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Forza Motorsport 2 gets its due date
Live Gamer's dpcough got his hands on an Xbox Japan press release about Forza Motorsport 2 and gleaned some very interesting information from it. According the release, Forza is expected to have a world-wide release on May 24th, 2007. This proves to be very promising, although dpcough admits that he's been wrong before. Still, we have faith in him, as our own babelfishing seemed to definitely agree with his claims, and even begot a couple chuckles out of the malapropisms found therein. So, do you think the "wood" will get Forza 2 complete with full "fourth" feedback support in late May?[Via Live Gamer]
GDC has Mass Effect demo, books in May
Mass Effect will be demoed at GDC '07 next week, although BioWare and Microsoft aren't revealing any details on what we'll be seeing or whether or not it will be playable. Fortunately, our very own Richard Mitchell will be attending the event and has now been essentially cornered into giving you a hands on report on what he sees and hopefully plays in regards to Mass Effect. Then again, we don't see reason why he wouldn't tell you about it in the first place.Also worth noting is the recently announced prequel novels by game writer Drew Karpyshyn, and they will help flesh out the backstory on the Mass Effect universe. The first book, Revelation, will go on sale in May for $7.99 USD. So, will a couple books and some hands-on reporting hold you over till the early summer release?[Via XboxAddict]
Halo 3 meets Battlezone in Bungie's update
Bungie's Weekly Update brought forth many details about Halo 3's progress, especially on the graphical front. From glass shaders, to foliage reacting convincingly to its environment, to realistic water effects, things are definitely looking good for our flagship franchise. A cool tool they've been toying around with is the ability to toggle a vector outline view of the game, pictured above. On the audio side of things, Marty has been busy in LA recording dialog from various voice actors. In terms of gameplay audio, they go into detail about how gunfire, for example, has two samples, based on proximity, and how the fade from one to the other depending how far you are from the firefight. There are a bunch of cool details available for you to digest, so click the "Read" link and get yourself stoked.
A Rare interview concerning Banjo Kazooie 3
Rare is in good company these days. As a part of Microsoft Games Studios, they exist under the same umbrella as Bungie -- another studio that loves to be elusive. This of course means that if they let out so much as a squeak, we listen. GameTrailers caught up with one of the crafty devils (Concept Artist, Ryan Stevenson) recently to talk about everything Rare. Banjo Kazooie 3 in particular. If you enjoyed previous entries in the Banjo Kazooie saga there will be plenty for you to love on your 360 as Stevenson says "It's still the same characters and the same thing. It's a game for the people who appreciated the game years ago and also for new people that are coming to the 360." A hint concerning the main villain of the series, Grundy, is also dropped and the Stop'N'Swop drama makes a special guest appearance. Stevenson gives the most rational idea for the infamously dropped Banjo-Tooie feature in that it was probably just a really bad idea. We, however, still believe.
Crackdown disc required to play Halo 3 Beta
On Monday, we showed you a screenshot of the Halo 3 Beta download screen in retail copies of Crackdown. Today, we have a picture of the invite card, which confirms how the process works. In short, you need to have the Crackdown game in your Xbox 360 to play the Halo 3 Beta. It does NOT show up in your "Demos and More" tab on the dashboard after downloading it through Crackdown. This coincides with the original press release, which stated you had to load the game to download the beta. Check out the invite card after the break.
"Rule of 3" entries today [update 1]
Update: Registry was opened at 1 PM EST. Some people on the HBO IRC are saying they got in at that time. Now the registry page is showing a connection error, either from the heavy refreshing everyone is doing or the 13,333 are done and the site went down after.So, did you get your 3 hours of Halo 2 multiplayer done before 11:59 EST on Saturday? If so, be one of the first 13,333 entrants today to get accepted into the Halo 3 beta this Spring. Well, it's February 5th and the Halo 3 site is the same as it was an hour ago. So, at the moment there is no Rule of Three entry point, though within the next 23 hours and 14 minutes it will have changed and you hopefully caught it within the first 3 minutes or so to get registered, perhaps for the second time. In any case we'll be keeping our eyes on the site and will update this post as soon as we see a change. Good luck, and let us know when you registered and if you got notified whether or not you were of the first 13,333 entrants.
Mass Effect won't be in May
On Friday we pointed out that the Australian Xbox site had a May 18th release date posted for Mass Effect. It turns out that Microsoft has since debunked the rumor and changed the date on the site to "TBD", matching the North American regions. While the monkeys keep working away over at BioWare, there are no release date related announcements pertaining to the title other than it's not May 18th. Still, don't rule out a May/June release, but we'll have to wait until we get an official announcement.[Thanks, Mythor & Jonah]
Peugeot's PGR4 finalists for concept contest revealed
Back in September we briefly reported on Peugeot's contest to design a concept car for them to use in the upcoming Bizarre Creations title, Project Gotham Racing 4. Well, the contest is now closed, and they are currently displaying the top ten finalists, complete with multiple angle shots and words from the designer on their inspiration. Not only will the winner's car be used in the upcoming racer, but Peugeot will be making a scale-to-life version to put on display for the 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show in September. Click the "Read" link to be taken to a translated (you're welcome) page showing off the selected designs. Which one do you want to rack Kudos up with the most?[Via Gaming Bits]
Bungie owns up to Halo 2's flaws
Edge Online posted an interview with Bungie, where various team members discuss Halo 3, the development process and other aspects of the team's infrastructure. One thing has seemingly stood out from the article, though, and that is their view on Halo 2. The comments from Technical Lead Chris Butcher seem to be generating the most buzz. He feels that the team miscalculated on Halo 2 and that the multiplayer should have been exponentially better than what was released on the disc. He even goes so far as to say that he can't even play Halo 2, and uses that as a springboard to illustrate that Halo 3 will not fall into the same trap. Bungie has been known to be hyper critical of their own work in the past. While their opinions may be a little on the extreme side, if it motivates them to make Halo 3 the best it can be, then everybody wins. So, what do you think? Was Halo 2 really that bad? It still set the standard of how party matchmaking should be done, right? To have a look at the rest of the interview, which touches on many things other than what was wrong with Halo 2, click the "Read" link.[Thanks, KilgoreTrout]
Forza 2 jacks PGR3 technology
As much as we'd like to envision Microsoft programmers bursting into the UK offices of Bizarre Games, waving oversized pistols around and demanding that employees dump their precious code onto an external hard drive, the word "sharing" is the one used to describe the technology deal between the Project Gotham Racing 3 developer and the Forza Motorsport 2 team. In an Xbox World Australia love letter interview, lead designer Dan Greenawalt explains that the upcoming Xbox 360 racing sim will include an online TV mode, much like the one found in PGR3. "In Forza Motorsport 2, you won't just be watching a bunch of Ferraris racing together. You'll be watching completely customized Ferraris racing in a simulation environment. The personality of the driver emerges in Forza Motorsport TV. Paint schemes and physics mastery add to the excitement and diversity of the 'telecasts'." Exciting news, certainly if you've discovered that watching is the best part of playing a game.All joking aside, it is heartening to see PGR3's solid online implementation finding its way into another flagship franchise. Greenawalt goes on to highlight the game's 60 frames-per-second graphical glory, its more nuanced Drivatar AI system and a photo mode that -- get this -- may allow you to share your virtual snaps with friends. Let's hope Microsoft remembers to share that marvelous technology with the Project Gotham team. Well, maybe not all joking then.[Via Eurogamer]
