A video was broadcasted today to Xbox Live Subscribers in the U.K. by valve which stated that Left 4 Dead 2‘s DLC “The Passing” will not be ready by March 31st as stated earlier. Instead now the date has been changed to sometime during the “spring” which is much more vague and gives Valve a much wider window to release the DLC.
Not all bad news however was shown in the video. Now there is at least a price tag accompanying it, 560 MSp, or $7.
There was also news of new features being added in, such as a new weapon called the M-60 anti-personnel rifle. This gun is fearsome in firepower, however has no ability to reload, which means when it’s empty, it’s gone. You can also play golf with zombie eyeballs now as there will be a golf club included with the melee weapons with the purchase of this DLC. Not only that, but you may really want to avoid the new type of witch, this one seems to be crying because she was stood up at the altar with her wedding dress on. Plus the addition of a new special infected, described as an initial survivor who became infected that is loaded with molotov cocktails.
Well, it’s good that they provided the pricing, but it is sad news that they are pushing back this DLC. Especially so close to the initial release date they pushed it back. What does everyone think about the fact it comes with a pricetag like this? And are these new features mentioned now pretty interesting when coupled with The Passing?
The Argus Press has reported on an incident that happened today in a Michigan Middle School.
As it turns out there was a student, whose name is being withheld, at Owossa Middle School has been caught having a suspected “Death Note” with two students names written in them, with specific times for their supposed death. The times for the supposed deaths has already passed, and police state that they believe no one was ever in any actual danger.
Rich Collin’s, the principle of the school, stated that a different boy had found the notebook and gave it to a teacher, who then showed it to a school administrator. This school administrator then notified the police and they suspended the owner of the notebook until further notice.
Death Note is an anime where a Death God, or Shinigami, has dropped a notebook where a human named Light Yagami has found it. After his discovering of the Death Note and its powers he proceeds to murder hundreds of people by writing their names in the notebook, and their time of death making them die of a heart attack, or a written cause of death.
I think this is a bit ridiculous. There is literally nothing that could have happened from such a notebook, though they should still sit down and talk with the child and find out what caused him to write those two other student’s names down to die. This is still draconian though, following such cases as a student being suspended and expelled for bringing a metal butter knife in their lunch, or a toy gun two inches long.
Are schools literally going insane with these no-tolerance policies? This isn’t the first case of a death note being seen at an American school either, there have been over five other cases reported over the past three years. Shouldn’t they be finding the reason that these students wrote these names down in such a manner, instead of punishing them further and potentially causing more psychiatric harm? What do you think?
Game Room Publisher: Krome Developer: Microsoft Game Studios Platforms: Xbox 360 Release Date: March 24th, 2010
Info
“Explore the world of classic arcade gaming with GameRoom’s library of favorites from Atari Inc., Intellivision, Konami Corp. and more!
Buy “Game Room” titles once and play them anywhere! After you’ve bought a game, it will be available on both your Xbox 360 and your Windows-based PC.
New games are available for download every week!
The Game Room is a user interface on the Xbox 360 that lets you play the retro arcade games that you download. These games are exact ports (or close enough to where it’s hard to catch small alterations). Microsoft plans to add a lot more games to the Game Room over the years. Microsoft says it will continue to focus on as the Game Room library expands from 30 at launch to over 1,000 in the next three years. It expects to dole out 5-7 games per week via Xbox Live Marketplace.
There is avatar support, but you can’t control it. The Game Room is more of a fancy, customizable menu system. Select the game you want to play from the menu. Go to friends arcades and play their games. The first time you play the game it is free, but after that it costs $0.50 per play. Buy the game for infinite plays for 240MSP for Xbox only license, and pay 400MSP to be able to play the games on windows live and the Xbox. If you later want to play the game on windows live, just pay the extra MSP to upgrade to a dual license.
