We’ve cranked up the volume for Xtival ’08 with 72 hours of controlled mayhem that you’ll never forget.
Xtival is a three-day party that’s FREE for EVERYONE on Xbox LIVE; even Silver members will be able to experience the thrill of multiplaying with their friends - all weekend!
So get your friends together and enjoy LIVE to the max.
This year brings exclusive new music videos, HD movies and new games to download.
You can chat to our headline act The Prodigy, and take advantage of multiplayer using FIFA’s new 10v10 feature.
Above all else this is your chance to play your favourite games with your mates - like there’s no tomorrow!
A week ago Microsoft launched the new Xbox Experience and upset a fair number of Xbox 360 users in the process.
What if you liked the old Xbox Experience? Some people like the simple navigation having tried the PS3 navigation with its XMB.
So why have Microsoft chosen to mimic the Nintendo Wii style interface? Do they think that's what we want? If you look at what we buy to play (last week's chart) Call of Duty - World at War, Gears of War 2, Need for Speed - Undercover, FIFA 09, Left 4 Dead. YES, Microsoft shooting, driving and sports games not fluffy Nintendo 'family' games - so why the Nintendo interface?
Wii sale for the same week - Maro Kart, Wii Fit, Wii Play, Mario & Sonic at the Olympics all games that have been around for ages... No the hard nosed games the Xbox and PS3 users are attacted to.
It looks like it's all been done to get users to spend more time, NOT playing games! The social aspect of interacting with your friend's avatars and exploring the online content offered by Microsoft on Windows Live have also entered the party.
Some users have experienced the Red Ring of Death on upgrading but that may be down to what they've done to their Xbox 360 rather than what Microsoft have (if you understand).
Occasionally, a video game will reshape the way gamers see virtual worlds. Much like "Wolfenstein 3D," "Super Mario 64" and "Half-Life" before it, the stunning first-person action-adventure game "Mirror's Edge" smashes the conventions of its predecessors.
As a super-agile courier named Faith -- who's usually being chased by bad guys -- players can run, walk, leap, hop and slide across rooftops, within warehouses, through sewers and inside office buildings. Faith's goals are never more complicated than getting from Point A to Point B. How she accomplishes that is where "Mirror's Edge" comes alive.
Created by Swedish developer DICE, "Mirror's Edge" mimics real-life running -- complete with panting sounds. There are no on-screen meters, so the minimalist display lets players' eyes focus on the game's parkour-inspired moves. (You know, that froggy style of movement made famous by "Casino Royale" and all those soda and sneaker commercials.)
Luckily, the free running isn't disorienting. It's liberating, especially when players gain enough momentum to acrobatically parlay a series of maneuvers into an impromptu ballet, resulting in a spring from a construction crane or lunge toward a helicopter. Of course, the fear of going splat or being shot to death by your pursuers is omnipresent.
To keep the action moving, objects and surfaces that Faith can bounce off of or use to her advantage glow a distinct shade of candy apple red and are usually easy to spot within her sterile urban environment, which resembles what it might look like if Ikea erected a city in Japan. Once you get the hang of the light-footed game play, it's strangely blissful.
Players can also tackle what few foes get in Faith's way and apprehend their firearms. However, guns seem to slow her down. Ultimately, this game is all about the chase. So, with the tap of a button, she'll toss weapons aside and continue on her way, making "Mirror's Edge" a surprisingly nonviolent yet continually adrenaline-pumping affair.
"Mirror's Edge" isn't perfect. The story line is pedestrian and the wannabe anime cut scenes aren't compelling. Tapping the bumper button to vault or wall climb doesn't always seem to elicit the desired response, which can send Faith tumbling to her death -- and force players to restart the sequence.
Those issues aside, the game's 10 chapters will definitely leave players craving more places to lunge and run. Innovative games such as "Mirror's Edge," with a sleek "Fifth Element" aesthetic and "Run Lola Run" sense of urgency, don't come around often. It would be a mistake to let such a visionary piece of work pass you by.
2007 saw video game sales topping $9 million, but according to a new report, only twenty percent of finished games actually turn a profit.
Forbes originally reported that only 4 percent of games are profitable, but the Electronic Entertainment Design and Research company quoted in the story was quick to clarify: Computer and video games, Nov. 24: This means that 4% of all games which start production will eventually make a profit, but a far-more-likely 20% of finished products will see profitable returns. ...
the average Xbox 360 title shifts 216,000 units and that Mature-rated titles are generally more popular on the Xbox 360 than those rated Teen.
