Carmines Fate

The previously mentioned avatar shirts that will decide the fate of Clayton Carmine in Gears of War 3 are now available. Your favourite shirt will set you back 80 points, but all proceeds go to Childs Play. So head over to the avatar marketplace to place your vote on whether Carmine should live or die.

For anyone wondering, i eventually decided to go with...

Super Awesome Elite Spartan Squad GO!!!

Microsoft have announced that they are starting a search for the UK's number one Halo player. The person deemed the number one halo player will then lead a team of 5 celebrities into battle against 6 runners up when Halo: Reach is released. The celebrity team will be made up by the number one halo player (obviously), presenter of 'Gadget Show' Jason Bradbury, Manchester United player Rio Ferdinand, R&B artist Jamelia and two more celebrities who are yet to be named. The celebrity team name? Elite Spartan Squad. So, in short, Microsoft have announced a special competition that the majority of the world won't care about, for a prize that no-one really wants.

Betahood

I recently received the usual newsletter email from Ubisoft and noticed it has a button saying 'Get access to the PS3 limited multiplayer beta' of Assassins Creed: Brotherhood. Sadly, when i click said button i'm taken to a Ubisoft 'page cannot be found' page. I'm sure Ubisoft just accidentally put out the email earlier than they've put the actual page up (considering i haven't heard the beta mentioned anywhere else yet), but this does tell us that the beta should be here soon and it will only be available to PS3 owners.

Characters Sourced

While i'm not a fighting game fan, i am looking forward to Marvel vs Capcom 3. The characters included in the game have been slowly being announced since the game was first mentioned, however someone may have spoiled Capcom's fun. A user at french website PS3Gen, managed to dig up a list of characters left in the source code of MvC3's Japanese website. This is definitely unconfirmed and shouldn't be taken as fact, but for those interested, click 'Read More' for the full list of 38 characters.

Teasing Icarus

Irrational Games (the developer formerly known as 2K Boston, who in turn was formerly known as Irrational Games) has put up a website to advertise their upcoming title, currently named 'Project Icarus'. The game is set to be revealed on August 11th and judging by the teaser website, you'll probably have to wait till then anyway. The site (whatisicarus.com) shows a black screen, what looks to be some mist and a small white dot. My first thought is the moon, but you should probably never put faith in my thoughts. There is one interesting thing the site HAS turned up though. The site has been registered to Irrational Games' parent company Take2 Games, but also to fellow subsidiary, Rockstar Games. So i still have no idea what 'Project Icarus' is, but you can bet i'll be checking out that little white dot every day until August 11th.

Going Going Gone

Dutch game developer and publisher Playlogic have filed for the Dutch equivalent to bankruptcy. You could be forgiven for asking who Playlogic is, as the majority of their released games were never really big (Fairytale Fights & Infernal: Hells' Vengeance). Apparently Playlogic is behind on payments to some of their vendors and while they claim they're still owed some money from Koch Media (a European distributing partner) the outlook for the company is not looking so good. Personally i'm not really a big fan of Playlogic's work, but regardless it's sad to see them go under. Seems like many games companies are struggling to break even and i'm hoping i don't have to make many more posts like this one in the near future.

Alpha Protocol Review

Here is my review for Obsidian's stealth/3rd person shooter/RPG hybrid, Alpha Protocol...

Caught In Limbo

The first game of the Summer of Arcade (Winter of Arcade for fellow Aussies) is a game called Limbo. I'd heard absolutely nothing about the game, but my friend picked it up and kept raving about it so i figured i'd check it out too. Now i can only wonder how i didn't know about Limbo. The game is very simplistic in nature... There is no real story, no actual background music, the game is a 2D puzzle game and the entire game is presented in a stylised monochromatic look. Basically you take control of a little boy (who i've heard is named Limbo, for for simplicities sake, i'm calling him Bob) who has to traverse a strange environment filled with deadly creatures, sharp spikes and countless places for him to plunge to his doom. That's really all there is to it... You have endless lives and the real fun of the game is purely from trying to figure out the best way to help Bob make his way through Limbo without ending up as a spiders dinner. The puzzles are really well done, the look is something quite unique that also helps make the puzzles that much harder and despite having no soundtrack, the ambient noises are enough to give you the creeps at times. Limbo manages to focus itself on the puzzles, and leave everything else up to your imagination... Maybe Bob is questing through a dark land to rescue a princess, maybe he's lost and trying to find his way home, it doesn't really matter because the only goal the game gives you is to keep him alive. I haven't enjoyed a puzzle game this much since Portal.

