Posts Tagged ‘Xbox 360’
Wednesday, March 30th, 2011
While I was at PAX East , I got to take a look at Twisted Pixel’s newest title, Gunstringer for the Kinect, which has a lot of unique gameplay mechanics. I interviewed Jay Stuckwisch, one of producers showcasing the game.
Jay Stuckwisch (JS): So, we’ve got Gunstringer here.
Tyler Thomas (TT): And that’s a Kinect title, correct?
JS: That’s right.
TT: So, what’s the backstory behind this marionette here?
JS: So, you control an undead marionette cowboy–you’re actually the puppeteer controlling him–in a play. We set up the beginning to show you everybody coming to see you. We actually added a lot of live-action sequences–people responding to how you do as you play the game. You run around the game–it’s a shooter-on-rails, and basically you paint over the enemies with your right hand, and with a recoil gesture over your solider, you hit all of the targets. With your left hand you control his left-to-right movement and move your hand up to jump. It takes a bit of coordination but…you pick it up really quick. (more…)
Tags: Gunstringer, Kinect, PAX, PAX East 2011, Twisted Pixel, Tyler Thomas, Xbox 360
Posted in Interview, Tyler Thomas, Video Games | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 21st, 2010
Another year has passed, and what do we all remember from the gaming world? It’s pretty tough to put a finger on one defining moment this year for two reasons. One, there weren’t any jaw-dropping ZOMG!1!! headlines. Secondly, there were A LOT of very solid, polished, titles to choose from this year. I don’t believe there was anything in particular that revolutionized the industry, but there were plenty of juicy, new titles to pick and choose from. Here are a few of the major happenings of 2010:
Infinity Ward and Activision Fallout
Activision and Infinity Ward had quite the playground brawl this year. According to G4TV, a lawsuit of thirty-eight people from Infinity Ward was filed to sue Activision for not paying royalties. The suit was filed from anywhere between 75-500 million dollars. Activision spokesman Dan Amrich stated that employees who stay with Activision will have a bigger bonus due to the departure of these employees. The fallout may have been frightening to CoD fans, but I don’t believe there is anything to worry about. As far as Activision holding money as ransom, it almost appears they were acting as financial terrorists, bribing employees to stay for a bigger bonus. So much for integrity. (more…)
Tags: 2010, 2011, Activision, Alan Wake, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, black ops, Cataclysm, COD, Donkey Kong Country, Fable III, God of War, God of War 3, GoldenEye, Halo: Reach, Heavy Rain, Infinity Ward, Josh, Josh Thompson, Kinect, Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, Metroid, Move, NBA Jam, nintendo, nostalgia, PS3, Red Dead Redemption, Super Mario Galaxy, Thompson, Xbox 360
Posted in Editorial, Josh Thompson, News, Video Games, Writers | 1 Comment »
Thursday, July 8th, 2010
I’ve been reading articles left and right about Kinect’s “shortcomings.†While I feel that it has shortcomings I’m not going to harp on it because I see it for what it was meant to be: a gimmick to top that of the Wii, or in other words a business plan to increase sales. The life-cyle of the Xbox 360 is on the decline and this is an attempt to bring in a bigger audience and garner fresh sales. Now all the buzz it got only a year ago has turned to skepticism: It only supports 2 players, it showed some lag on Jimmy Kimmel, and now a report that analyzes all of the shortcomings before the product even hits shelves and predicts it flopping.
None of these new motion control systems are without fault. In fact the ones we have now aren’t all that great. What we will have by the end of 2010 is a gimmick war that doesn’t show a whole lot of promise for the game industry.
The Wii- It’s far from new, but it deserves mention first because it birthed this whole notion of needing some kind of motion controller to play games. The Wii’s controls were under-utilized though. How many games have you played for the Wii that really seemed to utilize the control method effectively? One of the best examples I can think of is Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, and it worked brilliantly in that. Then it gradually turned into an exercise machine and it seemed like motion controls were just turned into a point and click deal.
(more…)
Tags: control, controller, gimmick, Kinect, microsoft, motion, Move, nintendo, Playstation, Sony, Wii, Xbox 360
Posted in Editorial | 3 Comments »
Monday, June 14th, 2010
Microsoft Press Conference
I’m sitting here at the Microsoft Press Conference waiting for it to start. This is going to be a point-by-point blog of the updates and information as we discover it here at E3. I’ll post all of my impressions as the conference starts and goes, and we’ll see where it takes us! (- Dave)
2010, baby
Read on for the entire story!
(more…)
Tags: 360, E3, microsoft, Press Conference, xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox360
Posted in Press Conference | 3 Comments »
Sunday, June 6th, 2010
Rockstar Games has announced the first DLC that will be available for Red Dead Redemption just a month after the title’s release. The Outlaws to the End Co-Op Mission Pack drops on June 22nd to both Xbox 360 and PS3 owners for the low price of Free.99. Check out the press release for details and screens:
The Outlaws to the End Co-Op Mission Pack will feature six all-new cooperative multiplayer missions to play with 2-4 players. This will be a completely free download that we will have ready for you to download and play at some time in June.
