E3 2010: Microsoft unveils Kinect details, MGS Rising trailer at press conference [EDIT 1]

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(Runtime: 22 minutes)

It's a little late, but I've got all of the tantalizing news from Microsoft's awful E3 press conference right here in this post, complete with a brief, unedited podcast roundup (starring both me and Elliot). Well, let's get on with the show.

It's hard to imagine that it's been a full year since we first heard about Microsoft's Project Natal, but today we were given a glimpse into a more fully-featured version of the revolutionary, controller-free Xbox 360 interface, now renamed "Kinect," presumably to tie into Microsoft's new phone, the Kin. The project has now become a slightly new interface for the Xbox 360, complete with voice commands and hand gesture-controlled menus. Kinect will launch worldwide this fall, specifically in North America on November 4, 2010.

Granted, most of the games shown at the conference seemed to simply be clones of Wii games, including a sports pack, a cart racer, and even the Wii Fit-esque Your Shape: Fitness Evolved from Ubisoft. Meanwhile, Microsoft also showed off non-game features (actually, a lot of them) that take advantage of the microphone and camera in Kinect. These include a video chat application (demoed by the MOST AWKWARD engineer and her twin sister), new interfaces for interacting with video and music content, and an ESPN application featuring videos of sporting events. [[EDIT: Among some of the third-party games available for the new peripheral are a new Forza racing game (available in 2011) and an MTV Games-produced, Harmonix-developed dancing game.]]

Oh yeah, there were some games there too. We saw a previously-released trailer for Activision and Treyarch's Call of Duty: Black Ops, coupled with an announcement that Microsoft has signed an "exclusive, multi-year agreement with Activision" that will result in all Call of Duty games, map packs, and expansions releasing first on the Xbox 360 through 2012. [[EDIT: Of course, Halo: Reach was there, with a video of its single-player campaign (now with GIRL Spartans!).]] Cliff Bleszinski, also known as "CliffyB," got up on the stage early on to show off Gears of War 3 (spoiler: it's more Gears of War) and Hideo Kojima showed off one of the highlights of the conference: a new trailer for the Raiden-centric game Metal Gear Solid Rising. Apparently this game is about cutting. Cutting everything from limbs to brick support beams to watermelons.

Last but not least, Microsoft announced their new Xbox 360 model (often called the "Xbox 360 Slim" by consumers and press), which is smaller and features built-in Wi-Fi and a 250GB hard drive for the same price as the current Elite model. And it launches ... today? Just like the Sega Saturn? Well OK, way to follow in the footsteps of one of the industry's greatest success stories. But that just wasn't enough — everyone in the audience was also given a free Xbox 360, a move mirroring Oprah Winfrey's now-classic "and you get a car" event that left most of the press conference's audience speechless and somewhat confused.

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For more news and commentary out of E3 2010, check back with our E3 2010 label page.

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uReview: Halo Wars (360)

Genre: Real Time Strategy
Designer: Amanda Wyatt (Director)
Developer: Ensemble Studios
Publisher: Microsoft
Console: Xbox 360
Release Year: 2009
Rated: M for Mature

The following article was submitted by Ra1don (before he was brought on as a staff member). The opinions expressed below do not represent those of Ani-Gamers or its affiliates.

Ahh, I could still remember that day in 2005, going over to a friend's house to play his special edition copy of Age of Empires III and flipping through an included book. I don't quite remember what was in that book, but I remember on one of the last few pages, there was a picture of two groups of futuristic super soldiers fighting each other in all their splendor. "Wow," I thought, "I have to get this game."

Before I start my review, let's get a little history lesson going on. That picture of the futuristic soldiers duking it out was indeed a very early version of Halo Wars. This game was never really intended to be latched onto the Halo franchise, but rather an Age of Empires IV built exclusively for the console. After attempting to build the game's controls around the game itself for a few years, Ensemble scrapped their work and started over, creating the controls first and building the game around that. It wasn't until 2006 that Microsoft allowed them to use the Halo franchise in an attempt to boost the game's popularity and expose the public to this new vein of RTS games.

