It has been a little under a week since the Battlefield 3 beta test began. Electronic Arts is already addressing some of the larger problems with the multiplayer beta, including client crashes, disappearing crosshairs, and players spawning on deceased teammates.
It’s decision time. If you’re planning on pre-ordering Final Fantasy XIII-2, which is due for release in North America on January 31st, you have three retailer-specific choices. If you have an inexplicable attraction to the flamboyancy that is Final Fantasy costumes, then you’ll probably want to go with GameStop, which is offering an alternate outfit for Serah, who will be playable for the first time in the sequel.
Observant gamers have spotted a Batman: Arkham City Xbox 360 bundle available for preorder on Amazon’s German website. The bundle has not yet been officially confirmed by Microsoft or Arkham City developer Rocksteady, and it is still unclear if it will be released in North America. The listing for the bundle is 279.99 Euros, approximately 380 U.S. dollars. However, unlike the previously announced Kinect Star Wars andCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Xbox 360 consoles, the Arkham City bundle will not include a special console with special Batman features. Instead, the bundle will come with a standard 250GB Xbox 360 console..
It’s no surprise that Xbox 360 gamers love their Gears of War, and the first week sales of Gears of War 3prove this point soundly. Microsoft announced that the final game in the trilogy has surpassed 3 million sales since its launch on September 20. With these stellar figures, Gears 3 is the best-selling game so far in 2011. Microsoft Corporate Vice President Phil Spencer said “Gears of War 3 kicked off the biggest holiday in Xbox history with a bang last week, setting the standard for the kinds of amazing, action-packed experiences gamers should expect on Xbox 360 this year.”
If you’ll turn Gears of War off for just a few minutes and pay attention, we’d like to tell you about some of the other games you could be playing now. While you were out slaughtering locusts with your chainsaw, you probably failed to notice all the other great Xbox games that came out last month, so here’s our September Xbox Review Round-up.
In case you didn’t already know, RAGE, the first-person shooter/racing hybrid developed by iD Software and published by Bethesda, will be released tomorrow. If you’re a hardcore iD fan, then you probably already know that the RAGE universe has already been established. A little less than a year ago in November 2010, iD published an early preview of the post-apocalyptic environment with RAGE HD for iOS devices. Not owning an iOS device at the time, I didn’t discover this gem until last week. For $1.99, what does this iOS preview tell us about the imminent “real” RAGE?
Let me start by saying that RAGE HD is, in many ways, not comparable to what will hit consoles and the PC tomorrow. As an iOS game, it’s designed to run for much less sophisticated hardware, so those of you expecting to see console-quality graphics and effects will be disappointed (although it does look fantastic for its platform). However, RAGE HD provides us with plenty of hints as to how the universe will feel, look, and operate.
According to Bloomberg, Microsoft is planning to partner with Comcast and Verizon to offer subscription-based streaming television service on the Xbox 360. This falls in line with Microsoft announcing Live TV for the Xbox 360 during last year’s E3.
According to sources “With knowledge of the situation,” Microsoft is in talks with two dozen Music, Movies and Sports providers in the U.S. and is expected to sign deals with Time Warner, HBO, Sony Pictures entertainment, Verizon, Comcast and NBC Universal’s Bravo and Syfy channels.
