01.31.07
Why Crackdown Will Be Awesome
Here’s a video showing a small example of how awesome Crackdown will be:
(Thanks DQuartermane for the video)
7/7 approaches.
Here’s a video showing a small example of how awesome Crackdown will be:
(Thanks DQuartermane for the video)
It starts tonight, here are the details:
The Halo Beta program is going to kick into full swing pretty soon, and it’s a complicated beast. The “Rule of 3” program you may have heard of starts this Thursday at 12am, so we want you to be prepared.
The most complicated part is the international aspect – basically, you’ll have to check with your local Xbox.com site and local media. The US, however, is covered in the information that follows below. Remember, this stuff is being handled by Porsche-driving muckety mucks from Microsoft – and not Bungie directly. So send all your complaints and questions to them, and not to us – we’re just the bearers of the glad tidings.
And remember, after all the dust has settled, Bungie will have a few extra beta spots for a few lucky and loyal community members. So one way or another, you should be able to find a way to participate in the Halo 3 Beta, fingers crossed and good luck!
The Information!
Click HERE for full details, or read on below.
Rule of Three Program
The “Rule of Three” program is currently planned for gamers (17 years and older) in the 50 United States (includes District of Columbia) and Canada who have access to an Xbox 360 Pro console or an Xbox 360 Core console with hard drive, a valid Xbox Live Gold subscription and the Halo 2 game.
It is a two-step process:
1. Participate in at least three hours of Halo 2 multiplayer sessions on your Xbox 360 console via Xbox Live during the three (3) day period beginning February 1st at 12:01 am EST and ending February 3rd at 11:59 pm EST.
2. After the three day window is over, head back over to www.halo3.com on February 5th and register.
If you are one of the FIRST 13,333 to do this (and meet the above requirements) you will receive an invite notification in February to participate in the Halo 3 Beta.
Please note that if you registered to participate in the Halo 3 Beta during Phase One and were not selected, that does not preclude you from registering again for during Phase 2.
It does not appear that sitting in the lobby or menu of Halo 2 will count towards the three hours, you have to actually be in an online game, participating in gameplay for 180 minutes/3 hours.
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 Demo
Following up the 2006 platinum seller Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (GRAW), Ubisoft brings the sequel GRAW2, with more of what fans loved about the original with 12 single player missions, 14 multiplayer maps, and a 6 mission coop campaign. You are the Soldier of the Future 2.0. All systems have been upgraded to give you more power and control on the battlefield. Following the failure of the “coup d’etat” in Mexico City Mexican rebels have gathered their remaining forces along the US border. Lead your team of elite Special Forces for the first time on US soil - straddling the border between Juarez, Mexico and El Paso, Texas. The Ghosts have less than 72 hours to stop a nuclear attack.
The size of this demo is about 600 MB and is single-player only.
A week or so ago, on Unscripted360.com’s episode #25, Deacon mentioned an upcoming interview with the co-creator of something called, “LiveEye“. A couple days ago, on the same day the interview episode went live (UNSCleric.com is also mentioned during the show), I started checking out LiveEye, and I like what I see. It’s basically a site like 360Voice.com, but with way more features and stats. LiveEye will show you almost anything you want to know about your Xbox 360 and the time you spend with it. I’m not going to go into detail about all the things it shows, because it shows a lot, but the most appealing part about it all to me, is that their GamerCard feed has icons for original Xbox titles like Halo 2, and also for watching movies, etc. I’ll be changing my GamerCard on here to the LiveEye GamerCard as well. The only negative thing, which there is no way around, is that the site can’t go back in time and show you everything that you’ve done in the past. It’s never too late to start though!
