Today, I’m going to Plaza Low Yat to take my Buffalo router and……
I’m going to buy a XBox 360 Arcade!

Omg, half an hour more and I’m going out! I feel so happy about it and I can’t wait to see it!!!!!! Few more hours later, I will have fun using the XBox controller~~~ Finally, I got a console in my house. So later on I will have PC and console to play! It’s twice the fun!

I guess I gotta go play some games to warm up! And then a white XBox appears!

We’re all planning our plan for Black Friday already: Camping out in front of stores, portable consoles, great deals. I’m sure most people would think of camping Best Buy or some other retailer for games or electronics. However, consider your local Marine Corps Exchange. Notable deals include PS2 games for under 5 dollars, 99 cent Xbox 360 and PS3 games, and even an Xbox 360 arcade with 7 games included.

I’m sure this may not pull you away from Best Buy for your half off HD-TV, but maybe you also want to try to head over to a Marine Corps Exchange. Check for an MCX flyer to verify your deals.

Bubble bobble is a much loved favourite from the Nes years and holds its adorable dinosaur charm in its new XBLA wrapper.

You play two cute dinosaur brothers who shoot out bubbles to trap their foes and gobble multiple food items like two strange packmen like dinosaurs, which appeals to many with its original challenging feel.

The aim of the game is to defeat waves/levels of various colourful foes by firing bubbles and then in casing your enemy, you then must pop the bubble by head butting it or jumping on it, sounds simple right? Well it is until you reach harder levels, you will then have multiple enemy’s on screen that are free and then ones you have trapped, it becomes quite a challenge to keep your little dinosaur alive but very addictive. A cute feature you will need to use to progress is, if you’re stuck you must blow bubbles to bounce off to get out of hole or to reach unreachable areas, this just helps to fight of the very repetitive feel most arcade games have.

The levels are set out just like packman but with better graphics and a few different layouts, you can fall from the bottom of the screen to the top making it easier to jump on those floating foes but be carefull for free foes! You must also gobble as much fruit and food as possible to climb up those XBLA leader boards and beat your friends! You also have various power ups to munch to help you through the waves like fire balls, bubbles containing lightning bolts and other very random powers which are a life saver in later levels. You can also stumble across munch able objects that look like potions, eat one of these and you will be given a short amount of time to collect as many bonus objects as you can, which when over kills all enemy’s and gives you a nice big point bonus and a even bigger bonus if you collect them all in one go.

There are three modes to choose from, Classic mode, Arrange mode and VS mode. Classic mode is the original arcade game itself with various levels to get through to save your princesses. Arrange mode is the same but with bigger levels as its supports four players in your sitting room, which is rare these days as most full titles don’t support other players/friends on your screen at home but you will find that most XBL Arcade titles support online play and have the option to play with friends on one console, which has always been good fun. Sadly Bubble Bobble doesn’t have online play but has four player co-op or VS; VS mode is battle royal of four different coloured dinosaurs fighting it out with bubbles and other random objects.

Overall its rather addictive with its bright colours and random madness or course keeps most of the fun feel from its Nes days, Bubble Bobble will most likely appeal to fans, girls and family’s as it involves cute dinosaurs that blow bubbles, I’m not being sexist it’s just most men/boys are not really into cute multi coloured dinosaurs that eat lolly’s…. Though it is a lot of fun and challenging in a good way 800 MSP is a little pricey for something that doesn’t have online capabilities and is, well like most arcade titles far too short. The choice is yours as always but if the price is not a problem it will make a welcome addition to your XBL Arcade collection.

Gamer Rating: 7.5 

Buy or Pass: Buy

Originally posted at: www.xboxliveaddicts.co.uk

Magic the gathering is a challenging monster card based game were you must battle many challenging foes for ultimate power and glory.

This game is really totally based on its game play, no story and no fiddly features just good honest strategic card fun. There also are enough game modes to keep you satisfied for a while and with decks to unlock leaves the game balanced and rewarding.

