Games

Microsoft’s next move is the Xbox 360 Code-name Falcon

According to Dean Takahashi, Microsoft is working on project code-named Falcon: another hardware upgrade for the Xbox 360. It will have an IBM microprocessor and an AMD/ATI graphics chip that are manufactured in a 65-nanometer production process. Because of the smaller size, the c hips will run cooler, meaning less repairs for Microsoft, and will cost less because they use less material and fewer manufacturing steps to produce.
Microsoft started making the Xbox 360s in August, 2005, with a 90-nanometer process – the time to use newer technology is here. Dean believes Microsoft is in the process of qualifying the new Falcon chips and motherboard this summer and expects the company to launch Xbox 360s with the new Falcon innards this fall. Microsoft has the option to take the power brick and put it inside the same chassis. It can also make a smaller version of the core, but this involves considerable redesign and retooling resources. And it could also beef up the console and make room for more costly things — as it did with the Elite.

News source: Mercury News Blogs

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Motion Sensing for the Xbox 360

As wonderfully ergonomic the Xbox 360 controller may be, it lacks a feature that Wii and PlayStation 3 controllers have: motion control. But thanks to a third-party modification, the Xbox 360 controller will sense tilting motions and translate them into movement in-game.

Talismoon’s motion sensing upgrade, called the Tiltboard, is a circuit board loaded with ICs and solder points much like those forbidden modchips andmust be placed inside the controller casing and requires the soldering of seven wires. The Tiltboard senses motion in a similar way that it does on the PlayStation 3’s SIXAXIS controller and maps it to the controller’s right analog stick.

The modification adds two buttons on the back of the controller, which are used to control various functions. For example, the tilt maybe enabled or disabled, along with adjusting the sensitivity, angle and inverted settings.

As the Tiltboard is an unsupported controller modification, it is unlikely at any game developers will tool their software specifically to support this aftermarket motion control.

Pricing on the Tilt Board is said to be $39.99 and Talismoon plans to distribute the product to various e-tailers across 12 countries including the US, UK, Canada, China, Australia, and many others.

Another company called XCM is already shipping its version of the motion sensor called Bestilt which only requires 5 solder points and retails for roughly $38.

Source: DailyTech

Halo 2 Review

Halo 2 was released on the Xbox back in 2004, and as you’re probably aware of by now, it was a huge success. The first-person shooter added online multiplayer to the proceedings, and despite a universally reviled cliff-hanger ending, it was really something special on the Xbox. Three years later, it’s now available as one of the first Vista-only PC games. It’s still easy to see why this game was so loved on consoles in its day, but when you put it in direct comparison with recent PC shooters, it loses a ton of its appeal, making it best suited for Halo fans who want a good way to play or make custom maps.

attempting to go on this great journey using another Halo ring, called Delta Halo. But there’s plenty of political upheaval going on in the Covenant ranks, making it tricky all around. Add in a Covenant invasion of Earth, and you’ve got all the pieces required to throw these factions together again for another round of fighting–though since some of the Covenant races will be fighting each other, too, it’s often easier to just run past all of the action. Even though the hour count for completing the campaign is already low, at times the game feels like it’s dragging on, repeating the same corridors and same enemies a little too frequently. Toss in a couple of extremely underwhelming boss fights, and you’ve got a pretty solid campaign, with some good vehicle sequences to break up the first-person action, but it’s also one that feels like it could have been a lot better.

The multiplayer side of Halo 2 is the part that still gets attention to this day, and it translates to the PC fairly directly. The game has support for 16 players. Halo’s multiplayer moves relatively slow when compared to other popular shooters, giving it a more methodical, tactical feel. You really need to know the capabilities of all your weapons to succeed with any regularity, as at any moment you’ll be able to toss grenades, fire one of your two weapons, or close in for a melee attack, which satisfyingly kills instantly if you hit someone from behind. Death comes quickly if you’re left exposed for long, as your shield drains quickly and takes some time to recharge. This, too, forces you to play somewhat carefully.

