In a crushing blow to people who believe everything they see on the internet, German-language blog Xbox-Archiv.de reports (crappy English web translation here) that Microsoft Senior Product Manager Boris Schneider-Johne confirmed the 100GB 360 hard drive supposedly pictured at X06 Korea is a photo-shopped fake. According to Boris, there was no such product announcement. Additionally, Larry "Major Nelson" Hyrb told our own Richard Mitchell that the 100GB tale "looks like fiction" to him. This should clear up the confusion resulting from conflicting reports on the veracity of this story.
Posted Oct 19th 2006 8:30PM by Ken Weeks
Filed under: News
Tony and Ryan from VGMDaily have a pretty solid podcast covering the happenings at X06 Cananda, including an illuminating interview with Marc "Misinterpreted" Rein of Epic fame. Here's the synopsis:
0:00 – Intro
0:30 – Outside the Brant House for X'06
1:39 – Steve says some kind words about Ryan.
2:05 – Shadowrun, via Tony
2:54 – John Howard tells us about the story of Shadowrun
7:19 – Tiger Woods 07!
7:55 – DOAX 2? Tony gets a woody
8:28 – We chat with Major Nelson about X'06, the PS3, Blu-Ray, and other fun things
15:33 – Break
16:52 – Roozbeh Ashtyani talks to us about The Darkness
23:32 – Break
24:32 – Mark Rein of Epic talks to us about Gears of War, the demo, the PS3, the Wii, and how people misinterpret him all the time!
31:58 – Xavier Manzamares talks to us about Rainbow Six: Vegas
34:15 – Outro
If you were unable to catch the live webcast of Microsoft's X06 briefing, it's now available on Xbox.com (links directly to video). We've given you somesnippets of it already, but now you can get the whole enchilada (mmm ... enchiladas). The briefing was filled with lots of glitz, glamour, and video, things that were lacking in a certain other keynote at TGS earlier this month. Viva Piñata, Gears of War, Blue Dragon, you name it. If it's a big game, it's there. Check it out, if you're so inclined.
Update: It looks like the link wouldn't play nice with our interface. Should be fixed now. Click here.
Taken directly from the X06 press briefing yesterday, here's a video of Ubisoft's Jade Raymond demonstrating Assassin's Creed gameplay. That's right. For really reals y'all. It's actual gameplay of Assassin's Creed. No CGI filler here, just the real deal. Unfortunately, this video ends before the mysterious death screen, which has something of an anachronistic feel to it compared to the overall game. We're not sure if the demonstrator was supposed to die or not, but the demo snapped off very quickly when she did. Check out the video after the break.
We snagged this X06 video of Gears of War gameplay for your enjoyment. Filled with lots of gunfire, blood, and apparently ineffective grenades, it's sure to delight both young and old. Emergence Day is getting closer and closer, folks. See the video after the break. (Fanboy Trivia:CliffyB is behind the controls of this demo.)
Okay, so you missed the X06 briefing and the Halo Wars trailer. Your 360 crapped out on you and you couldn't download it from Marketplace. To top it all off, your slavish devotion to X360F prevents you from looking it up on one of the internets. It's okay, friend, we understand your pain. You need merely click "continue" to see the video embedded after the break. And by the way, that headline is not a joke. It gave us goosebumps (well, maybe not Ken, but he is made of sterner stuff than I). So, who wants this game? Raise your hand.
The Bringing It Home content train just keeps a' rollin'. Today we are blessed with another demo, Smackdown Vs. Raw 2007. The full list goes a little something like this:
Tony Hawk's Project 8 trailer
Wheelman trailer Frontlines Fuel of War trailer
X06 Game Montage video Crossfire trailer WWE Smackdown Vs. Raw 2007 Fable 2 theme (150 points)
X06 theme (free)
Also new today, Europe can finally download all Oblivion content packs (insert obligatory horse armor joke here). Oh, and we missed it last night, but there is now a Halo Wars theme (150 points) and picture pack (80 points) available.
Following today's press briefing, there is now a boatload of new trailers on Marketplace. They are, in no particular order: Assassin's Creed
Blue Dragon
Lost Odyssey
Halo Wars
Viva Piñata
Call of Duty 3
Marvel Universe
Banjo-Kazooie
PGR4
Splinter Cell: Double Agent
Bioshock
FIFA 07
All this and a bag of DOOM. We have to wonder, though: what the hell will we get next? They've got two more days to fill after all. Any predictions?
