Terrence Stasse
Articles by Terrence Stasse
Design a GRiD livery for the game's upcoming DLC
While we're not exactly sure just how many people out there are still interested in such a thing, Codemasters, the GRiD developers, are holding a contest for its players to design a livery (skin) for the above pictured car. The rules are real simple and you don't need to be an art whiz or anything. Basically, download the picture package from here, and do your best to create an official "Codemasters Racing Team" livery incorporating the Codemasters logo into the design. Going a step further, Codemasters artists will then turn that into game art for the car. And not only does the winner get his (or her) car in the game, but they also get " a load of GRID swag" and "a framed high-resolution render of your car as it will appear in the game." The contest ends July 25th, get designing!
Pure awesome: PDC World Championship Darts
We swear that that is from the actual, official, box art from this incredibly, improbably, weird game. Apparently Oxygen games thought that this title did well enough on PS2 and Wii, and are looking to port this piece of weirdness to a real next-gen console. Leaving aside most of the obvious ripping we could give this thing (its lack of potential for profitability notwithstanding), we really do think that a title like this does have a place somewhere in the 360's library. It's just not on the shelves next to Halo and GTA. Considering Microsoft's penchant for throwing casual things on XBLA, this really feels much more appropriate to that space.
Single Xbox.com page; one game per week now?
Okay, okay, maybe we jumped the gun a bit with our prediction that last week would see the release of both Soulcalibur and Schizoid. But we think Microsoft just figured out the pattern and decided to mess with us for the sake of it. We kid. Though we do think the idea still has merit, so in the spirit of infotainment, we bring you news of the latest Xbox.com page: Golf: Tee It Up!Still, given that last week only saw one game released to XBLA and we already know that both dodgeball games are set for release before the month is out, if Microsoft continues the trend of one game per week we should already have a good idea of the month's releases.
James Bond: Quantum of Doogie Howser
The resemblance to TV's underage doctor in the above screen is uncanny don't you think? While the Bond character model in that shot may look closer to Neil Patrick Harris than Daniel Craig, the rest of the screens from the newest Bond game, Quantum of Solace, look pretty good. Considering the re-purposed tech (remember this is the COD4 engine) the devs have done a good job with the third person perspective bits, and apart from that one screen, the character models (Craig's included) look really good.%Gallery-26719%
Another Naruto game on the way: Broken Bond
Despite the fact that the newest of the Naruto games won't be coming to the 360, that doesn't mean that the franchise has left the console forever. According to several newly posted pages on a few different websites, we've got word of a new Naruto 360 project, apparently entitled Broken Bond. Supposedly set for release in November, Broken Bond deals with the rivalry between Naruto and the character Sasuke and is thought to be a continuation of the earlier 360 game Rise of the Ninja.[Sources GameRush, ToTheGame][Thanks Robert]
Banjo and Viva sequels only $39.99 at Gamestop?
This generation of games has seen the average price for a title rise to $59.99, so when a game looks to possibly be released at a price point lower than that, we take notice. Over at Gamestop's website, Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise and Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts are both currently listed at the price of $39.99. Now while this could just be a simple error (Amazon has them both at $59.99), we'd like to hope that there's more going on ...The rest of this is only speculation, but there are a few connections between the two games. They're both from Rare and so they're both Microsoft first party games. Now it could just be wishful thinking, but we'd like to hope that Microsoft might be willing taking a bit of a profit hit on these two to get them to be must-buys for a larger audience of gamers (read: kids).
Infinite Undiscovery screens and box art
One of the few Square Enix RPGs that will see release on 360 in the future (Septmeber 2 to be exact), the strangely titled Infinite Undiscovery has just recently had its box art released, and surprise, it's not covered in large-eyed anime style characters. To go with the reveal of the artsy box cover, we've got a collection of some rather good looking screens for the game. The shots show case everything from the varied environments to some of the battle system, the UI and characters.%Gallery-26723%
Rumor: NG2 gets worthwhile DLC July 25?
Thank you sharp-eyed forum posters, you may have spotted something that could mean Ninja Gaiden 2 will actually get some content worth paying for. Mentioned over at NeoGAF, and spotted somewhere on the XBL Marketplace, was the mention that NG2 will get a downloadable mission mode on the 25th of this month. The mission mode that was in the original iteration was incredibly popular among the franchise faithful for its focus on the game's main strength: pure combat. There are of course no details on how the implementation will work, but as long as it isn't just more of the Tests of Valor (we're really tired of that environment) we'll be ready to shell out the points if this hits on the 25th. Anyone else out there spot this on the Marketplace yet?
