Xbox 360 Round-up - Halo 3 co-op, $150 HD-DVD and more
The big news this week is that Halo 3 will have co-op campaign mode for up to 4 players (after Bungie backed off committing to more than 2). Another surprise: Best Buy has dropped the HD-DVD Player add-on to $150, which is $30 cheaper than the new retail price. Other big news includes a rumor that the BioShock demo could drop on Xbox Live Marketplace any day now, but for now you'll have to amuse yourself with:
- Halo pre-cursor Marathon: Durandal ($10)
- Spyglass Board Games ($5) with chess, checkers, mancala and reversi
- Forza Motorsport 2 Nissan Tournament Pack (free) and Peugeot 908 ($0.63)
- Even more Rumble Roses XX costumes ($1 each)
- Game Videos: Fable 2, Jericho, Madden NFL 08, Stuntman: Ignition,
- Movie/TV Videos: 10,000 B.C., 300, Babylon 5: The Lost Tales, Batman, Blade Runner: The Final Cut, Chuck, Fred Claus, Get Smart, I am Legend, Legion, Looney Tunes ACME Arsenal, Moonlight, Pushing Daisies, Return to House on Haunted Hill, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Smallville, Superman Doomsday, Supernatural and many more
- Themes: Carcassonne ($1.88), Dark Messiah Might & Magic: Elements ($1.50), Medal of Honor Airborne ($1.88), 300 ($1.88), Babylon 5 ($1.88), Batman ($1.88), Flintstones ($1.50), Jetsons ($1.50), Justice League ($1.88), Predators at War ($1.50), Rush Hour 3 (free), Scooby-Doo ($1.50), Sharks ($1.50), Super Carrier ($1.50), Superman ($1.88), Wonder Woman ($1.88) and Yogi Bear ($1.50)
- Pictures: Flintstones ($1.25), Predators at War ($1.25), Rush Hour 3 (free), Super Carrier($1.25) and Tigers ($1.25)
After months of constantly pruning my Xbox 360 downloads to fit on a 20GB drive, I finally broke down and picked up the 120GB hard drive upgrade. I was a little wary of it due to reports that a few locked saves, such as Dead or Alive 4, wouldn't migrate properly. I also wondered if the demo-ware, videos and other marketing junk preloaded on the drive would be wiped - as the official warnings from Microsoft implied they would - or simply be merged with the contents of my 20MB drive.
First off, I read through the manual. (I'm weird that way.) The guide warns that any content on the 120GB drive will be wiped, so do not use it before performing a transfer. I did peek at the contents and found 13 Xbox Live Arcade trial games, 5 retail title demos, 10 videos (mostly ads and Halo 3 promos), 9 themes and 46 gamer pictures. I wanted to try to save some of the gamer pictures that I didn't already have - in case they were wiped in the process - but they could not be copied from the drive. 
The transfer software estimated 90 minutes to move the contents of my 99% full hard drive. During that time I refused to run any major appliances on the same circuit, since they have been known to overload it now and again. I set the kitchen timer, watched some TV and - an hour and a half later - checked to find that it had completed with no errors. Sweet! I pulled off the now empty 20GB drive (anyone want to buy it?!) and swapped it for the newly loaded 120GB drive. Here's what I found:
If you've already downloaded and beat the BioShock demo for Xbox 360, chances are you played the Medium skill level since Hard was grayed out. There's actually a way to unlock Hard mode! First, go to the 360 console dashboard, open your gamercard, and select Game Defaults. Under General, select Hard as your default difficulty. Now when you launch the BioShock demo, you can choose the highest difficulty if you don't move the selector and ignore the word "Disabled" in the description. If you're a PC player, you can expect the demo in the next week; the developers are promising they'll get it out in time for the game's release. And if you don't mind a lot of spoilers, you can 
It's been nearly 6 months, and I've worked out the remaining issues with my Alienware work/gaming rig (the 
If you plunked down for the Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel, you might want to unplug it now. Microsoft announced that the wheel might "overheat and release smoke" when the AC adapter is used to power it (required for force feedback). You can continue to run it on battery while you request a free retrofit kit from 
Overall, PAX was much bigger than past outings. So it was impossible to do and see everything. But we thoroughly enjoyed the massive exhibition hall, where we got to see Rock Band in action (but skipped the long line and public embarassment).
