it, the NES version had inferior graphics and took unnecessary liberties with the level design found in the coin-op game.
• Battletoads?? Get that game outta there. While it was pretty snazzy for its time, it was also way too gimmicky and challenging for its own good. The void left by Battletoads could be filled by any number of worthy classics (props to the Destructoid commentors for some of these fond remembrances): Bad Dudes, Vendetta, Alien vs. Predator, Growl, Combatribes, Maximum Carnage, The Avengers and the Ninja Gaiden arcade version.
• The SNES sequels to Double Dragon should not be overlooked. DD2 featured some great graphics while DD3 introduced some awesome new levels. And lets not forget Super Double Dragon, an SNES "exclusive" that brought back the joys of tossing enemies down strategically placed pits. Excellent co-op play on all 3 games.
  
• Growl sticks out in my mind as a very fun but overlooked beat'em up. It was all about teaching evil animal poachers a lesson. Fighting with weapons was cool in this game, especially so because you were able to pick up rocket launchers as well as beat enemies down with a stick even as they were down on all fours, begging for mercy.
• Guardian Heroes for the Sega Saturn made the list.... and by god this game looks sweet. Who wants to start a petition to get this title on XBLA?
  

What did you think of this list? What other games did they overlook?

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Live Worms: The Duel

I was pretty bagged last night but I still "forced" myself to play a round of Live Arcade games, including the very recent Worms HD. I was feeling pretty good about my worming skills and decided to hop onto Live for my first match against some strangers.

I stumbled into a 1-on-1 match. My opponent: Snoopaloop1981. My mission: Kick some worm booty. We said our hellos and my host fired up the randomly generated map. It was a simple layout... relatively flat, rolling terrain and with very few nooks and crannies in which to hide.

I was selected to start things off and surprised myself with an impressively accurate grenade lob. Unfortunately, that would be my last pretty shot for a long time. It became readily apparent that my opponent was a lot more versed in the ways of the worm soldier. Right off the bat, he showed me just how cool and effective the Ninja Rope is, swinging his worm into combat range and dropping off an explosive payload that eliminated the first of my worms from the match. Ninja Rope = Awesome. Duly noted...

As it happens, I was obviously outmatched but the game was not up. That's the charming (and maddening) thing about Worms HD: the tide of battle can change when you least expect it and no matter how dominant you think you are in a match, it can all go to hell at a moment's notice. I held my own against Snoopaloop1981 for several rounds, dreadfully waiting for my inevitable defeat. Then it happened. I suspect my foe got his X and A buttons crossed (see my previous post) and detonated one of his worms into oblivion. Lucky break, I thought, lucky break.

I kept fighting, scoring a couple more decent shots, but still unable to do enough damage to any one worm to take it out of the battle. My luck had definitely run out, or so I thought. Again, the worm gods smiled upon me as my opponent botched a Cluster Bomb attack, dropping the package at his own worm's doorstep and doing himself grave damage.

I made some pretty embarrassing boo-boo's myself. Near the end, too nervous to use the Ninja Rope to Tarzan-swing my way cross the map, I ran out my Jetpack fuel and went crashing to the ground, forfeiting my attack and doing myself unnecessary damage. Another time, I missed a plum point-blank range Bazooka shot.

The match was almost over and Snoopaloop1981 had me dead to rights. Outnumbered 2 worms to 1, I braced myself for the coup de gras. Snoopaloop1981 pulled out his Ninja Rope once again and attempted a very ambitious move. With his supply of dynamite and mines exhausted, he tried blasting me with his Bazooka while still swinging by his rope. That's what it looked like to me, as it happened all too quickly. One moment he was up in the air above my worm, the next moment his worm was dropping to ground, past me and towards his other remaining worm. An explosion erupted between them and both his worms toppled into the newly formed crater. I watched in amazement as his worms did their sayonara self-destruct animations. Victory was mine!

