Assassin’s Creed reviews are starting to roll in and TV spot video

This is yet another game that has been hyped to no end and is now just mere days away. Some reviews are starting to roll in, and from the looks of it “Assassin’s Creed” is most likely going to live up to all the hype.

GamePro gives Assassin’s Creed: 5/5 (100%)
Game Informer scores Assassin’s Creed: 9.5/10 (95%)

A very solid start. More reviews should be available by the end of the weekend.

Here is the TV spot:

Super Mario Galaxy Review [Game Trailers Video Review]

The wait in the US is almost over. Just a few more days and you’ll be playing Super Mario Galaxy on the Wii. So far the game has been getting very high scores from around the net, and has sold over 250,000 copies in Japan the first week alone.

Here is Game Tailer’s video review of Super Mario Galaxy:

In just a few days you will too be dusting off your Wiimotes and firing up Super Mario Galaxy. If you haven’t done so yet, pre-order it from Amazon now, or if you are the adventurous type, you can walk into a Toys R Us on Tuesday evening at 5pm, fight off(or step over) the herd of little kids, to pickup your SMG copy along with a $25 gift card.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare [Mini Review]

This is my no-crap-quick-review of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

I have been playing through the CoD4 single player campaign on the XBOX 360 over the past few nights. The campaign on regular is a bit of the short side, roughly 6 hours or so, but it’s really hard count much against this game. The enemy AI on “regular” isn’t completely dumb, but they also tend to miss a whole lot at close range, while the friendly AI seems more accurate and helpful. At times the game feels very guided as the AI leads you ahead on missions.

There are two more difficult skill levels to choose from, “Hardened” and “Veteran.” While “regular” is fairly easy and you will probably end up getting wasted a dozen or two times or so, Veteran will straight up kick your ass. You better know what your objectives are, and how to complete them because the enemy AI is now extremely accurate. Don’t stray away into the open, or you will be head shotted. Your aim better be top notch and you need to expect the enemy to flank you from all sides. You will see enemy troops jump down from rooftops to try to come around open areas to flank you. Expect to spend an extra 3-6 hours going though the hardest mode.

Once you have completed the game you unlock the “Arcade” mode and the “cheats menu.” Play the arcade mode to get scored and see how you compare against your friends and the rest of the XBL community in the leader boards.

Then there’s the XBox Live side of the game. Anyone who has played the beta knows that this is the most solid online “Call of Duty” game ever made. It was probably not too difficult to improve on crap, so this is a huge leap forward for the series. While there are no achievements for the live portion of the game, Infinity Ward did a great job rewarding you for playing. You gain experience points for playing, and with experience points you unlock different weapons and abilities. You will unlock the ability to create your own class of soldier with what weapons you want to use, and which extra abilities you think you might need. Expect to spend a whole lot of time playing CoD4:MW online.

So with one of the most solid campaign modes on the 360, and an extremely solid multiplayer mode I score “Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare”

9.6/10

Buy Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare from Amazon now for $59.99 or buy the Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Collector’s Edition for $69.99, either is FREE SHIPPING with Super Saver Shipping.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - Where are the multiplayer achievements?

While going through the CoD4:MW game on the XBox 360 this weekend, I noticed that there are no multiplayer achievements in the game. Every achievement is for the campaign mode, which is very surprising considering that a huge part of this Call of Duty game is the multiplayer part that Infinity Ward has been pushing so hard.

The “Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare” review will be coming soon.

Video: Greatest Halo 3 commentary on a possible level glitch/bug EVAR1!!11!

This guy is my freaking idol! Here’s the deal. There seems to be something funky going on in this Halo 3 game. He tries to snipe someone and obviously hits him a bunch of times, but does no damage at all. While shit like this obviously is an issue, this is probably lag or possibly even a spot glitch in ‘Last Resort’. It happens, and if it’s a real issue hopefully it will be fixed.

What makes this video phenomenal is this guy’s 5 minute commentary on a 10 second clip. Especially the last third of the movie where he starts to completely lose his mind.

Quote: “Three to the face, two to the fucking left eye”

Here’s the video:

Halo 3: Over 1 MILLION users logged in and playing Halo 3 on XBox Live right now!

I am not sure what Microsoft’s XBox Live record of the number of users playing a specific game at any given time is, but there are currently over 1 MILLION Halo 3 players on XBox Live logged in and playing. I would assume that this should set a record for a number of XBL users in a specific game.

That is a hell of lot of people playing Halo 3 on a Friday night!

1,080,888 to be exact! Here’s a photo:

Bungie and Microsoft break up; Bungie now a privately held independent company, Bungie, LLC

Well, it’s now official. Bungie and Microsoft are no longer sleeping together. As of 10/1/07 Bungie has been released from Microsoft and is now a privately held independent company, Bungie, LLC. This news comes 10 days after the release and already massive success of Halo 3.

