The Xbox 36o slim was announced today at the Microsoft press conference on the first day of E3. The new version of the popular console sports a 250 gigabyte hard drive and a built in wifi adapter, as well as being "whisper quiet." The new console has now fully replaced the "outdated" one in all new sales of Xbox 360's. In addition, a special auxiliary port on the back of the console will let you connect (pun intended) Microsoft's Kinect motion add on, allowing simultaneous power and data transfer.
The slim goes on sale later this week at a price of $299.
A name and release date we already knew for Treyarch's next iteration to the Call of Duty series, but what we didn't know (for sure at least) was the when and where the game will take place. Gametrailers TV had their big reveal Friday night with the debut trailer for Call of Duty: Black Ops, and while there were many hints indicating a Vietnam era war game, there were also some more modern elements thrown in than we expected. Take a look for yourself below.
For Gametrailer's breakdown of the trailer, hit the jump
Set your countdown clocks. The “Halo: Reach” multiplayer beta, which is poised to be one of the biggest test events in entertainment history, kicks off in just four days. Among the millions of “Halo” fans eagerly anticipating the beta is actress Aisha Tyler. Available starting today is a video introduction to the beta starring the actress, viewable exclusively through the “Halo 3: ODST” game disc. Tyler walks through all the new game modes and offers her own tips and insider hints for each of the maps while showing off some life-size “Halo” weaponry.
As this is a beta, Bungie will be turning on different modes at different times to optimize testing. The beta kicks off May 3rd with three playlists featuring the all-new, highly competitive Arena mode (4v4 ranked Team Slayer games) as well as “Free-for-All” and “Grab Bag” playlists, which include a mix of classic and brand new game types. Beginning May 7, the new large-scale Spartan vs. Elite “Invasion” playlist will be added to the beta. Finally, beginning May 14 the “Generator Defense” game type will become available.
Everyone who logs in and plays at least one full game of any type in the “Halo: Reach” beta will receive a free “Halo: Reach” Avatar hoodie via the Halo Waypoint portal on Xbox LIVE. To redeem the hoodie, players must access Halo Waypoint and browse their “Halo” Career statistics after completing a match.
Disney Interactive wants your next street race to be utterly ridiculous, and to give you a taste of what Split/Second's high octane, explosion filled action has to offer the studio has released a demo of the game's airport track, the very same one used to showcase the game at major industry events. The demo is currently available exclusively for the Xbox 360 (Xbox Live Gold Members only) with a PS3 demo arriving May 11th.
Blackrock Studio focused on filling Split/Second with huge bangs and whistles by letting players trigger Hollywood style explosions that change the nature of the track and throw their opponents off Kilter. The studion also worked on Pure which was a bit of a sleeper hit when it released, and if nothing else provides some solid reputation for the developer in making high quality, fun racing titles. The demo is around 800 megs so you should definately check it out until the game releases May 18th.
No More Heroes is heading over to the Xbox 360 and someone, somewhere (probably here or something) decided to show off what sort of extra visual flair would be added to a game originally developed for the Wii after being ported over to the Xbox 360. Here's a hint: More shaders. It's worth mentioning however that the Wii iteration holds up surprisingly well, thanks in part to the cel-shaded art style.
Valve recently announced that the highly anticipated Left 4 Dead/ Left 4 Dead 2 DLC "the passing" which has the protagonists from both games teaming up for some zombie busting action will be released sometime this week for the PC and Xbox 360. As far as an official release date goes all Valve will offer is a nebulous reference to this week so expect the actual landing of the DLC to come at anytime.
In other supplementary news, according to Joystiq you can also get your hands on a couple songs on the rock band network from the Midnight Riders, L4D2's ficticious rock band. Bonuses are bonuses and this is as good as any.
Despite some grievances with a linear design and a plodding first twenty hours Final Fantasy XIII is quite a success. According to an NPD report Final Fantasy XIII has sold roughly 1,321,000 copies state side with the PS3 version of the game outselling the Xbox 360 counter part nearly two to one. Since there are some differences between the platforms, mainly the use of multiple DVD's and a lower resolution overall on the Xbox 360 version, its not really all that surprising.
Generally, the likely purchasers of the Xbox 360 version of FFXIII are either those who only own an Xbox 360 or multiplatform owners prefering to throw their support behind Microsoft's console for personal reasons/incentives, such as raising one's gamer score. Aside from these suppositions there is thorough and undisputable evidence that the Xbox 360 version of the game is not of the same quality as the Playstation 3. Sure the differences are minor, but gamers who own both platforms tend to be sensitive to these differences, preferring to go with the platform the game seems most optimized for.
While some of the thunder was lost due to an early leak, Cliffy B's big reveal of Gears of War 3 on the Jimmy Fallon show last night still had plenty of pomp and circumstance going for it, thanks in part to the over one minute teaser debuted on the show.
From the teaser we can gather that the war with the locust is still in full swing. This time around there will be beards, tall tentacle like monsters, and a bit of feminine brutality. All and all, it's Gears of War. More Gears of War.
Since the teasers debute some other noteworthy nuggets have been made known. Gear 3 will feature story oriented four player co-op. Since much of Gears's past merits have lied in its excellent cooperative play this is nothing but good news. In addition an official release date of April 5th for North America and Asia, 7th for Japan, and 8th for everyone else has been provided by Microsoft.
If you've been holding off on picking up Gearbox's "role-playing shooter" you might be interested to know that Amazon currently has all versions of the game available at a $20 discount, meaning you can get the game for around $40 on Xbox 360 and PS3 and around $30 for the PC version. Can't determine how long the deal will last so if you're on the fence you may want to make a decision quickly.
So far Borderlands has enjoyed some pretty positive reception overall and has been well supported with DLC. If I wasn't already waist deep in a list of games I need to play I'd probably jump on this.
Here's a link to the deal for the impulsive buyer within you.