Follow The Signal

The first piece of DLC for Alan Wake, The Signal, is now available and i've already played through it and figured i'd let you know what i think. Firstly, The Signal takes place after the ending of the game, so make sure you finish that off before starting this. When i found out it was following the ending i was a bit disappointed because i liked the ending of the game and felt that explaining it would take some of that away... After finishing The Signal though, i'm not at all disappointed. i won't go into details to avoid spoilers, but while there isn't much plot to The Signal, it does manage to explain bits and pieces of the ending, but still leaves just as many questions. A gameplay element that turned up near the end of the normal game (shining your light on words to make objects appear) has been brought back and is used rather extensively. Not just in ways you'd expect either. Anything can now be summoned from words including, weapons, ammo, helpful effects (such as explosions and fireworks) and even enemies. The Signal will only take about an hour to complete (much like the standard games chapters) but manages to cram quite a bit into that hour. Plus there are a heap of collectibles thrown in, just to make sure you play through more than once. Overall i'd say The Signal is a nice piece of DLC that expands upon and experiments with the original gameplay, but still manages to feel like it belongs within the game. At 560 MS Points, anyone who liked Alan Wake, NEEDS to get The Signal.

More Mass Effect

One of the better games when it comes to DLC is Mass Effect 2. It's already had heaps of DLC released for it ranging from alternate costumes to entire quests, but don't think that will stop Bioware from dropping more. It was revealed that there was another DLC pack on its way (Lair of the Shadow Broker) but when people started noticing the weapons in the screenshots aren't in the current game it was also revealed that prior to the Shadow Broker release, there will be more guns heading to the game in DLC form. Mass Effect 2 is quickly becoming the game with the most extra content available (excluding music games, obviously) but i think i'd rather see the team working on Mass Effect 3.

Media Much?

Comic-Con has meant heaps of new game videos and news, so click 'Read More' for my list of videos you need to see...

Bringing Back The Ghosts

Karen Traviss, Author of the Gears of War novels, has been confirmed to be writing a new series of Halo books for Tor Books. The books will apparently continue on from Ghosts of Onyx and tell the story of what happened after Halo 3. Currently there is no release date for any of her books, but Halo fans can also check out her work in Halo: Evolutions... She wrote the story 'Human Weakness'.

Comic Con Continues

It's been a rather busy week with lots of new game details surfacing from Comic Con. I'll try to throw together a post with videos and such tomorrow, but some quick highlights are...

• Halo: Reach limited edition Xbox Console bundle announced. Will include a silver console, two silver controls, a Reach branded headset and a copy of Halo: Reach.
• Separate Silver Reach Controls and Headset will also be available for purchase. The controls will also include a banshee avatar prop.
• A video was released revealing the new Forge mode in Halo: Reach, entitled Forge World.
• The final universe in Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions has been revealed as Ultimate Spider-Man.
• Dead Rising: Case Zero was further detailed and how now been priced... at 400 points.
• Several game announcements including Hitman 5 (won't be out till 2012), a tie-in game for the upcoming Green Lantern movie, and a hint at Mega Man Legends 3.

Check back later for videos and further details...

Welcome Back To Wonderland

American McGee is a man who has worked on same of the most revolutionary games ever created... and by that i mean he worked on Doom. A few years back he also tried his hand at re-imagining a story that we all know and love. American McGee's Alice was the story that we all knew would happen. Alice returns from Wonderland, loses her family in a fire, becomes suicidal and is sent to a mental institution. Those who played it will be excited to know that there is now a sequel in the works and it will be making its way to consoles. People who haven't played it should probably just give the first one a miss, it seems that the game has become something of a collectors item and won't be cheap to pick up. Alice: Madness Returns will continue from the end of the original with Alice being released into the care of a psychiatrist who tries to help her get over the haunting nightmares she still has from the fire that claimed her family. Gamers who are looking for something different and a little strange should keep an eye out for Alice: Madness Returns when it releases next year.

