Archive for November, 2006
Halo 3 public beta registration starts worldwide on December 4
That computer-generated screenshot is from the upcoming 1-minute TV ad that’s scheduled to air next Monday, December 4th, during Monday Night Football on ESPN in the US or in the UK on Channel 4 on Friday December 15th at 22.45 or in Europe on Xbox.com at around 02.15 GMT on Tuesday December 5th. The CG was created by Hollywood FX house, Digital Domain, using assets supplied by Bungie and will be available on Xbox Live Marketplace after airing.
Microsoft today unveiled further details and an official call to entry for the Halo 3 beta program. Beginning Monday, December 4th, by visiting Halo3.com, gamers WORLDWIDE will be able to register for the opportunity to be one of the select members to join the Halo 3 public beta program, scheduled to kick off in spring 2007. The Xbox Live multiplayer public beta, is a pre-release version of the multiplayer experience of Halo 3. Through the resulting feedback, developer Bungie Studios will be able to further refine and hone the end result of Halo 3.
3 comments »Download Sid Meier’s classic Railroad Tycoon game for free
2K Games has put the original Railroad Tycoon online as a free download! It’s part of a promotion for their new game Sid Meier’s Railroads!
After you go to the page, look for the “RAILROADS! DEMO & FREE FULL GAME RAILROADS TYCOON” button near the bottom that says they are now available to download. Once you click that button, you go to the next page, and on your right you can click the full game “DOWNLOAD” button to get your 14MB free game.
The classic game comes with the manual and documentation. Via Joystiq
You choose the next Need for Speed hottie
To celebrate the launch of Need for Speed Carbon, Men’s magazine FHM has teamed up with EA Games to give one of ten ladies the chance to become queen of the pixels, although looking at the blurry pictures some of them are already pixelated!
The winner will be flown to Electronic Arts in the USA, where she’ll be scanned by both men and 3D scanner machines at EA’s studio to become part of the next Need for Speed racing game, like Kelly Brook and Emmanuelle Vaugier before her.
Check out the 10 finalists, then cast your vote at FHM.com.
Pokemon Battle Revolution new game modes: WiFi mode & save to Wii remote
Translated by Kotaku are the latest Pokémon Battle Revolution details for the upcoming Nintendo Wii game. These are the newly uncovered game options:
* Free Battle - Duke it out in a a Coliseum battle. Players can save data to their Wii-mote and then upload it to the software on a completely different Wii.
* WiFi Battle - Fight with players in your country that are online on your Wii Friends List. The opponent is also matched according to the capability of the player.
Check out a ton of new character, battle and attack pictures at Dengeki Online. Japanese release is on December 14th, 2006. It’s expected to be released outside Japan in 2007.
50 Virtual Console downloadable Wii games for Japan in 2006
Nintendo promised 30 American Virtual Console retro games by the end of the year. Europe will be getting 31 (plus Donkey Kong Country) this year. But Japan takes the cake with a total of 50 classic downloadable games for the Virtual Console in 2006! Prepare to get steaming jealous.
Famicom [NES] (all 500 points each)
Donkey Kong (Dec 2nd)
Donkey Kong Jr (Dec 2nd)
Renjyu (Dec 2nd)
Baseball (Dec 2nd)
Tennis (Dec 2nd)
Pinball (Dec 2nd)
Urban Champion (Dec 2nd)
Soccer (Dec 2nd)
Super Mario Bros (Dec 2nd)
Ice Hockey (Dec 2nd)
Legend of Zelda (Dec 2nd)
Xevious (Dec 2nd)
Key of Solomon (Dec 2nd)
Gradius (Dec 2nd)
Mario Brothers (Dec 12th)
Wario’s Forest (Dec 12th)
Legend of Kage (Dec 19th)
Shinobi Jyajyamaru-kun (Dec 26th)
Super Famicom [SNES]
Super Mario World (Dec 2nd, 800)
F-Zero (Dec 2nd, 800)
Legend of Zelda Link to the Past (Dec 2nd, 900)
Super Castlevania (Dec 2nd, 800)
Street Fighter 2 (Dec 2nd, 800) Article continues »
Sam and Max: Episode 2: Situation: Comedy presenting on January 5th 2007
The second episode of Sam and Max, “Sam and Max: Situation: Comedy“, will be released by Telltale at a price of $8.95 on January 5, 2007.
