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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 9th, 2006, 19:46 Posted By: wraggster
Pac-Man has arrived on Xbox Live Arcade this morning, marking the end of Microsoft's initial run of Xbox Live Arcade Wednesdays.
Namco's yellow pill-muncher is yours for 400 of Microsoft's points (about £3.40), offering 12 achievements to unlock and the vanilla Pac-Man gameplay - which, if memory serves us correctly, we're absolutely useless at past the 35,000 point mark. For cheapskates there's also a trial version of the game, which gives you two rounds of play before asking for your cold, hard cash.
Pac-Man marks the end of Microsoft's initial Live Arcade Wednesdays, although the company has previously expressed its intent to continue the promotion following the first batch of releases. According to our friends over at Official Xbox 360 Magazine, Microsoft will be continuing the promotion sooner than you might think - from next week in fact, and titles will stretch all the way to September 6 with the arrival of the long-awaited Lumines Live!
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August 9th, 2006, 19:43 Posted By: wraggster
Hmm, not a very pheasant subhead to greet this rather grey Wednesday morning, but given Mortal Kombat's illustrious and brutal heritage, entirely in keeping with the theme of the series.
And Mortal Kombat Armageddon is all about the series' heritage as it takes its final bow on current gen consoles PS2 and Xbox. It allows you to play as every character from Mortal Kombat's long and bloody history, while also allowing you to create your very own custom fighter and even customise the series' infamous Fatality moves in what Midway is promising is the most 'complete and lethal' fighting experience ever.
Judge for yourself in this round of freshly delivered carnage-filled screens and await Armageddon when it punches through your chest cavity this autumn.
Screens Here
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August 8th, 2006, 22:18 Posted By: wraggster
While most hardcore gamers believe it's the games that will win the next-gen console war, others believe it will come down to something entirely different--movie playback. Sony has been banking on the PlayStation 3's integrated Blu-ray drive to move its console, and Microsoft has countered with an external HD-DVD drive, set to go on sale later this year.
The high-end models of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 are $599 and $399, respectively, but the PS3's price includes the system's Blu-ray drive. Microsoft still has not yet announced a price for the external HD-DVD drive, and its cost could sway the next-gen race.
On the most recent episode of the podcast from Major Nelson, aka Larry Hryb aka Microsoft's director of programming for Xbox Live, Hryb had a few members of the HD-DVD team on his show for an interview. Though they didn't reveal an actual monetary figure for the drive, they did drop a few hints.
Albert Penello, Microsoft's director of global marketing, had this to say about the drive's price. "Here's the truth, we're still thinking about it. Here's what I can tell you for sure, it's going to be the cheapest HD-DVD player you can buy...without a doubt, when it comes out," he said. "Everybody is very enthusiastic with the direction we're going. There's still a few surprises left. I don't want to spill the beans yet, but I think people are going to think it's a great value."
Currently, only a few HD-DVD players are on the market, and they bottom out at just over $420. However, the Xbox 360 external HD-DVD drive won't require all the hardware of a stand-alone HD-DVD player (that will be provided by the Xbox 360), which should cut into its cost.
Penello went on to discuss Microsoft's strategy with movie playback on its next-gen console. "Xbox has always been about choice. It's always been about 'How do you want to game? How do you want to get online? How do you want to communicate with people?' What I'm excited about is that now we're going to say, 'How do you want to pick your next-generation DVD format?' We're not forcing consumers to buy something that may be obsolete, or forcing them to spend a lot of money on something they don't want." He added, "We're not betting our whole console on an unproven media format."
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August 8th, 2006, 19:27 Posted By: wraggster
New homebrew release for Xbox:
Super Mario War is a Super Mario multiplayer game. The goal is to stomp as many other Marios as possible to win the game. It's a tribute to Nintendo and the game Mario War by Samuele Poletto.
The game uses artwork and sounds from Nintendo games. We hope that this noncommercial fangame qualifies as fair use work. We just wanted to create this game to show how much we adore Nintendo's characters and games.
Features:
- Up to four players deathmatch fun
- a whole bunch of game modes (featuring GetTheChicken, Domination, CTF, ...)
- Comes with the leveleditor - you can create your own maps...