Ninja Gaiden 2 Costume Concept Art
To go with the overpriced and and relatively pointless downloadable costumes for Ninja Gaiden 2, we've got even more relatively pointless stuff for you. Why would we do such a thing you ask? Because cheap as the actual DLC is (we're really opposed to it more on principle) this relatively pointless stuff is absolutely free, that's why. And while we've seen one of the DLC concepts before, the shots are now hi-res and great for some backgrounds or wallpaper. What're ya waitin' for? Right-Click -> Save Picture As already!%Gallery-26667%
More MM9 nuttiness; USK rates the game for 360
Will the back and forth never end? It's multiplatform, then it's not, and now it looks like it is again. With no official word from Capcom, this new Mega Man 9 news of course has only as much credence as the first OFLC rating. But we really don't think that government game rating boards are in the habit of making up games or confusing which controller and console they're using, regardless of what country the ratings board is from. Though there is just one little thing that makes this whole situation more of an oddity. Our multilingual readers will already have noticed, but the USK strangely lists it from the genre of, ahem, "Role playing." Weird.[Via NeoGAF]
Sorry Arcade users, Soul Calibur IV requires an HDD [update]
[Update : So it looks like the good folks over at Microsoft messed up. The page has now been updated to reflect the fact that the game actually doesn't need a hard drive.] So according to the game's xbox.com page, Namco Bandai's fourth installment fighter isn't going to be playable for those arcade pack owners out there. While Microsoft's doctrine that your SKU wouldn't matter when it came to the simple act of playing games has been broken before (FFXI, etc) we really didn't expect to see it in a fighting game. It could be that the HDD requirement refers to the game's Create-A-Soul mode (which would obviously require space to save created players). But has the game really been created in such a way that doesn't simply disable that feature for a user without a hard drive? The xbox.com page could be a mistake of course, because to have to leave a certain section of the potential player base (however small) unable to purchase your game just seems a bit strange. As much as this is worth complaining about, let's hope that the game uses the 360 HDD's reserved 6GB of caching space so as to avoid the mandatory install of the PS3 version (which seems to be the most likely situation, considering the PS3 HDD install is just about the same size as the 360's reserved cache.)
Japan gets another shmup: Otomedius Gorgeous, or, Why we need to have another Steel Battalion
While the news that the 360 as a platform is seeing more support from Japanese developers, we do wish that that support was coming to these shores. In a move that reminds us of the good old days of large and unnecessary controllers with even more unnecessary features (hit eject or lose you game save!) the release of Otomedius Gorgeous! will be accompanied by a, ahem, Hyper Stick Pro. Otomedius Gorgeous! is a port of the partially touch-screen controlled popular Japanese arcade shoot 'em up, and to emulate the touch screen the Hyper Stick actually includes a built in touchpad just for this game. As we said, it seems rather unlikely that this title and its crazy controller will hit western shores, but the above picture reminded us heavily of some of the best overblown controllers of our happy memories. True they are totally unnecessary for most any other game, but these things had a charm all there own, and practicality is not one of them. *Sigh* Oh well, you can still check out the hilariously awesome trailer after the break.
Backpedaling 101: MM9 currently "for WiiWare only"
Yeah, yeah, we know we posted just the other day that the Live Arcade would be actually seeing a release of Mega Man 9. Arstechnica seemed to have gotten their hands on a Capcom E3 roster and it had MM9 listed as being for all three of the console digital download services, which looked to be a confirmation of earlier rumblings out of the OFLC that also said that the game would be multiplatform. Apparently, that story made the rounds so much that Capcom got wind of it and contacted arstechnica to tell 'em that, well, there was a bit of a mistake on the release roster and that Mega Man 9 is currently slated "for WiiWare only." While the caveat of "currently" means that things could change in the future (this is Capcom, after all; the guys who ported DMC4 and Lost Planet to PC, and who swore that Resident Evil 4 was exclusive to Gamecube), we doubt whether any sort of XBLA release would end up happening for quite some time.
