GameSpotting!

Peter Moore leaving Microsoft

Posted on July 17th, 2007 by MASA.
Categories: Gaming, PC, Xbox, Xbox360.

In the last hour, Peter Moore filed his resignation with Microsoft. He will no longer be the head of Microsoft’s Xbox team. He is now going to become president of EA Sports in California where the rest of his family lives. According to Microsoft, Don Mattrick will become the new head of the Xbox team and the Games for Windows branch of Microsoft.

It’s ironic he is being replaced by Don Mattrick, who held many higher up jobs in EA until he resigned in February 2007. It’s almost like a stalemate.

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New titles added to Xbox Backwards Compatibility list

Posted on July 12th, 2007 by MASA.
Categories: Gaming, Xbox, Xbox360.

Microsoft added today several Xbox titles to the Xbox 360 backwards compatibility list. The new additions to the complete Xbox game list total the list to about 300 titles or so. The update will appear on Xbox Live soon. But remember you can just download the CD image if you are impatient.

Click More to see the new additions. Or you can click here to see a PDF of the list

Read the rest »« Show Less

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EA Reveals Madden NFL 08 soundtrack

Posted on June 29th, 2007 by MASA.
Categories: DS, DSL, GCN, Gaming, Mac OSX, PC, PS2, PS3, PSP, Wii, Xbox, Xbox360.

EA Tiburon (the EA studio in Florida), has just released a list of songs to be featured in the newest Madden NFL game that releases this August. This year’s game will be the series 18th game. A random fact about the series is that it has sold 60 million copies, which nets around $2 billion dollars for EA Tiburon Studios. The game is supposed to feature 27 songs, yet EA only gave us 15 songs in the list. Nice counting EA.

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New Xbox Backward Compatibility update released

Posted on April 19th, 2007 by MASA.
Categories: Gaming, Xbox, Xbox360.

Today, Microsoft released an update to the Backwards Compatibility List, which adds 38 games to the Xbox 360. This brings the total Xbox games that work on the 360 to around 300.

The list includes:

Tenku (Japan only)
Avatar: The Last Airbender 
Avatar: The Legend of Aang  (EMEA/ANZ)
Breakdown
Call of Duty 2: Big Red One
Call of Duty 3
Cars
Crash Bandicoot 5: Wrath of Cortex
Daisenryaku VII
FIFA Soccer 2007
Full Spectrum Warrior
Guilty Gear Isuka
Innocent Tears (Japan only)
Jet Set Radio Future
King of Fighters 2002  
King of Fighters: Neowave
Mad Dash Racing (Japan only)
Mech Assault 2
Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction
Nascar 2006: Total Team Control
NFL Fever 2004
Oddworld Munch’s Oddysee
Panzer Dragoon Orta
Petit Copter (Japan only)
Phantom Dust
Reservoir Dogs
Return To Castle Wolfenstein
Rugby League 2
Sengoku Warriors (Japan only)
Sonic Riders
Soul Calibur 2 UPDATED 
Spider-Man 2
Star Wars: Republic Commando
Street Fighter Anniversary Collection
Tiger Woods PGA Tour  07
Tony Hawk’s Underground
Ultra Bust a Move /ULTRA Pazzle Bobble
Unreal Championship 2

The download is currently on Xbox Live, but you can also download the ISO from Microsoft. All you have to do is click here.

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Interview with the Halo 2 maps porter

Posted on April 3rd, 2007 by MASA.
Categories: Gaming, Xbox, Xbox360.

Microsoft announced on 3/30/07 that they and Bungie Studios will be releasing two new maps for Halo 2 which are going to be called Tombstone and Desolation. The two maps are ports from the original Halo game. According to Microsoft, these aren’t direct map ports but stuff that a company called Certain Affinity has made.

Today, Bungie gave us a look into the maps development in an interview with Certain Affinity. It’s a good interview, and if you are a Halo fan, I would suggest you read it. It’s full of humor!

Click here to read the interview.

The maps come out on the 17th.

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Microsoft Asks, how would you make Xbox Live better?

Posted on January 18th, 2007 by MASA.
Categories: Gaming, Xbox, Xbox360.

Microsoft apparently doesn’t spend money on research independantly, but rather asks the community. Microsoft wants to know what sucks, what needs to be improved, your ideas and dreams. Of course this all comes with the usual mumbo jumbo that they won’t use everyone’s idea and they won’t confirm that many of the ideas will even be looked at, if at all. And for once, you don’t have to signup (for a .NET passport or whatever) or give out your email (I can’t believe it) to actually submit your idea (first for MS!).

