Category: Xbox 360

Fight Night Champion Full Spectrum Punch Controls Explained

In the video above, Gameplay producer Brian Hayes explains the new “Full Spectrum Punch Controls” in Fight Night Champion…and it makes me kind of sad. On the plus side, I’m happy that haymaker punches will be less ridiculous, but for the most part I’m bummed that the controls are being simplified.

I loved the complex analog-stick motions featured in the old Fight Night games. I thought it was completely appropriate that hooks were harder to throw than jabs. From what I’ve seen in the video, it looks like everything will be a simple flick. I get that this will make the game easier for and more appealing to a broad audience, but it takes away from the realism. Throwing an uppercut should require more effort than throwing a jab. Sadly, it appears that nuance of the series is gone.

The new control system is giving me nightmares about Fight Night Champion’s online play. In my head I see a bunch of button mashers and button flickers spamming the game. *sigh* Although the game appears to have a lot of new and interesting features, I’m afraid that Full Spectrum Punch Control will kill it for me.

Any thoughts on Fight Night Champion’s Full Spectrum Punch Controls?

2010 Videogames: The Year in Review

In case you missed any of these excellent videos starring 1Up.com’s Sam Kennedy, Gamasutra’s Christian Nutt, and GameFly Media’s (Shacknews) Garnett Lee, here they are! Let’s start with their favorite games of 2010. Find out why these three excellent writers felt that Bayonetta, Need for Speed Hot Pursuit, and Red Dead Redemption were the cream of the crop.

Next, find out why Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy XIV, and Gran Turismo 5 were the most disappointing games of the year to Christian, Sam, and Garnett.

Discovering sleeper hits is always a fantastic thing. There are games we all love that don’t get the attention they deserve. In the following segment, my dynamic guests tell you why Split Second, Ys: The Oath in Felghana, and Bayonetta should have your attention.

Last, but certainly not least, is the biggest gaming news in 2010. In a truly fascinating year for the business that kicked off tons of change, Garnett, Sam, and Christian reveal what news they thought had the biggest impact.

If you have any closing thoughts on videogames in 2010, speak now or forever hold your peace!

Castlevania: Harmony of Despair on Sale Today!

I’m pretty sure I’m going to pull the trigger on today’s Xbox Live deal of the day. A bunch of my friends raved about Castlevania: Harmony of Despair and I never got around to playing it (actually, I kind of forgot that it existed). It’s currently slashed (whipped?) down to 600 Microsoft Points. Any takers? Perhaps this could work as an RPad.tv Invitational game. What do you think?

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Today’s Poll: PSP Android Phone vs. Windows Phone 7

With Apple making huge strides in mobile gaming with groundbreaking titles like Infinity Blade, Microsoft and Sony are looking to up their mobile phone offerings. Windows Phone 7 features Xbox Live capabilities with limited gaming functionality. The upcoming PSP Android phone will also have limited PlayStation Portable capabilities. Which mobile gaming phone interests you more? Kindly vote and discuss!

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Bulletstorm Epic Edition Includes Gears of War 3 Beta

Electronic Arts has announced that the “Epic Edition” of Bulletstorm will include early access to the highly anticipated beta for Gears of War 3. Here’s a clip from the official press release:

Epic Games and EA are blowing out the launch of Bulletstorm with access to the public beta for Gears of War 3, the spectacular conclusion to one of the most memorable and celebrated sagas in video games. Players that purchase the Epic Edition are guaranteed early access to the Gears of War 3 beta. Pre-order now to reserve a copy of the Epic Edition which will be available on Feb. 22, 2011 for MSRP $59.99, only for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system, while supplies last.

Well, I guess the Xbox 360 version of Bulletstorm will trounce the PlayStation 3 version. Ha! Seriously though, will any of you buy the  Epic Edition to get Gears 3 beta privileges? Pretty tempting, hey? (Also, pre-order from Amazon using the link above!)

Mortal Kombat Special Edition Details + Kratos!

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment has revealed information on the special editions and retail exclusives for the upcoming Mortal Kombat, as well as details on Kratos (God of War) appearance in the game. Here’s the skinny on the Kollector’s and Tournament editions:

  • The Kollector’s Edition featuring the award-winning Mortal Kombat game, Sub-Zero and Scorpion figurines, a collectible art book, downloadable content that includes an exclusive Mortal Kombat Klassic costume skin and avatar costumes.
  • The Tournament Edition featuring the award-winning Mortal Kombat game, a portable fight stick, and downloadable content that includes an exclusive Mortal Kombat Klassic costume skin and avatar costumes. The number of tournament editions is very limited with only 20,000 copies available in North America.

