My 360 is COMING!

Oh the joy! An automated UPS phone call came through today saying someone has to be at the house to sign for the package tomorrow! Low and behold the package is coming from Texas aka the Xbox 360 repairment center! You can read all my previous posts on this annoying topic Shipping Xbox 360 and Fix My 360. It only took 11 days from the time when my Xbox 360 arrived at the repair center to the time it was shipped back to me. I’m amazed at how quickly Microsoft was able to fix the problem. Now the question is, is this a short-term fix or I’m I good to go for life? I mean my Genesis still works after 15 years of loyal service, why can’t my Xbox 360 work after less than 1 year!

Don’t bother saying oh the Genesis is simple technology – it wasn’t back in the day!

I wish that was mine

From the horrors of Dungeon Siege… Space Siege!

To be completely frank, Dungeon Siege wasn’t the best RPG I’ve ever played. And its story wasn’t the richest I’ve seen. But Gas Powered Games aren’t quitting and last month, they announced Space Siege – a sci-fi version of Dungeon Siege. A brand new trailer has also come up which you’ll find at the bottom.

The game boasts a “deep and compelling storyline”, which I’m highly skeptical about and “intense” action. The trailer definitely looks like it is in with the times and even bears a slight resemblance to Mass Effect, which is good. Maybe GPG can save itself after all. The only premise we know of right now is that a colonization ship is under siege by aliens who have annihilated Earth. At least the title “Space Siege” makes more sense than “Dungeon Siege”.

You will play as Seth, a robotics specialist who becomes hero of the day. The story will be fraught with moral dilemmas as you will have to decide whether you want Seth to pick up robotic upgrades and other such useful prosthetics at the sake of your ‘humanity’. The irony the writers wish to express here, is that you are trying to save the human race, but giving up your humanity. I like that.

These cybernetic modifications will actually play a large role in the story, as it may alienate (pun intended) Seth from the people he’s trying to save. NPCs will react differently and quests will differ as you get new modifications for every part of your body (if only Seth were female…).

This interesting new game will make its way to your PC next year, with no other details announced as of yet. Check out the official press release here, and the official site here. The official trailer can be found in The Pipeline (above).

‘Glory Days 2’ and ‘Nervous Brickdown’ Nintendo DS Reviews

Every gamer knows that summertime sucks. It’s rare that good games come out anytime between June-August. Well this is one of those rare times as I’ve got two games that I highly recommend! Watch the full reviews below:

Holy Diver suits Batman! It’s the Bioshock Demo!

Bioshock

The summer is generally a boring time for gamers. We get one, maybe two good games that’ll last a week if we’re lucky. It’s not until the end of summer, nearly the start of fall that the good games start to come out. Coming next week we’re getting one of those great games… at least us 360 and PC gamers. Bioshock, the Sandbox First Person Shooter from the people that brought us Freedom Force, System Shock 2 and Swat 4, is being released on the 21st. The game takes place in a once Utopian underwater city in the 1960s, where now super powered druggies, little girls, and giant monsters in old fashion divers suits are out to kill you.

It all looks very awesome, and with many great features, but it’s more than a week away. WE CAN’T WAIT THAT LONG! Well now we won’t have to. Today Irrational Games (or now formally known as 2K Boston and 2K Australia) released a demo to this game on the Xbox Live Marketplace. How much of the game can you play? What abilities do you get? Are you going to crap your pants after a Big Daddy starts chasing after you? I don’t know, the game literally crashed all of Xbox Live, and the downloading is a bit slow. I’ll get more to you when I can, but try to download the demo ASAP, because it’s slower than… well something really slow.

[Via: Major Nelson]

Sierra and Radical working on PROTOTYPE

Prototype Preview

Sierra Entertainment will be releasing a new open-ended, do-anything sort of game next year, under development by the almighty Radical Entertainment, known for games like Scarface: The World is Yours and The Simpsons Hit & Run. The game is titled ‘PROTOTYPE’ (the caps are entirely intentional) and will be set in New York City.

The game will revolve around a man named Alex Mercer, who has had a disturbing past and is currently raging a war. Things go downhill and you find yourself wrapped up in a story full of deception, double-crossing, conspiracy and perhaps more video game clichés.

Mercer will have unique powers that allow him to change shape and morph into anyone who crosses his path, complete with skills and powers. While I wouldn’t the call the ability particularly innovative, I’d like to see it in a video game! This ability will be no doubt connected to Mercer’s shady past which he must uncover while saving the world. C’mon, when are there going to be more original plots?

But good plot or not, Kelly Zmak, president of Radical Entertainment made me happy with the following lines:

Radical Entertainment set out to create the most dynamic video game character ever imagined. From free-form movement to over-the-top combat action; PROTOTYPE can climb or wall-run across any surface, jump 30 stories high, and destroy anything that crosses his path. Our team at Radical has built upon the technology that drove our previous best-selling games and now has the freedom to dream big and imagine a powerful character in a sprawling city like New York, cloaked in a conspiracy and ripped from today’s headlines.

Sounds real sexy, doesn’t it? I just hope these uber abilities aren’t some lame stuff added near the end of the game for an hour. I hate it when they do that.

PROTOTYPE will be coming out for the Xbox 360, the PS3 and your good ol’ PC in the Summer of 2008. Watch for it, but first check out these screenies:

Prototype Image 1 Prototype Image 2 Prototype Image 3 Prototype Image 4