Ghost Recon Future Soldier – Trailer

Although you really don’t get to see the game actually in action – or a semblance as towhat it is really about – GRAW fans should be excited enough just to have this new teaser trailer.

Enjoy !

New FREE Mass Effect 2 DLC Tomorrow !

For all of you space junkies that can’t get enough of Mass Effect 2, prepare for another slice of free DLC via the Cerberus Network.

As of tomorrow, February 9th, 2010, you can download the Cerberus Armor (raises heavy ammo, health, and shields by 10%) and the M-22a Eviscerator Shotgun (longer range shotgun with armor-piercing loads) for the price of 0 MS points.

Enjoy !

Source

Win $1,000,000 Playing MLB 2K10

For those gamers that need a bit of extra change in their pocket, MLB 2K10 is providing the oppurtunity of a lifetime.

If you can be the first gamer to pitch a PERFECT game (go all nine innings without giving up a single base) Take-Two will give you one million dollars. However, they have hired Twin Galaxies to help them verify the milestone, so don’t try and pull one over and essentially steal the prize.

Good luck and happy pitching !

Thanks to Yahoo Games for this incredible bit of news.

The Xbox 360’s Top Ten Female Characters

With over 40% of the gaming population now consisting of the female gender, it’s no surprise that there are more female characters being made to fit more significant roles in games today than in years past.

Today, there are more female leads, co-leads,  & NPC’s (non-playable characters) that have strength, courage, beauty, wit and honor…or a combination of those factors. This is a list celebrating the best in estrogen that the Xbox 360 has to offer.

So without further ado, here are the top ten female characters that have graced the Xbox 360 platform.

___________________________________________________________________

Xbox 360’s Top Ten Badass Female Characters

___________________________________________________________________

10 – Zoey (Left 4 Dead)

 

 

In a world full of infected zombies who would love to do nothing more than to rip you apart limb from limb, an isolated group of survivors fight for…well…survival. And among the now infamous group of stragglers is a woman named Zoey. Not only does she have the will power to push herself past an impending zombie apocalypse but she does so in style, belting out smart ass comments along the way. Whether she’s telling one of the guys to “get up, I’m half your size” or “Louis, you’d look good in one of those hospital gowns”, you can expect her mouth to be as steady as her gun throughout the entire ordeal.

9 - Tyris Flare (Golden Axe)

As the old adage goes, you always remember your first. Golden Axe introduced us to one of the first badass female characters in the history of gaming. Tyris was lethal as she marched off, blade in hand, ready to lay waste to any enemy in her path. And without a doubt, the amazon was the wielder of one of the most awesome magic spells of her generation. Gamers the world over used to let her pick up all the magic vials to cast her lethal dragon spell, where a deadly dragon would unleash a blazing inferno upon her foes.

8 - Veronica Dare (Halo 3: ODST)

Halo 3: ODST proved you don’t need to have a good-looking woman in your game in order for her to be something to remember. Cpt. Dare took over the helm of a lone squad of Orbital Drop Shock Troops and led them straight into hell (in this case, at hundreds of miles per hour). She was tasked with a special mission, one so vital that she had to lead them through constant enemy attacks to acquire a key piece of intelligence that could very well turn the war in favor of humanity. Veronica showed bravery, courage and honor as she put aside any emotional issues that came up during the mission (as with having to fight alongside her ex-romance Gunny Buck) to achieve total victory.

7 - Myuria (Star Ocean: the Last Hope)

For generations of JRPG’s (Japanese Role Playing Games) the magic casting female was made from the same basic template: a meek and shy personality coupled with some questionably effective magical abilities. And then came Myuria.
Although her appearance is terribly cliché (half-naked well-endowed elf, never seen that before) her personality is anything but. She has powerful offensive and supportive magic spells at her disposal which always prove useful in battle. Myruia’s passion for her fallen fiancé is touching, even if it sends her on a blood-thirsty quest for vengeance. And she has an alluring and flirtatious personality that never crosses the line into promiscuity. She is an asset to your party and a great female character that helps to break the mold of what to expect from your lovely magic casters of the world.

