Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period.
Mass Effect is probably one of the most intruiging titles for many reasons. It’s the first incredibly detailed RPG I’ve seen to date, arguably at least. It’s setting certainly sets it apart from other RPGs on the market. Microsoft is giving us all kinds of information about the universe of the game itself. What I like about this is, we are given glimpses as to what this title holds for us to explore. RPGs have always been about adventure and discovering new things. Here, we are given a straight up guide to the alien races of Mass Effect. Team Xbox layed out all the details for us. I would graciously like to post it up here for you all, however, that would have probably created one of the longest posts anyone in the blog world could ever see.
I will though leave you with a short snippet from that guide of one the races I find most interesting. This will certainly not be a title to miss as Mass Effect unleashes on the masses in November. See what I did there? Read more after the jump.
We have two new titles today on the Xbox Live Arcade. First is the 1200 MS Point “Puzzle Quest:Challenge of the Warlords” and the FREE “Yaris”.
Content: Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords Price: 1200 Microsoft Points Availability: Not available in Korea Dash Text: [ESRB: E10+ (EVERYONE 10+) Suggestive Themes] Single Player, Xbox LIVE Multiplayer 1-2, Local Multiplayer 1-2, HD (High Definition). Classic puzzle game action meets an epic RPG story of good vs. evil. Features enhanced graphics, HD support, and Co-op multiplayer over Xbox LIVE. There are no refunds for this item. For more information, see www.xbox.com/Live/accounts.
Content: Yaris Price: Free Availability: North America Dash Text: [ESRB: E10+(EVERYONE 10 +) CARTOON VIOLENCE] Single Player, Xbox LIVE Multiplayer 1-2, HD (High Definition). Get a sneak-peek at the all-new 2007 Toyota Yaris! Race your Yaris up walls, through tubes, and even upside-down as you destroy enemies! Take on the challenge by yourself, or speed around the tracks with your friends on Xbox LIVE. With three different models to drive, eight tracks, and a host of enemies (plus a full arsenal with which to destroy them), you’ll be moving forward with Yaris!
Last year we saw the Microsoft/Burger King business partnership bloom in full effect with the release of “Sneak King”, “Big Bumpin”, and “Pocketbike Racer”. This year we saw some Halo Fries and now this. “Viva Pinata:Party Animals” toys are starting to go for sale at Burger King and the world as we know it is pretty much over.
I’m just kidding, for all you people who love Viva Pinata go ahead and pick some up for yourself or the kids and have a blast.
Thanks Geo for the original tip and Pinataisland.info for the picture.
Dean Takahashi of the San Jose Mercury News posted a very interesting article. We all know the Falcon 360’s are hitting stores right now but what about life after the Falcon?. That’s where our buddy Dean here let’s loose some “Exclusive” information.
Dean speaks of a new type of Xbox 360 called the “Jasper” which should start hitting the market by next year’s holiday season. What type of hardware is included in the “Jasper”? Dean speaks of a 65-nanometer graphics chip from ATI as well as some smaller memory chips.
The “Jasper” will help Microsoft reduce costs on manufacturing and that’s a good thing. Dean posted in his article that he expects Microsoft “would be in position” to drop the price on the Xbox 360’s in 2008 just like they did when the “Falcon” systems started to trickle out.
Microsoft has not confirmed the “Jasper” but they did say that they’re always improving the hardware on Xbox 360 systems.
My Opinion on this? Hopefully the “Falcon” systems can stop the bleeding of all these dying 360’s. The “Falcon” needs to do it’s job and then pass the buck to the “Jasper” in 2008. Don’t you love being an Early Adopter?
The release of Halo 3 has come and gone but that doesn’t mean the commercials for Halo 3 have to stop. The above commercial shows one slightly disfigured soldier reminiscing of that dreaded battle years ago.
The EA/MTV Money Train of “Rock Band” is rolling in next month and I see that some gamers have completely forgot about the fun that previous Guitar Hero games have given them. Are you a Rock Band Bandwagoner?
Don’t get wrong I’ve played Rock Band and I enjoyed it very much but I’m not like these other people who are quick to write off the Guitar Hero franchise as “The Past”. The Guitar Hero games are still very much enjoyable and from reports Part 3 looks to improve the foundation of the series even with development shifting to the Neversoft team.
Rock Band is going to be a great game to play with friends but how much are you willing to pay for extra instruments? I hear drum battles are fun but are you going to drop more money for an extra drum kit?
Guitar Hero 3 will include “Battle Mode” which from print alone looks pretty freaking awesome. What is Battle Mode?
Here’s an excerpt of what you can do to your opponent in “Battle Mode” taken from the GH 3 Wikipedia page.
Broken string: One fret button on the opponent’s guitar will not work until it is fixed (by rapidly tapping the button).
