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Joystiq E3 hands-on: Tomb Raider: Underworld

40 Comments by Richard Mitchell Jul 23rd 2008 9:55AM
Filed under: Nintendo DS, PC, Sony PlayStation 2, Sony PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, E3


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The room is stuffed with a handful of game journalists. It's dark. Drifting from the (very nice) speaker system are the sounds of ocean waves lapping against a boat. On screen, Lara Croft stands on the wooden deck wearing scuba gear. Thrifty girl that she is, it looks like Lara didn't want to spring for a wetsuit with legs in it. Apparently not worried by the deep cold of the ocean, she dives into the water. It's time for me to play Tomb Raider Underworld.

Gallery: Tomb Raider: Underworld E3 08

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Castle Crashers, Galaga Legions, more on XBLA in 4-6 weeks

26 Comments by Richard Mitchell Jul 17th 2008 7:00PM
Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, E3


During our guided demo of Microsoft's upcoming stable of XBLA games, Microsoft's Scott Austin informed us that all the games on display would be available in the next four to six weeks on Xbox Live Arcade. All of 'em. If you've been reading the impressions on Joystiq, you'll know that this a reason to be excited. For the record, the XBLA games being shown by Microsoft are:
We expected Microsoft to show off some cool XBLA games at E3, but we weren't expecting four to six weeks of win.

Joystiq E3 hands-on: Silent Hill: Homecoming

12 Comments by Richard Mitchell Jul 17th 2008 5:30PM
Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, Adventure, E3


A few things. First, I love the Silent Hill series. Second, E3 really isn't the venue for demoing a Silent Hill game. Even in Konami's relatively quiet meeting room, it was impossible to hear any dialogue or music in Silent Hill: Homecoming -- headphones were available, but they were broken ... grrr. Considering that the soundscape of any given Silent Hill game is responsible for half of the atmosphere (arguably more), it makes it hard to judge how the game feels. So, you'll just have to settle for a look at how the game plays.

Gallery: Silent Hill: Homecoming (5-21-08)

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Spotted in Silent Hill Homecoming: Pyramid Head

51 Comments by Richard Mitchell Jul 17th 2008 12:30PM
Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, E3


There are two things we know about Pyramid Head. One, he is a physical manifestation of guilt. Two, he generally causes the physical manifestation of crap in your pants. Oh, actually, there is a third thing we know about Pyramid Head: he makes an appearance in Silent Hill Homecoming. This raises the question: what is protagonist Alex Shepherd guilty of? Our guess is that he feels guilty about the desperate fan service required to keep gamers interested in this series.

Stay tuned for hands on impressions.

Covenant playable in Halo Wars

30 Comments by Richard Mitchell Jul 16th 2008 7:00PM
Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, Strategy, E3


While spending some quality hands on time with Halo Wars at E3 (hint: it's good, more on that later today), Microsoft's Jim Ying, who was guiding our demo, gave us some great news for Halo fans (there are lot of them, you know). The Covenant, the alien race hellbent on humanity's destruction, will be playable in Ensemble's upcoming Xbox 360 real time strategy game Halo Wars. The only question that remains now is whether or not the parasitic Flood will also be playable. We asked, but Ensemble isn't talking. For the moment, we'll just have to be satisfied knowing that we can finally slake the Covenant's (Grunty) thirst for blood.

Overheard@E3: 'I feel kind of bad that we're turning people into drummers'

36 Comments by Richard Mitchell Jul 15th 2008 7:45PM
Filed under: Culture, E3


When we sat down to get a fresh look at Rock Band 2 at the Harmonix E3 booth, the musical members of the dev team were happy to tell us that many people who try Rock Band wind up pursuing real instruments as a result. When discussing the new drum trainer in Rock Band 2, Senior Designer Dan Teasdale told us, "I feel kind of bad that we're turning people into drummers." Teasdale, as it turns out, is a bass player bassist.

Hands on: Gears of War 2 multiplayer

44 Comments by Richard Mitchell Jul 15th 2008 10:00AM
Filed under: Features, Microsoft Xbox 360, Action, First Person Shooters


Microsoft held a special Gears of War 2 reception at E3 on Monday, giving eager journalists a chance to play the game's multiplayer modes and test their mettle against other journalists. We're proud to say that we managed quite well against our competition, slamming active reloads all the while, though that's perhaps beside the point. You all want to hear about Gears 2, not about how awesome we are at it. Read on for our hands on impressions.

Continue reading Hands on: Gears of War 2 multiplayer

X3F Week in Review: July 4, 2008 - July 10, 2008

0 Comments by Richard Mitchell Jul 10th 2008 10:00PM
Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360


We'll admit it, with all the E3 planning going on, the minds at Xbox 360 Fanboy are a little frazzled. So, we'll make this Week in Review simple. That's the official X3F sticker up there. We'll be taking a truckload of 'em to E3. Very soon, you'll see pictures of Cliff Bleszinski, Peter Molyneux, Dennis Dyack, and all the other relevant 360 designers wearing our stickers and promoting our website ... whether they want to or not. As long as we can slap a sticker on someone and snap a picture before we get arrested, we figure it's fair game.