Sharing Is Caring

Just a quick note about design changes. The old thoughts buttons are gone because i didn't feel they were actually being used enough to be helpful and there is now a new sharing bar so you can easily share any post you like to Twitter, Facebook, etc. So if there's something on here you want your friends to know, please share it and help The Arkhive get more readers.

Four New Challengers Appear

This week marks the annual version of geek heaven on earth... San Diego Comic-Con. So it was pretty much expected that new info is now available on the upcoming sequel to the worlds biggest mash-up fighter Marvel vs Capcom 3. The roster has been slowly leaking out for some time now as the game slowly approaches release (currently Quarter 2 2011) and now we can say that joining the fray beside the already announced characters are Chun-Li, Dr. Doom, Trish (Devil May Cry) and Super-Skrull. This now rounds the character list out to 14 with the previously announced line-up of Ryu, Wolverine, Morrigan, Iron Man, Chris Redfield, Captain America, Felicia, Dante and Deadpool.

[UPDATE 22/07] The stream of info continues as two more characters are announced. Joining the above mentioned fighters is the Mjolnir wielding god of thunder, Thor, and part wolf, part artist, Okami's Amaterasu. How exactly you'll fight as a wolf i'm not sure, but the line-up is certainly becoming more diverse and interesting.

Live or Die... Make Your Choice

Epic Games has revealed that the third Carmine brother, Clayton, will be appearing in Gears of War 3, but this time, his fate is in the hands of the players. You won't be given the choice to either save him or let him die in game though, instead you can head over to the avatar marketplace from the 29th to check out some new Gears clothing. Two new shirts will be added and while they won't be free, all proceeds will go to the Child's Play charity (am i the only one who thinks this sounds like the personal bank account of Chucky?). So don't be cheap and do your part in determining the fate of the Carmine family... Pick up either your 'Save Carmine' or 'Carmine Must Die' shirt from the avatar marketplace from the 29th.

Get Kinected

Kinect has now officially been priced. The motion detecting camera for the Xbox will be out in November and will set Australians back $200 and should come bundled with a copy of Kinect Adventures (although sites for retailers like EB Games are not showing this). There will be 15 titles available for the camera at launch, as well as another console variant. For those just looking to get into Kinect but don't want to drop the money on a new console too, Microsoft are releasing a 4gig version of the new design (although in a matte black finish)and should set you back around $250 (although i cant confirm this exact price, its a general estimate). You can also pick up the bundle of console, Kinect and Kinect Adventures for roughly $350.

Upcoming On LIVE

Just throwing out a few little bits of info on upcoming games and deals on Xbox LIVE. From July 26th you'll be able to pick up the Borderlands DLC (Dr. Ned, Underdome and General Knox) for 400 points each as the Deal of the Week. The next day you'll be able to pick up the first new chapter for Alan Wake (The Signal) for 560 points (or Free if you got a redeemable code when you bought the game). Anyone who loves getting their avatar dressed up will be able to purchase new Dragon Age avatar clothing from the 22nd and Halo: Reach stuff from the 23rd. Finally the Arcade game of upcoming movie Scott Pilgrim vs The World will be available from August 25th. The game is based more on the comics than the movie and plays like a tribute to old side scrolling beat'em ups like Streets of Rage.

Custom Trials

I'm a big fan of Arcade motocross obstacle course thrill ride Trials HD, so i'm very happy to hear that there is an expansion pack in the works. The expansion, titled Big Thrills, will include 40 new tracks made by developer RedLynx, but on top of that, they're looking to round out the pack with an extra 10 tracks made by... YOU. RedLynx are asking for fans to submit their custom tracks for the opportunity to have them included in the expansion and the chance to win cash and prizes. For how to enter and prize details check out the website at bigthrillscontest.com

Case Zero To Be First Premium Demo

Capcom are preparing to release Dead Rising: Case Zero which while originally announced as an Arcade prequel to Dead Rising 2 actually appears to be the first use of premium demo's (which i mentioned quite a while back). Case Zero will be playable for free as a demo to Dead Rising 2, but if you want to play out the full 3-5 hours of gameplay, it'll cost you some Microsoft Points. No definite price yet, but it's looking to be either 560 or 800 points... depending on how kind Capcom are feeling i guess.

