Posted Jul 9th 2008 12:30PM by Dustin Burg Filed under: News
Gamespot got the early jump on the Rock Band 2 E3 announcements with their preview of Rock Band 2, telling about the game's features, giving some game impressions and (most importantly) confirming the first ten of 80+ tracks the game will ship with. And wouldn't you know, by chance, nine of the ten confirmed tracks we already knew about thanks to the G4 leakage. The only track that we didn't previously hear about is Elvis Costello's "Pump It Up" (video embedded above). So, to recap, the ten confirmed Rock Band 2 tracks are:
Are you ready to rock? We said are you ready to ROCK?! Oh, um, well in that case we're sorry to inform you that Double Fine's Brütal Legend -- the rock opus featuring Jack Black -- won't be melting faces at E3 this year. The news comes as the game's maestro Tim Schafer informs MTV's Multiplayer that new Brütal Legend info will have to wait until after "the dust settles from this whole [Activision Blizzard] merger thing." As Joystiq points out, Activision is not attending E3 anyway, though Schafer's announcement means Brütal Legend won't be making it to the company's offsite event on Tuesday either.
Doing some early morning detective work, we came across a set of three new'ish Fable 2 screenshots. Well, not from Fable 2 itself, rather from the recently announced Pub Games that, come August, will allow you to earn gold prior to entering the world of Fable 2. Go ahead, take a looksy at the Keystone, SpinnerBox and Fortune's Tower screenshots below. Hopefully Rewster won't be around to take all our chips. That lucky Rewster.
Coming straight from Gamecock's chest-o-marketing-media, we're treated to a newtrailer for their upcoming stealthy game Velvet Assassin. Have a watch. But before you start to make comparisons between it an a certain Sam Fisher, know that there are a few distinct differences. First, Velvet Assassin comes pre-populated with hundreds of Nazis. And second, Velvet Assassin's main hero is of female origin. See, two totally different games.
After watching all that stealthy crouching, one has to believe that irreversible damage is being done to the lower lumbar. Hope she has good medical insurance or lives in Canada, because in ten years, she'll need it.
Duke Nukem 3D. Long rumored to be heading to the Xbox Live Arcade when, back in January, rumor-word told us that Duke would be gracing the XBLA in a "few months". A few months passed, then a few more and even a few more and still we have no Duke Nukem 3D (cough, vaporware, cough). But wait, what's this? Two new screenshots sent to Joystiq by a tipster showcasing the Duke gracing the Arcade. With co-op mentioned in an achievement description too? Yummy yum! It's rumor for now, but we have a hunch that the XBLA Duke will steer clear of the vaporware bin. Though, the same cannot be said for the other Duke.
The Xbox Live Arcade just got twogames bigger this morning with the addition of "the most co-op game ever" Schizoid and "the most golfy golf game ever" Golf: Tee It Up! And wouldn't you know that both games are available right this very instant for purchase off the XBLA for a middle-range 800 Microsoft points apiece. How perfect! Also, we don't think we have to remind you that, if you purchase Schizoid and go on the prowl for achievements, you'll inevitably unlock the Sploderific achievement. An achievement whose name was birthed from these sacred X3F blogging grounds. Have fun golfing, have fun being cooperative and (in general) have oodles of fun this XBLA Wednesday.
Seeing that we're 99.89% sure an Xbox 360 Pro price cut isheadedourway this weekend thanks to a flood of leaked retail ads smacking us in the face, one wouldn't be all that surprised to hear that Target is planning on selling the Xbox 360 Pro for $299. But one would be surprised to hear that Target is also throwing in a FREE $25 gift card on top of the deal, and that's exactly what they're doing.
According to an "alleged" ad-scan that was sent our way, beginning this Sunday, Target stores nationwide will be selling Xbox 360 20GB Pro consoles for $299 and tossing in a $25 Target gift card to sweeten the deal. So, if you, a friend or family member are in the market for a 360 and don't care about getting a 60GB HDD, then hit up Target next week. A cheap console and a free gift card sounds like major "good times" to us.
After the Microsoft Gamers Day a while back, Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts was seen by many in the community as too much of a departure from the older formula. The addition of vehicles, parts, and the creation of the former using the latter wasn't exactly traditional to the series' formula. Despite the fact that what we saw and played was fun, we can definitely say that the bits we had time with weren't exactly reminiscent of the N64 days.
Rare looks to have anticipated the outcry and saved much of the more traditional stuff for later reveal. IGN recently got some media out of Rare that seems designed just for that reveal, the first video introduces you to Showdown Town, the game hub, and where most of the more traditional platforming happens. The second video showcases Banjo Land and displays some of the vehicle creation and editing, as well as some of the quirky world exploration. Get watching!
