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Grab the reins of Fable: The Journey's demo on September 17
Fable: The Journey may not launch until early October, but you'll be able to take its virtual reins on September 17 when a demo for the game goes live worldwide on Xbox 360. Microsoft and Lionhead describe the demo as filled with "heart-pounding action," so, uh, maybe take some heart medication ahead of playing the game.Should the potential for heart failure caused by playing a demo worry you too much, you could always just watch the new "ViDoc" above. It's a lot like a trailer, but with a weird name. Take a look!
Dance Central 2's August tracks are down with O.P.P.
Yes, you know them – Jeremih, Kevin Rudolf, and hip-hop greats Naughty By Nature are all headlining this month's Dance Central 2 club bangers. Each artist is bringing a single track for each week of the month, with Jeremih featuring 50 Cent's "Down On Me" getting things started tomorrow. As per usual, each track costs 240 MS Points ($3).
Skyrim's Dawnguard DLC review: Disappointment before sunrise
In Skyrim's "Dawnguard" DLC, I became a vampire. I feasted on the blood of the living. I propelled myself forward at super vampire speed with my leathery grey vampire lord wings. I sapped the energy of my enemies with one boney claw while raising the dead to fight for me with the other, growing my powers ever stronger. I even turned into a swarm of bats and flitted across a room.It's not as fun as it sounds.%Gallery-157878%
Trials Evolution sure has some crazy looking user-generated content
Maybe you haven't played Trials Evolution in a while and you don't realize how much totally bananas user-generated content is available to be played, totally free? RedLynx and Ubisoft put together the trailer above to remind you of just that.
XBLA Summer of Arcade 2012 detailed, Tony Hawk kickflips it off on July 18
XBLA's Summer of Arcade 2012 begins on July 18 with the HD-ified rebirth of Tony Hawk Pro Skater for 1200 MS Points ($15). The following week, Iron Galaxy's Angry Birds meets Boom Blox Kinect flinger Wreckateer arrives for 800 MS Points ($10), with Deadlight, Hybrid, and Dust: An Elysian Tail launching in the subsequent weeks, all for 1200 MS Points ($15) a pop.Microsoft is offering an incentive (as always) to spur multiple Summer of Arcade purchases, giving those who snag "any three of the above titles" a free 400 MS Points ($5). From the look of things, that won't be too hard a sell.Additionally, Tony Hawk Pro Skater HD is heading to PlayStation Network "a few weeks" after it launches on Xbox Live Arcade, but the rest of the Summer of Arcade games are exclusive to 360 (at least for now).
Crimson Dragon delayed in Japan, no new release date provided
Crimson Dragon was recently given a June 13 release date in Japan. However, even if you do have access to a Japanese Xbox Live account, you shouldn't expect it on XBLA this week, as the Kinect game by Panzer Dragoon creator Yukio Futatsugi has been delayed at the last minute.The Japanese release of the game currently has no announced release date – quite a change from June 13. No reason was offered for the sudden delay.
Gorgeous Halo 4 concept shots found on Xbox Live Marketplace
Halo 4 isn't all Master Chief and his revamped blue buddy. It's also got giant, uninhabited spaces with incredible views, as seen in the two Xbox Live Marketplace "Premium Themes" that Little English Halo Blog snagged.The vista above – full of upside down buildings hanging precariously over a mountain range and marked with a UNSC shuttlecraft of some form – seems to be a Forerunner world of some form, but we can't be sure. As for the second screen, it looks like an engine room, but then we're not exactly future engineers.
Minecraft edges Black Ops out of second spot on XBLA charts
This week, two important things happened to Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition on Xbox 360 – one, the game topped the Xbox Live activity charts once more, this time beating out the longstanding Call of Duty: Black Ops for the number two spot (Modern Warfare 3 remains lodged in the top position). Second, and more importantly, I finally made a nether portal last night. This is important business, folks! Regardless, it's likely many of you folks have also done so by this point – the game's also topping this week's "Top Arcade Titles" list as well, digging under the hills and valleys of big seller Trials Evolution. How about those crazy ghost things, huh? Straight up madness!