I have to give big credit to Snoopaloop1981 for being a good sport. He must have shot himself in the foot about 4 times during the match and he still kept his cool. He also introduced me to the wonders of the Ninja Rope, which you can be sure I will be using in lieu of the Jetpack and Teleporter for many more situations.

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A Night at the Arcade: Worms HD

This is one fun game, made even better with multiplayer support locally and over Live. It's also got a deceptively steep learning curve thanks in no small part to the control scheme. Maybe I've been playing too many shooters on my Xbox, but moving the fire weapon command from the right trigger to the A button took some getting used to. Having the X button bound to the jump command was also tricky. Paired with the somewhat delicate jumping mechanism in Worms and I experienced many a frustrating game during the last week.

How many times have I blown my worm into oblivion because I fired a bazooka rocket instead of jumping or over-zealously tapped the X button and back flipped off the edge of a cliff? Truthfully, not that often, but enough to get me started with the cussing at the TV.

Once I got my X's and A's straight, it's been more of that learning curve as I struggle with aiming those grenade tosses and bazooka attacks. Right now I'd be lucky to hit the broadside of a barn if I'm beyond medium range and lack a straight line of sight. So much for the cute graphics and voice SFX; this game is hard to master, or even attain a modicum of competency in. I'm just trying to hone my chops in Quick Match and the Challenge campaign so I can enjoy a game over Live one of these days.

Well, I can't say the variety in this game has kept me glued to it for very long. I can understand the gripes people have been having about how Team 17 could have taken advantage of the new 150mb Live Arcade size limit. There aren't many game modes, maps, backgrounds and sound effects to keep things lively and interesting. Worms HD is a fantastic party game. Getting a sheep bomb from a friend stings less than getting pwned by the "Beginner" worm opponents.

But I protest too much. It's a fun enough diversion and I've been dividing my time between it and Soul Calibur 2. There's nothing quite like a one-on-one fighting game to reawaken the button mashing reflexes finger dexterity.

Plus Ivy is one sexy bitch.

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Classic TMNT Hitting XBL Wednesday

In another rather short-notice announcement, the news got around this morning that the classic coin-op arcade game, TMNT, is hitting the Live Marketplace in two days. For just a paltry sum of 400 MS points, you can relive your misspent youth shoving quarters into this addictive 4-player beat'em up.

I think this is a nice treat, to have TMNT come out on the heels of 2 other quality XBLA releases. What's really surprising though is that it feels like it was just last week when the news that TMNT was even planned for Live Arcade. Those cheeky monkeys at Microsoft and Ubisoft must have had this baby on the cooker well in advance of any announcements.

A pleasant surprise it is, but I still wish there was a more of a warning. Something like a release calendar would be a great thing to have, to actually know what games are coming out when. Right now it seems a bit too arbitrary, finding out the week's Live Arcade release just two days prior.

Damn, and here I was about to plunk down some points Assault Heroes. Hmm, what to get, what to get?

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Sacred 2 Introduced at GDC 2007

At lot of happenings during the Game Developers Conference last week. The only item you'll hear about at PMB is the announcement for Sacred 2 for the PC and Xbox 360.

There's a juicy preview of the game at Team Xbox. Any fan of hack & slash RPGs in the mold of Diablo should be excited for this game. I played the original Sacred on the PC back in 2004. Even though it had appealing graphics, a gigantic world, loads of loot to grab and five interesting player-characters to use, the game was extremely rough around the edges. Bugs, moronic side quests, a crap storyline and boring combat were just a few annoyances that kept Sacred from becoming the addictive click-fest that the Diablo series is famous for. Despite being incredibly easy, I never found the motivation to stick it through till the end.

Now the sequel looks like more of the same but I pray that the German developer Ascaraon has learned a few lessons and listened to their fans. Sacred 2 is sporting some lush graphics and looks to be reshuffling the character types (with the exception of the Seraphim and Gladiator classes). I just hope they make the combat more exciting, revise their level advancement/skill tree system and create a world that feels more alive than it did in the original.

