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X3F Achievements 101: Dragonriding Swashbucklers
So the previous week has come to a close and I'm back with another glorious edition of X3F Achievements 101. The past seven days had some serious grinding behind it as I finished off the amazingly tedious Eragon. Hopefully Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End be a third time's charm for film-to-game adaptations. I'll also give my interpretation of the release of the Halo 3 Achievements, which took the interwebs by surprise this week. Either way, there's a lot to cover from the past week, so let's get started.
X3F Achievements 101: Superagon Returns
Welcome back to another edition of X3F Achievements 101, where we take a look at the last 7 days in Achievement whoring of yours truly and any observations or interesting tidbits that got discovered along the way. This week saw a good jump in Gamerscore, as I plowed through a couple of mediocre games with some straightforward Achievements, along with others that require special attention to obtain. So, we'll take a look at Superman Returns, Eragon, and touch on a teensy bit of Shadowrun.
Free Eragon and The Reaping downloads
Today's free XBLM downloads are movie related themes and gamer pictures that are available to a worldly audience. First off is the free Eragon theme available to most of Europe and only Europe. The other downloads are for the movie The Reaping (featuring that swanky Hilary Swank) and include both a theme and a set of gamer pictures. And be sure to note that The Reaping's free downloads are only offered to United States residents ... Canada gets shafted this time, sorry guys. We just rang the free downloads dinner bell, so go get your content already!
PS3 hits Europe: "And by 'backwards compatible,' we mean Eragon"
Look, Eragon is great and all, with his pretty boy hair and that whole dragon thing he's got going on, but we wouldn't exactly describe him as ideal representation of a complete Euro-PS3 backwards compatibility list. Unfortunately, that's exactly what the folks at Cynamite found, who nabbed a pre-release Emotion Engine-free PS3 for testing a couple weeks before launch, and confirmed some of the worst fears about the PAL PS3's backwards compatibility. Granted, Sony could (and hopefully does) have a major software revision up its sleeve to boost emulation capabilities of the PS3 at launch, but they tested the top 12 PS2 titles in Europe (including such faves as God of War, MGS 3: Snake Eater and Guitar Hero 2) only to find that the sole game on the list that would even launch was Eragon. (The other titles popped up a screen telling users to hope on future software updates and to refer to Sony's compatibility list.) Time is running out, but we're gonna keep the faith. Sony definitely knows better than to promise 1200-some-odd backward compatible titles and deliver on what could mathematically be estimated as only about 100.[Via The Inquirer]
DS releases for the week of November 13th
Big week for handheld gaming! As we creep closer to the end of the year, release dates are just more and more packed with must-have titles. If this keeps up, we may have to consider undertaking a life of crime in order to afford everything we want. What are you picking up this week, and how much ramen are you gonna munch to compensate?DS releases: Asphalt: Urban GT 2 Bionicle Heroes Bomberman Land: Touch! Brain Boost: Beta Wave Brain Boost: Gamma Wave Charlotte's Web Digimon World DS Eragon Final Fantasy III Gunpey Happy Feet Monster Bomber Rayman Raving Rabbids Spider-Man: Battle for New York Tamagotchi Connection: Corner Shop 2 Tomb Raider: Legend Totally Spies! 2: Undercover Yoshi's Island 2 GBA releases: Bionicle Heroes Charlotte's Web Eragon F-24: Stealth Fighter Happy Feet March of the Penguins Polarium Advanced Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis Spider-Man: Battle for New York Super Robot Taisen 2 Tomb Raider: Legend Tonka on the Job Totally Spies! 2: Undercover Yggdra Union And don't forget (like you were going to!) -- next week is the first of the global launch dates for the Wii! Then we'll really be awash in Nintendo goodness. As for this week's games, as ever, supplies are subject to manufacturer delivery.[Big ups to whoever the games in the picture belong to!]
Xbox Live Demo roundup
There's been a lot of new demos out on Xbox Live Marketplace lately, some good, some bad. Some of them might end up saving you $60, since the demo could be craptacular, but you could also find yourself desperate for the full version. That's the whole mystery of the marketplace. Roll the dice and see what you think.Eragon: (415.28MB) This game is only going to appeal to fans of the book and the upcoming film. The graphics are not what you'd call "pretty," and it feels as if the game was tossed together over a drunken weekend using old code found on a floppy disk in a dumpster outside of Electronic Arts. It plays like Lord of the Rings meets Knights of the Old Republic. You have a sword, a bow, Jedi-like magic powers, and face an onslaught of identical foes. You can call in a dragon for air support every now and then, almost like having a special Dragon-whistle. *TWEET* "Hey! Take out that SUV in front of me! Thanks, girl!" Now that would come in handy.Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent: (702.31MB) No surprises here. It's the same old Splinter Cell that you've come to love or hate. Ubisoft could just start calling these games Splinter Cell: The Sequel and you'd get the drift -- although this one has some big changes to the multiplayer, new plot, still fun ... if you're into that sort of thing. Fire it up and and see what you think of the latest installment. Then go try out the next one down and see which one knocks your socks off. Double Agent is the biggest download of the group, so get one of the smaller ones first and let this load in the background while you get some game on.Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas: (477.57MB) Can they make the titles to these games any longer, please? Soon it'll be crossover time and you'll have Tom Clancy's Rainbow Cell Splinter Six of the Old Republic Theft Auto to deal with. This is the second smallest download, barely ahead of Eragon, but it really manages to put the money where the megabytes are. This demo alone makes us want to pony up the money for the real things. Plus come on, Vegas, baby, Vegas.F.E.A.R.: (542.72MB) And then there was F.E.A.R -- an explosive ballet of destruction, clone commandos and kicking evil little girls in the head. In slow-mo. What more can you ask for in a free demo? What demos have you been checking out? We wanna hear about it.