Ghost Recon: Future Soldier's 'Arctic Strike' DLC due in July
Ghost Recon: Future Soldier's future soldiers had better bundle up, as Ubisoft's just-announced "Arctic Strike" DLC sounds like it'll require more than just a camouflaged windbreaker when it arrives on July 3. The DLC runs 800 MS Points or $10 on 360 and PS3 (respectively), and the PC version ... well, it seems not to exist. We've asked Ubi what's up with that.The pack contains an unknown number of multiplayer maps, a new co-op "Guerrilla Mode" map, six new weapons, and an additional multiplayer mode. Ubi unfortunately hasn't shown anything of the content aside from the single image you see above, but presumably we'll hear more after the game's launch.
How to buy Minecraft on Xbox 360 for $5 less than on your Xbox 360 [update: no more!]
Update: Best Buy's price for Minecraft is back at $20, unfortunately. Congrats to those of you who managed to snap up the lower price!With the launch of Minecraft today on Xbox Live Arcade for the lofty price of 1600 MS Points ($20), we searched long and hard to discover a way to buy the game for a full 25 percent off. There was lava and exploding Creepers and this skeleton that kept shooting arrows – pretty harrowing stuff. Anyway, we sussed out this precise formula for snagging the game on the cheap. Follow along below ... if you dare. Step 1: Go to Best Buy's website. Step 2: Purchase Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition for $15 instead of the $20 it costs on Xbox Live Marketplace. Step 3: Laugh and throw money in the air, you baller.[Thanks KP!]
MLB.tv Premium for Xbox 360 now live in 18 more countries, CinemaNow adds rentals in the US
Feels like it was only yesterday that the MLB.tv app was landing on Xbox consoles in North America, and starting today, the application will be available to more baseball lovers around the globe. As Major Nelson notes (again), the Major League Baseball service is now live in Brazil, France, Germany, India, Italy, South Africa, Spain and the UK, among a few other nations. Naturally, if you're hoping to catch any ball games via MLB's Premium goods, you'll have to shell out a subscription fee along with having a fancy Xbox Live Gold account. In other 360 news, CinemaNow has made the switch from being a locker-only application to now offering TV show and movie rentals to folks in the US. You can check out what other countries made the MLB.tv cut at the Major Nelson site, link is down below.
Microsoft's E3 presser to stream through Xbox Live, Spike TV
Are you hoping to experience the thrill and excitement of a game manufacturer E3 press conference, but lacking the credentials to attend? Microsoft thinks that's just the dumbest, so the company's blowing the doors off of its upcoming E3 presser – at least virtually – with both Spike TV and Xbox Live streaming the event for all to see. Democracy!Spike and Xbox Live's coverage begins one day ahead of the big show on Monday, June 4 – Microsoft likes to kick things off before anyone else at E3, you see. Interested parties can tune in at 12:30PM ET/ 9:30AM PT to catch the whole thing live. Keep an eye out for us in the crowd! You can tell us apart from everyone else because we're all 11 feet tall, by the way.
Netflix receives underwhelming update on Xbox 360
The Netflix app for Xbox 360 received an update today that improves some functionality, but ignores some long-standing complaints. You now have the ability to skip forward and back during play for movies and TV episodes, and a zoom function for those with 4:3 screens lets you convert letterbox to full screen.One other notable tweak is social media integration for Facebook users outside of the States. There's also a single sign-on with cloud profiles, allowing members to access Netflix on another Xbox 360 (like, at a friend's house) with sign-in credentials. Handy!Filed under "still not fixed": TV episodes still start automatically sans individual episode selection screen, and searching is still done with a string of letters, and not a keyboard interface. Maybe next time?
Saints Row: The Third takes gangstas to space ... today!