The best news about Sacred 2 is the inclusion of 4-player drop-in anytime co-op over Live. From what I've read in the TXB preview, the game barely qualifies as having a solo mode since drop-in co-op is going to be so seamless and, as was the case with the original, the entire campaign can be played through in multiplayer.

All in all, I'm very pleased to know this lesser known title is scheduled to hit our Boxes. Will this be the first hack & slash RPG to hit the Xbox 360? Special!

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Weekend Playtime: Casual Gameage

Hoy, hoy, the weekend is upon us. What's everyone going to play this weekend?

I don't foresee much gaming for myself in the next couple days. I might sneak in some more Worms tonight but I also have to make some time to watch last night's episode of Survivor: Fiji and, well, get my wobbly ass to the gym for once. And tomorrow, I'm checking out 300 on the BIG screen, IMAX-style! If you don't know what 300 is, consider yourself chronically out of touch. Go away, you're not cool.

I kid, I kid... I am just so psyched to see this film. IGN posted an orgasmic 5-star review of it several weeks ago but I'm trying not to let their hyperbole boost up my expectations too high.

Hmm, otherwise, nothing much else this weekend except more chores at the homestead and also at my parent's place. I suddenly have a hankering to play Geometry Wars again. Maybe it's because of all the fun I've been having with Heavy Weapon lately I think I have a shot at getting a decent score in Geometry. Maybe I'll try for that Pacifism Achievement...

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What Kind of a Badass Was I This Week?

This week I continued my work as an over-sexed, over-powered Agent of justice. Suffering from obsessive-compulsive hallucinations of glowing orbs, I have at once reinforced law and order in Pacific City and blazed a path of wanton destruction through its streets.

I was also the commander of an atomic tank, standing against impossible odds on a 2D landscape all in the name of freedom. Take that, Red menace!

Finally, I became a squad of 4 cuddly, yet terribly violent and well-armed worms. I came, I saw, I had the gale force winds blow my homing missile back into my face.

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Star Wars: Technology Unleashed

There's an extensive, 3-page feature posted on IGN today which talks about the new technology being developed for use in the next major LucasArts Star Wars game, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.

The 2 technologies in question are "Digital Molecular Matter" (DMM) and "euphoria". The article goes quite in-depth with how this new tech is being applied to the game play and from all accounts, it all sounds VERY "next-gen". DMM, in a nutshell, is the engine that allows the dev team to render in-game objects down to a molecular level. If you checked out the splintering wood demonstration from last month, you have a rough idea on what that entails. Euphoria is AI-related and governs how NPCs will react to their environment: they will shift their stance if the ground becomes unsettled, hang on to ledges if the fall off a ledge and push or circumvent obstacles in their path depending on the situation. This is all dynamice, unscripted behaviour.

Both DMM and euphoria sound amazing and have the potential to open up the play experience in so many new ways. Imagine combining these technologies with other systems, like fully destructible environments and other advanced AI routines and you could have a product that, if nothing else, simulates "movie realism" on an unprecedented level. The IGN writer is quick to point out that despite the impressive showcase of DMM seen in the preview builds of some Force Unleashed levels, there will probably be arbitrary boundaries enforced onto the level design. A metallic wall may dent realistically when you hurl a stormtrooper against it, but you shouldn't expect to slice a hole through said wall with your lightsaber and make a shortcut for yourself.

The preview touches on features pertaining to the game's storyline, with a quick roll call of potential characters and a rundown of a rather paltry list of Force skills (only 4) available to your Dark Jedi protagonist. Not much was reported on the control mechanism for lightsaber combat but I'm keeping my fingers crossed it is refined enough so we're not stuck with random button-mashing.

All in all, I am still very excited about this title, fancy tech or not. I've always been a fan of the Jedi Knight series, so if even half of the goodness of those old games, they'll have me as a potential buyer.

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Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Adv... GRAW 2 Released

The first major game release for the month of March. Anyone getting it?

