Pixel Well » Xbox 360

Microsft’s Xbox 360 250Gb Slim and Kinect

The King's Eighth — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 17:06:44 +0000

If you haven’t heard already Microsoft announced this past Tuesday the launch of their newest Xbox 360 S model and the long awaited motion capture device Kinect, formerly Natal. Following suit of Sony they have trimmed down the system for a slimmer and sleeker looking console. Some of the new features include a smaller 45nm processor, integrated 2.4GHz 802.11n WiFi, 5 USB ports (2 front, 3 back), custom Kinect port, and a larger 250 GB removable hard drive. Current users will not be able to remove their hard drives and attach them to the new unit. However, there will be a USB transfer cable available to transfer your data. As of Tuesday websites have been reporting that the units were being shipped out to retailers that day and expected to see them on store shelves by the end of this week. Here are some highlights of the official fact sheet that Engadget was given followed by the spec sheet revealed at Joystiq.

Xbox 360 is fully loaded with new features and still comes with everything you know and love. Here’s a feature list to make sure you don’t miss any of the newestXbox 360 250GB parts.

Form Factor: Sleek, lean and gloss black finish with chrome accents. Place vertically or horizontally in any living room entertainment center.

Touch Sensitive Buttons: Turn the Xbox 360 video game system on/off and eject a disc with the swipe of a finger.

Whisper Quiet: Whether you’re playing a DVD disc or from the hard drive, or navigating the dashboard, with the all-new and much quieter Xbox 360, the only noise you’ll hear is your own laughing, cheering and playing.

Wi-Fi: Built-in 802.11n Wi-Fi for fast, easy connection to your friends and entertainment on Xbox LIVE.

Hard Drive: 250GB internal, swappable hard drive for even more storage. To access, remove the bottom panel by pushing the small tab toward the front of the console.

Kinect-Ready: Custom Kinect port on the back of the console that directly hooks up to the Kinect sensor for controller-free fun.

USB Slots: Five USB ports; three in the back of the console and two in the front for easy plug and play.

AV Connections: AV Cable included for standard definition TV connection. HDMI port for high definition TV connection. Optical Audio out port integrated on back of console for AV system connection.

Power Supply: Smaller and more efficient. Xbox 360 250GB and
Xbox 360 Original power supplies are not interchangeable.

Wireless Controller: The award-winning Xbox 360 Wireless Controller matches the console in all black with color-matched thumsticks and directional pad with a touch of gloss and chrome to complete the look.

Backwards Compatible. Your favorite accessories and games will work with Xbox 360 250GB. (Xbox 360 External Hard Drives and Memory Units are not compatible.)

Accessories. Customize your Xbox 360 250GB with matching black accessories, including favorites such as Controllers, Wireless Headset, Chatpad, Quick Charge and Play & Charge Kits and more. Get a look at a few of these today.

Key Internal Components Changes:

Fan: Moved from two small fans to one larger fan for improved acoustics. Chipset: 45 nanometer and integrated CPU and GPU.
Wi-Fi: Integrated wireless capability.

Along with the announcement of the new 360 model was Kinect. The device, formally know as Natal, will be released November 4th of this year with a large array of supported games. If you don’t remember what Natal was, it is Microsoft’s leap into the motion control aspect of gaming. The device utilizes cameras and infrared sensors to pick up your placement and movement. Here is the list of upcoming games to utilize the new device. Of course there has to be a sports game, Kinect Sports.

Zumba Fitness
Game Party in Motion
Motionsports
Kinect Adventures
The Biggest Loser: Ultimate Workout
Kinect Joyride
Kinect Sports
Adrenalin Misfits
Deca Sports Collection
Dance Central
Dance Masters
Sonic Free Riders
Kinectimals
EA Sports Active 2.0
Your Shape: Fitness Evolved

Microsft’s Xbox 360 250Gb Slim and Kinect is an article on Pixel Well
All original content, including images and all intellectual properties, are copyright © Pixel Well 2010

The Force Unleashed II E3 2010 Trailer

The King's Eighth — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 01:47:02 +0000

LucasArts has released another Star Wars trailer for you. This time its for the upcoming game The Force Unleashed 2. I’m personally excited for this game after recently playing through the first game. I’m curious as to where the writers are going to take the storyline. It seems that there can only be so much done in the time span between Episode III and IV of the movie series. Also worth checking out is the Force Unleashed II web site. There are no menus but instead take on the appearance as if you are in a bacta tank as a clone.(?) There are several audio files that you can listen in on and a few mini games to unlock memories. Some are flashbacks of the old game while others possible hint to the storyline of the next game. Go on and check out the site here. Make sure to check out the trailer after the break.

