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Release Date Finally Catches Up With Forza 3
Microsoft sent word today that Forza 3 will not be delayed into 2010. It’s sad we have to explicitly state that, but these days, you can never be too sure. Instead, the exact release date for the game in North America is October 27. No idea yet for Europe, but for Aussies and Kiwis, good…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 28, 2009 -
Bethesda Guy: Here’s Who Can Afford Bungie’s Non-Halo IP
Ashley Cheng, the production director at Bethesda Game Studios, posted on his personal blog a back-of-the-envelope guess at which publishers might take up Bungie’s next, non-Halo game. Hint, one of the candidates rhymes with “Shmesmesda.” Based on recent reports, Cheng says, “Bungie only owes Microsoft two more games and they’re done. Halo ODST and Reach…
By Owen Good Published July 27, 2009 -
Microsoft Introducing Age-Based Xbox Live Lockdown (In New Zealand)
Kinda strange development taking place over in New Zealand, with Microsoft taking the rather drastic step of blocking every single under-18 user in the country from downloading paid content on their 360’s. Even kid-friendly stuff. Kotaku AU first noticed the move last week, and when we contacted Microsoft for comment, were handed this rather vague…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 27, 2009 -
South Park Tower Defense’s Working Titles Sucked
While South Park Let’s Go Tower Defense Play! is a long title for the upcoming Xbox Live Arcade game, some of the working titles were even more of a mouthful. Snowballing, anyone? At the “Save South Park One Snowball At A Time” panel at Comic-Con yesterday, South Park Digital’s Chris Brion explained how the tower…
By Mike Fahey Published July 26, 2009 -
Bungie Says It’s ‘Close’ to Signing New IP Deal
Earlier this week, Bungie’s Lars Bakken strongly implied that Halo: Reach would be the last Bungie-made Halo title. Bakken now suggests that the studio is close to getting a publisher for its new, non-Halo IP. Says Bakken to Eurogamer: I think internally we’ll know sometime soon. I don’t handle these things, but I’d imagine we’re…
By Owen Good Published July 26, 2009 -
Footage Leaked of XBL Avatar Golf Game?
Four user videos up on Gametrailers show what looks like an avatar-based golf game for the Xbox 360. From the footage it looks like the project is still under development. But with Xbox Live releasing Joy Ride – an avatar-based racing game – it’s not out of the realm of possibility they’d do something like…
By Owen Good Published July 25, 2009 -
Take A Tour Of Microsoft’s Retail Stores
As you know, Microsoft will soon be opening chain of fancy big retail stores across the US, in which 360 hardware and software will play a prominent role. Wanna see what they look like? Gizmodo have got their hands on a Powerpoint slide outlining the design and features of the stores, which include things like…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 25, 2009 -
Ecko Release The Ugliest Halo Shirts In The Known Universe
There are people who do video game t-shirts the right way. People like Meat Bun, and King of Games. Then there are people who do video game shirts the wrong way. Like Hot Topic, and Mark Ecko. Just take a look at Ecko’s new range of Halo shirts, featuring six designs that you would expect…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 24, 2009 -
Xbox Live Indie Games Open, Selling Games For $1
Xbox Live‘s Community Games venture has just been re-branded as “Xbox Live Indie Games“, and along with the new name comes a new pricing structure, which will see some titles sold for as little as $1. Ever since Community Games launched, there have been complaints that the minimum asking price of some titles was too…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 24, 2009 -
Halo Legends Anime Debut Trailer
We’ve seen the screenshots. Now, let’s see the Halo Legends anime in motion. Microsoft is teaming with five production houses for a series of seven separate short films called Halo Legends. The creative director overseeing the production is Shinji Aramaki, director of Appleseed and Appleseed Ex Machina. The shorts will be available on DVD and…
By Brian Ashcraft Published July 24, 2009 -
Unseen 360 Clip Shows Avatars Playing Games (And A Dreamcast?)
Earlier this year, production company Roger were brought in by Microsoft to create an animated short for the company’s E3 press conference, focusing on avatars. It was, apparently due to “time restraints”, never shown. The clip shows avatars freed from their dashboard confines, and parading around doing all kinds of things, from hanging out to…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 23, 2009 -
Xbox Division Sees 66 Percent Slide in ’09 Profit Despite 11 Million Units Shipped
Microsoft’s Xbox division booked an eye-popping 66 percent drop in profit for the 2009 fiscal year, reflecting a terrible economy and mirroring steep declines across all of the software behemoth’s business segments. For the fiscal year, Microsoft’s revenue from the Xbox 360 and from PC gaming was down $161 million, which the company mainly attributed…
By Owen Good Published July 23, 2009 -
Microsoft’s Halo Division Is Called 343 Industries [Update]
Forget suggesting that “343 Industries” was the name of some Halo-related studio at Microsoft. It’s a fact, with the group officially revealing themselves as part of the Halo anime announcement. Interestingly, 343 are described as a “division” of Microsoft, not a development studio. Which makes sense, since having spoken with 343’s creative director, former Bungie…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 23, 2009 -
Details About Halo Anime
Microsoft is teaming with five production houses for a series of seven short films called Halo Legends, reports the Los Angeles Times. The five production houses are some of the biggest names in the industry: Bones, Casio Entertainment, Production I.G., Studio4 C, and Toei Animation. The creative director overseeing the production is Shinji Aramaki, director…
By Brian Ashcraft Published July 23, 2009 -
Microsoft Patents Home-Like Advertising Space
You didn’t think Microsoft’s avatars were just for dressing up, did you? Oh, you did? Silly you. They’re there to help Microsoft make money, as you can see in this patent for a walk-in advertising space. The idea is that you walk around a “space” that’s comprised of nothing but advertisements. And your avatar is…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 21, 2009 -
Champions Online Combat Preview: Challenge Accepted
After some hands-on time with Champions Online earlier this month, I pronounced myself skeptical of the combat system. My beef was that a lot of massively multiplayer online game developers claim that their combat is somehow fundamentally different than the usual system of point, click, cool down, then click again established in MMOs like EverQuest…
By AJ Glasser Published July 21, 2009 -
Making Xbox Live Safe, While Keeping It Fun
Microsoft’s Stephen Toulouse may be known as the man with the Xbox Live banhammer, or the keeper of Live’s big book of naughty words, but there’s a lot more to what he does than that. The main thrust of Toulouse’s job is to make sure that Xbox Live is a safe place. That means he…
By Brian Crecente Published July 21, 2009 -
Is “343 Industries” Microsoft’s Halo Studio?
Ever since Bungie and Microsoft parted ways, Microsoft have been gearing up to produce more Halo games internally. Could those efforts now have been given a name? Superannuation points us towards a trademark Microsoft have filed for use with “”computer programs, namely, game software for use on computers and video”. It’s called “343 Industries“. So…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 21, 2009 -
GLAAD Panel: Pearls of Wisdom And Points Of Discussion
I’ve got a re-cap of last Saturday’s Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation right here, but if you’re looking for quick quotes and interesting issues to rehash, here are a few gems. Caryl Shaw, Senior Producer at EA’s Maxis To developers: “Who doesn’t want to be a gay super hero? Are you thinking about this…
By AJ Glasser Published July 20, 2009