Posts Tagged “Xbox 360”
Warner Brothers Announces Guardians of Middle-earth For Xbox 360, PS3
Warner Bros. recently announced via press release Guardians of Middle-earth, a Lord of the Rings MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena). It is being developed by Monolith for PS3 and Xbox 360, and is being released exclusively for download. Read On »
Microsoft Rolls Out Winter Update With New Look, Bing, and WP7 Companion
The fateful day finally arrived earlier this week and Microsoft’s new interface for the Xbox 360 has finally hit the wild. This new update features a design very reminiscent of the Windows Phone 7 interface which uses tile groups instead of the old NXE (New Xbox Experience) interface which was more of a series of rows divided by a menu. It also has a simplified and streamlined design where both the controller and Kinect device use the same interface instead of the separate, bland interface that was shoehorned in for Kinect to be used with the older version. But how does it really perform?
Places To Do – Xbox 360 Central: Toronto
When Victoria told me about the location of the Disney event that she went to last week, I had to see this for myself. Nestled in amongst the shops at 330 Queen Street, Toronto, about a block away from the Silver Snail (a phenomenal haunt for the comic aficionado), was a little nook emblazoned with the Xbox 360 logo. Microsoft had set up shop with some of the latest titles available, and a few that weren’t, for the public to feast upon and try out. Read On »
Dark Souls: As It Once Was, So Shall It Be
They’re not ready for this…or are they?
As someone whose gaming career began in the days of the 2600, I have borne witness to a shift in the arc of game design. Now, most everyone will agree games are ultimately about entertainment. What changed was the root of that entertainment. Games now tend towards providing a bit of escapism for the player without them having to put much effort in. Think of it as an interactive movie where the obstacle, be it a giant monster or arcane puzzle, is merely a plot device moving you on to the next scene. Those who wish for a greater challenge have the option to increase the difficulty, but rare now is the game where the difficulty simply “Is”. Dark Souls, like its spiritual predecessor Demons Souls, is such a game.
Damn kids, in my day this was considered a mid-boss.
Some of you already get it, others of you require a frame of reference (due to my advanced age, no doubt) to really understand what this means. The entertainment value in many games of the 8 and 16 bit eras was drawn from the challenge they posed. Battletoads, Ninja Gaiden, Zillion, TMNT, Ghouls and Ghosts, Shinobi, and R-Type come to mind. Read On »
Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012: Summon your credit card.
In hindsight, I did him a favor.
I love Magic: The Gathering. The very concept of summoning minions to wreak havoc upon mine enemies while flailing indiscriminately with arcane destruction has resonated so strongly with me to reflect in my character choice in near every MMO I’ve played. I clearly recall trips to the hobby shop in Utica to stock up on booster packs and say goodbye to my hard earned allowance. Hot summer days spent sheltered in basements and garages, hoping that the cards fall just right so I can snag that rare my opponent was unlucky enough to wager. Good memories, one and all…except that one time I thought Dave was going to attack me after I won the Phantasmal Forces that he had just acquired…but mostly good overall.
So when Duels of the Planeswalkers dropped on XBL I took just short of a New York minute to buy that sucker and get back in it. For a brief while I was flying high on nostalgia and the thrill of battle. Being a sucker for straight-color decks Read On »
Happy Birthday Sonic the Hedgehog!
Today, we celebrate one of the most iconic video game characters in the history of the industry. Nemesis to Nintendo’s Mario, this character launched the first console that would rival the Atari crushing juggernaut. 15 million copies of his first game were sold to catapult SEGA’s console market share to a staggering 65% when it was bundled with the Genesis, outselling the Super Nintendo by a staggering 2 to 1.
Sonic the Hedgehog would go on to spawn dozens of sequels and spin-offs to sell over 80 million units worldwide. Ten years after his creation he would arrive on his first foreign console, Nintendo’s GameCube having outlived SEGA’s ill-fated hardware line. Ever since, Sonic the Hedgehog has appeared on every major console since 2001, and today he turns 20 years old.
Here are some of Sonic the Hedgehog’s milestones over the years:
June 23, 1991 – Sonic the Hedgehog is released for the Sega Genesis (known in Japan as the Mega Drive)
November 21, 1992 – Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is released for the Sega Genesis in Japan. Introduces Tails as a playable character. Features cooperative and competitive multiplayer modes.
June 1993 – The Sonic the Hedgehog comic series’ first issue is released by Archie Comics. It is currently at issue #225.
September 6, 1993 – The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog animated series is launched on ABC. Jaleel White (Urkel) voices Sonic. The show runs for one season (65 episodes).
November 1993 – Becomes the first video game character to have a balloon in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
June 19, 2001 – Sonic Adventure 2 releases in Japan. Introduces Shadow the Hedgehog to the franchise.
December 10, 2001 – Sonic Adventure 2 releases for the GameCube.
November 2007 – Appeared on the same video game cover as Mario for the first time (Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games)
January 31, 2008 – First appearance on Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
To celebrate, SEGA is releasing Sonic Generations on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo 3DS on November 22, 2011. Generations will feature a collection of levels derived from some of the classic favorites across games of the past. Sonic will be playable in both his modern look, as well as his 90’s counterpart as a mysterious enemy has created time holes which pull Sonic and friends back into the past. Help both Sonics as they work together to find out who the evil mastermind is and save their friends.
So while we’re all waiting for his new adventure, let’s all bake a cake and wish a very happy birthday to Sonic. Here’s to another 20 years!
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Indie Developer – Red Crest Studios
Xbox Live Indie Games gives smaller developers and even lone programmers the opportunity to build their own creations and share them with the world. This has led to some extremely creative games being released on Xbox Live at a very low cost to its consumers. One of the genres that is becoming increasingly popular is Role Playing Games.