Eragon demo flaps onto XBLM, impressions
A demo for Eragon -- the "official" game of Fox's upcoming movie -- has hit Marketplace. Now, let's get one thing straight. I am completely unfamiliar with this material. I have not read the books, and so I can only judge the game for itself. For any Eragonites out there, please keep that in mind. With that out of the way, the demo is pretty "meh." The first thing anyone will notice is that this is obviously not a 360 game. In fact, it barely looks like a PS2 game. The water in particular looked god-awful. The game actually reminded me a little of Soul Reaver with slightly more detail (and worse combat). As far as gameplay is concerned, it's pretty much derivative of the EA Lord of the Rings games. There are plenty of combos with long animations, projectiles, and limited magic. You get to call in your dragon for a few scripted bits of destruction, but that's it. There is no dragon riding in the demo. Beyond that, I couldn't help but be struck by a few things. One, I have this badass dragon, but I'm killing all these baddies myself? Also, I find it a little odd that one arrow manages to take out your dragon friend about halfway through the demo, but it takes five arrows for me to kill one human archer. Weird. All in all, the demo isn't terrible but I doubt it will convince you to pay sixty bucks for the retail version; it might be a decent rental, though.
Eragon swooping in un-noticed?
Five new screenshots from Eragon, an arial dragon combat game (due November 14) that seems likes it's been swallowed by the Gears of War hype machine, despite being based on a best-selling novel and upcoming Hollywood extravaganza. You might think that's because the game is movie tie-in crap, but it got some good looks E3. Are there any fans of the book out there who are genuinely looking forward to this one?
Bringing It Home content, 9/25
Well folks, TGS is over, finished, kaput. As such, it seem only fitting that today's content is more oriented towards western audiences -- note also that there is no Japan exclusive content today. Here's the sweet sweet candy: Battlestations Midway trailer Eragon trailer Import Tuner Challenge trailer Need for Speed Carbon trailer The Darkness trailer Mass Effect Picture Pack (free!) Battlestar Galactica (United States) TGS Showfloor video 3 video F.E.A.R. demo We discussed the F.E.A.R. demo earlier: if you played the OXM demo, there's nothing new. With all this content, it may be time to start clearing out some of that old E3 stuff. Meanwhile, X06 inches ever closer. So, everybody make some room, download each and every one of these trailers, watch them, and then come back here and discuss them. Discuss them, I say!
Eragon gameplay update
Your next Panzer Dragoon Orta fix might be coming from Eragon, based on the book and movie of the same name. According to Vivendi Games producer Tim Ramage, you'll spend one third of the game engaged in glorious aerial combat on the back of your dragon, Saphira. Unfortunately, there are the other two thirds of the game, which at this point appear to be standard third person combat and puzzle-solving fare. GameTrailers has some in-depth gameplay vids and interviews.Eragon will be shipping this holiday season on every platform except the Wii and PS3, and fans of Chistopher Paolini's bestselling novel also have the film to look forward to in December.
Eragon DS video
The books have been a success thus far and it is very ordinary to see popular novels branch out into movies and games. Gameplay for Eragon looks similar to that of Zelda with lush environments and attacking random shrubs in search of possible treasure. The bottom screen isn't very visible to tell what is going on but we are guessing its an area for a map. We hope that the game will follow in the footsteps of the books, but sometimes Hollywood gets in the way of making that happen. [Via Go Nintendo]
Eragon flies its way onto the PSP
Guys, I seriously think I have some sort of psychic powers or something. Last night, out of the clear blue, I began reading Eragon again. So you can imagine my surprise when I woke up this morning to find a video game, based on the upcoming movie, is in the works for the PSP.The story is titled after the main character, who's name just so happens to be Eragon, who one day stumbles upon a dragon egg. Eventually the dragon hatches, and Eragon and the dragon quickly become inseparable. He then begins to live my lifelong dream of becoming a dragon rider and mage. One day, Chris ... one day.Developer Stormfront Studios, is developing the game as a flying-based action game by doing the smart thing and having players do battle on dragons. The game's multi-player will play a very important role, as well. Eragon will have nine different multi-player game types, most of which you're probably familiar with (i.e. Capture the Flag). In addition to using your dragon's fire breathing, you'll also be able to use magic.According to IGN, Eragon is coming together rather nicely and "looks like it'll make good and appropriate use of the license while giving gamers and entirely different experience than they'll find on consoles, which is always a good thing for multiple reasons."This is one licensed game, I'm excited for. The book is really interesting, and I'm hoping the movie will be, too. Look for the game to be released along with the movie later this year.(Via IGN)
VU's Eragon to be previewed at E3
If you enjoyed the dragon riding combat of Panzer Dragoon Orta and the Drakengard series, you might be interested in Vivendi Universal's Eragon, due at year's end. The action adventure title is based on the Twentieth Century Fox film of the same name, which in turn is based on Christopher Paolini's bestselling fantasy novel.Fox and VU will show exclusive gameplay footage of Eragon for all the major platforms at E3. However, it looks like the only dragon love Nintendo will be receiving is of the portable variety. While GameCube owners might be left out in the cold, Xbox 360 owners will be treated to two exclusive levels.
