Xbox 360 News

Christmas: ‘Tis The Season To… Slice Fruit?

“If Santa were a ninja – and we all know he really is – this is how he’d keep his skills sharp in the slow summer months,” said Phil Larsen, the chief marketing officer of Halfbrick, the studio behind Fruit Ninja Kinect.  Ne’er a truer word has been spoken, as Halfbrick announced today the release of a completely free piece of Christmas-themed DLC for the title, featuring holiday-themed content such as a ‘Candy Cane Blade’ and a ‘Santa’s Workshop’level to slice fruit in.  It’s certainly festive of them, and the accompanying trailer supports that, with a heart-warming‘thanks for a great year’ message at the end.

Street Fighter X Tekken Screens Showcase

Some new screenshots of Street
Fighter X Tekken have hit the internet, and they confirm what we all knew
already- Kazuya rendered in blocky Street Fighter IV style is a fairly
terrifying sight.

A large part of the appeal in the two games will undoubtedly be how the characters from each franchise ‘work’when juxtaposed onto the pace and style of the other game. We obviously don’t get any idea of that from screenshots alone, but the images do confirm that the designers have spent a lot of time making the Tekken characters look similar in style to their Street Fighter counterparts. Kazuya looks like he could be a hidden character in Street Fighter IV.  Keep your eyes peeled for more info on these two titles as they become available!

“My Xbox Live” Launches on Apple iOS Devices

In a somewhat controversial (yet understandable) move, Microsoft launched its “My Xbox Live” service today for Apple’s iOS devices.  This brand new cross-platform application allows you to do many of the same things that you’re able to do on your Xbox 360, but with limitations of course.  The app allows users to message their Xbox Live friends, change their avatar’s appearance, check out their achievements (as well as their friend’s), and get access to news and videos.

Some people may encounter a problem when first using the app, but the simple fix is to head to the Xbox Live website and agree to the new terms of service.  The “My Xbox Live” app is free to download from Apple’s app store.  Despite the new user-base the release of this app is sure to bring to Microsoft’s mobile Xbox Live platform, it still doesn’t offer the same amount of features as one who owns a Windows 7 phone has access to.  The new “Xbox Companion” for the Windows 7 phone is still the optimal way to get in touch with your profile while you’re on the go, but at least the millions of iPhone users have most of the access to their profiles rather than nothing at all.  Kudos to both Apple and Microsoft for seeing eye to eye on this one.

Gears of War 3: RAAM’s Shadow DLC Releases Today

Today, December 13, marks the release of the first major campaign DLC for Epic’s Gears of War 3.  The DLC is entitled “RAAM’s Shadow,” and it takes place prior to the first Gears of War game.  It’s all entirely new content, and it substitutes the familiar Delta squad crew for Zeta Squad, a team comprised of both totally new and familiar faces from the story’s canon (although none of the familiar faces were playable prior to this DLC).

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD Coming to XBLA and PSN

The
Birdman is back, and is finally returning to his video game roots. Tony Hawk
himself announced at the 2011 Spike VGAs that Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD will release sometime in summer 2012 for
XBLA and PSN. Fans disappointed with the recent Hawk releases of Ride and
SHRED will be thrilled to hear that Pro Skater HD will in fact be an actual Pro Skater game. HD remakes of classic
levels such as “School” and “Downhill” will be offered in the game. The game is
said to blend the first two Pro Skaters together,
but what that implies is still unknown. Pro
Skater HD will be released for under $20.

Skullgirls Screenshot Showcase

I have a soft spot for crazy, over-the-top 2D
fighters, and when they also sport lovingly hand-drawn animation I’m mostly
sold.  To that end, I was pleasantly
surprised to find some new screenshots from Skullgirls, an upcoming fighter from Autumn Games which seems to
have frenzied 2D action, lovely art courtesy of Alex Ahad and a team led by
fighting game champion “Mike Z”- all pedigree factors which should add up to a
pretty impressive title.

More Shiny SoulCalibur V Screens

Swords are cool.  It’s fairly hard to disagree with that statement. They’re more skillful and precise than a gun, and in the paraphrased words of Obi-Wan Kenobi, “elegant weapons for a more civilized age.”  So the SoulCalibur series has always been close to my heart, suffusing the basic fighting game template with a large dose of medieval weaponry as it does.  Some new screenshots of the next game in the series, Soul Calibur V, have appeared on the internet, and they certainly are shiny.  Take a look!

Siegfried’s glowing eyes aside, these screenshots certainly confirm one thing: the game is looking very shiny indeed.  Soul Calibur IV was a pretty good-looking game, but the sequel seems to have taken it up a notch, with the characters in particular looking pretty snazzy.  There are other screenshots that show what looks like a story mode – a pointer on a map of Europe, with some accompanying text that seems to be providing a reason for the character’s next battle.  It’s a feature that I personally enjoy because it gives the battles some context. I like to know why I’m beating up each outlandish, anime-styled character on my way to claiming Soul Edge.  Check out the screenshots and let us know what you think!

Epic Games Announces New Project at 2011 Spike TV Video Game Awards

Epic Games’ design director Cliff Bleszinski has stated that his studio is sharing a “big announcement” at this year’s Spike TV 2011 Video Game Awards show.  With expected announcements regarding a new Bioware project, a new Alan Wake project, and the mysterious Last of Us, Spike TV’s annual awards show appears to be morphing closer to E3 than the academy awards.

In a Spike TV teaser video, Bleszinski says that “2011 marks the 20^th anniversary for Epic as a studio, and while we’ve been busy supporting Gears of War and Infinity Blade, we have something new in store for you,”and that “It’s an entirely fresh and new experience we’ve been crafting here in our North Carolina studio.” 

New Xbox 360 Dashboard Update Scheduled Today

The new version of the Xbox 360 Dashboard is expected to hit the masses today, and it features many useful updates and fixes to streamline the Xbox 360 experience.  This user interface update is one of many for Microsoft’s console, and its sleek style and easy-to-use model stays mostly true with the last version of Dashboard.

The new menu layout is more centrally focused than previous iterations, and you will immediately notice the prevalence of advertising.  This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it is a step towards the inevitable “in-game” advertising blitz that’s sure to come sooner rather than later

Final Fantasy Remakes Coming to Xbox?

In a recent interview
with Official Xbox
Magazine,
Final Fantasy XIII-2 producer Yoshinori
Kitase hinted that it would be possible to remake an older Final Fantasy game (please, please FFVII) for the Xbox 360. When asked if Square Enix needed Sony’s
permission to remake Playstation 1-era FF
games, Kitase responded with “Well,
XIII and XIII-2 are only two years apart so obviously we have to stick to the
same platforms, otherwise we would have to give XIII-2 to the people who
haven’t played the previous work, but if we were to remake an old game that’s
ten years old or whatever, or make a sequel to that particular title, we don’t
have to worry about the same issue…Multiplatform is great if it’s possible.”