Stormrise New Screenshots

New screenshots of Sega's "Stormrise" have been revealed.

Stormrise is due for release in March 2009.

Xbox 360 For under £100

Zavvi have decided to take the xbox 360 market by storm, with just one week to Christmas the retailer has decided to sash the price of the arcade SKU down to £99.99, with the premium at £149.99 and the elite at £199.99.

If your looking for that Xbox 360 as a present you wont find a cheaper deal than this.

Will this start a console price war on the run to Christmas?

A spokesperson from Zavvi said.

"Our organization believes in giving our customers the best deal and service. We've put in place some great offers on Xbox hardware, giving customers the best value possible in the run up to Xmas. We appreciate how people's wallets are being tightened because of the economy."

Does Game Size Still Matter?

In today's society many new games completion times have dropped drastically compared to older generations, with the average game now only taking between 7-10 hours to complete. The following article discusses the reasons behind this and weather it is actually what gamers want.

Is it what you want?

Are gamers being cheated?

Check it out - Game Size Matter's Not

The Last Remnant 360 Deal UK!!! £17.61

People in the UK can get Square's latest release The Last Remnant for a very low price of £17.61. Having played this game myself I think this price tag makes this game a must buy for an RPG fan and at that a price it's defiantly worth a look for anyone looking for a new game or who wants to buy a Christmas present. Go check it out.

The Last Remnant £17.61

KOEI Dynasty Warriors Release Dates

KOEI have announced their first quarter Xbox 360 release dates for 2009 in Europe. These dates have both been confirmed.

Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires - February 27th 2009

Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2 - March 27th 2009

Dynasty Warriors 6 Trailer

Dynasty Warriors: Gundamn 2 Trailer

The Tale Of Despereaux Achievements

The achievement list for The Tale Of Despereaux has been revealed, there are 38 achievements worth 1000 GS check out the list via the link.

The Tale Of Despereax Achievements

12 Xbox Days Of Christmas

The people over at gamesxtreme.net has produced an excellent article detailing the 12 Xbox days of Christmas. The article is basically a run down of the top 12 games of the Christmas period and a mini review of each, if your looking for a game this Christmas this is the article you want to read.

The 12 Xbox Days Of Christmas

Fallout 3 Review

Here is the second of my reviews and this time round I shall be reviewing Bethesda's new game Fallout 3.

Gameplay - 8
Fallout 3 plays incredibly well in the first person perspective. The VACS system is a fantastic feature allowing you to slow down the action and pick out certain body parts of opponents that you wish to destroy. However that's only if your aim is good enough as a missed shot can get incredibly annoying in those tight situations. The shooting mechanic is just like an FPS using the right trigger to fire and the left to zoom in and aim. The problem comes if you wish to play in 3rd person it's hard to aim at enemies, hard to move round and the movement of the character looks disjointed.
This is defiantly a game to enjoy in the first person.

Graphics - 8
The graphics in fallout 3 are impressive to say the least, you'd think with such a huge game map you would see the engine struggling but there is no tearing at all, very very occasionly you may see the odd texture popping in but nothing you will ever notice. The only loading is entering buildings from the map making the game seem pretty seamless. The character models are well built and are good enough to keep the immersion in the game high.


Sound - 9
The sounds in the game are realistic and allow you to get lost in the game. The soundtrack is very dramatic and gives you the feeling of unrest in the wasteland, and a sense of everything falling apart. The guns all sound realistic especially the mini nuke it sounds fantastic when fired as you here the pop as it leaves the gun and the apocolyptic explosion as it connects with the enemy. The objects around you react well to each sounds realsitic as you walk into them or knowck them off such as shopping trolleys and oil drums. Finally the voice acting is of a high level with none of the characters really having voices that annoy you.

Story - 8
The story of Fallout 3 is very well told witha lot of plot twists and various mini stories going on around the main narrative. Each quests holds its own little story for you to unravel and understand and eventually reach a pretty staisfatpry conclusion. However the same can not be said of the actual game ending, for those who have played and completed the game you will understand, it leaves a lot to be deasired.

Re-Playability - 7
The only real reason for replaying Fallout is to experience the epic story again and just for the fun of playing there is no real incentive for doing so, the only thing that will keep you gripped after completion is the fun factor, it never gets old to see a super mutants head leave its body in a trail of blood.

Overall 8/9
Fallout 3 is a massive game and will keep you playing for many an hour so if you want value for money then this is a must buy. The gameplay is smooth and not really frustrating, the difficulty level is livable with and doesn't truly pose a challenge on easy or normal. If your looking for a western RPG and you are a fan of oblivion then buy this game even if your not I would recommend anyone to play it, believe me you wont regret it.

Rent - Definite (However no where near enough time to enjoy)
Purchase - Definite (You won't regret it)

Microsoft Have Your Xbox, But It's In My House!

Ryan is sitting looking at his Xbox 360 flashing the good old red rings of death at his face and has no clue what to do. Your probably all thinking just send it off to MS and they will repair it. However he has tried that and Microsoft are telling him they still have his Xbox and therefore he can't send it off to them.

Read the full story at www.consumerist.com

Need For Speed: Undercover Patch Soon..

EA's Black Box division who are in danger of getting axed, as was discussed in an earlier post, have announced they are working on a patch to fix any problems in the game, in an effort to boost sales. The patch details are yet to be announced but are based on feeback given on the official forums. EA made this statement on the subject,

“We wanted to let everyone know that the game team is currently hard at work developing a patch for Undercover for PS3, 360 and PC. We’ve spent a lot of time reviewing all the feedback from the community. Thank you! At this point we don’t have a confirmed release date or fix list but we thought it was important to let everyone know that a patch is in progress. As soon as we’ve got more news we’ll let everyone know.”