There are plenty of game types built into Halo 2, and these games work on any of the 23 included maps. Aside from standard deathmatch, called slayer here, most of the modes are team games, like capture the flag, team slayer, and so on. There are also a ton of built-in variants for the modes, such as team shottysnipers, which arms every player with a shotgun and a sniper rifle and removes all the other weapons on the map, or rockets, which is a game of slayer with only rocket launchers. All this variety is nice, but it can also get supremely confusing, because you can make your own variants, too. What, exactly, is RumbleSWAT X? The game doesn’t offer any immediate clues, so in some cases you’ll just have to jump in and find out for yourself.

As a Games for Windows-branded game, Halo 2 has full support for the Xbox 360 controller. While the game plays just fine with a mouse and keyboard, playing with a controller is a bit closer to the original console experience, right down to force-feedback support. This creates some really weird and potentially unbalanced trade-offs in multiplayer. By default, a player with a mouse will be able to turn more quickly and, if that player is skilled, more accurately than a gamepad user. Gamepad players can increase the right-stick sensitivity to turn faster, but they also get another benefit that feels downright dirty. Like the console version, the PC game employs a certain amount of auto-aim when you’re using a gamepad. This makes sticking to other players for up-close shotgun blasts or melee attacks significantly easier with the gamepad, and there doesn’t appear to be any way to disable it or even detect that another player is using a pad. After pumping up the gamepad’s sensitivity, we found ourselves doing more damage when armed with a gamepad, which makes the two control schemes feel unbalanced, is sort of crazy when you consider how tournament-focused the current Halo 2 Xbox scene is these days.

On the Xbox, Halo 2 introduced an innovative server finder, known as matchmaking. With matchmaking, you’d create a party, select a game type, and hit go. It would then match you and anyone else in your party up with similarly skilled players. The PC version of the game maintains a few of these concepts, but it also offers a standard server browser, which works better and faster when it comes to quickly selecting a server and getting into a game. Additionally, the game doesn’t appear to keep track of any player rankings.

Halo 2 is the first game out there with support for the PC version of Xbox Live, the console’s pay-to-play online service. There are two levels: a free silver level and a paid gold tier. The game comes with a free month of gold access, or if you already have an Xbox Live account, you can log in using your e-mail address and password. The split between silver and gold on the console makes some form of sense–if you pay for gold, you can play online games; if you’re silver, you can’t. Of course, that sort of tactic wouldn’t work on the PC, where the standards for free online multiplayer are firmly entrenched, so Microsoft has made some seemingly arbitrary limits for silver members on the PC. Headset-based voice chat is available to all users, which is nice. Silver members are limited to using the server browser to find games, while gold members can hit a “quick match” button to get into a game quickly. This button has a habit of throwing you on empty gold tier servers, and the server browser works better anyway, so this is hardly a reason to sign up. It’s also worth noting that one of the gold tier abilities will be to play against Xbox 360 players in select games, but Halo 2 does not have this sort of cross-platform support. Lastly, the game will only let you get multiplayer achievements if you have a gold account.

Achievements were an unexpectedly popular feature on the Xbox 360 that give you a “gamerscore,” and each retail game supporting the service has up to 1,000 points to earn. Halo 2 one of the first PC games to offer achievement points, and they’ll go right onto your Xbox 360 Live account if you already have one. In Halo 2, you’ll earn points for completing each level in single-player, but most of the better achievements are on the multiplayer side, where you’ll get points for ending someone’s energy-sword killing spree, killing four people quickly, running someone over, jacking a vehicle, and so on.

involved in trying to make an old game look, well, less old, the game does have a sharp art style that still works. The early battles on Earth look nice, and your time spent on alien ships and worlds reveals a great attention to detail, making each environment look like a cohesive part of a sci-fi universe and not just a thrown-together clump of vaguely futuristic textures. The sound effects also do a good job of driving this point home, with plenty of good ambient sounds and quality weapon noises. The single-player campaign uses music in specific situations, usually around plot points, and the music is dramatic and appropriate in all the ways you’d want a sci-fi movie’s score to be.

While the game has maintained a great deal of popularity on the Xbox, Halo 2 feels like something of a relic when you put it out as a 2007 PC game. The single-player campaign is interesting, and the cliff-hanger doesn’t feel so horrific when you consider that Halo 3 is going to be hitting consoles to finish the story in just a few months. The multiplayer side is fun, too, but all of it feels overshadowed. The PC has more than its fair share of amazing shooters that blow Halo 2 away in every possible way, making this one best suited for Halo fans that want an easy way to play custom maps. However, even those fans are just as likely to be put off by the imbalance between the game’s two controller options, making it a bit of a no-win situation, despite its high production quality.

