Epic's UT3 might sport 360/PC interplay, screenshots, more

What's crazy here is that Epic is considering allowing interplay between 360 and PC owners. Based on a quote from UT3's lead developer, Jeff Morris, it's not as hard as we think:

"If you’re into graphics, the Xbox can deliver just like the PC can, and
multiplayer is so ubiquitous now that you’re able to get that same experience.
If you’re about good games, there’s no contest between the two systems. They’re
all giving you the same experience. "

With phenomenal looking titles comeing like Bioshock, Mass Effect, Halo 3, the inevitable Gears of War 2, and now Unreal Tournament 3, I look to be perfectly encamped in the 360 camp for a long time to come. PS3 can kiss my plasma rifle. Look at these courtesy Team Xbox:

Note: the PC release date is "TBA 2007." I anticipate the 360 port, since that's where most of Epic's money will be made, will be soonafter.

Gayest Video Game Trash Talk

I would have to say I have heard some pretty gay trash talk from my years of playing video-games. Most of the dumb sayings I am about to list stem from my days of playing Halo 2. All-be-it these aren't the dumbest cutdowns I have heard, just the most frequently used.

-thats how I roll.
-no scope bitch
-noob or noobie
-of course the one I hate the worst, screaming F**k you at the top of their lungs then threatening to kick my ass. (Which I respond,"OK hardass, you gonna reach through the headset and strangle me?; this doesnt help the situation).

The one thing I love in Halo 2 is when their team barely wins and they talk uber shit, then when you meet the same team agian and win, everyone gets real quite.

Also hate when you beat someone in deathmatch and they challenge you to one on one to save face. I would accept not wanting to back down from a challenge, then when I joined there game they had some random gay weapon settings. Pretty frustrating.

Ubisoft hits us with five new maps and two new gamemodes in the upcoming Player's Pack Red Edition.

"Hey you, VIP. Come with us or die." That was IGN's caption for the above photo detailing the soon-to-be-released update to Rainbow Six: Las Vegas. The expansion includes two new game types and five new maps. The first new gametype, Assassination, features a scenario where a member of the defense team is randomly picked as the "VIP." As the above photo indicates, he is literally handed a gun and told to follow the escort team to the extraction point. Of course, the purpose of the Assault team is to attack and kill the VIP and defenders.

The second new game type is like some of our old favorites, "Battlefield", where team fight for control of a number of "radar stations" positioned around the map. Some of you may not like this game, but some of us do. These additions look like they're going to lengthen out the life of this game significantly. Some of you should consider getting the damn game.

Halo 3 User Interface features "A-Hole" Button

Here is an excerpt from the Bungie Weekly Update:

Multiplayer UI is coming along beautifully. We’re meeting today about some manual stuff, and honestly one of the big problems with making the manual this time around will be fitting everything in. There are so many options that explaining them all will be a tough thing to compress into a little manual. Luckily the UI itself is incredibly self-explanatory – like the new “A-Hole Button” as Colm Nelson jokingly describes it.

Anyone who’s played MP on Xbox Live knows the following is true: Teenagers, plus anonymity, plus microphone = idiot. Xbox Live already gives you powerful tools to mute, well, tools on a case by case basis. The “A-Hole Button” in Halo 3 lets you exact instant, silent vengeance. These kind of vocal buttmunches, as it turns out, are exactly as fun to play against as normal people, as long as you can’t hear them. So now, you simply press a button (back button, for the moment anyway) and up comes the score list with everyone’s tag on it. The right stick lets you highlight the miscreant and you can then instantly mute them for the rest of the game. These morons continue smacktalking anyway because they can’t help themselves, but if you don’t have to listen to it, you can simply enjoy killing them over and over again, knowing that as their Ritalin wears off and their frustration builds, it’s less and less fun for them. Aaaah. So satisfying.