Indie developer Red Crest Studios is set to release Bonded Realities, an RPG coming to Xbox Live Indie Games this week. Being a huge fan of the old school RPG, I decided to contact Michael Ventnor at Red Crest for a brief Q&A via email regarding Bonded Realities, and what’s coming next from this new indie developer. Here’s what he had to say:
So tell me a little bit about Red Crest Studios. How long have you been in operation? How large is your team?
I officially started the Red Crest brand on 9th December last year. So Bonded Realities predates the studio that made it! My original plan was to release the game under my name and, if successful, then set up the studio name and continue making games. However, the interest in Bonded Realities grew quite sharply and people were asking for an official studio name, so I fast tracked its creation. I had the name and logo in mind since the beginning. Red Crest is made of just me.
Do you have plans for the mobile market as well? Or are you concentrating on Xbox Live Indie Games for now?
Xbox for the moment. I do have game designs on hand that I can develop when I decide to try the mobile market, but that will happen later when I’m (hopefully) more successful.
Your latest creation, Bonded Realities, is a Role Playing Game for Xbox Live Indie Games. What made you decide to do an RPG?
There were many reasons why:
a) There aren’t enough RPGs in the old-fashioned style I like. While there are a couple on the Indie service, there should be more.
b) I grew up on whimsical RPGs, and always enjoyed the number-based turn-based strategy mechanics, and the funny settings and stories.
c) I thought making an RPG would be easy. “It’s just logic and state machines”, I said. “Programming languages do this kind of thing best”, I said. That old, arrogant, incorrect self is now dead, buried and cremated after numerous development delays. But I still persevered to finish, because I didn’t want to waste the work I did so far.
Can you tell us what is Bonded Realities about?
A lot of people who’ve played the game already were surprised at how the game opens. You are a toddler, being dropped off at child care by your mum. Like your typical day at child care, you go outside to play with your three best friends, Liam, Josh and Maria. But then a bright flash of light happens, and the next thing you know, you’re in a totally different place, separated from everyone else, and transformed into a new body. Your goal, therefore, is to find your friends and get home. Bonded Realities’ story is designed such that it unfolds as you play. It may sound scant with how I described it above, but that’s because you know nothing about what happens or how to fix it at the start. I deliberately made the story like that because I enjoyed stories that didn’t reveal your end goal or how to achieve it at the start, rather it is revealed in several plot twists later on. There is a big boss fight at the end, so don’t worry 🙂
How long do you expect it will take the average gamer to complete Bonded Realities?
I’d say around 4 or 5 hours. More if you want to do 100% completion, since that involves finding all the treasure chests and some of them are very well hidden (but contain very powerful items and equipment!).
Are there any particular RPGs that have influenced the gameplay that we’ll find in Bonded Realities?
As I said before, the RPGs I enjoyed the most had good mechanics and a funny setting. Earthbound being the obvious candidate, most indie RPGs are compared to that because of its quirky nature. Others I’ve played include Pokemon, Paper Mario, Mario & Luigi and others. I tried to recreate what I liked, and fix what I hated, whilst adding in a lot of my own ideas and style. As a result, I worked hard on interesting combat, jokes everywhere, and a clean and unique interface.
What were the biggest hurdles you encountered while creating an RPG for XBLIG?
Mostly just the shock with how much work is needed to make a decent RPG from scratch. I used no middleware (except XNA, of course) because I really enjoy engine programming, thus the Bonded Realities engine was written entirely by me, and all the art was done by me (I’m not a particularly good drawer, it’s taken years of practice just to get where I am now). The music was licensed since I have no musical knack whatsoever. But again, I enjoy things that others would hate, like writing code, and thinking up ways to make certain parts of the game more fun without too much implementation effort.
Can you give us a preview of what we might see on the horizon from Red Crest now that Bonded Realities is getting ready to release?
I’ll be entering this year’s Dream Build Play with a completely different kind of game. It won’t be an RPG, or even resemble anything like that. It involves an experimental game mechanic I thought up, so the biggest trouble for me right now is trying to make it fun.
A Game That Shows Promise
Looking at Bonded Realities’ trailers and screenshots, this game shows a lot of potential. Having enjoyed Role Playing Games since the original Final Fantasy for the Nintendo Entertainment System, I’m looking forward to grabbing this one and spending a few hours satisfying my hunger for some good old-fashion RPG’ing.
~W75
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Square Enix – Halo: Reach Action Figures Now In The UK
To all of my good friends in the UK, you can now get your Squenix Halo:Reach action figures without having to buy them in the States and have them shipped over.
For those of you who don’t know, these action figures are larger, and far more detailed than the McFarlane Toys figures. They are fully articulated and come with interchangeable hands. Series I was released with Jun, Noble Six, and Emile, with Series II containing Kat, Jorge, and Carter to be released some time in 2011.
Gamingzap.com has acquired a small quantity of these collectibles ahead of the currently unannounced UK release date. Who knows how many or how few they have available, so you may want to get ordering right away!
Console News For Monday, December 20
Only a week left until Christmas. Have you gotten your shopping done? Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation Coming To A DS Near You Dragon Quest fans rejoice! The 1995 continuation of the Dragon Quest series is finally coming to the States on the Nintendo DS handheld console. Originally released on the Super Famicom (Japanese Version of the SNES), DQVI was never brought over to the US for commercial release. No release date yet however,… Read On »
A Parent’s Guide To Video Games For Your Kids
This story never gets old. A few weeks ago, I was at BestBuy picking up some goodies for my wife. While I was in line, a mother walks up with her son that had to be no more than eight or ten years old, and clutched in his hot little hands was a copy of Call Of Duty: Black Ops. I’ve seen this more than once this holiday season mind you. But for some reason,… Read On »