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Oblivion: Knights of the Nine now available
Boy, when it rains it pours. Microsoft is making damned sure that 360 owners stay glued to the couch this Thanksgiving. After all, MS wouldn't want you going outside to score a Wii or PS3 on Black Friday now would they? First, Small Arms is released. Then Video Marketplace goes live. Tomorrow we have the Lost Planet multiplayer demo, and now, now we get new content for Obliovion. Entitled Knights of the Nine, the new content is the not so exclusive expansion that will be packaged with the PS3 version. The content is supposed to be epic in scope, giving players access to new items, new enemies to fight, and a new faction to join (guess what their name is ...). Unfortunately, we still have memories of Morrowind destroying our old Xbox's poor little disc drive, so we've been shy about Oblivion. Have any of our Oblivionites out there dropped 800 points for this yet?
Xbox Live Video Marketplace is live, $6 HD rentals [update 1]
Happy birthday Xbox 360! For your first birthday, daddy got you something really cool ... downloadable movies and television shows! While the PS3 Blu-ray marketing machine is busy selling folks high-def movies on little discs, Microsoft decided to forgo the discs and just sling the bits straight into your 'box. They already spilled the beans on this one a couple weeks ago, and we even picked Microsoft's Scott Henson's brain on it, but there was still one thing they wouldn't dish on: the price. Prices are broken down into six categories: new release movie rentals, classic rentals, and television purchases, with high-def and standard-def offerings in each. New releases 720p HD movies -- 480 MS Points ($6) 480p SD movies -- 320 MS Points ($4) "Classic" feature film 720p HD movies -- 360 MS Points ($4.50) 480p SD movies -- 240 MS Points ($3) Television purchase 720p HD television -- 240 MS Points ($3) 480p SD television -- 160 MS Points ($2) So far they've got 48 movies and 50 TV shows broken down between 2 movie studios and 12 television networks. We're surprised Universal, who're supporting the HD-DVD and Zune platforms in a big way, didn't climb on board for the initial launch but we're certain there's a warehouse full of lawyers working to get more content partnerships established. Pics of the service after the break.[Update: Video of the service added after the break]
March Madness demo (in November?)
We missed this earlier today because we were busy checking out the Rainbow Six: Vegas demo, but it looks like a demo for NCAA March Madness 07 is now available on Marketplace. That's right, the wind is bitterly cold, the sky is gray, and the leaves are falling, so it could only mean one thing: March Madness! Seriously, last time we checked it was November, so it's just a wee bit early, donchathink? At least this demo, unlike the Vegas demo, is available to all Xbox Live members and not just Gold members -- assuming you're in the US or Canada anyway. Go grab the demo and tell us what you think. Is it a worthy basketball title, or should it be put back on the bench?
NCAA March Madness demo coming to marketplace
Love basketball? Love college basketball? Love NCAA college basketball? If you answered yes then you'll be gitty with anticipation when the NCAA March Madness demo hits the Xbox Live Marketplace November 20th. The demo is going to pit number one Florida against number two Kansas in typical basketball style. NCAA March Madness is expected to be available in retail stores January 2007. Put down the pre-season brackets and go download the demo November 20th ... March Madness FTW![Thanks, Matt T.]
Superman demo doesn't suck, hell freezes
I just downloaded the Superman Returns demo and gave it a quick play through. In short, it's actually pretty good (I invite my fellow 360 Fanboy bloggers to disagree). It seems like for all the crap EA puts on the market, there's always one or two good games, too. It's the law of averages really. After all, if you put out 500* games a year, at least a few of them have to be good, right? Superman, however, is special, and not just because he's Superman either. No, the Son of Krypton has a sordid past in the videogame world. It's arguable that there has only ever been one Superman game that was actually fun, and that was the arcade game -- in fairness, I've never played the NES Superman and I somewhat enjoyed The Death and Return of Superman on Genesis/SNES. Read on for impressions (especially Live Silver members, who, we have just learned, cannot currently download the demo).