The Force Unleashed II E3 2010 Trailer is an article on Pixel Well
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New Bad Company DLC

The River Salmon — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 01:30:27 +0000

The patch tomorrow should and is heralding more than just bug fixes (some of which just crashed King and I in tandem after a brief session). Apparently for the Xbox 360 you can get new outfits and camo for some guns, one for each class. Check out the post on the official Bad Company 2 blog:

Recruited strictly from other high-level Special Operations units such as Delta Force and Spetsnaz, the Special Activities groups – SPECACT – are the elite of the elite, used mainly for covert operations and other high-risk missions in areas where conventional troops cannot be used.

With the 4 kit specific unique uniforms and the camouflaged SPECACT personal M16A2, UMP-45, MG3 and M95 SNIPER you have a visual edge on the Battlefield, showing that you’re a force to be reckoned with. The pack also includes 12 new awards and 4 Achievements.

Out of all of those weapons the M16 is really the only one I care about. Of course, people love the M95, but the Magnum is where its at. All that rubbish aside, here’s the rub. For you Aussies and UK’ers out there, the pack will cost you, 160 MS points per kit and 440 MS points for the whole she-bang.

For everyone else, you have to drink Dr. Pepper. That’s right. Old school enough for you? It makes me want to buy Dr. Pepper, believe it or not. Good thing thats ONLY for the Xbox 360. Just hang on if you’re on the PC, it’ll probably just be free. Lets hope we get a new map soon too. Oh, and bug fixes. Oh, and M60 nerfz, plzkthxbai.

New Bad Company DLC is an article on Pixel Well
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Online Support for Xbox Originals Ends Tonight at 12

The River Salmon — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 01:44:29 +0000

This isn’t the first online game to close its doors to the support of the cyberwebz. Its kind of a sad thing. You expect there to be some kind of everlasting heartbeat to these worlds that frame our memories. Alas, these things go. At the same time, it makes me as a gamer aware of my input to any current or future titles. Is my interaction all in vein? It won’t last in a virtual world. Still, we won’t stop bonking murlocs for fear of having our virtual bodies return to the digital aether from whence they sprung.

Get in a few more rounds of Halo 2 guys, the Live support is ending tonight at midnight. Here’s to another endless battle put to rest.

Online Support for Xbox Originals Ends Tonight at 12 is an article on Pixel Well
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Gears of War 3 Trailer Announcement – A Woman COG?

The River Salmon — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 18:21:09 +0000

So here we go again. I recall the original Gears of War was what drew me to the Xbox 360, far more potent than the waifish gust of Perfect Dark Zero. I liked the game. What I liked more was the commercial. The one with Mad World by Gary Jules. Oh man did I like that commercial. The weirdest thing about that was the I got a lot more sentiment and emotion from that commercial than the actual game, which was somehow transferred to the actual play experience. Anyway, the same thing (more or less) happened with the second game. The commercial this time around featured How It Ends by Devotchka. Syndic and I co-opped that game into oblivion. And I have to tell you I liked the second one a lot less.

About 25% through the game someone realized the Gears series only moved through space-time with action ramping up exponentially, so you eventually fight through the inside of a beast big enough to eat cities. Wouldn’t the world have to be big enough to support that mofo? I mean, hundreds of times bigger? But I digress.

The third installment (read: commercial) looks to be just as testosterone drenched. You see the ashed bodies of Pompeii like peoples, and a dude getting shot at. You don’t know the dude of course, or maybe I just barely remember the second game. Then Locusts, Fenix… Wait a second, A WOMAN COG?!?!

Yeah that’s just about as crazy as it sounds. Why does it feel like its too late though? All you’ve ever seen are male COGs, why would there be a female COG now? Eh, I guess better late than never though. Heres what Cliff Bleszinski said about the new “features”:

“All sorts of new weapons…a double barreled shotgun,” and “We have female soldiers finally in the game…fans have been asking for that one for awhile.”

With good reason. All I can think of now when I see Gears of War (and subsequently ponder its overflowing masculinity) is this:

Anyway, the rest of the footage is relatively the same. Mutoids coming out of the ground, etc. I have to say I’m not quite as enthused for this commercial as I was for the last ones. Is that a sign? Anyway, check out the video and see for yourself.

