In a move that absolutely nobody saw coming, Far Cry and Crysis developer Crytek announced they would be bringing an exclusive title to the Xbox 360.
Dubbed Codename: Kingdoms, the game will apparently take place in Sparta at the height of its power. There’s no clear direction for the game besides the setting, as only live-action footage was shown (unless it’s running CryEngine 4 and it looks THAT good).
Microsoft has just announced that the horribly-named Kinect will be coming out November 4th. Along with a host of games, naturally. Although it’s unfortunate that most of these 15 games will be of the mini variety, it’s still nice to know that this… thing… will be out relatively soon. The only question now is if will there be some sort of crazy supply/demand fiasco like there was with the console itself.
On top of that announcement, the rumored 360 Slim has officially been confirmed and given a date. And that date is much closer than anyone would’ve expected. Would you believe the slim is shipping out today? Seriously. So any one interested in the sleeker (and cheaper-looking) 360 model with a 250 Gig hard drive (!) and built-in wi-fi (!!!) would do well to start checking stores as early as tomorrow.
UPDATE: Liveblog’s finished – thanks to everybody who participated! See you at 2pm/5pm for EA’s presser! For those of you who missed it, you can see the replay below.
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It’s almost time for the first pre-E3 2010 press conference, kids! And it looks like Microsoft will be the first one out of the gate this week. Join CFD! as we brace for more details on Kinect (that don’t involve interpretive dance/theater from Cirque du Soleil), the Xbox 360 Slim, and hopefully at least a few surprises that haven’t already been outed.
The event kicks off at 10:30am Pacific/1:30pm Eastern. We’ll be firing up the liveblog about 45 minutes early to give everybody a chance to get settled in first. Hit the jump. Come on, you know you want to!
Another Summer is upon us and along with the customary triple shot of shorts, suntan lotion and stifling heat comes yet another alliterative hat-trick in the form of the video game industry’s biggest trade show: the Electronic Entertainment Expo – E3 2010 is here.
And even though CFD! can’t be in Los Angeles this year, we’re going to do our best again to cover things from afar (while silently assembling our master plan to dominate the show floor next year). What does that mean to all of you, our loyal readers? We’re going to run down all of the details just under the jump. See you there.
Though the Reach beta may be over, all you little Spartans out there now have a new date to mark on your calenders: September 14th, 2010. Okay, September 15th if you live in Japan, I guess.
What happens then? Why, just the beginning of the end of the Halo saga, that’s all.
Good Lord! Enough with the teasing already! We’ve been waiting since 2005 for Alan Wake and it’s so close we can almost taste it! So what do Microsoft and Remedy do? Why, issue another trailer, of course!
We’ve seen all of this before: flashlights, darkness, spooky trees, road flares, more flashlights, telekinetically thrown objects, more spooky trees. We get it already! You had us at the first “spooky trees,” I promise! I don’t want to have to beg anymore…
I’d like to just “Wake Up” and find that the game has already released. Then I’ll finally be able to get a good night’s sleep.
Alan Wake is due out May 14 in Europe and May 18th here in North America. I suppose it could be worse: Japan has to wait until the 27th. Gomen nasai, guys!
UPDATE: Entries are now cut off. Winners coming soon!
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Hey, two beta code contests running at the same time! Who would have thought, eh?
The fine folks at Bungie and Microsoft have generously provided us with a brand new, shiny, spiffy early entry key for the Halo: Reach multiplayer beta. For those of you who don’t know, the beta starts on Monday, May 3rd for those who have a copy of Halo 3: ODST, but early entry codes have been flitting around the interwebs for the last day or so, rare as unicorn tears. Well, never let it be said that we here at CFD! don’t love you guys out there, okay?
How do you win it? Hit the jump and find out.
Over the course of the past few days I’ve had my emotions toyed with much more frequently than I would like. In fact, I’ve had horrific high school romances that have been easier on my nerves. In a mere 48 hour span I’ve gone from impartial to intrigued, then on to excited, followed by enraged, moved on to cautiously optimistic and then settled right back on to rage again.