By the way, listen closely around 4:00 into the first video for what could be a possible mention of a long rumored item.
We've gotten quite a few questions about it recently, so we thought it might be best to let everyone know that the second series of McFarlane Halo 3 action figures is now available. As before, there are a couple exclusives in the bunch, but the majority of the figures can be found in major retailers and, of course, at Amazon. We opted for the steel gray ODST Spartan, which is exclusive to GameStop. You can find a listings of all the figures and where to find them at the links below.
Source -- Halo 3 Series 2 multiplayer figures Source -- Halo 3 Series 2 campaign figures
Owned. Literally. The stylized look of the Sin City movie was (and still is) quite iconic. With the second movie yet to be made, Frank Miller tied up shooting The Spirit, and now the purchasing of the studio that does the effects, just how much influence does that style hold for the future?
After its acquisition by Ubisoft, Hybride Technologies will supposedly continue to work with its movie partners, but will also work on bringing some of Ubisoft's IP's to the big screen. While this does seem quite out of character for a video game publisher, and it seems even weirder considering how Tom Clancy happy Ubisoft is, but it does open some interesting doors for that Prince of Persia movie.
We hope you like this edition of Ask X3F, because you ain't getting one next week. We're going to be at E3, you see, and we imagine most of your questions will be answered by our non-stop, super awesome coverage of the event. Anyhway, to the questions! This week, we've got questions (and answers) about XBLA release dates, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith guitar compatibility, and achievement tracking. As an added bonus, depending on your point of view, we don't have one question about Halo 3 toys this week. We know, it feels weird to us too. Read on, knowledge seekers!
Got a question for Ask X3F? Maybe you have a story or some information you'd like to share? Send it all to ask [at] xbox360fanboy [dawt] com.
As you can see, you shouldn't know about this until Sunday. After all the other leaks surrounding the issue, one wouldn't think it'd be such a big screaming deal. Still, the phone cam shot above looks to confirm what we've already known. However, we shouldn't forget that the majority of gamers don't exactly comb the internet for this stuff, and "window signs," "Pop-ons" (whatever those are) and a gigantic stack of boxes with "oversized price labels" will likely be the first many folks hear of the price drop.
Update: After playing a single online game, EA's servers booted us right out of play and wouldn't allow us to reconnect. We'll reschedule a real event soon.
You may have noticed some of our regular features have been MIA in recent weeks. In order to prepare for E3 and make time (and room) for special features, some of our content has been put on a temporary hiatus. Until the madness that is E3 subsides we're putting a hold on Community Content, Would You Rather and Points>Life -- technically, just Xav. You may see random special editions of our content during the event as special bonuses, but we're just giving you the heads up incase you were wondering where your favorite feature is.
As you may be aware, if you listened to the latest X3F Fancast -- Richard, Dustin and Alexander will be bringing the show on the road with special podcasts as E3 progresses. It's another way we're keeping everyone at home up to date while allowing the home crew to recharge the batteries.
One thing we can't put on hold for now is X3F Live and considering the popularity of Battlefield: Bad Company on our friends list we're going to be game hunting later tonight (again, just Xav). So tonight from 9 to 10 PM EST watch out for Gamertag: Snypz and hopefully we can cause some mayhem together. This isn't an organized event, but Xav is looking for some game time before the craziness takes over!
Alright kiddies time for some sleuthing courtesy of the Gears of WarOfficial Forums. The Gears site has a new splash page up (above) and in Marcus' hand are some Dog (Cog?) Tags. Immediately upon discovery, there was the speculation that this meant death and loss would play some larger part in the game's story. But then someone decided to take a closer look at the number sequence visible on the tag: 033-116-117-126-071.
Seemingly random right? Nope. Match those numbers with one of these ASCII tables, and you'll get yourself the following letter string: "ESC N O V 9". We'd love to beleive that this was simply thrown in there to mess with the community, but it seems to be too much of a coincidence to be something wholly meaningless. Is this an early "word" on the release date? We sure hope so.
Mirror's Edge, that game that's all about first-first person action featuring the lovely main character Faith, will be hitting retailers this Fall and if you're willing to complete a pre-order, you can score some free runner bag swag.
GameStop is running (ha! running!) an exclusive pre-order promotion where all Mirror's Edge pre-orders will receive an exact replica of Faith's runner bag as seen in the game. The runner bag (pictured above), is a stylish banana yellow color, with seven different compartments and enough room to store and carry your Xbox 360 console. Just image how cool you'll look running down the streets, shopping at the mall, carrying your books to school or entering a business meeting with this Mirror's Edge bag. Just imagine!
