The Full Circle: 360 News Report 11.13.09
Posted by Dan Owen on 11.13.2009
Modern Warfare 2 breaks all kinds of records, as does Xbox Live. Plus, will Halo: Reach mark the return of Master Chief? And when is Microsoft's Project Natal going to be released? It might be sooner than you think! All of this and then some in the latest edition of The Full Circle!
Welcome back to 411mania.com's #1 Friday Microsoft news column, The Full Circle. This week you'll be treated to the We-Believe-In-Second-Chances edition of TFC. Those of you that have remained loyal followers of this column might remember when I scolded Epic Games for coming out with a Gears of War snuggie. This resulted in a note from Epic saying that the snuggie was just a joke and was not going to be sold. My scorn had to be taken back for the time being but now it's back and this time I'm not going to have to take it back. There is apparently a new Street Fighter IV snuggie that IS being sold in stores. God have mercy on us all, because this might just be a sign of the apocalypse.
Headlines
Details Of A Natal Launch Date Leak From Microsoft's UK Tour
Microsoft recently conducted a tour of the UK in an attempt to drum up developer support for their new peripheral, Natal. Some very exciting info leaked from the tour, as insiders are saying that Microsoft is planning to release Natal worldwide in November of 2010. It sounds like the peripheral will sell for between $45 and $75. Microsoft's plan is to have 14 games ready for release to coincide with Natal, with most of the games will likely be developed by Microsoft's in house developers.
This is essentially a way for Microsoft to release a new console without actually releasing a new console (by this I mean that they are creating a new gaming experience without forcing people to pay several hundred more dollars). It's a smart move by the company given that the state of the economy right now would likely put the damper on any new console launch, plus the 360 has only been out for 5 years and still has some good life left in it. I haven't been the biggest supporter of Natal, though I am beginning to come around to the idea of it. I'm worried that it will suffer from "Wii Syndrome" where third party developers just aren't able to produce quality games with any sort of consistency. It does bear mention, however, that this is exactly the way something like Natal should be released. Microsoft isn't abandoning the 360 and controller-gaming, which means that should Natal fail they haven't put all of their eggs in one basket. This release should serve as market research for Microsoft as they begin efforts to create their next major console.
Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Shatters Sales Records
Modern Warfare 2 has shattered previous gaming records, selling about 7 million copies worldwide on day one. It was estimated that 3.47 million of the 7 million copies were sold in North America. Activision is estimating that their North American and UK sales totaled about $310 million on day one, which would mean that their worldwide sales have beaten the record previously held by Grand Theft Auto IV of $310 million for their entire worldwide sales. All of this data is still preliminary, but it's probably safe to say that Modern Warfare 2 is the fastest selling game of all time. Some notable Xbox 360 news is that Microsoft COO Dennis Durkin is reporting that MW2 has sold more on the 360 than the PS3 by a 2:1 margin, which is pretty significant.
Anyone surprised by this was probably living under a rock for the last few months. The anticipation for this game was huge, unlike anything I think I've seen before. The fact that this game is selling better for the 360 is an indication that many gamers agree with some industry officials that the Xbox Live is the better online community. Somebody might jump on me for making that conclusion, but given the nature of the game as being one of the most lauded online multiplayer experiences I don't think it's an unfair assumption. I am the unfortunate person that hasn't gotten the game yet, for a couple of reasons. One is that I'm a poor college student who will have to trade in a few games to justify spending the money on new games, and I hate selling off my games. The other is that I have a massive pile of work to do before Thanksgiving and holding off on getting this game until I can clear my plate a little bit is probably the responsible thing to do. I can't wait to get the game, though, as everything I have heard about it from friends is positive.
Will Halo: Reach Feature Master Chief As The Main Playable Character?
One of the biggest news items of the week revolves around the next game in the Halo franchise, Halo: Reach. A poster on the MLG message boards posted several grainy pictures, claiming that they were taken from someone playing an early build of Halo: Reach. You can see one of the pictures below, and if you would like to see the rest of the photos then click on this link. While the screenshots are nothing all that wonderful, they do reveal one potential detail about the game. According to the poster, the hand on the gun is the same as Master Chief's hand, indicating that he could perhaps be the (or at least one of the) main playable characters. It was expected that he would make an appearance in the game based on things said in other Halo material, but this is the first indication that he might be a playable character.
Who knows whether or not this news is true. It's speculation based on the appearance of a hand which is kind of hard to see. Who knows, I would wonder if that could just mean we'd be playing as a Spartan and not specifically Master Chief? I can't say, I'm not a good enough Halo expert to know. Also, so what if we do play as Master Chief? This is a prequel to the original trilogy so his presence isn't going to answer any questions about what has happened to him since the ending of Halo 3. Once again, though, I'm not an expert on Halo since I didn't own an original Xbox and have never really gotten into the Halo series like some have.
New Wireless N Adapter Now Available
Microsoft's new wireless N adapter, which allows for a better wireless internet connection, is supposed to be available by the end of this week, according to IGN. One of the biggest benefits of the new adapter is that it will allow gamers to stream high definition movies and video more easily. It will also allow for more seamless online gaming experiences. The new adapter will be available for $99, with the old version of the wireless adapter being available for $79.99 while remaining supplies last.
Once you upgrade your router to the new N standard, this is definitely something you should think about getting. It ought to eliminate online lag (provided your wireless network can get through easily to your 360) and make it much more feasible to stream high def movies.
Rapid Fire
The new Dashboard update is due out next week with its public launch date set for November 17th. The new update will give gamers access to features such as Last.FM and Facebook.
