GamerNode: Latest Xbox 360 News

Microsoft makes Valve price Left 4 Dead 360 DLC

Though the upcoming Left 4 Dead DLC campaign "Crash Course" is being released for free on Steam for PC players, Xbox 360 owners will have to pay for the content. But it's Microsoft, not developer Valve, that players of the Xbox 360 version have to blame for the charge, according to Valve's Chet Faliszek.

"We own our platform, Steam. Microsoft owns their platform. They wanted to make sure there's an economy of value there," said Faliszek.

Normally not charging the owners of their product for DLC, Valve was allowed to get away with letting players of both versions of the game have the first DLC, a survival mode and two new versus maps, for free.

"Well, they helped us get the first one out for free," stated Faliszek. "We had the one DLC out for free. And I think... they have to look and say, wow...

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Valve announces new boss, pre-order weapon exclusi...

Valve did more than just have Left 4 Dead 2's new "Dark Carnival" campaign on display to be played by attendees at the Penny-Arcade Expo. They announced a new zombie boss for the game and details on some exclusive pre-order weapons.

The newly unveiled boss zombie is the Jockey, which is designed to attack lone survivors and wrestle control of their movement away from them into fires, off ledges, or straight into the middle of a zombie horde. The Jockey joins the Charger and Spitter, announced at E3 and Comic-Con respectively, as new boss infected for the sequel.

Valve also announced that some of the 20 new items for Left 4 Dead 2 will be offered as a "pre-sell exclusive with select retailers" and named the "electric guitar, machete, and the American baseball bat" as examples.

[ShackNews]

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Microsoft drops HD requirement for 360 games

It appears that developers of Xbox 360 games will no longer be required to use a minimum resolution of 1280x720 pixels (720p), a quality benchmark that Microsoft has proudly boasted since launch day.

In his most recent column at Develop Online, Black Rock Studio's David Jefferies has revealed that Microsoft has since dropped that requirement, allowing developers to create games using other-than-HD resolutions. He claims this is a good thing for developers, who needn't waste video memory in order to maintain 720p, but can use that horsepower more efficiently as they see fit.

The exact quote is, "...until recently, Microsoft had a TCR insisting that games run at 1280x720 - providing you weren't one of the lucky ones like Halo, who got it waived and ran at 1152x640, that is." [Emphasis ours.]...

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Survey says "Red Ring of Death" is abating

The Xbox 360's "Red Ring of Death" is something every owner of the console dreads and, according to a GameInformer survey, about 55 percent have inevitably dealt with. However according to IndustryGamers, owners of the Xbox 360 will have reason to fear the "Red Ring of Death" less based on a new survey from SquareTrade.

The survey from SquareTrade, which claims to be the largest independent warranty provider in the world, evaluated the efficiency of all three current-gen consoles. The Xbox 360 had a 23.7 percent of failure over a two-year period, which the survey credits to the introduction of the "Jasper" chipset in late 2008 that "has likely solved" the "Red Ring of Death" problem.

As for the other consoles over that same time period, the PlayStation 3 had a 10 percent of failure and the ...

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Microsoft holding up 360 Champions Online release,...

Want to play Champions Online on your Xbox 360? Too bad. There won't be a 360 version anytime soon, and Cryptic CCO Jack Emmer says it's all Microsoft's fault.

According to Emmer, a 360 version of the game is "ready to go," but Microsoft's "baffling" hesitance with console MMOs will prevent the game rom releasing anytime near its PC counterpart, which will be available next week.

"Microsoft's a big company, and they have to work out all the various issues related to MMOs," said Emmert. "It just takes time for the big beast known as Microsoft to get moving. I really have no explanation other than that, because it's as baffling to developers as it is to everyone else."

"This year? I don't know," responded Emmert when probed about the expected time frame for the 360 release. "Right now we're ju...

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Price cuts for Xbox 360 confirmed by Microsoft

Right on the heels of Sony's price drops on its Playstation 3, Microsoft today confirmed rumors that the Xbox 360 will have prices drops of its own. As of tomorrow, the Xbox 360 Elite will be priced at $299.99 and the Pro model will be phased out.

Production on the Xbox 360 Pro has already stopped and will be priced at $249.99 until the stock is cleared. The Arcade model will still remain and at its current price of $199.99. However the Elite will no longer be shipped with an HDMI cable. The part will have to be purchased seperately.

Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg stated the price drops are due to lower production costs and that the price drops of the Playstation 3 are coincidence. "This has been in the works for months and months," he said. "I think it's a bit coincidental, but it's also somew...

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2K Play publishing a pair of indie games on XBLA

2K Play announced yesterday that the publisher will be delivering a refreshing pair of indie titles to Xbox LIVE Arcade in the coming months.

