The Full Circle: 360 News Report 09.26.08

Posted by Joe Roche on 09.26.2008

It's Friday and the Full Circle is going to take you through the news coming out of Bungie about a possible Halo 3 expansion, plus some Last Remnant hype, dates for Banjo-Kazooie, Street Fighter IV art and the success of The Force Unleashed. Then we'll close out the week with a Hot Button topic that asks you to give your two cents on downloadable game expansions.



Friday again, and that can mean only one thing – it's time for the Full Circle. This week has been one of the most tediously boring weeks of my life but at least I've got this column to fall back on. Spent most of the week playing Civilization: Revolution, a game that I failed to even try when it came out but that I'm glad I played through a few times. I will say that the game has a nice feel, and it's interesting but there are some glaring problems. I liked being able to achieve a complete victory in about three hours, allowed me to play through a few times trying to win in different manners. However, has anyone who played this game realized that when you get to the year 2000 and beyond there are still some civilizations using clubs and swords while you're rolling down Main Street with tanks and bombers?

Also this week marked the release of Duke Nukem 3D to the Xbox Live Arcade. I am anxious to play through Duke again since I haven't really spent any time with the game in about ten years.

Alright enough about my week, this is a shorter column then last week because I think we can all admit that I got a little carried away with my Impact hatred. Without further ado lets get on with it and go around the Full Circle.

Bungie Teasing Halo 3 Expansions



At 7:07 AM PST on Thursday the mysterious countdown on the Bungie website hit zero. If you missed it, the Bungie Superintendent returned to their main splash page hinting that something was up, and on Thursday morning we were treated to a teaser trailer of – something. The relatively short and obscure trailer shows a nice clean city with cut scenes of a falling escape pod (actually many falling escape pods). As the pods approach the city the scene cuts to the Bungie splash page telling us to "KEEP IT CLEAN" and then we return to the once clean city, now in ruins. The final cut scene is of an escape pod slamming into the ground and then the warning: HALO 3 – PREPARE TO DROP.

It has been revealed that this teaser is for a new expansion of Halo 3. Many people who downloaded the new update that added maps, and new achievements no doubt realize that some of the achievements are for things that have yet to be released. Is this a sign that Bungie intends to extend the Halo 3 fight? I guess only time will tell – but if this teaser was a ploy to get those who weren't already obsessed with Halo 3 interested it might have worked. I am admittedly not a huge Halo fan, but this teaser got me interested to see what all the hype is about.

This might seem out of order but I continue to update this particular story as more information comes out. Apparently those with the ability to slow things down have determined a few new facts. First, the city which we see get destroyed is New Mombasa, also there is evidence of the Prophet of Regret's ship being present right before New Mombasa is destroyed, there is a cryptic message asking for the whereabouts of Maddie who is as of yet unknown, and finally there is a date 01/06/09 which is a Tuesday and may very well be the release date for this expansion.

Last Remnant Hype



Nobody will ever accuse Square Enix of being overly forthcoming with information on their upcoming releases. However, when they do decide to life the veil on a project they do it in a big way. This past week Square released a boat load of screen shots that give off some information about the game. Of course if you're wondering what these shots look like just imagine every other Square game, that gives you a decent idea of what you're dealing with. If you're unfamiliar with the story it's your basic, young adult has series of events happen that lead him on an epic journey through foreign lands where he meets a cast of characters both good and evil, in an effort to reclaim something that was taken/stolen/lost. I realize that I might not seem that excited for Last Remnant but I actually am, I just think it'd be impressive if we got a new JRPG storyline one of these days.

Banjo-Kazooie for XBLA Dated



Last week I had a story about Peter Moore taking some shots at Rare and this week we've got word that Microsoft will be releasing the original N64 version of Banjo-Kazooie on the XBLA. The official street date for the release is November 26, 2008 with a price tag of 1200 MS points. According to some people the game will be almost a carbon copy of the N64 version except for the fact that all references to Nintendo have been removed. However, keep in mind that if you place a pre-order for Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts at participating retailers you will receive a code to download Banjo-Kazooie on the XBLA nearly 2 weeks before it becomes available to everyone else.

Street Fighter IV Box Art




Not a whole lot of news here other then the fact that the box art for Street Fighter IV has been revealed. I like the anime style on the box so maybe that counts for something. As of today a release date for when these boxes will be stocked and ready for purchase has not been announced other then the first quarter of 2009 so we shall hang on for that announcement.

