Category: Xbox 360

Statutory Rape Through Xbox Live = 10 Years in the Slammer

27-year old Edward Stout of Missouri was sentenced to more than 10 years of prison, lifetime supervision, and sex offender registration for crossing state lines to have sex with a 15-year old girl he met through Xbox Live. The Associated Press has reported:

Prosecutors say Stout and the girl developed a relationship in April, 2008 and talked while playing video games on Xbox Live.

They say in late January 2009 Stout drove almost nonstop for 30 hours from Missouri to Sanger, where he engaged in sexual activity with the girl.

*sigh* Between this scumbag and the idiot that married a Nintendo DS character, I fear that gamers will be viewed as freaks again. Hopefully that’s not the case. Crazy people come from all walks of life.

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Coffee Talk #50: Favorite Games of 2009 #1 Dragon Age: Origins

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, the miracle of Manning, whether Operation Chokehold will do some damage to AT&T today, or destroying all Snuggies, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

As I mentioned last week, I’ll be counting down my five favorite games of 2009 in this week’s Coffee Talk columns and I’d love for you to join me! Let me know what your favorite games of the year were in the comments section. Remember, this isn’t about what games you thought were “best”. I want to know what you had the most fun with in 2009.

Dragon Age Origins 3

What did you think I was going to pick? Halo 3: ODST?!? Ha! For those of you that have have been reading my articles for a while, there should have been no doubt that I was going to pick Dragon Age: Origins. I adore BioWare. RPGs are my favorite genre. Fantasy is my favorite setting. I played the hell out of both Baldur’s Gate games. Of course I was going to go nuts for this game! (And if you’re new to the site, just nod and smile. This all makes sense.)

While the graphics in Dragon Age: Origins aren’t the best, pretty much every other aspect of the game is perfect for me. I love the versatile gameplay — tanking as a warrior, backstabbing as a rogue, and dishing out spells as a mage were all fun experiences that are quite different from one another. The story and writing are brilliant, especially after playing the game multiple times (five completions so far) and noticing how expertly different characters were woven into the game’s tapestry. The music is top notch. With different dialogue branches, multiple outcomes, various companion characters, and variations in gameplay, I wouldn’t be surprised if my play-throughs hit double digits.

Although I’ve logged more hours into Civilization: Revolution for iPhone, I had the most fun — by far — with Dragon Age: Origins in 2009. I swear BioWare made the game just for me.

Borderlands Sells Over Two-Million Copies Worldwide

Borderlands

Take-Two Interactive announced that Borderlands, developed by the excellent Gearbox Software, has sold over two-million copies worldwide. Normally, I don’t like writing about sales announcements, but this one has me particularly giddy. First of all (and most importantly), I’m thrilled for Gearbox. It’s a cool company and I’m so happy for its success.

Secondly (and immaturely), I love when Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter is wrong. On Gametrailer’s Bonus Round, Pachter said the game was “sent to die”, implying that there was no way it would sell well. Take that Mikey! Yes, I totally admit that I didn’t think the game would do well either, but I’m not a highly paid financial analyst. Plus, I’m totally happy that I was wrong.

To sum it all up, Gearbox had tremendous success with Borderlands and Michael Pachter was completely wrong. Win!!!

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Square Enix Announces Final Fantasy XIII Sweepstakes

FFXIII_Key Ring_Lightning

To prepare for the March 2010 arrival of Final Fantasy XIII in America, Square Enix has announced a contest that will award FFXIII accessories to 13 lucky winners. While they’re not as cool as an RPad.tv refrigerator magnet, they’re definitely more expensive. Here’s a list of the prizes:

  • Lightning pendant
  • L’Cie pendant
  • Snow pendant
  • Serah pendant
  • Lightning keychain
  • L’Cie business card holder

Head on over to the Square Enix members site on December 23 to enter.

Hit the break for six more pictures of these accessories. The business card holder is totally cool.