Gears of War 3 Trailer Announcement – A Woman COG? is an article on Pixel Well
All original content, including images and all intellectual properties, are copyright © Pixel Well 2010

PrimeSense: The Magic Behind Natal

The King's Eighth — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 20:35:16 +0000

If you’ve heard about Microsoft’s project Natal, then its about time you heard the name PrimeSense. They’re the company who is responsible for the inner workings of Microsoft’s 3D motion controller. Direct from PrinSense’s website:

The PrimeSensor Reference Design is a low-cost, plug and play, USB-powered device that can either sit on top of or next to a television screen or a monitor, or be integrated into them. The Reference Design generates realtime depth, color and audio data of the living room scene. It works in all room lighting conditions (whether in complete darkness or in a fully lit room). It does not require the user to wear or hold anything, does not require calibration and does not require computational resources from the host’s processor.

How it does this is by simply bathing the area in front of it with “near-infra red” light, then using its CMOS image sensor to receive the light and translate it into code which it then communicates to a PC or game console. In a recent press release revealing the deal between Microsoft and PrimeSense, Ilan Spillinger, vice president of Xbox 360 hardware, stated that “PrimeSense has delivered an important component to the technology, helping us deliver revolutionary controller-free entertainment experiences in the living room.” Inon Beracha, chief executive officer of PrimeSense commented on the deal saying “We are especially honored to have a partner like Microsoft who shares our vision for bringing innovative and engaging natural experiences to consumers.”

The technology behind Microsoft’s Project Natal is certainly worth a lot of attention. Microsoft will be able to launch many games with a new sense of interactivity that has not been achieved before. Just imagine the ability to fully utilize your entire body into the latest sports games. My only question is how they will utilize this technology for first person shooters. There will certainly still be the need for input devices in most games. What will happen when your cat or dog walks on by, or you get interrupted by someone walking through? Perhaps this may result in total seclusion before you start playing with Natal.

PrimeSense: The Magic Behind Natal is an article on Pixel Well
All original content, including images and all intellectual properties, are copyright © Pixel Well 2010

Microsft’s Xbox 360 250Gb Slim and Kinect

Medal of Honor (2010)

The King's Eighth — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 14:00:45 +0000

The new Medal of Honor was announced via trailer on Spike TV December 12, 2009. This is yet another game that seemed to slip under my radar. EA is creating a refresh of the old game, stepping away from World War II and placing it in modern times in war torn Afghanistan. The new game is being created in cooperation by both EA’s Los Angeles studio and Swedish based developer DICE. DICE was the company that created the popular Battlefield Bad Company series and also Mirror’s Edge. Check out the latest trailer at their website here.

EA is setting themselves up nicely to compete with Activision’s Modern Warfare series. The new Medal of Honor places you with elite Tier 1 operative soldiers in the U.S. led NATO war against Al Qaeda. When asked in a recent interview with Kotaku on why they chose Afghanistan, Medal of Honor executive producer Greg Goodrich said,

Afghanistan sort of chose us. We had a story we wanted to tell and it was about a certain group of individuals.

When asked if he was using this setting as an attempt to grab audiences from current events Goodrich said the following:

We have a story to tell: Our story, our characters and the quality level at which we’re telling our story will engage people whether it’s there or anywhere else. The backdrop is just that. It’s a historical backdrop that has rich history. It all adds to that recipe that goes into making a great storytelling experience, beyond the locale, beyond the time of day, beyond the audio or music.

This is something that I feel the Medal of Honor series will play into their latest game: real life historical events. The Modern Warfare series places you into a fictional war and storyline. Here Medal of Honor will thrill us with real people in historical events, all of which took place during the first part of the Afghanistan War. All I can remember was the feeling I had playing Allied Assault for PC when I played the D-Day landing. I true sense of get the hell off the boat and find some cover before I died. It brought the first attempts at blending cinematic storyline and gameplay together. I hope to expect the same things with this iteration of Medal of Honor. Expect to see this game for PC, Xbox 360, and PS3 this summer.

Splinter Cell Conviction

The King's Eighth — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 14:42:30 +0000

Sam Fisher is at it again. I remember playing the first Splinter Cell on my Xbox way back in high school (2002) and thought that the game’s concept was very well done. The graphics were amazing, not to mention the lighting was phenomenal. I don’t remember much about the game’s story line though I remember being hooked into the style of gameplay. Then they released Pandora Tomorrow in 2004 and Chaos Theory in 2005. I remember playing segments of Pandora Tomorrow on PC but don’t think I ever finish the game. Same thing with Chaos Theory. Since then they released Essentials, which was released for the PSP and then Double Agent for the Wii, 360, and PS3. I actually played Double Agent on the Wii and thought they did a fairly decent job at incorporating the Wii remote. Now Ubisoft is gearing for the release of Splinter Cell Conviction on April 13.