It has finally arrived. Are any of you upgrading to Vista right away, or are you waiting until Halo 2 Vista, Shadowrun, or Crysis come out?
Get things done and get on with life! It’s easier and faster than ever to find, use, manage, and share information on your PC or on the web.
See everything you’re working on more clearly with Windows Aero, and quickly switch between windows or tasks using Windows Flip 3D and Live Thumbnails. You can easily find what you need—when you need it―with Instant Search and live icon previews that display the actual contents of your files. And while you’re at it, give your personal productivity a boost with instant access to the information you care about using Windows Sidebar and Gadgets. Put these easy-to-use and customizable mini-applications on your desktop and reveal the information you’re looking for at a glance.
Only the initial shipment of Crackdown will come with access to the Halo 3 beta, and it’s the last way you can get into the beta. There is one other way coming out later this week, but more on that later. You can pre-order Crackdown at nearly any store, but I don’t know of any additional pre-order bonuses besides knowing you will for sure get the game with the beta code included. Circuit City will have Crackdown on February 21st at 5pm, and most GameStops will not receive the game until the 21st either. There is still no ETA or details on the Halo 3 beta, but I’m sure all that will be announced before Crackdown comes out.
Both of these games should be in most specialty stores by Wednesday and most big retailers by Thursday or Friday.
It’s your turn to appear on the intergalactic TV sensation, Fuzion Frenzy! In Fuzion Frenzy 2, you play for huge prize money and a chance to save your planet. Compete in 40 different mini-games on seven different planets, from sports challenges to thrilling battles, on your way to becoming the ultimate victor.
Entertainment: Now Xbox Live® enabled and packed with features, take Fuzion Frenzy online with head to head multiplayer and customized tournaments. Fuzion Frenzy 2 also features easy to learn controls and jump-in, fun-filled gameplay that will reward any gamer, from casual to advanced.
Challenge: New variations on favorite Fuzion Frenzy games, revamped and improved for Xbox 360, as well as all-new events, promise to keep gamers involved and challenged for hours and hours.
Battlestations: Midway is an immense action game that drops you into massive air, sea, and undersea battles from Pearl Harbor to Midway. Command massive fleet attacks and take direct, real-time control of every plane, battleship, and submarine in the battle.
Battlestations: Midway blends intense third-person action with epic, large-scale naval combat and brings to life the great Pacific battles of World War II. From the chaos of Pearl Harbor, through the Philippines, Java, and the Coral Sea all the way to the epic Battle of Midway.
Innovative gameplay lets you take direct control of over 60 different warships, planes and submarines from a third-person perspective. Instantly jump to and control every vehicle in the battle.
The single-player mode features 11 large-scale campaigns with 12 bonus challenge missions. The online multi-player combat offers an entirely new online battle experience and features head-to-head and co-operative fleet battles featuring over 60 Allied and Japanese units.
While not as major as the deaths of E3 or Lik-Sang, Sony is now forcing the development team of Zootfly to cease work on their popular Ghostbusters game for the Xbox 360.
Zootfly has confirmed that Sony Pictures has had all references to Zootfly’s Ghostbusters game removed from the Slovenian developer’s website. The prototype game was being developed for Xbox 360. In addition, the video of the work-in-progress has been pulled from YouTube.
Columbia Pictures, which owns the Ghostbusters IP, was acquired by Sony in 1989. Zootfly is supposedly in negotiations with Sony for the rights to use the license.
This is par for the course as far as Sony is concerned though, they’re just doing their job as the cancer to the gaming industry. Maybe gamers will score a point once Blu-Ray fails like every other Sony-backed format has done in the past.
In related news:
Soft PS3 sales spell trouble for EA, others
PlayStation 3 doing so well in Canada that Sony raises its price 50 bucks
Opening in Wide Release

