Gamertell

Microsoft is set to unveil its “New Xbox Experience” to eager 360 owners on November 19, 2008. This update is set to revamp the 360’s entire dashboard and introduce “avatars,“ which are characters that players can customize to suit their own whims.

This “new experience” will come at a cost of 128 MB of hard drive space; while this may not be a problem for 360 owners who have purchased sufficient memory sources, there remains a large amount of individuals who have not. For these people, Microsoft has promised to come to their aid…

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In the Xbox 360’s most recent update (December 4, 2007), Microsoft included the Family Timer. As its name implies, it is a virtual timer you can set to limit the amount of time the console is used.

Certainly meant to make the system even more family friendly, Microsoft conducted its own survey. According to the completely biased, corporate sponsored surveys, 62 percent of the 800 US parents surveyed said they would use a timer and 75 percent “welcome built-in technology or software to monitor the time their children spend playing video games.” Of course, The Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii all have some parental controls in place.

The Family Timer is all on screen through the Xbox 360’s Xbox Live menu. After the timer has been set, on-screen warnings pop up (yay, more popups) to warn gamers that the system will soon shut down. It is supposed to give them enough time to save the game but, as all gamers know, that is not always immediately available. ("Just a few more minutes, I need to get to a save spot, mom/dad/automated babysitter.") Once the timer runs out, the system shuts down.

To get to the timer you go to the Xbox Dashboard, to System, select Family Settings and then select Console Controls. It’s the sixth item down (labelled “Famiyl Timer,” of course). You can set the limits to Daily, Weekly or Off. You then select an amount of time in 15 minute increments from 15 minutes to 24 hours (for the Daily option) and hour increments from 1 to 168 hours (Weekly option).

The Xbox 360’s other settings include limits for Game Ratings, Video Ratings, Access to Xbox Live, Xbox Live Membership Creation and Marketplace and Inside Xbox. These are all part of Microsoft’s “Safety is no game. Is your family set?” campaign which also includes involvement from Best Buy and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

No matter how many of these nice features companies include, please remember that the best parenting is educated and involved parenting. Try all (and I mean all) the games your kids are playing and see how well they play with others. Though the timer will help limit excessive gaming, simply setting a hardcore time limit might not be the best solution for every family.

UPDATE: The timer gives a popup warning at 5 minutes prior to shutdown. Also, the time left is displayed in the Xbox Dashboard, so you can press the Xbox logo button on the controller to see it. When set, it appears at the top of the dashboard in the upper right corner next to a mini family logo. When your time expires, the Dashboard pops up and three options are available: Add More Time, Suspend Time or Shut Down Console. The first two require the parental pass code (a four-button sequence). If you shut down and simply restart the system, you get 2 minutes on the clock.

Read [Loot Ninja] Site [Is Your family Set?] Site [Microsoft]

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Product: Metal of Honor: Airborne
System(s): Xbox 360, PS3, PC
Rating: 7/10
Publisher (Developer): EA (EA LA)
ESRB Rating: Teen
Pros: Great graphic, total freedom, large level design
Cons: Poor AI, short game play, unoriginal, dull game play
Overall: Airborne does some things right but in the end, this game is just a poor man’s Call of Duty

It is hard to believe that before 1999, World War II video game were still a unique and relatively unexplored genre. To an entire generation back then, WWII was little more then old war stories told by either your grandfather, or aging veterans at VA centers. That would forever change after the box office release of the Steven Spielberg’s Oscar nominated masterpiece, Saving Private Ryan. Soon after, it wouldn’t take too long before the game industry opened its doors to the Second World War for source material.

EA, in development with DreamWorks Interactive (makers of Saving Private Ryan) teamed together in to try and bring the same thrilling on-screen experience to the home consoles of millions of eager Playstation gamers who, up until 1999, hadn’t had many true first-person shooters to call their own. The end result would ultimately be Medal of Honor.

The original MoH was considered by many publications - and fans - to be one of the 25 best games that graced the PS1. Fast-forward eight years and ten more games, and the MoH franchise has certainly follow far from grace. After numerous failed titles, some counted as the worst games of the last generation of gaming systems, EA is looking to revive the ailing franchise with Medal of Honor: Airborne.

Unfortunately, EA has not managed to capture that same old magic of the original series.