GRAW is still sitting on my shelf, wimpering, waiting for me to finish the solo campaign. Once I get around to that, I'll see if I still got an itch for advanced warfighting. My interest in military shooters has subsided a little, so GRAW 2 may at least see a rental in the near future.

For those who do snap this up, would love to hear your thoughts on the game!

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Crackdown Glitch Compilation

I like to think I am pretty hardcore with the gaming. But when I see other gamers posting this stuff on the net, I do realize that often lag far behind when it comes to fully exploring my games and pushing them TO THE MAX.

Thanks to the Xbox 360 Fanboy boys for the story.

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Hooked Worms HD, Midnight Release

It's storytime here at PMB...

As is apt to happen, Crackdown kept me up last night much later than I had intended. That's what happens when you've turned "Crime On" and get swept up in orb-hunting, foot races and Rampage sub-achievements.

Later on, some commotion outside drew me to my living room window. I was greeted with a view of an entire fire department brigade parked below my window and billowing black smoke from down the street. The firefighters must have been there for at least half an hour and it took me that long to clue in, such was the extent of my gaming hypnosis.

I watched the scene unfold for a several minutes, then went back to my Crack. Another twenty minutes passed and I checked my window again. Large flames were clearly visible now, licking away at the rooftops of two local businesses. Surprisingly, the firefighters still had not activated the water hose and I wondered what the heck they were waiting for. I later found out they were busy evacuating the tenants from some of the suites in the neighboring apartment complex.

Bored with watching the growing inferno, I wrapped up my Crack session and was about to power off the Box when I remembered to check for the Worms HD download. Bingo, there it was waiting for me in the Marketplace. A quick download and boom, I was ready to play. I sat there at the opening menu and thought, what the hell, I think I'll like this game anyway, so I topped up on my MS points and unlocked the full game before even starting up the Tutorial. This sort of impulse buying is soooo not in my character. What can I say, I was in a strange mood last night.

I'll be back with a fully developed review of Worms once I've spent more time with it. I already breezed through the tutorial, whoring up an easy Achievement. The game looks fantastic with its colourful, crisp graphics and whimsical style. The controls feel very smooth and intuitive as well, so I'm fiending to get more playtime with it...maybe tonight if I'm not too tired after my late movie screening but more likely tomorrow or Friday.

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Xbox Live Arcade is on a Roll

With last week's release of Alien Hominid, today's announcement of the TMNT coin-op classic, and tomorrow's release of the much-delayed Worms, it looks like XBLA is back on course and satisfying the masses once again.

I will be checking the Marketplace later tonight to see if I can get an early jump on my Worms download. I tried out the Alien Hominid demo over the weekend and came away unimpressed. While the artwork and sense of humour is fantastic, I couldn't help but feel like it was a shoddy, home-brew imitation of Metal Slug. Which is strange, because I thought I was yearning for retro side-scrolling shooter gameplay. The challenge is high and the action intense, but the addictive draw is just not there. I can see where the draw is for other people. It's just not for me. Guess that's 800 points well saved...

The TMNT announcement wasn't a surprise but was welcome nonetheless. The fact that it is to be 400 MS points makes the news all the sweeter.

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About This Site

Play With My Box (PMB) is a video gaming fan web log dedicated to the Xbox 360 console. The blog was born in mid-January 2007 as a sort of natural reaction to getting the 360 over the Christmas holiday. I was caught in the spell of GRAW, Gears of War and Rainbow Six: Vegas and needed an outlet for "water cooler talk" about the fantastic games I was playing.

And that's pretty much what I want this place to be: a friendly, informative water cooler where I can shoot the shit about games with other gamers. Looking around me on the Interweb, I see a lot of great things being done in the blogging community. My intention is to join the gang and bring my own unique perspective to what's going on with our beloved hobby. Times, they are changing, and this is without a doubt the most exciting time to be playing games on any platform.

