This week's live top ten has a third of the list devoted to digitally distributed demonstration content. Of those demos, Shadowrun came all the way in fourth, with Tenchu Z down in 7th, and the Overlord demo rounding out the list in tenth. Without the Halo 3 Beta there to hog the list, Forza moved up all the way to second, behind Gears of War.Crackdown proved it had some staying power without the help of the aforementioned beta, as it maintained the middle ground at fifth. Also, Prince of Persia managed to make the list at ninth. Speaking of the list, you can find that after the break. Enjoy.
X3F Achievements 101 is back, and on its regularly scheduled time slot of Sundays. Initial response to our first edition was rather positive, so we're glad you like the concept and hope you enjoy reading, and even participating in the column. Emails with Achievement tips also came in at a good pace, and I look forward to playing and trading with you. One particular email stood out, which came from Casey over at brains-N-brawn.com, and the steps he took to get Achievements in one of the most time consuming Arcade games, Bejeweled 2.
This week's Live Top Ten shows a trend that will continue on through to the 10th. The Halo 3 Beta is being played a lot, by way of our actionsCrackdown. Not enough to knock Gears of War of its top spot, but certainly enough to give the retail game second, and the beta in accesses in third. Of course, there is more on the list worth noting other than those three worth mentioning, such as the DiRT demo, or the free XBLA title, Aegis Wing. Full list can be found after the break, or you can just go back to playing the beta. We'll encourage you in your habit.
The Crackdown "Free-For-All Pack" and "Getting Busy Bonus Pack" are both now available on Xbox Live Marketplace. Complete with fresh Achievements, you can have a jolly ole time with the new equipment, game modes, and vehicles. So, honestly, if you've taken a look at our videos on the content, what are you still doing here? Apparently you feel the price is right, right?
In Major Nelson's post this morning about the new Crackdowncontent, he put up some Xbox.com videos about some of the new features. Later on in the day, he hosted them up on his fresh YouTube account, and we have them here for your viewing pleasure. The above video shows the "Keys to the City" mode, giving you full control over the chaos and carnage that you cause in Pacific City. After the break we've got videos showing the new Game Types, Street Racing mode and equipment. Enjoy.
The guys over at TeamXbox received an exclusive preview of the new downloadable content that will be available for Crackdown later this week. And overall we're impressed. Yup, the new Crackdown content dramatically changes up gameplay and will have you putting the game back in your weekly gaming rotation. But let's look at the specifics.
First off, there will be an auto update for the game which will address various game issues from louder orb notification sounds to a new gang reset option. They even made the fire hydrants less evil. Second up is a free piece of DLC called the Free-For-All Pack which will add exciting features like a new Keys to the City mode and an Impounding Vehicles option. Again, all for free. Thirdly is the Getting Busy Bonus Pack which will cost an unknown amount of Microsoft Points and will include new vehicles, weapons, and various other game modes. Stay with us now.
Finally, Realtime Worlds is adding a total of seven new achievements that spread across the free and paid content. Two achievements (totaling 140 Gamerscore) are attainable with the Free-For-All Pack while five other achievements (totaling 210 Gamerscore) are in the Getting Busy Bonus Pack. Also interesting to note is that the premium Getting Busy Bonus Pack can be played in co-op with a friend who doesn't have the content and, as such, a few achievements exclusive to the pack can be obtained by both players. Full writeup and videos after the jump.
Update 1: Xbox.com states that the Getting Busy Bonus Pack will cost 800 Microsoft points.
One of the developers at Real Time Worlds released a screenshot of some downloadable content for Crackdown. The image showcases four buggies being driven down a dirt track. The models on the vehicle look nice, though the red color scheme would suggest that they are unfortunately not Agency vehicles, and won't morph based on your character's Driving skill level. Still, it looks like taking one for a spin would be a lot of fun.
The fact there is four on screen could be interpreted as adding 2 more players to co-op. Or perhaps it will be a separate mode, like Time Trials, and you'll select courses with the ability to have 4 players. We'll have to wait and see, but our interest is piqued, what about you?