Stay tuned for more details..

Major Nelsons Podcast Episode 302

Xbox lives Major Nelson has just released his newest Podcast, I enjoy listening to his podcast as they contain a lot of interviews with some big hitters in the Xbox world. Anyway I urge you to take a listen you wont be disappointed.

Major Nelson Podcast Episode 302

NPD Sales November

The list of the top 20 games sold over November 2008 in the US has been released and the Xbox 360 has managed to get 7 titles into the top 20 claiming both the top spot and the number 2 slot with Gears 2 and COD:WOW respectively. Left 4 Dead was the only other 360 title to break into the top 10 sales. Sadly Fable 2 has dropped from the number 1 spot last month down into a sad 19th spot this month, Lionhead will be hoping that this months DLC will pick sales up again. Check out the full top 20 list via the link.

NPD Top 20 November

Fable 2 DLC Achievement Update

With the new DLC for Fable 2 due out in a few weeks details of the new achievements that Lionhead will be adding as part of the "Knothole Island" DLC have been released. The achievements total 100 GS allowing possible DLC in the future as Lionhead still have another 150 GS to play with.

The Collector 25
Acquire all the mystery items in The Box of Secrets shop, or see another Hero do so.

The Meteorologist 50
Bring all of Knothole Island’s weather problems under control, or help another Hero to do so.

The Bibliophile 25
Find all the books detailing the history of Knothole Island, or help another Hero to do so.

Guitar Hero: Metallica Track List

The track list for Guitar Hero Metallica has been released, well half of it anyway. There are a total of 45 songs set to be in the game and round about half of them have been revealed. Guitar Hero: Metallica will be released on Xbox 360 in 2009. However be aware that not all the songs will be by Metallica, some of them will be by bands that Metallica see as favourites of theirs.

Track List
Enter Sandman
For Whom The Bell Tolls
Fuel
Hit The Lights
King Nothing
Master Of Puppets
No Leaf Clover
Nothing Else Matters
Sad But True
The Unforgiven
Where I May Roam
Alice In Chains - No Excuses
Bob Segar - Turn The Page
Judas Preist - Hell Bent For Leather
Kyuss - Demon Cleaner
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Tuesdays Gone
Mastadon - Blood And Thunder
Michael Schenker Group - Armed And Ready
Samhain - Mother Of Mercy
The Sword - Black River
Queen - Unknown
The Foofighters - Unknown
Slayer - Unknown

Reason Behind Rise Of The Argonauts UK Delay

Codemasters have stepped up and explained why there is no Rise of the Argonauts for us UK gamers. The game should have been on our store shelves last Friday along with the rest of Europe however as stated in an earlier post the date have been moved back to 6th Febuary 2009. The reason Codemasters says is due to a lack of retail space on store shelves at the present time, Codemasters issued the following statement.

"It was quite literally a retail issue,"

"We tried to get the game into retail here in the UK in line with everybody else, but they simply could not offer us the shelf space that the game deserved at such a busy time within the retail sector."

"As a result, we decided to hold back the UK launch of the game until we could get the shelf space we believe the title deserves."

So there you have it us UK gamers will just have to wait.

Edge - Batman: Arkham Asylum

Edge online have had a chance to play around and take a look over the newest Batman game coming out for the 360 next year. Is this just another movie opportunity release or is this set to be a blockbuster worthy of standing on it's own. Personally I think it can survive as a standalone game quite easily from what I've seen so far the graphics look impressive which is always a good start but Head on over to edge using the link below to decide for yourself.

Edge Inside Batman: Arkham Asylum

Team Fortress 2 Update..Update

A few months back Valve announced they would be providing an update to the 360 version of Team Fortress 2. This update will include everything that has been released for the PC version of the game. However since the announcement Valve have gone very quiet on the subject until today. Valve posted some information on their site saying that they are actively working on the update however no release date has been mentioned. I'm guessing it was just a quick hello we haven't forgotten sort of thing. Oh well keep waiting folks.

Eurogamer Get Hands On With Race Pro

Race Pro is a new racing simulator from team SimBin. I am personally watching this game closely being a big fan of racing games. This is being touted as the most realistic racing game out there however many games over the years have carried that tag, can Race Pro live up to the hype. Head over to Eurogamer using the link below to see what they make of their time with the game. Also I've included a video of some in game footage so you can judge for yourselves.

Race Pro Hands On Eurogamer

Xbox 360 UK Christmas Deals

To all you poeple looking to buy a 360 game for a loved one this Christmas but are feeling that te prices are just to high during this economical climate, or to those who own 360 and are looking for a cheap new game to sink their teeth into then look no further. Below are some of the best deals on the newest games on the 360 this Christmas time in the UK. These prices come curtersy of xbox360achievements.org so go check out their website if you get a chance I'm personally a member and it's a fantastic community.

Original Post On 360achievments.org

Mirrors Edge - £24.46
Far Cry 2 - £17.99
Banjo-Kazooie Nuts & Bolts - £24.46
Dead Space - £27.39
Fallout 3 - £27.39
Too Human - £12.97

Rise Of The Argonauts UK date.

Codemasters have today announced a UK release date for Rise Of The Argonauts which hit store shelves in America this week. The release date is scheduled for 6th February 2009 across all platforms.

For more details on the game visit www.rise-of-the-argonauts.com/