Gamernode: Latest Xbox 360 News

Lost Odyssey U.S. pre-order program begins

Microsoft announced the start of pre-orders for its upcoming Xbox 360 RPG Lost Odyssey. The pre-order program will offer exclusive bonus unlockable content. Hopefully the content will take the pain away from the game's U.S. release date on February 12th.

Details of the exclusive content remain a mystery other than "a download code for an additional mission and unlockable weapons." The content will be exclusive for only a few months, since Microsoft is planning to release the content for free on Xbox Live in spring 2008.

Here's the rundown of the game, in case you aren't familiar with it:

"From famed game designer Hironobu Sakaguchi of Mistwalker game studio and feelPlus Inc., and exclusively for the Xbox 360, "Lost Odyssey" is a next-gen RPG that takes gamers through multiple lifetimes in sea...

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Blizzard CEO Morhaime to be the next AIAS Hall of ...

The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) has officially announced who will be named the 11th annual Hall of Fame inductee at next year's D.I.C.E. summit. That person will be Blizzard co-founder and CEO Mike Morhaime.

Mr. Morhaime receives the honor based primarily on his involvement with a handful of Blizzard mega-hits. The Academy said of their selection:

"...his efforts and contributions to the massively multiplayer online game space through Blizzard Entertainment’s spectacularly popular World of Warcraft, as well as the tremendous success of the company’s Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo series. In particular, World of Warcraft has cemented Morhaime’s influence and impact on the multi-billion dollar interactive entertainment industry; it is the world’s la...

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Study: gamers like to play games to relieve stress...

So who likes to play games to wind down after a busy day? I sure do and I think blasting the bad guys in a virtual world works wonders after a hectic day. According to a new study by the NPD Group, they agree too.

In their study titled "Expanding the Games Market", the NPD Group conducted a survey of 5,039 people and found that "heavier gamers" and "lighter gaming groups" both enjoy playing games as a family or at a party and "that the majority of gamers, especially teens and older gamers ages 15 to 65 and older view playing video games as a way to alleviate stress and to help them unwind."

Other neat facts state that 63% of the U.S. population plays video games ("video games" are defined as "console and portable games, PC games, games on kid-oriented systems or games on devices like cell ph...

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Three Halo 3 multiplayer maps hit XBLM today!

Although it hasn’t been all that long of a wait, Bungie and Microsoft are finally ready to roll out brand new Halo 3 multiplayer maps via the Xbox Live Marketplace today: Rat’s Nest, Foundry, and Standoff.

Both Rat’s Nest and Foundry are interior based maps, with players unloading their favored firearm (or beating enemies down with it) on enemies in close quarters combat. The former allows for the use of vehicles within its enclosed spaces while the latter is filled with catwalks and a plethora of walls to take cover behind.

Standoff is the largest of the trio, with multiple bases located across the level (which should make for some epic Territories games), complete with underground tunnels that’ll surely let players to take a breather from the intense action going ...

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Dad sells pot smoking son's GH III for $9100 on eB...

If you will recall last week, we reported a story about a dad in Canada who came home early from work one day with a gift for his son--the very rare and sought after Guitar Hero III.

His son would have been thrilled if not for the fact that his buddies and him were all partaking of a few joints when his father arrived on the scene. Big whoops! The dad decided to punish his son by selling GH III on eBay.

The bidding is over now and a buyer has purchased Guitar Hero III for an incredible $9,100.01.

Now we're wondering, did the buyer take a few hits off of those joints as well?

The bidding for the item seemed to have reached a plateau at around the $222 mark a few days ago when suddenly, aspire1700computer, a bidder on eBay, started to not only bid, but continually placed bids against himself ...

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Rumor: Microsoft retains Mass Effect sequel rights...

According to the latest issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly magazine, there's an interesting tidbit regarding the "future" of Mass Effect. While it's granted that sequels are on the way due to the game's success, the whole BioWare being acquired by EA may have clouded up the game's publishing situation.

But according to EGM, an agreement was made between EA/BioWare and Microsoft to make Microsoft the publisher of Mass Effect 2 and 3, while EA and BioWare will be labeled as the game's developers.

EA and Microsoft employ different publishing tactics, so who do you think would handle the game's future better?

Of course, label this as your standard rumor. As of this writing, Microsoft, EA or BioWare have yet to comment about Mass Effect 2, so in the meantime, bask in the awesome gaming glory tha...

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Microsoft splurging on Xbox 360 UK marketing

Microsoft is feeling a bit jolly this season; the gaming giant is planning to spend over £4 million ($8.2 million) to market its Xbox 360 throughout the UK in order to match Sony's ongoing PS3 marketing campaign.

