The Full Circle: 360 News Report 02.08.08
Posted by Mike Minotti on 02.08.2008
Duke Nukem is in my column? Does this mean I'm going to eat shit and die? We can only hope. Also, Mass Effect DLC is announced, and the HD-DVD player gets a pre-mortem price cut.
Welcome to the Full Circle. First off, thanks to Rod Oracheski for the new logo. Would you believe that the old logo misspelled Circle all this time? Talk about embarrassing.
I've been having some fun with my 360 lately. I've finally gotten to playing through Half-Life 2 on the 360. Now, Half-Life 2 is one of my favorite games of all time. Being able to play it competently on the 360 with a controller really makes me lose my old mouse/keyboard bias for FPSs.
That's what we call an intro. Now here's the podcast plug:
News
First Mass Effect DLC announced.
It sounds cool, too. It's not just some new weapon or something like that, it's a whole new planet with new storyline content. You go to a new planet, filled with a new alien species, and filled with new adventures!
The content, named "Bring Down The Sky", comes out on March 10 for 400 Microsoft Points. Hey, it's reasonably priced too! Best DLC ever? Well, it certainly beats horse armor.
HD-DVD Player gets a price cut.
The new price is $129.99, which is a $50 drop. Makes sense since many feel that the HD-DVD format may be close to dying. I wonder how much the price will drop once HD-DVD is a dead format?
In case you can't tell, I'm trying to tell you to not buy the HD-DVD player.
Duke Nukem old and new coming to 360 this year?.
Rumors are flying that Duke Nukem will be released sometime this year. Strangely enough, the rumor comes from the Dallas Business Journal. In it, a 2008 release date was claimed to be confirmed by 3D Realms president Scott Miller. Now, since then Scott Miller is denying having made a claim. Jeez, he won't even confirm a 2008 release date?
Also, another rumor is that the original Duke Nukem is heading to the XBLA. Makes sense, though I doubt that game will hold up all that well today. I think Duke is less edgey and more lame now.
Weekly Releases
Lost Odyssey – 02/12
Mist Walker's second 360 RPG. I personally hope it's a bit more riveting than the first. I wish we would get a demo so I could try it out.
Conflict: Denied Ops – 02/12
Purchase Denied.
Dark Messiah of Might and Magic: Elemnts – 02/12
I was excited for this game back when it was about to come out for the PC, but that version didn't get reviewed well. A shame, since it looked like this game was pretty much going to be a fantasy Half-Life 2. Hopefully this version will fare better.
Jumper – 02/12
You know, playing as someone who teleports should be good. Hopefully someone will make a good game like that eventually.
My Horse and Me – 02/12
What do you want me to say? I'm sure the horses are very pretty.
Weekly Trailer
The debut trailer for Faith and a .45. Looks pretty good, to me. It's an over the shoulder shooter similar to Gears of War and Uncharted.
Target Topic: Guitar Compatibility Isn't News
Man, old FPSs do not hold up all that well. How old? Well, let's just say that anything that came before Half-Life/System Shock 2. Those really felt like the first ones to have interesting stories and in game story-telling. Before that, FPSs were just filled with ugly rooms with ugly textures. The level design makes me want to strangle a cat. You'll clear out a whole level, but can't progress because you don't have the blue key or whatever. So then you wander the entire level, looking for the blue key. Usually it's behind some door disguised as a wall. You can't tell these wall-doors apart from other doors, so you just walk around and click on every single inch of wall.
Duke Nukem isn't much better. The strippers help, but not much. Actually, back when I was young and played Duke Nukem, I don't think I even got past the strippers. I don't know if this was because I was bad at the game or if I just got bored. I'm willing to bet it was the latter. I'm much to awesome to suck, even if I was 10.
The Other Guys
Nintendophiles' Theo Fraser has a lot of new info on Mario Kart Wii.
The SIXAXIS' Mark Salmela talks about various PS3 SKUs and designs. A shame they couldn't get it right the first time. I kid, of course.
Some friends currently in London have played the Lost Odyssey import (Korean version) and say the story is freaking amazing. They're pretty tough on 'video game literature' as a rule, so I think it'll be a good one.
Posted By: Rod Oracheski (Registered) on February 08, 2008 at 05:03 AM
In your podcast about Samus being the only Metroid character (outside of ZSS): I think the reason Samus is the only playable Metroid character is because she's the only major character in the series. The bosses like Kraid, Ridley, and Mother Brain wouldn't really quite fit as characters. Then again I don't really follow the series that much so I might be really overlooking someone. Otherwise I'm fine with the roster, though I still thought it'd be cool to see Bomberman.
Posted By: Vincent Chiucchi (Registered) on February 10, 2008 at 09:10 PM