The most awkward moment of today's X06 press briefing may also have been the most profound. We are of course talking about the moment that Peter Jackson took the stage to massive applause. While PJ -- we call him PJ -- looked a little nervous talking in front of so many people, what he announced could turn out to be one of the biggest announcements for the video game industry this year.
X06, you may know, is an invite only convention. Lucky for you, Microsoft has decided to invite everyone to the press briefing later today. If you'd like to watch a live webcast of the event, all you have to do is point your browser to the British Xbox site here. Set to go off at 6:00PM BST (that's 1:00PM Eastern), the entire event will be offered over the web. You can even test your connection by clicking here. It should be noted that the test video doesn't seem to view properly in Firefox (it's all squished-like), though this may have more to do with WMP 11 than Firefox.
Hit the read link and keep your F5 keys handy, the event is only minutes away. For those of you unable to watch, we'll do our best to live blog the webcast.
Update: The stream seems to be down right now. Lucky for you, Joystiq is blogging it live.
Another day, another demo in the latest batch of X06 content. Today we get a brand spanking new demo of Sonic the Hedgehog. Is it possible we could see a new demo every day? The possibility is titillating. As for the rest, well, there isn't much. Just this:
Kane & Lynch: Dead Men trailer
It should also be noted that the Alan Wake theme and picture pack are also available now, though they weren't mentioned in yesterday's official list. The picture pack is 80 MS Points and the theme will cost you 150. Curious by their absence are the promised HD trailers of Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon. We can only hope they'll hit sometime today as scheduled. We'll keep you posted. In the meantime, we're downloading the Sonic demo and working on the sh*t-ton of X06 info that is starting to hit. Stay tuned.
LEGO Star Wars II, put simply, is a lot of fun. I downloaded the demo this morning and found myself playing it until lunch. If you've got room for a simple, lighthearted game, it's definitely worth checking out. Read on for a breakdown of the demo and my impressions.
Perhaps you noticed that there was absolutely no Resident Evil 5 information revealed at TGS -- not even a peep. This has led some to speculate that somebody -- Microsoft -- has secured the exclusive rights to the game. What's more, the head honcho of 360 Japan, Takashi Sensui, gave a tantalizing reply when questioned directly about the issue:
"All I can say is we are very good friends with Mr. Inafune."
As any good Fanboy already knows, Mr. (Keiji) Inafune is the producer behind Resident Evil 5 as well as the runaway smash hit, Dead Rising. Wait a minute, Scooby. Didn't we run a story last month about Capcom ending PS3 exclusives as a result of Dead Rising's high sales numbers? And Lost Planet looks like it could be pretty big, too. Hmmm, this RE5 exclusivity business just might have some legs after all. If only there were some huge convention where Capcom and Microsoft could reveal such a bombshell, somewhere in Europe. Spain perhaps.
[Thanks, The1]
Update: It looks like Capcom has officially shot this rumor down. Speaking with CVG, a spokesperson said, "Resident Evil 5 will release on PS3 and Xbox 360 as announced. There a no plans for an exclusive with the game." Oh, well. At least we know it won't be exclusive for that other console either. Thanks to Abraham for the tip.
Yeah, we know. It's not exactly a news flash that developers will be revealing new info about their games at X06, but we're particularly interested in Alan Wake, Remedy's take on Stephen King style horror. In a recent forum post at the Alan Wake website, Remedy staff member, SamivRMD, posted the following:
"For once in a lifetime there might be some new info popping up any moment now... :) ... Oh wait, it's not next week yet."
Definite confirmation from an employee in the know, or hopeful speculation from an employee without a clue? Either way, at least we're guaranteed to get a theme.
Well folks, TGS is over, finished, kaput. As such, it seem only fitting that today's content is more oriented towards western audiences -- note also that there is no Japan exclusive content today. Here's the sweet sweet candy:
Battlestations Midway trailer Eragon trailer Import Tuner Challenge trailer Need for Speed Carbon trailer The Darkness trailer Mass Effect Picture Pack (free!) Battlestar Galactica (United States)
TGS Showfloor video 3 video F.E.A.R. demo
We discussed the F.E.A.R. demo earlier: if you played the OXM demo, there's nothing new. With all this content, it may be time to start clearing out some of that old E3 stuff. Meanwhile, X06 inches ever closer. So, everybody make some room, download each and every one of these trailers, watch them, and then come back here and discuss them. Discuss them, I say!
Tony and Ryan from VGMDaily have a pretty solid podcast covering the happenings at X06 Cananda, including an illuminating interview with Marc "Misinterpreted" Rein of Epic fame. Here's the synopsis:
