2008-releases
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Bad Company screens show off campaign and multiplayer mayhem
We didn't think we'd ever utter the words again, since the perfection that was Battlefield 2 PC, but we're giddy for the newest Battlefield title hitting shelves later this year. Sure, Battlefield: Bad Company might be using a known franchise title to gain notoriety, considering the direction the game is going in, but jaw-dropping videos of the game's destructible environments keep us hopeful. What we hope is that Battlefield: Bad Company plays as well as it looks and doesn't turn into a one-trick pony. Looking for more to whet your appetite? EA DICE released these eight new screens from the single-player campaign and multiplayer mode over the weekend for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy! %Gallery-17355%
Secure your copy of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith today!
For those of you interested in the upcoming Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, you can ensure your copy will be set aside from Red Octane's official website when the flood of loyal Steven Tyler fans remember to buy it after taking their Alzheimer's medication.No, we joke. We wouldn't want to offend people with Alzheimer's by insinuating they would want to play a dedicated Aerosmith Guitar Hero game, which actually also features artists that inspired and are inspired by the band.Set to hit stores this June, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith brings GH fans closer to a band that is known for their ... vocals. Wait, we still don't get it. OK, Aerosmith is cool enough but their staple band member is the singer not the guitarist. In fact we don't even know who the guitarist is but we assume he's the guy holding the guitar in the header above. Else, that could be a roadie doing some sound tests. Wait, I think Neversoft just trademarked Guitar Hero: Sound Test. Sorry readers, our bad.Note: To clarify, this was written in jest. I know who Joe Perry is guys. ToJo is awesome, we're poking fun.[via THEBBPS]
GTAIV demo ain't happening
Are you sitting down? We don't know how to break this news lightly so we figure the band-aid approach will work. Rockstar has told confirmed that there is no demo in the works for Grand Theft Auto IV. When asked why we wouldn't get a taste of the epic crime title before it launched on April 29 on the Xbox 360 and PS3, Rockstar told Videogamer that creating a demo, "isn't worth the time and effort." They do have a game to finish you know! There's more to why they've decided against it but everything sums up to a simple naw son in the demo category. While I'm sure we're all upset we have to wait until the street date, can you fault Rockstar? Demos are usually reserved to build hype for a game and increase potential sales and if anything is going to sell in 2008 it'll be called Grand Theft Auto IV. Well, that's because Barbie's Horse Adventures IV: Return to the Saddle was delayed until Q1 2009. We're actually a little relieved about the lack of a demo. The last thing we need to see during our rigorous Fox News marathons is a piece about Microsoft offering free trials of a murder-simulator for children over X-Box Live (FYI - that's purposely written incorrectly as an homage to Fox's accuracy.) [via Joystiq] %Gallery-3451%
Rainbow Six Vegas 2 achievements rescued
The good folks at Xbox360Achievements.org posted the detailed achievement list for the upcoming Ubi Soft first-person tactical shooter, Rainbow Six Vegas 2. Weighing mostly on multiplayer points the list ranges from utterly simple, "Create your own custom camouflage," to ridiculously hard, "Lead your team to Victory 20 times in Team Leader with at least 6 players present.." OK, that isn't hard to do at all actually but it's funny how achievements need to be so detailed rendering achievement boosting impossible. Who would do that anyway? Sorry, gotta go our copy of Avatar: The Last Airbender just showed up and we hear the points are hella easy.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Condemned 2: Bloodshot demo inbound [Update]
Update: Major Nelson told us he doesn't know details on an upcoming Condemned 2: Bloodshot demo. The demo detail page has been edited to say, "Coming soon is the free Marketplace demo giving a glimpse into the incredibly brutal world of Condemned 2: Bloodshot™." Rest assured Condemned 2: Bloodshot is most certainly a Mature rated game and those interested in finding out why may be able to very soon. Currently the bottom of the Xbox.com product page for Condemned 2: Bloodshot reads, "Experience it now with the free demo." Clicking ahead brings you to a description page, which has a published date of February 27, that outlines the demo experience: "This free Marketplace demo gives you a glimpse into the incredibly brutal world of Condemned 2: Bloodshot™. You begin outside the lowest, seediest dive in town and your situation goes downhill from there, starting with a rapidly escalating fight with some back alley-thugs that show you the ropes of the combat system." After a few sweeps of the Xbox Live Marketplace we can safely say the demo isn't up yet but considering the March 11, 2008 release date is quickly approaching it may only be a matter of time before we're breaking a chair over someones head. You know, someone who isn't an X3F intern - but don't worry it's cool because they don't get paid, so they don't have any rights. [Thanks, MightyHealthy]
EA announces NFL Head Coach 2009
During the dog days of summer in 2006, EA Sports released their first console sports management simulator to great success. That's commercial success, not critical. While NFL Head Coach was initially popular the game and it's many exploits turned many players off. Well, in a move that seems incomprehensible, EA waited a few years to work on a sequel and has just announced NFL Head Coach 2009.With two-time Super Bowl winner Tony Dungy, head coach of the Indianapolis Colts, gracing the cover, the EA Tiburon developed title makes the jump to the Xbox 360 and PS3 with an expected summer release. We (Read: Just me, Xav) are actually pretty excited about playing a revamped version of NFL Head Coach. Let's just hope EA was actually working on the title and not investing in more 19-0 hat factories.