Get Swarmed

What happens when a major PC games company like Valve hires a team of modders and allows them to make their own game? You get Alien Swarm, a top down shooter made for the PC that will have you and your friends teaming up for some intergalactic extermination work. The most annoying thing about playing games multiplayer is that you can only play with friends who were also willing to cough up the cash to buy the game. That's the plus side to Alien Swarm, both the game and SDK are available right now from Steam at the awesome low price of FREE.

Rock Band 3 Dated... Sort Of

The Rock Band franchise has always been terrible for release dates (particularly here in Australia). Not long after Rock Band 3 was announced i'd heard it would be getting simultaneous release in all regions. Sadly, this has just proven to be false. Rock Band 3 now has a release date of October 26th in North America, but all other areas of the world are currently in the dark. Lets hope it doesn't stay that way, After all, Australia had to wait 11 months to see the release of Rock Band 1 and we still haven't seen an official release for Rock Band 2 (despite the fact it was released internationally nearly 2 years ago).

Keeping The Creed Just Got Cheaper

Assassins Creed: Brotherhood may still be a ways off, but that doesn't mean you can't start getting Ezio into training now... at least that seems to be Microsoft's thoughts as this weeks Xbox LIVE Deal of the Week is for Assassins Creed 2. The discounted prices are as follows...

• Bonfire of the Vanities & Secret Locations, was 560 points, now 400 points
• Bonfire of the Vanities, was 320 points, now 240 points
• Battle of Forli, was 320 points, now 240 points
• Da Vinci's Flying Machine (Avatar Prop), was 240 points, now 160 points
• Guard Armor (Avatar Outfit), was 400 points, now 240 points
  
  

New Pad

For those wondering, The Gamers Pad website is now online but still under construction. You can check it out at http://www.thegamerspad.net/ but expect it to change around a bit over the next few days. You can find all my reviews there in a much fancier set-up and once everything is up and running you can expect reviews, news, polls, competitions and such. Naturally you'll also still be able to get news and the simple version of my reviews here on The Arkhive too :D

Gears XP Event Capped and Dated

I posted a couple of days ago about the next Gears of War 2 XP event and can now say that the XP multiplier had to be capped after enough people rallied together to get it boosted up to TWENTY TIMES. So i highly recommend everyone forgets what they've been playing lately and jump on Gears 2 between the 22nd and the 25th to get the largest XP boost that will ever be available.

Master Chief and Holograms

More details on Reach incoming...

Firstly, that ridiculous hologram ability that appeared in the Red vs Blue video made using Reach has now been confirmed as an actual ability. In Reach you'll be able to select the ability as a part of certain classes, point your reticule where you want it, hit left bumper and an exact replica of you (including exact armour, colours and weapons) will move from your current location to the destination and exist for up to 10 seconds or until killed. This sounds to be a major game changer if used effectively.

Secondly, Bungie released a chart showing all the armour parts that will be available from launch (not including stuff you can unlock from levelling up)... The picture raises some eyebrows thanks to the bottom two rows of pictures which include Sergeant Johnson, Buck (from ODST), Cortana and... Master Chief. Does this mean you'll be able to use Master Chief (and more importantly, Cortana) in multiplayer? Don't know, but i'm definitely interested to know what the pictures mean.

Sakaguchi's Final Outing?

Final Fantasy creator and all-round RPG legend Hironobu Sakaguchi has hinted that upcoming Wii RPG 'The Last Story' may in fact be his final game. After leaving Square Enix and creating his own studio, Mistwalker, in 2004, Sakaguchi has continued to create epic RPG's such as Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey. On the Mistwalker blog he commented on 'The Last Story' saying "Emotionally it feels like this is my last work, while pouring everything I have gotten into this project". I'm sure even if Sakaguchi does decide to hang his hat up (which i'd like to believe would be on a hook beside some mage's robes) Mistwalker studios will continue to provide gamers with quality RPG experiences though.

