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Xbox News is a site that brings you the very latest Original Xbox, Xbox 360 and Xbox One news, the latest games and releases, Part of the
DCEmu Homebrew & Gaming Network.
THE LATEST NEWS BELOW
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August 14th, 2006, 18:43 Posted By: wraggster
More rumours swirl around on Ubi's medieval killer - PC and 360 versions to stealth into sunlight at Leipzig?
Assassin's Creed is certainly one of the hottest next-gen titles in development at the moment (and if you need to know more - and you do - check out our recent PS3 preview). But with only the PS3 version officially announced, 360 and PC players have been pondering an Assassin-less future where PS3 fans get one of the best toys in the cupboard and they're left with a great big void to fill.
Still, despite fervent and repeated statements from Ubisoft that the game remains announced for PS3-only, strong rumours continue to swirl that Assassin's Creed will be heading to at least 360 and probably PC as well, with the full announcement being saved up for next week's Leipzig Games Show.
More fuel to the fire has been added over the weekend with 1up's Dana Jongewaard
saying in her blog, "For the first year at least, there are very few big titles that are PS3 exclusive. GTA4 and Assassins will be available for the 360 at the same time."
So a simultaneous release on 360 may well be on the cards if Jongewaard's correct, but as you'll know, it's something we've long been predicting and indeed expecting for next week's show. However we also reckon there's also a very strong possibility that a PC version will be unveiled at Leipzig too (why not if you've developing a 360 version?) and indeed, why stop there, with a PSP version also a logical extension for one of the most exciting games in development at the moment?
Leipzig, as ever, will hold the answers when we'll either be consuming the cake of wonderful foreknowledge, or eating the humble pie of rumour prediction doom.
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August 14th, 2006, 18:34 Posted By: wraggster
XNA Game Studio Express may sound dull, but it promises to make Xbox 360 developers of us all
Now we can all become Xbox 360 (and PC) developers. Microsoft has unveiled a software suite called XNA Game Studio Express - which will be available free to all Windows XP users - that is designed to let individuals and impecunious indie studios develop Xbox 360 and PC games.
Actually, XNA Game Studio Express isn't quite free - those wishing to use it to create Xbox 360 games will have to pay an annual $99 "Creators' Club" subscription - and you won't be able to sell games made using the software, although they could appear on Xbox Live Arcade. For the commercially minded, who do want to sell the games they make, Microsoft is readying another toolkit entitled XNA Game Studio Professional.
Microsoft's Peter Moore, in typically bombastic style, said: "It's our first step to creating a YouTube for videogames". Chris Satchell, general manager of Microsoft's Game Developer Group, added: "We are looking forward to the day when all the resulting talent-sharing and creativity transforms into a thriving community of user-created games on Xbox 360." An admirable idea that harks back to the days when a generation of schoolkids discovered the joys of programming for the ZX Spectrum - although Moore added that Microsoft would regulate resulting games for appropriateness and intellectual property issues, although creators would own the rights to their efforts.
The beta version of XNA Game Studio Express is imminent - it's due on August 30 - although the full version is not likely to arrive until around Christmas. XNA Game Studio Professional is due for a spring 2007 release. The whole exercise makes eminently good sense, given the success of Xbox Live Arcade - now is the time for you budding Peter Molyneuxs and Will Wrights to turn your game ideas into reality.
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August 14th, 2006, 18:33 Posted By: wraggster
Reports suggest Silicon Knights is ditching UE3, because it "does not work well with the 360 hardware"
Long-in-development sci-fi adventure game Too Human is ditching Epic's popular Unreal Engine 3, according to an unconfirmed report on Advanced Media Network.
Citing strict anonymity for its sources, the report claims that developer Silcon Knights is abandoning Unreal Engine 3 in favour of its own engine, saying that Unreal Engine 3 "does not work well with the Xbox 360 hardware." Hm, try telling that to Cliffy B.