One of the strongest aspects about Medal of Honor: Airborne is its wonderful design and graphics. Using the Unreal Engine 3, Airborne is simply one of many titles to be released in 2007 that has the power of UE3 under its hood. Visually, this game is nearly even with the Call of Duty series in terms of graphics, but not quite. Environment details are rich too, varied and truly has a sense of destruction to it. General level design is quite good, even though there are only six total levels in Airborne. However, each of the six levels is quite large, taking anywhere from 40 minutes to an hour to complete.

You also get all your usual suspects of WWII items and weapons in Airborne, but really nothing we haven’t seen a hundred times already. At this point I would kill to have a laser pistol to use against Nazi scum…just to change things up a bit.

When everything is laid out, Medal of Honor: Airborne doesn’t do anything visually different that we haven’t seen already done in the past two, to three years.

Features: 7/10

One thing you will read throughout this review is the mentioning of Call of Duty. Even though it was Medal of Honor that played a large part in the creation of the World War II gaming craze, it was Call of Duty that has defined the genre. Unfortunately, even though Airborne takes a lot from the Call of Duty’s play book, EA doesn’t come close to capturing that same intense adrenalin filled thrill ride that Call of Duty somehow manages to deliver time and time again.

Airborne, like most FPSes, has adopted the duck-and-cover system to its gun play. This system is easy to use as one only has to move near a wall or some piece of debris, then press and hold the left trigger, and the player automatically takes cover. The only real problem with this system is, even when you hold the left trigger, which you have to do in order to aim down your sights, your character will automatically freeze in place and only able to lean to the left or right, even though there is no cover present. This is very annoying and will more then likely get you killed more then a couple of times during the course of the game.

Like Call of Duty or Brother’s in Arms, the player has to aim down their weapon’s sights in order to fire. You can fire from the hip, but unless you are fighting at close range it isn’t likely that you are going to hit anything. The only problem is, even when aiming down the sights it isn’t likely you are going to hit anything anyways. Far too often, even when you have a Nazi soldier lined perfectly, for some reason once you pull the trigger your shot most of the time misses horribly. With the frantic nature of Airborne, this fault becomes a very serious matter, especially later in the game.

Weapons are also able to be upgraded. At first, this system seems interesting. The more the player uses any one weapon, the more it is upgraded with new features and attachments. The main problem with this system is, it is far to easy to upgrade all or most of your weapons in a single level or two. And once they are maxed out, three being the highest per rifle, machine gun or submachine gun, the enhancements or attachments don’t really seem to add any value to the weapon. Some in fact make the weapon worse as you can’t unequip certain attachments that actually hamper your game play.

The AI is pretty poor too. Allies AI is non-existent as your teammates will either rush continuously into enemy lines, or abandon you all together, leaving the player to storm the Nazi positions alone. Enemy AI is just as bad. While the German soldiers aren’t stupid enough to stand still and be shot, or rush you head-on, (most of the time) EA’s idea of good enemy AI is to have the Germans constantly change from one position to the next, even when they aren’t being fired at. Combined this with a horrible aiming system, just getting your sights locked on a Nazi soldier is a pain in the ass, no less killing them. Even German tanks just drive around in circles seemly awaiting for you to destroy them.

Airborne’s biggest game feature is as its namesake suggests. You play as a member of the 82nd Airborne, which means that you will have to make the leap of faith in order to reach you final objective. Although I would say that the character the player controls is either the luckiest bastard alive, or the unluckiest as five out six of the levels, your transport plane is hit by German anti-aircraft fire, resulting in the deaths of your expendable teammates. This does get real old really quick and seems to be a poor attempt by EA to make this game seem more exciting and intense then it really is.

In the beginning of each level, and after each respawn, you are dropped from a plane over the battlefield where you have the option and freedom to either land at the designated safe zone, marked by green smoke, or anywhere else within the game barrier. You are totally free to do just as the developers have said, whether it is running along the roof tops, fighting alongside you allies, or taking the fight to the Germans head on, the only problem is that if you don’t land at the safe drop, then it is more then likely you will land in the middle of a horde of Nazi soldiers with no backup from your buddies. This usually means certain death in a matter of seconds. Although, the option does allow you to bypass some of the more difficult Nazi defenses as you can attack them from behind.

Performance: 7/10

Ultimately the overall game performance is pretty okay. There isn’t any major bugs or issues with the actually game mechanics. But, there is nothing in Medal of Honor: Airborne that hasn’t been done already, and done better. The sound design is okay, sometimes. Most of it has already been used from previous titles in the series including the game’s music and theme.