Anyway, all you have to do is comment on this blog post and your idea will become known to Microsoft (perhaps!). And maybe your idea will be added into Xbox Live. Who knows?

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The King has creeped us out.

Posted on December 31st, 2006 by MASA.
Categories: Gaming, Xbox, Xbox360.

Everyone knows the Burger King guy, right? Well Burger King made 3 Xbox 360 games that involve this creepy royal guy doing all kinds crazy stuff. From racing to performing sneak ups behind people in order to freak them out and give them a cheeseburger (Sounds a lot like Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell), you could play as “The King”. And for some reason, the games are enjoyable. And they sold only for $4 bucks each, which is a great deal for a game that is half way decent.

So what am I getting to? Well Burger King has announced that in just 4 weeks they have sold over 2 million copies of the Burger King games. The best selling game of all 3 is Sneak King.

If you haven’t heard of the games, here is a quick description of them:
Sneak King - Play as “The King” as you sneak around and deliver BK products to unsuspecting people. Don’t be seen. This game is probably the best of all three. You can run all around and do really cool poses (they are more funny then cool). Hide in garbage cans, piles of coal, etc.

Pocket Bike Racer - Race around with people from BK. This is probably the only sane game of the series. But only by a little bit. You can drive around as a chicken, drivethru attendent, cheeseburger, the king, along with some other characters too.

Big Bumpin’ - This game’s title is really weird. It’s a bumper car game. And it is probably the lamest game of the series. It’s not much fun, or very funny for that matter.
According to 2 resources, BK is not selling these games out anymore. But after checking out with BK, it would seem like some BK stores are still selling the games. I would suggest you go get one. They are hilarious, and cheap too.

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Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 is coming.

Posted on December 9th, 2006 by MASA.
Categories: Gaming, PC, PS3, PSP, Xbox, Xbox360.

Ubisoft, the makers of GRAW announced that they will be making a new GRAW game for the PSP, PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 that will release spring of 2007. It will be a direct sequal to the origional GRAW game.  The game is set in 2014. With the high stake battle between Mexican loyalists and rebel forces has caused Mexico into civil war. You must command the Ghost Squadron to help protect the US.

The new game includes lots of new features:

• Groundbreaking Visual Experience: The war zone in Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter comes to life as you navigate through trash-strewn streets and pick off enemies from behind bomb-scarred structures. The cutting-edge physics and particle systems will show you some of the most intense and realistic explosions, smoke, and environment destruction ever seen in a video game. Dynamic lighting and shadows will morph as real-time day/night cycles and a constantly changing weather system require you to adjust to the changing conditions on the fly.
• All-New Battlegrounds: For the first time ever, the Ghosts will defend U.S. soil from a cross-border attack, taking the fight to all-new locations. The Ghosts will battle enemies in mountain terrains, barren deserts and even on their home turf in El Paso, Texas. Each environment presents its own benefits and challenges and will call for fresh tactical approaches.
• Vastly Improved Artificial Intelligence (AI): Watch your back as rebels send their own team members to flank your position or gain vantage points by utilizing vertical gameplay to pick you off from the rooftops above. Improved squad-mate AI will now feed you more of the information you need with descriptive commands like “enemy spotted behind red truck ahead.”
• Improved Cross-Com: The revolutionary new Cross-Com 2.0 will give the player more information than ever before. You will be able to see what your friendly forces see in the top left display and the click of a button will expand that to full-screen view for a clearer and more precise picture. This will give you a more comprehensive view of the entire battlefield. The new Full Command View will allow unprecedented precision in developing and issuing tactical plans on the battlefield.
• Expanded Support: Command lethal air strikes with jet fighters, gain mobile cover for otherwise impassable situations and replenish armaments on the battlefield using an unmanned artillery MULE. Players can now heal their team on the battlefield, including squad leader Scott Mitchell, with an all-new Medic class of soldier.

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Need for Speed:Carbon Revisited

Posted on December 8th, 2006 by MASA.
Categories: DS, DSL, GBA, GCN, Gaming, PC, PS2, PS3, PSP, Review, Wii, Xbox, Xbox360.

I have never liked the Need For Speed series for various reasons. One because I never liked the crash effects, steering and the controls. However the cars were cool. Carbon seems to have made me reconsider a very bad review. Personally, I liked this game alot. I think it was well done. The game has a new feature called “call a crew member”, but I rather call it “SIC EM!”, since you are really just sending your crew car to get the guy. You call up a buddy who is constantly giving you radio help (like a real crew member) and telling you when other racers are about to crash you up. This is probably the best improvement in NFS. You got your little helper guy to help you out in tough jams. But since you have a helper, EA decided that the game would have to be just a tad tougher. But it really makes the game more fun to play.

