Major Nelson brings word that Best Buy has Rainbow Six: Vegas on sale for $39.99. We checked it out and found out that Splinter Cell: Double Agent is available for $39.99 as well. If you've been waiting to pick up either one of these games, you could do a lot worse than a $20 discount. While you're at it, you may want to pick up a copy of Project 8 or Madden 07, which are on sale for the slightly less attractive price of $49.99. As an added bonus, you can get an additional $10 off of any of these titles if you pre-order Lost Planet. Vegas for $29? Not bad. Anyone else find any good deals today?
For those of you who missed Splinter Cell: Double Agent -- or simply haven't had the time -- a single player demo is now available* on Xbox Live Marketplace (it looks like a College Hoops 2K7 demo is up as well).. I am loth to admit that I am one of those who have not played Double Agent at all. I think I had Enchanted Arms on my rental queue at the time (oh, if I had only known!). Still, if you haven't had a chance to play, or if you're just the kind of person who needs a demo to make purchasing decisions, now is your chance. The demo clocks in at about half a gig, so find something else to play while you're downloading. Here's a suggestion: just watch the Halo 3 ad over and over again until the download completes.
*As usual, we are informed that this content will be available for Silver members in about a week.
According to the official Splinter Cell: Double Agent website, a patch for the game was released yesterday, but we're receiving reports that it is not yet available. The patch was set to fix multiple issues with the game, including lag issues, connection issues, and a few miscellaneous issues. We aren't familiar with these issues (I still haven't played the game) but we can only assume the fixes would be welcome. In fact, reading through the fix list makes it look like there are quite a few problems with the lobby system.
Has anyone spotted the update yet, or is it still MIA?
Concerned reader and avid Splinter Cell fan, Carlos Birdsong, shares some interesting info about Double Agent.
"I was playing SCDA with some friends as a Merc and I saw a spy run under a truck that had a Comcast ad on it. I was out of grenades and told one of my teammates to toss a grenade under the comcast truck, only he didn't see it. Why? He saw what was by default a Hong Kong truck instead of the Comcast truck.
While I think in game ads are cool when in context, I saw some Comcast signage as well, but this dynamic ad rendering can affect gameplay--subtle but interesting side effect."
Dynamic ad placement in games is starting to become commonplace, and situations like this could be an unfortunate byproduct. Have any of you experienced similar problems? Do you think dynamic ads should be removed from multiplayer games where positioning is important, or at least made so every player sees the same thing?
After doing the post about the Assassin's Creedcollector's edition, we couldn't help but notice this little tidbit. It looks like Play-Asia is offering the region free version of Splinter Cell: Double Agent for a measly $44.90. Add $3.10 shipping and you've got your own copy for $48. That's $12 dollars of the retail price. Not bad at all. We've done a story or two on region free Xbox 360 games in the past. For the uninitiated, 360 games released in Asia are often region free. Not only that, but they are usually completely identical to their English counterparts, right down to the manual.
We haven't confirmed whether or not this is the case with Splinter Cell, but it's a fairly safe bet. Did anybody here get their copy from Play-Asia? For future reference, Play-Asia maintains a list of its region free 360 games. You might want to bookmark it if you enjoy saving money.
It's time once again for that all important question, what are you playing? This week marks the release of Splinter Cell: Double Agent so, we imagine quite a few of you will be spending your weekend snapping necks and being all sneaky-like. Me, I've still got to wrap up Dead Rising,Lego Star Wars II is staring me in the face, and I have yet to crack into Enchanted Arms. And let's not forget that the Phantasy Star beta is still running. Oh, and that the Project 8 demo should hit today -- still not out as of this posting. On the Live Arcade front, there's Lumines and 3 more episodes of DOOM to clear up (on Ultra Violent difficulty, of course).
Put simply, there's just too damned much to play. How 'bout you? What will you be playing this weekend?
