LEGO Indiana Jones

Spider Pig

World in Conflict

This game looks pretty bad ass for the real time strategy junkies in the group ie Shade and Booger (I think). It is a command and conquer type game but with less focus on base building and more on unit command and tactics.



If thats not cool enough, A collector's edition of the game will ship with an actual piece of the Berlin Wall.

Gears of War 'Friday Night Fragfest'

This reminds me of our Friday Nights!!

E3 2007 Halo 3 Videos

Xbox support blames your surge protectors for massive failure rates

Yep, apparently since XBox support discovered that some 90% of failed Xbox's were plugged into surge protectors, they've come up with the statistically unsound assumption that your surge protector is causing all the failure:

"Well, according to a post on Law of the Game, it's actually surge protectors. Apparently LofG's Mark Methenitis contacted Microsoft Tech Support about his particular red rings of death, and reports the following explanation: "The Xbox 360 is highly sensitive to reductions in power, and even the slightest cut in power can cause things like the fans and even the DVD laser to malfunction. Surge protectors can cause this, and probably 90% of the consoles they see have all failed in 6-12 months of being plugged into a surge protector."

Now, being the geek I am about surge protection and line conditioning, I'm aware that the vast majority of consumer based surge protectors consists of a discharge tube sitting across a line that much like a fuse, pops when the voltage exceeds a threshold, cutting power to attached devices. Apparently there aren't any geeks working at Microsoft Xbox technical support. My favorite quote from the commentator:

"Obviously it's not surge protectors that are at fault - as only 90% of the affected boxes were using them. No, it's electricity itself. SPOnG can exclusively reveal that 100% of 360s that suffered from the Red Ring of Death used electricity. "

Nice.

The New Xbox 360 is Halo Green not Gray

The mysterious fourth Xbox recently spotted at an E3 rehearsel has been identified as a new Halo green military styled Xbox 360. It sports the HDMI port and a 20 Gig HD and will be available in September. No word on price or whether it includes the new 65 nm process "Falcon" chipset.

Go Byrdman, go.

Citing excessive 360 repair costs, Microsoft revamps warranty program

And also takes a $1 billion hit in the process (courtesy CNN):

Microsoft said on Thursday "an unacceptable number of repairs" to its Xbox 360 will force it to take a charge of more than $1 billion for its most recent quarter, and it announced a new, extended warranty for the videogame console.

The announcements come amid mounting complaints about Xbox 360 failures on the Internet. Microsoft said it had investigated the sources of hardware failures indicated by three red flashing lights on the console and had identified "a number of factors" that can cause such failures.

Microsoft said it would extend warranty coverage to three years to cover the problem and would reimburse customers who had previously paid for repairs related to the three-flashing-lights error message.

Free Game on the Marketplace

I am always down for some free swag!

I have not downloaded this yet so I can not recommend it or slam it. But just thought I would pass the info along to you all. Now go download.

Aegis Wing is a side-scrolling space combat game reminiscent of classic eighties arcade hits. It features alien-busting action, slick graphics, an orchestral soundtrack, and devastating power-ups.

Also included is a unique cooperative mode of play in which up to three additional players can "attach" to the leader's ship and become independent, 360-degree gun turrets.

Best of all, Aegis Wing is available as a free download from Xbox LIVE® Arcade to all Gold and Silver members!

• Old-school genre: Get ready for an action-retro 2-D sci-fi side scrolling shooter, similar to Gradius or Defender.
• Multiplayer gameplay: Up to four players can compete on the same console or on Xbox LIVE. Attach to each other, and super weapon powers grow as more players attach. After attaching, there's one pilot and each rider rotates fire via a 360-degree gun turret.
• Super weapons: Wield four super weapons, including the Hades Beam (kills everything in its path), the Gordon Burst (EMP pulse that kills all bullets and short circuits enemies), the Arcus Missile (heat-seeking missiles), and Lambda Shield (allows bullets to be deflected and used against the enemies).

Good News: Video Games Not An Addiction

From ABC News:

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Doctors backed away on Sunday from a controversial proposal to designate video game addiction as a mental disorder akin to alcoholism, saying psychiatrists should study the issue more.