Blood and Chocolate
A teen werewolf must choose between her love for a human outsider and betraying the vows of her family’s secret society.
Movie Info | Showtimes | Trailers & Clips

Catch and Release
Jennifer Garner is a woman who must deal with the untimely death of her husband and the revelation of secrets he kept from her.
Movie Info | Showtimes | Trailers & Clips

Epic Movie
A comedy in the spirit of ‘Scary Movie’ and ‘Date Movie’ spoofs a number of recent big-budget megablockbuster films.
Movie Info | Showtimes | Trailers & Clips

Smokin’ Aces
A rogues’ gallery of characters collide with the FBI when a Vegas mob boss takes a hefty contract out on a magician’s head.
Movie Info | Showtimes | Trailers & Clips
Opening in Selected Theaters

Seraphim Falls
Liam Neeson pursues Pierce Brosnan across the West in a revenge thriller set against the backdrop of the Civil War.
Movie Info | Showtimes | Trailers & Clips
I personally will only be seeing Smokin’ Aces for this week of movies. It has looked great ever since I first saw the preview last year. You can also download a free theme and picture pack on Xbox Live Marketplace for Smokin’ Aces, as well as watch the preview.
Nope, just more false advertising (and theft) from our friends over at Sony. They’re now using content that is exclusive to the Xbox 360, and slapping their own game’s title on it. They’re using a picture from the Project Gotham Racing 3 press package, an exclusive Xbox 360 launch title, and claiming that it is Gran Turismo 4, a game which is exclusive to the PS3 (actually it’s PS2 game, but they’re porting it to the PS3 and claiming it’s a new game or something). The picture has been intentionally cropped to fit on the PSP site’s banner.
This is almost as bad as ripping off the idea of the Guide button for the PS3 controller (among other things), or the deceptive price comparison chart that Sony was handing out all summer long at conventions. In the end, this just ends up being as funny as Sony’s failed attempt to rival Xbox Live with its own online “network”.
Here are the pictures:
Official PGR3 screenshot from Bizarre Creation’s official site
Sony’s PSP website with stolen banner on top
Here’s the psp.connect.com website link as well, the main picture has now changed to Spiderman 3, which is the only thing that’ll turn a profit for Sony this year. The site did go down for a few minutes as I wrote this entry up, and then it came back up with the new picture. Update: Now it’s back to another GT4 banner, hopefully this picture isn’t stolen from Nintendo or some other game.
UPDATE: Bizarre Creations has responded.
Ben Ward, Community & Web Lead for Bizarre Creations had this to say,
Whilst we’re not involved in the development of GT:HD, it is flattering that Sony would use a PGR3 screenshot to promote their games. We’ve certainly seen a few smiles here at Bizarre.
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Via Aeropause.com & Xbox.com forums
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In other news, Unreal Tournament 2007 has been confirmed for the Xbox 360 for the second or third time. It was first confirmed back at E3 2006, which I reported on, and then it appeared on Xbox.com’s upcoming games list. Even after all that, informed people have had to listen to people say it’s still not coming to the Xbox 360. Well it looks like third time’s a charm, Unreal Tournament 2007 is now called Unreal Tournament 3 and will be coming for the PC, Xbox 360, and PS3 in the second-half of 2007.
The new game comprises a vast number of changes from increased aggressiveness and intelligence in the AI to better, more ridiculously powerful weapons to new characters, game modes, and online improvements. New weapons are highlighted by the long-range Shock Rifle and the shorter range Flack Cannon, and more than two dozen weapons will be ready to wield when UT3 is ready in the second half of 2007.
The new single-player campaign is deeper and more engaging than before, and players will be happy to know that old favorite characters have returned and are joined by several new ones. Epic plans to provide advanced online changes to suit all three platforms, bringing seamless loading, improved matchmaking and co-operative campaign online play. Yes, cooperative online play indeed. Familiar online modes such as Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Capture the Flag will be joined by an all-new Warfare mode among others. And PC gamers will be happy to get their sweaty mitts on the bundled Unreal Engine Toolset, enabling them to build their own levels, game types, rules, mods, and more.
We’ll have more on Unreal Tournament 3 soon. In the meantime check the new screens and video.
Very nice selection of movies here. The Descent and Lady in the Water are two of my favorite movies of 2006 if you want any recommendations on what to rent. World Trade Center will be coming online this Friday.