Games available (Click a link to go to the Wikipedia page to learn more about the game)
Audio
The sounds and sights of the Game Room sound like a normal arcade which is a nice touch. From classic 8-Bit soundtracks to 8-bit sound effects. It’s all like walking into an actual arcade but one that you own in a virtual realm.
Achievements
The Game Room has 56 achievements worth a total of 1000g. You will have to buy arcade games in order to get a majority of the achievements but at least 80g can be gotten for free. I have marked the free achievements with [FREE] next to them. You’ll just need to download everything you can for free. Click Here for the Achievement List
Overview
The Game Room lets you relive classic games with friends in an online environment, but the execution of the Game Room isn’t as well done as it could have been. The Game Room is a nice addition that enables the new generation gamers to experience what a classic games truly are, and for the old generation gamers to play the games they grew up with. The Game Room is a nice environment that compiles all the ported classics but it could have been improved in many ways. I give the Game Room 7 Capsules out of 10.
Pros
Play the games that started it all.
Challenge friends and compete on leaderboards.
Design your own arcade and invite your friends: they can try your games for free.
Cons
The inability to control your avatar is a letdown.
All the games are ports with medals thrown in.
The avatar support is more of a nuisance then an actual bonus.
Xbox Live’s Larry Hyrb (better known as Major Nelson) released information on his blog saying that Microsoft has been working over the past weeks on making the 360 compatible with flash drives, and their work has paid off.
On April 6th there will be a mandatory update to all Xbox 360 owners and it will allow such users to use flash drives to store their information. Flash drives varying from 1gb to 16 gb will be supported. He also stated that some “USB hard drives” may work, you can only use 16gb maximum of the space provided.
Not only this but Microsoft has partnered with Sandisk to create a 16 gb flash drive to be released in May. Though the price of said flash drive is still unknown.
(Flash drive image courtesy of Joystiq)
This is pretty interesting, though I’m curious to see if this will support all flash drives originally, and then they will release an update forcing you to use Microsoft created flash drives only? Or if that will be the way from the start. Or if in the end they will allow you to use any flash drive. What do you guys think?
Atomic Games’ president Peter Tamte has revealed that he hopes to get Breach on XBLA this summer and that the developer is targeting to release it for $15.
Breach Details:
Atomic Games’ Breach is a first-person, multiplayer shooter that is expected to be released this summer. The game mixes a cover system with destructible environments, and allows players to see their handiwork on walls, floors, ceilings and even single bricks.
Breach features four classes (five after mastering two classes), an experience points system to purchase gadgets, four maps, four game types, 23 weapons and more.
A figure enthusiast named mgdelo, or Mech Designer Gelo created a figurine version of what he believes a Master Chief would look like if it was combined with a Zaku from nearly every Gundam series since creation.
This was a mecha he created himself from scratch and honestly I am very impressed. He spent the better part of four months working on this figure and for good reason. He made it for a Zaku creation competition in the Phillipines and I’m rooting for him to win it with this design. More pictures are available at the link above. Ironic how similar they look with just a change of helmet and modeling of the armor.
Normal Zaku pictured below, and we all know what Master Chief looks like.
G’day everyone, Playstation Store updates are up and available for everyone to enjoy (sorry for the delay). Quit a few price updates to check out. Have a look around, there should be something for everyone this week.
Thanks SONY 🙂 !!
Downloadable Games
Blue Toad Murder Files Episode 1 ($7.49)
A murder mystery puzzle adventure from the developers of BUZZ!. Played solo or up to four players locally, can you unravel the secrets of Little Riddle?
Episode 1 of 6.
ESRB Rated E10+
File size: 420 MB
Blue Toad Murder Files Episode 1-3 Bundle ($14.99)
Purchase episodes 1-3 for a special discounted price. Played solo or up to four players locally, can you unravel the secrets of Little Riddle?
