Tag: Xbox 360

Microsoft Xbox at CES 2010: Game Room and AT&T U-Verse

Microsoft unveiled some new information on its Xbox console during the company’s CES 2010 keynote. For gamers that love the classics, the Xbox Live Game Room feature sounds like a great addition. Microsoft marketer Major Nelson described it in his blog:

Later this Spring, ‘Game Room’ will come to Xbox Live. This is a destination for the classic arcade games. You can buy once and play on both your Xbox 360 and Windows PC. A new game will be released every week. You’ll be able to invite friends through Xbox Live and share your custom arcade and show off your personal collection.

In news that’s incredibly exciting for only a portion of Xbox 360 owners, the company announced that connectivity with AT&T’s U-Verse is on the way. For those of you not familiar with U-Verse, it’s an AT&T television offering that competes with cable and satellite. Gamers will be able to use the Xbox 360 systems as set-top boxes that can control and record U-Verse programming.

From what I’ve heard, AT&T provides fairly capable boxes for U-Verse customers; supposedly they’re on par with TiVo and way better than what most cable operators provide. With that in mind, I’m not sure what the point is. Sure, you’d have one less box in the living room, but it also adds more stress your Xbox 360. While reliability has improved, I don’t know about adding more to my 360’s workload.

Let me know what you think of Game Room and U-Verse connectivity for Xbox 360 (please)!

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PSA: Xbox Live One Year Gold Subscription for $34.99

Amazon has the Xbox 360 Live One-Year Subscription Gold Card on sale for $34.99 until January 16. That’s a great price and it’ll help out the site if you use one my Amazon links, so have at it (please)!

Update: PS3 gamers might want to check out God of War: Collection, which is on sale for $29.99

Dragon Age: The Awakening Spotted on GameStop.com

It’s a total bummer that the Return to Ostagar DLC for Dragon Age: Origins has been delayed, but the silver lining is that details on The Awakening expansion have been revealed. The following is from the expansion’s listing on GameStop:

From the Makers of the Best RPG of 2009, Dragon Age: Origins, comes the first official expansion pack. For centuries, the Grey Wardens — the ancient order of guardians, sworn to unite and defend the lands — have been battling the darkspawn forces. Legend spoke that slaying the Archdemon would have put an end to the darkspawn threat for centuries to come, but somehow they remain. You are the Grey Warden Commander and have been entrusted with the duty of rebuilding the order of Grey Wardens and uncovering the secrets of the darkspawn and how they managed to remain. How you choose to rebuild your order, how you resolve the conflict with “The Architect”, and how you determine the fate of the darkspawn will be but some of the many complex choices that await and shape your journey as you venture to the new land of Amaranthine.

The Awakening is listed for $39.99 for consoles and $29.99 for PC, with a ship date of March 16, 2010. Man…between this and Final Fantasy XIII, March is going to completely rule!!!

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Dragon Age: Origins Return to Ostagar DLC Delayed

Bad news Dragon Age: Origins fans — the Return to Ostagar downloadable content has been delayed. Bioware’s Chris Priestly posted the following on BioWare Social Network:

We’re sorry but the planned Return to Ostagar downloadable content scheduled to launch on January 5th has been delayed for all platforms.

All of the sudden, I’m not in a rush to fly back to California. Anyone else bummed by the delay?

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Dragon Age: Origins DLC Info — Coming January and March?

Electronic Arts has announced that the Return to Ostagar downloadable content for Dragon Age: Origins will be available on January 5, 2010 for PC and Xbox 360. The PS3 version will be available later in the month. Here’s a snippet from the press release:

Return to Ostagar allows players to exact their revenge and embark on a quest for the mighty arms and armor of the once great King Cailan when they revisit Ostagar, the site of the Grey Wardens’ darkest hour, to reclaim the honor and learn the secrets of Ferelden’s fallen king.

Return to Ostagar summons players to a new quest in which they will return to the fateful battleground in Ostagar where the Grey Wardens were nearly wiped out. Players will discover King Cailan’s top-secret political agenda and go behind enemy lines to revisit a place that many feared had been lost to history.

There was interesting rumor from Big Download, which translated a Eurogamer article. The site claimed that EA and BioWare will be announcing additional DLC that will come out in March 2010. This isn’t a quickie like Return to Ostagar (which should be about an hour of gameplay for $5). The March DLC is rumored to be 15 hours long and come with a raised level cap.

I’m kind of irked that I won’t be home until January 6. I want to be home for the launch of this DLC and the Google Nexus One! I do find it amusing that I’ll be a day late and a dollar short. Ha!

Super Street Fighter IV and Lost Planet 2 Delayed

Capcom has delayed the release of Super Street Fighter IV, Lost Planet 2, and Monster Hunter 3 (Europe and North America) for financial considerations. The games were set to be released in the company’s fiscal fourth quarter, which ends on March 31, 2010. Instead, the games will be released during its next fiscal year to spread out earnings, which is great for shareholders but sucky for gamers.

Idealistically, I hope the additional time allows for more polish and features to creep in. From a financial standpoint, the move makes total sense. I’m actually surprised the industry didn’t see more release manipulation in 2009 considering that the entire world knew that the economy was dire and wasn’t getting better any time soon.

I’m a little bummed that Super Street Fighter IV won’t be available to me in March, but something tells me that I’ll have my hands full with a little game from Square Enix. Any of you disappointed by the delays?

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Microsoft Launches Music Games Store on Xbox Live

Major Nelson has announced that Microsoft has launched a “music store” section of Xbox Live. The marketing guy wrote:

Later today when you sign in to Xbox Live, watch for the brand new Games Music Marketplace. Look for specific Music stores for games like Rock Band, Guitar Hero and Lips.

I love this idea. There are a ton of songs for music games and anything that makes them easier to find is a fine addition. Of course this means that it will be easier for me to drop money on DLC songs too. Crap.

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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.