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March 2008 Archives

March 3, 2008

Steamed! - Eve Online 21-day trial and discount

The sci-fi themed Eve Online is the newest addition to Steam and the first MMO on the service. The good news is that you can play the game free for 21 days (with some limitations) and then unlock the full game for $15, which is $5 cheaper than even the Eve Online official site. After that, it costs $15/month (or as cheap as $11/month for those willing to pay a year in advance). If you're already on Eve, there's not much reason to relocate except some minor Steam community integration...

Posted by Gamewatcher on March 3, 2008 11:15 PM | | Comments (2)

Wii Virtual Console - Super Turrican

This week's Wii Virtual Console update adds Super Turrican (SNES) for $8. If you're a game developer fan boy, it's worth noting this platformer is an early entry from Factor 5, which went on to make Star Wars: Rogue Squadron and Lair. Note to the Nintendo marketers: Next time you have only one game to release, why not make it an N64 title (like last week's Kirby game)...

Posted by Gamewatcher on March 3, 2008 11:45 PM | | Comments (0)

March 4, 2008

Open Beta - Mabinogi

If you can't get enough free games and/or wacky Asian MMOs, the Mabinogi open beta begins tomorrow. The cel-shaded anime role-player drawn from Celtic and Welsh mythology balances quests and everyday jobs such as farming and sheep shearing. Intrigued? Get ready to download...

Posted by Gamewatcher on March 4, 2008 11:26 PM | | Comments (0)

March 5, 2008

Misery Loves Company - Bully: Scholarship Edition is buggy on Xbox 360

If you have been patiently waiting for the release of Bully on Xbox 360, you might want to wait a bit longer. Reports indicate many gamers are experiencing freezes, framerate drops and audio glitches. The good news is that Rockstar has already issued a statement that they are "horrified, and now working around the clock to rectify this situation." The developer claims their QA team simply never encountered these issues. The only question now is whether a downloadable patch can be issued that will fix the problem, or if it will require a recall...

UPDATE (3/7): Rockstar said a patch will be offered via Xbox Live as soon as next week.

Posted by Gamewatcher on March 5, 2008 11:14 PM | | Comments (0)

March 6, 2008

PlayStation Store - Rocketmen and flOw

This week's PlayStation Store update features:
  • Rocketmen: Axis of Evil ($10; free demo)
  • flOw for PSP ($8)
  • Rock Band songs ($2 each; $10 for the 6-pack) "Casey Jones," "China Cat Sunflower," "Franklin's Tower," "I Need A Miracle," "Sugar Magnolia" and "Truckin'" by The Grateful Dead
  • Guitar Hero III Modern Metal Track Pack ($6.25) with "Almost Easy" by Avenged Sevenfold, "Hole In The Earth" by Deftones and "The Arsonist" by Thrice
  • Game Video: NBA Ballers: Chosen One
  • Wallpaper: Condemned 2: Bloodshot
  • Theme: Lost Planet
  • Movie Trailers: 21 and Hancock

Posted by Gamewatcher on March 6, 2008 11:30 PM | | Comments (0)