6 - Ayane (Dead or Alive 4)

When someone mentions the Dead or Alive series most people think about one of two things: the ninja Kasumi or a bouncing set of boobs (or possibly Kasumi’s bouncing boobs).
However, when it comes to hardcore women, I think of Kasumi’s half-sister Ayane first. She didn’t grow up with any of the perks or privileges that her half-sister grew up with but still managed to become a fierce competitor in the DoA tournaments. Her skills are so brutal that she is considered to be one of the most lethal ninjas in the world whose lighting quick hits can devastate almost any foe. Add in a fierce loyalty to the way of the ninja and you have a dedicated kunoichi who has killer legs…just ask any of those unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of one of her kicking combinations.

5 - Sheva (Resident Evil 5)

Chris Redfield needed a capable, brave and fearless partner for his adventures against the T-virus ridden zombies and he got that in spades with Sheva of Resident Evil 5. Not only is she a proven combatant with the B.S.A.A. but she is a terrific shot whose accuracy is only outdone by her courage. She never once winced or cowered in the face of adversity (and in Resident Evil 5 there were some damn ugly faces) and was able to keep pace with everyone’s favorite zombie killing veteran.

4 - Hildegard von Krone (Soul Calibur 4)

“Hilde” was forged in the flames of chaos as of a very young age. When her father the king of Wolfkrone lost his sanity as a result of rains of the Evil Seed, she took on many adult hardships as a mere youth. She managed to become a strong warrior in the process, one that was able to halt the invasion of the Azure Knight. Once she got word that the dreaded Soul Edge was gaining power, she assembled her knights and rode off fearlessly to face to most intimidating evil known in her world. After she bests Soul Edge, Hilde then demonstrated one of her strongest characteristics, mercy, as she knighted Siegfried. This action absolved him from his sins of the past and allowed him to move on with his life. This mix of honor, sympathy and courage crowns her as number 4 on this list.  

3 – Theresa (Fable 2)
 

Not all of our prominent women on this list need to be from the heroine mold. With Fable 2’s Theresa, you are witness to one of the most genius minds the world of Albion has ever seen. She is cold, calculating and ambitious to a fault. Her startling wit and foresight keeps the hero of Fable 2 on his or her quest to capturing the mystical spire, which Theresa then takes all for herself. She may not be an ideal role model due to some obvious malicious intentions, but for those who admire the power-hungry genius types, she is an ideal female figure.

2 – Lilith (Borderlands)
 

A problem found in many games is when you have playable characters of both genders, the female protagonist is often designed to be weaker in strength and less capable of killing. This is usually in exchange for having quicker speed and agility stats than that of the male counterparts.
Obviously Gearbox Studios didn’t take that tired practice to heart when creating Lillith. She is a killing dynamo who is proficient with several firearm types (Such as small machine guns) and can literally spawn flaming wings to torch enemies alive. Add in the ability to cross dimensions and enter back into ours with an explosive blast and you have one of the most lethal gunslingers in gaming history. And she isn’t hard on the eyes either.

1 – Miranda (Mass Effect 2)
 

Who else would you expect to take our number one spot? Miranda is literally designed for perfection. Her beauty and strength were genetically enhanced to give her the sensual wiles and brutal strength necessary to come out on top of any conflict. Also, she was provided with some of the best combat training and education available in the universe. Miranda is more than just a flawless combination of genetic enhancements and superb education. She is fiercely loyal and caring to those in her select circle of allies. And although she may seem a bit cocky or cold to some, she has a very loving heart with a surprisingly sensitive side to her personality that you see after some deep and emotional conversations with her. All in all, she is essentially the perfect woman and a no-brainer for the best female character on the Xbox 360.