What does that mean for the Halo franchise? Will Microsoft look to other developers for the next Halo game, or do they have an exclusive deal with Bungie? Is it even remotely possible that we’ll finally see the release ofHalo DS? Probably not since MS owns the Halo IP, but one can dream.

Bungie quote: “This exciting evolution of our relationship with Microsoft will enable us to expand both creatively and organizationally in our mission to create world-class games,” said Harold Ryan, studio head for Bungie. “We will continue to develop with our primary focus on Microsoft’s platforms; we greatly value our mutually prosperous relationship with our publisher, Microsoft Game Studios, and we look forward to continuing that affiliation through ‘Halo’ and beyond.”

Microsoft quote: “Our collaboration with Bungie has resulted in ‘Halo’ becoming an enduring mainstream hit,” said Shane Kim, corporate vice president of Microsoft Game Studios. “While we are supporting Bungie’s desire to return to its independent roots, we will continue to invest in our ‘Halo’ entertainment property with Bungie and other partners, such as Peter Jackson, on a new interactive series set in the ‘Halo’ universe. We look forward to great success with Bungie as our long-term relationship continues to evolve through ‘Halo’-related titles and new IP created by Bungie.”

Official Bungie press release:

Bungie Studios Becomes Privately Held Independent Company

Bungie and Microsoft forge new long-term relationship.

KIRKLAND, Wash. — Oct. 5, 2007 — Bungie and Microsoft Corp. today announced a plan for Bungie Studios, the developers of Microsoft’s “Halo” franchise, to become a privately held independent company, Bungie, LLC, in which Microsoft will hold a minority equity interest. As part of this transaction, Bungie and Microsoft have forged a deep and long-term development and publishing relationship focused on the continued success of the “Halo” franchise. It is also the intent of both parties to expand their partnership to include new IP created and owned by Bungie.

Bungie’s critically acclaimed Xbox 360® exclusive “Halo 3” achieved $300 million in global sales in its first week. Released on Tuesday, Sept. 25, “Halo 3” is the fastest-selling video game ever and already one of the most successful entertainment properties in history.

“This exciting evolution of our relationship with Microsoft will enable us to expand both creatively and organizationally in our mission to create world-class games,” said Harold Ryan, studio head for Bungie. “We will continue to develop with our primary focus on Microsoft’s platforms; we greatly value our mutually prosperous relationship with our publisher, Microsoft Game Studios, and we look forward to continuing that affiliation through ‘Halo’ and beyond.”

“Working with Microsoft was great for us, it allowed us to grow as a team and make the ambitious, blockbuster games we all wanted to work on. And they will continue to be a great partner. But Bungie is like a shark. We have to keep moving to survive. We have to continually test ourselves, or we might as well be dolphins. Or manatees,” said Jason Jones, Bungie founder and partner.

Bungie’s management retained the services of Don Leeds, senior managing director of B-Hive Global, LLC, to assist in the structuring of the deal and negotiating on their behalf. Bungie will remain in Kirkland, Washington, and is always looking to hire excellent talent.

About Bungie

Bungie was founded in 1991 with two goals: to develop games that combine brilliant technology, beautiful art, intelligent stories and deep gameplay, and to sell enough of those games to achieve its real goal of total world domination. Over the past 10 years it has produced games such as the “Marathon” trilogy and the first two “Myth” games, hailed as classics by critics and gamers around the world. Bungie’s “Halo” franchise is an international award-winning action title that has grown into a global entertainment phenomenon, selling more than 18 million units worldwide, logging billions of hours of multiplayer action on Xbox LIVE®, and spawning action figures, books, graphic novels, soundtracks, apparel and more. The critically acclaimed “Halo 3”, released on Tuesday, Sept. 25th 2007, is the fastest-selling video game ever, achieving $300 million in global sales its first week, making it one of the most successful entertainment properties in history. More information on Bungie can be found at http://www.bungie.net.

(link)

Official Microsoft press release

Microsoft and Bungie Studios to Evolve Relationship

Companies to forge new long-term relationship.

REDMOND, Wash. — Oct. 5, 2007 — Microsoft Corp. today announced a plan for Bungie Studios, the developers of the “Halo®” franchise, to embark on a path to become an independent company. Microsoft will retain an equity interest in Bungie, at the same time continuing its long-standing publishing agreement between Microsoft Game Studios and Bungie for the Microsoft-owned “Halo” intellectual property as well as other future properties developed by Bungie.

The critically acclaimed Xbox 360®-exclusive “Halo 3” achieved $300 million in global sales in its first week. Released on Tuesday, Sept. 25, “Halo 3” is the fastest-selling video game ever and already one of the most successful entertainment properties in history.