Reviews for Splinter Cell: Double Agent are pouring in. The consensus, more of the same, but that's not a bad thing. Most reviews point to the subtle refinements of the series. So far, the streamlined multiplayer seems to be the most controversial aspect of the game. Most critics tend to think it's a step in the right direction, but all of them know that the hardcore SC fans won't like the changes.
IGN 90% - "Double Agent digs down into the very role of duality by giving gamers hard choices to make. Whether that means confronting the option of nuking innocents on a cruise ship or betraying Fisher's associates with a gunshot to the head, it's now possible."
1UP 80% - "... the co-op missions are just gussied-up versus matches, and because the versus game doesn't have any variations in objectives (spies simply hack at computer terminals to retrieve files to return to the starting base) or modes, multiplayer may start to wear out more quickly than in previous editions.
Gamespot 85% - "Sam Fisher is the star of the Splinter Cell series, so it's odd that the multiplayer portions of these games, which he's in no way a part of, seem to be evolving much more rapidly than the solo campaigns. Double Agent's few keen twists on Splinter Cell's single-player gameplay don't result in a remarkably different experience from the previous games, though that doesn't mean it still isn't some of the best stealth action out there."
As of right now, the game has an average of 87% on Metacritic. Not bad. Has anyone picked it up yet?
Has the 1080p console era arrived sooner than expected, courtesy of Ubisoft? The above pic is screen cap from a debug copy of Splinter Cell: Double Agent for the Xbox 360 showing support for "true HD" (to use Sony's patronizing marketing terminology). GamePro says they received confirmation from Ubisoft that the retail version will indeed support 1080p. Elsewhere, 1up says their contact told them "No, it's 1080i" but admits things are pretty hectic at Ubi right now, so who knows? All acknowledge that 1080p support is useless without the necessary update Microsoft, expected some time in the near future (although GamePro theorizes that it could be included on the Double Agent disc). Even then, without an HDMI solution from MS, the much-hyped resolution would be possible only via the rare 1080p HDTV (Sharp?) that supports 1920x1080 via VGA input.
Meanwhile, back in standard-def-trying-in-vain-to-read-that -Dead-Rising-text land, the po' folk are snickering because their snooty 720p neighbors now have to go out and buy a new TV if they want to remain on the bleeding edge of the 360 community.
How many lucky bastards already have a 1080p HDTV and are just dying to put it to use? How many don't think they'll get a 1080p set for years?
Correction: As several readers have pointed out, only 1080p movies using the HD-DVD drive require HDMI. Games will work over both HDMI or VGA.
Michael Ironside, perennial badass, talks about his work as the voice of Sam Fisher in these two short videos. He also chimes in on his opinion of gamers in general. His impression: some of the most informed people around. Aw, shucks Michael, you're making us blush. Double Agent is getting closer every day. Anybody excited yet? Check out both videos after the break.
Posted Jul 30th 2006 3:00AM by Ken Weeks
Filed under: News
Need some extra time to glue mag-lites on your Sam Fisher Halloween costume? Ubisoft has pushed back Splinter Cell: Double Agent until October 20. Delays always suck, but in this case we'll assume it's for the best. Presumably, the extra spit and polish is going towards the the game's multiplayer, which is already looking pretty tight according to this hands-on.
The official site for Splinter Cell: Double Agent is open for business (age validation required). The site is loaded with Splintery goodness like character bios, story info, features, multiplayer info, icons, wallpapers, screens, videos, and lots of flashy, um, Flash. I think you could safely call it a plethora of goodies. The game already impressed us at E3, and I'm sure Ken and I -- like wolves -- will scrabble at every bit until it's released. Like wolves, I say.
By the way, is it just me, or is Lambert starting to look a lot like Morgan Freeman?
Reviews for Splinter Cell: Double Agent are pouring in. The consensus, more of the same, but that's not a bad thing. Most reviews point to the subtle refinements of the series. So far, the streamlined multiplayer seems to be the most controversial aspect of the game. Most critics tend to think it's a step in the right direction, but all of them know that the hardcore SC fans won't like the changes.