While Airborne tries hard to give the player that same sensory overload that Call of Duty does, in the end, there is just no real excitement or heart to the overall performance of the game. Everything just simply works the way it is suppose to work, and nothing more.

Overall: 7/10

While Medal of Honor: Airborne isn’t a horribly bad game and does have its moments, in the end, this game has no passion. There is nothing in this title that we haven’t seen or played a hundred times already in better games of this genre. Worse still, it is pretty clear that in this game, which the once seemly endless source material that is World War II, is starting to run dry… or has.

Most of the real life operations in Airborne are going to be completely unknown to gamers. Unlike previous games in this series, players won’t learn anything either about the operations they are taking part in, nor will they learn anything at all about the 82nd Airborne and their great deeds that have made them legendary. There are no cut scenes at all, no central characters, hell, you don’t even get to see or hear your own character speak…a feature in games I am really starting to get tired of seeing. With only six levels players will probably feel cheated. In the end you really won’t care to play any further.

When everything is all said and done, Airborne is not the saving title for the Medal of Honor series. It can’t even be counted as one of the best. I would say at this point, as EA seemly can do little more then copy what Activision’s Call of Duty series has already done, they should just put the nail in the coffin and end this series once and for all.

Site [EA Games] Site [Metal of Honor: Airborne}

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At midnight of November 20, 2007, select Best Buy locations across the United States will be opening their doors in order to unite gamers with the highly anticipated Rock Band for Xbox 360 and PS3. The game is the latest release from Harmonix Music Systems, the developer of Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero II and Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s. Although similar to Guitar Hero in gameplay and style, Rock Band offers up to four players to participate in a simultaneous music simulation using guitar, drum and microphone peripherals.

Rock Band‘s arrival places it in direct competition with the recently released Guitar Hero III. Although Harmonix was the original developer for the Guitar Hero series, last year’s acquisition of Harmonix by MTV forced Guitar Hero series publisher RedOctane to hire developer Neversoft to continue the beloved franchise. Neversoft, popular for the Tony Hawk collection of skateboarding simulations, seems to have struck a chord with its first music-based title, but it will be interesting to see just how fans will react to the availability of two similar but highly acclaimed titles.

Best Buy has released a small list of stores that will be opening at midnight for the release of Rock Band. The participating stores include, but are not limited to the following locations:

California City of Industry Murrieta Riverside San Bernardino San Francisco Sherman Oaks West Hollywood West Los Angeles

Colorado Lone Tree

Florida Sawgrass S. Tampa

Kentucky Lexington

Massachusetts Watertown

Minnesota Coon Rapids Eden Prairie Roseville St. Cloud

New York Midtown Westbury

North Carolina Cary

Ohio Florence Mentor

Oklahoma Norman

Pennsylvania South Hills

Texas Galleria

Wisconsin Green Bay

Read [Megatonik] Site [Best Buy]

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Atlus U.S.A., the game publisher known for the popular Shin Megami Tensei and Trauma Center series, has announced that it has come to an agreement with Microsoft to become an officially licensed third-party publisher for the Xbox 360. The announcement was supplemented by information regarding two new Atlus-published titles, Operation Darkness and Spectral Force 3: Innocent Rage, both slated for release sometime in 2008.

Operation Darkness, a strategy RPG (SRPG), pits gamers against Adolf Hitler in an alternate timeline. In this new world, it’s up to players to stop the crazed dictator—and his army of demons and supernatural beings.

Spectral Force 3: Innocent Rage, a member of the long-running SRPG series by Grim Grimoire developer Idea Factory, is only now seeing the light of day outside of Japan. Taking place in the fantasy world of Neverland, players will assume the role of a soldier in a mercenary group and accept missions from the various countries that divide the land. In addition to offering a new perspective on the world compared to the series’ previous installments, Spectral Force 3: Innocent Rage promises more than 40 playable characters and an intricate item crafting system that offers the sense of deep customization that only a strategy-based title can provide.

The new relationship between Atlus and Microsoft bodes well for RPG-loving Xbox 360 owners and may bolster the Xbox 360 library with a variety of obscure but quality RPGs. With its publishing experience and dedicated fanbase, Atlus may just be what Microsoft needs to bridge the gap between the Xbox 360 and the hardcore RPG fan.

