Demo-Dead Rising

A demo of the coolest game yet to be released on the 360 is now out on the marketplace. Dead Rising looks like it could be the first great game since launch. This game just looks fun. I'm downloading the demo now, and will post impressions once I'm done.

In other demo news, I'm liking the Saints Row demo more and more. I'm actually thinking of buying this game now. It's another game that's quite fun.

"Out of Mind" Is Very Cool

The new Red V. Blue episodes, called "Out of Mind" are really cool. They're not your usual Red and Blue, but a whole new story line involving Tex, AI and lockpicking. Whats great is how the make use of all of the Halo enviroments. It's great to see some locations besides Bl- I mean Coagulation-and even some single player spots make it in the cut.

Best part of all, all three current episodes are free!

Worst Movie of the Year (So Far)

By far, the worst movie of the year so far is You, Me and Dupree. I really have no idea why I went and saw that movie. 2 hours of absolutly nothing, and than it's over. I don't understand why it's so hard to cange something!

Emergance Day Is Coming

Today, Microsoft and Gears of War creators revealed the big surprise: the date of Emergance Day 06.

Yes, Gears of War finally has a release date: November 12, 2006.

IGN's predictions for the year are coming shockingly close to true. Remember, they said that GoW would come out to battle with the PS3, and that Halo 3 would release sometime in 2007. They just earned a lot of credability in my book.

SF II Sucks

I'm not one to usually complain...but man, SF II sucks. I'm glad I wasn't as excited as some people over the release of this game. It's just impossible to win a match. I
ve gotten close once, but than died anyway. This game is harder than even DOA4, and I didn't think that was possible after facing off with the Blue Boss Chick.

Here's to Pac-Man next week, and to hoping that this Arcade Wednesdays gets extended!

Biggest Game of the Year--Now Out

That's right folks, Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting is now out on the Marketplace. This is a historic moment, so lets take a look at what other are saying while mine downloads.

From the Xbox Forums:

Kingpin of New York:

At last, I can feel come sense of relief, SF2 has arrived

Time to unleash my assault of cheezy combo!!!!

Ripfactor:

46% ...painfully slow

From Major Nelson.com:

Xbox Live members can now download the highly anticipated Arcade title 'Street Fighter II Hyper Fighting' from the Marketplace. This arcade title is 800 points and is available in all Xbox Live regions except Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Singapore or Taiwan.
You can review a complete list of features for this game at Xbox.com.

From TeamXbox:

One of the most anticipated games of the summer, ‘Street Fighter II’ Hyper Fighting’ is now available for download for 800 Microsoft Points on Xbox Live Marketplace. The old-school classic from Capcom stays true to its roots with an amazing retro feel, and brings multiplayer action to the classic title for the first time. ‘Street Fighter II’ Hyper Fighting’ melds the best of retro arcade gaming with the preeminent next-gen features that only Xbox 360 and Xbox Live can offer.

As a true tribute to this critically acclaimed arcade fighting game, ‘Street Fighter II’ Hyper Fighting’ delivers the game in original form but also includes all new content specifically designed for Xbox Live Arcade. High definition video resolution, Achievements, Leaderboards, and online multiplayer combat over Xbox Live including the all new innovative "Quarter Match" takes this classic franchise phenom to next generation levels.

My downloads just about done...see you online!

Saints Row-Impressions

I just finished playing about an hour or so of the Saints Row demo. I like the game, and it seems like it would be fun to play. That said, I just think I fit into the whole "Gangster/Thug" mentality to buy this game. It was fun finding hoes and stealing them from other pimps, but I don't think thats a subject I want to replay again.

All in all, GTA lovers will probably find much to love in this game, and at the same time, Hillary Clinton will find much to hate.

New 'Red V. Blue" Video

The second part of the ongoing "Out of Mind" series on the Marketplace for Red V. Blue is now out. I'll get to watch it as soon as this Saints Row demo is finished.

SF II Tomorrow (Or Tonight)

The "Summer of Arcade" continues with SF II coming out at 1 AM tonight (or, really, tomorrow). I'm probably actually not going to buy this game; it's just not my cup of tea. I'll download the free demo, sure, but I just are not into fighters (esp. "hardcore" ones like this) that much. However, I get the feeling that there are tons of others wating for this one. I'm quite happy with Cloning Clyde and Galaga.

Saint's Row Demo-OUT

The demo for Saints Row is now out in the market place. I'm still downloading it, and will post some personal thoughts when I actually get to play (which, knowing how fast demos download, might be a few hours from now!)

Dead Rising--Looks Good

I've been looking at some of the mdeia for Dead Rsing, and I must say, it looks like it could be a really fun game to play. I'm looking foward to it's August 8 release date, but I've got some work to do before than. I MUST finish Prey and Far Cry.

However, taking a lawn mower, giant teddy bear and lightsaber to a zombie all within minutes of each other earns a stampt of "Just F'in Cool" in my book.

Xbox 360 Voice Down

Looks like the Xbox 360 Voice service is currently down. When this happens, the code for the left side of the page gets messed up for some viewers. Don't sweat it; Voice will come back up latter. I'm not going to take the code out of the site just for a few seconds; be patient and all will be fine eventually.

Xbox Live "Runing" Gaming?

Found this interesting post over from the TeamXbox forums. You can read it for yourself; I'm too lazy to paraphrase it for you.

I see where this guy is coming from. I've had many LAN parties, and they are funner than playing on Xbox Live. Something about being there, with greesy fingres and watching your opponet from across the room. When Halo 2 first came out, I had a larger LAN party that lasted for hours. I'm not sure if I've ever had so much fun in Halo 2 since.

However, I also love Xbox Live. Xbox simply would not be whre it is today without it. Playng across the country with long lost friends is a blast.

So, perhaps the blame should really be shifted in a unique posistion (actually, the author of the post did discuss this towards the end). Developers and publishers are really at blame here for taking out support from Spiltscreen and System Link capabilites. More games now support only 1 player per box in a System Link game instead of the usuall four, making games much harder to play in a LAN. All multiplayer games should be given the "Halo" treatment, and not the "UBISoft" treatment (The Tom Clancy games are famous for their lack of System Link support).

LINK TO POST IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

E3 Cancelled?

"It's like they're taking away Christmas. Is that possible?"

Yes, indeed, it seems all too possible. What is sure to be the big tech news story this week, E# is "cancelled." You can read the full story here.

In a nut shell, the ESA (the guys who run E3) simply feel the convention has gotten too big. The money that publishers pay to get they're game shown just isn't giving them enough in return. E3 has gotten "too big."

What will replace E3? At the moment, smaller trade shows around the world, and the Big Three's own gaming shows. And GDC will step up to the plate for a bigger showing, and ultimatly more importance. However, Joystiq predicts that by 2009 or 2010 a new E3 will be in place, just not by the ESA, not called E3, and not in LA.

What does this mean? Well, without E3, May does look a lot more boring. And instead of getting machine gun feed information for three days, we're likly to get small pistol flares throughout the whole year.

I, for one, feel upset about the whole thing. I could see a revisioning of E3, making it smaller and less chaotic, but to do away with the whole thing is just a disservice to the gaming community.

I must add this in here: this is a developing sotry. Stay tuned here for more information as it develops.