Any muted player you have selected in your Xbox Live account overrides Halo 3’s new system, but that should actually enhance the choice of maroons you’re editing out of your gameplay. Best of all, it means fewer wasted or frustrating gameplay sessions. We’re doing our best to come up with lots of smart solutions for stuff like this, but honestly, we can’t be parents to some of these poltroons. We’re much more concerned with giving you guys the tools you need to silence them.

I for one applaud this new ability to mute the occasional idiot! Nothing more frustrating than having to stop in the middle of a match and fumble around to mute some random Jerk. This should help speed things up so that you can continue to pwn their pre-pubescent a$$.

Unbelievable Gears No Scope Video

I was on the Gears forums from xbox.com and this thread I found very interesting http://forums.xbox.com/10208747/ShowPost.aspx since Shade and BC are pwning us all on a regular basis with the Sniper rifle. I wanted to see how it is done. This guy posted his video montage of all his best no scopes supposedly all off host.... Let me tell you this guy is good. I have a new respect for the sniper now. I might even have to start racing some of you guys to go get it as I usually just go for something else. Oh how I enjoy this game.

I think Army is completely spot on with his concerns about Halo 3 and the beta. It better blow my mind or I will just be killing time playing H3 waiting for Gears 2. And I really can't believe I just said that as I am a huge fanboy of the Halo series.

end transmission

Why sumitting your articles to Digg & Del.icio.us is important

From now on , anytime you post an article on our blog it would be great if you would submit your article to Digg and Del.icio.us. I have saved everyone a step by adding the links to both sites at the end (bottom) of each article. All you have to do is sign up for a account to each of the websites which is non evasive and takes only a few minutes.

Digg is self explanatory when it comes to submitting articles but if everyone has an account that means we can vote for the article if the article has already been submitted. This feature is cool because if you get allot if Diggs (votes) your article has a chance to go viral and bring some serious traffic to our site. Here is an example of an article I submitted a few days ago: http://digg.com/gaming_news/WTF_New_Black_Xbox_360

As for Del.icio.us all you need to do to submit your article is write a brief description of the article by simple copying the first sentence or two of your post. Then you need to add tags or keywords so that users can find your article while searching. Please note when you add a keyword:

• Don't use commas to separate keywords...only use spaces.
• Don't use spaces within Keyword phrases

Here is an example:

• Wrong way - halo, halo 3, halo tips
• Correct Way: halo halo3 halotips
• Click here for a Del.icio.us example

I know it looks kind of weird but that is what they require. By doing this we will get more people visiting our site and acquire more people linking back to us which will help us achieve higher search engine rankings.

According to our Google Analytics (tracking software) account as of Monday Feb 5 - Sunday Feb 11, 2007 we've:

• 524 Visits
• 687 Pageviews
• 37.6% are from Digg
• 35.31% are from forums.xbox.com
• 13.3% are from Google
• 9.35% are from www2.blogger.com
• Rest are from us directly going to our blog

Hope this help. If you have any questions just add your comment to this post.

Editorial: Why the Halo3 Beta is a bad idea

I'm starting to get a bad vibe about the upcoming Beta for Halo 3. No, it's not because I'm jealous for not getting in, but rather because I'm looking at the pics and videos that have been release so far and I have to ask, "Is that it?" So far all the leaked gameplay looks no better than a polished up, 720p version of Halo 2.

Other than simply having a magic name that will drive fanboys nuts, Halo 3 despite the monster guerrilla ad campaign has yet to show me anything that makes me go "holy crap!" Case in point: The Monday Night Football commercial. We all watched it and we were pumped, only the next morning we were a little letdown when we found out the whole thing was CGI'd and acted out by Hollywood. The folks at Bungie went so far as to add that nothing in the commercial represented actual gameplay. Major letdown.

This leads me back to why the Beta could be a bad idea: If this thing does not represent a quantum leap over Halo 2 in terms of graphics and gameplay, those of us not participating in it will hear about it. With over 100,000 estimated participants in the Beta, all the glitches and faults are going to get aired out in forums and blogs worldwide. Regardless of Bungie's actions to fix everyone's complaints, this is going to take a lot of the shine off Microsoft's most prominant Xbox franchise. God forbid that word sneaks out from the hard core gamers that this thing sucks.

