Gamernode: Latest Xbox 360 News

Castle Crashers to upset PETA

Tons of good things going on at the Castle Crashers Development Blog of Love. The coolest thing, besides showing off one of their 22 characters, is the addition of what they call Animal Orbs. Essentially they are like slaves; they do things for you to make your life easier.

23 Animal Orbs will be in the game to help you out. To give an example of what these Animal Orbs will do, Behemoth has revealed Owlet, who will recover food for the player. So while you are in the heat of a battle and running low on life energy Owlet will do the gathering while you slaughter mercilessly. Good times.Since the last time I updated you folks, the good people of Behemoth have put up a 9 minute video of Dan Paladin creating one of the levels. He's probably the fastest artist ever; it makes you wonder why ...

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GTA IV Liberty City maps leaked?

It looks like the internet has gotten its first glimpse of the Grand Theft Auto IV adaptation of Liberty City, thanks to a webshots user who goes by the name of pallamallawa.

The photos apparently reveal the map insert that will be included with the next installment in the series, and depict both the street and subway layouts of the city.

From what I can tell, it looks to be a fairly accurate approximation of New York, so it's only a matter of time before we are subject to a whole new fuss about the game, linking its content to the real world. Until that sensationalist take on things, we've got maps. Enjoy.                                                                                                                             ...

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How'd you like streaming movies on XBL via Netflix...

Last month, there were rumors floating around that Netflix and Microsoft were playing it friendly with each other and was exploring the possibility of a deal where Netflix could supply streaming movies to Xbox Live members.

That rumor took on some more credibility when Reuters reported that Netflix Inc conducted a poll of its membership asking them what their interests were in having streaming videos made available on Xbox Live.

A spokesperson for Netflix declined to say whether these polls were the next step in making a Netflix/XBL partnership real, but did say that Netflix was interested in making their movie library open to as many people "in as many ways as possible."

Steaming videos are an interesting idea...if you have a rock solid hi-speed Internet connection that never drops the sign...

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Take-Two slaps EA in the face over takeover bid

It looks like the battle to take over Take-Two may be going the distance if the Board of Directors of the game publisher has anything to say about the matter. Take-Two released an official statement today and said that EA's offer to buy out T2 was insufficient and "opportunistic."

"The EA Offer is opportunistic and has been timed to take advantage of the upcoming release of Grand Theft Auto IV, one of the most valuable and durable franchises in the interactive entertainment software industry and the Company's biggest selling and most profitable franchise.

"The Board of Directors believes the full commercial potential of the game will not be evident until after its release, and that the EA Offer was timed to capture the value of that anticipated commercial success at the expense of the Compan...

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Crackdown gets marked down. Way down

A Kotaku reader's local Target was recently shipped a whole bunch of Crackdown copies. So much that the Target in question is now selling all of those copies at a meager price of just $15.

That's an incredible deal since Crackdown was very well-received by critics and consumers alike.

Unfortunately, the individual did not reveal where this Target was located. If you've yet to experience one of the best Xbox 360 games out there, you might want to take a drive to your local Target to see if it was also shipped a bunch of Crackdown games.

So far, Target's website still has a listing for the game at $29.99.

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Darwinia evolves for XBLA

I really love Darwinia. It's one of the few games I always get an itch to play again after months of forgetting it existed, and one of the even fewer that seems to appeal to just about anyone who tries it. I play it so regularly that it seems unreal to me that it originally came out over three years ago. For quite a while now we've been hearing rumors about the impending release of the game on XBLA, but just now Introversion has confirmed once and for all that it's making the jump this Autumn.

Titled Darwinia+, the game will feature the original Darwinia and the upcoming Multiwinia: Survival of the Flattest in one package. (For those of you with PCs and the original Darwinia, Multiwinia will be released simultaneously on PC.)

"When we first started Introversion back in 2001, the idea of de...

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Gamerscore cheaters beware! Policy changes abound

Cheaters beware, Microsoft rolled out some new changes on how they handle the mischievous folks who tamper with their gamerscore and achievements. The new updates are reflected on this newly revised support page.

An Xbox Live player who is found to be cheating will have their gamerscore set to zero, they won't be able to regain all their previously earned achievements and they'll be labeled as a cheater for all the community to view and subsequently be pointed and laughed at.

Note that while you won't be able to regain your earned achievements, you'll still be able to gain future achievements in other games.

Microsoft mentions that cheaters are screened through specific criteria, but of course, they don't say specifics. So my guess is that you have to have complete faith in the company.