The Hunt Ends

Just a week after releasing DLC it seems Sega have decided to stop supporting Aliens vs Predator. A post by Sega's assistant community manager has revealed that no more patches or updates are to be expected. The online community for the game is naturally attempting to rally behind the game, but i don't expect there will be much success. Between Sega's announcement to miss Gamescom and now the decision to stop supporting AvP, I'm really wondering if perhaps Sega is approaching the shallow end of the financial pool. If anyone wants to get all the achievements from AvP i'd suggest you snag those online multiplayer ones soon, because at this rate you never know when the servers will get closed down.

Scratch Artists

DJ Hero 2 will be hitting shelves before the end of the year and the full list of artists has now been confirmed. The list tends to cover a wide range of artists and indeed music styles, so click 'Read More' if you want to see the full 108 artists that will be featured on the game disc...

Yet Another Tango Down

Zombie Studios must be expecting great things for their new game Blacklight: Tango Down because despite the fact the game wasn't available until last week, they've already confirmed they intend to release a sequel this time next year. How good is the first? Well i can't say, after all Australia is still yet to receive it.

Quantic Dreams

Quantic Dream, after the success of Heavy Rain, have revealed they are working on 2 new projects. Exactly what the projects ARE is still unknown but David Cage has said in an interview that they are continuing to explore how far they can take the interactive drama and new ways they can use what they've learned about emotion from Heavy Rain. Personally i wasn't a big fan of Heavy Rain, and while i like the idea of an interactive drama game, i don't think taking what they've learned from Heavy Rain further is going to result in a game i'll like... but that's just me.

Experienced Tweeting

Epic Games have been going crazy with their XP Events on Gears of War 2 lately and if the next one is anything to go by, they aren't stopping any time soon. After the last event which gave players 8x XP, Rod Fergusson (Gears Executive Producer) has challenged the community to earn their own XP bonus. Basically he has promised that the XP multiplier for the next event will be the amount of his twitter followers divided by 500, so 4000 followers equals 8x, 5000 equals 10x, etc. If you're a Gears player, or just want to help Gears players get their experience up, then follow GearsViking on twitter. At the time of writing he is up to 4,700+ so follow away and then jump into the next XP Event on Gears of War 2 to earn some easy levels.

Destination Limited

You may have read my previous post about the U.S. getting a new Arcade interface labelled Destination Arcade. Well in an odd turn of events, it turns out that the interface will be available for U.S. users to download during the 5 weeks of Summer of Arcade, but will not be downloadable after that. Anyone who DOES download it during that time will still be able to use it, and as for non U.S. users, don't worry about missing the deadline as there are still NO plans for a release outside of the U.S. Thanks again Microsoft for a second rate marketplace.

Dragon Effect

Some new details have surfaced about Dragon Age 2 and it looks like the game will become more similar to Mass Effect, although Bioware have pointed out that it will still be like the original and not just be a fantasy version of Mass Effect. I won't go into too much depth but the basic points are that the background system is now gone and will instead be replaced by a single main character with a single story (although you will still be able to customize the character), as such the main character will now speak and conversations will use a system similar to Mass Effect's wheel system. The team who wrote the first Dragon Age ARE writing the sequel, and it has been hinted that choices made in the first game will have effects in the second. On that note, there will still be no morality bar, with the emphasis being on making the morally difficult choices as they come. If you'd like to know more you can check out the facts that have been compiled by the people over at greywardens.com.

Preparing For The Zombie Apocalypse

Pre-order bonus's have been announced for Dead Rising 2. Not yet sure which stores will be carrying which, but there will be two options. The first pre-order pack is called the "Paradise Pack (Psycho)" and will include a range of extra content including an axe, face mask, butchers apron and gauntlets. Meanwhile the second pack is much more interesting. The second pre-order bonus is not DLC at all, but rather three random real life combo cards (combo cards appear in the game to teach you how to combine different items to make new weapons). The cards you get will be chosen at random and there will be 31 different cards in total. I'm not trying to change peoples minds or encourage them not to shop at a specific store, but if i get the choice i'll be getting the cards, as the psycho outfit will apparently be purchasable as DLC at a later date.

