The gang over at Gamertag Radio is giving away five copies of Kane & Lynch: Dead Men. All you have to do to win is figure out how you identify with crazed psychotics. Specifically, GTR wants to know which of the game's protagonists you identify with more. There's Kane, the brutally violent mercenary, and Lynch: the brutally violent psychopath. If you need help figuring this out, you may want to listen to the latest episode of GTR or spend some time on Wikipedia. Once you've got your answer, head over to GTR and post it.
We're going to have to go with Lynch, the paranoid schizophrenic, because we're pretty sure that the gaming industry is conspiring to take all of our money.
It's been far too long since we've posted a video from Halo 3, hasn't it?. We'd better put one up now before we start to spoil our good name. And since we're all about hitting phenomena at the height of their popularity, why not make it a video about a 300 Easter Egg? Yes, we're all familiar with the ever popular "This is madness!!!" meme by now, but we're still tickled to see it in Halo 3. Even better (and appropriately enough), the Easter Egg seems to be triggered by the Spartan Laser. But enough talk. Check out the video above and enjoy.
So, now that Microsoft has official revealed that they will begin offering downloads of original Xbox games through Xbox Live Marketplace, we're curious to see what our community thinks about it. Is the "Xbox Originals" service something your interested in using? We've already been reading some opinions on the matter in our comments, but we crave easily categorized statistical data. As such, we've composed a new Fanpoll. The subject? You guessed it: Xbox Originals. Find the poll after the break.
Tim Schafer, guru of Double Fine Productions (Brütal Legend, Pscyhonauts), while speaking to the 2007 IGDA Leadership Forum, made it known that he would "love" to make an Xbox Live Arcade game. He told the forum, "We talk about making Xbox Live Arcade games all the time. Who doesn't want to make Xbox Live Arcade games?" Don't jump for joy just yet though, as Schafer admits that the studio is not currently working on any Xbox Live Arcade games. Schafer says the studio is too busy to focus on such a project.
We have a suggestion for a quick project, Tim. How about a Live enabled sequel to Epic Saga: Extreme Fighter?
Unless you've been living under a small mobile home for the past few days, then you should know that Xbox Live is celebrating its 5th birthday on Thursday. Hooray! And we figured you'd like to know exactly what's planned and what's scheduled to go down. That's where bullet lists come in. Check out all of Thursday's Xbox is 5IVE birthday fun:
Game with Fame: Lots of developers, playing lots of games with you on Xbox Live
Play and Win: Pre-register to win oodles and oodles of Xbox 360 goodies.
All-Nighter: You've been summoned to play old school Wolfenstein until you pass out.
Frag Doll Friday: Play GRAW with those fragging chicks.
We hope these event will make your Xbox Live birthday celebration all the more memorable and get you pumped to game the day away. HAPPY BIRTHDAY XBOX LIVE!
If you pay attention to video game music at all, there is one name you've likely heard before: Jesper Kyd. One of the industry's most prolific composers, Kyd has been around since the Sega Genesis (ah, The Adventures of Batman & Robin: mediocre game, great soundtrack). Most recently, Kyd has been behind the soundtracks for Kane & Lynch and Assassin's Creed, both of which are available this week. In celebration of the release of Assassin's Creed, Ubisoft has released two of Kyd's tracks from the game, hosted by Gamertag Radio. The two tracks -- "City of Jerusalem" and "Flight Through Jerusalem" -- aptly exemplify the Middle Eastern setting and could easily be heard in a feature film (perhaps an Assassin's Creed film). Click the "read" link to download them.
There's a lot of gaming deals this week, but we thought we'd point you in the direction of an offer that's not-so Assassin's Creed. Right now, Amazon.com is offering BioShock for the nice price of $49 AND is throwing in The Darkness for FREE! Top the offer off with free shipping and (possibly) no tax and you've got a deal worth mentioning. You're welcome fanboys and stay tuned, because we've got Black Friday deals to sift through. Let the deals rain down!
Posted Nov 13th 2007 2:15PM by Dustin Burg
Filed under: News
Chatting with CVG, Bethesda's Pete Hines talks a bit about development of Fallout 3 and how downloadable content will play a roll in the game's future. In general, Hines says that the studio wants to focus all their energy on the core game, making it the best it can be and if they don't get that right then "nobody's going to want to download anything for it anyway". But Hines' attitude towards DLC isn't completely off, saying that after development wraps up on the game and bug testing kicks off, then the dev team will start looking at their Fallout 3 DLC possibilities. So, we wouldn't expect to see Fallout 3 content hitting the Marketplace the week of or weeks after release. Shucks.
Well that didn't take long. Microsoft has issued a press release confirming reports from earlier today that original Xbox games will soon be available for download from Xbox Live Marketplace. The games -- referred to as "Xbox Originals" -- mentioned explicitly by Microsoft were Halo,Crimson Skies, Fable, and Psychonauts, though it's unclear if all of these titles will be available on the day the service launches. That day, incidentally, is not December 2 as previously reported, but rather December 4. As noted by the press release, "This new service will launch with an array of blockbuster titles spanning the most popular genres from action-adventure to classic role-playing games." Classic role-playing games on the original Xbox? Really? All three of them? Anyway, the games will be available for the previously reported price of 1200 MS Points ($15). Whether or not the launch lineup that was reported earlier is accurate remains to be seen.