March 7, 2008

Xbox Live Marketplace - GRAW 2 and Undertow expansions, plus lots of songs

This week's Xbox Live Marketplace update explains why Microsoft gave away Undertow as an apology for December/January downtime (they hoped to sell you an expansion!) and shows some experimentation with the price point for themes (usually $1.88 a pop, but lower for some Arcade titles tie-ins):
  • Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 Co-Op Collection 2 ($5) with five co-op missions, nine adversarial maps and eight new achievements totaling 125 points
  • Undertow Path of the Elect expansion ($5)
  • Ace Combat 6 F-117A (free)
  • Major League Baseball 2K8 Minor League Stadium Pack, Majestic Cool Base Uniforms and Card Series 2 (all free)
  • Rock Band songs ($2 each; $10 for the 6-pack) "Casey Jones," "China Cat Sunflower," "Franklin's Tower," "I Need A Miracle," "Sugar Magnolia" and "Truckin'" by The Grateful Dead
  • Guitar Hero III Modern Metal Track Pack ($6.25; video preview available) with "Almost Easy" by Avenged Sevenfold, "Hole In The Earth" by Deftones and "The Arsonist" by Thrice
  • Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Encore songs ($1.50 each) "Just My Imagination" by The Temptations, "Please Mr. Postman" by The Marvelettes, "She Talks to Angels" (cover) by The Black Crowes, "I Want You Back" by The Jackson 5, "You Really Got Me" (cover) by The Kinks, "ABC" (cover) by The Jackson 5, "Beat It" (cover) by Michael Jackson, "Bizarre Love Triangle" (cover) by New Order, "Chattahoochee" (cover) by Alan Jackson, "Crazy" (cover) by Willie Nelson, "Don't Know Why" (cover) by Norah Jones, "I Hate Everything About You" (cover) by Evanescence, "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" by Marvin Gaye, "I'll Make Love To You" (cover) by Babyface, "It's the End of the World As We Know It" (cover) by REM, "Love Shack" (cover) by The B-52s, "One Week" (cover) by Barenaked Ladies, "Oops!...I Did It Again" (cover) by Britney Spears, "Rich Girl" (cover) by Hall & Oates, "Virtual Insanity" (cover) by Jamiroquai and "California Dreamin'" (cover) by The Mamas & the Papas
  • Chessmaster Live Classic and Mechanica sets ($1 each)
  • Xbox Live Arcade: Rocketmen: Axis of Evil ($10)
  • Demo: Major League Baseball 2K8
  • Game Videos: NBA 2K8 and Rainbow Six Vegas 2
  • Themes: Undertow and Robot Chicken: Star Wars ($1.88), Chessmaster Live ($1), Rocketmen:Axis of Evil ($1.25), Hitman movie (free)
  • Pictures: Rocketmen:Axis of Evil ($0.50 each), Best RPGs (free; downloading enters you in a sweepstakes), Robot Chicken: Star Wars ($1.25) and Hitman movie (free)

Posted by Gamewatcher on March 7, 2008 11:35 PM | | Comments (0)

March 10, 2008

Wii Round-up - Some Wiis won't play Super Smash Bros Brawl, Virtual Console news

The big news on Wii this week isn't good. Some fans of Super Smash Bros Brawl had their long wait extended due to disc read errors that indicate the new double-layer disc format isn't compatible with their consoles. If this happens to you, replacement discs won't help and you shouldn't use a commercial lens cleaner since it may damage your console further. Nintendo has a repair form - and yes, you will need to ship your Wii to them to get the lens fixed.

If your console works fine or you just don't care about Smash Bros (and can wait until the next dual-layer disc comes along to test your system), there are some classic Japanese import titles added to the Virtual Console lineup:
  • DoReMi Fantasy: Milon's DokiDoki Adventure (SNES) - $9
  • Puyo Puyo 2: Tsuu (Genesis) - $9

Posted by Gamewatcher on March 10, 2008 7:35 PM | | Comments (0)

March 11, 2008

Misery Loves Company - Super Smash Bros. Brawl online woes

It looks like Nintendo is going through some growing pains. Gamers who picked up Super Smash Bros. Brawl, passed the dirty lens test and managed to get their Wii onto Wi-Fi aren't able to play reliably during prime time evening hours due to the dreaded unexpected network disconnect (aka Error Code: 85010). Apparently, the game didn't go through the type of QA network stress testing that's de rigeur on other platforms. The good news is that, if you're a night owl, you may be able to get an online match going after all of the kiddies go to bed...

Posted by Gamewatcher on March 11, 2008 11:22 PM | | Comments (0)

March 12, 2008

Blog - iTunes music videos fixed, finally

At the Child's Play charity auction last year, you may recall that I won the Peggle pack from PopCap - which included an iPod Classic. I was shocked and dismayed to find that about 25 music videos I had purchased from the iTunes store a few years back simply refused to sync to the new device, kicking out an error stating they were in an incompatible format.