I liked the idea that you could also customize your ride’s body. In previous NFS games you could only change how the car looked decal and color wise. This game in the series allows you to customize the body of the car. And modify things from rims, tire depth, hood depth, and all that other good stuff that I can’t remember right at this moment. And your car looks awesome on the track. Speaking of tracks, NFS: Carbon has a really cool track system. You have to earn tracks by defeating others but until then they are under the control of a rival Car Crew/Gang/Mob. That makes the story line a lot more exciting.

Now graphics in this game have improved from the blocky car designs seen in NFS: Underground 1&2 (I think they both look blocky, maybe cause I didn’t change the default settings). Anyhow, the graphics have really improved and they are great with the night time atmosphere. Overall, Carbon is way better then any of the other NFS games. This game is awesome, but still not as good as the Burnout series also made by EA. The controls have inproved but they aren’t perfect yet. The steering is better but it’s still really annoying. You will still spinout if you counterstear, and hear the stupid tire screaching noise when you are going really fast and start to turn. NFS:C has great motion blurs, that make you really feel the action. Now let’s get to the ratings.

The Ratings:

Sound: 8/10 -This is super! The talking that the crew member gives you doesn’t seem like it was recorded previously and seems like he is really saying it. Music was N/A, I just didn’t pay attention to it.
Graphics: 8/10 -Graphics have improved since NFS: Underground 2
Controls: 7/10 -The controls have moved to somewhere where they are more accessible but the Respawn button seems to be on the other side of the controller. No support for joysticks.
Playback: 8.5/10 -Great game but it can be a bit frusturating. Story is really interesting.
Improvement: 8/10 -Lots of great improvements.

Overall Score: 8/10 - Controls were okay, but they needed to be improved. Other wise if they were this game would have been an 8.5

An offtopic cool thing about this game: the loading screens have the best animation, and cool effects that I have ever seen (the ones that Burnout has are cool but they are kinda boring as they never change, it’s always the same 4 transitions).

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Superman is brought back by EA

Posted on October 10th, 2006 by MASA.
Categories: DS, GBA, Gaming, PC, PS2, PSP, Xbox, Xbox360.

EA said today that they will be releasing Superman Returns The Videogame (To where? Blockbuster? Yeah that was a lame pun) for all systems but the GCN. It would seem like EA hasn’t learned from it’s past failures of Superman games..like the wonderful (not) Superman 64 which was a very very buggy game.

According to EA there will be around 100 missions that have been true to the comics (and not based directly on the movie [that's new]). But EA decided that voice acting was going to be a key element in making this game not equal crap, they monopolised the voices of the actors and their appearence from the movie. I am not completely dissing EA. But sometimes they need to know when to slow down and stop buying everyone out all the time.

But…if superman is invincible…how do you die? Well EA decided that superman can get tired out. So they made it so you would have to watch his stamina levels which get depleted everytime you use a superpower. Superman Returns The Videogame features a recreation of 80 square miles of the city, Metropolis.

The console versions: PS2, PC, Xbox, and Xbox 360 will be rated T while the DS and GBA will be rated E. The game comes out on November 20.

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EA is shutting down online servers

Posted on August 4th, 2006 by MASA.
Categories: Gaming, PC, PS2, Xbox.

EA is starting to shut down a bunch of online servers, for some reason, but it’s likely the servers will be put out of use because the games are old. Anyway here is the list of shutting down servers that will be gone by the weekend.

This weekend:

FIFA Soccer 2005 for PS2, Xbox and PC
EA SPORTS™ Fight Night Round 2 for PS2 and Xbox
NCAA® March Madness™ 2005 for Xbox and PS2
NBA LIVE 2005 for Xbox, PC and PS2
NBA STREET V3 for PS2 and Xbox
NCAA® Football 2005 for PS2
Need for Speed™ Underground 2 for Xbox and PC
NHL® 2005 for PS2, Xbox and PC
Total Club Manager 06 for PS2
Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® 2005 for PS2 and PC
UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE™ 2004-2005 for Xbox, PC and PS2

EA also announced that on October 1st, Madden NFL 2005 for PS2, Xbox and PC and  NFL Street 2: Unleashed for PS2 and Xbox will be shut down as well.

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