The right price for XBL TV and movie content
November 22nd is coming up and is the magic date in which we'll be able to download movies and TV shows via Xbox Live. We've already touched on what is going to be offered, HD and SD content, along with movie rental and TV ownership. The only problem I foresee with this service is not how much content will be available, but how much the content will cost. If movies cost less than what I could rent them for at the local video store, XBL purchases could be a possible option. Same thing with TV shows. If they are relatively cheap based on what the cost per episode is if I bought the whole season on DVD, then I'd be inclined to make XBL purchases. My magic numbers are $2 SD movie rental, $3 HD movie rental, and $3 SD/HD TV show purchase. What are your magic numbers?
Superman demo tomorrow?
We revealed two weeks ago that a Superman Returns demo was on the way, and now Xbox Solution reports that it should show up tomorrow. We haven't seen anything official regarding the demo (and Xbox Solution curiously neglects to cite the source of their info), so chalk this one up to a rumor for now. If any of you have seen this info reported elsewhere, let us know. Frankly, we hope it does come out tomorrow, because we're actually pretty anxious to give Supes a try. Anyone else out there (cautiously) optimistic about this title?
Lost Planet webisodes 1 & 2 now on XBLM [update 1]
The Lost Planet viral marketing continues with the introduction of webisode 2. This webisode features a little more character interaction, but the meat of the trailer is clips of the actual gameplay, including the mech that transforms into a snowmobile. We really must commend Capcom on its marketing skillz, because they seem to be working. Starting way back in May with the demo, every little snippet gets us more interested in the game -- let's not forget the Turkey Day multiplayer demo either. Check out webisode 2 after the break.
Low def trailers for High Def content on XBLM
Most of you know by now that movies and TV shows are coming to Xbox Live Marketplace on November 22nd (just one day shy of the Lost Planet multiplayer demo!). To promote this momentous occasion, a few trailers have been put up on Marketplace, featuring previews of what you'll be able to download. Yesterday, it was a Paramount Pictures preview, and today it's MTV. Naturally, these videos are there to promote all the high definition content you'll be able to buy starting on Thanksgiving eve. Why then are these videos so damned ugly? The Paramount download wasn't great but it was passable. Now, the MTV video ... well, we've seen higher resolutions on YouTube. Seriously, it's a pixelated mess, like watching something on SEGA CD. What's funny is that we actually grabbed the "HD" version of the video. Let's hope this is a mistake and not an indication of what we can expect from the video Marketplace.Anyone grab the UFC trailers? Are they any better?
Coming Soon: TV and Movies on your 360
You've been dreaming about it, you've pondered the idea, and come November 22, 2006 it'll be here. Soon you'll have the ability to download HD/SD movies and television shows from the Xbox marketplace for a small fee. Microsoft has partnered with CBS, MTV, TBS, UFC, NASCAR and Warner Bros. to make content available via download off of the XBLM, over 1000 hours of content by the end of the year! Just check out the list below of some of the content you'll have access to this year ... start drooling fellow fanboys! - "Robot Chicken" and "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" from Adult Swim - "CSI," "Survivor" and "Star Trek" from CBS - Emmy and Peabody award-winning "South Park" and "Chappelle's Show" from COMEDY CENTRAL - "The Real World" and "Pimp My Ride" from MTV - "Avatar: The Last Airbender" and "SpongeBob SquarePants" from Nickelodeon - "Skyland" and "The Nicktoons Network Animation Festival" from Nicktoons Network - "M:i:III," Nacho Libre" and "Jackass: The Movie" from Paramount Pictures - "Carpocalypse" and "Raising the Roofs" from Spike TV - "Race Rewind" provided by NASCAR.COM -Select episodes of the original season of "The Ultimate Fighter" reality series and the "UFC: All Access" shows from the UFC - "Breaking Bonaduce" and "Hogan Knows Best" from VH1 - "The Matrix," "Superman Returns" and "Batman Forever" from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment [Thanks, everyone who sent this in.]