As it turns out, the issue wasn't limited to just that device. All of our iPods refused to sync about half of the videos we had purchased. But it took me awhile to figure this out since I hadn't sync'd them in six months due to my most recent iTunes disaster (every couple of years, no matter how careful I am, I accidentally nuke iTunes' internal database trying to move my expanding collection to larger storage). The files themselves were untouched, but I had to link them back up manually or lose all of my metadata (ratings, playlists, etc).

iTunes support tried to blame it on me since the files wouldn't playback video properly on my Windows PC either (though audio was fine). After troubleshooting it myself since iTunes technical support was worthless with what is actually a common problem, I found that I simply had to turn off Direct3D video acceleration in the QuickTime control panel.

After that, tech support bounced me back to sales support since the files played fine on my PC but clearly needed to be replaced to sync to my iPod. That's when I found that sync'ing my older devices caused iTunes to remove the videos, which had previously played fine - so I ruled out firmware as the culprit. To top it off, trying to repurchase the same music files with credits given to me by iTunes support generated an unusual 1008 error. The solution was to turn off the shopping cart and use 1-Click purchasing. This approach worked for all of the videos, and I've been credited for a few videos that were pulled from the library since I bought them and are, alas, no longer available. The old versions of these songs still work on my PC but will apparently never again sync to our iPods.

Ultimately, the problem cost me more time and effort than the $30 that the videos originally cost me - and I can't say the experience has endeared me any more to Apple. I won't be buying any more video collections, though I will continue to purchase songs and, on rare occasions, albums.

-=Gamewatcher

Posted by Gamewatcher on March 12, 2008 11:31 PM | | Comments (0)

March 13, 2008

PlayStation Store - Songs, themes and Pain

This week's PlayStation Store update includes several freebies and a few for-pay expansions:
  • Guitar Hero III St. Patrick's Day track pack (free) - "Famous for Nothing," "Flannigans Ball," "Johnny," and "I Hardly Knew Ya" by Dropkick Murphy's
  • Rock Band songs ($1 each) "Shockwave" by Black Tide, "CrushCrushCrush" by Paramore and "Beethoven's C***" by Serg Tankian
  • Toy Home expansion pack ($7)
  • Pain characters ($1 each) Cheerleader Muffy and Nurse Ginger
  • Demo: Major League Baseball 2K8
  • Game Videos: Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds and Viking: Battle for Asgard
  • Themes: Condemned 2: Bloodshot, God of War: Chains of Olympus and Pain
UPDATE: Before you can access the store again, you will need to download the v2.17 update which improves online game stability and takes the better part of an hour to install...

Posted by Gamewatcher on March 13, 2008 7:41 PM | | Comments (0)

March 14, 2008

Xbox Live Marketplace - Mass Effect expansion, free map for The Darkness, Soul Calibur IV Yoda video and SXSW

This week on Xbox Live Marketplace, 360 owners can download video coverage and marketing crap from South by Southwest - the highlight of which is a Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay movie trailer and the promise of an eventual cast interview. Or you can buy the new Mass Effect expansion if you don't mind that it makes you start in the middle of the game (sucks to be you if you already beat it). Here's what's new:
  • Mass Effect Bring Down the Sky expansion ($5) which adds a few hours of new storyline if you haven't finished the game (if you have, you'll have to backtrack to earlier save or start over)
  • The Darkness DM_Haunt multiplayer map (free)
  • Two Worlds Tainted Blood Pack 1 ($7.50) with four multiplayer co-op maps, a town, new skills and some 45 quests
  • Dark Messiah of Might and Magic - Elements Maps, Classes and Weapons ($5) with Paladin and Warlock classes
  • Guitar Hero III St. Patrick's Day track pack (free) - "Famous for Nothing," "Flannigans Ball," "Johnny," and "I Hardly Knew Ya" by Dropkick Murphy's
  • Rock Band songs ($1 each) "Shockwave" by Black Tide, "CrushCrushCrush" by Paramore and "Beethoven's C***" by Serg Tankian
  • Arcade: Bliss Island ($5) and Brain Challenge ($10)
  • Videos: Alone in the Dark, Condemned 2, Frontlines: Fuel of War, Lost Planet Colonies, NBA Ballers: Chosen One, Race Driver: Grid, Soul Calibur IV Yoda, Supreme Commander and Viking: Battle for Asgard
  • Themes: Bully and Viking: Battle for Asgard ($1.25 each), Condemned 2, Frontlines: Fuel of War, Mass Effect Bring Down the Sky, Universe at War: Earth Assault, Afro Samurai, Classic Camoflauge, Easter, Fractal Rainbows, Ghost in the Shell Uncensored, Killshots, Liquid Light Renders, Saw IV and St. Patrick's Day ($1.88 each) and Verizon and Drillbit Taylor (free),
  • Pictures: Condemned 2 ($1.50 each), Frontlines: Fuel of War ($1), Universe at War: Earth Assault ($1.25), Viking: Battle for Asgard ($1), Drillbit Taylor (free), Afro Samurai ($1), Easter ($1.25), Ghost in the Shell Uncensored ($1), Killshots ($1), Saw IV ($1), St. Patrick's Day ($1) and Verizon (free)