Difficulty up: The opponent will play the song on an increased difficulty for a short duration of time (except for expert difficulty).
Amp overload: The fret board will shake and appear blurry, making the scrolling notes difficult to read.
Whammy bar: The opponent will have to use the whammy bar before he/she can play notes again.
Steal power: This will steal your opponent’s power-up (this will be lost if used when the opponent has no power-up).
Double notes: The opponent will have to play any single note as a two-button chord, and any two-button chord as a three-button chord for a short amount of time.
Lefty flip: The fret board will be mirrored, requiring the player to switch their handedness on the guitar.
Death Drain: This power-up is only available in Sudden Death mode. Once activated, your opponent’s Rock Meter will rapidly drain on its own
Like I said Guitar Hero 3 is going to improve on what previous Guitar Hero’s have done in the past. If you played the hell out of Guitar Hero 2 you’re probably going to love part 3.
I’m not here to take sides in this Red Octane/EA war but I’m just saying give Guitar Hero 3 a chance if you have already written it off.
Hai Guys. I recently purchased Microsoft’s “Messenger Kit” package which includes one chatpad and one wired headset. The package was worth $29.99 and overall I feel the package was mostly worth it. What really set me on buying the “Messenger Kit” was I needed a headset and I figured “Why spend 20 bucks on only one headset while I can spend 10 more dollars and get the chat pad/headset duo”.
First let me get the negative out of the way. Maybe it was just me but the headset which came with the package was totally “Rubbish”. I kept getting complaints from gamers on Halo 3 who complained of major static. Luckily for me I found one of my old wired headsets and haven’t heard a complaint since.
When you snap the chatpad to your controller for the most part you can play without any hiccups. The chatpad is perfectly placed where it doesn’t bother or take you away from your gaming experience. Even though it feels good I still wouldn’t play with it on because hey nothing beats the feeling of freedom baby.
I had a couple of MSN messenger conversations with the chatpad and it was pretty flawless. Believe it or not I actually don’t mind the digital keyboard on the Xbox 360 system because I’ve been typing on it since 2005 and have pretty much mastered it.
If you receive tons of IM’s and are always typing you will love the chatpad. As for me a gamer who doesn’t really type a lot on the 360 I would pass on it.
Is this the new norm of the video game industry? Will every collectors edition of a game include a little toy for me to put on my desk? Anywhooo this collectors edition of “Assassin’s Creed” which has been called by some “Prince of Persia next-gen-a-fied” includes your regular hooplah of a bonus dvd, figurine, comic book, and tin case.
Xbox Domainer “Bill J” sends word of this video uploaded on Gametrailers which compares the gameplay of Project Gotham Racing 3 and Project Gotham Racing 4. Both games look very similar but in certain instances PGR 4 looks better. PGR 3 was of course rushed to meet the launch of the Xbox 360 system back in 2005 and PGR 4 was developed with less pressure.
I have to tip my hat off to Bizarre Creations because these two PGR games look very good and I know a lot of racing fans are having a blast.
I love games which show me some limbs flying off and blood spraying all over the place! It’s that touch of realism which keeps my inner mad man at ease. I’m not a violent man in real life but video games with shooting just gets me all excited.
Board games on XBLA? Not for me. Racing Cars? Meh. Give me guns and shooting!
Activision has heard my cry and that’s why they’re releasing Solder of Fortune:Payback because of crazed shooting fans like me.The game looks sweet during this video but will it be good when it’s released to retail? One can hope.
Bungie has updated their matchmaking playlists today and are in full effect. If you’ve played matchmaking then you probably know how much Shotty Snipers ends up being the match. This update should help ease your pain. Bungie has updated the playlist so that Shotty Snipers will not appear as much and if vetoed, it will not appear again. YAY!
Here is what Bungie had to say:
Halo 3’s Matchmaking Playlists, just like Halo 2’s, are dynamic and ever-changing entities. Even now in the perilous Bungie towers, we’re looking at new hoppers, gametypes and modes to test for future iterations and changes of these playlists. Multiplayer Lead Tyson Green and test wunderkind David Gasca sent the following list of changes to us — and these changes are live now:
Big Team Battle matches are now 16-player affairs.
In the Team Slayer playlist, the appearance of Shotty Snipers has been greatly reduced.
Now, when players veto Shotty Snipers, the game that results from the veto will not be Shotty Snipers.
In one-sided VIP matches, the attacking team will now see a waypoint for the VIP they are hunting.
In Lone Wolves, Slayer gametypes will appear more frequently.
Bungie has updated their matchmaking playlists today and are in full effect. If you’ve played matchmaking then you probably know how much Shotty Snipers ends up being the match. This update should help ease your pain. Bungie has updated the playlist so that Shotty Snipers will not appear as much and if vetoed, it will not appear again. YAY!