Success for Star Wars



After hearing people talk about their experiences with Star Wars: The Force Unleashed I wasn't sure how well the game would turn out for Lucas. Apparently the answer is great, because as of my writing this article the game has already sold 1.5 million copies to become the best selling Star Wars game of all time. I must admit that the commercials for this game look fantastic which I am sure helped, oh and being the natural connection between the third and fourth installment of the Star Wars franchise didn't hurt either. Everyone is quick to point out that not only is the game a top seller, but the novelization of the game was #1 on the New York Times best seller list, and the toys created of the characters in the game remain top sellers at retailers world wide. Obviously the power of Star Wars has not diminished at all.

Developers Love Fable II



Peter Molyneux is not an unbiased participant when it comes to Fable II. However, he wants us to believe that the team responsible for developing the game is the harshest critic that he faces, which may be true but seems unlikely. According to Molyneux the people who have played Fable II, mainly the team responsible for building the game have all agreed that the game is "fantastic." Now there are skeptics that will say that of course they tell Molyneux that the game is great, he pays their salary, but you'll be able to find out for yourself in a few short weeks. Fable II is set to be released on October 21, 2008.

The Hot Button

This week I wanted to talk about something that is still basically a hypothesis. As of this morning it seems as if Bungie has announced an add-on or expansion of Halo 3. Granted I'm going out on a limb with that guess but it seems to be the one most people are accepting as of now, and it works with where I'm going. Have we reached the point where companies will begin focusing on expansion packs, or game extensions instead of releasing sequals?

That might not be the best way to describe it, but when you think about blockbuster titles like Halo 3, or Grand Theft Auto you're thinking about a game that cost a huge amount of money to create, market and produce. These two games now seem to be at the forefront of the downloadable era where they may be presenting new downloadable content that is more then new outfits, or new map packs but are instead new levels, new missions, new game play. Essentially taking the original product that they designed, and expanding it past where the disc version of the game leaves off.

By adding on to the core game that has already been created, and then releasing that game through a downloadable service you'd be cutting cost and saving money. I am sure that these design companies are paying close attention to the American economy in the past two weeks and they see the writing on the wall. People might not put up with sequels for $60 when they could get a similar expansion for $20. Not only would you be extending the life of your merchandise (which in turn would create a higher profit margin) but you'd be giving the consumer a reason to have confidence in your product.

I'll use Bungie as an example because they're the most recent. Halo 4 will come out at some point, there is no doubting that. However, wouldn't it make more sense economically to release a Halo 3.5 (or whatever you want to call it) that adds on another set number of hours of game play/storyline in 2009 so that you don't need to finish Halo 4 until 2010 or later? You'd get people who were otherwise reluctant to buy Halo 3 (fearing they missing the boat) to purchase the game and not wait for Halo 4, because they can still get in on the ground floor of the next chapter of the game. Less rushing of a title, less stress on the companies in development, and less cost associated with creating an entire new game from the ground up all sounds like a formula that a studio might want to take a serious look at.

Obviously downloadable content and downloadable expansions won't replace hard copies of games. The hard drives simply aren't big enough to contain all of these products. Also I realize that when you've got a set franchise fan base by offering the expansion as DLC instead of a hard disc version you're cutting out those people who would have bought the hard disc (most expensive) version. It's just a theory that I'm throwing out there – one that we will see in action in the near future with GTAIV, and apparently Halo 3. So what do you think about the long term future of downloadable game chapters?

Punching Out

Achievement Unlocked by Rod Oracheski. It's time to revamp some of those achievement lists, a topic that I enjoyed immensely.

The 10th Hour by Derek Robbins. Derek ranked Halo as the most important franchise today and it's tough to argue with him. The game single handedly launched Microsoft's video game industrial machine, and what a glorious ride it's been.

Coming Attractions by Drew Robbins. A very Nintendo-centric week from Drew as he talks about Samba de Amigo, de Blob and Wario Land Shake It.

Fact of Fiction by Tommy Coloma. Man I haven't done a Fact or Fiction in so long. This week it's Drew and Mark debating Mega Man 9, LEGO games, and Chinatown Wars to name a few topics.

The PC Centric Extravaganza by Chris Evans. The only place to go to learn about the Spore/DRM scandal.

Beyond the Report by Derek Robbins. Derek puts a positive spin on the LittleBigPlanet problems that will accompany the game pre launch. To me the whole issue comes down to Sony announcing a game before it was ready, and then pushing it through to launch without the full range of options available. Sound familiar? Of course it does because that's every Sony announcement for the PS3.

The Hall of Shame by Vincent Chiucchi. Do you know what an EVO Phase One is? If not you might want to check out this column.

Nintendophiles by Theo Frasier. Details on GTA: Chinatown Wars, and some Sonic news.

The Negative Edge by Tommy Coloma. It's the final edition of The Negative Edge and in poetic turn of events the final game Tommy talked about was Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure. I guess they can't all be gems.