Posted by Gamewatcher on March 14, 2008 11:15 PM | | Comments (2)

March 17, 2008

Stupid Marketing Tricks - Haze for free, but only for a week

HazeGameStop has an interesting offer you probably should refuse - unless you're quick and decisive about beating and trading in games. The store is offering a deal where if you buy Haze (now officially a PS3 exclusive) and trade it in within one week of its May 20 release, you'll get the full price back. Ah, the catch is that you have to take it as store credit towards your next purchase. But if can suck all of the enjoyment from the title in six and a half days, it's essentially a buy one/get one free deal...

UPDATE (3/19): This offer has been rescinded and may have been the result of a miscommunication (or some damage control!) by Ubisoft in its communications with Gamestop.

Posted by Gamewatcher on March 17, 2008 8:18 PM | | Comments (0)

March 18, 2008

Patch This Game - Call of Duty 4 on PS3

Remember the Call of Duty 4 patch on Xbox 360 a few weeks back? Well now it's on the PS3 too...

Posted by Gamewatcher on March 18, 2008 8:13 PM | | Comments (0)

Stupid Marketing Tricks - Buy Commando 3 to test Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix

If you want to beta test Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, you'll need to buy Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3 for Xbox 360 when it's released for $10 on Xbox Live Arcade this spring. The beta only includes two characters (Ken and Ryu) and one stage. And, alas, PS3 owners won't even be getting this semi-sweet offer since Capcom believes its developers can make the same changes to the PS3 version based on learnings from the Xbox 360 stress test...

Posted by Gamewatcher on March 18, 2008 11:58 PM | | Comments (0)

March 19, 2008

Song Watch - Some Rock Band songs are Europe only

Remember all of those songs that were leaked and confirmed by Harmonix? Apparently some are going to be European exclusives - at least initially. The following Rock Band tracks have been announced, apparently as a "make good" since Europe will have waited nearly a year by the time they get the game:
  • "Beetlebum" by Blur
  • "Rock 'n' Roll Star" by Oasis
  • "Hysteria" by Muse
  • "Through the Monsoon" by Tokio Hotel
  • "Manu Chao" by Les Wamaps (French)
  • "L'Aventurier" by Indochine (French)
  • "New Wave" by Playmo (French)
  • "Hier Kommt Alex" by Die Toten Hosen (German)
  • "Perfekte Welle" by Juli (German)
  • "Countdown to Insanity" by H-Block X (German)
So that confirms that "Hysteria" is the Muse version (and not Def Leppard). And that U.S. fans are going to be pissed until most of these become available here (even though we got the game earlier and have plenty of tracks to download already)...

Posted by Gamewatcher on March 19, 2008 7:38 PM | | Comments (0)

First Look - Guitar Hero: On Tour

If you've been pulling your hair out trying to figure out how you could possibly play Guitar Hero on the Nintendo DS, here's the scoop. Guitar Hero: On Tour, due this summer, includes a 4-button controller that plugs into the GBA slot on your DS and includes a special pick stylus you'll use to strum notes on the touch screen. No word on whether you'll be able to lefty flip. Check out this brief promo video if you can't quite visualize how it works and want to see it enacted by goofy teens who look like they should be marketing a breakfast cereal:

Posted by Gamewatcher on March 19, 2008 9:04 PM | | Comments (0)

March 20, 2008

Patch This Game - The Orange Box for PS3

PS3 owners can now patch The Orange Box to improve Team Fortress 2 online connectivity and get other unspecified fixes, though load times are reportedly still abysmal. It's not clear whether the tweaks that made their way to the PC version last month were included...