Microsoft Pulls The Plug On Original Xbox Games On Xbox Live

You’re reading the title correctly.  Microsoft announced that as of April 15th original Xbox games (read that as Halo 2) will no longer be playable over Xbox Live.  It doesn’t matter if you’re playing the game on a 360.  It will no longer work.

Major Nelson posted this about the decision:

I wanted to let you know that on April 15, 2010 Microsoft will discontinue Xbox LIVE service for original Xbox consoles and games, including Xbox 1 games playable on Xbox 360. Our first step in this process will be to turn off auto-renewals for those members who only use Xbox LIVE on a v1 Xbox. While I can’t comment on the specifics, this change will allow us to continue evolving the LIVE service with new features and experiences that fully harness the power of Xbox 360 and the Xbox LIVE community. We did not make this decision lightly, but after careful consideration and review we realize that this decision will allow us unprecedented flexibility for future features.

**Major Nelson’s site is currently offline.  Could it be that the Halo Nation is flooding the site with rants concerning the decision**

Did they really think about it carefully?  GLG doesn’t know the exact number but I’m sure there’s still a large number of people who still use their original Xbox to play Halo 2.  Is this a smart move?  Isn’t Microsoft afraid of losing those subscriptions?  Not everyone is going to “Jump In” and run out and buy a 360.  If they didn’t back when the console launched is locking them out going to finally help them make that choice?  And what new features are they talking about it?  Did Microsoft lock out part of their subscribers to increase the LIVE friends list?  Halo 2 will only support 100 friends…

Xbox Live’s Marc Whitten had this to say:

Dear Xbox LIVE Members,

On April 15 we will discontinue the Xbox LIVE service for original Xbox consoles and games, including Xbox v1 games playable on Xbox 360 and Xbox Originals. I want to start by saying this isn’t a decision we made lightly, but after careful consideration, it is clear this will provide the greatest benefit to the Xbox LIVE community.

Seven years ago we laid out our vision for the connected console when we launched Xbox LIVE. We believed then that the power of the Internet to connect people would revolutionize living room entertainment. It started with amazing multiplayer games, and we’ve since seen that bet pay off again and again with the launches of Xbox 360, Marketplace, Netflix and powerful social features like Facebook, Twitter and Last.fm. None of this would have been possible without the success of LIVE as a multiplayer gaming network.

There’s no greater example of the power of the Xbox LIVE community than the “Halo” franchise. “Halo 2” has had an amazing run on LIVE, with a dedicated community more than five years after launch and well into the next generation of consoles. It has fundamentally changed the way we play video games. And while it’s difficult to see that run come to an end, the “Halo” franchise continues to act as the benchmark for multiplayer gaming in this generation, with “Halo 3,” “Halo 3: ODST” and soon “Halo: Reach” on Xbox 360.

Your Xbox LIVE community has grown to 23 million strong. And as we look down the road, we’ll continue to evolve the service with features and experiences that harness the full power of Xbox 360. To reach our aspiration, we need to make changes to the service that are incompatible with our original Xbox v1 games. We will contact the Xbox LIVE members directly impacted by this change and if this includes you, I encourage you to check your LIVE messages and associated e-mail account over the coming weeks for more details and opportunities. We view you as a partner in this process.

We’ll share more details soon, but in the meantime I want to assure you that the best is yet to come for Xbox LIVE. I believe we’ll look back on 2010 as a landmark year in gaming and home entertainment, and I couldn’t be more excited about what we have in store with “Project Natal” and LIVE. The LIVE community is the driving force behind everything we do, and it’s because of the community that ground-breaking experiences on Xbox continue to be possible.

See you on LIVE,

Marc Whitten
Once again they keep bring up new features.  Is Microsoft just blowing smoke up our ass?  Is an update coming sooner then the scheduled Fall Update we are accustom to? And are these new features really worth locking out certain LIVE subscribers?

We’ll just have to wait and see…

So if you feel like dusting off your Halo 2 disc and playing a few Deathmatch games on Relic and grab one last teabag check with Bungie.  They want Halo 2 to have proper send off.

