In rumor news that could probably be filed under the sub-category "too good to be true", word on the street is that Microsoft is planning a huge New Xbox Experience blowout later this month. A five hour long G4TV "console re-launching" event that's said to be full of new Xbox 360 game announcements.
According to forum poster Dodece over on VG Chartz.com, Microsoft will hold their five hour long New Xbox Experience re-launching event on September 25th beginning at 7:00PM eastern and unleash an all out media blitz. Rumored to be announced during the event is news regarding free Halo 3 DLC, new Mass Effect DLC, the first of two chunks of GTAIV DLC and info regarding Portal. Also, during the event, six Xbox Originals will be released for free. There is also mention that MS will announce a Sirius Satellite Radio partnership, a new music download service and something called "Mad Lib" of which isn't explained. As if that wasn't enough, Microsoft will be announcing twelve new game titles exclusive to the 360, all of which are codenamed, but the rumor source confirms Assassins Creed 2, Mass Effect 2, a new Conker title, a new Rare shooter and two new Halo games are in the mix. Phew!
Sound too good to be true? Yeah, sounds that way to us as well. Then again, if Microsoft wanted to march into the holidays with their guns a blazing, holding a five hour long 360 media frenzy would generate a bunch of buzz. Try not to get your hopes up though.
This week at Circuit City, you can grab a few gift cards with your new video game purchases. Purchase either Unreal Tournament III or Beijing Olympics 2008 and get a free $10 gift card. If you're looking for new Xbox 360 Arcade hardware and are willing to purchase LEGO Indiana Jones as well, you'll be treated to a free $20 gift card. Their other deals include a free art poster with Civilization: Revolution and Assassin's Creed for the super low price of $30. Outside of Circuit City the deals are slim, but Best Buy is giving away a free eighteen month calendar with a SoulCalibur IV pre-order and Toys R Us is giving away a free $10 gift card with the purchase of a Guitar Hero: Aerosmith bundle or just the game (in store only). Now go fanboys, go and get your shop on.
Posted Jun 25th 2008 1:00PM by Dustin Burg
Filed under: News
Filed under both the "frowny face" and "umm, duh?" news categories is confirmation from Ubisoft that there will be no Assassin's Creed sequel releasing in 2008. Laurent Detoc, the uber rich president of Ubisoft North America, told Forbes that " there's no new 'Assassin's Creed' this year, despite its sales success," but that "when we bring it back, there will be more anticipation for it." And even though you're semi-sad about the news, it isn't like you expected to be assassinating in 2008 anyway ... right? Don't kid yourself kiddo.
Eachweek, X3F tips gamers to the tricks of the trade of Achievement hording in Points>Life. Every week a new achievement is unlocked to help you continue your unhealthy obsession with the Xbox 360 meta-game.
Throughout the ages in the world of game design, the idea of collecting random items was developed to artificially extend the life of a game. Why only include a five-hour campaign when you can stuff that length with two hours worth of collecting junk, right? Until the advent of the Xbox 360 such collect-a-thons had no business in our games, but for those of us addicted to Achievement Points it has become a necessary evil in our war to 1000 points.
This week in Points>Life we're taking a look at some recent offenders on the Xbox 360 and attempt to show you where all those knickknacks, trinkets and gems are hidden. Sit back, it's going to be a bumpy and boring ride to Collect-a-Thon city!
It's becoming increasingly clear with every video that Mega64 releases that the group has some sort of death wish or, at the very least, a strong desire to be arrested. The latest video takes the exploits of Assassin's Creed and inserts them into the real world. What results is both hilarious and somewhat frightening. Watch the video and try to ignore the feeling that something bad is going to happen. We can assure you that once again -- somehow -- Mega64 has evaded the Grim Reaper's ever searching grasp.
This week we're all business, because we have an overly long list of retail deals to ramble off. So, we'll forgo the fluffy intro and just get to it.