UPDATE (3/21): EA finally announced the contents of the patch (all apparently Team Fortress 2 related):
  • Improves single player stability
  • Fixes online server bugs including a nasty one that prevented players with more than 30 friends from logging in
  • Corrects problems with leaderboards, friends, stats, scoreboards and Players Met in the PS3 dashboard
  • Ends a glitch where an explosion graphical effect would get stuck to the end of the rocket launcher

Posted by Gamewatcher on March 20, 2008 8:26 PM | | Comments (0)

Patch This Game - Bully for Xbox 360

As promised only two weeks ago, Rockstar has patched Bully to correct the rampant glitches in the Xbox 360 version. You have to give them points for following through so quickly...

Posted by Gamewatcher on March 20, 2008 11:11 PM | | Comments (0)

Patch This Game - Rock Band

A new patch for Rock Band offering a wide array of game-changing improvements has hit the PS3 and is expected any day now for Xbox 360 [UPDATE (3/21): It's live now]. It includes:
  • A new Music Store on the main menu that includes audio samples, difficulty level by instrument, sorting by genre and artist, album art and other improvements designed to sell you more downloadable songs. There's even a placeholder for albums, so ostensibly this patch also provides the code base to support full album downloads - which Harmonix confirmed are still in the works and coming soon
  • Improved phoneme recognition to make it easier for vocalists to pass certain songs such as "Timmy"
  • Revised fan caps for Band World Tour, which make it possible to earn the jet on Easy and garner a million fans on Hard instead of Expert
  • Downloaded songs are now cached so you don't have to wait for them to load every time you boot the game
  • Better randomization in Band World Tour (no more repeats in the same set!)
  • PS3 microphone latency should no longer be a problem
  • Custom band logos now appear on Xbox Live
That's quite a patch, even if it doesn't include the promised Band World Tour online. Now if they could only certify some code that would keep our drums and guitars from breaking quite so easily...

Posted by Gamewatcher on March 20, 2008 11:42 PM | | Comments (0)

March 21, 2008

Wii Virtual Console - Spelunker and Super R-Type

If you missed Monday's update to the Wii Virtual Console, here's what is new:
  • Spelunker (NES) - $5
  • Super R-Type (SNES) - $8
But what do you care? You're still playing Super Smash Bros. Brawl...

Posted by Gamewatcher on March 21, 2008 10:46 PM | | Comments (0)

PlayStation Store - Free Tiger Woods course, Condemned 2 demo and Unreal Tournament 3 patch

It looks like EA has a new trick up its sleeve - try to get you to buy its cheats by giving away a free course. Here's what's new for PlayStation 3 owners to download:
  • Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 Turnberry Golf Resort (free), Doral Blue Monster Course ($5) and Maxed Out Player cheat ($2.50)
  • Rock Band songs ($2 each or $3.50 for the 3-pack) "Blinded by Fear" by At the Gates, "D.O.A." by The Haunted and "Thrasher" by Evile
  • PSP via PS3: Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee ($11)
  • Demos: Condemned 2: Bloodshot, Sega Superstars Tennis and Flat Out: Head On (PSP)
  • Game Videos: Ape Quest, Condemned 2: Bloodshot, Eye of Judgment Set 2, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, Soul Calibur IV Star Wars tie-in, MotorStorm 2 and Turning Point: Fall of Liberty
  • Movie Trailers: Gattaca and Sleuth
Finally, topping off the week, Unreal Tournament 3 has been patched to fix connectivity problems, voice chat quality and various bugs and game balancing tweaks. For instance, bots can now be blinded by sandstorms and will believe feigning players are dead - but only if their skill level is set low enough...

