Xbox 360

What We Want: Gears of War 3

Gears 3 has finally been given a release date, there are definitely some 360 owners that won’t be too bothered regarding this game. But for the most part, Gears 3 is going to be on the vast majority of our lists. Gears of War 2 will be almost 3 years old by the time the Gears 3 comes around, and Gears 2 did do a lot different and better than the original. However, there are some things that it didn’t do too well, and there are some changes that most fans are going to want. The big one has already been confirmed, that being dedicated serves, and there’s quite a lot of new weapons on their way, but let’s talk about some stuff that isn’t a sure thing.

Game Over for Printed Instructions

While we are
still years away from the end days of physical media, there is one aspect of
the disc-based game that may be on its last legs: the instruction manual.

Speaking with
Kotaku, Rob Semsey, a representative from EA Sports, confirmed that they’d be
taking a cue from Ubisoft and no longer including physical instruction manuals
with their games. No word yet on if this is an EA Sports-only initiative, or if
it will carry over to all EA titles.

Multiplayer Silent Hill on XBLA?

While the next trip to Silent Hill is still a solo journey, there may be some room for friends – but only on Xbox Live Arcade.

In a translated interview from Italy’s Xbox 360 Magazine posted on Hell Descent, Radek Marek, art director on Silent Hill: Downpour, let it slip that while there are still no plans beyond a single-player campaign, “Konami are investigating a separate chapter devoted entirely to the multiplayer. We do not know the details but it should be an XBLA title that most players have to survive in the town of Silent Hill.”

Square Enix’s Gun Loco Silently Cancelled

Square Enix’s Gun Loco was announced way back in August and made news mainly because of its wacky, eccentric art style that features some absolutely maddening character models. The characters in Gun Loco are all deranged criminals that have been sent out to a deserted planet to try and regain their freedom by killing off other prisoners.

That crazy game will sadly never see the light of day according to Square Enix’s Japanese site which announced the cancellation of the title. No reason was given for the cancellation, my guess would be that the game was either lacking in quality or Square Enix thought that game was just too ridiculous and would be critically vaporized because of it.

Homefront (Xbox 360) Review

War on American soil is a petrifying thing, especially for Americans. Because of this, that topic is rarely touched upon in gaming which is a disappointing fact as it is an interesting concept that can evoke strong emotions from many different kinds of gamers. And when it has been touched on, such as in Turning Point: Fall of Liberty and Modern Warfare 2, it’s either not taken seriously enough or in Turning Point’s case, everything about it is broken. Will Homefront be another game to take that faithful war on US soil risk and fail at it? Or can it finally break that very frustrating mold established by past games?

In Homefront, you’re thrust into a chaos ravaged war where North Korea seems to own almost everything and gas prices are rising to around 20 dollars a gallon. This along with the rest of the premise of the game (North Korea invades US, Kim Jong Ill dies, North Korea takes over Japan, etc) is established before you start playing the game in a very engaging opening video. It shows all live action situations such as Hilary Clinton speaking on North Korea, a mad redneck yelling “the only good communist, is a dead communist” (in a rather hilarious fashion might I add), among other things. Thankfully it doesn’t look too silly and manages to make you quickly afraid of both North Korea and of what will come of the United States.

Mass Effect 2 “Arrival” DLC Due March 29

The final DLC add-on for Mass Effect 2 is on its way. “Arrival” will be Mass Effect 2‘s last DLC until Mass Effect 3 later this year. Bioware has done right by supporting Mass Effect 2
with DLC which helps keep it relevant on everyone’s mind. “Arrival”
will take Commander Shepard and the rest of the Normandy crew to the far
reaches of the galaxy. It centers on an undercover agent who is missing
in Batarian space after this agent has discovered an impending Reaper
invasion. Shepard must rescue this secret agent and discover what the
“Arrival” is. The DLC will also feature three new achievements.

Halo Reach Defiant Map Pack Review

Well it is official; the Defiant Map Pack is the last hurrah
for Bungie’s involvement in the Halo series. They officially have moved on to
Activision and have fulfilled all of their contractual obligations of
supporting Reach. That being said Bungie’s involvement in this map pack is
minimal with the majority of the work being done by Certain Affinity under the
supervision of 343 Studios, the internal Microsoft studio that will now steer
the Halo franchise. The results are surprising and offer perhaps some of the
best maps available thus far for the shooter.