The Full Circle: 360 News Report 05.16.08

Posted by Joe Roche on 05.16.2008

It's the triumphant return (again) of The Full Circle. After three weeks off to have a mental breakdown, move, and finish law school Joe returns with news on Gears of War 2, Guitar Hero 4, the Xbox breaking the 10 million units sold mark in America, and release dates galore. You never missed me, but I'm back to comfort you one and all, now with a new column feature (sorta) so check out The Full Circle.



Well it's been a few weeks, did you miss me? No, I didn't think so, but regardless of whether or not you've been dancing on my grave, the news of my demise was greatly exaggerated. After three weeks of torturous hell, I can officially proclaim that I have completed three years of law school, and I have moved. When I sum the entire process up in about seven words it really minimizing how difficult these past few weeks have been, but thanks to the 411 Games crew and Ramon especially for understanding and not taking offense to my complete lack of, well anything.

Going hand in hand with my mental breakdown was the fact that I have played almost zero hours of Grand Theft Auto IV, which is sitting in my Xbox 360 right now just begging to be turned on. I have played no multiplayer on the game to go along with what little single player I have explored so if you're looking to shoot someone in the head multiple times my gamertag is still jdroche and I'll be around. I'm not sure I missed a whole lot while I was gone, I know that Prototype got delayed until next year which is really depressing since that was the next game that I was looking forward to later on in the year. I guess there is some benefit though to putting a game off awhile to fix any bugs and deliver a great single player game (no multiplayer even with the delay huh?).

Other then that the main stories from the week were all basically focused on upcoming release dates being announced throughout the week. All in all this is a pretty tame effort for the Full Circle, but I promise that as I work myself back into playing shape things will start to take form. Enough of me talking about myself, lets get on with the show.

Velvet Assassin Release Date



The shimmering pajamas, the silky smooth touch, the sophisticated allure all wraps into the package of the Velvet Assassin, a 1970s era playboy sociopath…wait, what's that? Oh Velvet Assassin used to be called Sabotage and it's actually the story of MI6 agent Violette Summer who must infiltrate German military camps to kill high ranking Nazi officials and rescue civilians? Well I like my game premise better but this might not be too bad either. Based on the real life story of Violette Szabo, Velvet Assassin seems like a cross between Medal of Honor and a Tom Clancy game which all in all doesn't seem like such a bad thing.

Recently the game formerly known as Sabotage was given a fall 2008 release date which means, well nobody really knows what that means. I'd assume that if you're anticipating this game dropping I'd look for it in September because I don't think Replay Studios wants to go up against Gears of War 2. Normally I like to take a stand against World War II themed video games because frankly how many different times, on how many different consoles do I have to kill the Nazi's? However, this game seems to add a different spin to the proceedings, with a little Metal Gear Solid stealth action thrown into the mix so this game should be worth checking out in Fall 08.

Too Human Dated



Depending on who you ask Silicon Knights and Microsoft have announced the release date of what has become one of the more hyped and anticipated games of the summer season Too Human. According to Xbox.com the release date was to be August 12, but according to IGN.com (and they have supposedly confirmed this) the real release date will be August 19.

I'm going to go ahead and plead ignorance on Too Human. I've heard a lot of hype surrounding the game, and I am sure that it'll be a pretty big release coming during that perfect dead season before Gears of War 2 but I am not going to be holding my breath for this game. Whenever I hear people talk about developing this game over 10 years I get skeptical, and I keep hearing people refer to Too Human as in development for over a decade.

Now don't get me wrong, big guns, comically oversized swords and animal magic could all combine to create one hell of a game. I know that I'll check it out when the game drops but as someone who missed the last three weeks of life I'm much to concerned with GTAIV to start worrying about major end of the summer releases right now.

The 360 Sells 10 Million



On May 14th Microsoft announced that the Xbox 360 became the first of the current generation consoles to reach the 10 million units sold mark. This is obviously a point of pride for the crew at Microsoft who are quick to remind everyone that historically speaking the console which reaches the 10 million units sold mark wins the generation battle. I'm a little skeptical about that assertion if only because the 360 got basically a one year head start against the other current generation consoles, but that doesn't take away from the importance of reaching this milestone first.

There is no doubt that Grand Theft Auto 4 which reportedly helped boost the Xbox Live Gold membership numbers over the 12 million mark this month will help the console continue to thrive. Speculation about new islands, maybe even new cities coming as downloadable content (I'll believe when I see it), there is reason to believe that the 360 on the strength of GTAIV alone will be able to weather the Solid Snake storm coming down the road. Also you've got to take into consideration that the 360 has around 19 million worldwide sales, meanwhile the Wii has around 24.5 million worldwide sales so that should be noted. I don't want the Nintendophiles to come after me but lets not pretend that Microsoft really cares about the international market, so as long as they're winning the US market they're happy.

Personally I think this story is nice, it makes for a good headline, and it's a talking point when Mark Salmela and I are forced into awkward conversations at 411mania cookouts. However, I don't find it terribly important because if Microsoft continues to crank out stories like the Prototype delay, or months of releases like April (before GTAIV) then it won't be long before we're wondering what happened to all that Spring time optimism around the holidays when those foreign gaming companies are kicking the door down.

Guitar Hero 4 Details Are Awesome



Stop me if you've heard this before, but by the end of the year we'll be introduced to music based game that will include a guitar, bass, microphone and drum kit. Sound like something you've already played? That's probably because Activision will reportedly be ripping off Rock Band when GH4 hits shelves around the holiday season. But the next installment of the Guitar Hero series will include something people have been talking about for some time now – reportedly you'll be able to create your own playable tracks.

