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Xbox One X enhancements come to 'Red Dead Redemption' and 'Portal 2'
Red Dead Redemption 2 might not launch for several months, but Microsoft is giving you the next best thing. The company has added Xbox One X visual enhancements to six classic Xbox 360 games, including the original Red Dead Redemption. If you've wanted to revisit John Marston's saga on your 4K TV, this is likely as good as it gets until the sequel arrives. Not that the other games are obscure -- Darksiders, Gears of War 2, Portal 2, Sonic Generations (the first time it's available on Xbox One, in fact) and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed are making the leap as well.
Xbox 360 802.11n adapter spotted in Gears of War 2 box, longs for the comfort of your living room
You know us, we're the epitome of patience. Always waiting for things so patiently. But you know what we can't wait another second for? An 802.11n adapter for our Xbox 360. The good news is that the thing looks positively imminent, after an FCC showing this week and now an appearance on a flyer inside a Gears of War 2 Game of the Year edition box in Italy. Can't you just taste the 802.11n wafting over the Atlantic? The eternal optimists over at Joystiq also think that this flier might point to a co-existence of both types of WiFi adapter, and potentially a price cut for the overpriced original, but we suppose we'll just have to wait and find out. [Via Joystiq]
Engadget Podcast 117 - 11.07.2008: Zune giveaway edition
Yes -- it's happening again. Another installment of the beloved Engadget Podcast has made its way to the virtual airwaves of the ever-loving internet, and now you can listen in for personal enjoyment and edification. Today Josh, Paul, and Nilay get to the heart of our recent "preferred OS" poll, Apple's treatment of iPhone developers, Amazon's abandonment of painful packaging, and more. Included in this podcast is a first-ever (for Engadget at least) on-air unboxing. That's right, hear the sounds of a Gears of War 2 Zune getting ripped open. As a treat to our faithful listeners, we'll be giving away that very special edition 120GB Zune! Follow the instructions after the break to learn how to make it yours. Update: We've also included that Best Buy rap discussed in the podcast. Enjoy! Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Paul Miller, and Nilay Patel Producer: Trent Wolbe Music: Smells Like Teen Spirit 01:43 - Poll: Which OS do you prefer? 12:38 - Apple adds OTA podcast downloads to iPhone firmware 2.2, continues to burn developers 27:14 - Amazon takes a stand to eliminate wasteful, hard-to-open gadget packaging 34:30 - Circuit City announces store closure plans, full list of locations revealed 45:51 - Dash cuts 50 employees, drastically changing business model 55:05 - Gears of War 2 canvasses special-edition Zune Subscribe to the podcast [iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (enhanced AAC). [RSS MP3] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in MP3) to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically. [RSS AAC] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in enhanced AAC) to your RSS aggregator. [Zune] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in the Zune Marketplace Download the podcast LISTEN (MP3) LISTEN (AAC) LISTEN (OGG) Contact the podcast 1-888-ENGADGET or podcast (at) engadget (dot) com.
Xbox 360 devs reaching the 'upper end' of the console's graphic capability?
According to an interview with Epic Games' senior producer Rod Fergusson, developers for the Xbox 360 may be reaching the outer edges of what is graphically possible with the console. In an interview with Gamasutra, the Gears of War / Gears of War 2 head says that recent advances and refinements are pushing the system further than expected, though he still believes there's some room to grow. In Fergusson's words: "I think we're certainly approaching the upper end of it, as far as what developers are able to do with it, but just looking at all the demos we saw today -- ours and others -- it's clear that all the games just keep improving, and keep pushing that bar." Of course, there's a long gap between pushing a system to its limits and starting to look around for its replacement, though since we all know another iteration of the Xbox is inevitable, none of this news should come as any surprise. They have a name for things like this... progress.[Via GameDaily]
Limited edition red and green Xbox controllers coming Sept. 30 [update]
Want to add a little zing to the plain ol' white and black Xbox 360 color scheme? A Microsoft web page reveals a new limited edition red and black Xbox 360 controller coming on Sept. 30, 2008. The standard wireless controller will come with a matching red rechargeable battery and a play and charge kit for $64.99 (a $5 savings over purchasing them seperately!). We have no idea why Microsoft would reveal a new color so long before the controller is set to be available, but it's release is awfully close to the newly-revealed Gears of War 2 release date of Sept. 9 Nov. 7 [Update: Not sure how I made that ridiculous error. Jet lag, I suppose]. Hmmm ...[Thanks, Scott]Update: The Xbox press site also has images from a green version of the controller (shown below the jump along with a higher-res version of the red one). No information about this version, which is not even mentioned in the accompanying press release. [Thanks, jdkay20]
Rumor: Voice of 'Cole Train' suggests November 16 release for Gears of War 2
We're usually pretty skeptical about rumored release dates as developers and publishers often keep that card close to their chests -- however, we can't help but put our complete faith in a man with a name as awesome as Lester "Mighty Rasta" Speight. Yes, Mr. Rasta, who voiced Gears of War's "Cole Train", recently made an appearance at the TriForce panel at Wizard World to shoot the breeze about the company's line of GoW-related replicas. When asked about the sequel's release date, the TriForce crew remained tight lipped, though Rasta suggested asking him again on November 16.DS and Wii Fanboy's David Hinkle was at the panel to witness the football player-turned-actor's Q+A session, and hopes to further press Mr. Rasta to discover the accuracy of his claims. Given that it falls in the game's suggested November release window, we wouldn't be surprised if Speight's date was legit.