Although Too Human's poor E3 reception might seem to provide a reason for an engine-change, we're filing this one very much in the realms of speculation for the time being. Considering the amount of impressive-looking UE3 titles coming for Xbox 360, like BioWare's Mass Effect and Epic's own Gears of War, we find the article's claims that the engine isn't performing well, a touch hard to swallow.
Still, we'll sit tight for the time being, and wait for official word from the developer before condemning this one to the news bin of justice.
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August 14th, 2006, 18:30 Posted By: wraggster
Project Offset (working title), an in-development, fantasy-setting game for PC that's received numerous plaudits to date, has now been backed by a "major publisher" according to the game's developer Offset Software. Well, congratulations Offset which, for some reason, is currently choosing not to disclose publisher details - so who could it be?
Meanwhile, in highly related news, it's all but confirmed that Project Offset will actually appear on Xbox 360 as well as the PC platform - the game's official website carries word that the dev team is searching for an Xbox 360 programmer whose primary responsibility is to "handle porting, maintaining, and optimizing the codebase for the Xbox 360", you see.
Project Offset is the brainchild of former members of the team behind S2 Games' Savage - a PC title combining RTS and FPS gameplay. Offset Software describes its game as "a first-person shooter set in an epic fantasy world", and promises a full-on single-player and multiplayer fantasy experience as adventurers strap on hero boots and romp through impressive game environments, fighting, collecting loot etc.
Screens Here
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August 14th, 2006, 18:28 Posted By: wraggster
Vivendi Universal sub-label Sierra has inked a deal with developer Spark Unlimited, which will see the latter creating a next-gen action game (slated for release in 2007) which the former will publish.
Since Spark Unlimited's previous effort was Call of Duty: Finest Hour, that's definitely something to anticipate fondly. At the moment details of the project are at a premium, although the game will apparently have a more "contemporary" theme than CoD: FH.
Craig Allen, Spark Unlimited's CEO, said: "We couldn't be more excited about the opportunity to work with Vivendi Games and Sierra Entertainment. We share a common creative
vision for this upcoming project, but even more importantly, a desire to deliver a truly unique and incredible game experience." Bland words maybe, but unique and original gameplay is what we crave. As soon as any more details reach our shell-likes, we'll of course, pass them straight on to you.
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August 14th, 2006, 18:21 Posted By: wraggster
Prey developer Human Head Studios has revealed that new content for the first-person shooter will be released shortly.
In a Prey monthly update feature appearing on 3D Realms' website, the FPS's project lead (PC) and Human Head's Chris Rhinehart has let slip that new maps and new player characters are in the pipeline for both PC and Xbox 360 versions of the game.
Firstly, elaborating on the upcoming content, Rhinehart's said we can expect four new maps that "work better" with two- to four players, following requests from the community for multiplayer levels "that function well as 1v1 maps" - although, he adds, "you can still play with more than four in the maps, but they can get pretty insane".
In addition, and on the new player character front, he's said that a total of six new characters are to be added. The line-up includes four female characters - "Jen, Elhuit, Mother, and Becky (the blond victim you see occasionally on slabs in the single player Prey)" - and two hunter characters, Hunter and Elite Hunter.
As yet, there's no release date for the new Prey content, but we're told we'll receive this information once the package is closer to release. Also, it's not yet been determined whether Xbox 360 users will be charged for the goods.
Finally, Rhinehart has given word that patches for both the PC and Xbox 360 versions of Prey are in the works.
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August 14th, 2006, 07:27 Posted By: wraggster
New from Divineo USA
The official Unlock Tool from Team Xecuter is designed to offer the best opening tool on Xbox 360.
It includes 2 unlock tools specially design for quick opening of the console and of a full high quality T10 screwdriver (with handle).
