Condemned-Criminal-Origins
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Halloween Horror Streams: Shadow of Condemned: Criminal Origins
Shadow of Mordor isn't a scary game. Building up pressure in high stakes scenarios is something it excels at, but making with the scares? Not these orcs. Developer Monolith Productions probably just needed a break, though. It's coming off a decade of smart, very scary games. Condemned: Criminal Origins looms large among them. One of the very first games out there for Xbox 360, Condemned's murder mystery still has power, hence why it's a perfect selection for our Halloween Horror Streams. Starting at 4:00PM EST on Joystiq.com/Twitch, we'll be streaming the PC version of Condemned for your pleasure. Xav de Matos (@Xav), a man who readily admits to being terribly frightened by first-person horror games, will take the helm. Anthony John Agnello (@ajohnagnello) will hang in the chat offering moral support. Joystiq.com/Twitch broadcasts every Tuesday and Thursday at 4:00PM EST, but we stream at other times too so make sure to follow us on Twitch to know when we're live. [Images: Sega]
Condemned to Games on Demand
Now that Sega's Condemned has been added to the Xbox Live Games on Demand service (for $19.99), you can get started with the suspense even before you play it! Turn the lights off, curl up on the couch with some popcorn and just watch it download. When will it be finished? No one knows! Condemned is available everywhere but Australia, India, Japan and New Zealand. Instead, in Japan -- and Japan only -- Guilty Gear 2: Overture has been added to Games On Demand for ¥2,940 ($32.75). Additionally, in Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan, Ridge Racer 6 is now available -- also for ¥2,940 in Japan, with prices varying by region. Shortcut: Add Condemned to your download queue [via Xbox.com]
Your mom plays Xbox 360 games
The elusive "casual market" has recently become quite the sought-after prey for game publishers, each one attempting in its own way to hunt down those who would normally shy away from complex and scary video games. Nintendo isn't the only company to have Grandma firmly set in a Zapper scope -- the other major players are also taking aim, Microsoft with Xbox Live Arcade and Sony with Singstar microphones. With this in mind, Alex Petraglia decided to test whether or not Microsoft in particular was actually hitting their target. After all, he had the equipment necessary to conduct such an inquest: one Xbox 360 console, several Xbox 360 games and one willing female parental unit. Alex introduced his mom to a wide variety of XBLA and full retail titles, documenting her performance and struggles. The article places his thoughts alongside those written by his mother and it makes for some very interesting reading. It seems the most difficult acclimations involved controls and finding the correct path through a level. The 53 year-old Mrs. P notes that "the biggest problem is a simple lack of experience. It seemed like, in a game such as Prey, you [Alex] knew exactly where to go after looking at a puzzle or roadblock, whereas it'd take me an exorbitant amount of time to move onto the next task or area. And it took me a very long time to develop the ability to move freely in the game and feel comfortable with the controls, to some extent." Other points of interest include her first interpretation of Geometry Wars ("she flew directly into the first target, thinking maybe that was the point of the game") and her eventual favorite, Condemned (!). "I think strong dramatic elements, like story and visuals and music, would be a bigger draw to older generations than unique gameplay mechanics or what have you." [Thanks Alex P!]
Joystiq hands-on: Condemned (Xbox 360)
The surprise hit of Tuesday's exposé was Sega's Condemned: Criminal Origins. To bring you up to speed, the game pits you as an FBI agent on the hunt for a deranged serial killer that likes to pose his victims with mannequins. Taking a page out of DOOM 3, the game unfolds in darkness. Luckily, you've got a flashlight, which has the habit of fading out now and again, but at least you can wield a weapon while it's in use. I played through the opening level, which teaches you the game's mechanics and sets up the plot (don't worry there won't be any big spoilers in this post). The game has a nice cinematic touch to it, almost like you're playing through a game adaptation of Se7en. In the first sequence you arrive at a crime scene and are greeted by a detective that leads you into an abandoned building. You follow him through a series of dark corridors as he babbles on about this and that-the truth is, it's hard to pay much attention to what the detective is saying since you're distracted by the darkness. At one point the detective turns into a room and just as you are about to follow, you catch some kind of movement in the shadows down the hall. "What the #*$@ was that?!" I asked the rep sitting next to me. "Exactly," he said.