The single player campaign of Halo Wars is very much like any other RTS campaign; it slowly brings you through the learning curve by showing you how to control units and build bases until you have to fight off wave after wave of unrelenting enemy forces towards the end of your campaign.

The story is a prequel to the events of Halo: Combat Evolved and takes place six years after the fall of the planet Harvest. Many familiar themes come into play; the Prophets stop at nothing to continue the great journey, you go toe-to-toe with Grunts, Elites, Hunters, Jackals, Brutes, and many familiar vehicles, as well as some new ones, and you have to blow up some forerunner technology to save everyone's lives.

The gameplay within the storyline is slightly different from multiplayer or skirmish matches. For one thing, there are some campaign-exclusive units that effectively change battle scenarios throughout the campaign. They usually give you an unfair edge over the enemy and make some missions a cakewalk if you're playing on the "normal" difficulty level. On top of that, in some missions you're given ridiculous amounts of something, like 11 Spartans as opposed to the maximum 3 in multiplayer, 40 Mass Accelerated Cannon rounds, or free drops of fully-upgraded ODSTs.

The hero system within the campaign is different as well, marking Spartans as hero units, as well as your leader. When any of your heroes die, you can revive them as in Age of Empires III by bringing a friendly unit close to them. In the other game modes, heroes just die and they have to be resurrected, and as a balancing issue, UNSC leaders do not actually enter the battle yet act more like the governors in the AOEIII system.

The game's graphics are the best I have ever seen in an RTS. It includes incredibly detailed, slightly different renditions of the characters of Halo to take time difference into account. The sounds within the game are ripped directly from the Halo series, and their quality has been improved to allow for sound cues within battles.

Playing online is incredibly entertaining because each of the six leaders has a different way of playing the game, therefore making an effective six races. Because the game is not as strict as other RTS games such as StarCraft, no two players can play the game the same way. The limitation of how many buildings one can create force a player to specialize in one aspect and utilize it to its full effectiveness.

Ensemble claims that there is a rock-paper-scissors type balancing within the game, but I found that to not be completely true. The game's unique style of play puts strategy over production, and in a battle of ODSTs versus Grizzly tanks (Scorpion tanks with two cannons) a good commander on the ODST side has about as much of a chance of winning as the commander of the Grizzlies.

The largest drawback to playing online isn't caused as much by the game as by player mentality. When I first got Halo Wars, I ran through the tutorial levels, fought some skirmish battles, played online, then played through campaign mode. The average player, however, would play the campaign before they would play online. Because the campaign only covers the UNSC, about two in every three members of the online community play as the UNSC. Regardless, battles still turn out interesting with every player having their own unique strategy, making every battle different.

Overall, Halo Wars is a great game, earning most of that greatness through its uniqueness. Being a veteran of many RTS games, I can comfortably call this one of the simplest – but simultaneously one of the most fun – games I've played. I wouldn't recommend buying it if you don't have access to LIVE, but the skulls and achievements allow for a lot of replay value, as does the ability to create your own scenarios through the skirmish option. Even with LIVE, the $60 price tag seems a little steep, but due to its addictiveness, Halo Wars is definitely too valuable to rent. Chances are, the price won't drop because it is part of the Halo franchise, so do a few odd jobs and the game will pay for itself.

great.

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E3 2009: Microsoft Press Conference Highlights

Video Games | Project Natal | E3 09: Project Natal Intro

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

While Ani-Gamers does not have reporters present at E3 this year, we are nonethesless striving to bring you up-to-date coverage from and opinions on the show through the reporting of other websites. Without further ado, here's what went down at the Microsoft Press Conference.

