MTV Games and Harmonix, along with Best Buy, are offering two free Rock Band songs from Disturbed's upcoming "Indestructible" album. The two tracks, “Indestructible” and “Inside the Fire," will be available for download from the Xbox LIVE Marketplace.
From the announcement:
"Leading consumer electronics and entertainment retailer Best Buy has partnered for the first time ever with MTV Games and Hamonix, the makers of “Rock Band,” the best-selling music video game created for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft. Fans pre-ordering the album at www.BestBuy.com/disturbed will receive instructions to download two free Disturbed tracks from “Indestructible” for Rock Band from Xbox LIVE® online entertainment network: “Indestructible” and “Inside the Fire.” The latter i s the band’s sixth Number One single at Active Rock, and the band’s fastest-rising chart-topper to date."
Disturbed's Indestructible album will be released on June 3, 2008.
GamingBits.com's Podcast #14 is in, brought to you by your cast-free (no longer broken arm) host Sha'ul. What are BitHeads watching most on the GamingBits YouTube Channel? Any new game releases this week to steal your GTA IV time? Find out in this week's GamingBits.com Podcast! Send your comments, questions and rants to
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Microsoft has released plenty of what's to come for the Xbox 360 at today's Gamer's Day event. Earlier rumors on Viva Piñata and Banjo-Kazooie are pretty much confirmed. Here's the breakdown of what games to look forward to from Microsoft on the Xbox 360 for the remainder of 2008:
Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise
[See screenshots here]
Release: September 2008
Highlights:
- More than 100 new piñatas
- "Just for Fun” setting for quick and easy play
- Co-op gameplay on LIVE
- Uses Xbox LIVE Vision Camera to read printed cards
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts
[See screenshots here]
Release: November 2008
Highlights:
- Build your own vehicles for various terrain
- More than 100 parts for creating your vehicle
- Optional pre-built vehicles for quick gameplay
- Single-player campaign
- Multiplayer competitive or cooperative challenges
Gears of War 2:
[See screenshots here]
Release: November 2008
Highlights:
- New characters, weapons and enemies
- Chain saw duels
- Advanced Unreal Engine 3 for better visuals and physics
- New competitive multiplayer gameplay
- Drop-in/Drop-out Co-op play, at various difficulty settings
Too Human:
[See screenshots here]
Release: August 19, 2008 (US) and August 29, 2008 (Europe)
Highlights:
- Action RPG gameplay
- Online co-op via Xbox LIVE
Fable 2:
[See screenshots here]
Release: Late 2008
Highlights:
- Swords, gun or magic power gameplay
- 10 times bigger than original Fable
- Local multiplayer support
- Earn gold in advance of release with Xbox LIVE Arcade mini-games
Ninja Gaiden II:
[See screenshots here]
Release: June 3, 2008 (US) and June 6 (Europe)
Highlights:
- Built from ground up for Xbox 360
- Auto-healing and various modes for easier Ninja Gaiden gameplay
- Ninja Cinema: Share gameplay clips as videos over Xbox LIVE
Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode One
[See screenshots here]
Release: May 21, 2008 (Episode 1)
Highlights:
- $19.95 (1600 Microsoft points)
- Episodic content
- Create-a-Player System: Design your own character
- RPG/adventure game play
- Includes plenty of Penny Arcade characters
Want to see more of the Xbox 360's lineup? See a video featuring some highlights of the games at the Gamescore Blog.
Grand Theft Auto IV has officially gone down in the Guinness World Records Book as the "Highest Revenue Generated by an Entertainment Product in 24 Hours" as well as "Highest Grossing Video Game in 24 Hours." Grand Theft Auto IV has sold 3.6 million units ($310 million dollars) in it's day one release.
From Guinness World Records:
"These records establish GTA IV as the most profitable entertainment release of all-time, far surpassing other video game, film and book releases. According to Guinness World Records, this is how the game stacks up against the competition:
Fastest-selling video game in 24 hours: Halo 3 at $170 million
Fastest-selling theatrical movie in 24 hours: Spider-Man 3 at $60 million
Fastest-selling book in 24 hours: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows at $220 million"
Now: Grand Theft Auto IV at $310 million in 24 hours
Today, Gamecock Media Group announced details and released new screenshots for a new stealth-action game called Velvet Assassin. The game is set during World War II and the main character is "inspired by real-life British secret agent Violette Szabo."