First you WILL need to complete the tutorials unless you know how to play the card game itself, tutorial is easy and short, and does give you the basic rules and game play feel but the computer is rather hard when you first start as you need to get to know your cards. There isn’t a great deal of opponents in the campaign mode but they are very challenging, if you want a easy game this isn’t it you do need to practise to get good at it. I would say this is for people who want a challenge or people who have played the game with the actual cards otherwise you may not enjoy it but in its defence there isn’t many other games out like this and Magic the Gathering is the best strategy card game out there, so you’ve been warned, buy it with the knowledge its hard.

After you have had a good practise and got to know what cards you have a bit better this is where the game makes you think, it’s not get lots of energy and get the biggest monster because you could have no health left by the time you do that, strategy works very well in this game with magic type cards actually making a difference and are varied, so strategies can be diverse and you can have more than one, it really does try and push you to think and not just try to overpower your opponent.

Challenge mode, as you thought is challenging, again testing that gray matter of yours but however there is only eight people to challenge which isn’t that many at all, however to combat all this you can create custom battles which can keep you busy when you’ve completed most of the game. A nice new feature added to this title is the co-op modes, co-op Campaign and co-op Custom Duel, which seems to be integrated into most full 360 titles and arcade titles, which is a welcome step in the evolution of gaming, people will always like to play with a friend who comes round, who doesn’t?

It also, thanks to the 360, has an online battle mode, great for friends who are into Magic the gathering but I have found there all quiet talented online so beware! There’s also another online mode, Mentoring. I think this is a fantastic idea, getting gamers to help each other, you can either find a mentor to help you or become one, kudos to who ever thought of that in the studio as a game like this benefits a lot from a feature like this. There is no DLC for it yet which is a shame, games like this are made for DLC, just like going out and buying a new deck of cards to play with, hopefully though this will be fixed soon enough.

As u can imagine the sound and visuals aren’t vastly important but are at a good quality for a title like this. I used to collect the cards and all cards in game are the ones you use outside of this arcade title, you can zoom in and read the little bits of humour or look at the beautiful art work on the cards, this actually helps you pick favourite cards and gets you more involved, especially when it’s not your turn.

Overall it’s what it says it is, Magic the Gathering but comes with the benefits of a console with online capabilities. It’s fun and challenging, no easy gamer score here and will have you racking that brain of your to come up with new strategies to win, which is something to commend as some arcade titles can be easy or featureless. Magic the Gathering won’t let you fans down out there, but may be a bit much for someone who isn’t a great strategist, definitely for the fans of the genre and anyone who fancies a challenge.

Gamer Rating: 8

Buy or Pass: Buy

Originally posted at www.xboxliveaddicts.co.uk

Two things I need to say, Banjo – Tooie is original from the Nintendo 64 and is a 64-bit game from the golden ‘bit’ years also that it was made by Rare, two fantastic combinations for a nostalgia trip down banjo lane. With its goofy humour from the bear and sometimes harsh humour from the bird, Banjo Tooie keeps the same fun and happy feel as the first title, with its square visuals, minimal robot like sounds and in-fact nice flat colour you really will be thrown back in time to experience some bird and bear antics.

 Banjo Kazooie was the first game to put Rare on the map, to think we wouldn’t have the likes of Perfect Dark Zero and Viva Piñata without it, so the second game was highly anticipated and with talk of features like stop and swap, being able to port over the eggs you collected in the first Banjo Kazooie, sounded ground breaking at the time but sadly was never possible on the Nintendo 64 but the power of the 360 can easily make this possible, so for you gamers out there who found the secret eggs back in the day (I did) can now finally use them if you have downloaded Banjo Kazooie on Xbox live and have found them again, rejoice!

Last time on Banjo Kazooie…

Banjo and Kazooie confront Gruntilda at the top of her tower for a final showdown. With the aid of the Jinjo’s they rescued, the two defeat Gruntilda and make her fall into a hole in the ground below, which is covered by a boulder. Banjo and Kazooie return home and visit the beach with their friends, anticipating their next game. Gruntilda, with Klungo attempting to move the rock covering her, swears revenge!!