“Our collaboration with Bungie has resulted in ‘Halo’ becoming an enduring mainstream hit,” said Shane Kim, corporate vice president of Microsoft Game Studios. “While we are supporting Bungie’s desire to return to its independent roots, we will continue to invest in our ‘Halo’ entertainment property with Bungie and other partners, such as Peter Jackson, on a new interactive series set in the ‘Halo’ universe. We look forward to great success with Bungie as our long-term relationship continues to evolve through ‘Halo’-related titles and new IP created by Bungie.”

“This exciting evolution of our relationship with Microsoft will enable us to expand both creatively and organizationally in our mission to create world-class games,” said Harold Ryan, studio head for Bungie. “We will continue to develop with our primary focus on Microsoft® platforms; we greatly value our mutually prosperous relationship with our publisher, Microsoft Game Studios; and we look forward to continuing that affiliation through ‘Halo’ and beyond.”

Bungie Studios will remain in its current location in Kirkland, Wash.

About Bungie Studios

Bungie Studios was founded in 1991 with two goals: to develop games that combine brilliant technology, beautiful art, intelligent stories and deep gameplay, and then sell enough of those games to achieve its real goal of total world domination. Over the past 10 years it has produced games such as the “Marathon” trilogy and the first two “Myth” games, hailed as classics by critics and gamers around the world. Bungie’s “Halo” franchise is an international award-winning action title that has grown into a global entertainment phenomenon, selling more than 14.8 million units worldwide, logging nearly 1 billion hours of multiplayer action on Xbox LIVE®, and spawning action figures, books, a graphic novel, apparel and more. Bungie released “Halo 3” on Sept. 25, 2007 to universal critical acclaim, and first day US sales of over $170 million, making it the biggest opening day in entertainment history. More information on Bungie can be found at http://www.bungie.net.

About Microsoft Game Studios

Microsoft Game Studios is a leading worldwide publisher and developer of games for the Xbox and Xbox 360 video game systems, the Windows® operating system and online platforms. Comprising a network of top developers, Microsoft Game Studios is committed to creating innovative and diverse games for Windows (http://www.microsoft.com/games), including such franchises as “Age of Empires®,” “Flight Simulator” and “Zoo Tycoon®”; Xbox and Xbox 360 (http://www.xbox.com), including such games as “Gears of War” and franchises such as “Halo,” “Fable®,” “Project Gotham Racing®” and “Forza Motorsport®”; and MSN® Games (http://www.games.msn.com), the official games channel for the MSN network and home to such hits as “Bejeweled” and “Hexic®

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Note to editors: If you are interested in viewing additional information on Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft Web page at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass on Microsoft’s corporate information pages. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may since have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/contactpr.mspx.

(link)

Xbox 360 and Xbox LIVE - Momentum Facts ‘n Stats

Here are some fun facts just released by Microsoft to hold you over until you get your little hands on Halo 3.

Leadership: Xbox 360 and Xbox LIVE are leading the charge into the future of gaming and entertainment, bringing the best games, an active community and a growing catalogue of high definition entertainment to all members of the household.

More than 11.6 million Xbox 360 consoles have sold across the 37 countries where it is currently available. Xbox LIVE is currently available in 25 countries across the globe.

According to U.S. NPD data, gamers have bought more software for the Xbox 360 (24.3 million units), than software for PS3 and Wii combined (19.8 million units).

Faster than expected, Xbox LIVE has eclipsed the 7 million member milestone and is on track to reach 10 million members by the end of June 2008. In fact, in the last year we’ve added a new Xbox LIVE member every 8 seconds.

Gaming: With the greatest lineup in the history of video games, Xbox 360 is hands down the best gaming console on the market.

There are more than 250 games available today on Xbox 360, including 86 Xbox LIVE Arcade games.

Xbox 360 is the next-gen console with the largest games attach rate at an astounding 6.3 games sold per Xbox 360 owner.

Xbox LIVE members have spent more than 3.2 billion hours playing games on Xbox LIVE with their friends around the world. That is equal to 137 million days or more than 376,000 years of gaming.

To date, Xbox 360 owners have unlocked more than 600 million Achievements. All of those unlocked Achievements have created a total combined Gamerscore of more than 14 billion.

There have been 2.5 billion game sessions hosted since the launch of Xbox 360, with more than 5.6 million hosted each day so far in 2007.

Xbox LIVE Arcade has been a huge hit on Xbox 360, with nearly 70% of all connected consoles downloading and playing Xbox LIVE Arcade titles.

Xbox LIVE Marketplace currently offers nearly 200 free trials and demos, giving owners more free playable content than any other console.

Entertainment: Xbox 360 is the center of digital entertainment in the living room, offering the best in high definition games, movies and television along with access to all your friends, digital music and pictures.