Posted by Gamewatcher on March 21, 2008 11:04 PM | | Comments (0)

Xbox Live Marketplace - No new demos, but some Forza 2 and ProStreet cars

Microsoft pulled its usual trick when not offering any new Arcade titles: They cut the price on existing ones. Now you can get Assault Heroes and Doom for $5 instead of $10. Here's what else is new for Xbox 360 owners:
  • Forza Motorsport 2 March Car Pack ($5) which adds 13 new cars you still need to buy in the game: Audi S5, Audi TT Coupe S-Line, BMW Motorsport M3 E92 1971, BMW Motorsport 3.0 CSL, Ferrari F50 GT, Ferrari 430 Scuderia, Ferrari F40 Competizione, Lamborghini Murcielago LP640, Maserati GranTurismo, Maserati MC12 Corsa, Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X GSR, #1 Peugeot 207 Super 2000 (also available for free) and Porsche 911 GT2 997
  • Need for Speed ProStreet Extender Pack Premium Car Bundles ($6 each) - both require the Energizer Lithium Extender Pack
  • FIFA Street 3 Arena Pack ($3.75) with Jungle, East End and Riverside PM arenas
  • NCAA March Madness 08 Bracket and Jersey Pack ($5)
  • Rock Band songs ($2 each or $3.50 for the 3-pack) "Blinded by Fear" by At the Gates, "D.O.A." by The Haunted and "Thrasher" by Evile
  • Karaoke Revolution American Idol 2 songs ($1.50 each; mostly covers) "Broken Wings" by Mr. Mister, "China Grove" by the Doobie Brothers, "Does He Love You" by Reba McEntire, "Endless Love" by Lionel Ritchie, "Fly" by Hilary Duff, "Good Ol' Boys" by Waylon Jennings, "Hold On" by Good Charlotte, "I Don't Wanna Be" by Gavin DeGraw, "I'll Be There" by The Jackson 5, "Meant to Live" by Switchfoot, "Miss You" by Aaliyah, "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay" by Otis Redding, "Someday" by Nickelback, "Stop! In the Name of Love" by Diana Ross and the Supremes, "The Reason" by Hoobastank, "This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You)" by The Isley Brothers, "The Tracks of My Tears" by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, "We Are Family" by Sister Sledge, "Why Can't I" by Liz Phair, "Wind Beneath My Wings" by Bette Midler and "You're the One that I Want" by Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta
  • Game Videos: Assault Heroes 2, Boogie Bunnies, Dead Space, Fable 2, Forza Motorsport 2 March Car Pack, Prototype, Sega Superstars Tennis and This is Vegas
  • Themes: Dead Space, Sexy Sprites ($1.88 each) and Harold & Kumar 2 (free)
  • Pictures: Forza Motorsport 2 and Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (both free and enter you into sweepstakes), Harold & Kumar 2 and Nike (both free) and VG Cats ($2.50)

Posted by Gamewatcher on March 21, 2008 11:40 PM | | Comments (0)

March 24, 2008

Wii Round-up - Rock Band details, Virtual Console

Harmonix officially announced that Rock Band will be released for the Wii on June 22 with the choice of bundle ($170 with white-accented drums, guitar and mike) or standalone game and instruments (pricing not announced, but probably similar to the other systems). The game has 63 songs, which includes five bonus songs (also not announced) but no downloadable content or compatibility with Activision's Guitar Hero III controller. Since it's based on the PS2 version of the game, you can expect it will be offline only and not include character creation.

Rather live in the here and now? This week's Virtual Console update is another set of old-school classics you probably never played or even heard of (but they are here now):
  • King's Knight (NES) - $5
  • Powerball (Genesis) - $8

Posted by Gamewatcher on March 24, 2008 11:01 PM | | Comments (0)