The new iteration looks like it will be another great game done by Ubisoft. The game caught me by surprise the other day when I found their latest development video. Take a look at it at the end of the post. One of their key features in this game is using the environment to display mission objectives and information. While you are sneaking around, an objective will look like its being projected on a nearby wall. Same with mission vital information. This seems to be very interesting way to drop in game menus to give it a better gameplay flow. As far as the actual story line goes, not much has been revealed by Ubisoft, though it seems you may be pitted against Sam’s former agency Third Echelon. Sam becomes a rogue agent after discovering the death of his daughter Sarah. As far as the actual gameplay goes, many websites have claimed that it is no longer a stealth game but rather a combination of both action and stealth. This seems to make sense to me. A lot of games these days are being geared towards cinematic stories with lots of action in between– Uncharted and Uncharted 2 comes to mind. They successfully combine all elements of and action packed movie as well as having the ability to sneak around the entire game killing your enemies. The changes that you will see in Splinter Cell Conviction should, in my opinion, make the game more appealing to all audiences. Though it may loose its original feel from the first game, Splinter Cell Conviction looks like it will be an amazing refresh of the series.

Sturmovik IL-2 – Birds of Prey

Ghost Recon: Future Soldier Details Revealed; a Little Bland?

The River Salmon — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 19:30:59 +0000

So in the May issue of the Official Xbox Magazine there is a load of information about the new Ghost Recon installment: Future Soldier. Here is the list of inclusions revealed by the magazine:

The game will feature split-screen cooperative play, but it’s yet to be determined if it will be two or four players.
Soldiers in Future Soldier benefit from “load-bearing leg braces that enable them to move swiftly” even as they’re covered in a ton of heavy technology.
Gamers can sprint to cover, slide-tackle enemies, and hurdle low obstacles thanks to their new exoskeleton.
A first for the series, the soldiers will have close-combat takedowns at their disposal. The takedowns are based on various forms of martial arts.
The team is divided into four members, each with a different class. The classes are: Commando, Engineer, Sniper, and Recon.
Commando is very similar to a standard soldier, using a rifle with multiple components and shoulder mounted rocket launcher. Engineer has loadouts including a UAV drone which can be steered by the soldier. Sniper features the main advantage of identifying targets. Recon features the optical camo (invisible cloak), and will be what most gamers want to play as. However, when not cloaked, you’ll be quite distinguishable on the battlefield.
The game begins with “the Russian president being kidnapped by extremists, and instead of breaking out the popcorn for a cutscene, you’ll be in the shoes of one of his bodyguards. Regardless of how well you may perform during this sequence, you won’t be successful, and the capture of the Russian leader is the flashpoint that kicks off what becomes a truly international campaign.”
The game will feature quite a few different settings for the game, being much removed from the bland Mexico settings fans were used to.
Teammate A.I. has been much improved. Your A.I. partners will move like they have “ten to twelve years of military training”. Instead of running in front of you, they’re more prone to follow like squadmates should.
The partners are said to cover your flank and angles you can’t always get to when you move forward.
With the tap of a button, you can follow your teammate automatically. Doing this technique will allow you to focus on enemy fire, and keep an eye on your teammates back as you continue forward. All four players can actually link up at once as well.
The link-up feature is available in multiplayer too. Stand close enough to a cloaked squadmate in multiplayer, and you’ll be cloaked. Future Soldier is aiming to encourage teamwork over everything else.
The co-op is four players, and completely drop-in/drop-out co-op for the campaign mode. Multiplayer is said to be 8vs8, and contains classic modes such as capture-the-flag and domination.
The Persistent Elite Creation system from Rainbow Six Vegas 2 will make its way into the title. Meaning, your items in the campaign will be synchronized with those items you use in multiplayer along with your character.

Nothing too earth shattering here. The main issue I find is that the concept of the future has largely been identified as not laser wielding robots. Rather, I think the Ghost Recon series is reflecting the subtle changes our armed services will find over the next 75-100 years: cloaking, exoksekeletons, and whatnot. The problem is that, unless artfully done, this may lead to more run-of-the-mill gameplay.

Also, what is that locking on squad mates thing? Like, enable Universal Studios ride mode? I don’t know about that. It sounds like they’re taking a page from Bad Company 2 otherwise. The real deal has yet to be seen, however…

Red Dead Redemption: Gentlemen & Vagabonds

The River Salmon — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 02:46:06 +0000

Hey guys, check out the latest of a string of Red Dead Redemption videos showcasing the unscrupulous nature of the cast.

Of course, the game will be host to a number of your crazy and unsavory characters. I personally can’t wait to see how this game turns out, though I’m slightly disappointed that it will only be released for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. Check out the video inside.