Xbox 360 continues to lead with the largest library of on-demand high-definition movies and television in the U.S. on-demand market. Twenty-nine movie studios and TV networks continue to provide a growing catalogue of premium high- and standard-definition entertainment content that to date totals 2,800 hours.

Xbox LIVE Marketplace is now the leading provider of on-demand high-definition content in the U.S., providing more than twice the number of hours as leading cable operators.

Xbox LIVE Marketplace is home to a growing catalogue of more than 9,000 pieces of individual gaming and entertainment content, downloadable at the click of a button.

There have been 290 million downloads of gaming and entertainment content from Xbox LIVE Marketplace

Social Networking: Xbox 360 and Xbox LIVE offer the largest, most active online community of friends, family and rivals worldwide.

Xbox LIVE is the largest social network in the living room with 2.6 million IM, text and voice messages sent over the service every day.

Since Xbox LIVE launched, 3.1 billion games sessions have been hosted on the service.

The average Xbox LIVE Gold subscriber has 23 friends on their Xbox LIVE friends list.

More than 1.2 billion cross-game invites have been sent since the launch of Xbox 360.

Xbox LIVE Top 10: Check out the list of the top 10 games played over Xbox LIVE, as well as the top 10 worldwide downloads for Xbox LIVE Arcade and Xbox LIVE Marketplace Demos since Xbox 360 launched in November, 2006.

The top 10 games played over Xbox LIVE worldwide:

1. Halo 2
2. Gears of War
3. Hexic HD
4. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas
5. Call of Duty 3
6. Call of Duty 2
7. Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 3
8. Elder Scrolls: Oblivion
9. Crackdown
10. PGR3

The top 10 Xbox LIVE Arcade downloads worldwide:

1. Aegis Wing
2. Uno
3. Texas Hold ‘em
4. Geometry Wars Retro Evolved
5. Bankshot Billiards 2
6. Street Fighter ‘II Hyper Fighting
7. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1989 Classic Arcade
8. Worms
9. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
10. Contra

The top 10 Xbox LIVE Marketplace Demos downloads worldwide:

1. Crackdown
2. Lost Planet E3 2006
3. Dead Rising
4. BioShock
5. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas
6. Forza Motorsport 2
7. Sonic the Hedgehog
8. Saints Row
9. Superman Returns
10. Colin McRae: DIRT

Source: MSFT Press Release.

How G4 TV ruined the live E3 coverage on TV

G4TV ruined E3! They said that this year was the first year of E3 live coverage on TV. I was pumped to be able to watch on my TV. For the past 2 years I have been watching on sites like GameSpot.com, which really wasn’t all that bad. Unfortunately for everyone that watched live on TV, G4TV was doing the coverage.

Four times in the middle of a live keynote they go into 4-5 minute commercials. What?!?! We missed 95% of the BioShock demo video, great job guys! How about no commercials when you are “covering” a live keynote event? But it gets worse! At the very end of the show, Microsoft/Bungie start showing off a kick ass Halo 3 video. Everyone has been waiting for this. It’s from the campaign.

Around the middle of the video, they cut from the live video feed into a camera shot of the huge screen that everyone attending the event is watching on. They start to pan out and some douche starts talking over the trailer. What the fuck!! You can hear someone telling him to shut up in the background.. and that’s it. They cut straight to a commercial, never showing the ending of the Halo 3 campaign trailer.

Holy shit! If I had known I would have watched online, or read a blog.

Don’t bother watching the G4 TV coverage of Nintendo’s and Sony’s keynotes on TV in the afternoon. Save yourself the frustration and watch online, or just read the blogs and wait for the videos to be released.

Hopefully next year someone more responsible will be able to cover this event. It’s quite obvious G4TV was not prepared. If your cable/satellite provider doesn’t offer G4TV, consider yourself lucky.

Update:

Here is the video - Watch as G4TV ruins the Halo 3 video:

Where to buy the Wii Remote and Nunchuk

It seems that the Wii Remote (WiiMote) and Nunchuk are actually harder to find than the Nintendo Wii console these days. If you were lucky enough to buy a Wii, then you are probably stuck with just one Wii Remote and Nunchuk,

Good news for everyone. Instead of looking at your local Gamestop every other day, just head over to the Nintendo Store and buy them online. Even though the Nintendo store may have a message saying they are back-ordered, Nintendo seem to be shipping both the Wii Remote and the Nunchuk out on a regular basis. It took about 4-5 days to get a Wii Remote directly from the Nintendo Store, and a Nunchuk is now on it’s way with hardly any delay. Regular ground shipping will only cost you a few extra bucks, and you can always opt to ship 2-day or overnight.

Here are the direct product links.

Buy the Wii Remote
Buy the Nunchuk

Good luck!