The story goes like this: Talk show host Myra Stump has gone berzerk! Sam & Max head down to the WARP TV studio to find out why she’s holding her audience hostage. But getting onto Myra’s stage isn’t going to be easy. First the Freelance Police will have to prove they’re worthy of fifteen minutes of fame. Let’s see how they do with that…
PS: Gametap subscribers can get it on December 21, 2006.
LucasArts reveals Star Wars game plans: 2 for 2007, beyond that Knights of the Old Republic & Battle Front
An interview about the video game incarnations of Star Wars, now that the movies are done, has revealed some great future LucasArts lineup details. Nextgen got Nancy MacIntyre, VP of global sales and marketing, to talk about how LucasArts sees the Star Wars future. Turns out that aside from planned TV projects they take upcoming games very serious.
She said: “We feel like it’s really important to make each Star Wars game an event, she explains. “Our fans want a logical progression of the Star Wars story line, so we are committed to only two Star Wars experiences a year [starting in 2007].”
She adds, “There will be one mega one like Star Wars ‘07 and another that might be somewhat more specific, for more of a specific Star Wars audience. So in 2007 our primary goal will be Star Wars ‘07 and you will see us do add-ons to our Star Wars Galaxies (MMO) and you will likely see us do some sort of Star Wars handheld game.”
MacIntyre continues, “We’ve also got Star Wars franchises like Knights of the Old Republic and Battle Front that we will not leave behind. It’s very important to us that we grow those franchises.”
Article continues »
PS3 Memory Card Adapter for PSone and PS2 saves drawbacks listed
An accessory even harder to find than the PS3 console. Guess what? That’s right, the PS3 Memory Card Adapter.
The PSone and PS2 memory card adaptor can copy the save data onto a virtual memory card on your PS3 hard disk, so you don’t have to start all over in your old favorite games when using the PS3’s backwards compatibility. While that is very handy, there are some…
Noteable drawbacks:
* You cannot copy saves back to a physical Memory Card. You can copy them between PS3 internal virtual memory cards, but not back to a physical PSone or PS2 card.
* You actually only use the unit one time to copy over your old save data and that’s it. I realize this is very cheeky to say, but maybe you could get it at a store, carefully use it once, and then return it to get something else with the money.
* You cannot explore your PSone or PS2 card and copy over specific game saves. It’s all or nothing, but you’re still free to delete saves at will once the card has been copied over to the hard drive.
* The adaptor will not work with cards that have more than 8MB of storage space, like the Mad Catz 16MB card. While the card is recognized, a non-descript error is returned as soon as you try to copy its contents.
* At a price of $14.99 the PS3 Memory Card Adapter does not come with a cable, but this is just a heads up, because it doesn’t need to. You use the same USB cable to connect the adaptor that you use to charge the PS3 controllers.
Article continues »
The Super Metroid Brothers
Check out what Photoshop, a Wacom Art Tablet, and some imagination can do in this game mashup painting titled The Super Metroid Brothers. It’s not perfect though, Mario’s nose must be killing him!
21 Wii tips and tricks for the console and games (turn the blue light on!)
We listed the top 10 Wii facts, then the top 12 other Wii facts, continued with 16 secret Wii facts. All facts you might not have known, so it’s only fitting we continue this trend with 21 very handy tips and tricks for Nintendo’s Wii.
Console related:
1. Press the home button on the main menu. Next, click on the controller image. You can adjust the Wii-mote volume and rumble functions.
2. Hold A and B down and you can move the windows on the main menu around.
3. Want your plain-looking Wii to have some style? Add a blue light around you CD drive anytime the console is on by doing the following:
Go to your email from the home menu, and add your personal computer email address to your address book. Wait ~1 hour for the email (mine took at least this long) Reply to the email from your computer. In a few minutes, you will have an email waiting for you on your Wii. Don’t read it! As long as it remains new, you have a pretty blue light!
Article continues »