Axel & Pixel from Silver Wish Games is a point-and-click adventure about an artist and his dog, set in a hand-drawn dream world. It is scheduled to arrive in the fall of 2009. The Odd Gentlemen's (yes, that's the name of the developer) The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom, which a few of us here at GN were lucky enough to try out at last year's E3 (see Kyle's preview), is a black-and-white puzzle/adventure game that utilizes time-manipulation to create a very unique gameplay experience. It will be available in early 2010.

Said 2K president Christoph Hartmann, "The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom and Axel & Pixel are passion projects for us. We sa...

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Valve to unveil playable Left 4 Dead 2 campaign at...

Lucky fans attending the Penny Arcade Expo 2009 in Seattle next week will be in for a very special treat courtesy of Valve. The developer will be revealing the third campaign in the sequal to popular zombie shooter Left 4 Dead, but that is not all.

The newest campaign of Left 4 Dead 2, titled Dark Carnival, will be playable on the show floor for fans at both the Valve and Microsoft booths.

Dark Carnival joins The Parish and Swamp Fever, revealed at E3 and Comic Con, on the list of campaigns for the upcoming shooter known for its co-op and competitive play. Only two more campaigns remain to be unveiled before the game's November 17 release.

[IGN]

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Halo: Reach beta access included in Halo 3: ODST

Bungie has revealed that gamers aiming to get their hands on Halo: Reach prior to its release late next year will be given just that opportunity if they decide to purchase next month's standalone Halo 3 expansion, Halo 3: ODST.

Like the Halo 3 beta that was tucked away inside Realtime Worlds' Crackdown back in 2007, ODST's menu will include an "extras" tab where players can access the Reach beta when it's ready sometime next year. In Bungie's eyes, the beta will be "a big part of the value of the disc." This time, however, it will likely be less of a motivation to purchase the game, as the audience for the two titles is virtually identical.

Halo 3: ODST is scheduled for release on September 22nd.

[Joystiq]

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Band Hero's first two guest stars are...

Band Hero, Activision's more family friendly entry into its Guitar Hero franchise, announced its first two guest stars from the music world. They are

Adam Levine, lead singer of Maroon 5...

AND

Taylor Swift, country music star hailing from the great state of Pennsylvania.

While I'm not huge fans of either of them, they certainly make great additions to a game centered around pop music as opposed to heavy shredding.

Though I will admit, both of those renders look great, very close to the source material.

Pictures from worthplaying.com.

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Fable III revealed at Gamescom

Peter Molyneux got the party started at Microsoft's Gamescom press conference with a semi-surprise unveiling of Lionhead Studios' in-development sequel, Fable III. The game is scheduled to arrive on the Xbox 360 in 2010, and Molyneux promises big changes for the series' second installment on the console.

"The kingdom of Albion is changing. The land needs a ruler. King or queen. Cherished leader or ruthless tyrant. That future has not been written. The race for the crown has begun."

This narration of the teaser trailer shown at the conference explains the premise of the new game -- to play the role of Albion's newest ruler. "You are going to become the ruler of the whole of Albion. You've played in this land in Fable I; in Fable II you became a hero; this time, why not rule Albion? Why not...

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New Left 4 Dead campaign "Crash Course" announced...

Containing both Survival maps and a Co-operative Campaign, the primary goal of "Crash Course" is to deliver a complete Versus mode experience in just 30 minutes, resulting in a streamlined version of the game's existing Versus campaigns.

It's targeted for release in September and bridges the gap between the end of the "No Mercy" campaign and the beginning of "Death Toll" in the original game, expanding the game universe with new locations, new dialogue from the original cast, and a frantic finale.

According to an article at Destructoid, whose author was the first person outside of Valve to play the DLC, the helicopter pilot who rescued the survivors on the roof of No Mercy hospital was infected. Apparently Bill, Louis, and Francis blame Zoey for the helicopter crashing because she shot the ...

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Mass Effect 2 box art get!!

Bioware released the boxart for its upcoming game Mass Effect 2, the sequel to the highly-acclaimed 2007 shooter/RPG hybrid. If you like Mass Effect or old 80s' style movie posters, the cover art is for you:

It certainly underscores the more actiony feel that Bioware has been saying the game itself will be taking. I just have to wonder who those two in the background are, as Bioware has stated that our buddies Ashley and Wrex won't be in your party the second time around. Could that depend on choices made in the first game?! 

Also, who is Shepard so angry with that they deserve such an intense stink-eye?

The only way we'll know for sure is to play the game, which is scheduled for an early 2010 release.