The focus here at PMB really is going to be on the games. You can expect to find a lot of updates on what I'm playing, new releases, Live Arcade, a few rumours and more than a few commentaries on the gaming industry as a whole. All this, with a heavy Xbox 360 slant. There's an increasing amount of cross-over between consoles and between the 360 and PCs, so I'll also be speaking to topics that strike a broader note within the community.

What you will not find on these pages, for better or for worse, is commentary on the politics of the games industry. Ergo, you won't be finding fanboy tirades about which console is "the suck" or how Microsoft PR is so much better than Sony PR or any of that other side nonsense that frankly, takes away from the pure craft of game-making and game-playing. Do I eat up this sort of stuff on other sites? You bet. Like everyone else, I love to keep current on what's happening in te industry, but I'm taking a stand and keeping most of that news off Play With My Box.

You already know where to get your gossip on Phil Harrison, Miyamoto and that Reggie guy. This blog is a celebration of video games: why we love them, why we play them and why we'll never stop.

As for my own background, I am Maclintok. I'm a 29-year old native of Vancouver, BC Canada. By day I work as a designer/marketer for an elite luxury vacations company. By night, I am a tireless gamer, amateur DJ, writer and incorrigible womanizer (in my own mind, at least). My gaming career goes back to the ColecoVision and Apple IIc, moving up to the 8-bit NES, Super NES, Genesis, the PC and finally to the Xbox 360. I skipped a couple generations, notably the Playstation and Playstation 2 era of consoles. That time was spent as a PC gamer and the wonderful arms race of hardware upgrades, tweaking and software patches.

I've long tired of the PC upgrade cycle and was ready to wile away the last of my gaming days with Guild Wars when I finally broke down and bought myself a 360 just before Christmas. Best decision of 2006! I can confidently say that I have finally found my gaming home.

So to wrap up my long-winded introduction, welcome to my blog. Send me your comments and get involved with the articles. I look forward to getting to know all of you as the site grows.

Game on.

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Crackdown: Cracked

I didn't intend to finish Crackdown this weekend but I did. Offing Wang was too alluring a temptation for me, even after 2 full (and late) nights of happy orb-hunted, punctuated by the occasional gang boss assassination.

If you have yet to kill Wang, let me give you a little heads-up on what to expect. Don't worry, this isn't a spoiler: Wang's a friggin' push-over. I suppose I let myself believe unreliable accounts of message forum dwellers and a few reviewers who hinted at Wang's awesome powers. Hell, even the Agency Director got my hopes up. Dark arts you say? Oooo, maybe he can teleport or fly or shoot laser beams out of his eyes! The dearth of solid information made me think Wang would provide a different, substantial challenge compared to his underlings or the criminals of the Volk and Los Muertos. Alas, as I rocketed, grenaded and roundhouse-kicked his flaming carcass off the ledge of the zen garden pagoda, I realized an epic battle this was not.

Was it still satisfying? I would answer an unqualified "yes". As a final gesture of triumph, I hurled Wang's corpse off the top of the Shai-Gen Tower. My co-op partner was already halfway over to the Final Crime waypoint and I giddily asked him to see if he could spot my Wang shot-put from halfway across the island. "Have a taste of your skyscraper, Wang!" was my main motivation for tossing him in the first place.

Getting to Wang was the difficult part and that applied to almost all of the other gang generals. It's their entourage that gave me the most headaches, combined with the enclosed areas these bosses would hole themselves into.

Now I'm left to pick up the pieces of left by the obliterated gang factions. Nothing left to do now except hunt down the remaining 50 Agility Orbs and 150 Hidden Orbs, complete more Achievements and max out my Agent skills. Oh well, that's at least another 5-6 hours of play right there on top of the 2o or so hours I spent up to this point. That's value.

A proper review for this game seems like a foregone conclusion right now. Crackdown has been out for 2 weeks and there really isn't a lot to be said for it that hasn't been said already. Allow me to sum things up with a handful of quoteables, if I may...

