The Full Circle: 360 News Report 08.04.07
Posted by Mike Minotti on 08.04.2007
So, everyone looking forward to playing GTA4 this fall? Yeah... I got some bad news for you. On the bright side, the 360 may be getting a bit cheaper. It's all inside this week's Full Circle.
Can you say megatons? Delays and price drops… this is the sort of stuff gaming journalists live for. I would be even more excited if I wasn't so distracted trying to unlock all of the costumes in Bomberman Live. I swear to god, if it is the death of me, I will be a wizard Bomberman.
Needless to say, there's a lot to talk about this week.
News
Xbox price drop rumors.
Jeez, this scenario is awfully familiar. Leaked ads for numerous stores, including Wal-Mart and Toys R' Us, advertise a new $349 price for the premium Xbox 360. That's a whole $50 cheaper than before. A Circuit City ad also features a $449 Elite SKU (previously $479) and a $280 Core SKU (previously $299).
Microsoft has made no confirmation, but I think the drop is fairly likely. The 360 is two years into its life cycle, and they'll want to sell as many systems as possible before all of those high profile fall games come out. The fact that the PS3 had its little price drop may have had something to do with this as well.
So if you've planning on buying a 360 anytime soon, I'd wait a couple of weeks.
Grand Theft Auto 4 delayed.
Yep, the highly anticipated GTA4's release date has been pushed back from October of this year all the way to spring of 2008. The delay is for both the 360 and PS3 versions of the game. Take Two says the delay was due to a need of more development time (well, duh).
Bad news for GTA fans, but I'm almost a bit relieved. The fall game release schedule is already so congested, I don't really mind putting GTA4 off until next year.
Halo 3 to feature four player online co-op..
Bungie previously wouldn't confirm that online co-op would work at all, but now they've announced that four players will be able to play through Halo 3's campaign together either online or through a System Link.
The first player will be the Master Chief, the second player will be the Arbiter, and the third and fourth players will be two new Elites named N'tho 'Sraom and Usze 'Taham.
Skate demo coming August 15.
So you'll finally get a chance to try EA's answer to the popular Tony Hawk franchise. I used to love the Tony Hawk games, but sort of lost interest in the franchise a few years ago. Maybe Skate will offer something new and different to get me interested.
Again, the demo will on the XBL Marketplace August 15.
XBL Arcade Demo Reviews
FPS's and chess do not go together.
Marathon: Durandal - 800 points
This is the FPS that Bungie made before they were known for that Halo thing. It has the graphics of a game like Doom, but the controls of Halo. The game also runs at 60 frames per seconds. It's the prettiest crappy looking game I've ever seen. The effect of watching those barely animated sprites and bland textures move in so many frames per second is actually somewhat nauseating. No joke, I felt a little sick playing this demo. Still, the shooting was solid, though the level design was a little confusing. It took me some time to finish the relatively short demo level.
This game is definitely impressive considering it's time, but unless you're a die hard Bungie fan, I'm not sure how much interest this game will be to you. Besides, $10 may be too high an asking price for such an old game.
Rating: Try it.
Spyglass Board Games - 400 points
This is a collection of four simple board games, Checkers, Chess, Mancala, and Reversi. Since I thought Checkers was too simple, and had no idea what the hell Mancala or Reversi were, I played Chess. And… it's chess. I mean, I guess if you really want to play these games with far away people, this is the package for you. The Xbox Live Vision support is pretty solid. Still, this is just checkers.
Rating: Ignore it.
Weekly Releases
Nothing again. That's two straight weeks. Oh well, hopefully something good will be coming on the XBL Arcade this Wednesday.
Weekly Poll
Last week's results:
Are you going to buy a HD-DVD add-on now that it's cheaper?
I already have one. 19%
Yes, the new price pushed me over the edge. 27%
No, and I doubt I ever will at any price. 53%
Weekly Trailer
Here's a gameplay montage of EA's Skate. Should give you an idea of what to expect from the demo.
The Other Guys
Nintendophiles' Theo Fraser has loads to talk about, including a Viva Pinata game heading for the DS. I hope that one sells better than the 360 one did. Fun little game, really.
The SIXAXIS, currently written by me, has info on a new LocoRoco game! YOU KNOW YOU CAN'T RESIST!
I was also a part of this week's Fact of Fiction, along with Damian Sarcuni. In it I had to talk about racism, but that wasn't as nearly a hard ball of a question as "Is co-op totally lame"? Check it out!
Game Over
I put down $5 on a BioShock preorder the other day. Did I go for the $70 special edition? Of course I did, I am a gaming glutton. Oh well, at least I'm not buying the $1000 Halo 3 helmet fucker edition. Ah hem, anways, please write if you feel so inclined..
