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If you own an Xbox360, the chances are you’ve heard of
Gears Of War, the title that is being widely touted as the
first Killer App. for Microsoft’s console. Although we all
 suspected
it would be big,
Gears Of War has gone on to become a stellar
success, smashing records and finally knocking Halo 2 off the
Most Played Online top-spot. As with nearly all successful games,
there is already talk of a sequel. On the Epic Games forum, vice
president Mark Rein stated "Gears is a trilogy? If we can keep
making quality games that fans obviously want then why would we have
to stop at three, I don't see the
Metal Gear Solid, Mario,
Grand Theft Auto or Final Fantasy series (among
others) stopping at three and they're still delivering compelling
entertainment content that's easily worth the money (see Unreal
Tournament as well)." Given the amazing graphics of the
original, the Unreal Engine 3 looks perfectly capable of
churning-out Next-Generation visuals for quite some time, which
would save time in the development of further titles. Halo 3
and Gears of War 2? SONY certainly have their work cut-out.
Launching this Friday, December 1st, 2006, is the
Xbox360’s other big game for Christmas. Not Tom Clancy’s Rainbow
Six: Vegas, but RARE’s brand-new Intellectual Property;
Viva
Piñata. The most obvious comparisons for the title are the
Animal Crossing, Pokemon and Dungeon Keeper
series, and the title should sit nicely alongside
Disney/Pixar:
Cars and
Kameo: Elements Of Power in bringing a more
family-orientated appeal to the Xbox360. Alongside
Viva Piñata
comes to additions to the Xbox360 accessories line-up; Viva
Piñata and Halo themed Faceplates.
Cheap movie and TV programme rentals without the need for a trip to
the shops? Sounds too good to be true, and for many of the earlier
adopters of Microsoft’s XboxLIVE! Video Marketplace, it was.
The digital distribution network has a multitude of often quite
serious errors including the wrong files being downloaded, paid
downloads failing to arrive, exceptionally slow download speeds and
corrupt data. Microsoft’s official line is that the extremely high
quantity of downloads has overloaded servers and that they will be
doing all that they can to rectify the issue, including refunds for
users that did not receive their purchases. However, given the
status of XboxLIVE! as the worlds premier online console
gaming network and Microsoft’s extensive knowledge of online
services and software, should they not have known what to expect?
Christmas is always a mad time of year and finding presents for your
loved ones can be hard on a modest budget. Unfortunately, the
must-have status of the Xbox360 as Europe’s only high-end gaming
system this Christmas has led to some nefarious types, ahem,
“borrowing” a few. Well, 4000 actually. Thieves flagged down and
threatened the driver of a truck transporting the Xbox360s in the
early hours of Monday 20th November, 2006. The
perpetrators then looted the cargo before dumping the truck some
hours later. Police have since warned the public not to purchase new
systems from suspect outlets such as in pubs, car boot sales and off
the back of a lorry as these will likely not be covered by the
warranty. Given the less-than-infallible nature of the Xbox360’s
hardware, I’d say this is pretty good advice. |