- ... and a lot of people did so. There are currently over 400 maps
- More fun than poking a monkey with a stick
- The whole source code of the game is available
- uses SDL and is fully portable to windows, linux, mac, ...
- CPU Players
- will make you happy and gives you a fuzzy feeling
Download at your usual place
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August 8th, 2006, 18:41 Posted By: wraggster
New from SuccessHK
In Madden NFL 07 Hall Of Fame Edition, you'll control the running game like never before. For the first time ever, step up as the lead blocker to create a hole, then take control of the tailback and smash through, overpower, or slash away from would-be tacklers - as you fight for every yard. Innovative rushing controls give you a game-breaking ground attack featuring all-new jukes, cutbacks, and the distinct running styles of your favorite backs. Between the tackles or in the open field, run to daylight with Madden NFL 07. Special Hall Of Fame Edition includes: Commemorative exterior packaging; Bonus DVD with a John Madden retrospective, the first season of "Madden Nation" (10 episodes), documentary on the Music of Madden, and instructional videos with Tiburon staff giving gameplay hints and tips. Smaller backs escape and break tackles, while bigger runners bowl over defenders in the open field Scout collegiate prospects with the all-new NFL Draft Scouting System and during the College All-Star Game Watch players impact their teams with the new Franchise Player Roles feature Team-Specific Defensive Playbooks - For the first time, use actual plays from your favorite team's defensive playbook to shut down the running game, pressure the quarterback, or force key turnovers.
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August 8th, 2006, 18:39 Posted By: wraggster
New from SuccessHK
The 2007 edition of EA's unstoppable football franchise. The 2007 edition of EA's unstoppable football franchise. In its 17th installment, you control the running game like never before. For the first time ever, step up as the lead blocker to create a hole, and then take control of the tailback and smash through, overpower, or slash away from would-be tacklers as you fight for every yard. Innovative rushing controls give you a game-breaking ground attack featuring all-new jukes, cutbacks, and the distinct running styles of your favorite backs.
For the Xbox 360, exclusive features include Madden Gamer Level (which tracks your career accomplishments in Franchise Mode for points that you can wager online towards rewards) and a unique Create a Player, which uses mini-games to set skills and off-season Mini-Camps to condition players or rehab injuries to get back on the field faster.
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August 8th, 2006, 18:37 Posted By: wraggster
New from SuccessHK
Ninety-Nine Nights combines large-scale combat and exhilarating action, all rendered in dramatic high definition video. In a struggle between light and dark, a new world order is established after the destruction of the 'mysterious power stone.' Warriors are destined to battle in a place far beyond their imagination, as a magnificent story spun of drama and emotion unfolds from multiple perspectives. This epic fantasy-action game has massive battles and incredible, upgradeable attacks and intense, near-unbeatable enemies who will challenge you and your party.
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August 8th, 2006, 18:12 Posted By: wraggster
Traditionally, Day 1 Studios has been linked with Microsoft and its platforms. The company's first two games, MechAssault (2002) and MechAssault 2: Lone Wolf (2004), were both published by Microsoft Game Studios. The pair were also both exclusive to Microsoft's sole platform at their respective times of release, the Xbox. The shop is currently working on the Xbox 360 version of F.E.A.R. for Vivendi Games.
Today, though, the Chicago- and Maryland-based studio announced it has a new publishing partner with which it is developing games for a new platform. Speaking with GameSpot, Day 1 president Denny Thorley and director of business development John Kimmich revealed that they have inked a deal with LucasArts to create an all-new original intellectual property for next-generation consoles.
The as-yet-unnamed and un-dated game will be the first collaboration between LucasArts and Day 1. Thorley said he was drawn to the San Francisco-based publisher because of its focus on putting a larger amount of marketing muscle behind a smaller slate of titles than other publishers. "They had done a tremendous job with their games with their 'less is more' approach," said the veteran developer.
Day 1 executives also praised how LucasArts dealt with independent studios. Kimmich cited 2004's free-roaming action hit Mercenaries, which was developed by Pandemic Studios and published by LucasArts, as an example Day 1 would like to emulate. "They embraced the ideas we represented, instead of just focusing on making games prettier and focusing on the same old kind of gameplay, they want to radically change the way games are played," said the executive.
