To start off this week, here’s a little information on the ongoing console war. Between the 1^st and 31^st December, 2006, all three Current-Generation consoles were on sale in the United States and early figures show a good start for the Xbox360, despite it losing it’s status as the newest console. NPD, a respected market watcher stated the following figures: 687,700 PlayStation3s, 1.08 million Wii’s and 1.61 million Xbox 360s. Although it’s clear that restricted numbers limited sales of the two Japanese consoles, this can only come as good news to the boys in Redmond.

Ever enthusiastic to expand the Xbox360 range into new territories, Microsoft has announced it plans to launch the system in one of the world fastest growing markets; China. Although Microsoft already sells a great deal of PC software in the country, the Xbox360 is currently only available in Hong Kong. Despite there being a grey market for imported systems and games, Microsoft is said to have asked the permission of the Chinese government, specifically the culture and information industries, to sell the product officially in the territory. This is likely to be a major factor in the official launch date, although many sources have stated this could be as early as mid-February.

For those who love XboxLIVE! Arcade - and let’s face it, who doesn’t? - this Wednesday will see the release of yet another small but perfectly formed title; Heavy Weapon: Atomic Tank. Coming in at the increasingly standard reasonable price of 800 Microsoft Points and featuring the kind of high-octane explosive action found in other popular Arcade games such as Assault Heroes and Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved, Heavy Weapon: Atomic Tank should prove a must for XboxLIVE! Arcade fans.

Game features:

• The game has three action-packed game modes:

·        Mission. Gamers play through nineteen Missions, invading countries and beating challenging Bosses along the way.

·        Survival Arms Race and War Party. Gamers try to outlast ever-increasing waves of enemies.

·        Boss Rush. In this mode, exclusive to XboxLIVE! Arcade, players challenge all the Bosses in succession.

• Intense Multi-Player action handles up to four players:

·        Up to four friends can play Survival Mode games locally or on XboxLIVE!.

·        In Co-Op Mission Mode, gamers can roll over enemy forces with a friend.

• Six upgradeable secret weapons

• Nineteen Missions with nukes, mega-lasers and more

• Ability to voice-chat with friends while battling together online

• Online Leaderboards to track Mission results

• Enhanced sound effects and original score

• Amazing enemy landscapes and graphics

• Expanded mayhem with full high-definition widescreen support

And finally, our rumour of the week. Even though this rumour has been doing the rounds for a while, recent titbits have once again hinted that Crytek’s visually stunning First-Person Shooter, Crysis, will be hitting the higher-powered Current-Generation consoles, specifically the Xbox360. Whether or not this rumour holds any weight is debatable, but the developers did say that the then Next-Generation consoles could not produce enough power to run the title, however given the titles publisher, the franchise king and multi-format champion EA, not only would we not write off a port to Xbox360, we wouldn’t write off a Game Boy Advance spin-off!

G-man

16/01/07

Return to the Articles Archive 2007 here.

 Each of these articles has been written either independently of Electronic Theatre or by an external viewer. The opinions discussed in these articles in no way reflects the opinions of Electronic Theatre.

If you wish to inquire about pricing of any titles for these formats not listed on this site, drop me a line at kjoyce@electronictheatre.co.uk