Corporate Vice President of LIVE, Software and Services John Schappert began by setting a countdown of sorts: There would be ten games shown off during the presentation that featured never-before-seen footage or features, or were entirely new announcements. The first big reveal was not a game announcement, but details for The Beatles: Rock Band, which boasted three microphones at a time for a total of six players during the demo of "Day Tripper." The songs currently confirmed for the game are "I Saw Her Standing There," "I Want to Hold Your Hand," "I Feel Fine," "Day Tripper," "Taxman," "I Am The Walrus," "Back in the U.S.S.R.," "Octopus's Garden," "Here Comes The Sun," and "Get Back," and the entire Abbey Road album will be available for download not long after the game drops on September 9th. Let me just say right now that this game looks like one of the coolest things in recent years. If it permits four-part harmonies, then I'm so going to rock "Paperback Writer" like there's no tomorrow. (Check out the game's debut trailer from E3)

Surprisingly, Microsoft announced Crackdown 2, the sequel to the Xbox 360 open-world action game that achieved mild critical acclaim, but was widely seen as nothing more than a ticket for the Halo 3 beta. Apparently Microsoft thought it was a strong enough franchise on its own to get a sequel. After that came one of the biggest new game announcement of the conference: Left 4 Dead 2 (which totally should have been called Left 5 Dead). Few details are confirmed just yet, but we do know that it will be an Xbox 360/PC exclusive, and will hit stores (and Steam) on November 17, 2009. The CG teaser trailer shows a new cast of characters, and a new setting – New Orleans. That's quite an interesting choice, especially considering the scenes of devastation and urban unrest that occurred there in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

It's not a Microsoft press conference without Halo, and Bungie was in full swing yet again this year, despite no longer being owned by Microsoft. They presented details (and a trailer) for Halo: ODST, which takes place in New Mombassa, "weeks before the start of Halo 3." Included in ODST will be a multiplayer beta invite for Bungie's other game, Halo: Reach. Presumably the game will follow the plot of one of the Halo novels, which details the "Fall of Reach," but I'm not personally familiar with the story's particulars. The only piece of information that Bungie provided was a teaser trailer (featuring no gameplay footage), with the words "Drops 2010."

The conference also boasted showings from the Xbox 360 version of Final Fantasy XIII, which will eventually see its release in 2010 and the Chair Entertainment/Epic Games-developed sidescroller Shadow Complex (formerly Empire: Alpha Complex), which is based on the Orson Scott Card novel Empire. Splinter Cell: Conviction was present with a rather impressive demo video boasting some gameplay reminiscent of Assassin's Creed. Of course, there was also a trailer and gameplay footage from Alan Wake (releases in 2010) and the announcement of Forza 3, which ships in October.

Finally, Schappert announced Joy Ride (trailer here), a new free-to-play XBLA kart racing game that uses Avatars as characters – a clear attempt to grab some of the success of Nintendo's Mario Kart Wii.

The biggest announcement of all came from the hardware side though. Sure, Microsoft announced the ability to edit your Netflix queue on your 360 (a feature lacking in previous versions of Netflix on 360) and a partnership with Facebook and Twitter that will make it possible for you to never ever get up from your Xbox in your entire life. But what has everybody talking are two simple words: Project Natal.

According to the videos and demos shown by Microsoft, "Natal" (named after the word for "birth") seems to be, in essence, a motion controller, sans the controller. It is a camera that captures the player's movements and translates them into game actions by (presumably) fitting the person to a virtual ball-and-rod structure. Other features include facial recognition, object scans for things like skateboard designs, voice recognition, and AI interaction. The trailer (shown above) is full of Wii-level silliness, which actually highlights the true reason why Microsoft is trying to implement such a revolutionary change – they are losing to Nintendo, and they are looking to change that. While I'm generally opposed to playing a game without something physical involved (since there's no physical feedback), I'll admit that the idea might be just crazy enough to work. The question is, can it actually cut into the Wii's market?

I'm going to say no, at least for this generation. The Wii has already grabbed mainstream attention by "doing it first," and the name "Wii" has a much better ring to it than "Project Natal." The technology being pioneered here by Microsoft is revolutionary, certainly, and I would love to see it work, but I'm afraid that it will be just as wonky as the Wii. If Microsoft has a product of equal quality but with inferior marketing, they simply cannot hope to win the fight for the casuals.

But let's just get this straight: Natal is similar to things like the Wii and OnLive in that it's crazy and unlikely, but if it works, it will completely and utterly change the landscape upon which video games are played. I applaud Microsoft for taking such a major leap, whether it ends up working out for them or not.