On the other hand, if it rules, then it could build a wave of hype that would probably crush all the competition through the summer and into the fall. I really hope they blow my mind, I really do, but I'm afraid that the end product is not going to be so revolutionary and that in the end, we'll all be eagerly anticipating a 2008 Gears of War 2.

That is all.

WTF...New Black Xbox 360?

Could this be the Xbox Coolbreeze has been holding out for? This source is not confirmed but you gotta admit the new black color looks sweet. And just like we've talked about before it is rumored to have a 120 gig hard drive, black controllers and HDMI connections and cost around $580.

OK guys I say we all pitch in and buy a strink-wrap machine so we can take back our pale outdated 360's...who's in?

Crackdown Halo 3 Beta Images Leaked

Thanks to a little reasearch online we now know what to expect from the Halo 3 Beta invite that comes with your purchase of Crackdown this month. Crackdown will release on Feb 20 and if you buy a specialy marked "Halo 3" game, you’ll receive an entry into the beta his Spring.

Here are some pictures that leaked:






I bet everyone is crossing their fingers hoping Crachdown doesn't suck. I bet this game sells out fast...at least the ones with Halo 3 beta invite!

Wanna know why I bought a PS3?

Ok...Ok...it's been awhile since I lasted posted anything. Well allots happened since then; vacation...business...new PS3. Yep that's right I got a PS3 and I wanted to share my first hand experience with everyone.

The main reason I got the PS3 was for the blue-ray player @ $599 and considering most blue-ray players average around $1,000 I figured I got a steal. The blue-ray player is awesome; it loads fast, looks great, hdmi connections, and I can watch Disney & Sony titles that HD DVD doesn't have.

I bought Sony's answer to Gears of War, Resistance: Fall of Man. I heard from many highly respected game magazines that it was rated a 9.5 and in most cases tied with GOW. Well they were way off! Don't get me wrong it's a great game that plays well and it reminds of me of Call of Duty 3 + Prey + Far Cry all mixed together. It looks pretty damn good for a first gen title but the controls play like a newbie FPS arcade; they may as well have put an auto aim on the damn game! In my opinion it's really fun like GOW and compells you to want to play through the levels but I give it an 8.5 because the graphics and online gameplay/arena don't even come close...at all.

On a positive side I downloaded the racing game, MotoStorm and it looks sweet! The graphics are bad ass, the sound track is killer, the physics and crashes are amazing! This game will definitely be a 9 - 9.5.

PS3 will never catch up because their online service sucks and their browser is way too cumbersome and takes way too long to want to even try surfing the net while sitting on your couch. So why am I keeping it?

• Because their first gen games look really bad ass and there are more to come; Lair, MotoStorm, Devil May Cry 4, Ninja Gaiden, Heavenly Sword, God of War, Tekken 6, Metal Gear Solid, Killzone and more


• Top notch Blue Ray player for half the price


• Backwards Compatibility with PS & PS2 games


• Free Online Play


• It's black piano gloss is damn sexy!

Xbox Live is light years ahead of Sony and it's going to take some real muscle and crazy tactics to come back from such a large deficit but I'm sure they would be comfortable with 2nd place when they catch up with the Wii.

CliffyB of EPIC talks on Gears

Click the link to read a pretty decent article on IGN featuring CliffyB of Gears of War fame. I thought it was a pretty interesting article. But be forewarned it is 8 pages so it will take some time to get thru it.

I think we will have some cool new stuff to look forward to in Downloadable Content from the Marketplace in the months to come.

Possible new gametypes. I would guess something like Territories would be good on Gears. In the article he also says that Capture the Flag would not be likely, as Gears is all about cover and obstacles so running from 1 side of the map to the other in a fast manner is very difficult to do.

Anyways I hope you find the article interesting.

