Xbox 360 News

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Details Slowly Roll Out

If you’re like me, you spent an ungodly amount of time playing Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion. The quests, the guilds, the action, the Oblivion gate closing (or lack thereof because you’re so busy doing other things), it kept you hook for at least 50+ hours. We’ve known for a while, though they didn’t officially announce it until last December at the VGA’s, that Bethesda would be doing another installment in the Elder Scrolls franchise. What we haven’t known is exactly what you will be doing in this next installment, entitled Skyrim.

Bionic Commando Rearmed 2 Launching On XBLA Feb. 2

Capcom announced on their Unity blog earlier this week that Bionic Commando Rearmed 2 will be jumping its way onto Xbox Live Arcade on Feb. 2. Or at least it would be jumping, if your character could- oh, wait, he can jump in the sequel. Never mind.

For those unfamiliar with the series, the ability to jump is actually a big change for the series. In the first Rearmed (and the original NES Bionic Commando it was based on), the only way to move vertically was to use Nathan “Rad” Spencer’s bionic arm to grapple ledges and hooks above the character. Rearmed 2’s developer, Fat Shark, has promised in earlier previews that purists will be able to navigate the game without ever touching the jump button if they do not want to. Rearmed 2 will be a direct sequel to the first Rearmed and will set the stage for the plot of the 2009 360/PS3 entry in the series, which was titled simply Bionic Commando

Court Fees Taking Toll on Call of Duty Creators

The legal battle between Activision and Call of Duty creators Jason West and Vince Zampella continues to get uglier as Kotaku reports that the court battle between the two is starting to financially strain West and Zampella.  

Microsoft Has Sold 8 Million Kinect Units

That’s right, you read that number correct. Microsoft has announced that in just 60 days, the Kinect has sold an astounding 8 million units. The sales numbers become astronomically more impressive when you take into account that this is not a 50 or 60 dollar game, but instead a 150 dollar peripheral that is a completely non-essential part of the playing experience. Steve Ballmer of Microsoft announced Avatar Kinect, a service that allows players to chat using their Avatars and Kinect, directly after announcing the figures. It is clear that Microsoft is banking on this big time, and why shouldn’t they be, 8 million is already an established base and the number has nowhere to go but up.

XBLA Update – 1/5/2011

Xbox Live Arcade is ringing in the New Year with another slow week of Marketplace releases. Apparently nobody at Microsoft made the resolution to spread around release dates this year.

Xbox Live Arcade game Ilomilo headlines the releases this week. The cutesy, puzzle title was well-received here at Player Affinity, earning an 8.0 out of 10. In his review, Jay praised the game’s gorgeous environments, unique puzzles and “cutesy-wutesy, hugability.” Okay, that last part was a bit of an embellishment on my part, but the game is still adorable.

XBLA Update – 12/29/10

I hope all you gamers out there had a Merry Christmas and that Santa got you just what you wanted, because his sack is pretty empty when it comes to XBLA swag this season.

A slow week is to be expected this time of year, though Dead Rising 2 fans should be excited for the game’s first piece of DLC, Case West, which introduces the first game’s protagonist, war-covering photojournalist Frank West, to the sequel. On the arcade game front, there’s the cartoony puzzler Raskulls and the EA-published MicroBots, a twin stick shooter that takes place inside a human body.

Harmonix Regains Independence

Harmonix is going back to being independent.

Viacom, their parent company, sold Harmonix to Harmonix-SBE Holdings LLC, a new affiliate of the private investment firm Columbus Nova, LLC. There were no details on the deal’s financial terms. 

Viacom announced back in November that they were putting Harmonix, the creator of the Rock Band franchise, up for sale due to a recent oversaturation and thus lacking sales in the rhythm game market. Harmonix has paid off for its freedom and is now going to return to where they started.

“We’re excited to be returning to our roots as an independent and privately owned studio,” Harmonix said on their forums. “As for what it means for you, the DLC schedule marches on for Rock Band, we will continue our support of previously released titles and we’re hard at work on some unannounced projects that we think you’re going to be pumped about.”

Xbox Live Update – 12/23/10

So, the update is a day late this week – apologies, but hopefully you were spending the time getting ready for the holidays, if you were not already enjoying them. Anywho, the multiplayer expansion Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Vietnam headlines the list of Marketplace updates this week. This Bad Company 2 DLC contains four new multiplayer maps based around the Vietnam War, including 15 weapons and 6 vehicles based on technology from that time period.

The Wild West got some Marketplace love as well with the release of Red Dead Redemption on Games on Demand and the arrival of Dead Money, the first DLC expansion to Fallout: New Vegas. Arcade games releases were a bit skimpy this week, especially after last week’s nostalgia triple-whammy of X-Men, Bomberman and Quake. Arcade fans do have World of Keflings to look forward to, the review of which should be up on this site shortly.

Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale Announced by Atari

Warm up your +5 vorpal schimitars, D&D fans – Atari has announced a new Dungeons & Dragons game for Xbox Live Arcade, Playstation Network and PC.

Titled Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale, the game takes place in the Forgotten Realms, one of the hallmark settings of the venerated pen and paper game. One to four players will be able to play through the game cooperatively, and will be able to customize their character based on class, loot and skills. Online play was not yet announced, though it seems a natural for a downloadable title such as this.

Hydrophobia Receiving Expansive Update

If you don’t know or need a quick reminder, Hydrophobia, an Xbox Live Arcade game released as part of the “Game Feast” a few months back, was pretty bad. Some could say it was a 3.0 bad. Dark Energy Digital, the developers behind Hydrophobia hve sent out a press release revealing “Hydrophobia Pure” which is a title update that will come to the original Hydrophobia and will supposedly fix many of the games issues. Read some of the press release below.

“Dark Energy Digital is delighted to announce a comprehensive title update for Hydrophobia TM with a simultaneous price drop to 800 Microsoft Points. The title update is built from detailed analysis of critical and customer feedback and is a root and branch rework of all the major systems in the game.”