Crysis Goes Nano

Details have leaked about a collectors edition of Crysis 2. While still technically unconfirmed, the collectors edition appeared on the website of a Swedish retailer before being pulled back down. Luckily people on the internet are resourceful and managed to grab the details before it was pulled down. The Nano Edition will apparently include:

• 46cm x 34cm Nano Suit Bag
• 20cm wide Prophet Statue
• 176-page Art Book
• Immediate Access To Higher Ranks & Unlockables
• An Exclusive Dogtag #2
• A SCAR Hologram
• Waffenskin SCAR - Camouflage
• Additional Content
• Packaged in a steelbook case with a 'Unique' painting

Now i'm not entirely sure what half of that is, but the pics that have popped up of the bag and statue make it look really cool. It'd want to be cool, after all, the price tag is set to be over $200.

Still Alive

Much like our dear friend Glados, I wanted to let all the readers know that I am in fact still alive. I haven't posted in a while because 1, I'm lazy, 2, I'm busy and 3, forgetful. Did I mention lazy?
Hope to write to you all soon, me.

Thank you for having me, I've had a wonderful time.

CryEngine + Arcade = ???

U.S. developer Illfonic has raised some eyebrows today when they announced their upcoming game for PSN and Xbox LIVE Arcade, Nexuiz, will run on CryEngine 3. For people who don't know, CryEngine is a game engine built by Crytek that keep the Farcry series running. CryEngine 3 is the latest edition and is being used to build games such as Crysis 2. Exactly how Illfonic intends to create a game using the engine that is both affordable enough and small enough in size to be released as a digital download is beyond me. Nexuiz tells the story of two waring galactic civilizations who must come to peace but still hold a grudge against each other. To settle the score without causing more damage to the universe they create an arena where the champions of each civilization can fight to the death.

Signaling The Light

Alan Wake will be receiving it's first piece of DLC this month, as promised. The Signal will be available from July 27th and will be 560 MS Points, unless you bought the game brand new, in which case you should have a code to download it free. Not much is known about The Signal yet, but i can say it will include new achievements. 8 achievements and 250 MS points, taking the game up to a total of 1250. So grab your flashlight, because in a few weeks we'll be diving back into the mysteries of the lake and the town of Bright Falls.

Driver Misses It's Deadline

The title says it all... Anyone anticipating the new Driver game will have to hold on a bit longer as the game gets delayed from it's November release date until 2011. Not even trying to come up with a technical excuse, Ubisoft have admitted it's to avoid the competitive christmas market.

Crackdown 2 in Review

Just finished writing up my review of Crackdown 2 for the West Gamers blog. Here it is in the non-fancy version...

/Rant - The Difference Between Trash Talk And Just Being A...

You may or may not have noticed there wasn't a rant last week. I got distracted and by the time i realised i'd forgotten it was already Monday and i figured the ranting could take a week off. Now it's back, and this time there won't be any positive or negative facts, just my opinions and be prepared for colourful language as i take on the difference between trash talk and just being a dick...

Monster Rock

With the next wave of music games fast approaching, the fan base is being split more than ever with Rock Band attempting to edge closer to real instruments, while Guitar Hero keeps with it's arcade style and pushes things towards the strange. The one thing that usually helps fence sitters decide which way to go is, of course, the set list. While there is already a list of about 40 songs that have been confirmed for Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, Joystiq have gone ahead and provided a cool little video showing us what some of them will be like. Check it out below...



[video taken from Joystiq]

What Comes After Coagulation?

Bungie have celebrated Bungie Day (the 7th of the 7th, for those wondering) by joining with Rooster Teeth and releasing a special Red vs Blue video. Whats so special about that you ask? Well, either this video is some very clever trickery, or it's displaying some new features for Reach that we didn't know about. The video shows the flag carrier using his jetpack (which couldn't be done in the beta), a couple of new warthogs (complete with more powerful turrets) and holographs (99% sure this has to be fake)... and all of this is displayed on what appears to be a remake of everyone's favourite Halo 1 map, Blood Gulch. Check out the video below...