Crackdown is one big mess of a game. It's also a sandbox masterpiece and is the sandbox game to beat from this point forward. Games like GTA 4 are going to bring things down to earth - no more rooftop races, homing missiles and superhuman strength - and boy, is it going to take some getting used to! And when I say the game's a mess, I mean to say it's buggy, quirky and has it's fair share of maddening design flaws. I mean, kudos to the first 360 game that brought me so perilously close to stomping my $60 controller into the ground so many different times. And yet, I love the game and wouldn't rate it anything less than an 8.5 out of 10.

If Gears of War was the last, best reason of 2006 to buy an Xbox 360, Crackdown is your best reason in 2007 to finally become a believer. It's a virtual "fond gaming memories" generator and it stands as the purest execution of real sandbox experience in any action game.

Hyberbole and adulation aside, Crackdown is simply shitloads of fun. If you reeeaaally have to have your arm twisted, then come for the Halo 3 beta, but stay for the Crack.

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Weekend Haze: March 2nd - 4th 2007

What a gaming weekend. With the roommate out of town for his ski trip, I took full advantage and parked myself in front of the Xbox for 3 nights of binge gaming. I OD'ed on Crackdown and Heavy Weapon, finishing both games on co-op and reaping a tidy bundle of Achievements in the process.

I now find myself without a main game and will be left to wander the sporadically crime-ridden streets of Pacific City, hunting down the last of those Orbs and checking off more of those trickier Achievements. Will I go back to the cozy comforts of R6's cover system? Or will I brave the terrors of the locusts and attempt to finish Gears of War on Insane? Maybe I'll even get around to finishing the GRAW campaign: hey, gotta get that one out of the way before GRAW2 comes to pick everyone's pockets.

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Grand Theft Auto 4 Trailer (sort of)

The official site for Grand Theft Auto 4 went live today and features a number 4 in gigantic Roman numerals. There is no trailer as of yet, merely a minimalism-is-too-cool countdown clock, beating down the seconds until the trailer will be released. That day is set for March 29th.

I am... not very excited for this game, surprisingly. I do look forward to the day it comes out (sometime in October '07) but the giddyness I would normally be feeling for an A-list title is just not there. I never played much of GTA 3 but I loved the hell out of Vice City and was reasonably impressed with San Andreas. Both games sit by my computer, unfinished, and that fact always brings me back to the flaws that I really hope are vanquished in the upcoming installment of the series.

Chief among my misgivings is the "railroading" of your progress that the game's stories force you through. As a sandbox game, I never felt that I was really doing much of anything if I wasn't engaged in a side quest or completing the missions crucial to advancing the main storyline. So what happens is a supposedly free-form play experience becomes a linear sequence of errands and mini games. And some of these mini games, while featuring unique game mechanics, are often devilishly difficult. I need only remind readers of the RC helicopter mission in Vice City or the prop plane missions in San Andreas. The sort of challenges were game-stopping and flow-breaking and I hold a grudge against them for preventing me from enjoying an otherwise nice sandbox environment.

What's interesting is, with the release of Crackdown, how the expectations of players will influence the impact made by GTA 4. If Rockstar's masterpiece does not include excellent play control and "leveling skills", will fans be disappointed? If they fail to incorporate a freely open co-op play mode, will it matter? Can the game pull off the visual wizardly that is showcased in Crackdown every time I scale a skyscraper or set off a chain explosion on the freeway? Ironically, while Crackdown has been unfairly compared to the GTA 3 series of titles, so in turn GTA 4 will potentially get a lot of flack if it does not outshine Crackdown in any significant way.

I for one hope GTA 4 nails a few things right when it finally comes out:

1. Modern, now-gen visuals (sadly for them, Crackdown has set the bar for draw distances and giant, vertical environments)
2. Flexible mission/story progression - don't force me to struggle with clumsy controls in order to successfuly navigate a toy plane with limited fuel.
3. Stretch the genre - Vice City and San Andreas were essentially "engine sequels"; aside from a few tweaks they played just like GTA 3. I hope they do something that really pushes the sandbox/action genre into uncharted territory.
   

What are you most looking forward to for GTA 4?

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