If we have any stickers left afterward, maybe we'll give 'em away at the Joystiq reader meetup.

Community Stuff
News

X3F Week in Review: June 27, 2008 - July 3, 2008

0 Comments by Richard Mitchell Jul 3rd 2008 7:30PM
Filed under: Features, Microsoft Xbox 360


Well kids, it seems like everyone is holding their cards close to their collective chests as we begin the final run up to E3. That doesn't mean we don't have a few interesting news bits to share though. For one, the Xbox 360 Mega Man 9 evidence continues to pile up, despite Capcom's claims to the contrary. Gears of War 2 news also continues to dribble out, and we're more than happy to relate it to you. Find these stories and more below.

Community Stuff
News

X3F Week in Review: June 20. 2008 - July 26, 2008

5 Comments by Richard Mitchell Jun 27th 2008 2:01AM
Filed under: Features, Microsoft Xbox 360


Another busy week at X3F. We've got a new XBLA in Brief (try Ticket to Ride, seriously), new Points>Life and new ... news. We've got everything. Gears of War 2, Halo Wars, Fable 2, you name it. We also got a chance to check out Deer Hunter Tournament and Smash Court Tennis 3. Browse the links below and slake your Xbox 360 thirst. That's right, slake it.

Community Stuff:
News:

X3F Week in Review: June 13, 2008 - June 19, 2008

5 Comments by Richard Mitchell Jun 19th 2008 10:00PM
Filed under: Features, Microsoft Xbox 360

Believe it or not, the massive Intellisponse leak wasn't the only thing that happened in Xbox 360 this week. True, it was probably the most interesting and the other stories kind of pale in comparison but ... um ... you know we're not really sure where we're going with this. Just check out the links below to see what else we covered this week, mmkay?

Community Stuff:
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X3F Week in Review: June 6, 2008 - June 12, 2008

1 Comment by Richard Mitchell Jun 12th 2008 9:25PM
Filed under: Features, Microsoft Xbox 360


After last week's video extravaganza, we return the Week in Review back to its normal, news-laden self. While there is plenty of worthwhile news contained in the links below, we implore you to watch the latest edition of XBLA in Brief. In short, Frogger 2 is one of the worst games (if not the worst) on the Xbox Live Arcade service. Watch the video, and be thankful that it will spare you the trouble (and immense pain) of actually downloading and playing the trial version.

Community Stuff:
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X3F Week in Review -- May 30, 2008 - June 5, 2008

2 Comments by Richard Mitchell Jun 5th 2008 10:00PM
Filed under: Features, Microsoft Xbox 360

Videos, videos, videos. This week was apparently all about video features at X3F. With demos for Ninja Gaiden 2, NASCAR 09 and Crash Time, we had more impressions that we could shake a stick at. Add these to our regular stockpile of video features -- Community Content, XBLA in Brief, and Points>Life -- and you've got an audiovisual smorgasbord of delights. A smorgasbord, we say! Not only that but we have retrospectives on Ninja Gaiden and Tomonobu Itagaki. Simply amazing.

For your viewing pleasure, we've embedded our video impressions of Crash Time. After the glorious light that was the Ninja Gaiden 2 demo, Crash Time reminds us of the fetid depths of bargain bin gaming. Watch the video and then peruse the links below to cleanse your palette. Trust us, you'll need to.

X3F Week in Review: May 23, 2008 - May 28, 2008

0 Comments by Richard Mitchell May 29th 2008 7:15PM
Filed under: Features, Microsoft Xbox 360


The X3F Week in Review returns once again, chock-full of the latest news and community features (seriously, we checked our chock, and that sucker is full). We've hit our 70th Xbox 360 Fancast, which is pretty amazing. Even more amazing is the awesome Commander Shepard statue we're giving away this week. Perhaps even more awesome than that are the 100 codes for the Bad Company demo that we're giving away. Win a code now and play the demo a full week before it's available to the public. Find this and more in the links below.

Community Stuff:
News:

X3F Week in Review: May 16, 2008 - May 22, 2008

0 Comments by Richard Mitchell May 22nd 2008 7:30PM
Filed under: Features, Microsoft Xbox 360


We'd like to pretend that the number one thing that happened this week wasn't the 69th episode of the Xbox 360 Fancast, but we just can't. It's really the biggest thing to happen since we hit episode 050. Yes, we're puerile infants. We're comfortable with that. Oh, and we had plenty of features too, including our video look at Penny Arcade Adventures, a new edition of Points>Life, and a new piece of swag up for grabs. Dig through it all in the links below.

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