There's some new downloadable content for Dead Rising and Saints Row at your local in-store Xbox 360 kiosks. You'll have to take your Xbox 360 Memory Unit to your local retailer with a working Xbox 360 Kiosk and the latest Xbox 360 kiosk disc (1 out of 4 shops in our area had it).
The Dead Rising content includes four new clothing items for your character. They are: Accountant Key, Pure White Suit Key, Stripe Key and Burgundy Wine Key (this is the only "key" currently available on the Xbox Live Marketplace). The downloadable content was previously announced in a Gamestop/EB Games in-store flyer.
In addition to Dead Rising Kiosk Downloadable Content, there is a Saints Row download. Unfortunately, my Xbox 360 Memory Unit did not have enough space to download it. Make sure you go in the store with at least 6 megs free! Can't confirm the exact size, but we'll bring you an update if this is the same content released on the Xbox Live Marketplace today (for 100 MS points).
Into gaming, horror movies and chainsaws? Microsoft and New Line Cinema are bringing a sneak (playable Xbox 360) preview of "Gears of War" and the upcoming "Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning" flick from New Line Cinema to four select cities.
If you reside in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York or San Francisco, you can sign up to attend the event scheduled for Wednesday, October 4, 2006 at 7 PM.
GameDaily reports that Square-Enix vice-President Michihiro Sasaki made some cryptic statements to The Wall Street Journal. Sasaki stated "We don't want the PlayStation 3 to be the overwhelming loser, so we want to support them. But we don't want them to be the overwhelming winner either, so we can't support them too much."
This is open to interpretation as to whether or not Square thinks Sony might lose the console war, but given that they seem to be supporting all consoles a bit more equally, it may just mean that they don't want to put all their eggs in one basket.
There are exactly 69 (hmm, coincidence?) new wear options for your Saints Row (Xbox 360) persona on the Xbox Live Marketplace. The downloadable content released today comes with "clothing, bling, tattoos and hair." Time to get some new threads for 100 MS points.
Nintendo Power's upcoming November 2006 magazine will feature news on the Wii launch. Below is the listing of Wii launch window games (remember, that is "window," not all on the November 19 launch date of the Wii):
The Ant Bully
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Barnyard
Blazing Angels
Call of Duty 3
Cars
Chicken Little: Ace in Action
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2
Elebits
Excite Truck
Far Cry: Vengeance
The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy
GT Pro Series
Happy Feet
Ice Age 2
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Madden NFL 07
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
Metal Slug Anthology
Monster 4×4 World Circuit
Need for Speed: Carbon
Open Season
Rampage
Rapala Tournament Fishing
Rayman Raving Rabbids
Red Steel
Spongebob Squarepants: Creature from the Krusty Krab
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Double Agent
Tony Hawk’s Downhill Jam
Trauma Center: Second Opinion
Wii Sports (included with console)
World Series of Poker
Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America President, speaks in a 10-minute interview on how Nintendo's Wii will bring gaming to the masses. Summary of topics covered include:
- The innovative controls and technology of the Wii remote.
- The $250 price point: Decision to leave DVD out (due to many DVD players already in households), not high-definition (about 15% of homes have HD), mass market price and software.
- Addresses the image of an "average gamer."
- Wii Channel Features and Virtual Console (classic/familiar titles) help broaden audience.
- Need for "incremental consumer."
- Success of Nintendo DS and Wii will help Nintendo lead gaming industry; not failures of competitors.
- Ease of use of Wii remote succeeds where controllers like Power Glove failed.
- 15 titles at launch (30 at launch window)
Here's a preview video from Q Entertainment of "Heavenly Star" (performed by new pop act Genki Rockets), coming to Lumines II on the Sony PSP. Tetsuya Mizuguchi, the game's creator, produced the musical track and video.
From Lumines creator Tetsuya Mizuguchi: "While most of my creative energy has been devoted to video games, because music plays such an important role in them, it seemed ideal to create an original music video," Mizuguchi said."
Lumines II is a puzzle game where gamers control squares made of four smaller block pieces that are dropped into the playing field one at a time to form same-color rectangles. The vertical “timeline” sweeps across the playing field from left to right and wipes the same-color rectangles from the playing field. Unmatched blocks pile up, and the game ends when the pile gets to the top of the playing screen.
Features include:
Wireless two-player ad hoc gameplay
More than 60 skins
100 puzzles to solve in Puzzle Mode and 50 missions to clear in Mission Mode
All new Sequencer Mode, Skin Edit Mode, Replay Theater and Play History
3D backgrounds
All new graphics featuring streaming video
Lumines II's licensed soundtrack will feature songs and music videos by musicians – Beck, Black Eyed Peas, Chemical Brothers, Fatboy Slim, The Go! Team, Gwen Stefani, Hoobastank, Junior Senior, Missy Elliott and New Order. Including songs from Junkie XL, Stigmato Inc, Mondo Grosso, Ken Ishii and Techriders.
Guitar Hero II has officially been announced by developer RedOctane for the Xbox 360. Like the PS2 version, the 360 is getting its own guitar controller. The X-Plorer guitar controller has been specifically designed for the Xbox 360 (revealed at X'06--you can see Major Nelson's pictures here). The X-Plorer guitar will be wired to the 360 (no wireless option as in the regular Xbox 360 controller).
Kai Huang, president of RedOctane says: "With Guitar Hero II for Xbox 360 rock rhythm, lead, or bass guitar tracks with downloadable content and the new X-Plorer® controller, designed specifically for the Xbox 360."
Sounds like RedOctane is going to take advantage of the downloadable content, so possibly more tracks may be released in the future to keep the jams fresh. Guitar Hero II is being published by Activision. We'll keep you posted on the final pricing and release date for the Xbox 360.
It's official for the Sony platform. Bethesda Softworks has officially announced The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is coming to the Sony Playstation 3 and Sony PSP handheld. Oblivion will be a launch title for the Sony PS3. The PSP will get its own Elder Scrolls game with "The Elder Scrolls® Travels: Oblivion."
From the press release: "Both the PLAYSTATION 3 and PSP system titles will be published exclusively in North America by Bethesda Softworks, while in Europe, Ubisoft will serve as co-publisher. Complete details on both games are available in Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine’s (OPM) exclusive cover story (November issue), which hits newsstands Oct. 10. In its article OPM previews the gameplay, graphics, and new content in Oblivion and concludes: “If any game is worth the price of the PS3, Oblivion is it."