Replica Energy Sword for all your LARPing needs
We've reported before on real-world Halo creations, but this one certainly takes the cake. Being about as accurate as a fake energy sword can possibly be, this replica recreation actually has real blades, though the extent of their sharpness isn't exactly detailed on the website. The tempered steel sword looks to be perfect for all the live action role-players out there looking to step up their fantasies a notch and get rid of their homemade cardboard plasma swords. Strangest of all, the thing's base price is less than that of a full priced 360 game ...[Thanks Vinny]
Mega Man 9 confirmed coming to XBLA?
While the long awaited sequel to the classic franchise has been confirmed for Nintendo's WiiWare download service for some time now, there was still quite a bit of speculation that that game would be releasing on more than just a Nintendo platform. Mega Man 9 was originally revealed via an OFLC ratings board leak, and was listed there as a multiplatform release. But this was taken with a grain of salt as the OFLC has been known to list things as multiplatform which ended up not being so. Now apparently, someone over at arstechnica has gotten thier hands on a Capcom E3 roster list which seems to confirm that the blue bomber will be making his way to all download services, XBLA included. Since Capcom has been relativly good to the Live arcade in the past (Rocketmen, Commando 3, SFII, etc), we think it's safe to say that E3 will bring the official reveal of the 8-bit wonder.
Gears 2 video straight from the UT3 disc
Well folks, the Gears 2 content that was promised to be on the final release disc of Unreal Tournament 3 for 360 has hit our inbox (despite the fact that game itself hasn't yet hit stores). Consisting of a mash-up of interview segments with the dev team and clips of gameplay, the behind the scenes video touches on everything from new game modes to player count to weapons. Heck, why are still reading this? Just watch the video already! Still reading? Well all that's left to really say is just how much of a bomb UT3 is likely to be, especially if the only thing enticing about it is this vid.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
SCIV Character Creation: Hey it's Ryu!
While those who skipped over the series' PS2-exclusive third installment won't be familiar with Soul Calibur's Create-A-Soul mode, those who used it know that it had tons of depth and allowed for all manner of wacky options and crazy characters. For the Soul Calibur IV Create-A-Soul mode, Namco-Bandai looks to be increasing the amount of customizability available to players, giving us some interesting (Cat-man & Afro-dude) and recognizable (Ryu & Snake) characters before the game is even released. Hopefully Namco has taken into account all the various parodies we've got in mind and allows for as many custom characters as can fit on the storage device ... %Gallery-26335%
Xbox.com pages appear: Soulcalibur & Schizoid
It happened this week. And a while before that too. Hows about next week? Well if the trend continues as it has next week's XBLA releases will be dictated by this week's newly arrived xbox.com pages. The twin appearances in this case are Soulcalibur and Schizoid, the classic weapons-based fighter and the neon-colored co-op shooter, respectively. While Soulcalibur didn't ever really have much of a rumored release date to help corroborate this thing, Schizoid is set to release sometime in July, so we could definitely see the pattern continue next week. And as always, thar be screenshots! %Gallery-26192% %Gallery-14316% [Source, Soulcalibur] [Source, Schizoid]
N+ DLC has gone out to Microsoft
It certainly has been a while in coming (so much so that we were beginning to wonder if something bad had happened to it), but there's finally some news regarding N+'s downloadable content. In a new post over at the Metanet developer blog informs the world that the three DLC packs for N+ has been sent off to Microsoft for final certification before release.Of the three packs one will be free, one will be multiplayer maps, and the level total for the whole shebang is over 750. Exactly how those seemingly disparate pieces of info come together for the exact details of each pack is still unknown. However we do know that the devs are shooting for 200pts for each of the pay-to-play packs, which seems like the perfect price point to us.[Via Gamerbytes]
Blood Bowl Teaser Trailer
We're really happy to see a little more info about Blood Bowl after such a long hiatus on its news. Despite the fact that it isn't wholly original (it was a board game after all) it is of a genre that the 360 in general hasn't seen a whole lot of and plus, orcs make just about everything better.Being a bit more serious though, the trailer really doesn't show much; but how much is there really to show off in a turn-based strategy game? True, the game does have a real-time option, but we already have Madden for that and it just seems to be a betrayal of the game's roots. And just like certain other highly anticipated games, we're still waiting on a firm release date. %Gallery-15958%