The starting intro video will show Banjo, Kazooie, Mumbo and Bottle’s enjoying a good game of poker at Banjo’s house and Klungo is still trying to free Gruntilda outside. The four experience a rumbling like earthquake and outside a giant drilling machine emerges from a wall, Gruntilda’s sisters stumble out of it. As some wise cracks are being made by Kazooie at Banjo’s house, mumbo goes to investigate only to see Gruntilda’s sisters freeing Gruntilda. As he run’s back to warn the others, Gruntilda who is now a funny skeleton, spots him and gives chase. She throws a magic spell at Banjo’s house as Mumbo just gets back to warn the others, but sadly Bottle’s doesnt get out in time getting caught by the blast. After more humour from Kazooie, Bottle’s stumbles out and passes away and appears in ghost form, from here out you will get to play and get used to all the original moves and special ability’s from the first game in the original starting area, Spiral Mountain.

You can view any moves you can’t remember or just for a recap at the start of the game, by going into the menu and selecting ‘Help & Options’ then ‘Controls’, this should give you any info you need just scroll through the different layouts, it will tell you what controls you’re looking at, at the top of the screen, but If you’re new to Banjo and Kazooie, Bottles (the ghost) can still help you if you search around the molehills at Spiral Mountain.

One bad theme that runs throughout again is the bad CPU controlled camera, you will be fighting a lot with it especially if you want to look up or down, left and right are normally fine but otherwise a few awkward camera angles, it doesn’t spoil the game as Banjo Tooie has a lot more to offer in the way of game play. The game is so well pieced together the overall feeling you get by playing this is satisfying:  swimming, flying, dual attacks and moves all work brilliantly and haven’t aged bad, you still get that warm feeling from collecting those jiggy’s and won’t be frustrated by the overall movements of Banjo.

You won’t actually start playing the game properly for awhile as it has a long cut scene bringing you up to speed, which is a pain when you can’t skip the dialogue and repetitive talking noises, but there is some amusing dialogue to be had, setting you up for that Jiggy hunting fun. Also beware after you visit King Jingaling when Gruntilda zap’s him, she turns him into a zombie and he can hurt you, after that go straight forward into Bottle’s house to meet Mr’s B, after meeting Mr’s B and caught up with relevant story events, you can start to get a feel of the game when you reach the first level called Mayahem Temple, after this you get to explore the game properly.

The game follows the first title in most areas, collect notes and complete challenges for jiggy’s but majorly expands on this, with huge colourful levels and a staggering amount of things to find and do, each of the nine levels have: 10 jiggy’s, 100 musical notes, 3 honeycomb pieces (for extra life), 5 stranded jinjo characters, missing pages of Cheato’s cheat book (find 5 to unlock a new cheat) and new abilities and magic spells to be learned, that’s for every level, that’s more than some full titles have. This will keep you occupied for a while, with too many arcade games coming out you’d only play once, Banjo Tooie will have a good long life and is the best platform/adventure game out on XBLA to date. This is perfect for kids too, with a child friendly story and enough features and game play to keep you adults happy, this title appeals too many because of its fan base and game play.

Its colourful, vibrant and copes with the high res well, with a few 360 friendly changes and up scaled resolution, actually looks really good for a arcade game and you can feel and see that Rare magic shinning through, which I was a little worried about with it being a N64 cartridge originally as they didn’t hold as much data other formats of game at the time. I do especially like the characters, all of them have their little quirks and are quite amusing in a light hearted way and detail in the levels is impressive for a cartridge. Sound is Robotic at times especially the way its gets repeated, but this game is from the ‘64 bit era’, it just adds to the comedic value the pairing have together.

We are lucky the relationship between Microsoft and Rare is firm and sound, as we have been given one of the biggest releases on N64 and an absolute classic to boot. It’s not to be missed out on if you’re a fan but also gives enough features and fun to keep newcomers happy and enjoying it as an arcade title, also the potential for this for children is great too with the Bird & Bear combination, bright vibrant colours, easy movement and entertaining attacks can keep the little ones busy. So if you want to be entertained by a clumsy Bear & amusing Bird plus massive amounts of puzzles and collectable this could be yours for only 1.200 MS points, a good deal for what you’re getting but is still a expensive arcade game, I don’t have any doubt that it will become cheaper in time to come, maybe even the two Banjo titles being bundled together but is still definitely worth a look, try the demo for free today!