Stephen McGill, Microsoft UK's head of gaming and entertainment, mentioned various expectations Microsoft is aiming to hit with the UK audience.

"We're spending over £4 million in the UK this festive season talking about how, with over 300 games on Xbox 360 this Christmas, there really is something for everyone.

Whilst we pride ourselves on offering the very best titles for a devoted gaming audience, we also have a number of titles that literally anyone can pick up and play. This campaign is all about our broadening message in the run-up to Christmas."

All I can say is, holy heck!

[Vi...

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Rebellion gets back into home console development

After a series of stints in the portable gaming scene, UK developer Rebellion will return to focus on home consoles, which includes a sequel to Eidos Interactive's Shellshock series for the Xbox 360 and PS3.

Jason Kingsley, CEO of Rebellion, spoke with GamesIndustry.biz about the shift back to primary console development. "Next year we'll have our first next-gen project out - Shellshock 2 with Eidos."

As for Shellshock 2, Kingsley said, "It's very much a mature product, it's a bit like Jacob's Ladder or Apocalypse Now in movie terms. It's troubling - deliberately so - it's meant to be challenging the nature of war, the horror and why people do these horrific things to each other."

In addition to Shellshock 2, Rebellion also has plans to push sequels based on its own game IPs, including Rogue ...

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Xbox Live video marketplace expands

People living outside of the United States, specifically Canada, U.K., Ireland, France and Germany can now marvel at the brilliance that is Xbox Live Video Marketplace.

I'm sure there are many people from those countries that can't wait to download one of many horror and sci-fi flicks the video marketplace so humbly offers. Who says Microsoft isn't giving any love to their overseas friends?

So if you are an Xbox 360 owner, and you just don't know what to do with those extra Microsoft points, a mediocre selection of movies and television shows are at your disposal. Let's all give Microsoft a big applause for something they should've done a long time ago.

Now all you guys need to worry about is making them bring PAL versions of their games quicker to your shelves!

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Microsoft is "struggling" to meet 360 demand in UK...

Let's face it. Nintendo probably secretly finds a lot of satisfaction in saying, "We're experiencing shortages with the Wii. We're reeeeeeally sorry!" But don't think that Nintendo is the only one who can chant the mantra of shortages. Microsoft is now claiming that the Xbox 360 is running scarce in the UK.

Stephen McGill, head of gaming and entertainment for UK Microsoft described the scene as somewhat desperate by saying, "...people are out there manically trying to find parking spaces to buy their Christmas presents and it sounds like Xboxes are on the list for a lot of people."

McGrill continued. "We're struggling to meet the demand from every retailer every week. I think we've probably done it better than some of our cohorts out there, but it's a weekly thing--we're getting stock in, w...

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Halo 3 sold 5M copies, Mass Effect sold 1M copies

In an interview with GameDaily, Jeff Bell, Microsoft's corporate vice president, gave some responses regarding the sales of Halo 3 and Mass Effect, the success of the new Xbox 360 ad campaign and what's in store for gamers in the impending future.

First, Bell revealed some excellent sales figures for two of Microsoft's main power hitters: Halo 3 and Mass Effect, "We've also seen a strong response to both Halo 3 sales with more than 5 million, and Mass Effect which has sold more than a million copies in less than three weeks."

In addition, Microsoft is still riding on the Halo 3 wave since the response is still buzzing, even after three months of being on the market. Next week, Bungie will roll out the first round of downloadable content for Halo 3.

"The Halo 3 momentum is definitely still ali...

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Rumor: CoD 5 heads to WWII Pacific War?

So the word is that Infinity Ward is not working on Call of Duty 5, instead Treyarch will handle the console exclusive game. This seems pretty consistent with what happened to Call of Duty 3 but fans are groaning because Call of Duty 3 wasn't, well, Infinity Ward material (which could be the problem itself).

The rumor mill is still churning and the latest word is that Call of Duty 5 will not only take place during World War II (ugh, again) but also take place during the Pacific War.

As of today, only one other AAA game tried that theme to rather mediocre results: Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault.

I'll gladly admit, I have yet to finish Pacific Assault because of the game's ludicrous checkpoint saving system and difficulty. But I found the game's infamous AI spawning system to be not that bad.

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Prototype trailer

Take one part GTA, one part Crackdown, a small dash of Assassin's Creed, and some developing experience from The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction and you've got Radical Entertainment's upcoming action game, Prototype. I want to tackle helicopters and perform leaps and bounds through a gigantic and freeform city but unfortunately we'll have to wait till September 2008 to do so.