Starting with Best Buy, all this week they're giving away a copy of Call of Duty 3 with the purchase of Enemy Territory: Quake Wars and a free $10 gift card with purchase of The Incredible Hulk. Best Buy also discounted a few accessories, offering the Messenger Kit for $20, Wireless Headset for $50 and Vision Camera for $30. Heading over to Circuit City, you can snag a free $10 gift card with the purchase of either NASCAR 09 or Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit, get the Rock Band bundle for $155 and BioShock or Mass Effect for $32. They're also offering Burnout Paradise for $40, Frontlines: FoW or MX vs. ATV for $48, Need for Speed Carbon for $24 and our favorite CC deal of the week, 1600 Microsoft points for $15. Next up is Target, where they're giving away a FREE copy of Mass Effect with the purchase two of the listed Xbox 360 titles including Ninja Gaiden II ($60), RSV2 ($40), Scene It? ($50), Gears of War ($40), NASCAR 09 ($60) or Assassin's Creed ($40). And finally, because we love our Canadian readers so much, we hopped on over to Best Buy Canada and discovered they're offering two free games with any Xbox 360 console purchase (selection based on one of four game bundles) and a 12 Month Xbox Live subscription card for $50. Now run along and have a spectacular time shopping.
Posted Apr 25th 2008 12:30PM by Dustin Burg
Filed under: News
As if we didn't already expect another sequel to sneak from the shadows, Ubisoft head man Yves Guillemot mentioned via a Ubisoft conference call that they expect the Assassin's Creed brand to be around for "years to come". Which, if we're reading into this correctly and using our knowledge of the game's storyline, it means that a sequel or three should be headed our way rather soonish. Heck, we may even see an Assassin's sequel that plays more like more like Metal Gear ... then again, we pray it doesn't. Here's to a decade long life for the Assassin's Creed franchise!
Hot off the heels of all the important news that is in no way influenced by the fact it's April Fools' Day is the announcement of Altair's latest adventure. Ubisoft producer Jade Raymond introduces a new type of assassin in this video which is verified to be AFS (April Fools' Safe).
In all seriousness, Ubisoft and Konami have teamed up for the ultimate gaming mash-up putting Altair, of Assassin's Creed, in the shoes of Solid Snake's (Metal Gear Solid 4) shoes as he battled through a futuristic battlefield.
Update: Success! We we able to slash our way through Best Buy Canada's security to discover that you can get DMC4 and Turok bundled together for $89. High price assassin FTW!
Today is Sunday, which means we get to look through the all the Sunday deals to spot some of the best gaming deals. We like to think of ourselves as high price assassins whose goal is to rid the world of corporate foolery and deny high priced gaming goods from making it to store shelves. That's just how we roll.
Speaking of being an assassin, we discovered that Best Buy has Assassin's Creed and Kane & Lynch: Dead Men for $39 and also priced the original Rainbow Six Vegas at $29. Also, being stealth like a kitten, we noticed that Toys R Us has placed a $49 price tag on Guitar Hero III (game only) and we spotted Circuit City giving away free "DENIED" boxers (the kind you wear) with the purchase of Conflict: Denied Ops. We tried to sneak into Canada's Best Buy stores for some high price murdering, but security prevented our entry and thus, no savings justice could be made.
Post-holidays can be a real downer for video game deal finders. It's almost as if major retailers don't even try to lure us into their stores with flashy deals or "wow!" offers after the holidays pass. So, this week, we've got a few deals to share with you, but nothing that'll make you scream with joy. Sorry.
This week Target is only offering one video game related deal and it's our good friend Assassin's Creed for a pretty fine $38. Heading over to Best Buy, you'll find Tony Hawk's Proving Ground for $39 and Spider-Man: Friend or Foe for $29. Our final stop on our whirlwind tour of Sunday deal searching is Circuit City. And they don't have anything other than possibly MX vs ATV Untamed for $49. Though, that deal is a yawn fest. But we didn't give up on old Circuit City as we had a hunch that they were hiding something. We were right.
Circuit City is holding a 3-Day Mega Sale, which are online only deals good through Tuesday that are much better than their Sunday ad. Deals like Soldier of Fortune for $39, Stuntman: Ignition for $29, Beowolf for $19, the HD DVD player for $159 and (our favorite deal) the Chatpad included Messenger Kit for $19. Sneaky Circuit City, always keeping their cards held close. Happy shopping!
Need a super-duper last minute gift for a family member, friend or yourself? If so, swing by your local Best Buy store and for $38 you can grab a copy of Assassin's Creed or Call of Duty 4. And we think we can all agree that $38 for one of these two superb games is a pretty fine deal. Also, if by chance Best Buy slaps a "sold out" sign on either of these titles, don't get worked up into a tizzy. We're sure Circuit City or any other kind-hearted retailer would be willing to do a price match. Hurry, this deal and your holiday shopping time is going fast ... HURRY!