Microsoft's Xbox Live Video: HDTV and HD movie downloads for your 360
This may sound a bit familiar to those paying close attention, but on November 22nd -- the year anniversary for the Xbox 360 -- Microsoft is announcing something fairly momentus, not for the gaming community, but for the CE industry. The Xbox 360, along with Akimbo, will be among the first mass-market devices able to download high def television programs -- and the first we know of in the states able to download HD movies. The service is called Xbox Live Video, and the fall update enables customers to spend their Microsoft points on standard and HD television from CBS, MTV, Comedy Central, VH1, Turner, and UFC, as well as HD movies from Warner Bros., Paramount, and so on. We're still a little in shock, ourselves, that Microsoft was able to in one fell swoop hit TiVo, Apple, Netflix, and a handful of others, but looking at Live over the last year, the move isn't that massively surprising. Of course, not even the vision of on-demand HD movies and TV downloads in six million homes at the flick of a switch could be without its variety of niggling concerns; being that we all know the devil's in the details, click on to get the particulars of the service.
Family Guy themes and pictures on XBLM
A bunch of Family Guy content hit Marketplace just now. No, not content for the mediocre game, content about the good show. The content itself, though, is not so good; luckily, it's free. The theme inexplicably uses an orange background, washing out the beloved Family Guy characters in the background. Why Fox chose not to color the characters is a mystery, too. Now, Family Guy gamer pictures, that's something everybody can get behind, right? The pictures aren't bad, but it's obvious they were rushed. That, or nobody at Fox really gave a crap what they looked like. The pictures look like assets that were re-sized and not optimized in any way, making them pixelated and jagged. The one of Brian (the dog) is alright, and maybe one of the Stewie pics. Unfortunately, not even the trailer is very satisfying, as it's for the DVDs in general and not the upcoming volume 4. Maybe we're just picky, but Fox could have done better with this.Do you agree? Disagree? Not care either way?
Superman demo flies to XBLM in two weeks
During an interview with the supervising producer of Superman Returns, Gamertag Radio unearthed some good news. Expect a demo of Superman Returns to hit Xbox Live Marketplace within a week of the game's release (November 20). It's only natural to have doubts about any Superman game, so it's nice that we'll have a chance to try before we fly (ba dum bum). Is there any chance that Superman Returns, by EA mind you, could break the Superman game curse? Expect to find out in two weeks. GTR's interview with the producer should be up later today. Be sure and check it out.
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.
PDZ gets new maps, world still turns
It's been a long time since Perfect Dark: Zero received any downloadable content. It should come as a joyful surprise to loyal fans then, that there is a new map pack available for download on Marketplace. It should come as an even better surprise that the content is free. The pack contains two new maps, Facility and Ruin. Both maps are based on classic maps from previous games. Just curious, but who's still playing PDZ? Any die-hard fans out there? Tell us what has made the game appealing for so long. Will these new maps convince lapsed fans to go back?
Marketplace videos best if watched by ...
Morgon at MyGamercard.net noticed an interesting new "feature" in the recent fall dashboard update. Videos now have a new label which reads, "Does not expire." Obviously, this label isn't there just to remind us how great it is that, unlike milk, digital video doesn't expire. No, this label portends only one thing: future Marketplace content will expire. We've already seen this happen once with the Table Tennis demo. We've also seen the recent delay in content for Silver Live members versus Gold Live members. Now it looks like we'll only be seeing more of this activity. Naturally, it makes marketing sense to place an expiration date on certain things. The Table Tennis demo, for example, gave you enough of the game that you really didn't have to buy it at all. Still, what other things will get expiration dates? Videos? XBLA trial games? MGC puts forth the idea that videos of television shows might expire, thus prompting you to buy the DVD. Allow us to add another nefarious twist: will there ever be pay content that expires? EA's magic 8 ball says, "Signs point to yes."[Thanks to MGC's Sherveen and KineticOnline]
Dash update, details officially revealed
It's official folks, details of tomorrow's dash update have been confirmed. Oh yeah, and the dash update will be happening tomorrow. Everything we reported earlier today is true. New features include 1080p resolution for games and movies Video playback from data CDs and DVDs, flash drives, even 360 memory units Video streaming with Windows XP and Media Player 11 (sounds familiar ...) Live Arcade enhancements Support for XNA created games The Arcade will now populate almost instantly, which means you won't have to wait for your favorite game to pop up on the list. Another interesting feature is the "Tell a friend" feature, which sends a buddy a message that tells them about a certain Live Arcade game. And the best feature (one we also predicted earlier) is a a feature that automatically downloads the latest trial versions of Xbox Live Arcade games.We've been waiting for this for a long time, especially the video streaming, and we'll be back tomorrow with a full report. See the full press release after the break.