Joystiq hands-on: Xbox 360--the games
I'm slowly recovering from a 10-hour date with the Xbox 360. For an event that offered free non-stop gaming-true, it was invite only-the number of attendees (on Tuesday) was shockingly sparse; but the room did start to fill up once cocktail hour rolled around. Needless to say, I was free to hop from station to station and get down n' dirty with the following titles (listed alphabetically): Call of Duty 2 Condemned: Criminal Origins Dead or Alive 4 The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Kameo: Elements of Power King Kong NBA Live 06 Need for Speed Most Wanted Perfect Dark Zero Project Gotham Racing 3
Sega announces Christmas line-up
Sega's cashing in early on the pre-christmas hype machine with a list of eleven games it hopes will be given as gifts this coming December. The most notable announcements are Virtua Tennis for the PSP (so you can go out and play tennis on a screen whilst sitting ironically close to real tennis courts), Spartan: Total War for PS2, Xbox and GC as well as Condemned for the upcoming Xbox 360. Full Auto, a promising high octane racer from the line-up of Xbox 360 games, unfortunately won't be making the holiday season. It's been pushed back into early 2006. Now remember to be good little children or else Sega will go all Santa on your ass and replace the DVDs with coal! Hohoho! [Thanks, JamesO]
The new *unofficial* Xbox 360 launch lineup
Electronics Boutique (EB) has released a questionable list of 21 launch titles for the Xbox 360-presumably to be released on November 2nd. The list (via IGN) includes: Amped 3 (2K Games) Call of Duty 2 (Activision) Condemned (Sega) Dead Or Alive 4 (Tecmo) Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Bethesda) Final Fantasy XI (Microsoft) Full Auto (Sega) Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter Gun (Activision) Kameo: Elements of Power (Microsoft) Madden NFL 06 (EA) NBA 2K6 (2K Games) NHL 2K6 (2K Games) The Outfit (THQ) Perfect Dark LE (Microsoft) Project Gotham Racing 3 (Microsoft) Quake 4 (Activision) Ridge Racer 6 (Namco) Saints Row (THQ) Tony Hawk's American Wasteland (Activision) Top Spin 2 (2K Games) Also included in the initial list released by EB, were three games that will definitely not be ready by launch: The Godfather, Too Human Part 1, and Burnout Revenge. However, Perfect Dark and Kameo have been confirmed as day one launch titles-there is still some question about PGR3. EB expects each game to retail for $59.99, except for Kameo ($49.99), but these prices are not final. One final note, EB has listed Halo 3 for a July 1, 2006 release-can you say, PlayStation 3?
Condemned: Criminal Origins to be delayed past Xbox 360 launch day
The anticipated Xbox 360 horror game Condemned, from Monolith and Sega, has had its release date pushed back past the launch day of the next-gen console. The title was originally speculated to be a launch title but now Xbox Circle is claiming it won't be out in time due to the official release date being announced as the winter of 2006. The game has been billed as having a "heightened level of psychological tension" with the use of the first person to give "maximum visceral effect". This basically means it'll be a scary game with plenty of hacking and slashing. Rather than using your brain, you'll be trying not to get it shot/eaten/smashed by sociopaths that have more in common with zombies than humanity. Sounds like Sega are giving us gamers a break whilst we mentally prepare ourselves for the game over Christmas. [Thanks, Casper] Update: Looks like somebody somewhere slipped up as the Condemned section on the Sega site has been altered. It now shows Condemned as shipping "Holiday 2005". Prepare to be scared! (Thanks to Joe Waters over at Monolith for the correction)
Xbox 2 and PlayStation 3 screenshots revealed in Game Informer
It isn't every day that a mainstream publication comes out and declares some screenshots to be from the next generation of consoles. Sure, you have some hints in Gamespot about Elder Scrolls IV and The Godfather, but there's always this sense that the images could be from the PC version too. Well, not this time. Game Informer is coming right out and saying it. These are next gen console shots. The game is called Condemned, by Sega, and it looks pretty freaky. But a little "current-gen" PC, to be honest. So here they are. What do you think? We may need to see the magazine up close to make the call. [Thanks Josh!]