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August 12th, 2006, 12:19 Posted By: wraggster
Looks like Xbox 360 game MSRP's just got a little more flexible, though previous games have been released below the console's default $59 price point. From now on, it appears that release schedules will also include game prices:
$39.99 Games:
Arcade Unplugged 9/5/6
Test Drive Unlimited 9/5/6
Cabela's Alaskan Adventure 9/19/06
World Series Of Poker Tour Of Champs 9/19/06
Pimp My Ride 11/14/06
Cabela's African Safari 12/05/06
Gears of War 11/7/06 (We kid! You'll have to buy either the $59 or $69 sku)
$49.99 Games:
Bomberman: Act Zero 8/28/06
Lego Star Wars: Original Trilogy 9/7/6
Samurai Warriors 2 9/19/06
Just Cause 9/26/06
Blitz: The League 10/16/06
Fuzion Frenzy 2 10/31/06
Viva Pinata 11/01/06
Cars 11/01/06
Rayman Raving Rabbids 11/14/06
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August 12th, 2006, 11:58 Posted By: wraggster
New from Divineo UK
The Official Licensed Xbox 360™ Body Bag is designed to carry and protect the
Xbox 360 Console.
Unique features include;
•Padded compartments.
•Compartments to house Xbox 360 controllers,
hard drive, power pack and cables.
•Internal Body Bag light
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August 11th, 2006, 21:00 Posted By: wraggster
News from Team Xecuter:
We are pleased to give to the scene the first full source code for an on the fly Xbox 360 dvd patcher. It is now in your hands to make this do what you like and to work as well as you like.
The first release is for Samsung drives.
Package includes:
SX18 code fully comented
Version v1.0 , Auto detect media type
Put in disc and away you go
NO SLEEP mod as this is SX18 (SX28 will have sleep)
SS PSN Patched to FC021E, Hombrewers can change it to whatever they want
SS PSN currently set for NME Iso Images.
Works well but its way off perfect - it's the first release after all
Its an ASM file and you can edit it as a txt file, put comments after ( ; )
Also included is the HEX file
We will prepare a full step by step of how the code works and do some LA state listings showing address and data and timing.
The Hitachi release is much easier and far better as the thing runs slower. That will be released in the next few days - just making it work well with ALL versions of firmware all in one mod.
We will keep updating the Samsung and add things to make it better and more stable but the idea is to get budding hackers out there to work with this.
If you have nothing to contribute and just want to bitch at Xecuter for doing this free project by making up some lame bull****, you already make yourself look like a moron so be our guest.
If you like to tinker with such projects and feel you can contribute something then good luck to you and we hope you have fun !
This mod is non profit and shouldn't be used by anyone for commercial gain. All credits for any releases or ammendments should be given to Team Xecuter with a link to this website. All discussions and ammendments and releases should be posted to the XHM Forums. Could all news sites please also link to these forums so we can keep development all in one tidy place - thank you.
More Info
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August 11th, 2006, 20:52 Posted By: wraggster
It seems video games really can cause violence -- but only on the dumb, ignorant scale. Recently, a few Neanderthals in the Seattle area were so enraged with each other over an Xbox that windows were broken and fires were started because of it.
Police say a 20-year-old former resident of the home in the 700 block of 20th Avenue, there as a guest, was arguing with a current resident about possession of an Xbox. The former resident then threw the console through a window and into the front yard.
Then after this rather violent altercation, the former resident marched back to the house and burned the sucker down. Yes, all this over an Xbox. Remember people, sharing is caring. There are plenty of Xbox's to go around, no need to shed blood over them.
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August 11th, 2006, 16:58 Posted By: wraggster
The port of the Snes emulator Zsnes to the Xbox has had an update, heres whats new:
* ZsnexBox now comes with two excellent (Zelda and Metroid) skins to choose from by Neverwill. Be sure to try them both.
* Added an animation to the Metroid skin
* Skin switching supported. Up to 15 skins are supported. Add additional skins to the skins folder. In each folder put a copy of the ZsnexBox.ini that has the correct text/image placement in this folder. It must be named the same as the folder name. For example, the Metroid skin is in the D:skinsMetroid folder and contains a Metroid.ini
* Added more text placement options. Virtually all the text can be adjusted.
* Changed the main menu, controller, and emulator options text to be centered.
* Added a Help/FAQ Menu option. This screen contains information about the use of ZsnexBox as well as an updated FAQ. Please look here "before" posting a question on the forums.
* Added option to adjust the clipping window for the Help text.