I played Ratchet and Clank Future on the PS3, Geometry Wars Galaxies for Wii and the Xbox Live Arcade version of Puzzle Quest (all must-buys for me). We also did our usual shopping up front, purchasing some DOA and Zelda figurines for me and Halo 3 and Red vs. Blue babydolls for GrrlGotGame.
The swag was much more prevalent than past years. We picked up enough glow-in-the-dark stars from the Geometry Wars folks to decorate our son's bedroom ceiling, a handful of demos (not nearly as many console ones as previous years), a Mass Effect tee, a Mumbo Jumbo hat, and a free copy of the Prima guide for Resident Evil 4 for the Wii. So we didn't leave entirely empty-handed. 
Sessions seemed to be largely rehashes from previous years. I attended the aging gamers panel and made a plea for more save points in games - so that those of us with kids don't need to leave our consoles running for 8 hours at a time just because our kids wake up from nap early. There was the usual argument about technology limitations - but if you can save Oblivion anywhere to a 360 memory card why can't you do the same with virtually any other game? It's the reason I love BioShock and can't stand to play Dead Rising. 
In my harried post-PAX state, I forgot one of the most important things to come out of the show: A renewed emphasis on gamers' rights and the need to get politically involved to protect our hobby. In the opening keynote (
In a Nutshell: Pull off surfing tricks with the characters of the computer-animated movie of the same name. Really, that’s pretty much it. Well, there is a leaf-sliding mini-game and you can unlock some movie clips and such. But mostly it's about the surfing.
In a Nutshell: This is a first-person shooter like no other, thanks to the inventive selection of weapons and special powers combined with unique enemies and the ability to flip security elements (cameras, bots and turrets) to your side. It's more like a sandbox game, really, where you can experiment with traps and thrilling attacks to take down the Big Daddies - your big opponents whose every footstep induces a shudder (enhanced by the vibration of the 360 controller if you play the console version). As in Pokemon Snap, Metroid Prime and Beyond Good & Evil, you photograph and analyze enemies to gain the advantage. There's even a hacking mini-game that gets harder as you go, but you can even the odds with the special powers you pick up or simply bypass if with cash and auto-hack gadgets it becomes too difficult or is just not your thing. Set in a fantastic art deco city under the ocean, the environment ping pongs between sci-fi and steampunk - with each level more amazing than the one before. The game even has a real story, told largely through flashbacks and audio diaries you pick up along the way. Or you can just shoot stuff.
Learning Curve: If you've played a first-person shooter before, just jump right in. You start with a wrench and soon pick up your first plasmid power and a standard issue pistol. The game introduces new elements every level pretty much right up until the end, so you're constantly learning new tricks and gaining or enhancing your capabilities - but in small, easy-to-absorb doses. An extensive in-game help system fills in most gaps in your knowledge, and a quick skim of the manual delivers the rest. The only thing that proved confusing were the plasmid and tonic slots, since the first Gene Bank (for reviewing and swapping these around freely) doesn't appear until the level after you first need it. Fortunately, you can backtrack to most places in the game - just not the "Welcome to Rapture" intro or a place known as "Control Room," so search those areas carefully before progressing the story.
The Save Game: Except in one or two spots, you can save the game anywhere. This makes it very convenient to quit at any time - assuming you can pry yourself away from the highly addictive gameplay. So even with the great save system, you'll probably want to find a few days (15-25 hours of play time) that you can devote largely uninterrupted to this worthy title. The game also resurrects you if you die, with all weapons and powers intact plus at least a little health, so you can recover quickly when your attacks fail. Note for 360 players: If you use a memory card with no hard drive attached, you might avoid some framerate stuttering suffered by some hard drive users in later levels (including me!), but be aware that autosave won't work properly when your storage is full - and it prompts you to quit the game to clear space! If this happens, simply back out and then overwrite an old save file yourself.
On a Personal Note: This is simply the best game I've ever played, thanks to a design that lets you choose your style of play and experiment with new attacks. At one point, I went into a sort of fugue state where all I could do for about 8 hours was play. I'd save and shutdown only to reboot 10 minutes later. Normally I'd try to savor a game of this caliber, like I have with the Elder Scrolls and Halo series. I found that impossible here. No matter how hard I tried, I just had to soldier on. I can see why Valve banned the game in the office.
