Gamers know that videogames are constantly under fire by various media outlets for being mindless and violent. While it is safe to say that we don’t agree with these assessments, there are undoubtedly some games that kids shouldn’t play. I know I have experienced numerous encounters with kids as young as 6 when playing GTA IV on Xbox Live. To me, this is appalling. While I agree that this content isn’t appropriate for children, I tend to put the blame on the parents.
This is why I am happy to see that Microsoft has launched a “Get Game Smart” awareness campaign geared towards parents. The GGS website has all sorts of suggestions and tips on how to talk to your kids about games and how to make gaming a safe and enjoyable experience. Where as previous parental awareness campaigns seemed to focus on violence in games, GGS tends to focus on online safety.
Be sure to check out the GGS website, there are all kinds of activities, some of which can nab you some prizes.
Read: Microsoft Launches ‘Get Game Smart’ Parental Awareness Campaign.
Today Epic Games has released a new map pack for Gears of War 2. The Flashback Map Pack comes with five of your favorite original Gears of War maps remade. For 400 Microsoft Points gamers get Canals, Gridlock, Mansion, Subway and Tyro Station.
Some of you might remember the Flashback Map Pack for a little while ago. It was originally only available as a free download to new purchasers of Gears 2. I guess this is a way for Epic to make back some money on people who bought used copies of Gears 2. If you ask me, $5 is a fare price for five maps. You know they say variety is the spice of life, or taking lives in this case.
Read: Gears of War 2 Flashback Map Pack Now Available for Purchase on Xbox Live.
Today Epic’s Mark Rein stated that Gears of War 2 will be getting a patch later this month. Since it’s release, Gears of War 2 has been plagued with multiplayer bugs and exploits. On the official Gears 2 forum, Rein wrote, “We’re fixing a whole bunch of online exploits. For example we’ve fixed the ability to wield an invisible shield, melee through some walls, gain infinite Lancer ammo and equip a shield and a two-handed weapon simultaneously plus many more.”
Sounds like Epic has their work cut out for them. According to Rein, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Epic is also working penalizing for people who quit matches early and adding more spawn protection from planted grenades and chainsaws. Also included in the patch will be achievement tracking, DLC achievements, and (most importantly in my opinion) creating a more reliable shotgun in laggy online matches.
Read: ‘Major’ Gears of War 2 Patch Due This Month.
Epic VP Mark Rein revealed today that over 3 million gamers have taken the fight to the Locust in Gears of War 2.
“Microsoft confirmed to me this afternoon that Gears of War 2 sell-through surpassed 3 million units as of last week,” Rein told Eurogamer.
It only took four weeks to reach that goal. Two-thirds of sales (2 million copies) came in the first weekend of its release.
Contrast these sales figures with the original Gears of War, which took 10 weeks to reach 3 million units sold, and you’ll see that Gears 2 is a rare case of a sequel performing better than the original.
Read: Gears of War 2 sales hit 3 million mark
…well, what the hell does this mean? The image released by Kojima and Co. recently teases a new Metal Gear game using a logo that should be familiar to all of us by now.
It is, of course, the logo that shows up when you hit the power button on the Xbox 360.
Hold your horses. As many around the interwebs have noted, this is a standard power button logo on many consumer devices, so hold your horses before you hit NeoGAF and start posting about how MGS4 is headed for the 360. Oh, wait, you already did that.
In any event, we’ll have to adopt a “wait and see” approach about this teaser. Metal Gear Solid 4 has been rumored for the 360 forever, and the original word was that the game won’t fit on a standard DVD. Now that you can install games to the 360, though, there could be hope for desperate 360 owners who don’t want to buy a PlayStation 3.
Visit the teaser site for less (not more) info.
A fascinating study by Emsense, a tech company dedicated to measuring brainwaves, found that most successful first person shooter games use close combat and a significant amount of fear to engage players.
Take these examples from Halo 2 and Gears of War. The study says:
It was no surprise to us that the three games in this study widely considered “game of the year” (Gears of War, Halo 2, and Half-Life 2) all designed and executed exceptional melee weapons to encourage or force close combat…
For instance, in both Halo 2 and Gears of War, players were rewarded with an instant kill for using the energy sword and chainsaw. An energy sword kill in Halo 2, for instance, evoked 30 percent more recorded positive emotion and reward than the genre benchmark…
In addition, Gears of War players recorded high emotional reward for the spray of enemy blood after they succeeded.
Perhaps most importantly, Emsense found that the same engagement parameters could be easily translated to multiplayer. Success in FPS games, single or multiplayer, can be boiled down to a formula of engaging the players in visceral combat.