Study Says Video Games Are Good For The Eyes!

Interesting information on the benefits or pwning your friends online!!

SINGAPORE, Feb 7 (Reuters Life!) -

Video game addicts, rejoice: U.S. researchers have found that playing is actually good for your eyes, and despite all those dire warnings from your parents, it won't make you blind.
A study by the University of Rochester showed that people who played action video games for a few hours a day over the course of a month improved their vision by about 20 percent.

"Action video game play changes the way our brains process visual information," Daphne Bavelier, professor of brain and cognitive sciences, said in the study published on the university's Web site, www.rochester.edu, on Tuesday.

"These games push the human visual system to the limits and the brain adapts to it. That learning carries over into other activities and possibly everyday life."

Bavelier and a graduate student tested college students who had played very few, if any, video games in the last year. Test subjects were given an eye test similar to the one used at regular eye clinics and then divided into two groups -- one played shoot-em-up action games for an hour a day while the control group played a less visually complex game. Their vision was tested after the study, with those who played the action game scoring better in the eye test.

The researchers said their findings could help patients with several types of visual defects.

I knew it had to have some benefits. Granted it can test the strength of your marriage at times, but at least I can see the frying pan coming at my head now!! Hahahaha.

Sony CEO: PlayStation 3 better than Xbox 360 in many ways

In an upcoming EGM article, Jack Tretton, CEO and President of Sony Computer Entertainment America says:

"I think we've got a better machine PlayStation 3, I think we've got a better
business model, and I think we're going to win in the long term."

Personally this sounds to me like a PR release from a company that beginning to realize its been pwned. Let me pull out my checklist:

1. "I think we've got a better machine..." Check, errrr, maybe, definitely highly debatable.
2. "...we've got a better business model..." Really? Did you meet your Xmas sales forecast or did you get pwned by a year old box that breaks all the time. Did you know you were selling at a $200 per unit loss? OK dude, whatever.
3. "...we're going to win in the long term." BWAHAHAHAHA. ROFLMAO. Seriously, you just got publicly tattooed by the Wii. Your box is in stock everywhere and yet everyone is still asking for a Wii. You can't sell a PS3 on eBay that isn't discounted below retail.

Oh, did I mention the source of this article was a PS3 News Site???? Really. No wait, here's the best quote from the interview:

"But while early indicators are not completely irrelevant, you can't completely
ignore them, and I'd be a little concerned if I were them. On the other hand,
what concerns me is if the Xbox 360 is being rejected, are the consumers on
board with [next-generation] technology and is there enough [demand]
there."

He must have missed a few headlines from the Wall Street crowd regarding the 360's holiday sales figures and monstrous revenues generated for Microsoft by Xbox Live. When did the 360 get rejected by consumers? I find in comical that EGM is even running with this article in spite of its tone of desperate OpEd spin.

Gears of War Weapons Analysis Part 1

I've been testing out the damage from different weapons. The following results are for COG shooting at Locust at a short range. For obvious reasons, I didn't use the torque bow, boom shot, hammer of dawn, or grenades.

Pistol -
6 shots to head = death; w/ perfect reload 5 shots
7 shots to chest = down; w/ perfect reload 6 shots
7 shots to legs = down; w/ perfect reload 6 shots
Note: These numbers might go down by a shot by shooting faster. I will try it out later.

Hammerburst -
2 bursts to head = death; w/ perfect reload 2 bursts
2 bursts to chest = down; w/ perfect reload 2 bursts
2 bursts to legs = down; w/ perfect reload 2 bursts

Boltok pistol -
2 shots to head = death; w/ perfect reload 2 shots
3 shots to chest = down; w/ perfect reload 2 shots
3 shots to legs = down; w/ perfect reload 2 shots

Chainsaw gun -
~15 rounds to head = death; w/ perfect reload ~10 rounds
~25 rounds to chest = down; w/ perfect reload ~15 to 20 rounds
~25 rounds to chest = down; w/ perfect reload ~15 to 20 rounds