Microsoft also added some announcements about the fifth anniversary of the launch of Xbox Live on November 15. In celebration, Microsoft will be offering a free download of the Xbox Live Arcade game Carcassonne (Hexic 2 in Korea) starting at 12:01am EST November 15. The game will be free to all subscribers for 48 hours. Also, all subscribers who have been a member of Xbox Live since 2002 will receive 500 MS Points for free.
If you weren't sold by the previous demo of TimeShift, you may want to check out the new demo available on Xbox Live Marketplace. The new demo includes the same single player section from the previous demo, but the real meat is the addition of multiplayer. Several game modes are available, though we were unable to find a game when we tried earlier today. If you've got the hardware, system link is available, too. If you haven't tried TimeShift, you may want to give it a go, as the time control elements are also a part of its multiplayer. Then again, maybe you're too busy playing Assassin's Creed.
After posting the rumor about an Xbox 360 game cancellation going to be announced this week, fanboys and the internet have been abuzz. Everyone is trying to figure out which Microsoft published title is getting the axe or if the rumor has any credibility. And today we're pleased to cross a few games off the list of cancellation possibilities with both Fable 2 and Alan Wake confirming that they're still in development and far from being canceled. Both studios were quick to distance themselves from this nasty cancellation rumor, confirming their green light status on their respective forums.
So far our top cancellation contenders have fallen through with Banjo-Kazooie 3, Alan Wake and Fable 2 all safe. So, what's left? We're done with our speculation, because honestly, we're starting to doubt the credibility of this rumor. But feel free to throw some more names out there, maybe more studios will start denying cancellation rumors and we can widdle down our potential list some more.
Read - Alan Wake denies cancellation
Read - Fable 2 denies cancellation
[Update: The contest is now closed and our winner has been chosen. Congratulations, RudyHuxtable! Enjoy your puzzling!]
We've got a little extra fanswag this week, kiddies, and we're giving it away with impunity. The swag up for grabs is a download code for Word Puzzle, which is possibly the most self-explanatory title on Xbox Live Arcade. To win, all you have to do is:
Leave a comment on this post.
Be sure you only leave one comment. Posters of multiple comments will be disqualified. We'll accept entries until 5:00pm Eastern Time today. You must be at least 18 years old to enter. This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only
Later today, we'll pick one winner via a random drawing
One winner will receive a download code for Word Puzzle, worth $10
Just to be clear, this is not this week's Fanswag Weekly giveaway. That will go up tomorrow as usual. If you're lucky enough, maybe you can while away the hours between now and then with a free copy of Word Puzzle.
[This post was accidentally published in advance of its start time. If you managed to leave a comment early, please refrain from commenting again. Your original comment will still count as an entry.]
Posted Nov 13th 2007 11:30AM by Dustin Burg
Filed under: News
A few hand selected Best Buy stores in the US will be opening up their doors early AM next Tuesday for the launch of a little game called Rock Band. Best Buy is encouraging gamers to line up (we guess they were right) late Monday evening at participating stores for all the Rock Band launch fun and festivities. And even if you're not keen to purchasing the game you may still want to make the trip, because watching gamers try and get the massively large Rock Bandbox into their two-door coupe will be hilariously entertaining. And don't forget your camera.
What do you get when you mix the highly anticipated Assassin's Creed launch with Australia, manufacturing issues and some freight problems? Well, you get an Australian / New Zealand Assassin's delay, that's what you get. Our fellow fanboys in Aussieland will have to wait an extra seven days before they get their Assassin's Creed fix due to troubles getting the discs out to retail. And it's a shame too, because we know how much Aussies love their Assassin's (and cuddly kangaroos). Feel free to vent your frustration on the nearest Ubisoft employee or postal worker ... just don't say we sent you.
And here we were hoping our favorite console was going to learn how to make julienne fries. Alas, no. Instead, the Fall Dashboard Update for the Xbox 360 brings with it the ability to download original Xbox games. The news comes from Official Xbox Magazine (by way of CVG, whose article has since been pulled), which reports that the update will be available December 2nd. The first round of Xbox titles up for grabs are Halo: Combat Evolved (duh), Fable, Indigo Prophecy, Crimson Skies: High Road To Revenge, Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath Of Cortex, and Burnout 3.
Microsoft apparently plans to make as much of the original Xbox catalogue available as possible (can we get to work on Panzer Dragoon Orta, please?). Games are expected to cost 1200 MS Points ($15 U.S.).
Of course, there are still some unanswered questions. How much space will the games take up? Will they be upscaled to HD (we're betting yes)? Will Halo: Combat Evolved fans finally get Live enabled multiplayer? All the games on the list have 360 sequels already out or in the works except Crimson Skies and Indigo Prophecy. Is this a hint that the rumored Crimson Skies sequel is real? Is Indigo Prophecy getting a much deserved sequel? Only time will tell, but at least you shouldn't have to wait too long.
Tim Schafer, guru of Double Fine Productions (
After posting the rumor about an Xbox 360 