Rare Tweets About XBLA Perfect Dark

Look like we’ll be getting a peak at XBLA’s Perfect Dark port @ X10 next week in San Francisco.

Rare tweeted:

In Perfect Dark XBLA news: the game will be playable at the X10 event next week, widespread coverage to ensue. Have some of that! #X10Xbox

Once again GLG is keeping it short and simple with it’s news posts.

Source: Twitter

Fable 3 Almost Done

Peter Molyneux has stated that Fable 3 is near it’s final editing stage.  So maybe we’ll see something at X10.

What?  You want more?  Well it was a short interview so there isn’t anything else.  These post don’t all have to be the Magna Carta ya know…

Source: Develop

120 GB HDD Discounted? While Supplies Last?

Looks like we may be getting that 250GB HDD after all.  Microsoft has discounted the 120GB HDD in both the US and in Europe.  Now why would they do that?  Why would they lower the price of the HDD to $129.99 from $149.99?  Well aside from the fact that $149.99 is too freakin’ high!!  Hell, the price is still too high at $129.99!!

Gamestop appear to be the only retailer aware of the price drop.  And Microsoft will not confirm nor deny discontinuing the hardware.  But with the announcement of the 250GB HDD in Japan it’s looking like the 120 HDD’s day are numbered.  The rest of the world will eventually eventually get their hands on the 250 HDD.  But at what cost?

Right now Best Buy.com has a 1TB internal HDD listed @ $100.  And if you look around their selection of HDDs you’ll find other units priced reasonably.  Microsoft’s $149.99 price for the 120HDD is ridiculous!  If they can ask that much for the 120 how much are they going to ask for the 250 HDD?

Microsoft want us to embrace digital distribution,  They want us to download games, music and movies onto our consoles.  Storage space should be made affordable.  And it most certainly should be standard in the next console generation.  The 360 is losing ground to PS3.  The bloated pricing of their peripherals is not helping.

GLG Demo Impression: Dynasty Warriors Strikeforce

 

Presentation

I’m not sure what engine DW: SF is using but whatever it is, it doesn’t do it justice by any means. I don’t see any progress made in regards to graphics since the earliest warriors games of this generation. Also, the environments feel recycled and nothing stands out. The enemy troops look like a bunch of cloning experiments gone bland and only the main warriors have any distinguishing features. And the games biggest feature, the fury transformations, are a bit flashy but lacking any substance. The music is solid and keeps within the series signature style.

Story

DW: SF covers the three kingdoms era of China for what must be the tenth time around. If you have played a Dynasty Warriors game, you know the battle of Hu Lao Gate, the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the struggle between Wei Wu and Shu, etc. It’s a great story…if you haven’t heard it told ten times over. Expect nothing new here and that includes generic and poorly done voice acting. I hope the retail release takes some unique direction with alternate scenarios but in the demo I didn’t see anything of that nature.

Gameplay

You hack. You slash. You run. You repeat. There you go. Once again, you will hit the same button three million times over to destroy waves of generic enemies.
However, there was a positive sign, as you have a small area you reside in. Here, you can upgrade weapons, learn skills, and customize the style of your warriors offensive capabilities. I am a huge fan of those options in games and DW: SF performs adequately in this area. It’s a shame those features are buried in another seemingly cloned warriors game.

Overall

As a one time Warriors fan, I have to say this doesn’t look promising at all and all this does is make a former fan want to go on strike. Change the formula Koei, you can’t keep this up for much longer.
When you add together the uninspired gameplay that hasn’t changed in over half a decade with shoddy graphics and generic combat scenarios , all you are left with is another poorly made and spiritless hack n slasher. Unless the retail release pulls of a miracle not shown in the demo this is a game to pass up.

Red Faction Guerilla Gear Available in the Avatar Marketplace

For all of you Guerillas out there who want to rep your style on Xbox Live, check out the new gear for your avatar.

This includes several T-shirts and the signature long coat look that the main character sports.

Enjoy !