Return To The Age Of Dragons

We've known it was coming for some time but Bioware has now OFFICIALLY announced Dragon Age 2. Currently it seems to be pretty much what you'd expect from a sequel. Bigger worlds, better graphics, etc. The story will apparently take place over a decade and will be affected by the decisions you make (so a cross between Mass Effect and Fable 2 i guess). According to the website Game Informer will have the first official details, but you can expect them to become available online at pretty much the same time anyway. Anyone interested in checking out the site (which includes two pieces of concept art) can check it out HERE.

Lucky Number 14

Square Enix are now taking pre-orders for Final Fantasy XIV. Final Fantasy XIV will be an MMORPG available on PC and PS3 and should be released around September for PC and March 2011 for PS3. The game will be available in both standard and collectors editions. Pre-ordering the standard edition will net you the game and a bonus item, while the collectors edition will include the game, bonus item, adventurer's branded tumbler, behind the scenes DVD, FFXIV-branded security token, map of Eorzea and an adventurer's notebook, plus pre-orders of the collectors edition also get early access to the game. Not sure on exact dates, prices or if the pre-order bonus's will apply to Australians, but if you liked Final Fantasy XI then be sure to keep an eye out.

Back To The Guild

Personally, I don't play MMO's (although i'll be giving The Old Republic a go when it comes out) however there are a lot of people who do, who once did or who just like hearing about the people who do. If you fit into one of those categories, then you might be excited to hear that The Guild will be back next week. The Guild is a web series based around the lives (both online and offline) of the members of a World of Warcraft guild. Microsoft are once again backing the show so you'll be able to get the episodes on xbox live as they become available.

Building A World Of Magic

I've been playing Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4 and thought you should know what i thought (ok that's a lie, i wrote the review for the West Gamers blog).

The U.S. Set For A New Arcade

Anyone who downloads DLC from Xbox LIVE frequently knows that the current marketplace can be difficult to navigate in places. Well from next week, people in the U.S. will have a much easier time finding the arcade games they're looking for thanks to a complete overhaul of the LIVE Arcade. Labelled 'Destination: Arcade', the new feature will allow users to browse through arcade downloads and sort them with a number of new filters, but will also include areas for the latest news and deal of the week details to help people stay on top of whats happening and where to get the best deals. No info on if or when the rest of the world will see Destination: Arcade but Americans can check it out from July 14th. Everyone else can have a look at the screenshots below.

[UPDATE 13/07] Destination: Arcade has been delayed a week and will now launch on July 21st, in unison with the Summer of Arcade. Also, it is currently still U.S. exclusive

Summer of Arcade

Microsoft's Summer of Arcade will be returning for its third year. The Summer of Arcade is a time when 5 new Xbox LIVE Arcade titles get released over 5 weeks to keep you gaming away over the holidays. This years line-up will be as follows:

• Limbo (released July 21st)
• Hydro Thunder: Hurricane (released July 28th)
• Castlevania: Harmony of Despair (released August 4th)
• Monday Night Combat (released August 11th)
• Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light (released August 18th)

So if you're looking for more games to play over the summer, perhaps you might want to look into some of these, but be prepared for the price tag... 1200 MS Points each.

The Gamers Pad

Anyone following my work (or blindly clicking on links i include in my posts) will know that i have been submitting my reviews to the West Gamers blog. While this blog is still up at the moment, there will be a name change and a full website going up soon. The new site has been registered as http://www.thegamerspad.net/ and will hopefully be up in a few weeks. The name change was to avoid confusion with another West Australian company dedicated to table top games. I know Agus has been working hard creating the site and trying to organise sponsors, etc. so once the site IS up and running there will be an advertising campaign with prizes and such, so get the word out however you can and get behind an all Australian site dedicated to games, gaming and giving an honest opinion.

Sega To Miss Gamescom

Sega has announced they won't be attending Gamescom this year due to commercial reasons. They insist that it has nothing to do with the event itself and doesn't mean they won't ever be attending again, but will be giving this year a miss. So with the official reason being 'a commercial decision' it remains a bit unclear exactly why Sega has decided to stay at home and twiddle its thumbs, but it could possibly be due to a lack of upcoming titles to show or perhaps Sega isn't doing so well financially (they've laid off 73 workers this year). Those points are only speculation, but with Sega missing out on Europe's biggest games show, i'd say we'll be short on details about their upcoming games for a while.

