Starting with Halo Reach. I’ve already done a post on this so not much need’s to be said.. I felt complete sadness when the beta was ripped away from me!

Next, Medal of Honor. Looking forward to this one myself I have to say! This one is the multiplayer trailer.

And this one is the campaign trailer.

A surprising one for most of us I think as this had been well kept in the dark, a new Metal Gear Solid “Rising” . Looks the business, as we’ve come to expect from the Metal Gear Solid series!

The much discussed Black Ops revealed a new trailer at E3 as well. I actually will not be buying this if they don’t sort out the JTAGer’s on Xbox. The leader boards in Modern Warfare 2 just being completely hacked and ALL THE GLITCHES has really turned me off COD. Get dedicated servers Infinity Ward! God knows you can afford them!

Keeping favourites for last, Fable III. I honestly cannot wait for this game to come out in September. It’s one of those games you just can’t put down until your complete.

Update 14-06-10: This new Xbox Slim has just been unveiled at E3 and is therefore confirmed. What a shame!

Also on my little rant of Red ring with a slimmer Xbox they have apparently reworked the cooling system [or so they say]. Only time will tell!

So rumours have been circulating Twitter and the major game sites for a good couple of hours now about a new Xbox to be launched over E3 this week. Leaked pictures show that Microsoft have dropped the smooth design of the Xbox and gone back to sharp edges. Some love it, I personally dislike it. As has been said before it’s a very “PC Case Mod” design.

Advertisements show a 250GB storage capacity, which is already available on the current model of the Xbox. We all know that this will be for the “Elite” model so really, why bother?

The only feature to really raise an eyebrow to is the built in Wi-Fi. This will be a godsend for most users, leaving behind that expensive clumsy [and often hard to set up] Wi-Fi adapter.

Original sources say that this rumoured Xbox will be called The “Xbox 360 Slim”. Obviously just doing what Sony did and releasing a “Slim” version of the Xbox. However from views it really doesn’t look that much slimmer than the current Xbox 360. Of course one has to raise the question of “Red Ring” with this new Xbox, if it is a slimmer version, surely the chance’s of that hated “Red Ring of Death” increase. Microsoft didn’t do well last time around slimming down the Xbox and had serious problems with heat management, slimming down the 360 again has to lead to more frequent cases of Red Ring.

Of course in the current climate we’d be expecting that Microsoft have done this to cut production costs and perhaps hopefully lower the cost for us. More rumours speculate this new Xbox will cost around the same as the current Elite Xbox. [€250] <-Confirmed

In terms of power and specs, this Xbox slim isn’t going to change anything apparently and even though it “supports Kinect [Project Natal]” it doesn’t seem to be incorporated into this new Xbox. This seems odd of Microsoft to have done as I think most of us believed the next console release would have “Kinect” built in.

On the subject of Kinect[Connect?] a few games have been announced:

• Kinectimals lets you train and play with 20 different virtual cats, including a lion, cheetah and tiger.
• Joyride, a racing game, lets players use their hands to hold an imaginary steering wheel — pull your hands toward you and push back out for an acceleration boost — and their bodies to execute jumps and tricks.
• Kinect Sports has six activities including boxing, bowling, beach volleyball, track and field, soccer and table tennis. To serve a volleyball, you mimic the real motion; in soccer, you can kick the ball or do a header.
• Kinect Adventures includes a river-raft time trial and obstacle course, playable by up to four players. On the raft, playing as a duo, you and a partner must lean one way or another to steer. Jumping helps the raft reach special areas for extra points.
• Dance Central, in development by MTV Games, brings a So You Think You Can Dance experience home.
• Star Wars characters and iconic Disney favourites will be featured in separate new games being developed at Microsoft in conjunction with Lucas Arts and Disney.

Personally I’ll be sticking with this model!