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Woman buys boy Vision Camera, now serving time

What's wrong with a little gift? When you're a 32-year-old woman who has live "shows" with a 16-year-old boy and keeps nude shots for later viewing, apparently 10 years' worth of jail time.

Ohio resident Kendra L. Sasser has been charged with the possession of child pornography after two months of photo and video exchange with a 16-year-old boy from Arizona. The two communicated via Myspace and Xbox LIVE, where Sasser likely found it easy to persuade the hormonal teen to oblige her with sexually explicit behavior. After admitting he lacked the funds to purchase an Xbox LIVE Vision Camera for their chat sessions, Sasser generously ponied up the dough in the form of a GameStop gift card, which was later confirmed to have been used for just that purpose.

It was Sasser's HUSBAND who prompted t...

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Resident Evil demo coming to Xbox Live this week

Be excited, but cautiously so.

The latest issue of Japan's top gaming mag, Famitsu, has revealed that a demo of Capcom's Resident Evil 5 will be hitting the Xbox Live Marketplace on December 5th. That's Friday. Two areas (likely the same ones from my hands-on E3 preview) will be available for solo or cooperative play, so make sure you tell your friends.

PlayStation 3 owners may not be so lucky, though, because the magazine doesn't make any mention of a PS3 demo. Famitsu also fails to explicitly note a North American or European release of this demo, so until further notice, it's really anybody's guess if Capcom will be giving the rest of the world a holiday treat, as well.

Let's just keep our fingers crossed.

[via IGN]

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Prince of Persia goes gold, ships 12/2

Ubisoft announced today that the highly stylized Prince of Persia for the PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 has gone gold, and will be shipping to North American retailers on December 2nd, 2008.

Pre-ordering the game will entitle gamers to a free limited edition upgrade, which includes the folowing items:

• Collectable Limited Edition packaging• An exclusive look at the making of Prince of Persia• A Prima® digital mini-strategy guide full of developer's secrets to help players master the year's best action-adventure game• A digital art book that chronicles the game's journey from concept to winner of Best Artistic Design at E3 2008• The original soundtrack scored by master composer Inon Zur

With the Sands of Time trilogy completed, the Prince will no longer have his sig...

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Lionhead promises "good news" for Fable fans next ...

Ready for some good news? Well, Lionhead's got it for you.

An excited post on the Fable II development blog teases that Lionhead has some "good news" for fans that will be revealed next week.

"Normally, we don't like to tease too much. You know, all this hype being generated by teasing the announcement that there will be an announcement in X-number of days. Who cares? But in this day and age where a gazillion titles are asking for your attention, I felt it might be the right thing to do on the blog. We've got some G o o d [Good] news for all Fable II fans next week, dare I even say it's quite a big announcement? Yes of course I dare say it's a big announcement regarding Fable II, next week!"

There's not much to go on here, except that it's so important that Lionhead is doing something they a...

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Dead Space to get "premium" console DLC

Even EA's refreshingly new IPs can't escape the pull of money-gouging techniques, I suppose, as EA announced today an upcoming release of "Premium Upgrade Packs" for their hit sci-fi thriller, Dead Space. The packs will be available on Xbox Live worldwide on November 13, on the PSN in Europe on November 13, and on the PSN for the rest of the world one week later on November 20.

Rather than release one catch-all expansion/upgrade release, you'll instead be able to pick which ones you want, and ignore the ones you don't care for. All in all, purchasing all of the upgrades (and the two console-specific ones) will put a dent of about $28 into your wallet.

There's no word yet on whether or not PC owners of Dead Space will see the upgraded content, but given the pricing structure and nature of D...

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Mirror's Edge completed EA ships gold disc to fact...

EA's new "Parkour-style" action game is headed to factories on time boys and girls. Mirror's Edge is set to be the first in a planned trilogy from EA and DICE.

The title looks to be on time for its November 11 launch in North America and November 14 in Europe.

While it looks like Mirror's Edge is definitely on schedule for release, PC gamers will be sad to discover that they're going to have to wait sometime this winter for a port of the title.

'Sometime this winter' is rather vague though, so let's not hold our breath until we get something a little more concrete from EA shall we?

If you haven't heard of Mirror's Edge, and yes there are some of you out there, here's the story. Mirror's Edge is going to put you in the shoes of Faith, a black-market 'mail lady'.

She takes packages from place...

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Mortal Kombat vs DC story trailer

Today, Midway released the first story trailer for the upcoming Mortal Kombat vs DC fighter. It manages to explain (partly) what's going on, how Superman can get beat by people like Scorpion, and why the bad guys are teaming up with good guys. If nothing else, it's entertaining!

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