Rift widens between Silver and Gold XBLA memberships
Xbox Live's Major Nelson announced on Wednesday that the newest Gears of War trailer was available online ... to Gold subscribers only. This marks the first time that exclusive XBL content has been delayed (not denied) for the free Silver members, and it's just the tip of the iceberg. Nelson commented on his blog entry after mixed reaction from readers, "So here is the deal ... Silver members WILL get access to this ... probably in about a week. This is going to happen more and more (Gold getting things before Silver) so you may want to think about upgrading if you want all the latest and greatest trailers, demos etc."It's not really a big deal at this point, because the trailer was available online within seconds of appearing on the XBLM. The real problem starts when Gold members start getting demos and downloadable game content before Silver members do; perhaps, eventually, the Silver members won't get them at all. Microsoft will find themselves treading a fine line between how much a Silver member will put up with not having, and how much a Gold member needs to feel justified in paying the cost for their features. It's important to note that this trailer is most likely a trial run by Microsoft (through Major Nelson) to see how things go, since it's not even true "exclusive" content. Nelson (can we just call him Larry, already?) admits that this is the same commercial played last week at X06 Canada. So where's the real super exclusive platinum fanboy stuff, eh?The point is that Microsoft is finally treating the Gold level like what it is supposed to be, a step above the Silver membership. Silver members don't pay for anything; it's a free service meant to provide an "introduction" to XBL. Gold members pay for additional features and, with it, they expect some perks to be delivered. While it's limited to trailers right now, expect to see it expand to demos, downloadable content, and anything else Microsoft can think about leveraging for more subscribers to make the jump up to the next tier while their model for microtransactions seems to be falling apart with the inmates running the asylum.And just because we love you, check out that Gears trailer after the jump in SD, or click here for the HD version.[Thanks, E.J.]
Major Nelson talks microtransations on G4
Major Nelson was featured on Attack of the Show last night. During "The Loop," Major Nelson discussed microtransactions with Kevin Pereira and Andrew Pfister, producer of 1UP Yours. The segment was too short, which is regrettable because it was actually very good. In fact, we'd love to see "The Loop" made into its own show. Naturally, Lumines was brought up. It was declared dishonest by Andrew, whereas Major Nelson reminded the audience that "it's about choice." They also briefly touched on EA's recent Godfather scandal. If you haven't heard, EA is charging 360 users for cheats. What's scary is that the cheats you can buy on Marketplace are available as cheat codes in the Xbox version. In other words EA actually removed the cheat codes from the 360 version just so they could make consumers pay for them. Unfortunately, the commentators just aren't given enough time to properly debate the issue. Here's hoping G4 sees the potential in this segment and gives "The Loop" some more air time. Watch the video after the break.
Tony Hawk P8 demo coming tomorrow!
You heard it, folks. A Tony Hawk's Project 8 demo will be available on Marketplace tomorrow, October 20th. The demo will give you access to many of the games new features, including the much lauded "Nail the Trick" -- think The Matrix meets skateboarding. Also accessible will be the "Filmer" mode, in which you follow a cameraman and complete whatever tricks he wants to see. As if that weren't enough, there will also be what Activision calls "Spot Challenges," which are random goals that can be completed in the game world. All in all, it sounds like a pretty meaty demo. It's also the only place you'll be playing Project 8 for quite a while. We've said it before and we'll say it again, you gotta love Xbox Live.