These six explosive and epic missions will play out across the game world, including:
“Walton’s Goldâ€
Walton’s Gang have taken control of a mining camp rich with gold. Fight through the camp and load your mine cart with as much gold as you can carry and get out as fast as you can – Walton’s boys have rigged the place to blow!
“The Riverâ€
Ride a raft down river, taking out rebel encampments along the way until you reach the rebel stronghold of Nosalida and a final epic battle for the town’s massive weapons caches. Watch out for Gatling gun-equipped enemy rafts.
“Ammunitionâ€
The Mexican Army has the town of Tesoro Azul under siege. Storm the gates under heavy cannon, Gatling gun and sniper fire to destroy the Mexican artillery placements.
Plus three more missions to be revealed in detail soon.
The Outlaws to the End Co-Op Mission Pack will also yield additional multiplayer XP rewards, and brand new Achievements/Trophies to unlock.
Screens:
Taking back the town of Tesoro Azul in "Ammunition".
Engaging the Walton Gang from an advantageous elevated position in "Walton's Gold".
Heading downstream towards the rebel stronghold of Nosalida in "The River".
By the looks of it, Rockstar is putting just as much effort into developing the multiplayer element of Red Dead as they have in the single-player.
- NB
(via Rockstar Games)
Tags: DLC, multiplayer, News, PS3, Red Dead Redemption, Xbox 360
Posted in News | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010
FINAL FANTASY XIII CHARACTERS
Check out that shit-eating grin.
My roommate recently got Final Fantasy XIII and as something of a voyeur (I freely admit it!) I enjoy watching her play. It took her a while to decide on her purchase – putting down $50+ on a game that you’re not sure you’re going to enjoy, particularly when you’re a poorly paid college student who has to pay rent, car payments, for groceries (well, half of the above), is something hard to do. This is multiplied when the games have recently been hit and miss – Final Fantasy XII, for instant, earned my roommate’s ire by having a “completely incomprehensible storyline†and “a bunch of idiots for characters.â€Â But after we had talked to a lot of our mutual friends who had purchased it at the midnight opening and after reading quite a few reviews,  both good and bad, she purchased the game and has settled in to play it while I watch and do my homework.
One thing that immediately caught our attention concerned the characters within the story. I mean, any game, movie, or novel is going to have generic stereotyped characters – so when people were complaining about that in the reviews (and by god, were they), I didn’t pay much attention. However, both the roommate and I had heard several people complaining about “the black guy†and “the kid.â€
The issue was, when she started playing, both of us thought…those were some of the more tolerable characters.
(more…)
Tags: Final Fantasy, PS3, Xbox 360
Posted in Editorial, Reviews, Video Games | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010
Â
FIGHT!
Â
“JDCR†and “NIN†both from Korea win TEKKEN 6 Global Championship
           Since October 2009 the world’s greatest TEKKEN players have squared off to see who is the supreme TEKKEN master of the world. They have hailed from countries such as France, Israel, Korea, and the United States but only 2 world champions were ultimately crowned (1 for PS3 and 1 for Xbox 360).     Â
(more…)
Tags: champion, Games, PS3, TEKKEN 6, tournament, Xbox 360
Posted in News | No Comments »
Sunday, February 14th, 2010
I’m slowpoking pretty hard here, I know.
So my boyfriend got Mass Effect 2, and it got me interested. So I started playing Mass Effect (the first iteration), and well, it got me hooked. I’m a good ways into ME2, and I’ve gained an unhealthy obsession with the games. I thought I’d share some of my thoughts about my playthrough of the first game. It can be a refersher course for some of you guys who haven’t played it in two years, or a puzzling series of doodles for those of you who have never played the game before.
Be warned, though, SPOILERS AHOY.
(more…)
Tags: comics, Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, Xbox 360
Posted in Annie Leonard, Cartoons, Editorial, Video Games | 6 Comments »
Tuesday, January 19th, 2010
With the release date coming up in a few weeks I’ve been catching up on my research for the game and have found that their changes and additions look extremely promising in making it a new, but familiar, experience. I’m just going to highlight a few of my favorites. Â
I didn't mention graphically, but I think you have an idea now.
Â
Â
 5. More Weapon Types- I would have just been happy with the addition of heavy weapons and submachineguns, but they upped the ante and have added in more than just that. They also got rid of the grenade, which was just a bit shy of being worthless in the first game. The fact that weapon skills have been erased is also very welcome and any character may use any weapon that their class in trained for to full effect. It leaves me to upgrade my intimidation or charm skills without worrying about weapon proficiency.
 4. More detailed worlds- I’m really excited for this one. I got tired of the monotonous terrain provided by the first game. Most of the planets had the same cheap thrills, but the promise has been made to have more to explore, other than an ore patch, or an anomaly here and there. Inside locations could use a nice overhaul as well. The only difference between a lot of the inside locations was how the boxes were stacked and a different position of environmental hazards that were fairly worthless.
(more…)
Tags: Bioware, Mass Effect 2, Shepard, Xbox 360
Posted in Editorial | No Comments »