Last...

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Purchaseable weapons in BF: Bad Company

According to reports from FiringSquad, the Battlefield: Bad Company beta (which officially starts today) will offer weapons to players that can only be unlocked by purchasing them through the Xbox Live Marketplace.

Five extra weapons will be available for free through pre-launch promotions, but they will be free to all players after the game is officially released.

In addition, another five weapons will only be available for free in the limited "Gold" edition of the final Battlefield: Bad Company retail release. However, players who have bought the regular edition will have the opportunity to buy these weapons through the Live Marketplace.

According to EA, these weapons will not upset the balance of the game and will not offer unfair advantages to those who have them. However, like one comm...

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What a shock, Supreme Commander is delayed

The saga continues. Delays, delays, delays. The next game to fall victim to a delay this generation is Supreme Commander for the Xbox 360. The game, which came out for the PC 13 months ago, was originally slated to come out early next month for the 360, but has gotten pushed back. RTS fans are looking at a "late spring early summer" release.

I guess Ayspire is having troubles with controls? It certainly couldn't be coding for animations, what with DirectX being in both the 360 and the PC. Have they realized that RTS controls aren't good on consoles, regardless of how much I crave them?

Seriously, this delay thing is starting to get frustrating. It has gotten to the point where I don't even pay attention to release dates. There is no point in waiting, hoping and counting down the days ...

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First Sonic Unleashed video restores faith in fran...

SEGA ON has put up the first gameplay clip of the upcoming Sonic game, Sonic Unleashed. The umpteenth Sonic game since the series began a drastic downward spiral, Sega and Co. are hoping this new one can right the ship and bring everyone's favorite anti establishment anthropomorphic hedgehog back to mainstream relevance. If this short montage is any indication, I think it very well may. Let's just say this might be the first Sonic game since Sonic Adventure 1 that wasn't good purely because it didn't 100% butcher the name.

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RTS games on the up and up

EA seems to be the only publisher who cares about bringing real time strategy games to consoles, or console I should say, since only the 360 has gotten ports. As an RTS fan, and someone who played the hell out of Command and Conquer Generals, I applaud this.

Their first venture on the 360 was Battle for Middle Earth 2 (BFME2). I played the demo because my ears perk up anytime someone mentions RTS on a console. For a first attempt on this platform it was not bad. The controls got a little confusing, especially because they kept calling the 'menu' the 'palentier,' referencing the orbs in Lord of the Rings.

The second crack at it was far better than BFME2. Command and Conquer 3 (C&C3) owned my life for about two weeks. The team learned a lot from the previous game, making the controls far ...

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Call of Duty 4 Variety Map Pack detailed

If you pick up the Game of the Year edition of Call of Duty 4 on April 1st or wait two more days for April 3rd, you'll be treated to the release of a Call of Duty 4 Variety Map Pack for 800 Microsoft Points. Included within are four new multiplayer maps titled Creek, Broadcast, Chinatown and Killhouse.

If you can't wait for more CoD 4 multiplayer mayhem and live in New York City or San Jose, GameStop will host a Variety Map Pack Challenge on March 28th where gamers can try out the new maps on the Xbox 360 against the game's developer Infinity Ward. Get there quick because the first 100 guests will receive a free token to download the Variety Map Pack for free upon its release.

Here are the descriptions of the new CoD 4 maps:

"The Variety Map Pack includes four new multiplayer maps. 'Creek' is...

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Rock Band gets music store, 6M song downloads!

For you Rock Band fans, Harmonix has a mighty update that'll find its way to the Xbox 360 and PS3 in the impending future. While the update itself has been finalized, it'll have to go through the usual QA process, but by the time you read this, the patch will have been released.

One of the major features is the new in-game music store, where players can preview and purchase songs straight from within the game. In addition, all downloadable songs have been optimized for faster loading times.

Other updates include revised fan caps (detailed below), more diverse songs in Band World Tour, improved phoneme recognition for certain songs like "Timmy and the Lords of the Underworld" and "Blitzkrieg Bop" and optimizations to microphone lag for the PS3.

In related news, this press release mentions that...

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Another Xbox Live baby. True love online

Before we go any further, lets all realize that this is the exception--not the norm for Xbox Live. Relationships over the internet, especially a gaming experience, very seldom work and generally are not the best idea in the world.

But that didn't stop a couple to ultimately meet in real life after they ran into each other over Xbox Live while playing Rainbow Six Lockdown. The story goes that after a few games, which broke the ice and removed the typical opponent anonymity, both players began to generally like each other. On a whim they decided to meet despite the geographical distance between Georgie and Jersey.