ESRB Rated E10+
File size: 895 MB
Anarchy: Rush Hour ($7.99)
Put the pedal to the metal in this no-holds-barred arcade racing game that will challenge even the most experienced virtual drivers! Race across detailed cities modelled on real locations, battling your way through outrageous traffic jams. When the action heats up, an arsenal of adrenaline-powered devices will help you pull off gravity-defying stunts and obliterate your opponents!
ESRB Rated T
File size: 809 MB
Hamsterball ($9.99)
Take control of a hamster-in-a-ball and run the most frenzied race of your life! The clock is ticking and EVERYTHING is out to stop you – with crazy obstacles, unexpected twists and dramatic drops, each level will challenge you in new and inventive ways! Race solo, against a friend, or battle up to six buddies in Sumo Mode. You better buckle up, ‘cause this ain’t grandma’s hamster in a wheel.
ESRB Rated E
File size: 262 MB
Wakeboarding HD ($14.99)
Grab your board and hold on tight! Wakeboarding HD drops players into a high-speed, water-filled, arcade experience to maneuver through tracks, perform high-flying tricks, collect bonuses and avoid dangers from exploding mines to bloodthirsty sharks. Show your skills and wreak havoc as the bright and colorful tropical paradise resort transforms into an action-packed extreme playground.
ESRB Rated E
File size: 156 MB
Section 8 ($29.99)
Section 8 is a large-scale, sci-fi first person shooter where fast-paced action meets military strategy in the far reaches of the galaxy. Join the epic battle between the 8th Armored Infantry and the Arm of Orion by taking part in fierce squad-based combat across majestic alien worlds.
ESRB Rated T
File size: 3.54 GB
The Tester
The Tester Episode 6
In The Tester – Episode 6 “Focus, People, Focus,” the remaining five (Amped, Cyrus, Doc, Nauseous, and Star), are evaluated on their individual ability to keep it together under fire. And, to scrutinize if their aim is true, SCEA Managing Producer Kyle Shubel joins the panel to witness who’s in the ‘Killzone.’
File size: 567 MB (SD) 856 MB (HD)
PSone Classics
Perfect Weapon ($5.99)
Brawl through a myriad of alien moons as Captain Blake Hunter fights for his life. Find those responsible and unleash your fighting skills upon them!
ESRB Rated T
File size: 207 MB
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Prepare to be blown away by the latest Lost Planet 2 demo coming your way next week on Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network. Grab your weapons or jump into one of the game’s new Vital Suits and prepare for intense 16 player online battles. Featuring the ‘Turbulent Jungle’ map from the online versus mode, the new Lost Planet 2 demo will include full chat support and in-depth result stats so players can establish bragging rights.
While the demo will be widely available from April 21st, Capcom’s most avid fans in Europe will be able to experience the demo from March 31st via a number of early access codes. Codes will shortly be available from www.lostplanet2game.com and will be allocated on a first come, first served basis. Further codes will be available through local initiatives in UK, France, Spain, Italy, Germany and Australia.
Players who download and play the demo will be rewarded when they purchase the full retail version of Lost Planet 2 by getting immediate access to the Machine Gun SP which fires three round bursts.
So.. here’s how it works : March 31st – Early access codes available for Xbox 360 available from http://www.lostplanet2game.com/ and local initiatives in UK, France, Spain, Italy, Germany and Australia. Demo can be played on Xbox Live for those who receive early access code. April 1st – Early access codes available for PS3 available from http://www.lostplanet2game.com/ and local initiatives in UK, France, Spain, Italy, Germany and Australia. Demo can be played on PlayStation Network for those who receive early access code. April 21st – Demo available on Xbox Live for all 360 gamers not lucky enough to obtain an early access code. April 22nd – Demo available on PlayStation Network for all PS3 gamers not lucky enough to obtain an early access code.
Capcom is also pleased to confirm that the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of Lost Planet 2 will now be hitting stores on Tuesday May 11th, one week earlier than previously announced. A PC version is scheduled for release this autumn.
