Monthly Archives: February 2010

One Last Hoorah for Halo 2

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Last week Microsoft announced they were going to be discontinuing the original Xbox Live service as of April 15th, this Spring. Those that used the service back in the day likely played a round or two of Halo 2, the most popular Xbox Live game for a long time. Well Bungie is not one to forget their fans, new or old, and on their official blog is pledging fans to play Halo 2 on April 14th for one last send-off of the game that helped launch Xbox Live.

“We’re all saddened at the realization that an era is coming to an end but looking back, we’re incredibly fortunate to have had such a great run and such strong support from our fans. Halo 2 has been at or near the top of the Xbox LIVE charts for original games since it launched over five years ago. We’re extremely thankful to everyone who has played, enjoyed and supported Halo 2 over Xbox LIVE. We’ve had some great fun together, including far too many humpday losses to even recount.

That said, mark your calendars now – on April 14th let’s all rally to go online for one last hoorah. One final farewell and one final opportunity for all of you to kick our asses at Halo 2.”

Get the Heavy Rain Demo Now

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Quantic Dream‘s upcoming PS3 exclusive Heavy Rain seems like it would be a tough game to make a demo for. First of all, it is unlike pretty much every game on the market these days. It is supposed to be a “cinematic” game or “interactive movie” where missions (if it even has those) cannot really be cut into ‘mission 1′, ‘mission 3′, or ‘mission 4′. Just thought I’d impart these bits of daydreaming into your life.

Back to reality, the game does in fact have a demo, which is scheduled for a European release on the 11th of this month. But who really wants to wait that long? Luckily for us impatient folk, Sony has created an alternate-reality kind of website, called Precinct 52, to market the game. After the necessary registration process, users can play an evidence-finding game in order to download the demo now.

Kotaku apparently got the scoop on which pieces of evidence are the necessary ones. Here you go:
-Short cigarette (117b)
-Origami bird
-Coffee shop C (it says “diner”)
-117h (tyre tracks)

The last thing is that I believe the demo can only be accessed by PSN Europe users, so US users might have to create a European account.

Original Xbox Live Coming to an End

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This morning, Xbox Live‘s Major Nelson announced on his homepage that Microsoft‘s support for original Xbox online functionality will no longer be, as of April 15th.

He talks about ending this road to open new avenues for future Xbox Live (the current Xbox Live) features. I’m guessing or hoping that he is talking about Natal features, just because it is the next big thing on the Xbox horizon and giving it online properties has got to be something cool.

If you want to read his words yourself, here is the post from Major Nelson:

I wanted to let you know that on April 15, 2010 Microsoft will discontinue Xbox LIVE service for original Xbox consoles and games, including Xbox 1 games playable on Xbox 360. Our first step in this process will be to turn off auto-renewals for those members who only use Xbox LIVE on a v1 Xbox. While I can’t comment on the specifics, this change will allow us to continue evolving the LIVE service with new features and experiences that fully harness the power of Xbox 360 and the Xbox LIVE community. We did not make this decision lightly, but after careful consideration and review we realize that this decision will allow us unprecedented flexibility for future features.

Playable Perfect Dark XBLA will be at X10

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Microsoft‘s X10 conference for Xbox 360 will have a playable version of Perfect Dark Xbox Live Arcade for the press next week. The background on Perfect Dark XBLA is that Rare and Microsoft are doing a “remastering” of the N64 version of Perfect Dark (not the endlessly boring Perfect Dark Zero) for Xbox Live Arcade with 60 frames per second.

Info, media, and whatever Rare feels posting will be up on their Twitter next week during the event.

Weekly Rock Band & Guitar Hero DLC Update

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This week’s Guitar Hero DLC features tracks from 30 Seconds to Mars. As mentioned before, the tracks “Attack,” “From Yesterday,” and “Kings and Queens” are available today in the 30 Seconds to Mars Track Pack at 440 MS Points ($5.50) on Xbox Live, $5.49 on Playstation Network, and on the Wii Shop Channel for 550 Wii Points. The songs can be bought individually for 160 MS Points ($2.00), $1.99 on Playstation Network, and 200 Wii Points on the Wii Shop Channel.

Meanwhile, Rock Band‘s DLC releases next week will have a bit harder edge to them, being tracks from Megadeth’s Rust in Peace. These tracks are “Holy Wars… The Punishment Due,” “Hangar 18,” “Take No Prisoners,” “Five Magics,” “Poison Was the Cure,” “Lucretia,” “Tornado of Souls,” “Dawn Patrol,” and  ”Rust In Peace.” These tracks will be available on Xbox 360 and Wii next Tuesday, the 9th. Playstation 3 owners of Rock Band can grab them two days later on the 11th. This pack is called the “Rust in Peace (Album)” and will be priced at 1200 MS Points ($15.00) and $14.99 on PSN. The tracks can be bought individually for 160 MS Points ($2.00), for $1.99 on PSN, and 200 Wii Points on the Wii Shop Channel.