After the demo news disappeared from the game's official site, many of us were worried that there would be no Ninja Gaiden 2 demo at all. Fortunately the demo does exist, and it should be online shortly. In Japan. Only.
Now we know that the 360 is no big success in the East, so why not just release the demo everywhere at once? No one knows. Posting on NeoGAF, Chris Paladino (Hi Chris!) of Gamerscore blog confirmed that the demo would be hitting in Japan, and that there would be a demo release in the other territories "soon". Whether the demo would have helped sales of the game pre-launch or not is going to be a moot point soon. Microsoft better get it online!
Yesterday Xbox Live was scheduled to go online at 1:00PM EST after an 8-hour hiatus for maintenance. However, like any guarantee, Xbox Live suffered from staggered connection issues well into the evening. According to the Xbox.com support page and Major Nelson, Xbox Live was back to business early this morning. Today, in a rare poll, we wonder what your experience is like. Fire up the Xbox 360 and connect to Live, play a game or two online and let us know what your experience is like now that the dust has settled on the connection problems.
*Sigh* Here we go again, the latest overblown news story to come out of the mass media regarding video games. This time it regards a pair of kids who were playing online (its unknown what game, as all the article says is: "while playing a game on X-Box Live, a video game that allows you to play against people anywhere in the world." Now whether of not "X-Box Live" is a video game in and of itself isn't really the issue here, the fact the the article mentions receiving pictures is. Because that setting can be disabled.
While the education of parents as to the extent of their own ability to filter their children's content is a problem, some of the statements made in the news article are downright silly. Things like: "Jennifer (the mother) now fears the safety of her children" do much more harm than good. So for all readers out there who could find a moment to educate those folks who aren't quite so up speed, it would benefit us all.
Microsoft has a new promotion for those gamers who are just getting into the the Xbox Live scene. Those gamers who have just created a Gamertag can register via a .NET site to receive a download code for the XBLA version of the classic tabletop game Settlers of Catan. The article is formally for recommending friends, but any user who has created a Gamertag since the twenty-fifth of this month can sign up. The offer ends exactly one month from inception, and so you new Live users have until the twenty-fifth of March to get in on the action. A word to the wise though, the site decrees that (even though the whole thing involves not a single sheet of paper) it will take between six and eight weeks for your "gift" to arrive. Jeez Microsoft, speed it up bit would ya?
As seen before, the battle for the most-played game on Xbox Live seems to be slowly showing signs of finality. With COD4 holding the top spot for several weeks in a row now, we could be seeing the long term dethroning of the old master of the top played game of the service. Major Nelson released his list of most played games, as he does each week, and it seems that the collective 360 population has moved on from the older Halo formula, and onto the more gritty, "realistic" gameplay of COD4. Whether or not the release of the new Auto-Update for Halo 3 will lure players back and let the game regain the top-spot will just have to wait until next week.
Please, step back in time with us. Let's say it's February 2007, one year ago. A bedraggled, foul smelling man, wearing a sign that reads "The End is Nigh," approaches you and grabs you violently by the collar. He leans in close, his sour whisky breath burning your nostrils, and whispers, "One year from now, Pac-Man will be nominated for a Game Developers Choice Award!" The breath is so strong that you shut your eyes tight. Upon reopening them, the man is gone. You question your sanity, wondering if he was even real. A Pac-Man game nominated in 2008? Preposterous!
Rest assured, he was real, and he was right. Namco Bandai Games have announced that Pac-Man Championship Edition, released in June 2007, has been nominated for Best Downloadable Game in the eighth annual Game Developers Choice Awards, which are set to take place during the Game Developers Conference later this month. Best Downloadable Game of 2009? Dig Dug. You heard it here first.
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.
GamerscoreBlog put up a fact sheet about Xbox Live to date, announcing they've hit 6,000,000 Xbox Live users four months ahead of schedule. Along with that, they have some spiffy trivia bullet points that might suit your fancy. First, Xbox Live members have unlocked around 300 million Achievements, netting a staggering total of 7.5 billion Gamerscore. Also, 5 billion MS points have been purchased for use over Xbox Live Marketplace. The top three played games worldwide on the 360 are Halo 2, Gears of War, and Hexic HD, and the top downloaded XBLA games Street Fighter II, Bankshot Billiards 2 and Marble Blast Ultra. So there's some cool news you can use. Or at least keep in mind next time you get an Achievement or use Marketplace.
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.
Gamasutra sat down with David Edery, Portfolio Planner for Xbox Live Arcade. The interview focuses on Live Arcade and what makes a good title for XBLA. Edery says that the major factors to consider for a Live Arcade title are ease of playability, Live integration, and innovative gameplay. Considering the recent spate of retro titles, we'll allow you to make what you will of that last sentence. When asked about underrepresented genres on Xbox Live Arcade, Edery notes that he'd like to see more board games, more cooperative games not centered on combat (like this one?), and more experimental titles.
Most importantly, Edery notes that Microsoft does pay attention to user feedback, and knows that the Live Arcade audience wants more original titles. Regarding this, Edery says only, "we've heard the message loud and clear that XBLA customers want more original games, and let me tell you -- those games are coming." Let's hope so.
The interview is a good read for anyone interested in the inner workings of Xbox Live Arcade, and it even contains a few tips for would be developers. Hit the "read" link to check it out.