About Velvet Assassin: "Players assume the role of Violette Summer and head deep behind enemy lines with no support or official backing from the British Government. Violette risks her life fighting to defeat the German war machine one stealth mission at a time. Velvet Assassin combines lush, surreal visuals and a ground-breaking stealth combat system to deliver a gaming experience which is truly the first of its kind."
See the first few screenshots here. It definitely looks like a unique stealth game and it's refreshing to see a female leading character. The game is being developed by Replay Studios for the Xbox 360 and PC.
Another leak from the NeoGAF forums comes in advance of Microsoft Gamer's Day. More rumors on Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise reveal the Xbox Live Vision Camera will be used in a similar way that the PLAYSTATION 3's PlayStation Eye is used in Eye of Judgment. Viva Piñata cards can be identified by the Xbox Live Vision camera to not only unlock piñata characters, but also accessories. There's also a rumored "photo mode" which will allow the creation and sharing of unique characters or items.
From a posting on NeoGAF:
1. VP2 uses the Vision Camera in combination with physical cards sorta like Eye of Judgement. It basically scans a small code on the card, when it's being held up in front of the camera, and this can both insert custom designed pinatas, unlock buildings or abilities, change the weather and many other things. We were told how Rare had designed a moose that got a big, red nose only around christmas time... and this could be passed around with these cards.
2. So the game also got a photo mode. Cool, but that's not the best! This photo mode is able to interpret the pictures and create the above-mentioned code based on the picture. Basically, you will have a card generator available on the internet! Imagine this: you have created this really cool pinata and instead of the tiresome task of sending it only to selected friends on Live, you can take a picture of it, get the code/card generated and share it on a forum. Instantly everyone will be able to get the pinata in their game and since the camera can also read from LCD screens, ipods, zunes etc., there is little to no hassle. Now THAT'S sharing!
It's all still a rumor for now, although it won't be much longer until we get some confirmation and updates today from Microsoft Gamer's Day.
Electronic Arts has released a couple of video trailers for Facebreaker. Facebreaker is now part of the new EA SPORTS Freestyle label and takes a more cartoony/casual approach to boxing games, which have been recently focusing on realism. The arcade boxer is in development by EA Canada, which is made up by some of Fight Night Round 3's development team.
What better way to learn some English than to do it while fighting off some zombies on the Nintendo DS? SEGA Japan is releasing a spin on its House of the Dead game series to teach some English to Japanese gamers. English of The Dead will be released on the Nintendo DS soon in Japan.
Go play an online Flash demo of English of The Dead here. Should be easy for you! Now if they could make a "Japanese of The Dead" game, that would be cool.
No, it's not a training game on how to raise a family. Atari's Family Trainer is an upcoming Wii game, exclusive to the platform, that's designed to get players moving in various mini-games using a mat controller. The "Family Trainer Mat controller" is similar to those floor mats found in Dance Dance Revolution games. NES gamers may also remember a similar controller, the NES Power Pad, which by coincidence (?) is known as "Family Trainer" in Japan. The NES Power Pad was originally made by Bandai, and this release does come from NAMCO BANDAI Games.
Some of the gameplay details from Atari: "There are over a dozen frantic single and multiplayer challenges to choose from all based on outdoor challenges amusingly interpreted for the world of Family Trainer, such as river rafting, mine karting, log jumping, rope skipping and much more. The activities take place in a variety of colourful locations including jungle forests full of ancient ruins, a haunted mansion complete with hordes of zombies, and a fairytale world where riding on toys and floating amongst the clouds is the order of the day."
NAMCO BANDAI Games' Family Trainer is scheduled for release in September 2008 in Europe, exclusively for the Wii. See more screenshots here.
An early preview of the Game Informer June 2008 Issue from NeoGAF's SolidSnakex notes several new features of the next Guitar Hero game. While we've heard before that the next Guitar Hero will go beyond the guitar, the Game Informer cover story reveals a "create a song" mode.
From NeoGAF: - Create a song. Although these exclude vocals due to storage and possible copyright issues.
- You'll be able to name your song as well as creating album art. After you've done all that you can upload it to GH Tunes where anyone can download it.
- You'll be limited to 5 songs at first. But depending on the ratings you get you'll possibly be able to upload 10 or more.
- The song sharing mode will be in the Wii and PS2 versions also, but GI says it's unlikely that it'll be as robust as the PS3 and 360 versions.
Another bit of info is another guitar controller from Red Octane, with a "new input mechanic." Read more at NeoGAF or keep a lookout for the next Game Informer with Guitar Hero on the cover (June 2008).