March 25, 2008

Patch Your PS3 - v2.20 firmware adds BD-Live, PSP remote and improved DivX

Next time you try to access the PlayStation Store on your PS3, you'll be prompted to get the v2.20 firmware which adds the ability to:
  • Use Blu-ray Disc Profile 2.0 (aka BD-Live) to download new content and special features starting with The 6th Day and Walk Hard
  • Resume DVD and Blu-Ray movies at the point you pressed stop, even after ejecting discs
  • Remotely control PS3 music playback with your PSP (so you can leave your TV off)
  • Export PS3 music and photo playlists to your PSP
  • Play DivX and WMV files that are larger than 2GB, and display DivX subtitles
  • Enjoy zippier Web browsing and download files to your PS3 hard drive or memory card

Posted by Gamewatcher on March 25, 2008 12:24 AM | | Comments (0)

March 26, 2008

Free Stuff - Rainbow Six Vegas 2 map and guns

If you picked up Tom Clancy's Rainbow 6 Vegas 2, you can expand the game a little with a free unlockable map and guns. The map, available for PS3 and Xbox 360, is courtesy of Comcast and can be conjured using the marketing copy, er, code "Comcast faster" under Extras and Comcast Gift. Xbox 360 owners can unlock an assault rifle from the main menu by holding the RB button and pressing Down, Down, Up, Up, X, B, X, B, Y, Up, Up, Y. PS3 players can get the same gun using Down x2, Up x2, Square, Circle, Square, Circle, Triangle, Up x2, Triangle and another assault rifle with Up, Triangle, Down, X, Left, Square, Right, Circle, Left,Left, Right, Square. Free stuff rocks, except for all of the paper wasted printing out those otherwise meaningless codes...

Posted by Gamewatcher on March 26, 2008 7:54 PM | | Comments (0)

March 27, 2008

Smart Shopper - How to tell the newer Xbox 360s

If you don't yet own an Xbox 360, the newer "Falcon" models supposedly run cooler and, thus, are potentially more reliable. They also have an HDMI port, previously reserved for just the pricier Elites. The problem is that they look roughly the same on store shelves as the older systems. But if you're eagle-eyed, you can find one by looking for the telltale signs: a 175-watt power rating (down from 208 watts on the older consoles) and, on the non-Elite models, a telltale HDMI symbol indicates the unit supports high-end video output. (The HDMI symbol alone won't help you find a Falcon Elite since these units had HDMI already.) Buying a Falcon won't guarantee that you'll dodge the dreaded Red Ring of Death and other problems such as video card failure. Virtually all electronics fail eventually - and magnetic media generally grinds to a halt within 5-10 years, which is why it sucks that you can't simply back up your 360 hard drive. But it will improve the odds that you'll get a good run from your console before facing DRM difficulties - and perhaps Microsoft will have solved the license transfer issue by then...

Posted by Gamewatcher on March 27, 2008 8:04 PM | | Comments (0)