Gamer Rating: 8.3

Buy or Pass: Buy

Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
Developer: 4JStudios Rare

Originally posted at www.xboxliveaddicts.co.uk

Cash in on great value in games and entertainment

by XboxOZ360

©2009 Grant Smythe:

We all love a bargain, and we are certainly getting one here. Microsoft Australia are officially knocking $AU100 off the normal RRP of the Elite 360.  Now that makes the 120 gig equipped item well worth the buy, never mind the free game.

Free Halo: ODST and $100 off! Bargain!

From 22nd September the Elite will be RRP $491 and will come with a free copy of Halo 3: ODST until October 20, 2009.

With the Elite’s extra storage, it would make it much more viable in today’s world of DLC and movies-playback. I suspect that the Arcade my end up with the 60gig HDD, and the current Xbox 360 Pro might see its retirement. This will then be followed by the new ‘Xbox 720′ which will sport the unified GPU/CPU motherboard called Valhalla touted to be installed in new machines late in 2009/ early 2010.

This would fall in line with the new Natal equipment that will no doubt be a pre-installed function in new forthcoming machines (Xbox720) but also as a stand-alone item for all those with pre-existing Xbox 360s.

Anyhow, we have a great holiday season ahead, with Halo ODST, Forza 3, and several other 3rd party games heading our way. Anyone that says there’s not enough games available (on any platform) is just plain greedy and, frankly, blind.

SYDNEY AUSTRALIA – AUGUST 28, 2009 – Xbox 360 today invites you to experience more fun, more entertainment and more ways to connect with friends and family at even better value. Beginning 22nd September, the recommended retail price (RRP) of an Xbox 360 Elite will drop by $100, retailing for just $491 in Australia. On top of that customers buying an Xbox 360 Elite from the day of the price drop through to October 20th 2009 will receive a bonus copy of the highly anticipated blockbuster title Halo 3: ODST.

With the Xbox 360 Arcade starting at a recommended retail price of just $291, Xbox 360 puts all your entertainment in one place. In time for Christmas, you can play games, watch movies and keep up with your Twitter and Facebook social circles, all from your living room. The Xbox 360 Pro console will remain available at $399 (RRP) while supplies last and, as announced earlier this year, the Xbox 360 you buy today will work with code-named “Project Natal” and controller-free gaming in the future.

“With Christmas right around the corner, it’s already time to start looking for entertainment and gifts that everyone will enjoy,” said David McLean, Head of Microsoft Entertainment, ANZ. “If you’re looking for a fantastic social entertainment experience that won’t break the bank, then now is the time to purchase an Xbox 360. I believe we’ve got the best games, more ways to connect with friends and family and so much more on the horizon.”

Having an Xbox 360 at the centre of your living room provides entertainment for any occasion. Whether you’re a casual or hardcore gamer, playing single player or with friends, you can enjoy hundreds of titles that fit your gaming style. Before the end of the year, you will be able to watch some of your favourite movies in the comfort of your home, while you share the fun with friends and family around the world through Xbox LIVE:

• Games for Everyone: Enjoy Xbox 360 game favourites such as recently released EA SPORTS Fight Night Round 4 and continue the fun through the holidays with a lineup that is sure to entertain every type of gamer. Hold auditions or sing your heart out with “Lips: Number One Hits” and “Guitar Hero 5”. For those who crave action, players can tear-up the tracks of “Forza Motorsport 3,” jump back into the Halo universe as an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper in “Halo 3: ODST,” or deploy for combat with this year’s highly anticipated title from Infinity Ward, “Modern Warfare® 2,” the sequel to the best selling first person action game in history “Call of Duty® 4: Modern Warfare®”.

• More Ways to Connect: Xbox LIVE, the industry-leading online gaming and entertainment network, will soon offer its 20 million community members even more blockbuster partnerships and features, introducing a whole new era of social entertainment in the living room. Starting this spring, you can connect with friends on Facebook and share photos and real-time status updates right from your television, or stay connected to Twitter by reading, posting and replying to Tweets.