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New GTA4 screens

You guys better appreciate this. You have no idea how long it took to resize and upload all of these one at a time*. Especially spanning a Friday night/Saturday morning. The things I do for you people...

For your enjoyment, here are the newest Grand Theft Auto 4 screenshots from Rockstar. There are boats, and people, and cars, and buildings and everything! If you click the tiny image a bigger one will magically open up in a new window. Screw whomever decided to make one of the new images an awkward shape compared to the others. Honestly, who sends out 17 screens in the exact same size, then tosses in one that's taller and narrower than all of the other ones? A prankster, that's who.

In case you've been sleeping under a rock and don't know what GTA4 is, it's obviously the next Grand Theft Au...

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Guy builds giant 360 and we mean really big

Most people go for inconspicuous storage spaces to make their homes seamless and clean. Others either don't give a crap, or just like to place giant tacky objects in the middle of their living rooms as a monument. Guess which one this guy is?

This industrious gamer built a giant 300% scale model of an Xbox 360 (with working lights) to store his games and beloved magazines. He's so proud of his creation, he doesn't just want to post pictures... no no, he wants to video tape a tour of it!

He's so excited about it that he gets winded. Either that or he's just winded from holding up the camera and walking back and forth... I'm still trying to figure that one out.

Anyway, check out the video:

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Brain Challenge makes the jump to XBLA

Usually the transition goes from console to mobile phone, resulting in a dumbed down shell of a game that shares nothing but a title and a gimmicky resemblance to the original. Gameloft, a leading mobile phone game developer is turning the tables.

The popular Brain Challenge game is coming off the phones and into Xbox Live Arcade. "Xbox Live Arcade is the perfect vehicle for us to expand out presence with players of all types" stated Gonzague de Vallois, senior vice president of Publishing at Gameloft.

Brain Challenge has sold over 1.5 million units, killing time before haircuts and diverting attention from class since 2006. Brain Challenge claims to develop abilities in logic, math, memory and visual thinking all in a fun and entertaining way. I haven't tried it, but I guess I'll download ...

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Bungie pledges they will only make Xbox 360 games ...

..."one nation, under Xbox, with gaming and online for all." Well, that's not really what Bungie pledged, but it might as well have been because it has reaffirmed its dedication to developing games only for the Xbox 360. In other words--no PS3, if you please.

Frank "Frankie" O'Connor of Bungie said, "We have no plans to work on any other platforms beyond 360 at this time."

Jonty Barnes, production director at Bungie remarked, "Microsoft have been good friends to us. You can see the strength of our relationship in Halo. We're really focused on continuing our collaboration in making the best games we can, and that right now is on 360."

Not too surprising, as Barnes mentioned, concerning the success of its 360 Halo games. But the PS3 is now on the upswing, and if it continues this trend, you can...

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Game in true style with a $1600 HDTV

Want to game in true style? Sharp is offering a HDTV just aimed for gamers but, of course, it won't come cheap. All you have to do is just pick up the new AQUOS LC-32GP3U widescreen 32-inch Full HD 1080p LCD TV for a nice price of $1,599.99 USD... you know, just in time for Christmas! 

The new model sports a new slim-design and is built to "handle the highest frame rates of the most challenging video games."

In addition, the TV has a Vyper Drive, which reduces lag and a special "Game Mode" button that provides quick access to terminal inputs and the Vyper Driver.

There's plenty of spiffy stuff on the TV; "The AQUOS LC-32GP3U line supports 1920 x 1080 24 frames per second high-definition video, and offers 10,000:1 Dynamic Contrast Ratio. The sets also come with built-in ATSC, clear QAM and NT...

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Dad sells GH III because his kid smoked a joint

A dad in Canada decided to do the ultimate for his 15 year-old son...hit the streets in search of the very rare Guitar Hero III game in his neck of the woods.

After lots of sweat and miles, he scored and went home to give his son the grand prize. All was cool until he arrived home early.

Read the saga in the dad's own words on his posted ad from eBay:

"So I spent who knows how many hours of my life trying to get "Guitar Hero 3" for the Nintendo Wii for my 15 year old son who has been begging for it since he was born (well not really but he's wanted it for awhile). So after waiting in lines and going into every game store in the city over the last 2 weeks (practically being laughed at when I asked for guitar hero 3) I finally got lucky and got one at EB Games (they just got a shipment of th...

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Feast your eyes on new GTA IV trailer

Here's the new GTA IV trailer titled "Move Up, Ladies". Enjoy the trailer because I'm insanely pumped for the game.

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