Microsoft Announces Zune-Halo 3 Edition

Microsoft announced Zune-Halo 3 edition digital media player to be available starting June 15. The media player adds to the early excitement of the game Halo 3, and comes loaded with a collection of game content including videos, soundtracks, trailers, ads and artwork

The Zune-Halo 3 edition plays music, pictures and videos, and comes equipped with a 3-inch screen. It also features built-in wireless to let users beam select music and pictures from one player to the other. Through the player users will also be able to purchase music for the device from the Zune Marketplace, import content from the existing library or listen to music with the built-in FM radio.

Gamers can plug it in to the Xbox 360 to play the content on the screen. It also streams music directly to create a custom soundtrack for any game.

Encased in collectible packaging, the Zune-Halo 3 comes pre-loaded with music from all three “Halo” games, as well as an exclusive new episode of “Red vs. Blue” from the machinima creator Rooster Teeth Productions LLC. The Zune-Halo 3 edition is estimated to priced at $249.

Source

SEGA Leases Unreal 3 Engine

SEGA of America and Europe have decided to jump on the bandwagon and lease Epic’s Unreal 3 engine for their upcoming products.

“SEGA is pleased to arm our developers with the sophisticated tools contained in Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 3,” said Simon Jeffery, President and COO, SEGA of America, Inc. “Its versatility and power will help SEGA create incredible gaming experiences.”

“Epic is extremely excited to be working with SEGA,” said Mark Rein, Vice President, Epic Games, Inc. “SEGA has a long history of innovation and leadership in our industry and we’re honored that they’ve chosen to use Unreal Engine 3.”

Does this mean Condemned 2 will be running on the Unreal 3 engine?

Source- Tech2

Game review: MLB The Show (PS3)

Thanks to Sony’s dubious track record when it comes to first-party sports games, its excellent MLB series hasn’t always received the recognition it deserves. But after the outstanding MLB 06: The Show, people are taking notice of SCEA’s yearly baseball efforts. MLB 07: The Show for the PlayStation 2 didn’t mess with success, and nor does the PlayStation 3 version. It’s a prettier, smoother iteration of what came out for the PS2 a couple of months ago. Though it’s missing a few minigames, it has the excellent road to the show mode, which offers a whole new way to progress through a professional baseball career. MLB 07: The Show is a great value if you’re looking for a hardcore simulation or just want to play a few quick games here and there.

MLB 07’s game modes will be familiar to anyone who played MLB 06. You can play a quick game, call the shots in manager mode, take on a friend and track your stats in rivalry mode, hop online, embark on a career, run a franchise, and play a season. Unfortunately, there’s no home-run derby or king of the diamond mode,

which is a letdown since they were both simple, yet entertaining diversions if you didn’t feel like playing a normal game. MLB 07’s online offering is quite deep. You can create an online persona, play a single ranked or unranked game, send instant messages, play in and create leagues, upload and share your own game-setting sliders, check MLB news, and even listen to audio highlights from important games. Our online experience was mixed; when lag wasn’t an issue, everything was great, but when lag became a problem and it often did the game was virtually unplayable.

Without a doubt, MLB 07’s biggest feature is the road to the show mode, which is an evolution of last year’s career mode. It’s great for anyone who doesn’t want to play a franchise mode but still wants a game mode that offers a lot of depth. You create a ballplayer, pick a position, and find a team you think you can make. But instead of playing every pitch of every game, you play only when you’re directly involved in the game. For example, if you’re a right fielder, you’ll play only when a ball is hit your way or when you’re at bat. When your turn is over, the game simply fast-forwards to the next time you’re involved.

