Living LIVE News Report 06.20.11
Posted by Trace Aber on 06.20.2011
News and thoughts on Battlefield 3's pre-order controversy, the latest rumors of the new Xbox, the new DLC packs for L.A. Noire and Call of Duty: Black Ops, who will be porting Minecraft to the 360 and more!
REPLY POSTED
Last week was our big E3 coverage, but the two titles that got people talking the most were Fable and Hulk Hogan's…game thing.
LOLOLOL, that Hulk Hogan game looks worse than I could have imagined!!! Also, I'm not interested the least in the new Fable. Fable 3 was so bad that I couldn't even bother to play it for more than a couple of hours. That whole franchise is like the epitome of the meaning of the word disappointment.
Posted By: Guest#2822 (Guest) on June 15, 2011 at 12:22 AM
I enjoyed Fable 2 very much
Posted By: SSgt Monoxide (Guest) on June 15, 2011 at 11:31 AM
Fable 1 was awesome
Fable 2 was great
Fable 3 was ok
I dont like the trend....Go back to what made the first one awesome, it wasnt the gimmicks, pets, castles or graphics (tho they were awesome) it was the story. The story was magic. And while i enjoyed the story in 2, it just wasnt the same.
Posted By: `Master (Guest) on June 15, 2011 at 12:37 PM
Hogan Game = embarrassment
Posted By: Guest#9683 (Guest) on June 17, 2011 at 05:25 PM
First off, the Hogan game does look terrible and what's worse is that Hogan, a TNA wrestler, has his own game without once mentioning TNA. I understand that the rights to have the TNA (or IMPACT) brand in a video game is held by somebody else, but Hogan could at least say, "Hey, check out IMPACT each week" or something in the buildup. Then again, that would require Hulk Hogan to think of somebody other than himself.
As for Fable, my favorite was definitely the second one, by a long shot. The third one is actually my second favorite, if only because I played the first one long after it came out and couldn't appreciate it as much. Fable III tried a lot of new things and while the majority of them didn't worked, I appreciate the fact they tried SOMETHING different. Regardless, I don't think it's as bad as everyone is making it out to be. The Journey, however, doesn't interest me in the slightest. Then again, only the on-rails aspect has been shown.
Welcome everyone to another issue of the Living LIVE News Report, and as always, I'm your host for the evening, Trace Aber.
The New Xbox Might be in Developer's Hands…Might Not Be
Over the last month or so the rumors about Microsoft's new console have been slowly creeping out of the woodwork. It makes sense, too, since Nintendo just announced their new console, the Wii U, and the current system is over half a decade old. While the rumor has it that the console won't be coming until 2014, that doesn't mean there can't be dev kits being sent out, even if they are extremely early builds. It also doesn't mean that there are dev kits out in the wild now, since they would be extremely early builds.
Back in May there were rumors that one of Electronic Arts developers actually had a dev kit already, and this supposedly came from a "senior, well-placed source." That same source speculated that the console would come out in late 2012, but EA quickly dismissed the room, calling it a "total fabrication – 100 percent not true." End of story, right?
Not so much. Crytek UK, the developers of the Timesplitters franchise, reportedly had an early build themselves. What makes this interesting is that Crytek is not an official EA studio, but it is part of the EA Partners label. Pretty exciting stuff, right? There's a new, albeit early build, of the next Xbox! Don't get too excited, since Crytek themselves are denying the claim in this letter sent to IGN:
Relating to the recent rumours, Crytek do not have any next generation hardware from Microsoft, nor do we know when Microsoft may announce future hardware or what that hardware will entail.
Crytek are working at pushing the boundaries of what current technology can bring, including our focus on DX11 which will be released shortly as an update for Crysis 2, and we believe this work, added to our estimations of what the new hardware will provide, set up CryENGINE as a next generation engine for all consoles.
