Wonder when that new Xbox Live Dashboard update that we saw at E3 will be applied to your Xbox 360? Well it turns out it will be arriving on December 6th. Microsoft revealed today that the new dashboard will be downloaded through a patch on that date and 360 owners will have all of the new features you saw back at E3.
For those who don’t remember, this free update will provide a completely redesigned dashboard with gesture and voice control implementation for the Kinect as well as a Bing search for their marketplace content. This includes Cloud Storage for Game Saves, plus Live Profiles, Beacons and Facebook Sharing will also be available in the update. New entertainment content will also be appearing on December 6th so keep an eye out for a bunch of new features after the update is applied.
In case you didn’t feel like picking RAGE up when it was released a few months ago now you have a chance to give it a try without even having to purchase the title. Well, you’ll be able to try a small part at least. Bethesda has released a RAGE demo on the Xbox Live Marketplace which can be obtained here, though you should make sure you have plenty of room on your hard drive as it takes up 2.03GB to install.
Players will have access to the Well mission, try out a few mini-games, explore the city of Wellsprings and even try out a few races which means you’ll get a taste of everything RAGE has to offer. Those with PlayStation 3s will need to wait until December 6th for the demo to appear on the PSN.
Available today on the Xbox Live Marketplace are two hit songs from Lady Gaga’s 2011 album Born This Way. “Marry the Night” and “The Edge of Glory” are both available for 240 Microsoft points individually. With “Born This Way” and “Bad Romance” already on Dance Central 2, you may even port over the Lady Gaga songs, “Just Dance” and “Poker Face”, from the original Dance Central via marketplace download for a total of 6 Lady Gaga titles – an explosion of Gaga.
With Lady Gaga taking the Dance Central 2 stage for November, get ready for some of Rihanna’s hit songs in December. Check out the Dance Central Website for additional information and upcoming releases.
Look at the video below for a preview of the newest additions of Gaga.
2K Games just released the first trailer for Spec Ops: The Line.
Once a spectacle of astonishment, the city of Dubai now lies in ruin from a cataclysmic sandstorm. Most people tried to flee the ruins, but there are some that cannot escape the devastation. U.S. Colonel John Konrad as well as the rest of the 33rd Infantry stayed in Dubai to find the survivors. We haven’t been in contact with the Colonel in 6 months…
We thought everyone to be dead in the sandcastle of Dubai, but we found a weak distress signal coming from within the city. I want you, Captain Walker, and your squad to investigate the signal’s location and locate any survivors.
I must finally warn you soldier of the madness that you will endure. Even soldiers aren’t immune to the effects of confusion, exhaustion, and most importantly decisions. You will occasionally find yourself walking a razor sharp line between your mission and duty. Tread carefully soldier.
Check out the first trailer for Spec Ops: The Line below, and stay tuned for further updates by checking out the Official Website.
Anyone who enjoys a good brain tickler, and is looking for a new challenge will revel in Sega’s quirky new puzzle game CRUSH3D coming soon to Nintendo’s 3DS. If you were wondering what the title of the game refers to, it’s the concept of “crushing” the on-screen environment from three dimensions to two dimensions in order to solve certain puzzles and escape the area. Along the way, Danny must also collect as many marbles as he can in order to unlock the gates to the next level.
This looks like a really cool concept along the lines of what we saw in Paper Mario on the Wii, and as well as being graphically pleasing, also looks to be exceptionally challenging. While you cant see the 3D coming into play in the trailer and I’m sure it would greatly enhance gameplay, it looks fun enough to play without it turned. Information has been flying around about CRUSH3D for quite a while and it is scheduled to be released early 2012.
Enjoy the trailer and stay tuned for more Crush3D news.
Konami have now released PES 2012 for PS2, PSP and Wii, just over one month later than the PS3 and 360 version came out.
“We would like to thank fans for their ongoing support of the Pro Evolution Soccer franchise by providing them the opportunity to enjoy the latest installment on more platforms,” said Shinji Hirano, President of Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. “We want all gamers to have the opportunity to play Pro Evolution Soccer 2012, so we’re bringing it to as many platforms as possible.”
Featuring enhances modes as well as co-op play for the PSP, PES 2012 challenges gamers to prove their worth against the best clubs in the world.