And because I know how much you guys love retail exclusives, here’s what you can snag at GameStop, Best Buy and Amazon:

  • Gamestop: Customers who pre-order their copy of Mortal Kombat at Gamestop will get exclusive access to the Klassic Scorpion Playable Character Skin and the original Scorpion Fatality.
  • Best Buy: Customers who pre-order their copy of Mortal Kombat at Best Buy will get exclusive access to the Klassic Sub-Zero Playable Character Skin and the original Sub-Zero Fatality.
  • Amazon: Customers who pre-order their copy of Mortal Kombat on Amazon.com will get exclusive access to the Klassic Reptile Playable Character Skin and the original Reptile Fatality.

Last, but definitely not least, is a bit of information on Kratos appearing exclusively in the Playstation 3 version of Mortal Kombat:

Mortal Kombat will feature Kratos as a playable character, as well as be in Stereoscopic 3-D exclusively in the PS3 version. The brutal warrior from the acclaimed God of War franchise will have his own customized move set, fatality, and fighting arena, available to all original purchasers when Mortal Kombat hits stores.

All of this sounds very awesome. I’m definitely high on the PS3 version and I’d probably buy it from Best Buy for classic Sub-Zero. How about you? What permutation of Mortal Kombat interests you the most? Name your preferred platform and retail exclusive (please)!

X-Men Arcade Hitting XBLA in December, PSN in February

According to Eurogamer, X-Men Arcade will hit Xbox Live Arcade on December 15, 2010 and PlayStation Network in February 2011. X-Men Arcade is a port of the classic Konami coin-op arcade game. I pumped tons of quarters into it during college and am excited to play it online. Anyone interested in playing with me? It would be cool to get some four-player cooperative games going…but one of you has to agree to be Dazzler. *snicker*

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Lara Croft’s Origin Revealed in New Tomb Raider: Do You Care?

Tomb Raider’s Lara Croft will grace the cover of Game Informer’s January 2011 issue. The new Tomb Raider game will reveal the earliest tales of Miss Croft (the adventuring tales, not her discovery of womanhood). In a recent press release, Crystal Dynamics studio head Darrell Gallagher said:

Forget everything you knew about Tomb Raider, we are exploring things that have never been done before in this game. This is an origins story that creates Lara Croft and takes her on a character defining journey like no other.

Tomb Raider was one of the most influential franchises in modern gaming, but the series has hit several bumps on the road. I wanted to see if you still care about Tomb Raider and Lara Croft. Do you think younger gamers even know who she is? Are you interested in learning about her origins? Speak now or forever hold your piece peace!

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This Week’s Videogame Releases

The holiday rush has slowed down, but there are still some big games left in 2010. I usually don’t include PC games in the mix, but World of Warcraft: Cataclysm is too huge to ignore. Tying into the movie, TRON: Evolution hits every platform known to man…and robot. Technically, this game comes out next week, but Super Mario All-Stars hits Sunday with all sorts of excellent bonus goodies.

Any of you guys and dolls picking up new games this week?

Sony Engineer Critiques Kinect for Xbox 360

Sony Computer Entertainment engineer Anton Mikhailov recently gave an interesting critique of Kinect for Xbox 360. Obviously he has a vested interest in PlayStation Move succeeding, but his critique was more interesting than the typical pissing contest between sales-and-marketing executives. He are some of the things he told Videogamer.com:

We feel like Move has more applicability across more genres so it fits better with what we try to do.

Also I think the tech is a bit, not so much immature, but not quite up to spec in what we think. Like the PlayStation Eye camera runs at 60 frames per second so it can track you very quickly whereas the Kinect and other depth camera are only 30 frames per second. So they are more suited for slower motions. Dancing is still kind of okay and then the yoga stuff that they were doing, it fits that very well, whereas if you want to do quick punches it’s harder to do that just because you can’t see the player as quickly.

The fact that it runs at 30 frames per second instead of 60, that’s a common problem with all those cameras. It’s actually hard to fix because you have a lot of data to transport. Sort of working with that image is expensive computationally-wise. I think they quoted something like 10-15 per cent of the Xbox resources, plus like 50 megs of memory or something like that. The Move takes less than 1%, and like 1 megabyte. So, you know, that’s just a bunch of numbers but to developers that means like Killzone 3 can just put in Move and not have to worry about it, whereas something like Kinect you have to make significant game changes to actually fit that into your game.

Whether you believe him or not, superior technology doesn’t necessarily win console wars. Look at the Nintendo Wii, for example. Furthermore, from what I’ve gathered, Microsoft’s marketing budget for Kinect makes Sony’s Move budget look like lunch money. People will buy into hype and purchase products that seem different.

What do you think of Mikhailov’s views on Kinect? Are they honest and legitimate? Or is he just touting his product’s technological superiority over one that’s outselling his?

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