March 28, 2008

PlayStation Store - Free Unreal maps, Warhawk discount and MGS4 wallpaper

If you're willimg to live with the limitations, Warhawk for PS3 has been temporarily discounted to $30. Here's what else is new this week at the PlayStation Store:
  • Unreal Tournament 3 map pack with three maps
  • High Stakes on the Vegas Strip: Poker Edition camera add-on (free)
  • Turok map pack ($5) with five maps for head-to-head and co-op play
  • flOw bundle ($9) includes original game with expansion
  • Rock Band songs ($2 each or $10 for the 6-pack) "More Than A Feeling," "Hitch A Ride," "Peace of Mind," "Rock and Roll Band," "Smokin'" and "Something About You" by Boston
  • Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Encore songs ($1.50 each) “Love Shack” by The B-52s, “One Week” by Barenaked Ladies, “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” by Pat Benetar, “Take my Breath Away” by Berlin, “She Talks to Angels” by The Black Crowes, “I’ll Make Love To You” by Boyz II Men, “Boot Scootin’ Boogie” by Brooks & Dunn, “Fame” by Irene Cara, “Crazy” by Patsy Cline, “Save Tonight” by Eagle Eye Cherry, “Shining Star” by Earth, Wind & Fire, “I Can’t Help Myself" by The Four Tops, “Chain of Fools” by Aretha Franklin, “I Heard it Through a Grapevine” by Marvin Gaye, “Hey Jealousy” by Gin Blossoms, “Crawling in the Dark” by Hoobastank, “Chattahoochee” by Alan Jackson, “ABC” and “I Want You Back” by The Jackson 5, “Beat It” and “Billie Jean” by Michael Jackson, “Virtual Insanity” by Jamiroquai, “Don’t Know Why” by Nora Jones, “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” by Cyndi Lauper, “Like a Virgin” by Madonna, “California Dreaming” by Mamas & The Papas, “Please Mr. Postman” by The Marvelettes, “Bizarre Love Triangle” by New Order, “How You Remind Me” by Nickelback, “It’s the End of the World as We Know it” by REM, “Jessie’s Girl” by Rick Springfield, “Kiss Me” by Sixpence None the Richer, “Son of a Preacher Man” by Dusty Springfield, “When a Man Loves a Woman” by Percy Sledge, “Baby One More Time” and “Oops!…I Did it Again” by Britney Spears, “All My Ex’s Live in Texas” by George Strait, “Just My Imagination” by The Temptations, “I Hate Everything About You” by Three Days Grace, “You Really Got Me” by Van Halen and “Everything You Want” by Vertical Horizon
  • Demo: R-Type Command (PSP)
  • Game Videos: Burnout Paradise Wyclef music video, God of War: Chains of Olympus, Grand Theft Auto IV, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue music videos by Weezer, Mars Volta and Thin Lizzy, Pure, Warhawk v1.3 and Winter X Games '08
  • Theme: Eye of Judgment
  • Wallpaper: Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
  • Movie Trailers: Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story and a general Sony promo

Posted by Gamewatcher on March 28, 2008 9:49 PM | | Comments (0)

Xbox Live Marketplace - Free Halo 3 maps, TiQal, Dreamfall and Gears of War 2 video

The big news on Xbox Live Marketplace is that the Halo 3 Heroic Map pack is now free (with the Legendary pack already queued up for purchase on April 15). Here's what else you can download now for your Xbox 360:
  • Rock Band songs ($2 each or $10 for the 6-pack) "More Than A Feeling," "Hitch A Ride," "Peace of Mind," "Rock and Roll Band," "Smokin'" and "Something About You" by Boston
  • Turok map pack ($5) with two multiplayer, one co-op and two re-lit maps
  • Ace Combat 6 aircraft (free to $5 each), mission ($3.75) and co-op battle ($3.75)
  • Original Xbox: Dreamfall: The Longest Journey ($15)
  • Arcade: TiQal ($10)
  • Chessmaster Live sets ($1 each) Egypt, Mongol, Mushrooms, Pyramids and Spheres
  • Demo: UEFA Euro 2008
  • Game Videos: Gears of War 2, Grand Theft Auto IV, Halo 3 Heroic Map pack, Samurai Warriors 2: Xtreme Legends and Too Human (all free) and Dark Sector strategy guides ($0.63 each)
  • Themes: FIFA Street 3, Rainbow Six Vegas 2, TiQal and Bubble Girls ($1.88), plus Forbidden Kingdom and Nike (free)
  • Pictures: Major League Baseball 2K8 (free; enters you in sweepstakes), Rainbow Six Vegas 2 ($0.75), TiQal ($1.25), Universe at War: Earth Assault ($1.25), Forbidden Kingdom (free) and Nike (free)
Also, if your gamerscore was reduced or completed deleted this week, it means you (or someone on your console) has been caught cheating. There is no appeal process, but it seems most who were reprimanded can keep playing and earning new achievements - just never the ones that they've been stripped of...

Posted by Gamewatcher on March 28, 2008 11:41 PM | | Comments (0)

March 31, 2008

Wii Virtual Console - Cruis'n USA and Wonder Boy

This week, the Wii Virtual Console added its first entry from the Sega Master System, along with a Nintendo 64 throwaway that will probably get 10 times as many sales:
  • Cruis'n USA (N64) - $10
  • Wonder Boy (Sega Master System) - $5

Posted by Gamewatcher on March 31, 2008 9:58 PM | | Comments (0)



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About March 2008

This page contains all entries posted to Busy Gamer News in March 2008. They are listed from oldest to newest.

February 2008 is the previous archive.

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