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After
weeks of almost nothing, things are looking a little busier in the
world of Xbox360 this week. First off is the announcement that the
external HD-DVD Drive
for the Xbox360 will be available in Japan from 22nd November, 2006,
for 19,800 Yen, which, at current exchange  rates, works out at a
measly £89, a far-cry from the £129.99 price-tag offered for the
UK. This is likely an attempt to blunt the impact of the
PlayStation3’s Japanese launch and the subsequent spread of
Blu-Ray technology.
Also,
as another blatant attempt at reducing the PlayStation3 advantage in
High-Definition, Microsoft have announced that Xbox360 owners will
be able to download a firmware upgrade that allows the Xbox360 to
display resolutions up to the much vaunted 1080p. Quite how the
Xbox360 will be able to do this without a
HDMI
Port
is still up for debate though, with many assuming that the plug-in HD-DVD Drive
may feature the required port.
Nobody
really likes having to pay £10 more for games on the Xbox360.
Thankfully that’s going to change soon, although only for some
titles. Coming to the UK on October 13th is the Xbox360 Classics
Range. Included in the group is Peter Jackson’s King Kong: The
Official Game Of The Movie, Perfect
Dark Zero, Condemned and Kameo:
Elements Of Power. All games will retail for an RRP of £24.99,
a cheaper alternative to current titles and a good way to boost
GamerScore.
Coming
to XboxLIVE! today are two highly anticipated HD videos of
Microsoft’s biggest Japanese developed games; Lost Odyssey
and Blue Dragon. Both are set to be epic, eastern style RPGs
which should help the Xbox360 become more appealing to fans of
videogame series such as Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest,
hopefully these titles will perform slightly better than the simply
irritating Enchanted Arms. Mistwalker are the developers
responsible for both titles, with some of the staff that created the
brilliant SNES classic Chrono Trigger aiding in the
development of Blue Dragon. Microsoft’s main goal with
these titles is to boost the notoriously weak sales of the Xbox360
in Japan, although the jury is still out on whether two games will save the
system in the face of the launches of SONY’s PlayStation3 and
Nintendo’s Wii, both of which have gathered an incredible amount
of hype. Blue Dragon is scheduled for Japanese release before
the end of the year and Lost Odyssey sometime next year. No
release dates have been announced outside of Japan.
Also
making their debut on XboxLIVE! this week are F.E.A.R.
and LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy. The F.E.A.R.
demo is longer than the one that has been available on DVD, allowing
players to get even more engrossed in its supernatural world. LEGO
Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy is currently dominating the
Sales Charts so hopefully it’s XboxLIVE! demo will allow
even more people to experience just how good it is. As an added
incentive, finding all the hidden items will allow the player access
to a special code that will unlock a hidden character in the full
game.
In
an attempt to expand their markets, Microsoft has launched the
Xbox360 in India. The console is currently only available in Premium Unit form and a
range of games are on sale including Kameo: Elements Of Power,
 Perfect Dark Zero, Project Gotham Racing 3, Dead or
Alive 4, Ninety Nine Nights, Rockstar Games Presents:
Table Tennis and Top Spin 2.
Now
a little news from Microsoft’s X06 conference. Firstly a number of
new titles will soon be available on XboxLIVE! Arcade, and a couple of these are truly Retro gems. Coming in the future
are Sensible World Of Soccer, Lumines LIVE!, Contra,
Street Race NYC, Gyruss and, as of right now, the
immortal DOOM.
Splinter
Cell: Double Agent hasn’t even been released yet and Peter
Moore is already talking about Splinter Cell 5. No details
are available at present, except the fact that it will be an Xbox360
and PC exclusive. He also announced a few details on another Xbox360
exclusive, Forza Motorsport 2. The game will feature
three-hundred cars, an eye watering 60Fps and, unsurprisingly, XboxLIVE!
Multi-Player. The highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto IV will
also have two exclusive episodes downloadable from XboxLIVE! Marketplace.
Next
up is some info on the European roll-out of the HD-DVD Drive for Xbox360. Arriving in the UK,
US, France and Germany
Mid-November, the Xbox360 HD-DVD Drive will, as mentioned above,
retail with an RRP of £129.99 and come with a free copy of Peter
Jackson’s King Kong on HD-DVD, making the Xbox360 HD-DVD the
cheapest way to watch HD-DVD’s this year, and still cheaper than
the PlayStation3’s Blu-Ray alternative.
It
seems the Halo universe will be expanding in yet more
directions with the release of Halo Wars, an Xbox360
exclusive Real-Time Strategy game from Ensemble Studios, the makers
of the acclaimed PC Real-Time Strategy, Age Of Mythology.
Little is known about the title currently and no release has been
set, at current there is but one title in direct competition for the
genre-spot on the Xbox360, Lord Of The Rings: Battle For
MiddleEarth II, but the main question is; can Halo Wars
break the trend of Real-Time Strategy games being ill-suited to
joypad controls?
The
Xbox360 is set to receive another MMO, this time it’s a Marvel
related title, a name sure to incite excitement in many a comic book
fan. The game will be from the creators of City Of Heroes
and will allow players using both the Xbox360 and PC to participate
together.
Finally,
there may be an end to the Xbox360’s Platform game drought with
the announcement that RARE’s Banjo-Kazooie will be making
an exclusive appearance on the system. This is sure to please the
wealth of fans of the originals, but is unlikely to cheer-up the
Nintendo faithful.
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