• Movies on Demand: Launching later this year, with Xbox Movies on Demand you will be able to watch a selection of the greatest movies when you want them in 1080p HD quality with no discs, no downloads, no delays2.

• Your Xbox, Your Way: In the meantime, visit the Xbox LIVE Avatar Marketplace for the latest fashions and download full Xbox 360 titles through Games on Demand.

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The Crystal Defenders is a strategy game with characters from the Final Fantasy Tactics A2.

The aim of the game is too kill the hordes of enemies that are trying to take you crystals with units you can place round the maps. You can choose six characters all together from mage to paladin and two monsters that you can summon to the field that is it really, and the game doesn’t even tell you this you just have to figure it out yourself.

There are only twelve maps and each map has 30 waves of different foes that parade round the field to the other side of the map where they proceed to steal your precious crystals. Your characters have a level and you can upgrade them with G’s (gold coins) that you get every round from killing as many monsters as you can or even to buy extra units to fight. So you set up your ambush and spent all your G’s you’ve fought a couple of waves you will relies that’s all this game as to offer.

The graphics remind me of the 32-bit era which brings back happy memories for me like mystic quest for Sins, but they have added none of the in-depth story’s or character profiles not even a reason why these monsters want your crystals or why you even have them which with the bit style graphics  just bores you, there none of the expectations you would expect from a final fantasy series, in fact you don’t even get anything half as good as you would any other final fantasy titles which makes the music grind on you after 20 minutes and also lacks hugely in any kind of engaging features, there are much better strategy titles out on Xbox live arcade that fit this fun and clever strategy niche like worms and braid.

Even if you’ve played through the 30 waves of foes it does reward you with anything so you will find it very hard to keep playing and even enjoy.

Over all its fun for a very short time and then it gets very irritating and old, shame as I’m a huge fan of square Enix and they normally produce very high quality storytelling and in-depth characters but there’s none of that here which in fact lets you down even more because of the big name its u don’t get associated with. Also you don’t get any rewards or even a change in the game play like new units or in fact anything that would interest you to keep playing it. It just gets your hopes up then disappoints you badly like a T.V dinner; they look good on the box but taste terrible.

5/10

Originally posted at www.xboxliveaddicts.co.uk

For me, nothing. I already have a PS3 and while the slim does look nice I’m not going to fork out for a new one (even after trading my current PS3 I’d still have to pay around $200AUD). No for me it just interesting to watch what happens. It is no secret that Sony are not faring as well as Microsoft and Nintendo this generation, but all the competition seems to be between the green beast that is the 360 and Sony’s big black box because the Wii doesn’t seem to garner the attention of the ‘hardcore’ gaming crowd.

So how will the new price and SKU affect you? $499 is a nice price for a Blu-Ray player that plays games (which is what the PS3 is too me) and it with Christmas fast approaching it seems like Sony have re-discovered how to market effectively.

And on the Xbox side of things, it looks more and more likely that Microsoft are going to drop the 60GB Pro SKU and just have the Arcade and Elite models. But will they drop the price of the Elite and make that the new ‘premium’ console, or add a HDD to the arcade and up that price a little? Too me it doesn’t make much sense to drop the Pro. It’s the best selling of the three consoles and the continual chopping and changing of the 360 lineup is confusing to customers that are not as well versed in gaming as we are.

Just an interesting little situation to watch, and working in a games store I’ll be able to see first hand how the developments actually play out.

This game tells its story moments through a comic book like style but unlike other games along that genre they give it a very dark feel with Rorschach’s low gruff voice and the games dark almost wet damp dirty look.

At the start of the one player game you can choose either Rorschach or Nite owl, I chose Rorschach the spy like character. You first level is based in a prison where you are called to a inmate riot but your aren’t greeted with open arms in fact you aren’t welcome at all this sets the game up for the fact your seen as vigilantes and a treat and as the game continues you’ll realise what a great film this is going to be.

Shame there isn’t a quick tutorial at the start as your thrown rite into the bad guy fighting action, also don’t panic here if you get surrounded as you quickly get used to the basic controls of just moving the direction analogue stick in the direction you want to attack as it responds quickly and you can jump from enemy to enemy if you are about to be attacked.

