Filed under: News, Videos

Cleaning up after a long day of Spring Showcase coverage, we discovered a short yet sweet Fable 2 video burried under a box of Twinkies. A Twinkie fate that was brought upon the video due to yesterday’s news madness. So, being the good bloggers we believe ourselves to be, we embedded the latest Fable 2 footage above for your viewing enjoyment and completed off the box of Twinkies for good measure. Like we stated, it’s a short vid, but it does a pretty solid job at showcasing some of Fable 2’s enivornents, natural sites and concludes with an unlucky chap getting knocked into a well. It’s priceless!

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Filed under: News, Xbox Live Marketplace

Microsoft just announced that both Wideload Games’ Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse and Midway’s Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows are headed to the XBLM as Xbox Originals next Monday, May 19th. Yuppers …

As always, each title will cost 1200 Microsoft points, have no achievements and play exactly as it did on the original Xbox plus any quirks that are introduced thanks to the 360’s emulation. But we’re going to be optimistic this time and be excited about these new Xbox Originals, because we’ve been told that we’ve been too negative in the past when talking about these oh so grand downloads. So, as we smile from ear to ear, enjoy next Monday’s amusing, convenient and affordable Stubbs and Gauntlet Xbox Originals downloads that are sure to put a smile on any fanboys’ face. Insert awkwardly massive fake smile here.

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Filed under: News

Alright, this isn’t officially Xbox 360 news, but given Silicon Knights’ current relationship with Microsoft, we’re fairly confident that it could be. Talking to TVG at Microsoft’s Spring Showcase, Silicon Knights head Dennis Dyack had some hopeful things to say regarding an Eternal Darkness sequel. After noting that Silicon Knights doesn’t want to be “pigeon-holed” into any specific genres, he admitted, “There’s a strong chance we’ll return to it, but there’s no announcements yet.” This marks the ideal news we’ve heard about a possible sequel since 2006. That joyous yet vaguely disturbing sound you just heard was a worldwide nerd-splosion of the highest order.

[Via Joystiq]

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Joystiq managed to grab a second of Cliff Bleszinski’s time at Microsoft’s Spring Showcase yesterday (seems like everyone did). Naturally, the discussion centered around Epic’s more massive, badder, more badass sequel to Gears of War, which they’ve wisely dubbed Gears of War 2. Lots of things are discussed in the interview, ranging from merchandising to how Gears of War pacing will work with hundreds of enemies on screen. The biggest tidbit in the interview, however, centers around the game’s on the internet functionality. When asked whether or not Gears of War 2 will feature a celebration system, Cliffy responded, “I think that if we were not to have a feature like that, it would probably be a pretty large fuckup.”

Yeah, that should be enough to pique your interest. Head over to Joystiq for the full interview.

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Filed under: News

Alright fanboys, time to get the difficult news out of the way first. Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts isn’t much like its predecessors at all. The main gameplay focus is still on platforming, only it’s now platforming with vehicles too. Like most platformers, the specific objectives you’ve to complete are slightly varied, but are mostly different takes on collecting items.

To do so, you’ll have a large tool kit at your fingertips. The cars seen in the gallery can all be broken down into various pieces, and a huge portion of the gameplay stems from mixing and matching car parts to suit the task at hand. Or y’know, to just suit messing around with infinitely customizable vehicles in a physics playground. That playground can be taken on the internet as well, and the game’s multiplayer is very physics-focused and custom-content heavy.

Hit the break for more on Banjo.

Continue reading X3F Impressions - Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts

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Filed under: News

Adding to what we’ve already learned about GoW2 (thanks to the media’s poking and prodding of Cliffy B), the Eurogamer crew got the chance to chat with Cliffy who was more than happy to gloat about the newly reworked cover system in Gears 2 and even talked about the possibility of doing a trilogy.

As far as cover is concerned, Cliffy admitted that, in the original Gears,”10 percent of the time, players were going into cover when they didn’t want to” so they reworked by doing “some of those [cover system] tweaks in a patch for Gears 1, we iterated on them for Gears Computer, and now we’re bringing it full circle for Gears 2.” Simply said, GoW2 will feature what Cliffy calls the “the ideal cover system ever seen in the videogame industry”. Can you say oh-freakin-yeah! Finally, when speaking about a sequel to the upcoming sequel, Cliffy wanted to make it clear that he “never announced a [Gears of War] trilogy” no matter what any journalist says, but also wanted everyone to know that if “Gears 2 has a wonderful ship-in, if gamers buy it, then we’ll think about a sequel.” Confirmed. We get a trilogy if 3 million GoW2 units ship … start pre-ordering NOW!