DLC On Crackdown, But No Crackdown On DLC

Crackdown 2 looks like it's about to be the target of the next wave of DLC related rage. Avatar rewards have revealed that there are already two pieces of DLC in store for Crackdown 2 (titled Toy Box and Deluge). No news on content or release of the DLC, but the fact the avatar awards already appear for it suggests sometime soon. There lies the problem. While this has just recently been revealed, it's already started raising questions whether these packs will actually require downloading, or if they've already been created and included on the disc but locked off. This topic has been laying low since the last time it flared up (Bioshock 2) but always proves to be heavily debated when it does turn up. Guess we'll have to wait and see how this turns out.

Rockin' The Week Away

The next few weeks seem to be a wasteland for new games, with very little coming out. For most people, this means a return to older games, maybe one that you haven't finished or one that you just love. If you're a fan of music games, then prepare to waste some time and money thanks to LIVEapalooza. Basically, a whole heap of content for Rock Band, Guitar Hero World Tour / Guitar Hero 5 and Lips are being marked down. All songs are on sale July 6th - July 12th. Click 'Read More' for the full list.

Kane & Lynch Gone To The Dogs?

So i finally got around to playing the Kane & Lynch 2 exclusive demo and was quite surprised by it... but not in a good way. I was a fan of the original. I liked the story, i liked the gameplay and i liked the multiplayer. Based on the demo though (and yes i know, demo's are not fully representative of the end product) Kane & Lynch 2 is far from being level with it's predecessor. The game had a look to it that made it look like you were watching an old video tape or something. The image was grainy, the camera unsteady and lighting had this effect that made it blur vertically across half the screen. It just really didn't look nice. Gameplay didn't feel much better. The controls are pretty much what you'd expect from a third person action shooter, but for some reason they just felt awkward in this. Cover could hardly keep you protected as any enemy not directly behind the cover could still shoot you and the dialogue didn't seem at all intelligent, but instead just random sentences thrown together in an attempt to drop as many f-bombs as possible. Finally, and i'm sure this IS exclusive to the demo and won't be in the full game, but after shooting some enemies (particularly headshots) i found that their head would become pixelated as a way to censor the violence out.

The demo alone ensures that i won't be buying Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days on launch and will instead hire it out. Makes me wonder if the demo wasn't provided to everyone for a reason.

See Saw 2

After the moderate success of Saw: The Game, Konami have been hard at work on a follow up, and the trailer for Saw 2: Flesh & Blood is now here to show us... well, flesh and blood. Saw 1 worked similar to the Silent Hill series but based in the world of the Saw movie franchise and surprisingly, it DIDN'T completely suck. While the first game may not have been a record breaker (or even remotely close to breaking records) Konami have decided that a second attempt was worth it and i'm glad they did. Check out the trailer below for a look at what to expect (here's a hint, it's in the game title).

Crackdown Goes Dark

It has been revealed that anyone with a Crackdown 2 save file will unlock an extra skin for multiplayer in  Perfect Dark... As cool as this is, it doesn't really come as much of a surprise to people who have browsed Perfect Dark forums. After all, it was quite a while ago that some clever people searching through Perfect Dark's source code discovered it searches for a Crackdown 2 save.

343 In Control

Whether you love Halo or you hate it, it's undeniable that Bungie have created one of the worlds most successful franchise's. So with Bungie going to work on a new IP after Reach we thought we'd see a break from Halo titles for a while. We thought wrong. As it turns out, Halo: Reach is set to be the LAST Halo title made by Bungie, however Microsoft's own 343 Studios are set to take up the reigns and continue with the franchise. Does this mean we'll see the return of Master Chief? Will the multiplayer see a drastic change in style? For now, all we can do is wonder... Well, wonder and pick up a copy of Reach in September to see how Bungie decided to farewell the series.

Unboxing The Beast

Today marked the release of the new Xbox 360 console here in Australia and me and Agus (fellow West Gamer and master of the goosenstuffs blog) both picked up the new machines. What do you do when you've got nearly a grand of console goodness in one room? Why take pictures of course. Check out Agus's Flickr album of the unboxing below...