Though they steered clear of specifics, Thorley and Kimmich said that the new game will focus on the online play that was a hallmark of the MechAssault titles. They said it would feature innovative but "approachable" multiplayer modes that would draw on "our heritage ... with the MechAssault series." Kimmich said that "co-op is going to be an important part of games going forward," but would not say specifically whether or not the new game would have a co-op mode.
For his part, LucasArts vice president of product development Peter Hirschmann said Day 1's proprietary development tools were a big factor in LucasArts beginning talks with the studio around the time of last year's Electronic Entertainment Expo. "The phenomenal technology created by Day 1 directly affects gameplay in extremely innovative ways," he said.
Since MechAssault was among the first games to offer downloadable map packs via Xbox Live, it should also come as little surprise that Day 1's new game will also feature online content. "We watched very closely what downloadable content did in terms of player interest in a game, and it was very noticeable," said Thorley. "[Downloadable content] does a good job of keeping the product in the forefront of the player's mind. We’ve gone to school on it and we intend to incorporate it into our next product."
However, while the Day 1/LucasArts mystery project will feature downloadable content, Thorley would not say if it would adopt an episodic model a la Half-Life 2: Episode One and its two models. "With the way [console certification works] the challenge is the economics of [episodic content]," he said. "While we're not prepared to say whether we'll have episodic content for this new title, under certain circumstances it makes a lot of sense."
Last but not least, although Day 1 wouldn't reveal which next-gen console its new game is for, its president did drop some hints. "We're not announcing the platforms [for the game], but I imagine you can guess," said Thorley. Though the seasoned developer wouldn't elaborate, given Day 1's long history with the Xbox platform, his comments appeared to imply that the game would be coming to its successor, the Xbox 360.
That said, the game announcement says specifically it will be a "multiplatform" release. And just because Day 1 has an extensive history making games for the Xbox doesn't mean it will rule out making games for the PlayStation 3 or Nintendo Wii. "The consumer is going to vote on that," said Kimmich regarding the victor of the next-gen console war. "Nintendo and Sony have a ways to catch up in terms of online play, and Microsoft is going to continue to raise that bar. But [the competition means] the consumer is going to benefit, and in many ways the developer's going to benefit, because we get to do more interesting things on the screen."
LucasArts and Day 1 Studios expect to announce more details on their first collaboration later on in the year.
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August 8th, 2006, 18:05 Posted By: wraggster
The owner of an LA videogames shop has been sentenced to six months of home detention for selling illegally modded Xboxes.
Poor old Jason Jones, owner of the ACME Game Store, yes really, will have to wear an electronic ankle bracelet so that the Feds can keep track of where he is at all times. He's also on probation for three years.
As is his mate, one Jonathan Bryant, who also pleaded guilty to selling the chipped consoles. They admitted to installing more than 50 pirate games on each machine, charging customers between $225 and $500 per Xbox.
Jones and Bryant were nicked after an undercover investigator from trade body the Entertainment Software Association bought one of the consoles at their store. They've been ordered to pay the ESA a fine of $2648.
The po-po have yet to catch up with the third person involved - Pei "Patrick" Cai, who was allegedly the person responsible for modding the consoles. Apparently he's on the run and is now described as a fugitive by the US attorney's office. Best lock those doors and close those windows, then...
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August 8th, 2006, 18:03 Posted By: wraggster
Microsoft will fulfil its ambition to deliver games to Live Arcade once a week after the current run of Wednesday releases finishes, according to a report from the UK Official Xbox Magazine website.
OXM states that this Wednesday's Pac-Man release will be followed by Texas Hold 'Em (Aug 16), Time Pilot (Aug 23), Scramble (Aug 30) and Lumines Live (Sept 6).
Good news then? Well yes, providing it's true - but while the mag lists Microsoft as a source, yesterday the US arm of the company dismissed the dates as "rumour and speculation" and said it would release a proper schedule in the coming weeks.
We're still waiting for clarification from Microsoft's UK representatives.
Late last month, when asked by Joystiq whether we'd see as many as 30 titles on Xbox Live Arcade this year, worldwide games portfolio manager Ross Erickson said the company would "certainly have enough games in the pipeline - more than enough, in fact - to achieve that goal on a weekly basis".