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Filed under: News, Peripherals

Thanks to the Game Informer article that broke all the Guitar Hero IV news recently, comes the first photograph of the game’s drum set. And after a quick look over, the biggest difference between it and the Rock Band drum set is the addition of the yellow and orange pie wedged “symbols” and use of three other drum pads. Interesting, different and … well, interesting. We’re also informed that the set’s durability is top notch as they point out that “this thing isn’t going to crack”. We’ll see how durable their drum creation really is after it feels the abusive drumming madness that SuperDunners brings everytime he takes stage. As plastic peripherals shake in fear, we warn you GHIV drums … be afraid.

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In a recent interview with GameTrailers at Microsoft’s Spring Showcase event, Gears of War 2 maestro Cliff Bleszinski dropped a ton of details regarding Marcus Fenix’s second outing. Cliffy had plenty to speak about, including new details on Gears of War 2 multiplayer, storyline, automobiles, and the return of a certain fan-favorite character. Here’s a quick rundown of exactly what CliffyB had to say:

• Gears 2 will feature 5-on-5 multiplayer with more modes and more maps out of the box than Gears 1. On the web functionality wasn’t detailed, but Cliffy promises it will be “very competitive with other titles in this space.” Dare we hope for a Halo-inspired celebration system?
• About executions:
• Chainsaw duels can end in a draw, but only occasionally.
• The curb stomp is back
• Players are no longer invulnerable when performing executions
• Once a duel is over, the actual chainsawing is faster, making the entire duel last about as long as a normal chainsaw kill.
• Players who are down but not out can now attempt to crawl away, tapping the A button to crawl faster.
• The game will have “buckets and buckets” of blood. For example, Marcus will leave trails of blood on a wall while taking cover after being injured. “Meat shields” (i.e. hostages) will also drip blood as they’re dragged around.
• Players will be able to drive the new Centaur tank, which is something like a cross between a tank and a monster truck (we think it’s briefly in the video at around 3:50)
• Carmine (most famous for being on the receiving end of a headshot in the first Gears) will return … somehow.

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Filed under: News

In a current interview with GameTrailers at Microsoft’s Spring Showcase event, Gears of War 2 maestro Cliff Bleszinski dropped a ton of details regarding Marcus Fenix’s second outing. Cliffy had plenty to speak about, including new details on Gears of War 2 multiplayer, storyline, vehicles, and the return of a certain fan-favorite character. Here’s a swift rundown of exactly what CliffyB had to say:

• Gears 2 will feature 5-on-5 multiplayer with more modes and more maps out of the box than Gears 1. Online functionality wasn’t detailed, but Cliffy promises it will be “very competitive with other titles in this space.” Dare we hope for a Halo-inspired celebration system?
• About executions:
• Chainsaw duels can end in a draw, but only occasionally.
• The curb stomp is back
• Players are no longer invulnerable when performing executions
• Once a duel is over, the actual chainsawing is faster, making the entire duel last about as long as a normal chainsaw kill.
• Players who are down but not out can now attempt to crawl away, tapping the A button to crawl faster.
• The game will have “buckets and buckets” of blood. For example, Marcus will leave trails of blood on a wall while taking cover after being hurt. “Meat shields” (i.e. hostages) will also drip blood as they are dragged around.
• Players will be able to drive the new Centaur tank, which is something like a cross between a tank and a monster truck (we think it’s briefly in the video at around 3:50)
• Carmine (most famous for being on the receiving end of a headshot in the first Gears) will return … somehow.

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While the visual look of the game has been well known for some time now, the details of the long winded Penny Arcade: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness have been a bit sketchy. Admittedly, we’re Penny Arcade fans, but we were skeptical of the game, mostly because we didn’t know of what it consisted. Turns out the game is a meld of Japanese RPG and old-school adventure.

The exploration, battle setup, and nested menus are straight out of traditional RPGs, but the cutscenes (if they can be called such) consist of a partly animated Penny Arcade comic. Albeit a Penny Arcade comic set in (*checks press release*) the deranged 1920’s universe of New Arcadia. While the RPG elements have been updated for the times and are designed not be be slow, there isn’t much here to hold you if you don’t enjoy the Penny Arcade style of writing and humor. If you like the writing and are looking for something a tiny deeper and more involved, but just as funny and wrapped in a good RPG, give this a shot.

More details and impressions after the break.

Continue reading X3F Impressions - Penny Arcade Adventures

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