Konami also recently launched a Pro Evolution Soccer 2012 website in the Americas at www.canyouplaypes.com, acting as a hub for all activity for PES, giving access to UEFA news feeds as well as exclusive trailers, screenshots, news, events and more.
Gameloft have just launched their biggest sale to date for the iPhone and iPad. 20 premium Gameloft games such as Sacred Odyssey: Rise Of Ayden, BackStab, Zombie Infection, Shadow Guardian just to name a few are now sale for only $0.99c. They wont be on special for too long so pick them up before they go back to their normal price.
Honestly what can you pick up for only 99 cents now days? Not much and if you do it wont be anywhere near as entertaining as the games on special at the moment.
Check out the full list of games below, and enjoy:
iPhone (click on the links below to be taken straight into the iTunes Store)
A new Dragon Ball anime has been green-lit. The new series will be based upon the Dragon Ball: Episode of Bardock spin-off manga and will tell more of the history of Son Goku’s father the legendary Saiyan known as Bardock.
The spin-off manga was serialised back in August in the V Jump magazine and ran for 3 chapters. It is unknown what the difference between this new anime series and the previous Dragon Ball: Bardock, the Father of Goku, OVA special will be as of posting.
The new series is set to premiere in Japan at the Jump Festa event on the 17th and 18th of December, 2011. What do you think of the super saiyan news? Let us know in the shoutbox and comments section.
Dynasty Warriors 7: Xtreme Legends Developer: Omega Force Publisher: Tecmo Koei Platform: PlayStation 3 (Reviewed) Release Date: November 15, 2011 Price: $39.99 – Available Here
Overview:
The name Dynasty Warriors has always brought up thoughts of plowing through hundreds of enemies at a time, and earlier this year we were given a prime example of this in action with Dynasty Warriors 7. However that was then and now we have yet another Dynasty Warriors title, one that retains the number of 7 but expands upon the original title with a number of new additions. I speak of course about Dynasty Warriors 7: Xtreme Legends. You can find our review for the original Dynasty Warriors 7here, but how does this new updated version fair?
Story:
Now for those who don’t know about the basis of Dynasty Warriors’ storyline, where have you been the past fourteen years? In all seriousness the storyline of the Dynasty Warriors series revolves heavily around the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and ancient Chinese history where China was controlled by three main groups Shu, Wei, Wu and eventually Jin.
Now it is worth noting that players who do not possess the original Dynasty Warriors 7 will actually not be able to access any specific story mode content in DW7: Xtreme Legends. In fact without the ownership of the original, you will be limited to a mode where you can enjoy a bit of original story as you take whatever character you choose through a number of missions to develop their castle in Legend Mode.
Still, as a whole the entire storyline of Dynasty Warriors 7 is just as great as those who loved the original will remember it. The improvements they made to try and keep a cohesive story going for each of the four main factions in the title adds a lot more depth to their stories that otherwise may have been missed out if they had kept with the standard one character storyline of past games.
Audio & Visual:
Those looking for any sort of graphical enhancement in Dynasty Warriors 7: Xtreme Legends will find themselves a bit disappointed as I found the title to look exactly the same as the original DW7 was. That isn’t to say that there aren’t at least a few new additions graphically however. Some characters have new alternate costumes which is a nice bonus and also the three new characters match the style of the other characters perfectly.
Perhaps a bit too perfectly however. Of the three included characters, I found it difficult to acknowledge Pang De as a full blown fighter rather than your standard lieutenant like character which would have normally been defeated and blown away quickly. Wang Yi and Guo Jia are nice and impressive looking however. The gallery has also been updated a bit with new content and retains all of the same impressive looking Musou effects that the original title held.
Likewise the characters have retained their quality of voice work that was found in Dynasty Warriors 7. This is either a good thing or a bad thing as the original dub was hit and miss as far as quality goes in my opinion. The new voice actors for the newly added characters do a decent job, but it is just such a shame that they couldn’t have done something with the collection of 95% annoying background music that plays as you tear your way through enemies.
Gameplay:
Now Dynasty Warriors 7: Xtreme Legends retains all of the same game functions you know and either love or hate, including nearly all of the same gameplay features that were available in Dynasty Warriors 7. However there are a few things that should be noted first when you first power on the title and choose to jump into the world of the Three Kingdoms.
