Xbox 360

Rush’N Attack: Ex-Patriot Demo Impressions

Konami’s been in a rough spot on the XBLA recently. Hard Corps: Uprising was sub-par at best, and Battle: LA was so bad I called the aliens and told them I now totally understood why they wanted to kill us. But with their latest arcade offering, maybe Konami can turn that around.
  
Rush’N Attack: Ex-Patriot hit XBLA yesterday, and after playing through the demo, I can honestly say this game is great. Actually, let me clarify that: the gameplay is great. Mechanics, button scheme, controls, all of that is fantastic. The rest? Not so much.

The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile Review

It’s been about four years since Microsoft announced the winners of its first “Dream-Build-Play” competition, with the intention of promoting the XNA developer tools that have been the backbone of the Indie Games area of Xbox Live. If you take a look at the Xbox Live Arcade releases in mid-2007, it’s easy to see why the prospect of indie games, let alone any original game, was extremely exciting.

While two titles were awarded the grand prize of $10,000 and a spot for their game on Xbox Live Arcade, not many people remember Blazing Birds, but there was a lot of buzz, and still a lot of love, for The Dishwasher.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters (Xbox 360) Review

Even before cracking open the box for Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12, you know that EA Sports wants to make it crystal clear that this is essentially The Masters: The Video Game. They’re right to brag since this is the first time you can play a virtual round of golf at Augusta National. In fact for the majority of us, it will be the only way we’ll ever do so.

For those not savvy with real golf, bringing The Masters to this series is the equivalent to adding the Super Bowl to Madden NFL Football if it never before appeared in the franchise. The fact that there is so much more to this year’s installment than The Masters makes Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12 the most excited I’ve been about the game in almost half a decade.

WWE All Stars (Xbox 360) Review

The WWE Smackdown! vs. Raw series has always been a very technical, controls focused game. This has resulted in many non-hardcore wrestling fans being put off by the inaccessibility of the franchise. THQ San Diego (comprised mostly of people who worked on TNA Impact’s video game) and Yukes have teamed up together to rectify that problem with their arcade style fighting game,WWE All Stars. All Stars features legends and newer wrestlers, and attempts to combine them in a way that sucks in the causal wrestling fan, but also the fan that has been watching since Hulkamania started running wild in the ‘80s. But is WWE All Stars just another failed attempt to try and please everyone? Or is it something that will stay in your Xbox 360 for days?

WWE All Stars’ visuals are one of the more striking things in the game. The characters look like the old action figures we all used to play with as kids (and eventually rip apart), they’re obscenely muscular and everyone’s face looks like they were ran over by a steam roller. In WWE All Stars though, this is not a bad thing. It sets up the arcade style feel really well and makes you appreciate the out of control moves even more. Apart from that, all the stages look really nice and the vibrant color palate makes the game very appealing and fresh to the eyes.

Marvel and Activision Announce Spider-Man: Edge of Time

Beenox did a surprisingly good job on Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions and because of that, they’re doing the upcoming Spider-Man game, Spider-Man: Edge of Time. Edge of Time will be released this fall, no consoles have been announced but we can be almost sure on it coming to at least the PS3 and Xbox 360.

Edge of Time will “challenge the player to take on the roles of both classic Amazing Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2099 to correct a timestream gone awry and prevent a catastrophic future brought on by the early and untimely death of Peter Parker.” On top of that, the story is being written by co-creator of the comic book series Spider-Man 2099, Peter David. One of the more interesting things in the press release announcing the game is the mention of a Cause and Effect feature. Which means that whatever you do in Amazing Spider-Man’s timeline will simultaneously change the events taking place in Spider-Man 2099’s timeline.

Mega Man Universe Cancelled

Sad news for Mega Man fans today as Capcom announced on the
official website for Mega Man Universe that the game is being cancelled.

Although the site’s message contains an apology, it did not
have any information as to why the game was cancelled, only mentioning “various
reasons.”

The Mega Man franchise has been running into trouble lately,
first with series creator Keiji Infaune leaving Capcom while criticizing
Japanese game development, and lately with Mega Man Legends 3, a title
announced for the new Nintendo 3DS handheld, in an uncertain state.

“L.A. Noire” Gets Honored at Tribeca Film Festival

L.A. Noire is shaping up to be one of Take Two’s and Rockstar Games’ next big franchise. The L.A. Noire will be part of the Official Selection at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival. This is the first time a game has ever been a part of the Tribeca Film Festival. Rockstar Games Founder said, “We’re thrilled that L.A. Noire is being recognized by the Tribeca Film Festival in this way.” He also goes on to add,  “It’s a real honor, and another step forward for interactive entertainment.”

While at the Film Festival, Rockstar will give an exclusive preview of L.A. Noire on April 25, 2011. They will be showing off a live demonstration of a case in L.A. Noire. That will then be followed by a Q&A session that will involve the technology behind the game, along with the story. This session will be moderated by the Tribeca Film Festival Chief Creative Officer, Geoff Gilmore.