Your player improves by reaching goals that are given to you before each at bat. Pitchers will be told to do things like strike out hitters or induce double plays, while hitters will have to make contact, get a hit, or drive in a run. It’s tough to succeed as a hitter, because you’re given such few opportunities to succeed, and also because your performance on the field doesn’t seem to have a whole lot of bearing on your value to the team. The lack of emphasis on defense is actually a good thing, because the ball is so tiny it can be difficult to see. You earn points for reaching goals, and these can be spent on training your player. If you’re a pitcher, you can focus on improving your stamina, ability with specific pitch types, and more. If you’re a hitter, you can improve your prowess against left- or right-handed pitchers, as well as improve your speed, strength, and the like. If you play well enough in the preseason, you’ll be offered a contract, which means you get to keep playing and reaching new goals while trying to win awards and championships. And if you’re not happy with your team, you can request a trade. If you don’t get a contract, well, you’re free to try out again next year, and the year after that, until you catch on with a team. It’s very rewarding to work your way up from a nobody to a big star, and in a lot of ways it’s refreshing to not have to deal with every aspect of a team all you have to worry about is yourself. It would have been nice to play a shorter season, since you have to play most of the preseason to make sure you get a contract offer and then play the entire season after that. But other than that minor gripe, the road to the show is great.

Franchise mode is largely unchanged, but that’s OK because it’s probably the deepest franchise mode in all of sports video games. You’re given complete control of the franchise of your choosing, and it’s up to you to reach the franchise’s goals. If you’re with a high-profile team like the Yankees, expectations are higher and your goals will be more difficult to achieve. Take over the mess that is the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, and your job requirements are a tad less lofty. Not only will you be in charge of roster moves, but you’ll also need to manage the budget, improve team facilities, arrange promotions, sign television contracts, set vending prices, monitor players and fans moods, negotiate player contracts, draft players, and keep tabs on your organization’s farm teams and scouts. This sounds complex, and at first it is, but you’re able to delegate as much or as little of this responsibility to the CPU as you’d like. The mode has gotten so deep that it can be a little difficult to find information quickly, but for the most part, the menus are well organized and pertinent information is disseminated clearly.

As good as franchise mode is, some things could be improved. You can, of course, play the games or simulate them in whole or in part, and it’s nice to be able to jump in and out of a game as you see fit, but there’s no option to play anything less than a full season, which is disappointing if you want to play all of your franchise’s games but not necessarily 162 of them.

MLB 07’s pitching mechanic has gotten some attention, but the basics are mostly unchanged and still great. To throw a pitch, you press the corresponding face button, pick your location with the analog stick, press X to start the meter, X again to set power, and then X a third time to determine accuracy. Your pitches are

organized onscreen by your ability to throw them, and they each have a small meter that raises or lowers depending on how effectively you’re throwing that pitch during a specific game. Throw strikes, and the meter fills, which makes it even easier to throw that pitch; throw balls, and the meter empties a bit, and it’s even harder to find your spots. The effect feels a bit exaggerated, but it does a nice job of getting you to pitch realistically and not throw garbage all of the time. You’ll need to throw a variety of pitches, not only because you get better with each throw, but also because your catcher will call for specific pitches and locations based on the current game scenario. Sometimes your catcher asks for some questionable pitch locations, but for the most part, if you hit your spots, you’ll have success. Hitting your spots is also key because you never know exactly what will or won’t be called a ball or strike, thanks to umpires that have their own specific strike zones. While this is certainly realistic, it’s more frustrating than fun when you strike out looking at a pitch that was clearly a ball. This can be turned off, though, so it’s not a big deal if you don’t like it.

Source Technoworld

U can buy the tickets here- baseball 

Halo 2 for Windows Vista Installation Screenshot Gallery

The Halo just keeps on coming: This week, Microsoft ships Halo 2 for Windows Vista. Paul Thurrott has posted some of the screenshots of Halo 2 for Windows Vista.

Just take a look at the screenshots-
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/winvista_halo2_install.asp

Bungie to release new Halo 2 maps

It’s true! here’s the digest version: Two new maps, both available on April 17th through the Halo 2 downloader in the game itself, and it’s just $4 for the pair.The maps are Tombstone and Desolation - remakes of Hang ‘Em High and Derelict, respectively.

Go look at ‘em right now: New Halo 2 Map Shots!

It’s an original Xbox download, so there’s no way to use MS points - and you WILL need an Xbox Live Gold account to download and play, since the original Xbox (even in BC mode) can’t tell the difference between gold and silver. But you CAN use these on 360, just so we’re clear. You just need to use a credit card for the purchase, instead of marketplace points. We’ll have LOTS more info in the update later today, and in the meantime, here’s the full text of the press release:
Read more…