[via 1UP]

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TGS08: Surprise! Bungie and Microsoft developing Halo 3: Recon

Remember when Bungie split off from Microsoft, and we all thought that the era of Bungie-made Halo games was finally over? Well, for those of you who crossed your fingers, waiting for a brand new, original IP from Bungie, get ready for a surprise (or perhaps a disappointing non-surprise). Microsoft Game Studios is publishing Bungie's newest project, a stand-alone Halo 3 pseudo-sequel titled Halo 3: Recon.

This disc will include "hours" of gameplay in the form of a new campaign called "Hell Jumpers," starring a brand new lead character. Bungie has also stated that the game will be a traditional Halo game, except with a bigger focus on "stealth" and "cunning." Before you worry yourself, Halo 3: Recon will also come equipped with all of the multiplayer components from Halo 3, as well as some new extras. No original Halo 3 game disc is required. Microsoft plans to release the game in the fall of 2009.

[via Joystiq]

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Microsoft drops 360 price, Arcade down to $199

After months of anticipation from analysts, internet pundits (i.e. us), and bargain-searching parents, Microsoft finally announced a price drop for the Xbox 360 which went active as of September 5, according to an official press release. The main focus was of course on the lowest-priced Xbox SKU, the Arcade, which aims to bring casual and family gamers into the Xbox 360 fold (and, naturally, out of the Wii one).

The Xbox 360 Arcade, previously $279.99, moved down to $199.99, undercutting the Wii's price - static since launch - which has so stymied Xbox breakthroughs into the casual demographic. The 60GB Xbox 360 also moved down from $349.99 to $299.99, and the Elite was cut by $50 from $449.99 to $399.99.

Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business senior vice president Don Mattrick made it clear in the press release that the Arcade price drop is a direct stab at Nintendo's Wii sales, saying with pride that Microsoft is "thrilled to be the first next-generation console on the market to reach $199[.]"

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Rare goes "nuts" with Banjo-Kazooie

What do you do with a franchise that has been dormant for nearly ten years? Microsoft-owned studio Rare Ltd. has decided to resurrect the Banjo-Kazooie franchise after its unforgettable success on the N64 in 2000 with Banjo-Tooie. Ever since Microsoft purchased the promising development team back in the early days of the original Xbox, Rare has failed to deliver a title that lives up to the quality that Rare was once known for. While games like Kameo and Perfect Dark Zero were by no means bad, they did not deliver the quality that one comes to expect from the team behind Goldeneye. Will the 360's new Banjo game do justice to its N64 predecessors or once again miss the mark?

Based on what was revealed of the game last week, the hope for something superb was shattered. Rare decided to take the franchise in another direction and do something new, which don't get me wrong is a good thing, but not when you turn a platformer into a digital erector set. That's right kids, vehicle construction is the name of the game in Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts. Before I go any further let me make myself clear, this is by no means an attack on the creativity or quality of the game; the only question that plagues my mind is why Banjo? In all honesty, Rare should have poured all of that creative genius into creating a building game separate from the Banjo universe, or at least created an authentic platforming sequel and then released this as a spinoff sometime down the road. Banjo needs to be what Mario Galaxy has been for the Wii, and right now I'm afraid this idea has forced the series to take a turn for the worst. Please Rare, prove me wrong.

[via GameSpot]

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Microsoft Shows Off Community Arcade at GDC

At this year's Game Developer's Conference, Microsoft made the announcement of their new "Community Arcade," a segment of the vaunted Xbox Live Arcade platform. With Community Arcade, Microsoft is giving true power to tiny, independent (and often one-man) development groups, who can now create a game, upload it for free to the Community Arcade, and allow any Xbox 360 owner with access to XBLA to download it (still for free).

Game developers will be able to build profiles called "creator profiles" to track their games, but players will have a significant say in the process as well. In order to regulate content, creators will tag their games with labels like "violence" and "language," but players will later be able to tag and peer-review the games themselves.

While some demos are out right now for players to try out the new Community Arcade games (such as Walaber's "Jelly Car"), Microsoft has not yet announced an official launch date for their revolutionary "YouTube of games."