So, we're right back where we started. There's, officially, no Xbox 720 or whatever it'll be called, and nobody has one sitting on their desk. But there is going to be a rumor about a company have a dev kit and it's going to be true one of these days. And on that day…we shall rejoice!
Pre-Order Not Required for Physical Warfare Pack
Last week Electronic Arts managed to piss off a large section of fans when it announced the Physical Warfare pack pre-order bonus. It was one of the first mess-ups in their promotion of Call of Duty's main rival, Battlefield 3, when access to exclusive ammo, weapons and mods were pre-order bonuses only. People were upset because it gave those willing to pay early an unfair competitive edge, and not something silly like a skin or extra maps.
DICE, developers of the title, had to play damage control this week, and specify what they meant. General Manager Karl Magnus Troedsson (who has a badass name) clarified:
"I would like to start by clarifying that the Physical Warfare Pack is a time-based exclusive. If you do not pre-order Battlefield 3 at a retailer carrying the Physical Warfare Pack, don't worry. We will unlock the contents of the Physical Warfare Pack for free to all Battlefield 3 players later this year."
He mentioned that the additional maps in the pre-order bonus, collectively titled "Back to Karkand," will also be released later in the year. These maps won't be free, however, and will be paid content for all non-pre-orders.
This seems like the best outcome for the situation and should, realistically, keep everyone happy. The competitive extras are timed-exclusives and will be free while the fun, non-competitive extras will also be released, but cost money. Some people are still going to be upset that the DLC is timed, but I highly doubt that one gun is going to make somebody invincible. It's odd, people always complain about how useless the pre-order bonuses are and the first time one of them seem to have a legitimate bonus to them people complain. For anyone upset initially, does this seem fair enough?
Random News and Notes
Remember how excited you were about Minecraft coming to the Xbox 360? And then how it was a little disappointing to know that Mojang wouldn't be porting the game over? According to designer Markus Persson, 4J Studios will be doing the port. They were responsible for the port of Oblivion to PS3, the Banjo-Kazooie XBLA ports, as well as the Perfect Dark XBLA port.
Some good news for Microsoft as they finally sold 1.5 million Xbox 360s in Japan. They reached a million consoles in 2009 and sold another 500,000 since then.
Over two million people have signed up for the Call of Duty: Elite beta in less than two weeks. And that was as of Wednesday, so it's probably up to three million now.
Below is a pretty awesome video to promote DiRT 3. While the video may look like a RC car, you're actually witnessing a real car driven by a real person in a real location. The effect was created using a tilt-shift lens, and it looks cool as hell.
L.A. Noire is getting a new DLC case on June 21st for $4, or free if you purchased the Rockstar Pass. Nicholson Electroplating is an arson desk case where you uncover the mystery behind a huge explosion and the whereabouts of the chief chemist. The trailer, which can be found below, mentions Howard Hughes and seems to be one of the more dramatic cases thus far.
Call of Duty: Black Ops is getting its third map pack, this time called Annihilation. As usual, there's four new multiplayer maps and one new zombie map. Hanger 18 takes place in Area 51, Silo takes place at a Russian underground nuclear missile site, Drive-In is another close-quarters map, and Hazard is a makeover of World at War map Cliffside. The zombie map, Shangri-La, promises new features, weapons and difficulty. No official price, but you can expect to spend $15. It'll be hitting the 360 on June 28. Until then, check out the trailer below.
The Digital Downloads Games on Demand
Assassin's Creed Brotherhood ($39.99)
The Darkness ($19.99)
Pro Evolution Soccer ($29.99)
Family Game Night 3 ($29.99)
Monopoly Streets ($29.99)
Signing Out
That does it for me this week. Be sure to check back next week as we discuss all of the latest Xbox 360 news, including releases, rumors and reviews! Also, don't forget to bookmark 411Mania! And a note to all of the Indie Game developers out there – if you have an upcoming title that's going to be released soon drop me a line at traceaber@gmail.com and let me know. I'll write a full review of your game to be posted on 411Mania.com, which is a great way to get your game promoted!