Addiction experts also strongly opposed the idea at a debate at the American Medical Association's annual meeting.

They said more study is needed before excessive use of video and online games -- a problem that affects about 10 percent of players -- could be considered a mental illness.

"There is nothing here to suggest that this is a complex physiological disease state akin to alcoholism or other substance abuse disorders, and it doesn't get to have the word addiction attached to it," said Dr. Stuart Gitlow of the American Society of Addiction Medicine and Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York.

A committee of the influential physicians' group had proposed video game addiction be listed as a mental disorder in the American Diagnostic and Statistic Manual of Mental Disorders, a guide used by the American Psychiatric Association in diagnosing mental illness.

Such a move would ease the path for insurance coverage of video game addiction.

Even before debate on the subject began, the committee that made the proposal backed away from its position, and instead recommended that the American Psychiatric Association consider the change when it revises its next diagnostic manual in 5 years.

The psychiatrist group has said if the science warrants, it could be considered for inclusion in the next diagnostic manual, which will be published in 2012.

While occasional use of video games is harmless and may even help with some disorders like autism, doctors said in extreme cases it can interfere with day-to-day necessities like working, showering or even eating.

"Working with this problem is no different than working with alcoholic patients. The same denial, the same rationalization, the same inability to give it up," Dr. Thomas Allen of the Osler Medical Center in Towson, Maryland.

Multiplayer on the Darkness

Yep, the 360 failure rates ARE that high

This is one of those dirty little secrets that none of us want to talk about. After all, we love our 360's and hate everything else. Well, word of some informal surveys by retailers indicates that the failure rate could be as high as 30%. Microsoft of course will come back with their cliched 'no comment' or the ever popular 'our customers experience excellent customer support' answers. My my count, of my little circle of friends, the 2OLD 2PWN failure rate could be as high as 70 or 80 percent. Well, when Microsoft makes some rather large unannounced architectural changes that tells me there is a problem. Check out the changes and decide for yourself.

Before:

After:

Coincidence?

Halo 3 Replicas available or preorder

Halo 3 weapon replicas available for preorder

Posted Jun 20th 2007 2:00PM by Dustin Burg
Filed under: News, Halo 3
The guys over at Achievement Junkie dug up news that professionally done Halo 3 weapon replicas will be available this September. The replicas are being cast by Master Replicas (who've previously created Star Wars and Pirates of the Caribbean merchandise) and will come in two delicious flavors; the Carbine and the Battle Rifle. Both replicas are preorderable over at Gamestop for $19.99 each, but no other details are available. Though, Achievement Junkie seems to have unearthed pictures of the replicas, but we can't be sure if they are prototypes and we certainly can't tell their scale. But if these bad boys are decently sized and the craftsmanship is there, we'll definitely put down $20 so our Master Chief helmet doesn't feel so alone.

Command and Conquer 3 Downloadable Content

EA has released a bunch of new content for the Xbox 360 version of Command and Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars. Available for free, the Ground Zero map is a 1v1 map featuring a huge meteor impact crater. This map is also playable in single-player skirmish mode.

Available for 500 Microsoft Points, the Map Pack One has something for every commander, Ranging from brutal 1v1 shootouts to gigantic 2v2 showdowns. This pack includes: Black’s Bigger Battle, Tiber River Valley, Frontier Fracas, Tiberium Gardens III and Tournament Desert Redux. There's also a Map Pack 1 Developer Interview available for free and featuring the developer’s insider tour of the five intense map designs available in Command & Conquer 3 Map Pack One.

Finally, the Factions Picture Pack is available for 80 Microsoft Points and includes 4 gamerpics: GDI, NOD, Scrin, and unique Tiberium EA logo.

No Gears of War Sequel Announcement at E3

You have read the rumors about supposedly leaked Microsoft pre-E3 conference announcements claiming that, among other things, Microsoft Game Studios will announce a sequel to Gears of War at its media briefing.

Putting all rumors to rest, Epic Games' Mark Rein has confirmed to BeyondUnreal that there will be no such announcement, at least not at next month's E3.

We are not announcing a sequel to Gears of War at E3 this year. Did you see the update we just did for Gears of War last week? We're still working on the first one.

I guess you now know why you didn't see those rumors reported on our frontpage...