[via Joystiq]

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Fable 2 Features Revealed

Seems the time has come again: Peter Molyneux has opened his abnormally thought-filled mind to explain and show his ideas for Fable 2. The announcement was made on February 22nd during GDC 2008, and seems to improve my main complaint with the original game, namely that there are now more than 2 choices: being an angel or being the spawn of Superman 64.

Many of the new features include instilling more compassion for the world around you, such as a family, and rewards for being especially good. Combat will be more MMO-like, implementing single-button fighting and switching weapons on the fly. However, the more gracefully you fight, the more experience is gained. Also, there will be co-op with another human player, with shared experience points. A switch prevents the co-op partner from killing certain things, such as friendly NPCs.

The demo showcased the replacement of the mini-map with a breadcrumb trail, a somewhat questionable decision. It also showed that the player can kill their co-op partner, an unintended feature in the game. There is still same-sex marriage, as in the original, but now protection is optional and same-sex couples may have surrogate parents to have babies. If Molyneux can keep all (or at least most) of his promises, Fable 2 could become a pretty good game.

[via Joystiq]

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Blu-Ray (Officially) Wins Format Wars

Four days ago, Toshiba made the fateful decision to cease support for the HD-DVD high-definition media format. This decision makes Blu-Ray the official winner of the "format war" of the past few years. This also marks the first time Sony has defeated another format for domination of the market. It has yet to be seen, however, if Blu-Ray can win over consumers in the face of the sleeping giant of digital distribution.

Today, Microsoft finally caved in and announced that they are ceasing production of all HD-DVD player units for the Xbox 360. They will still provide warranty and technical services to owners of the peripheral.
[via Joystiq]

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Gears 2 in November, Ninja Gaiden 2 on June 3

In a double dose of release date news, the Game Developer's Conference has brought us two announcements sure to please fans of bloody dismemberment Gears of War and Ninja Gaiden.

At the Microsoft keynote today, Epic Games' CliffyB announced that Microsoft Games Studios and Epic are (unsurprisingly) working on a sequel to the popular Gears of War Xbox 360 game. According to a chinsaw-weilding CliffyB, the game will release November 2008 on the Xbox 360. (Trailer and CliffyB announcement video embedded below) Additionally, Tomonobu Itagaki, also speaking at the Microsoft keynote, revealed a June 3 North American release (and an early June worldwide release) for the Xbox 360-exclusive Ninja Gaiden 2.

[via Joystiq: Gears, Ninja Gaiden]

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EA Buys BioWare, Gamers Cry

Massive game publisher Electronic Arts announced on October 11th plans to purchase VG Holding Corp., the company that owns both BioWare Corp. and Pandemic Studios. This assimilates BioWare, which is currently working on the highly-anticipated Xbox 360 exclusive RPG/Action game Mass Effect, and Pandemic, which is currently working on Mercenaries 2, into the EA developer's structure.

According to EA and Microsoft, Microsoft Game Studios will still publish Mass Effect exclusively on the 360, but the franchise, which was previously owned by BioWare, will now be owned by EA. This means that EA can conceivably publish any possible sequels to Mass Effect on multiple consoles, though the publisher has stated that they have no current plans to take Mass Effect beyond the Xbox 360. In addition, both BioWare and Pandemic will now publish under EA's "EA Games" label. Finally. EA plans to publish BioWare's mysterious MMO project within a general 2011 time window.

Electronic Arts held a conference call on Thursday discussing the acquisition, claiming that the move was "mutually beneficial" for all parties. EA CEO John Riccitiello said that EA can "reach places where [BioWare and Pandemic] don't get to so we can build their properties bigger," also admitting that action and RPG games are not EA's specialty, so these new developers would broaden their focus.

The gaming community (myself among it) was shocked and angered by this news. EA is notorious among gamers for caring more about making money than making good games. While the acquisition of BioWare could theoretically help improve EA's reputation, the most likely effect of this change will be for BioWare's talent to leave, giving EA just the BioWare name and the Mass Effect IP. Ironically, this saddening news comes just days after Bungie announced their independence from Microsoft.