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I reported a few days ago that Microsoft is planning on releasing new clothing and accessories for the new Xbox Avatars. There were some unanswered question though; mainly, will this new content cost money? According to Microsoft, the bi-monthly clothes and accessories updates will be free, for now.
Boris Schneider-Johne, Germany’s Xbox product manager confirmed that first couple of updates will be free. He when on to say, “What’s going to happen as of spring is yet to be announced.” Does this mean that down the line new content will cost Microsoft Points? We do know that Microsoft plans on opening an Avatar store at some point. I guess we will have to wait and see.
Read: Microsoft: NXE Avatar clothing updates will be free … for now.
Today Capcom announced on the PlayStation Blog that Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix will arrive on the PlayStation Store Tuesday, Nov. 25. Capcom also revealed that SF2THDR is going to cost $14.99. With this announcement coming from Capcom, I feel safe in assuming that the Xbox Live Arcade version will be released on Wednesday, Nov. 26, costing 1200 Microsoft points ($15).
Capcom also announced that gamers who buy SF2THDR on the PlayStation 3 will get access to the Street Fighter Underground Remix Soundtrack. The soundtrack is a downloadable album featuring Street Fighter inspired songs by artists such as Redman, Hieroglyphics, DJ Qbert, DJ Toure, Zion I, Mistah F.A.B. and Oh No.
Read: PS3 Street Fighter II HD priced at $14.99.
Today as Xbox 360 owners powered up their consoles, they were confronted with the New Xbox Experience. One of the major features of the NXE is the new Avatar creation system. While the selection of customizable parts is relatively slim, don’t fret. Microsoft announced today that the “fashion selection” for players will double. An advertisement on Xbox Live states, “Come back every two weeks to check out new items. We’ll be doubling our fashion selection over the next few months.”
According to Jerry Johnson, Xbox Live product manager: “We’re going to be continually releasing and unlocking clothes for the next six months.” He went on to say,”They’ll be coming out in theme packs.” He did not comment on whether the new content would be free or paid.
Microsoft has stated that it plans on rolling out an Xbox Live Avatar Store by next Spring. Here Xbox 360 owners can purchase new items for their Avatars. Microsoft has also stated they it is planning on having unlockable Avatar items based on achievements.
Read: New Xbox Avatar Parts Coming ‘Every Two Weeks’.
Today an image of the New Xbox Experience surfaced, showing a release date for Backbone Entertainment’s Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix. according to the screen shot, SF2THDR will be arriving next Wednesday, Nov. 26. While this is still in rumor territory, I have strong reason to believe that it’s true. Capcom previously stated that SF2THDR would be arriving sometime in Nov. Seeing as next week is the last week in Nov, common sense tells us that this rumor must be true. Assuming that the Xbox release date is true, PlayStation 3 gamers can expect SF2THDR on Thursday, Nov. 27 as part of the weekly PlayStation store update. Unfortunately there has been no price has been announced.
It seems like I have been waiting for SF2THDR for years. I firmly believe that Street Fighter 2 is the greatest fighting game ever made. Countless hours of my life have been spent playing SF2 and I can’t wait to take this tradition to the next level. My friends and I have even planned a party for when SF2THDR is released. Now that there is a solid date, I have some phone calls to make.
Read: Street Fighter 2 HD Remix Inadvertently Dated.
Tomorrow the general public gets their hands on the New Xbox Experience. This update, which is far more than the dashboard updates we’ve comes to expect, provides gamers with a much more user friendly experience.
The first major change gamers are going to notice is that the old 2D blades menus are gone. In their place will be a slick 3D interface that allows for less obnoxious advertisements and easy navigation. For those of you who want to keep the familiar blades system, don’t fret. If you tap the Guide button, a miniature blades system appears and allows for quick navigation.
Another obvious change is the inclusion of Avatars. Much like the Miis on the Wii, the new Avatars represent your Gamertag when playing games like Scene It? Box Office Smash, UNO, Bomberman Live, Hardwood Hearts, Hardwood Spades and A Kingdom for Keflings. The creation process is pretty simple. You just pick a generic template and modify it until it looks how you want. In the future, it wouldn’t surprise me to see new customization options as you unlock Achievements.
For the rest of the details, hit the jump.
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Hardcore XBLA fans might have been a little confused today when Microsoft didn’t release any new XBLA titles. Instead three classic XBLA titles will be joining the Arcade Hits lineup. For those of you who don’t know, Arcade Hits titles get a 50% price cut. This weeks Arcade Hits include Feeding Frenzy, Worms and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Each of these games has been discounted to 400 Microsoft points ($5).
UMK3 for $5 is a damn good deal. Tonight my roommate and I plan of reliving our childhoods by trying to execute every fatality for each character. Wish us luck!
Read: No New XBLA Titles This Week, Discounts Ensue.