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August 8th, 2006, 17:54 Posted By: wraggster
Microsoft has treated lucky punters the first public demo of its external HD-DVD drive for the Xbox 360. Kevin Collins, senior program manager at the Seattle giant, put the hardback book-sized device through its paces at the DVD Forum in LA, inexplicably choosing to play The Phantom of the Opera, while showing the drive's navigation and interaction features.
Collins refused to be drawn on pricing and a precise launch date, choosing only to assert that it will be one of the cheapest HD-DVD players available, and that it will arrive in the "holiday season". Collins added that: "All the audio and video processing is done inside the Xbox 360," so his claim that it won't break the bank has a ring of plausibility to it.
With prices of standalone HD-DVD and Blu-Ray players likely to be astronomical, and software libraries less than extensive, the battle for the next generation of DVD will only really get under way in earnest when the PlayStation 3 arrives in November with its built-in Blu-Ray drive, and the Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive also takes its bow. What price on Microsoft launching it the week before the PS3 arrives? Leipzig or X06 surely hold the answers.
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August 8th, 2006, 17:49 Posted By: wraggster
Legendary Britsoft developer (and Microsoft offshoot) Rare Software is poised to breathe new life into its now aged Xbox 360 title Kameo: Elements of Power. It has announced that it will release a collection of downloadable content for the game entitled the Power Pack, via Xbox Live Marketplace.
As well as new achievements and leaderboards, the Power Pack will add three game modes to Kameo. Namely, Expert Mode, which takes six of the game's levels and ratchets up the difficulty level (when played both solo and co-operatively), and, according to the announcement on Rare's website, comes "Complete with a spanking new set of Armour skins for all the Elemental Warriors".
Time Attack Mode, according to Rare, "pits you against an unforgiving clock but lets you team up with another player (via split-screen, System Link or Xbox Live), while Rune Battle Mode purports to be co-op play, but it pits you against, rather than in cahoots with, the other player. And, apparently, "You've also got Trolls to deal with as you struggle like a mentalist to hoard the most Runes. This one's for those of you who said the game didn't have enough collecting in it."
No word as yet on when the Power Pack will appear on Live Marketplace but, as ever, we'll keep you posted.
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August 8th, 2006, 17:45 Posted By: wraggster
EA has released a handful of screenshots and renders showing off its new Need for Speed title, Carbon, which is likely set to tear up the charts once again this Christmas.
As you can see from the images laid out across this page, the cars in 'Carbon are looking quite nice. But thankfully, EA is also shaking things up in the gameplay department, by moving the action out of the ghetto and onto some perilous canyon roads. Apparently, to conquer nearby city territories, you'll have to settle your rivalries in head-to-head races alongside deadly pitfalls. It doesn't sound like good news for your paintjob at all.
Need for Speed Carbon is currently planned for release on Xbox 360, PS2 and virtually all current platforms this November. A release date for the PS3 and Wii versions is yet to be announced.
Screens Here
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August 7th, 2006, 16:30 Posted By: wraggster
Xmas belongs to Microsoft according to, erm, Microsoft as UK marketing boss issues battle cry
This Christmas will be an Xbox 360 time of unalloyed joy according to UK Marketing boss Steve McGill, who has issued the bold war cry in an interview with trade magazine MCV.
McGill told MCV, "We'll have an installed base of around ten million plus before they [Nintendo and Sony] launch. We had a terrific E3 that showed what a great future Xbox 360 has, that we're the only place for the breadth and depth of choice for games. It had dispelled a lot of the myths around PS3."
It's a bold statement to make, but signals Microsoft's intent to make the most out of its established position while Sony and Nintendo go through their expected launch pangs with games like Gears of War (which is due to debut on November 17th - the day of PS3 launch) aiming to spoil Sony and Nintendo's launch period party.
Microsoft has previously promised plenty of surprises in the run-up to this year's festive season, with Euro Marketing boss Richard Teversham recently avowing spoiler tactics could be on the way. Long-standing rumours of possible price cuts, as well as hardware releases like the camera and steering wheel will see the Redmond giant going on an all-out offensive to make sure this Christmas season is a monster one for 360.
Expect further revelations at this month's Leipzig Games Show and more than a few bold announcements at the annual X06 event in Barcelona in September as MS prepares for one final big push. But is McGill right? Will 360 dominate this last Christmas season before Sony and Nintendo get into full swing? Don't be shy of letting us know how you think it will shape up in the comments field below.