* Added a new Help background image for the Help screen
* Tweaked the timing and animation code. The animations now run much smoother.
* Fixed the HD corrupt graphics problem some users were getting. ZsnexBox should display correctly in 720p and 1080i for all Xbox versions (regardless of the dashboard used to launch it)
* Fixed Player 3 and 4 controls
* Added the ability to change the Rombrowser text clipping. The width can now be increased or decreased.
* Created a new menu called GUI Options and moved the Text and Image Options to this menu.
* Added a GUI transition between screens. The fade effect duration can be adjusted
* Added support for a zooming logo/graphic for the rombrowser.
* Fixed a bug where some text was too far to the right in HD modes.
* Fixed the invisible digit bug on the cheat menu in HD modes.
* Changed all GUI images to PNG format. JPG's are no longer supported anywhere. This alone frees up around 4MB of RAM and as a result, all of the previous HQ previews work again. The GUI looks even better as well.
* Changed the "Show ROM Info" option to be off by default.
* Fixed a bug where the Option screen would be dimmed if screen resizing was done outside of the emulation.
* Fixed a bug where the preview border values were not being saved correctly.
* Added a confirmation screen for exiting ZsnexBox.
* Added options to change the zooming logo animations on the main menu and rombrowser. The values that can be changed are minimum size, maximum size, and speed of animation.
* Decreased the amount of time before the rombrowser animation repeats.
* Added option to change the distance the rombrowser animated character moves (if it moves at all). The default value is 100. So a value of 50 would cause it to repeat in half the time.
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August 11th, 2006, 16:33 Posted By: wraggster
Survey of Xbox 360 games 101: Here are the current top 10 rated Xbox 360 games based on cumulative reviews by both Game Rankings and Metacritic. But these guys never catch the hidden gems (if any).
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (2K Games) 94.0%
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (Ubisoft) 90.8%
Call of Duty 2 (Activision) 90.0%
Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved (Bizarre Creations) 88.9%
Burnout Revenge (Electronic Arts) 88.7%
Project Gotham Racing 3 (Microsoft Game Studios) 88.4%
Dead or Alive 4 (Tecmo) 85.8%
Fight Night Round 3 (EA Sports) 85.2%
Dead Rising (Capcom) 84.2%
Need for Speed Most Wanted (Electronic Arts) 83.2%
For system owners, where has the console shined, what is it lacking, and has it met your gamer expectations thus far? For those who have yet to make the plunge, what's it going to take for the world's largest software company to pocket your skrilla?
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August 11th, 2006, 16:32 Posted By: wraggster
The honeymoon's over. We were in love. Our shotgun wedding with the Xbox 360 gamepad and subsequent months of marital bliss have come crashing down. We've had our first fight ... err, 2D fighting game that is.
Anyone who's been playing the recently released Street Fighter II on XBLA has undoubtedly noticed the Xbox 360's D-pad seriously cramps your combos. Fear not DIY-friendly gamers, there is a solution: Don't use the Xbox 360 gamepad. Remember the Sega Saturn, geared for 2D in a world of 3D consoles? The good news is the Saturn's gamepad has a well respected D-pad and, with some soldering skills, you can start rocking it on Xbox Live.
Here's how it works: Saturn controller gets plugged into a breadboard connected to a gutted Xbox 360 controller, so the whole thing is wireless (sort of). Fine, so this isn't the most attractive hack, but it illustrates a demand for an alternative gamepad. How long before some enterprising peripheral company makes a wireless Xbox Live Arcade pad?
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August 11th, 2006, 16:24 Posted By: wraggster
Bullet Witch, the explosive Xbox 360 shooter developed by Japan-based Cavia, will definitely be released in the UK now that publisher Atari has snapped up the game.
Bullet Witch is set in a nightmarish futuristic vision of Earth, where mankind is under threat from an invasion of demons - you know the kind of thing. Just when it seems all hope has gone, up pops a witch called Alicia.
Rather than riding a broomstick and living in a house made of gingerbread, Alicia is the type of witch that carries a huge gun to splatter demons. She also has a few magic tricks up her sleeve to help her out of tricky situations.