“But Rob,” you may ask, “what could possibly put you in such a state?”
The answer is quite simple. Scrap Metal.
After an incident made public last year where an Xbox Live user was banned for self-identifying as a lesbian in her gamertag profile, the terms of service for Microsoft’s online service have come under increased scrutiny by the LGBT community. Microsoft claimed that any expression of sexual preference (including straight) was banned under the TOS, clarifying and stating that it was to prevent potential harassment and hate speech. This claim rang rather hollow with anyone who has actually played the average multiplayer game online, however, since it takes all of about 20 seconds to get called a faggot by some random idiot halfway across the country.
Still, the verbal outcry following the incident apparently caused Microsoft to look into reevaluating their policy, as Xbox Live General Manager Marc Whitten announced Friday on the Gamerscore Blog that the service’s TOS had been altered, finding ways to include, rather than exclude, LGBT gamers.
After five years of waiting for Remedy’s Xbox 360 action/horror/mystery game, Alan Wake, those of you who are getting a little impatient can take heart. UK site MCV has reportedly learned from “a source close to the game” that Microsoft is planning a worldwide release for Alan Wake in May.
The Big M swung the banhammer fast and hard earlier this week, leaving as many as 1 million modded consoles without Xbox Live access, reports Information Week.
It should be noted that this action comes on the heels of the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, whose multiplayer functionality is expected to strain the online service substantially. The move may have been accelerated by the troubling number of pirated copies floating around the internet prior to its official launch on the 10th.
UK site MCV has managed to get ahold of some new info on Microsoft’s controller-free gaming peripheral, Project Natal, including a possible release window and price point.
Recently, Microsoft has been trying to encourage more development support for Natal and has been conducting a “behind closed doors” tour for UK publishers to demo the device and outline their 2010 plans. Not surprisingly, the details of those plans did not stay secret for long.
UPDATE: So it seems that, according to NeoGAF, the images below did not indeed come from the good Mr. ToM MoReLLo and were instead “watermarked” by him and posted on MLG to try and boost his own rep. We’ve updated the screens with the original, non-marked ones. We will, however, leave the link to the MLG thread up, just in case anyone feels like taking a look at it… or calling him out on being a douchenozzle. Either or. - R.T.
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This afternoon brought news of an apparent leak out of a Microsoft HQ play session of Bungie’s closely-guarded new game, Halo: Reach. MLG.com forum poster ToM MoReLLo provided several screenshots for internet consumption, claiming that he “[...] played the game at a Microsoft HQ btw in a office,” putting to rest my own fears that the game was being played in a brothel.
While the validity of these images cannot be confirmed, it appears that Halo: Reach will indeed introduce squad-based gameplay to the series. Several new weapons can be observed and a few old favorites are present as well.
Yesterday I was prepared to give in to my once-a-year habit. Yes, every 12 months I feel that familiar itch. Work seems to stretch on longer; my favorite foods taste bland. Life is agony, and the only way I know how to set the world right is with a fix; with renewing my Xbox Live Gold Membership. Yes, the days feel complete again knowing that I have ensured another year of all the great features Xbox Live provides.
Though, as I slid my credit card from its well-worn slot in my wallet, once again ready to drop $50 like it were, in fact, hot, I happened upon a news story. I rubbed my eyes, convinced that they played jest at my expense, yet the text reemerged just the same: the PS3 was going to begin streaming Netflix movies. I placed the card upon my desk, and began to ponder these events.
As if dropping the price by $100 wasn’t enough, Microsoft is now offering a $50 mail-in rebate whenever you buy an Xbox 360 Elite between now and October 5th. No doubt, Microsoft is hoping to push the system even more as they near the ever-crucial holiday sales period.
The Elite, which is currently the same price as a PS3 Slim, will be at the same pricepoint as the Wii with this rebate. The downside? The rebate is only good in the US. Sorry, rest of the world, you’ll just have to pay full price.
[Via: Major Nelson]
Join the CFD! editorial staff as they bicker incessantly and vent their collective neuroses on air... and somewhere along the way they talk about games too.
Rob Thomas
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