So it seems like we’ve been counting down the days to the Halo Reach beta forever, yet here we are, it’s out tomorrow!
Not been following the news? Here’s what to expect from Halo Reach;

• Reach will NOT follow the book, Fall of Reach.
• We play as Spartan IIIs. Jorge is the only Spartan II on the team, and as a result is larger.
• Carter 259 and Kat 320 are the only members of their original squad.
• Jorge is a heavy weapons specialist.
• “Skully” now has a name, Emile 239. He’s the silent type of the game.
• The sniper is called Jun 266. He’s thoughtful and taciturn.
• We can customise the appearance of the Lone Wolf by a small degree. Awesome.
• The game is apparently darker than any of the other Halo games, even more so than ODST.
• Human Insurrectionists are possibly in the game.
• Bungie have once again made the Covenant more dangerous and frightening, as they were in Halo 1.
• Covenant soldiers no longer speak English, they speak in their own languages.
• A new enemy like a Jackal has been introduced, named a “Skirmisher.” They are deadly and cunning enemies that attack in packs, and flank secure positions.
• Graphics have been improved drastically, as proven by in-magazine comparisons.
• Elites are back, and are more ferocious than ever.
• Larger scale combat will be in Reach. Where only 20 AI at a time could be on screen in Halo 3, now over 40 AI and 20 vehicles can be present at a time.
• Scenes are more cinematic.
• Noble Team splits up at a point in the story, but it seems they soon get back together.
• Health Bar is back along with energy shield.
• Single shot rifle like the Halo 2 E3 demo is in the game, named the Designated Marksman Rifle (DRM)
• Sniper AR ad Magnum make a return. Gun sounds are more realistic. Read more about Reach weapons here.
• Needler Rifle is in the game, a mid-range headshot capable weapon.
• Spike Grenades and Flame Grenades are out. Only frags and plasma remain.
• Helicopter Transport is called the Falcon.
• Civilian vehicles are now drivable.
• Fully stealthy game play is now possible.
• Assassinations are possible with a knife by holding down the melee button.
• Sprinting is now possible through an equipment like mechanic.
• Spirits, the Covenant drop ship in CE, return in Reach, alongside Phantoms.
• Grunts look a lot more menacing.
• Motion Tracker seems compressed, like an oval rather than the Halo 3 circle.
• Hud is yellow rather than blue.
• Marines look vaguely like Halo 1 marines.
• Phantoms now have a flashlight, like the one seen in the ODST announcement trailer.
• Elites seem taller, and are no longer hunched.
• All features from Halo 3 (Forge, Theatre, Co-op) make a comeback along with several new ones.
• We will be shown what Reach looks like before it is destroyed. We will see the levels of destruction progress as we get further through the game, implying the game takes place over a longish period of time.

So do you have your copy of ODST[Beta invite included in ODST] ready? Will you be playing the Beta tomorrow? If so leave a comment with your gamertag! The final countdown begins!

Finally, an advertisement appeared on XBLA last night announcing Gears of War 3 to release in April 2011, seems to be an early slip on Microsoft’s part as the advert has now been removed.

IGN also have speculated the following about the new gamely features through a trusted source of theirs:

According to the source, Gears of War 3 will include all-new Locust enemies the feature "tentacle-like appendages" that can extend to cover spots. To combat this, Delta Squad COG members will now carry explosives that can travel underground and take out enemy positions.
Gears of War 3 will also have "a heavy duty mech suit" that COG members can use for both protection and causing havoc on the battlefield.
These new combat mechanics will be used in both singleplayer and multiplayer, according to Edge.
Gears of War 3 will be set during the summer, and include a host of new locations as well. The biggest addition are new underwater levels. [source]

Apparently a trailer for Gears of War 3 will be released this Monday, but remember all we are 100% certain of is this: Gears of War 3 is confirmed.

Get your chainsaws ready.

Infinity Ward just brought the new DLC for Modern Warfare 2, the Stimulus Package.

This beauty of a map pack adds five (5) new maps.

Bailout

Crash 

Storm

Overgrown

Salvage

The map pack is out now on Xbox 360 and will be hitting the PS3 & PC sometime later this month!