Read [Game Informer] Also Read [RPG Fan ] Site [ Atlus]

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At Nintendo’s recent Third Quarter Financial Results Conference, Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata insinuated that the traditional, almost-unwritten rule concerning how a console cycle will last around four or five years is needlessly restrictive.

Lately, I cannot say I’m making video games on the frontline of development, but as a person who used to develop software, the availability of new hardware means that we possess a new weapon. We long for a new weapon whenever we cry that we cannot fight anymore with the current weapons. But today’s situation is such that we are not desperate for any new weapons at all.

Whenever we are working on so-called next generation hardware, we are always thinking in terms of the future. We need to forecast what the future will be like with the expected evolution of new technologies which are available at any given time, and try to identify the so-called “sweet spot” of technology over the next few years.

We have produced a number of hardware prototypes which did not in the end reach the market place. We are always preparing for new hardware so that we can launch whenever we determine we should do so. However, scheduling for a rather fixed launch date 4 years from today, regardless of future changes in the industry and the market, appears to be too inflexible an approach to us.

We are always studying and working on what the new hardware must become in the future, but we are also monitoring changes in circumstances in order to act flexibly. Also, since Nintendo’s hardware engineers and software creators are always communicating closely, only when both teams agree that it is time to challenge the market with new hardware that we will launch it. So, it is not a correct observation that we are having any trouble deciding on the launch timing of the next hardware.

Some could argue that Nintendo doesn’t want to play the traditional game because it’s been out muscled by Sony and Microsoft.  But, given that observing the leaps from one console generation to the next are increasingly like watching the Law of Diminishing Returns take physical form and jackhammer you through the skull, there’s probably a bit of wisdom to his statements.

Read [Aussie-Nintendo]  Also Read [1UP]

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Techland just issued new screenshots of its up and coming FPS, Warhound, which is slated as the next FPS to rule the gaming world.  This release was on the heals of the news that the game’s initial release has been postponed.

Being a huge FPS fan myself I like to keep on the lookout for games that offer some new and improved widget that will propel the genre to the next level. The next project from Techland, titled Warhound, is one of the games I am eagerly watching in the hope that it will do what so many in the past have tried and failed…

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Is the Xbox 360 ripe for a price cut of its own in the wake the 60GB PS3 price cut from $599 to $499? The official word from Microsoft is, “We have no announcements to make on pricing at this time. While price matters, content is king. And no other system is offering all the games people want to play this holiday at a better price than Xbox 360.“

Regardless of the official word, some in the industry believe that August (2007) is a prime month to see a $50 drop. This time of year is typically slower in terms of sales and, in response to the PS3 price drop, Sony has seen a 135% increase in the sales of its top five retail accounts. In addition, several big name games will be released in August as well, and that, combined with a price drop could be enough to stifle Sony’s growth in sales before the holiday season hits.

However, everyone is not convinced that a price drop will happen soon, citing that the release of Halo 3 and the special edition Halo 3 Xbox 360 would be all Microsoft needs to hold its own into the holidays.

Read [Hollywood Reporter]

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How many Xbox’s will be sold this year? “A lot of green ones,” says Peter Moore who answered a volley of questions from the folks over at Gamasutra in a recent interview regarding the state of the Xbox. In the interview Moore addresses a lot of the issues concerning the future of Xbox 360 including the state of HD-TV, possibility of a hand-held from Microsoft, the Japan strategy, Rock Band, and many more tasty morsels of Xbox information.

And just in case you wondered who the Devil was, it’s Peter Moore. When asked out right if he was the Prince of Darkness he responded, “Damn, my cover’s blown! Let me just tuck the tail in back there!”

If you haven’t heard, Peter Moore, VP of Xbox and Windows Games for Microsoft recently announced his move to EA Games where he will hold the position as President of the EA Sport division. We all knew the Evil One was the source of Microsoft’s power, so now what’s going to happen over at EA Sports? The industry expects big things from this move.

Read [XboxFanboy] Also Read [Gamasutra] Site [EA Sports]

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Microsoft Gaming reported a $1.89 billion loss for the fiscal year ending in June 2007. Yeah you read that right, I said billion. You know, nine zeros. This is an increase of 47% from last year’s $1.28 billion operating loss. Even as I sat there reviewing the information in shock, my drink mysteriously caught in limbo between coaster and mouth, I figured out the cause before I read it, unreliable hardware! (Did somebody say red lights?) Though the gaming giant saw $6.08 billion in annual revenue it still wound up in the hole for the year, attributing the loss primarily to ...

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