No official release has been confirmed but we expect Bullet Witch to be released some time next year.
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August 11th, 2006, 16:17 Posted By: wraggster
Newly announced Halo film director Neill Blomkamp has spoken out about how he's approaching the film's coveted source material, and about his views on Halo in general.
Speaking to film website Ain't It Cool News, Blomkamp said - naturally - that he was a massive fan of both Halo titles, but that he prefers Halo 1 from "a conceptual and story perspective".
It also sounds like the Chief will be a mixture of a man-in-a-suit and computer-generated visuals. "The film has to have a feeling of reality, and so that means that I want to keep him real as much as I can," he said, but there's going to be a need for some CG.
He also explained that while he wants to be as faithful as possible to the source material, he obviously wants to film to stand on its own - and in some senses it's impossible to maintain complete loyalty to the pixels and polygons.
"Master Chief is certainly something that I do not want to change too much at all, there are certain things inside the Halo universe that are sacred and he's the main one," he said of the game's hero.
"Having said that, there is a need to revise certain parts of him, just from a purely technical standpoint, he has to actually be able to move, like a human, and the game design right now does not allow for full motion freedom, which we will have to achieve."
The same applies to the Covenant, he said - "the most important thing is that viewer thinks they are looking at something that lives and breathes".
"From an organic standpoint they have to be believable, they also need to be terrifying, and alien, and the best way to start doing that is to break that human silhouette, although many of them are bipedal anatomically, you can still shift the overall body to be something very alien."
Blomkamp's also a huge fan of the Flood, he says, and he's been very impressed so far with Peter Jackson's input as executive producer and the work Weta has done on preparing Halo for the big screen.
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August 11th, 2006, 16:16 Posted By: wraggster
French developer Load Inc. has decided to delay its Xbox Live Arcade racing title Mad Tracks in order to add multiplayer options - even though, to our knowledge, it hadn't nailed down a release date in the first place.
In a statement this week, the company said it would take several more months to rewrite the PC version's network code to suit Xbox Live, but that demand had been so great it felt compelled to respond.
"We're very excited to add this feature that undoubtedly makes a great difference with other next gen consoles," top bod Denis Bourdain said, commenting on the delay.
Bourdain also hopes to attract potential investors with a display at Leipzig's Games Convention in two weeks' time.
Mad Tracks, which began life as a budget-priced PC title, is a toy car racing game with complex, twisty tracks and a dozen or so power-ups.
Despite news of the delay, there's still no word on when the game will actually appear on the service - although press bumf suggests it had originally been targeting October.
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August 11th, 2006, 16:13 Posted By: wraggster
We already knew the Zune was going to come in a triad of colors, but we didn't have much of any idea as to the price they were going to stick you for. Common sense would dictate it would be at or slightly below what the iPod is asking for their device -- but not above -- and if TWiCE is correct with their information, the Zune will run for an on-par $299. They're also reporting the Zune won't allow for music purchases on the go, which kind of flies in the face of that whole "connected entertainment" thing, as well as the idea of putting WiFi in a portable, so we're looking at it somewhat skeptically for the time being.
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August 11th, 2006, 16:09 Posted By: wraggster
Our gaming cousins States-side who have snapped up Capcom's Dead Rising in a flurry of frenzied zombie-splattering anticipation can now download content for the Xbox 360 title from Xbox Live Marketplace.
Offered for free, the content consists of eight keys (each 108Kb in file size) that provide access to different costumes/clothing in the game that can be donned by lead character Frank West. The freelance photo journalist can now stun the zombies with incredible fashion sense thanks to the Miami Nights Key, the Casual Key, the Weekender Key, the Round Shades Key, the Burgundy Wine Key, the Grandpa Key, the Pink Parparazzi Key and finally the Man in Black Key
Dead Rising, if you really need reminding, is a violent gore-fest with plenty of black humour that finds West battling zombies that have overrun a shopping mall in a suburban town. It hits the UK on September 8 and is currently getting extensive zombie-mashing outings on our office 360.
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