The Full Circle: 360 News Report 04.04.08

Posted by Joe Roche on 04.04.2008

It's another slow week to be an Xbox 360 apologist, but the announcement of Sonic Unleashed, and Alone in the Dark might be enough to turn this ship around. We've also got a reason to be interested in Army of Two, and did someone say the debut of Gears of War 2? It's all inside the Full Circle Report.



It's not the easiest time to be excited about owning an Xbox 360. After a rash of games that were fantastic, or at least marginally fun to play we've hit a wall. I've been playing a lot of Viking which while short on story is lone on brutal killing so at least I'm having fun with it. I guess I'm the lucky one because there doesn't seem to be much happening until GTAIV is released at the end of the month. Just to head this one off at the pass there is a rumor about a Blu Ray player in the works for the Xbox 360 but because the story came out on April 1st, I'm not going to report it as if it wasn't an April Fools joke perpetrated by PS3 fans as revenge for being left out of the exclusive content of Grand Theft Auto. Enough of that let us get on with the show shall we?

Is Anyone Out There?



I cannot for the life of me stress how boring the previous week was, or how boring the week ahead looks to be for Xbox 360 owners. We're still almost a solid 20 days away from the release from Grand Theft Auto IV and until that time there is almost nothing happening in the world of Microsoft. I'd have to say that if you're looking to get a free month of Xbox Live you might want to keep your system on for a few hours this afternoon to induce the red ring of death – if there was ever a time to not have access to your Xbox this would be the 14 day window.

I don't mean to bring too much negativity into the Microsoft Kingdom but let's face it, there just isn't that much new stuff going on. Sure we're getting some screen shots of GTAIV, and there is hope that information about possible downloadable content which won't be available for any other system (its okay Playstation at least you've got your Blu Ray) will start to trickle out, but really there just isn't that much going on.

Now seems as good a time as any to tell you that Two Worlds has a some new DLC that includes 35 new missions. I've heard that this new pack is seemingly just the second half of the pack they released last month for the game but in total that brings you up to 70 new missions for the game so you've got something to do to kill time. Also at the time you're reading this you might be able to download the new map pack for Call of Duty 4 so that'll take some of your time. As for me I'll be playing Viking: Battle for Asgard this week but let's get on to what little there is going on in the Xbox world.

Sonic Officially Unleashed



Here is the thing about this story – it had been leaked so many times, in so many places that I honestly didn't even realize that it wasn't official until today.

Having been broken apart by the evil Dr. Eggman, it's up to Sonic to put the pieces of the world back together again by retrieving the power of the chaos emeralds! In doing so, Sonic will find himself in a race against time and faced with an unusual situation that will challenge him in ways never before seen. Both day and night play different, yet important, roles in Sonic's newest quest. as the sun sets, a new adventure awakens. By completing a wide variety of action-packed stages, spanning the seven broken continents of the world, gamers will need to unleash Sonic's amazing abilities to save the world, and himself!

So there is your plot outline from the SEGA people. Are people still excited about Sonic games? I feel like there have been so many bad Sonic vehicles in the recent past that it's almost like stepping into a hot tub – you just pray that it's not too bad so you enter with some trepidation. I'm nervous to get my hopes up for Sonic because there is just so much evidence that it won't be a good game – but I will hope out hope that SEGA can prove me wrong.

Army of Two Demo Released



In an attempt to draw some interest towards this title a demo has shown up for Army of Two on Xbox Live. From what I understand the single player campaign is infuriating due to your computer AI teammate being almost incompetent, so I guess it's lucky that the demo is only of the online two player component.

Here's the thing – normally I never bother with demos of games that I never intended to purchase. I also rarely mess with demos of games that came out a month ago because it's usually just a ploy to get people interested in a game that just isn't that good. It's not like sales figures for Army of Two should be low due to the lack of an advertising campaign because you couldn't turn on your TV for the past month without seeing those two masked idiots running the streets and jumping over things. I also rarely download anything that is 1.3 GB because I just don't have the patience but if I was ever going to play the Army of Two demo this would be the month. You realize that I opened this column with a joke about how boring this month is going to be right? The people at EA might be smarter then I give them credit for.

Oh and in case you're wonder this demo isn't available for PS3 users, although they're used to downloadable content being available on Xbox Live and not the Playstation Network.

Alone in the Dark Still



If you're one of the people who has been anxiously awaiting "Alone in the Dark" you're probably also convinced that Duke Nukem 3D is coming out later this year, or that you'll enjoy that free Dr. Pepper when "Chinese Democracy" drops. This game was originally announced for November, then March, then May and now I'm hearing that officially the game will be released on June 24th. All of this is tentative of course until about the middle of May when it's announced that the game was always slated for an end of July release (they might make that November release date after all – just a year late).

When I read this story I actually thought that it was an April Fools joke – which is never a good sign when you're trying to build up anticipation for your horror game release. I'll tell you what, from everything I've heard Condemned 2 is a pretty solid game, if you can't wait for the undisclosed date when "Alone in the Dark" will be coming out then just go pick up C2: Bloodshot. You'll probably be happier in the long run.

Ubisoft Hits Jackpot with Rainbow Six Vegas 2



Ubisoft has confirmed that Rainbow Six Vegas 2 has sold 2 million copies since it was released on March 15th at the time when that figure was released. That seems like a pretty big number for a game that got a lot of advertising before it was released, and then seemingly came and went without much said. I still haven't heard from people who are immersed in the game which might mean that there aren't people like that, or they simple aren't reading this column which is always on the table.

The real reason that I'm posting this story though is that Ubisoft might have struck while the iron was hot as they are planning on releasing their first Tom Clancy title since purchasing the Artist Formerly Known as TC's naming rights – called HAWX. I just got chills just typing that name – apparently Stupidest Name Ever was taken. This will be a plane combat game with a bunch of different planes and all that good stuff, I'm sure the game will have a semi-interesting plotline throughout and hopefully Ubisoft won't take a lesson from the Ace Combat people and give us $400 worth of DLC with this game as well.

Gears of War 2 at Comic Con



Nope.

I'm not sure if this was an April Fools joke being played by the organizers of the New York Comic Con, or if Michael Capps of Epic was in on the joke as well but all the news that was floating around about GoW2 being unveiled at Comic Con seems to be false. Frankly I'm not sure if this was an April Fools Day joke but I hope it was because there were a lot of people anxious to see some screenshots and game play video of Gears who are very disappointed right now, and in the end isn't that the point of April Fools Day? To disappoint nerds who don't have a very good sense of humor about themselves as it is?

THE WEEK AHEAD

As the Beastie Boys once said it's the sound of silence (note: before you all attack me I realize that's not the words but the sound of science doesn't fit this column).

I've got Viking: Battle of Asgard on the back burner so that'll be what I spend the week playing so that hopefully I'll be able to get a review up soon. The rest of you enjoy your Call of Duty 4 map packs, Halo 3 map packs, and Rainbow Six Vegas 2. Just keep that countdown to GTAIV in the back of your mind because there isn't much happening until then.