I must say at this point i already noticed the high quality of the graphics its everything scenery, characters, enemies and even inanimate objects. This game also was allowed to exceed the size limit for arcade games, what a good decision this was it shows a lot, Although it is 1.35 GB and it took me awhile to download, already it was well worth the wait and the space this will take up on your hard drive.

Combat is easy to get used to but when you first start this game you don’t have many moves, this is fixed by the easily seen floating tokens that glow. These token unlock combos and other abilities like throw and counter attack, most combos are easy to remember and pull of and for the most enjoyable to unleash upon enemy’s, Also what’s nice is the little hints that appear in the corner of the screen reminding you of attacks and combos.

I love the cinematic one button finishers, they are brutal and brilliant you can hear bones break and the sound of cartilage and blood is gruesome…. yes you feel satisfied after one of these just keep an eye out for the indicated button about the poor enemy’s head.

Another cool feature in combat is that you can pick up bottle and batons , gave me flashbacks of double dragon and the fact that you have another playable character next to you is that you have back up also. One bad thing about the combat is if you down an enemy your character will boot him when you attack, this leaves you open to attack and it’s very tricky to stop kicking the guy on the ground to attack others.

It’s too bad I don’t have anybody who has this on my friends list as this game was made for co-op really and would probably come into its element during co-op play.

The commentary from your character through the game is very enjoyable and it gets you more involved, as you progress your character will tell you more about your environment and helps create depth to the story as your playing through it.

Even after getting used to the controls and playing a couple of levels I really wouldn’t go rushing in head first into large rooms of enemy’s as you will simply will get beaten to death, let Nite Owl go in first to distract them or lead them into smaller areas, the game is a little tricky like that.

Overall everything looks brilliant, I’ve seen worse looking full 360 retail titles than this for example the second level you’re in back alleys and streets and the rain effects are outstanding for an arcade game and he lighting effects again are jaw dropping.

This game is only 1600 MP, now that is a bargain for a fantastic looking game that’s very fun and enjoyable to play one player or co-op, definitly worth a look if you are looking forward to the Watchmen film, you won’t be disappointed.

Rating 8/10

Originally posted at www.xboxliveaddicts.co.uk

Arcade to Get Price Jump

Many stories have been swirling around the Microsoft Xbox 360 lately.  Much publicity has been on an Xbox 360 price-cut, Project Natal, and even the possible phasing out of the Xbox 360 Pro model.  Some thing we haven’t heard yet was the fact that the Xbox might be getting a price-JUMP, not cut.  Retailers in the UK have told Eurogamer that an increase in the Xbox 360 Arcade model is coming.

The Arcade, the lowest (in price) of the Xbox 360’s will soon jump from a £129.99 price to a £159.99.  This is due to the British pound outweighing most other currencies around the world.  If the pound would have been less then there would be a price deduction.  Lucky for America we are worth less ! Woot ! (Not the strongest argument)

Not only will Microsoft be increasing the Xbox 360 Arcade’s price, but as well as other 360 accessories for about a pound or two more.  Not only that, but they will also be phasing out the 5 games that game in the original bundle.  Talk about a rip-off.  Nothing’s going right for the UK.

Luckily there was no news to report on the two other 360 models, the Elite and Pro.

What do you think about the UK price jump ? Helping or Hurting ? Leave a comment.

A quanto pare sembra che microsoft abbia deciso di terminare la produzione delle xbox 360 versione PRO ed abbassare il prezzo della versione ELITE per renderla più accessibile, questo secondo “Argos” famoso rivenditore inglese che non ha più in lista le versioni PRO dichiarando la fine della produzione da parte di microsoft. Ovviamente questa notizia non è ancora confermata ma se così fosse sony passerà al contrattacco, infatti se la versione di 360 ELITE dovesse subire questo taglio di prezzo la ps3 rimarrebbe troppo costosa rispetto alla controparte, allora una versione SLIM del monolite sony potrebbe portare al tanto sperato taglio di prezzo.