Enjoy Mass Effect, gamers, because that will be BioWare's last hurrah in their current independent form.
[via Joystiq]

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Bungie Free From Microsoft

It's official--Bungie Studios, which has been owned by Microsoft for years, has split from their parent company, in an agreement that turns Bungie Studios into the independent third party "Bungie, LLC." Microsoft will still hold a minority equity interest in Bungie, but they will no longer own the company. Bungie is now free to develop their own games as a third-party developer, and so can create any title on any console they want, though they will still remain in a lasting partnership with Microsoft.

This comes less than a week after Microsoft's release of Halo 3, which quickly became the highest grossing digital entertainment property in history after grossing over $300 million in its first week. It is important to note that Microsoft, not Bungie, still holds the rights to the lucrative Halo property.

“Working with Microsoft was great for us [...] But Bungie is like a shark. We have to keep moving to survive. We have to continually test ourselves, or we might as well be dolphins. Or manatees,” said Jason Jones, founder of Bungie. Well, I get the manatees thing, but I'd have to argue you guys are a bit more like whales, if you know what I mean.

This move is incredibly important and unprecedented. At no point in video game history has a studio that had been bought by a large publisher actually split off of its own decision. It is even more strange because Bungie is such a valuable asset to Microsoft, due to the Halo franchise. The most common idea of what happened is that Bungie's employees were being made to continually work on Halo games due to decisions made by Microsoft, and they were often not compensated for the huge amounts of profit they brought in. Bungie employees threatened to leave en masse if Microsoft did not allow them to become independent. However, no one has yet heard the full story from either Microsoft or Bungie.

I wish the best of luck to Bungie, and all of its employees, in their future pursuits.
[via Bungie.net]

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Tonight... We FINISH THE FIGHT!

Here it is. The big day. You've all been waiting years to go down to GameStop, wait on line for hours, and grab your giant plastic helmet full of green-and-gold goodness. Tomorrow is one of the biggest days in gaming: the release of Bungie and Microsoft Game Studio's flagship title for the Xbox 360, the final in its trilogy, Halo 3. AniGamers would like to wish all the midnight-buyers who plan on "Finishing the Fight" tonight good luck, both in getting the game, and in mercilessly pwning n00bz on XBL. And to all of those who, like myself, are stuck with only a Wii, a PS3, or no new-gen console at all...well, all we can say is:

Sucks for you!

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Xbox 360 Price Drop Makes All Your Wildest Dreams Come True

It seems that while I was away, I missed one of the most megaton announcements in gaming in the last several months. That's right, Microsoft finally confirmed what rumor-mongers, legitimate blogs, and illiterate GameFAQs posters have been hoping for for a long time: the Xbox 360 received its first ever (I'm serious) price drop on Wednesday, August 8.

The official rundown goes like this: Core System has dropped to $279, the Standard moves to $349, Elite drops to $449, and the special edition Halo 3 box (when it releases) will be $399. That, my friend, is the horror we call "4 SKUs."

Microsoft claimed to want to capitalize on the release of Madden '08 and bring in PS2 owners who would now switch to a more affordable 360. Read the full press release here, embedded in Kotaku's article.

I'd complain about how $50 is a really wimpy price cut, and how we really wanted a $100 drop so that the 360 could compete with Wii and blow away the PS3 (no hard feelings, Sony), but I'm so happy we got a price cut at all that I just won't mention it.
[via Kotaku]

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Preview: Shadowrun (X360)

Genre(s): Adventure, FPS, Online, Puzzle
Developer: FASA Interactive
Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
Console(s): PC, Xbox 360
Rated: M for Mature

I've, of course, heard a lot about Shadowrun since its recent release on the Xbox 360 and Games for Windows. It is the first game to play on Microsoft's Live service cross-platform, allowing Xbox 360 and PC players to finally face off and decide: Dual-analog or Keyboard-mouse? More important to the average player, the game uses a number of interesting new ideas, namely mixing FPS features and magic. Before we begin, let me remind those of you who don't know that Shadowrun is multiplayer-only. There is no single-player campaign, so other than some cpu matches, you are playing online pretty much all the time.

Shadowrun is noticeable for its very interesting twist on the FPS genre. Like other games before it, the game utilizes team-based arena shooter mechanics, complete with a safe time in the beginning for players to buy weapons. However, during this safe period, players can also buy magic spells and technology upgrades. These can give a variety of helpful abilities, such as auto-aim, healing, or magic attacks. Then, you simple equip your weapons and magic, and begin the fight.