We just got word that new fansite Xbox Live Connection is holding a Texas Hold 'Em tournament via Xbox Live. Anyone who has the XBLA game Texas Hold 'Em and is at least 18 years old can join in on the fun. Qualifying rounds started last night, but will run until February 18th. All the nightly winners will be invited back to square off on the championship table on February 19th with first place receiving a $40 Best Buy gift card and second place a $10 Best Buy gift card. For complete rules, tournament dates, and to sign up please click the 'read' link below. Good luck card players, the $40 gift card would be a nice down payment on a Xbox 360 game.
Major Nelson brings word that a new 360 patch has been loosed on the world. The patch fixes some 1080p display problemsexperienced with certain TVs, most notably Sony LCDs and some Samsung models. The patch also promises to improve the performance of wired headsets when used with wireless controllers. Finally, the patch makes changes to the recently played list to improve accuracy. We're not really sure what that means. Has anyone downloaded the patch yet? Does it fix all your problems, answer your prayers, and grant you all of your wildest dreams?
German Xbox site, Xbox Archiv, is reporting that Microsoft will soon begin banning fake Xbox Live accounts. By fake, we mean false accounts created to download content outside of your home region. For example, if you live in America, you might create an European account to download UK Marketplace content -- something many people did for the Vegas single player demo. Rising concerns of copyright violation, especially in light of the recently launched Video Marketplace, are no doubt forcing MS to crack down on fake accounts. Supposedly, Microsoft will begin banning all accounts whose IP address doesn't match the region for which the account was created. However, the article, in part due to the wonky translation, doesn't make the extent of the banning clear. Will Microsoft only ban European and Japanese accounts trying to access US material, or will it ban US accounts accessing European and Japanese material as well?
If Microsoft does start banning fake accounts, will it affect you?
Gears of War may be king of the hill for the second week in a row, but it isn't the only game making statistical waves on Live. Small Arms, you know, the game we've talked about incessantly for months, debuted at number four on the overall 360 Live charts -- and number one in Xbox Live Arcade specifically. It's really no surprise that the latest XBLA title would debut at number one in the Arcade list, but making number 4 overall is very impressive. For our part, we probably played Small Arms for 4 hours straight the night it came out (and that was just me). As long as you're not stuck in a room full of Unit 51 electricity gun spammers*, there's a lot of fun to be had. How many of you spent time with Small Arms this weekend?
In an interview with the Mad Tracks team, Xbox Elite Team Belgie's very own YLA G gets some answers on why the game has been delayed since September, how far development has come along, and most importantly when we'll get our grubby hands on this cartoon looking game. And for the multi-lingual Xbox 360 fans there is good news, Mad Tracks is the first Xbox Live Arcade game to offer multiple language options. So, now you can brush up on your Spanish, German, Japanese and Russian all while racing around Mad Tracks style! Who said video games weren't educational?
Yesterday Xbox Live was scheduled to go online at 1:00PM EST after an 8-hour hiatus for maintenance. However, like any guarantee, Xbox Live suffered from staggered connection issues well into the evening. According to the Xbox.com support page and Major Nelson, Xbox Live was back to business early this morning. Today, in a rare poll, we wonder what your experience is like. Fire up the Xbox 360 and connect to Live, play a game or two online and let us know what your experience is like now that the dust has settled on the connection problems.
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 
GamerscoreBlog put up a fact sheet about Xbox Live to date, announcing they've hit 6,000,000 Xbox Live users four months ahead of schedule. Along with that, they have some spiffy trivia bullet points that might suit your fancy. First, Xbox Live members have unlocked around 300 million Achievements, netting a staggering total of 7.5 billion Gamerscore. Also, 5 billion MS points have been purchased for use over Xbox Live Marketplace. The top three played games worldwide on the 360 are Halo 2, Gears of War, and Hexic HD, and the top downloaded XBLA games Street Fighter II, Bankshot Billiards 2 and Marble Blast Ultra. So there's some cool news you can use. Or at least keep in mind next time you get an Achievement or use Marketplace.
Gamasutra sat down with David Edery, Portfolio Planner for Xbox Live Arcade. The interview focuses on Live Arcade and what makes a good title for XBLA. Edery says that the major factors to consider for a Live Arcade title are ease of playability, Live integration, and innovative gameplay. Considering the recent spate of retro titles, we'll allow you to make what you will of that last sentence. When asked about underrepresented genres on Xbox Live Arcade, Edery notes that he'd like to see more board games, more cooperative games not centered on combat (like this one?), and more experimental titles. 
Major Nelson brings word that a new 360 patch has been loosed on the world. The patch fixes some 1080p display problems experienced with certain TVs, most notably Sony LCDs and some Samsung models. The patch also promises to improve the performance of wired headsets when used with wireless controllers. Finally, the patch makes changes to the recently played list to improve accuracy. We're not really sure what that means. Has anyone downloaded the patch yet? Does it fix all your problems, answer your prayers, and grant you all of your wildest dreams?
German Xbox site, Xbox Archiv, is reporting that Microsoft will soon begin banning fake Xbox Live accounts. By fake, we mean false accounts created to download content outside of your home region. For example, if you live in America, you might create an European account to download UK Marketplace content -- something many people did for the Vegas single player demo. Rising concerns of copyright violation, especially in light of the recently launched Video Marketplace, are no doubt forcing MS to crack down on fake accounts. Supposedly, Microsoft will begin banning all accounts whose IP address doesn't match the region for which the account was created. However, the article, in part due to the wonky translation, doesn't make the extent of the banning clear. Will Microsoft only ban European and Japanese accounts trying to access US material, or will it ban US accounts accessing European and Japanese material as well?