Now they have a beautiful baby, and they attribute it all the Xbox Live community. Again let me restate that this is the exception, not the normal outcome of an Xbox Live friendsh...

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Behemoth updates blog... that was fast

Well that was fast. I reported earlier today that The Behemoth (of Alien Hominid fame) had begun a blog. The blog to end all blogs, the one that would update us on Castle Crashers! Well, we have already been graced with some news dreictly from the aforementioned blog. You're thinking, "woo!" As was I, my readers, as was I.

"We currently have about 22 unlockable characters in Castle Crashers. Throughout the game you will have the opportunity to add these characters to your arsenal by various different means (was that vague enough). The chart below will be updated as we get closer to launch with more of these playable characters."The post was simple, elegant, and nearly knocked me out of my chair. Twenty two characters?! Twenty two. That's a lot of characters even for a retail released ...

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Mass Effect 2. What will it be like?

Senior PR manager, Matt Atwood, of BioWare repeated many of the questions that fans have been asking about the next Mass Effect by saying, "How do we make what you did in the first game affect what's happening in the second game... Who is the main character? Who will re-appear in the game?"

To these questions and more, Atwood said that the element of exploration will be alive and well. "Mass Effect really is all about dramatics and cinematics and choices and exploration and I think we'll expand in each of those areas."

The plot of the original Mass Effect was a main draw for many and it looks as if Bioware is going to continue a strong storyline in ME2. "There is a story arc already written for the whole thing... I do know that the level of impact from a wow factor, a dramatic factor, is goi...

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Behemoth has blog, still no Castle Crashers

The Behemoth, developer of one of my favorite games of 2007, Alien Hominid HD, has started a blog devoted to the development of their newest game, Castle Crashers.

From their page: "The purpose for this site will be to provide updates on the development process for our next title Castle Crashers. Our hope is to post weekly and share with you all of the crazy stuff that we've been doing in order to get this game out."

I wonder what kind of "crazy stuff" they're going to do? Are they going to be worshiping ancient deities? Calling upon pagan magiks? Raising an army of zombies to help with the workload?

They better be doing something crazy, and fast. This game was announced in July of 2006 with a target release date of early 2007. We currently sit in early 2008, closing in on mid-2008 stil...

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Mass Effect staying 360-only for consoles

Sorry PlayStation 3 owners, but you'll have to look elsewhere if you want to get your Mass Effect fix. Bioware has confirmed the sequel to their first Xbox 360 title will continue to be exclusive to Microsoft's box for the near future. But there is a ray of light for PC gamers; they will be receiving both the original and sequel to Mass Effect eventually. (Previews are already up for the PC version of Mass Effect which is thankfully fixing a number of issues the Xbox 360 version was plagued with.)

So why no Sony love? Most likely an exclusive deal with Microsoft. Is this a smart deal? At the time it was made most definitely. Microsoft was launching first, and had the most familiar developing environment (Bioware comes from PC game roots). Going Xbox 360 gave Bioware a familiar working envi...

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CoD4 Game of the Year Edition coming in April

It seems that the eventual progression of any hit video game is to have its own special edition released. Call of Duty 4 is no exception to the rule and Activision has announced that it will release CoD4: Game of the Year Edition sometime in April.

So what can you expect in this new edition? Of course it will have the full game, but along with that will be a token, which will allow you to download the up coming map pack for "free." If you buy the map pack separately on Xbox live it will cost you 800 Live points ($10).

What else do you get with the GotY edition? From early reports it doesn't look like you get a whole lot more. In addition to getting the next map pack you'll get new game packaging that will describe all the various awards the game has won. (Yawn)

No pricing has been announced y...

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It hurts to get Bullied by teachers

Rockstar and their ninjas are known for attracting a large cloud of controversy every time they release a new game. Except for Table Tennis. I don't recall anyone except gamers complaining about that one.

And so a mere month and a half before the release of everyone's favorite whipping boy, Grand Theft Auto, Bully has taken center stage at the hate-a-thon. (Again.) This time the attack comes from Canadian teachers' unions.

Mary-Lou Donnelly, president of the Nova Scotia Teachers Union, said in the Canadian newspaper The Chronicle Herald, "Bullying is never fun! It is a serious and insidious problem and it is horrifying that game promoters consider it to be either amusing or entertaining."

Oh, Canadia! Where were you last year when this game was released? At the time a certain Floridian la...

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