GDC08: Star Wars - The Force Unleashed gameplay videos
Fresh from GDC08 are a few videos for the upcoming, and looking awesome, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed from LucasArts. The first video is a trailer titled Raxus and showcases the beautiful environments and combat that have been touted as the best thing seen from a Star Wars license since Knights of the Old Republic. The second video, embedded after the jump, is a compilation of gameplay from the floor that literally has us picking our jaws up off the ground. Force pushing trees and knocking them down? Chopping trees down with a lightsaber throw? Do want. Check them out and may the force be with you. Yeah that line was really forced. Ha, pun.[Thanks, zizzy]
GDC08: Rainbow Six Vegas 2 weapons trailer
Four card stud up river. Is that a Poker term? Okay, we're not the best poker players in the world but we can turn a mean card in Poker Smash for XBLA. Thankfully, Rainbow Six Vegas 2 doesn't require an in depth knowledge of the sport and works fine as long as you know what weapons to use and with this nifty weapons trailer Ubi Soft has put the knowledge in your hands. Wait, poker's a sport? It was gambling like two weeks ago. Well at least when people ask why we share the same Toyota Corolla to the X3F Towers everyday we can say it's because we're terrible athletes.
Ninja Gaiden II demo hits Xbox Live and it's not what you think ...
For the last two days we eagerly clicked refresh on Xbox Live Marketplace to play the fabled Ninja Gaiden II Demo that was teased to gamers all over the world.Right now, the Xbox Live page has been updated and the demo has been launched! The only problem is the demo is actually a video of someone playing the demo.No, we're not kidding. Yes we realize that putting a banner claiming a Ninja Gaiden II Demo was forthcoming and posting a video is a little misleading. So, the demo is up for you to try. If you try and watch it that is! Something tells me this will not go over well with the fans.
GDC08: 2 new GTAIV trailers released
Hot of the heels of nine new screenshots, Rockstar released two new trailers for their upcoming GTAIV. The first trailer above is titled Phil Bell and is shows how Philly-boy solves his problems - with a baseball bat. After the jump you'll be treated to the second trailer, Dilettante Hybrid Trailer, which attempts to sell you on the future of Hybrid cars in Liberty City.
GTAIV, 9 new screens to put on your 2008 collage [Update]
Update: We've added 30 screenshots to our GTAIV gallery including the nine discussed in this article. Nine new GTAIV screens have been spotted at Xboxygen earlier today for you to whet your appetite. The images for the upcoming open-world title vary in quality from a beautiful sunset grab to another close-up of, lead character, Niko's grotesque hands. As hawt as the game looks, zooming in on the details makes of think of two major things. First, the game features such a large adventure that we can't wait to give it a spin when it hits on April 29 and second, Niko's paws are so strange looking they look like he's wearing uglier hands as gloves. Did we mention that already? [Thanks, gaetge. Via Xboxygen] %Gallery-3451%
GDC08: Aliens - Colonial Marines hits late 08, 4-player co-op
An early morning press release from SEGA has revelaed that Aliens: Colonial Marines will be hitting the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC in late 2008. The announcement dismisses an earlier report from Game Informer magazine that put the game in a 2009 release window. In the upcoming first-person shooter, players are part of a United States Colonial Marine squad and do battle with classic Alien enemies from the film franchise that began in 1979. In what is quickly becoming out favorite trend for FPS games, SEGA revealed the game will include a campaign in both single-player and 4-player co-op flavors. Actually our favorite trend in gaming are those cute mini-game complilations. Yeah, let's please have more of those.[via Joystiq]
GDC08: Fable 2 co-op demo gameplay
The always ambitious Lionhead boss, Peter Molyneux, sat down with reporters during GDC08 to outline the Fable 2 co-op experience in greater detail. Peter discusses the differences between men and women, family life and values and the dangers of giving gamers this much control in a universe while strolling through the beautifully lit world around him. It's an interesting video and gets us ludicrously excited for the game that can't ship fast enough. Fable 2 is set for a 2008 release, but specifics about a release have yet to be revealed.