I'm not going to spend another week talking about pirating up in the headlines section, but there's more news on the topic. It sounds like 600,000 Xbox Live accounts have been banned so far for pirating with Microsoft's goal being to hit the 1 million mark by Christmas. After Christmas the heat on pirates may come down, so if you feel the need to pirate games stay off of Live until Christmas at least.
1 vs. 100 is set to return to Xbox Live. The game will begin again at 5:00 PM Pacific Daylight Time, and the season will run for 14 weeks.
Valve's head of development said that the reason the company is not developing Left 4 Dead 2 for the PS3 is because they believe that the online community aspects of the 360 "is head and shoulders above the PS3."
Rumor has it that Microsoft's in-house Halo developer, 343 Industries, is working on a new Halo project. The kicker is that it is rumored to be for a new Microsoft console that's in the works, but not the Natal. This is purely conjecture by the source reporting the new game, though.
A patch is expected to be released today (Friday if you're reading this days after it has been posted) for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 that will fix some of the issues gamers have encountered with the multiplayer features as well as achievements not unlocking.
Here's a consumer warning for anyone looking to buy a used 360. Be very wary of people trying to sell modded 360's after the latest round of bannings, you definitely wouldn't want to buy a console that's just going to get you into trouble.
There's been a rumor of a former Xbox 360 exclusive series planning on putting out a multi-platform game and it now appears that rumor is coming to fruition. Based on some rumblings coming from European game distributors, it sounds like Dead or Alive 5 is on the way for both the 360 and PS3.
There is news on yet another new Xbox 360 bundle that Microsoft will be rolling out. This one is a Grand Theft Auto IV bundle which comes with the original GTA IV, GTA: Episodes from Liberty City, and of course an Xbox 360 Elite. The website, el33tonline.com, is saying that the bundle will be available in South Africa starting on the 13th of November. I'm not sure if South Africa is the only place getting it or if that is even correct info, so keep your eyes open if this interests you.
Walmart's Xbox 360 Arcade deal, in which they gave consumers a $100 gift card, turned out to be a big success. Walmart saw their sales of the Arcade consoles increase more than 400% from the week before.
It sounds like Microsoft may be planning to begin optimizing games for hard drives in 2010. This would allow gamers to fit more things onto the hard drives.
Microsoft set a personal record on Thursday when they had more than 2 million users signed in at once to Xbox Live. No doubt Modern Warfare 2 had a big role in achieving this milestone.
Console sales saw a bit of an uptick for the 360 in Japan recently, though the console still only ranks 6th in hardware sales for the country.
Ubisoft has been accused by a German gaming magazine of demanding that the magazine give the company's upcoming game, Assassin's Creed 2, a high review score. This is a bit disheartening for me to hear since I've been getting very excited for the game and the high reviews it has been getting. However, this sort of thing happen all too often.
Cliff "Cliffy B." Bleszinski, the well-known developer for the Gears of War series, had high praise for the game Borderlands, calling it the Diablo of this generation of gaming.
There is apparently some kind of announcement concerning Final Fantasy XIII that is set to be released on Friday the 13th. No word yet on what it might concern, but fans of the series should keep their eyes peeled.
Microsoft's Project Natal is one of TIME Magazine's inventions of the year. Not sure how it got this distinction this year as it hasn't been released yet and I assume it hasn't been finalized yet, I would have assumed these sort of honors would have been saved for next year when the thing is actually released. This is the third "invention-of-the-year type award" Natal has received thus far.
I didn't want to continue to bring up the whole pirating issue, but there was a bit of an intriguing story I read where some industry insiders are saying they suspect that the whole Forza 3 game leaking early was actually part of a Microsoft sting operation to catch modders.
Last week I reported that Infinity Ward would be resetting the leaderboards and perks of people who got Modern Warfare 2 early. The developer has apparently backtracked from this, now saying that only those gamers who got the game due to pirating will have their online statistics reset, given that many people who got the game early did so simply because many game retailers broke street date for the game.
There is a planned sequel to the game Bully, which was made by Rockstar Games. I never played it, but if I'm not mistaken it had some similar elements to the Grand Theft Auto series, though Bully was not as extreme.
Trailer Park
MMA has been growing in popularity, which of course means that MMA video games were soon to follow. We already have a recent UFC game, and now EA looks to follow in its footsteps with their own MMA game. Check out the trailer below.
One of the movies that will be coming out soon is James Cameron's Avatar. I personally think the movie looks absolutely awesome, though I am worried it won't do well enough in theaters to break it's more than $200 million budget. Not that I don't think it will do well, but that's an awful lot of money. Anyway, the trailer below is for the video game adaptation. Normally video games and movies don't mix too well but this actually looks like a half decent game.
I'm not a huge fan of skating games. To me, nothing will ever top the first couple of Tony Hawk games that came out a couple generations ago. However, it's a slow week for trailers so I'll go ahead and throw this trailer in for Skate 3.
Nice!! Dead or Alive 5! I was just thinking about tracking down a copy of DOA4 since I was so disappointed by my Tekken 6 rental. DOA4 was awesome other than getting my ass whipped by the ghost/girl boss "Dural" even on the easiest difficulty setting.
Posted By: Byzdalmyt (Guest) on November 13, 2009 at 11:23 AM
Valve's head of development said that the reason the company is not developing Left 4 Dead 2 for the PS3 is because they believe that the online community aspects of the 360 "is head and shoulders above the PS3."
Yes it is but still sounds kinds trivial to me. I'm just sayin
Posted By: huh? (Guest) on November 16, 2009 at 02:33 PM