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August 7th, 2006, 16:27 Posted By: wraggster
Sega's latest Sonic screen salvo has arrived, and we're happy to report that the spiky one's next-gen outing is looking graphically spectacular, and of course very, very fast indeed.
Alongside the game's wide cast of playable hedgehogs (this is a Sonic game after all, there's no way we could possibly do with just the one spiny mammal), you'll also notice an image showing the series' latest damsel in distress, Princes Elise. Apparently, as the story goes, that troublesome Dr. Robotnik has kidnapped poor Elise, and you have to rescue the princess, while at the same time unravelling her "terrible secret."
To find out what it is, we'll have to wait until Sonic next-gen releases on PS3 and Xbox 360 this Christmas.
Screens Here
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August 6th, 2006, 11:14 Posted By: wraggster
News from RUNTIME:
Folks looking to integrate T360 with their own apps will be pleased to know that I finally got off my managed to find the time to knock up a quick primer and some sample code demonstrating how to query and control Transcode 360. For more information follow the link.
In related news, I’ve had word from Brian of My Movies confirming that the integration work is still going ahead and is now in its final stages so stay tuned…
I also found some time to squash a few long-standing bugs and am currently testing a new version of T360 on my new dual core Media Center setup. I’m not sure whether it might make sense to time its release with My Movies. I should be receiving a release candidate any day now so I’ll defer the decision until then.
More Info
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August 5th, 2006, 16:46 Posted By: wraggster
Some info from Team Xbox
Releasing the game five days before the PlayStation 3 launch was your original plan, no matter when Sony releases its next-generation console?
Microsoft Spokesperson: The game is not being held to coincide with any other company’s release schedule. The game is still being finalized and now that Emergence Day has been announced, we’ve set a clear deadline to complete it.
Gears of War will be the first game published by Microsoft Game Studios to cost more than $49.99, with the limited collector’s edition selling for 70 bucks. What is the reason for that change and can Xbox 360 owners expect other first and second party games like Halo 3 or Mass Effect to cost this much?
Microsoft Spokesperson: It's up to publishers to value their games and it's up to the market to decide if publishers get it right. Of course, every game will be evaluated for value on a case-by-case basis - that won't change. As for us, we will ship our games at parity pricing with the current generation.
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August 5th, 2006, 16:24 Posted By: wraggster
Finally one of the emulators i most wanted to see on the Xbox has happened, heres the news:
Alg5 has released a new version of XVBoy, a Nintendo Virtual Boy emulator port to the Xbox.
Heres whats new:
* Lots of optimisations: compilation in release mode, palette
texture...
* With this version, some games are playable without slowdown!
* SRAM save support for the games supporting it.
* Stretching is implemented.
More info --> http://www.darcelf.tk
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August 5th, 2006, 00:23 Posted By: wraggster
It was shortly after 1 a.m. PST on Wednesday morning that a chorus of "Round One...Fight!"s erupted across Xbox Live. After a few bumps in the road, Capcom's classic arcade game made it to Xbox 360s, and gamers were apparently ready for some online brawling.
Capcom today announced that Street Fighter II' Hyper Fighting has become the fastest-selling Xbox Live Arcade title to date. The publisher claims that the highly anticipated game became the fastest-selling XBLA game in its first 24 hours, "with hundreds of matches being played every hour."
Hyper Fighting is an Xbox 360 port of the wildly popular classic arcade fighter that sucked quarters back in the early 1990s. The Xbox 360 version is now available for download for 800 Marketplace points ($10), and features the single-player game as well as online head-to-head matches.
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August 5th, 2006, 00:06 Posted By: wraggster
It looks like Live Arcade is going to be blessed with another classic game series, as Konami's much-loved Castlevania is set to make an appearance on the service, according to US games mag Electronic Gaming Monthly.
Apparently it's PlayStation series entry Symphony of the Night that is making the transition over to Microsoft's Live Arcade, joining other Konami Arcade titles Frogger, Contra, Super Contra, Track & Field and Scramble. Apart from the EMG report, there are currently no details on the Arcade version of SotN, although 1UP reports that the game is tentatively slated for a release in Q1 2007.
We'll have more on Live Arcade Castlevania as soon as official word arrives.
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