[Thanks, Goda7h3r]
Read - Assassin's Creed for the cheap
Read - Call of Duty 4 for the cheap
Considering all the industry shakeups this year, it's refreshing to see a company potentially fend off acquisition by a bigger fish. Enter the often mentioned plot of Electronic Arts gobbling up Ubisoft. Apparently, that task has been made much more difficult, and it's all thanks to Assassin's Creed. You may recall that Ubisoft recently announced that the game managed to sell 2.5 million copies worldwide. It seems that this sales push has upped Ubisoft's market value to 4.3 billion dollars. The upshot of all this is that Ubisoft may now be too expensive for EA. With two ton gorillas seemingly forming all around them, EA is sure to be feeling the pressure of no longer being on top. The industry is watching with bated breath to see what happens next.
Read - Ubisoft's assassin and the creed of creative defence (registration required)
Ubisoft has announced that Assassin's Creed has sold over 2.5 million copies worldwide on Xbox 360 and PS3. The game vastly outperformed the company's expectations, and Ubisoft further announced that the game is "the fastest-selling new video game intellectual property ever in the U.S." Not too shabby. On the heels of the good news, Ubisoft has raised its sales outlook to €840 million ($1.2 billion). Furthermore, the company expects to sell at least 5 million more units in 2007-08 (up 2 million from earlier estimates). It was also revealed that three Ubisoft titles, Tom Clancy's EndWar, Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway, and Far Cry 2 have been delayed until Ubisoft's fiscal year 2008, which begins in April (the games were previously scheduled to release in early 2008). Finally, the Ubisoft will unveil more details on its incoming lineup of games and will disclose sales figures for the third quarter 2007-08 on January 23, 2008.
It's become something of a tradition at this point. If it's Wednesday, it's time for another Zero Punctuation review from The Escapist. Chances are, if it's a 360 review, we're going to feature it here. Why? Because they're damned funny and we need the relief. This week, Yahtzee takes a look at Assassin's Creed as the result of several viewers emailing him about how awful it is. Looks like their plan backfired though, because it turns out Yahtzee actually likes it. It's not perfect -- far from it, as Yahtzee puts it squarely in the bronze medal category -- but in the end even the crabbiest game reviewer on the planet tells reviewers to "give it a chance." Yeah, we're shocked, too. The review is definitely not safe for work, so we've embedded it after the break. Enjoy.
Assassin's Creed. Action. Adventure. Violence. Comedy? Yes, comedy. Of all the things we expected from Assassin's Creed, physical shtick was the last thing on our list. And yet, it looks like Altair is perfectly adept at the nuances of physical comedy. While some may theorize that the above video is merely the result of a programming oversight on Ubisoft's part, we believe it is in fact intentionally hilarious. Like Joystiq, we must point out the pinpoint comic timing. It's simply too spot on to be an accident, right?
This week at Circuit City, you can grab a few gift cards with your new video game purchases. Purchase either Unreal Tournament III or Beijing Olympics 2008 and get a free $10 gift card. If you're looking for new Xbox 360 Arcade hardware and are willing to purchase LEGO Indiana Jones as well, you'll be treated to a free $20 gift card. Their other deals include a free art poster with Civilization: Revolution and Assassin's Creed for the super low price of $30. Outside of Circuit City the deals are slim, but Best Buy is giving away a free eighteen month calendar with a SoulCalibur IV pre-order and Toys R Us is giving away a free $10 gift card with the purchase of a Guitar Hero: Aerosmith bundle or just the game (in store only). Now go fanboys, go and get your shop on.
As if we didn't already expect another sequel to sneak from the shadows, Ubisoft head man Yves Guillemot mentioned via a Ubisoft conference call that they expect the 
Post-holidays can be a real downer for video game deal finders. It's almost as if major retailers don't even try to lure us into their stores with flashy deals or "wow!" offers after the holidays pass. So, this week, we've got a few deals to share with you, but nothing that'll make you scream with joy. Sorry.
Need a super-duper last minute gift for a family member, friend or yourself? If so, swing by your local Best Buy store and for $38 you can grab a copy of Assassin's Creed or Call of Duty 4. And we think we can all agree that $38 for one of these two superb games is a pretty fine deal. Also, if by chance Best Buy slaps a "sold out" sign on either of these titles, don't get worked up into a tizzy. We're sure Circuit City or any other kind-hearted retailer would be willing to do a price match. Hurry, this deal and your holiday shopping time is going fast ... HURRY!