Continue reading “Square Enix Announces Final Fantasy XIII Sweepstakes”

New Super Street Fighter IV Stages Revealed

Super Street Fighter IVa

Capcom community ace and the scourge of North American fighting-game tournaments Seth Killian showed off some new screens of Super Street Fighter IV’s new stages. Here’s some of what Seth had to say on Capcom Unity:

In the new Metro City background, you can spot Hugo, as well as a gigantic, shirtless Mike Haggar statue, constructed by your Metro City mayor, Mike Haggar (Mayors are always doing this kind of thing).

The new African stage is one of my visual favorites, not only because of all the crisp lighting, but for the background action as well, where you fight during an eclipse and can knock over hippos and be taunted by meercats.

The Korean stage is a riot of colors, with young and old turning out to check out the fight, and includes my favorite new spazzy background character of all time!

I’m totally amped for this game. Sexy Korean girls rule!!! Hit the break for more screens!

Continue reading “New Super Street Fighter IV Stages Revealed”

Read Final Fantasy XIII Zero Promise in English

FFXIII Zero Promise 2

While American gamers are jealous of the fact that Final Fantasy XIII is available in Japan, round eyes will have to make do with this translated version of FFXIII: Zero Promise. This prologue should offer lots of great information for American FF fans as they wait for the game’s March release. I’m actually annoyed that I haven’t gotten around to buying a printer. I want to read this now!

If any of you do read it, please let me know if it’s any good.]

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Coffee Talk #48: Favorite Games of 2009 #3 SmackDown vs. Raw 2010

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, the Seattle Mariners making out like bandits in the big MLB trade, Boeing finally getting the 787 Dreamliner off the ground, or Freddie Roach calling out Roger Mayweather, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

As I mentioned last week, I’ll be counting down my five favorite games of 2009 in this week’s Coffee Talk columns and I’d love for you to join me! Let me know what your favorite games of the year were in the comments section. Remember, this isn’t about what games you thought were “best”. I want to know what you had the most fun with in 2009.

Smackdown vs Raw 2010 c

#3 WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010 — I love videogames and I love WWE, so it’s no surprise that I love THQ’s WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2010 series. This year’s game was very special to me since it contained my first pieces of writing on that side of the business. The award-winning scripts of the Shawn Michaels and Mickie James storylines aside, it’s just a great game. In addition to the variety of matches and careers it offers, 2010 ups the ante on the creative side. WWE fans have been able to create wrestlers and moves in the past, but this year storylines can be created and content can be shared online. It’s cool stuff.

Sure, I joke about the game being nominated for the best videogame writing in the history of man, but I love playing it. Getting to beat up Randy Orton with dozens of WWE Superstars — whether they’re real or imagined or downloaded — never gets old.

Coffee Talk #47: Favorite Games of 2009 #4 Street Fighter IV

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, Dennis Miller not getting over with the WWE crowd in Texas, the Google Nexus One, or the various MLB trade moves made yesterday, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

As I mentioned last week, I’ll be counting down my five favorite games of 2009 in this week’s Coffee Talk columns and I’d love for you to join me! Let me know what your favorite games of the year were in the comments section. Remember, this isn’t about what games you thought were “best”. I want to know what you had the most fun with in 2009.

Street Fighter IV

#4 Street Fighter IV — I lost a ton of quarters playing various versions of Street Fighter in high school and college. Like many players, I abandoned the series for modern games like Soul Calibur, Dead or Alive, and Tekken. Street Fighter IV was a triumphant return to glory for the series. The game mechanics had that classic SF feel, while the visuals were modern and fresh. The game is deep, but accessible to players of various skill levels. I remember playing the game with friends that are no longer gamers, but remember how to spam fireballs with Ken and Ryu.

SFIV is just a brilliant combination of old and new. That only downer is that the game also reminds me of my most frustrating moments as a gamer in 2009 — trying to beat Seth when my Xbox 360 would randomly generate hundreds of vertical bars! He’s a cheap bastard as it is. Trying to beat him when you can’t see the damn screen?!? Not so easy.