The controls are the general FPS button set, and they work just fine, once you get the hang of the use of magic. Even so, there are times where your character will get inexplicably stuck on edges of buildings and other structures, an error that can be crippling in the middle of a fierce online game. When you die, you do not respawn until the end of the round. However, allies can revive your dead body, as long as an enemy has not come by to shoot you until you cannot come back. This interesting revival dynamic is able to create a sense of teamwork among your comrades, even during a hectic battle.

The game looks nice, from what I've seen, with the magic effects showing off the most noticeable graphical feats. Trees of Light will grow right in front of your eyes, and spray beads of healing light, characters will burst into smoke and disappear, and crystals will spring up underneath you to damage you and hinder movement.

Shadowrun is an interesting take on the online first-person shooter, with its magic aspects. It also manages to create a sense of teamwork that many online shooters fail to achieve. Even with its strengths, the lack of a single-player mode is disappointing for a game with so much potential.

Pre-Rating:

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Halo Short Movie and Special Edition 360

Peter Moore, always the man to bring us steaming hot Halo news, has announced details on the previously discussed Halo film, and shown Halo fans a new model of Xbox 360.

The new live action short film, titled "Arms Race," is a collaboration between Bungie and Weta Studios. The video shown in the press conference showed preparations for battle and various technology from the Halo universe. You can catch both the Arms Race and Halo 3 trailers here. Please note that Arms Race is a standalone short film, and that the shown trailer is the entire thing, not just a preview. Director Neill Blomkamp intends to use the film not only as Halo 3 marketing, but also as a way to get producers interested in his Halo film.

On the gaming side of things, Moore also showed off another new Xbox 360. This one is colored Spartan green, while the disc slot and other parts are painted with the orangeish-gold of Master Chief's helmet. You'd think that they'd quit making new 360s and just drop the price already. I really don't care if it's green, black, or lightish-red. Just make it cheap.
[via Joystiq]

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Gears, Viva Pinata, others to move to PC

After repeatedly assuring us that Gears of War, Epic's critically acclaimed Xbox 360 shooter, would not be moving from the 360 anytime soon, Microsoft yesterday announced at their E3 press conference that Gears and Viva Pinata, both bestselling 360 titles, would be ported to PC, and the Games for Windows platform.

In addition to these two games, new games were announced for Games for Windows, including such titles as Stranglehold and Blacksite: Area 51. Luckily for those who have not made the switch yet, (i.e. the lucky ones) Gears and Viva Pinata will run on both XP and Vista. Gears for PC will also come with "five new levels, a new editor, and 'some very big surprises.'" (Joystiq)
[via Joystiq]

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Mass Effect On 360 This November

BioWare's highly anticipated game Mass Effect was given a release date during Peter Moore's Microsoft press conference yesterday. The game will release on Xbox 360 this November, with an unconfirmed exact date.
[via Joystiq]

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Beautiful Katamari 360 Exclusive

A fact sheet from Namco-Bandai seems to confirm what many had feared. Microsoft has grabbed yet another exclusive franchise, this time not just from Sony, but from Nintendo as well. Beautiful Katamari, originally slated for release on PS3, 360, and Wii, is nearly confirmed to be only an Xbox 360 release. The Xbox 360 is gobbling up so many important third-party franchises from the other two consoles, I wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo and Sony were left at the end of this console generation with only their first-party franchises to keep them company.
[via Kotaku]

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Microsoft hosts Global Warming Development Contest

It seems that somebody is following Doug Lowenstein's advice, as Microsoft has recently announced a game development contest called the Games for Change Challenge for college students to make games with real-world significance. They have chosen the touchy subject of global warming for the topic. All games must be made in Microsoft's XNA Game Studio Express program, and the winners might even be used with Xbox Live Arcade or Games for Windows Live Arcade.

This is a great decision on the part of Microsoft, and I'm very interested in seeing some of these games. How do you think someone would incorporate global warming into an interesting game?
[via Kotaku]

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