Forget about EA sending copies of Mass Effect 3 into space -- that's child's play. THQ is taking things one step further and sending the Steelport gangstas into space with the latest Saints Row: The Third DLC pack. It's included if you have a Season Pass, otherwise it goes for 560 MS Points ($7).%Gallery-148115%
PSA: Modern Warfare 3 'Overwatch' out today [update]
Activision is dropping the next Call of Duty Elite content pack for Modern Warfare 3 in Overwatch, a rooftop map for the game's multiplayer component. If you'd like to take a peek at that map, we've dropped the latest trailer just above. The Overwatch DLC map for MW3 is exclusive to 360 for a limited time.%Gallery-146713%
Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2 details sneak out via XBLM listing
Oh you crazy, crazy marketers, what with your inability to line up announcement times and what have you. Adorable, we say! For instance, Sega's big reveal of Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2 probably wasn't intended for as inauspicious a venue as the Xbox Live Marketplace, but here we are with a whole mess of new screens and several new details about the game itself. A-dorable.Anyway, according to the Xbox Live Marketplace listing, Sonic 4 Episode 2 will feature online and offline co-op play with Tails, all set in an "all new game engine" with updated physics. The blurb further promises "four brand new Zones" and a "new special stage." From the shots that were released thus far, it's looking like Sonic and Tails should pack an extra pair of snow boots!%Gallery-147686%
Big Square Enix Xbox Marketplace sale includes Deus Ex, Lara Croft
Square Enix is holding a sale this week on the Xbox Marketplace, taking half off DLC for Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Just Cause 2, along with discounts on several of Lady Croft's adventures and its associated DLC.The highlights of the sale are certainly the Deus Ex's Missing Link DLC and co-op adventure Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light for 600 MSP ($7.50). There's also some attempted discounts on full downloads of Battlestations: Pacific, Just Cause 2 and Tomb Raider: Underworld; but chances are you can find better in your local bargain bin.Another game worth checking out is updated original Tomb Raider: Legend: Anniversary, available in two chunks at 400 MSP ($5) apiece (caveat is you'll need to own TR: Legend since it's the DLC). So, try the first two levels before you buy the whole thing. Find the full list of discounts after the break.
PSA: AC Revelations 'Mediterranean Traveler' DLC out today
It's not unusual to feel as if you can't get enough of Ezio -- that's part of his legendary charm, after all -- and today you can break off a little more with the Assassin's Creed: Revelations Mediterranean Traveler DLC pack. Mediterranean Traveler includes new trophies/achievements, and three new and three fan-favorite maps from Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood: Jerusalem, Constantinople and Dyers for the new, and Firenze, San Donato and Siena for the old.Mediterranean Traveler is part of the Revelations Season Pass for PC, a $23 deal that includes all DLC for 20 percent less than purchasing the packs individually. For those condemned to paying full price, Mediterranean Traveler is available to download for $9.99 on PSN and PC, and for 800 MS Points (while they last) on XBLM.%Gallery-145549%
Syndicate co-op demo lands Jan. 31, Feb. 1 on XBL and PSN
The co-op demo for Syndicate launches on Xbox Live in North America and Europe on January 31, while the PlayStation Network version drops the same day in North America, and on February 1 for Europe. The demo covers the "Western Europe" co-op mission, in which you steal blueprints from Cayman Global and assassinate Colonel Enrico Gabron, one of nine co-op challenges in the full game.Liking the Syndicate page on Facebook begets access to remixed tracks of the original Syndicate soundtrack by Digitalism, Flux Pavillion and Skrillex, which is newsworthy because until just now we thought Skrillex was the singer in some trendy rap-metal band. And possibly a girl. Huh.
Xbox Live video consumption greatly increased in 2011; entertainment apps in higher demand
Sure, there are lots of folks playing plain old video games on their Xbox 360s, but lots of folks are relying on their consoles to provide other forms of entertainment. The use of "entertainment apps" jumped dramatically with Xbox Live's introduction of several new programs late last year -- to the tune of 50 percent globally, Microsoft said in a recent release. And in the US that stat is much more dramatic, with "more than 60 percent" of Gold members employing the apps for up to an hour a day on average. Video watching has also seen a marked increase, with global video consumption stats showing a 140 percent increase in 2011 over 2010. We suppose all of this could be little more than thinly veiled chest-pounding, but with 66 million Xbox 360s out there in the wild (as of earlier this month) and 35 million users on Xbox Live (as of August 2011), we'd call them a bit more telling than that. Microsoft promises continued support of its entertainment app marketplace as 2012 continues, which we're hoping means the HBO Go app is arriving sooner, rather than later.