However, the EEDAR stood by other statistics in the report, including the following: Computer and video games - The study concludes that the average total sales for an Xbox 360 game is around 216,000 units, while the average PlayStation 3 title sells 192,256 copies.
Therefore, any title shipping on both platforms is expected to sell on average 408,336 units. ... Interestingly, implementing a co-op mode is claimed to boost sales by 12,400, while a multiplayer mode could add 25,000 copies to a game's sales roster.
That's about $1 million in revenue, so well worth it if the said developer can whip up an online mode for less, notes the EEDAR study.
So, does this mean that 80 percent of video games suck?
Game reviewers don't seem to think so. Of the 526 Xbox 360 games on Metacritic, only 54 have garnered meta-scores of below 50 percent. Conversely, a full 210 — or 40 percent — of games earned meta-scores of 75 percent or above.
Perhaps these figures simply point out that the majority of likely consumers want mature titles with multiplayer elements for their Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3.
Head online for award-winning Battlefield franchise multiplayer action with up to 64 players.
Maps scale to the number of players engaging in battle (16, 32, or 64), for an intense experience every time.
Join a squad or select the new Commander Mode to assume the strategic role of a battlefield commander directing his forces. Enhanced squad structure includes VOIP commands and team stat tracking.
Earn medals, ribbons, unlockable weapons, and other items as you rise through the ranks from lowly Private to General.
Battlefield 2 Battlefield 2: Special Forces Expansion Pack Battlefield 2: Euro Force Booster Pack Battlefield 2: Armored Fury Booster Pack
Lock and load, soldier! Head out to the frontlines of the 21st century with the original Battlefield 2 plus the Battlefield 2: Special Forces Expansion Pack and the two Booster Packs.
Unleash the fury of an awesome arsenal in massive online battles featuring the franchise's legendary multiplayer warfare.
Choose an army and enter the fray with laser-designated bombs, wire-guided missiles, sniper rifles, and much more. Roar onto the battlefield in tactical fighters, main battle tanks, four-wheel drive assault buggies, and other advanced vehicles.
This is no minor skirmish-this is the ultimate collection of high-tech warfare on the modern battlefield.
The genius of Tsutomu Kouno's LocoRoco concept is that its gameplay hasn't been forced, like a square peg to a round hole, into the confines of the the PSP's control system, like so many first-person and third-person titles are. The L and R buttons are used to tilt the beautiful 2D game world and the Circle button is used for everything else. That's it. Nothing more, nothing less.
Some will say LocoRoco 2 is too similar to 2006's brilliant original, and with good reason. Essentially it's the same game with different levels and a few gameplay tweaks, but then revolutionising the fundamentals that made the Sony Japan Studio developed title such a perfect fit on the PSP would have run the risk of ruining it. And anyway, its charm, beauty and uplifting nature is just as potent a second time around, even if you've felt it all before.
Achievement tracking on Steam shows that only 0.2% of PC players survived all campaigns on Expert.
Valve's Left 4 Dead figures show how gamers have been getting on thanks to Steam's stat tracking abilities.
While no achievement has been earned by all players, there are a few around the 70 per cent mark.
'DRAG AND DROP' which tasks players with rescuing a survivor from a Smoker's tongue before he takes damage has been earned by 72.7 per cent of PC players and is the most earned achievement. 'BRAIN SALAD' - making 100 headshot kills is the second most earned achievement with 69.4 per cent of players seemingly able to point a gun in the face of oncoming zombies.
The hardest achievements to earn are unsurprisingly 'LAMB 2 SLAUGHTER' - As an Infected, incap a Survivor who has entered and left a safe room, and 'ZOMBIE GENOCIDEST' - kill 53,595 Infected. No PC gamer has managed to earn these achievements.
You'll find the full list of Left 4 Dead achievement stats over on www.steampowered.com.
US retailer Gamestop will make the upcoming Grand Theft Auto IV - The Lost and Damned - Download Content (DLC) available in store, according to its website.
Grand Theft Auto - The Lost And Damned, will be bundled with a GTA IV poster and comes in the form of a promotional code rather than a disc.
The move is thought to be an attempt to encourage more consumers to purchase the download as well as subscribe to Xbox Live.
The Xbox 360 exclusive content will be available on February 17, 2009 at a cost of $19.99 that's £13.
The 360's latest - and safest - chipset is codenamed "Jasper".
And has been on our radar for a while now.
Well, if posters on xbox-scene are to be believed, Jasper 360s have finally gone on sale.
Biggest giveaway is the 150w you can see there on the power brick.
Jaspers are supposed to run quiter, use less power and run cooler, so if you're in the market for a 360, might want to look for one manufactured anytime after October 23, 2008.
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