If this is true Activision might have found a feature that will breathe some new life into a series that is desperately in need of a shake up. I am a defender of the Guitar Hero franchise but it's tough to argue that Rock Band didn't improve on every facet of the GH style. One thing that I'd love to see is an online feature that allows you to upload your created tracks for download by others (like roster updates with 2k Sports). This would be a great addition for song writers, and bands to get some exposure and I can clearly see this giving Activision the type of publicity that will bring their game back to the forefront of the genre.

The other interesting addition for the next installment (note: I'm purposefully glossing over Guitar Hero: Aerosmith) is that with the fallout between Activision and Gibson there will be some new custom guitars coming from RedOctane and Neversoft which will incorporate some new feature that will impact game play.

Penny Arcade's Stupid Name Coming Soon



May 21st is the day that all you Xbox Live Arcade fans can get your hands on Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode One. I honestly have nothing to say about this release, I know a lot of people are looking forward to it, but I would like to know how they picked that name. Yikes. I'm pleading ignorance on this title so if someone wants to help me out and explain it to me I'd be much obliged, remember I've basically been in a coma for the last few weeks so be gentle.

More Release Dates



Obviously "Gamer's Day" brought out some big announcements and it seems like most of those announcements centered on release dates for upcoming titles. We've already seen Too Human and Velvet Assassin, but it was also revealed that Fable 2 will be hitting shelves for the 2008 holiday rush. There was no set in stone release date but from the reports coming out of "Gamer's Day" everyone would be surprised if it was any later then Christmas so start being nice now if you want Santa to bring you Fable 2.

The only other real detail about the game coming out this week was that it will reportedly be 10 times bigger then the world of the original Fable. I never had an original Xbox but I remember people talking about how vast the first Fable game was, which leads me to believe that making something 10 times bigger then that will potentially be a massive clusterfuck. I am always worried that game designers want to make games huge for the sake of making them huge, but I'll be interested to see if Fable 2 can keep people interesting in a world that is enormous in size, with interesting quests and things to do.

Microsoft Takes A Stand

You can file this story under ridiculous. Apparently Microsoft has been inundated with complaints pertaining to particular Xbox Live Gamertags, and they've decided to do something about it by banning those offensive names. No your little Billy is ok with HitlerYout6969, but if your gay son or daughter ever thinks about using the now banned theGAYERgamer then they'll run afoul of the long arm of Microsoft's law.

Apparently Grant, theGAYERgamer learned recently that his gamertag had been banned because the "greater Xbox community found the use of gay in the name offensive." Excuse me? Has anyone here ever played a game on Xbox Live? If the most offensive thing that you see or hear is the word GAY in a gamertag then you should consider yourself lucky.

I'm a bit torn on this subject. On the one hand I can see why Grant is upset, the name isn't offensive, it's not promoting violence, and it's not really doing much of anything. I mean if my gamertag was theCAUCASIANassassin nobody would ban that name right? So why should theGAYERgamer be banned? On the other hand it is nice to see Microsoft do something with the Xbox Live service, because anyone who has had a fifteen year old kid call them a cocksucker while they're stabbing you to death in Team Fortress 2 understands that having some boundaries might not be the worst thing.

Frankly I think if you're going to star banning gamertags you should at least allow the owner of the tag to explain himself. Some sort of appeal process because I honestly don't find the fact that a gay gamer, wants to call himself theGAYERgamer that offensive. He isn't even telling a lie, he is a gayer gamer then I am, at least after the operating and the weekend with Ted Haggard.

Gears of War 2 Hates Achievements



Have I already filed something under ridiculous today? Well put this on the record next because I'm not entirely sure Epic is making a good decision with this news. According to Cliffy B, in an interview with CVG, Gears of War 2 will have some mode of "throttling" GOW2's achievements by limiting how much unlocking progress can be made per game or round. The example given by Cliffy B was that "if you're going for headshots, you get one headshot that counts and any other headshots won't count towards your Achievement" which is being done "so players don't just play to get headshots the entire round just to get Achievements."

I can't even defend this by claiming that I understand the intent is to limit the amount of achievement whoring that goes on, because frankly why should Epic care why people are playing the game by using a method that might limit people from wanting to actually play the game. I am admittedly not an achievement whore, I like when they pop up unexpected on the screen, but I've also never run into someone who has completely ruined my game play experience because they're trying to unlock achievements. It's the only reason that I would have ever played the base line on Guitar Hero.

Are people excited about this? Is there a large group of people who have been reluctant to play online games because they don't want to be subjected to someone trying to play through the games with nothing but a kitchen knife? I say, let the achievement whores have their fun, and if you've got a problem with it, there will still be a hundred thousand other people that you can interact with.

THE WEEK AHEAD

There is a good possibility that this is the most useless portion of this entire column. As such I am opening it up to the throngs of people who loathe me to contribute something to the end of The Full Circle each week. Think you've got an interesting story, or that you're funnier then me, then send something to me at an email address that I might actually check xjdrochex[at]gmail[dot]com and I'll put it up in the Reader Submission section of the column.

As for the week ahead, your old friend Joe will be cracking GTAIV and graduating from law school. As for games, UEFA 2008 will be coming out this week so fans of the beautiful game have something to look forward to, the rest of you are shit out of luck.