Voice of Marcus Fenix talks Gears of War 2
The announcement of Gears of War 2 last week during GDC was a little bit like when your drunk uncle acknowledges the growth on your aunt's face. Yes, everyone knew it was there. But now we can all finally exhale and just talk about it. That's exactly what voice actor John DiMaggio (you know, Marcus Fenix's voice box) did this week with IGN.It's not exactly megaton-rich, but DiMaggio did let it slip that the Brumak will return, as will Franklin the head of the stranded. Also, expect some new weapons (we're hoping for a musket with hedge clippers attached to it).
Rumor: Gears of War 2 to feature chainsaw duels
You may have come to this conclusion when you saw the debut trailer for Gears of War 2, but Variety blogger Ben Fritz is claiming that the hot, chainsaw-on-chainsaw action featured in the preview wasn't just a stylish cutscene -- it's also going to be a gameplay mechanic in the uber-anticipated sequel. Fritz apparently spoke to people who are "close enough to the development team at Epic to know" that chainsaw wielders will now be able to repel, and possibly counter, each other's attacks.Epic hasn't confirmed this, but given the feature's appearance in the trailer, and the frequent complaints about an "unbalanced" chainsaw combat system in the first Gears of War, we think it's safe to assume we'll be spending many long winter nights playing Lumberjack Bushido Blade when the game drops this November.
Gears of War 2 graces GamePro cover
With GDC less than two weeks away, the latest issue of GamePro magazine appears to have coverage of the as-yet-unannounced Gears of War 2. The cover of the March issue was recently unveiled, and while the featured story is Rainbow Six Vegas 2, the cover contains two references to coverage of the much-hinted but never confirmed Gears sequel.Despite the twice-over placement on the front cover, the announcement of the issue makes no mention of any Gears of War coverage, leaving us a bit skeptical of what the Gears 2 content exactly is. An unconfirmed report from the NeoGAF forums indicates that the content is purely speculative, guessing at a release date and possible features like improved matchmaking.Add this to the fact that legitimate Gear of War 2 info would be far more cover-worthy than Rainbow Six Vegas 2, and the likelihood is that the Gears placement on the front cover is nothing more than an attempt to sell more issues. We'll leave Gears 2 speculation to accidental slip-ups and Amazon pre-order pages, thankyouverymuch.Update: Epic Games VP Mark Rein has confirmed our suspicions, telling Firing Squad that any preview article hinted at by Gamepro's cover would be "pure nonsense." Ouch![Via Eurogamer]
Rumor: 360's next big thing is Perfect Dark 2
Update: Rare ain't talkin'. "There's always rumors going around about different games we may or may not be doing but we'd prefer not to comment on rumors at this stage," the developer told GamesIndustry.biz.Our favorite kind of rumors to post are the ones that make perfect sense to us and this nugget from Indian gaming site Game Guru is just such a rumor. Apparently, the author's "sources" are telling him that Rare is hard at work on a sequel to Perfect Dark. Apparently, in this chronological follow-up to the N64 title, Joanna Dark is, well, darker, and the game has a new built-in morality system to match.Though completely a rumor at this point, this makes a lot of sense. With no Halo (save for the RTS) title, Gears of War 2 is going to need a little help holding up the tent pole. As far as action titles go, we're not sure there's a more logical successor than Perfect Dark. And hey, maybe this one will even be fun![Via CVG]