First of all, while there are a number of new modes added into the title, without ownership of the original Dynasty Warriors 7 on the PlayStation 3 a number of older gameplay modes are left out of the title. Now while these modes may be older, they can also be seen as quite essential to enjoying the title. By using the REMIX feature in the main menu, players must insert their Dynasty Warriors 7 disc to unlock Story Mode and Conquest Mode. Not owning the original disc will cause you to not have these modes at all in Xtreme Legends.
This is actually a decent detriment to the title, considering this is one that was originally multiplatform. While Xtreme Legends is a PlayStation 3 exclusive, the original Dynasty Warriors 7 was available for both the PlayStation 3 as well as the Xbox 360. This means that a number of fans may have purchased the Xbox 360 version and will either be left in the dark or need to buy a second copy for the PlayStation 3 just to enjoy everything that Dynasty Warriors 7: Xtreme Legends has to offer.
Still, all is not lost as the original modes in Dynasty Warriors 7 have seen a decent upgrade in this version of the title. For example in the original Dynasty Warriors 7 you had to play as a specific character always in the story missions, however in Xtreme Legends you can now play as any of your favorite officers for the story mode, as well as play it with a friend. Plus players who end up importing their Dynasty Warriors 7 save file will bring over their character levels, weapon levels and even their guardian animals.
Conquest Mode has also been slightly upgraded by allowing the player to pick any officer they want right at the beginning rather than force them to unlock them. Also, rather than have to play as a specific character for a Legendary Battle you can now play as any character for these legendary battles as well. Plus you can also interact with the three new characters, Guo Jia, Wang Yi and Pang De that have been added into the title.
Besides the updated older modes, there were two more gameplay modes added intoDW7: Xtreme Legends and these two modes are actually accessible to everyone rather than just those who own the original. The modes that have been added are the Legend mode and Challenge Mode. The Challenge Mode is quite unique as it allows four players to play online at one time and even provide an online ranking system for players to compete with one another to try and obtain the best score on the multitude of included stages.
The Legend Mode will likely be the mode of choice for those who don’t have the original two game modes added to their DW7: Xtreme Legends. The Legend Mode provides original stories for both the new and returning characters and even allows players to become the master of their own castle and upgrade it as they see fit when they complete various missions.
Dynasty Warriors 7: Xtreme Legends provides everything that fans of the original would love and retains all of its hack and slash combat where you can easily defeat a thousand soldiers without breaking a sweat. The new characters that have been added are a nice little addition but don’t add a whole lot to the experience, which is unfortunately the same for the new weapons and abilities added. Still, in the end the new gameplay modes are certainly well created and should provide countless hours of entertainment for Dynasty Warriors fans. On the other hand I cannot shake the feeling that this would have been better suited as a DLC add-on rather than a standalone purchase.
Overall:
Now Dynasty Warriors 7: Xtreme Legends isn’t lacking in content by any means. There is plenty of content here for a standalone title that would please those eager to get their Dynasty Warriors fix by providing more of the same hack and slash gameplay the series is known for. Plus the title is a bit of a budget one as it will run for $39.99 at most stores, which means it’s at least a bit cheaper than the original upon release. With three new characters, new abilities and weapons as well as a couple of new gameplay modes Dynasty Warriors 7: Xtreme Legends is at least worth a look.
Nintendo of America are stepping up the Mario Kart 7 marketing campaign, taking the rather awesome route of actually getting some completely custom, functional Mario Karts built. A phone call came in to the CEO of custom car builders West Coast Customs with what begun as a fairly standard request…
“I need a machine that can do 0 to 60 in less than five seconds.”
…
“Underwater,”
This was Reggis Fils-Aime on the end of the line, ordering up a couple of real life Mario style karts to celebrate the release of Mario Kart 7. Why underwater? Well in case you haven’t been following the game, this is the first Mario Kart title that will allow players to customise their vehicles, adding on enhancements to take to the skies or dive under the waves and choosing their own chassis and tyres.
The two karts produced can reach speeds of 35mph, so that naught to sixty figure might not have been possible, but looking at these things, who cares? Just think of all the potential for freaking people out as you drive by dressed as Mario, flinging banana peels as you go.
The Bumble V is Luigi’s vehicle of choice, whereas Mario gets a slightly more traditional kart – allbeit with added hang glider. Nintendo are yet to announce how these two unique pieces of Mario memorabillia will be given away, but come December some lucky fans will find themselves in need of some more garage space.