GDC08: New Ninja Gaiden II screens
Fresh from the press kit that came out of the Microsoft keynote earlier today, Microsoft Game Studios released five new images of Ninja Gaiden II in all their bloody hi-res glory. In the new screens, Ryu battles various baddies including, dragons, ninjas and a villain that looks like he fell off the cover box of Blizzard's Diablo. Ninja Gaiden II hits the Xbox 360 exclusively in June 2008, we're sharpening our swords in the meantime.%Gallery-11370%
Gears of War 2 teaser trailer, free theme and gamer pictures hit Xbox Live
Hot off the heels of the GDC keynote announcement, new Gears of War 2 content is available on Xbox Live. The teaser trailer, "Duel" is up for download in all its 62MB HD glory as well as "Bare Your Teeth," a free theme and gamer picture pack for people still jolted by the announcement of the November 2008 release date.More GDC content is expected to hit Xbox Live Marketplace shortly, keep up to date by hitting refresh on Xbox 360 Fanboy for the latest from the Game Developers Conference.
Pure ingame trailer vs. CG teaser
Earlier today Black Rock Studio released the first ingame footage of their recently announced off-road racer, Pure. Considering the teaser trailer was shown a few days before today's ingame release, we thought the loyal X3F army would want to compare both videos. Our impressions of the ingame footage? It looks like a lot of fun and if all the pieces fall together correctly it could be the closest thing Xbox 360 owners will have in the same vein as Sony's PS3 exclusive Motorstorm. Check out the CG teaser after the jump and let us know how close you think Disney's dev team at Black Rock got to the game itself.
Prototype, four fresh screens
GDC '08 is in full swing and hot off the heels of day one are four new images from the upcoming Xbox 360, PS3 and PC title Prototype. Haven't heard of Prototype? It's that game that looks like a cross between Assassin's Creed's Parkour-style movement and X-Men's Mystique on a really bad day. In the third-person action title from Radical Entertainment, gamers control Alex Mercer - a genetically mutated shape-shifter who has a serious case of the "Who am I's" and "Who do I kill to find out's?" Looks slick so far kids.%Gallery-16382%
Disney announces off-road racer Pure
Racing games are broken up into various sub-genres to help differentiate the appeal they'll have to different demographics of gamers. Simulation, arcade, kart, destruction, clown-car and off-road are all standard in the racing world and Disney has just announced plans to jump into the fray. Introducing Pure, an off-road experience that's promised to "redefine" the off-road sub-genre. However, with the recent releases of Dirt and the PS3 exclusive Motorstorm off-road racing has been getting a strong push for quality releases.While the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC title isn't slated to hit shelves until late 2008 it's unclear how Disney's Brighton, England studio Black Rock, formerly known as Climax Racing, is going to wow audiences. While we're sure the studio is passionate about the possibilities new hardware offers, the buzz-word promises they threw at GI.biz of "breakneck racing" and "jaw-dropping aerial tricks," just invoke memories of Black Rock's previous franchise ATV Off-Road Fury. But hey, here's hoping they'll prove us wrong.[Via Joystiq]%Gallery-16137%
Rumor: Fable 2 ships May 30
According to a listing on the Amazon UK product page for Fable 2, the anticipated sequel to Peter Molyneux's original Xbox-exclusive role-playing game, a date has been set for a spring release. The listing shows Fable 2 will hit store shelves on May 30.Take this with a giant retailer wants preorders grain of salt, but it could make sense. If Gears of War 2 was to hit in fall of 2008 (Read: naw son!) then Fable 2 could be the game that leads into the fourth quarter push much like Crackdown did in 2007. However, Fable 2 is a big franchise for Microsoft and would most likely ship during the busy holiday season. Also, retailers are sort of keen on picking release dates out of hats.[Thanks, Rob K]
Army of Two co-op footage, details
Army of Two, the upcoming third-person shooter from EA, was built from the ground up to be a cooperative experience where you and a friend plow through hordes of enemy soldiers in the pursuit of mo-money. Since its delay Army of Two has stepped into the shadows, but assistant producer Matt Turner recently sat down with CVG and discussed how the game has improved since it slipped off the 2007 calendar and promised the game will deliver, "a new type of multiplayer." CVG scored video footage of the Xbox 360 version in all its co-op glory but considering what we've heard in the past, we'd like to get our hands on it to find out how the game is shaping up since the delay ourselves.