Crackdown's hidden and agility orbs are an addictive little treasure hunt for gamers. We posted up a guide for finding the hidden orbs, and now we're bringing you a top down map showing off all the agility orbs, courtesy of Achieve360Points. Sure, while the dots on the map don't exactly tell you what height the orb is at, the top left corner has some vital info for orb hunters. It tells you how many orbs are on each gang's territory. 212 for Los Muertos , 155 for the Volk, 128 for Shai-Gen, and the remaining 5 can be found at The Keep.
Combine that information with IGN's guide, which only has 498 Orbs pictured, or completely photographed lists for both types, but plagued with duplicate pictures, and you have a shot at finding the last ones you're missing. So, how many orbs, agility or hidden, do you have yet to obtain?
Last week had the return of Arcade titles to the Live top ten, and this week continues to do so. As is the trend of the moment, we have Gears of War, Crackdown, and Rainbow Six Vegas taking the top three spots. Worms moves to fourth, three spots above its introduction to the list, followed by GRAW 2, which had its demo in sixth last week. Now, Call of Duty 3 moves has that slot, with newcomer TMNT for XBLA starting in 7th, like Worms did before. Oblivion and Madden 07 swap spots, and Lost Planet continues to round out the list. For the complete breakdown, check out our list after the break, which includes last weeks results for comparison.
Before, we showed you how to get your SUV on top of the the Agency Tower. Xbox 360 Fanboy reader whopper submitted a pretty cool video of him an a buddy in Crackdown Co-op going underneath the Agency Tower. The video shows you how to pull it off yourself, as well as does some exploring The Keep once out of the map. Just as a reminder, if you find any cool bugs or glitches in Crackdown, let us know and if it's wicked enough we'll be sure to get the word out.
Last week, Crackdown came on strong with bronze position on the Live top ten. Now it's swapped spots with Rainbow Six: Vegas as Call of Duty 3 continues to be just shy of the podium. GRAW 2's mulitplayer demo makes a return to take the Crackdown demo's position, which moved to 7th. Madden refuses to budge at sixth while Lost Planet and Oblivion get nudged to eighth and ninth, respectively. GRAW rounds out the bottom of the list while last, and obviously not least, Gears of War retains its top spot over all of Xbox Live-dom. Do you feel slightly confused? If so, our simple, yet eloquent list awaits your review after the break, complete with last weeks standings in parentheses.
Last week, we had 4 demos on the Xbox Live Activity top ten. This week, we only have one on the list. Gears of War and Rainbow Six: Vegas continue to hold their respective top two spots. Crackdown comes in strong taking third place, pushing Call of Duty 3 down a notch. The Crackdown demo holds its middle of the pack position, even after its retail counterpart has been released. Madden and Lost Planet continue to follow behind, while Oblivion moves up a spot. Pro Evolution Soccer 6 comes in ninth and Saints Row makes a return to the list at tenth. We've got a list ready for you after the break with the title's standings last week in brackets for those statistic hungry types.
Co-op Achievement woes got you down? Well, perhaps a couple of Ctrl Alt Del's Crackdown comics might be able to tickle your funny bone. The first of which look at the life of a citizen of Pacific City and how they cope with the Agency and its employees. The second more or less shows the uglier side to an obsession with agility orbs. Rather than go into any further detail and ruin the punchline, both are available for your viewing pleasure after the break. Clicking the images enlarges them to full resolution, and we'd recommend you take a good look at the fine print in the latter of the two.
CVG interviewed Stephen Iannetta, the senior designer at Real Time Worlds, and Iannetta had some interesting thoughts on the future of the Crackdown franchise. This is intriguing, as the game has only been available in North America for two days, aside from breaches in the street date. He's very open to the idea of a sequel, and would want to keep the game as non-linear as possible. The thing he feels makes the game as entertaining as it is is Pacific City and how the player is able to interact with it as their environment. As such, he wants to build upon it and have future iterations come with a "more believable, functioning city". CVG will evidently have the full interview available later today, and we'll report on any other interesting tidbits found therein. Still, what would you like to see added upon in Crackdown's future?