Cost? 1200 MSP and $15 for the PSN

Which averages at about €3 a map!

Ubisoft have now dropped Starforce DRM and are trying out an “always-connected” piracy plan.

In a nutshell, the publisher’s new anti-piracy measures aim to disarm DRM’s more troubling aspects, removing install limits altogether and allowing you to play without a disc in the tray. Also of note: cloud saves. For the uninitiated, this means that your game saves can be stored remotely on Ubisoft’s servers, which – while a fairly prominent feature these days – is still 12 different flavors of cool.

Cloud saves seems like a great idea, earlier in the year when Assassins Creed 2 first came out I was a victim of their “corrupt save” bug, where the Xbox froze up during a save process and destroyed my entire game making me start all over again! Hopefully cloud saves would be a way around that bug, perhaps a backup feature on Ubisoft’s servers?

However here is the kicker;

See, there’s one major string attached, and if you disconnect that string, then you can kiss your gaming time goodbye. It’s the Internet, and you’ll be required to connect to it in order for Ubisoft to authenticate your game. Despite the restrictive nature of that limitation, however, the publisher doesn’t seem too worried.

"We think most people are going to be fine with it. Most people are always connected to an Internet connection," said Brent Wilkinson, Director, Customer Service and Production Planning at Ubisoft.

 

See were the frustration is going to begin? If your internet cable goes down for whatever reason for even a minute, your Xbox screen will dim black and you will be locked out of your game. My question would be will this happen if the “Xbox Live” servers go down, which happens every few months.. Servers are reset, connections get lost, can we really rely on always on connectivity? For as “Murphy’s Law” states; If anything can go wrong, it will go wrong!

So if your going to be downloading the new DRM for Assassins Creed, make sure you are on an “Always On” connection.

Source

Over thousands of generations the peaceful Darwinians have been evolving in a beautiful digital world, but now their whole way of life is under threat from a devastating computer virus that has infected their world and decimated their numbers. Without your protection they don’t stand a chance and it’s up to you to lead them into battle to recapture their lost world! Once you’ve proven your command ability, take your Darwinian army online and challenge your friends to strategic combat, as tribes of Darwinians slaughter one another in a desperate struggle for supremecy.

Darwina+ is made by Introversion Software and it will be released to the Xbox Live Marketplace on Wednesday 10th February 2010 for 1200 points. [€13.96 / $14.99]

Personally I can’t wait for this to come out, Introversion are a great company in my opinion, they’ve made such greats as Uplink and Defcon.

So February 10th have your points bought, get Darwina+ and help support Introversion software!

I’m a new player to the Call of Duty series, but after playing this game I feel it deserves a review.

To start where everyone starts off, the campaign is rather short, 8 hours or so to be exact and I wouldn’t be the fastest gamer going through levels. However “Spec Ops” [another offline mode] has a set of 23 separate missions which can be played solo or co-op. They are rather fun missions, a few of the co-op only ones have one player trying to cover the ground of a level while the other player protects them in a gunner ship. These side-missions as you say move the length of game-play to about 14-16 hours. This is still short compared to other games however it is longer than the average big name shooter games that come out these days.

The online multi-player is what really makes the game. Even though you spend quiet a lot of time dying you are always right back into action after a very short spawn time. The levelling system is extremely addictive, you always get constant gratification as there is always one more challenge to achieve,  level to reach and weapon to unlock. Of course we can’t forget about the addition of titles and badges, which you get from anything from getting a 3 kill streak to killing someone on a 10 kill streak. Between the titles, weapons and accolades this all makes for an extremely large amount of content to unlock.

All in all it is probably the best shooter I’ve played in a long time. The story is compelling, the game play is fast paced and fun, and the various game modes make it well worth your time and money.

Your going to have to click into this to actually be able to read it but I found this really cool timeline of video consoles by Online Education .

Check it out if you get the chance!