New Xbox 360 menu system

The 360 is undergoing a makeover, coming this November.

Announced this Monday, the makeover will include a brand new menu interface, which contains Avatars, online store, and new Prime Time Community.

Check out the pictures below, more info will be posted here soon.

Crysis Warhead Has Stupid Graphics Settings

Did a memo go out saying that the accepted terminology for graphics settings in a PC game were no longer going to be used? We must have missed it. It must have been signed "EA marketing team", too, because no developer in their right mind (and we hope Crytek are in their right mind) would go changing "low", "medium" and "high" to "minimum", "mainstream" and "gamer". As for "enthusiast", Lord only knows where that's meant to go. An enthusiast of what? UFO conspiracies? North Korean military insignia? Cross-stitching?

New Prince of Persia ready for Christmas

On September 18th, Ubisoft officially announced the release date of the upcoming game in the Prince of Persia series. The Xbox 360, PS3 and PC version of the game will all be released on December 2nd 2008.

This date also coincides with the release of Nintendo DS Prince of Persia game - the Fallen King - which is a distinct and separate game to that of the consoles'.

Saints Row 2 - PIRATES & NINJAS! - Co op demo trailer

This election season, its time to lay aside our petty differences, and band together as teams for the greater good of society:

• Republicans & democrates
• Rednecks & treehuggers
• Cops & Robbers
• Pirates & Ninjas

A must see game trailer for the new Saints Row 2:

Apple iPhone & iPod touch as games consoles

There has already been emulators made for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch, but this has always been homebrew software, but now Apple have officially announced that the new models of the iPod touch and iPhone 3G are capable of being in direct competition with Sony's PSP and Nintendo's DS.


Steve Jobbs announced that the iPod touch is "the best portable device for playing games" during the latest "Let's Rock" festival in San Fransisco. The new iPod is slimmer, has a speaker, and has external volume control buttons, wireless integration and a much longer battery life (36 hours constant music playback).

There are already over 700 games available to download (purchase) from the AppStore, and tripple that figure if you are taking into account homebrew games. Times the figure by ten if you want to take into account homebrew emulators!

Along with the release of the new iPod, there is speculation of a new iPhone 3G with 32GB storage capacity. With more memory, you have to agree that the iPhone and iPod would do justice to the portable gaming market.

Xbox 360 has met its limit - price cut in half by Microsoft

Last week in the US, Microsoft made the Xbox 360 console the cheapest next-generation console on the market. The price was lowered to £112 ($199) for the basic arcade pack. Still $299 for the Core edition, and $399 for the Elite addition, but the move was made by Microsoft to allow everyone to own a next-generation console.

"We are thrilled to be the first next-generation console on the market to reach $199, a price that invites everyone to enjoy Xbox 360," said Don Mattrick, senior vice president of the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft in a statement.

"Xbox 360 delivers amazing performance at an extraordinary value with the leading online service and best lineup of games, downloadable movies and TV shows available from a console. The majority of consumers make the decision to buy consoles once the price falls to this mark, making this an important milestone for consumers and the industry."

But has the Xbox 360 met its limit?

Results from recent graphics tests by Epic have shown that the 360 is nearing its graphical limit! Senior Epic employee Rob Fergusson has stated that "Developers could soon hit the limit of Xbox 360's graphics capabilities".

"I think we're certainly approaching the upper end of it, as far as what developers are able to do with it," Fergusson told Gamasutra. In the near term, gamers are covered: "There will be games in development that won't ship until 2010, and I'm sure they'll look killer," he assured.

But 2010 releases leave two years before the Gears of War developer's own projections on the release of its next-generation graphics technology. Epic plans to deliver a console-focused Unreal Engine 4 in 2012. Crytek, the studio behind graphical powerhouses Far Cry and Crysis, also plans to deliver its next step forward in 2012.

Fergusson, for his part, is unsure of what's in store for the end of this console generation. "Just looking at all the demos we saw [at last week's Games Convention]--ours and others--it's clear that all the games just keep improving, and keep pushing that bar.

Latest Left 4 Dead News & Xbox play test video - RELEASE DATE CONFIRMED - Beta version soon?

Left4Dead is the new game being developed by Valve, and if you don't already know all the details, the game will take the classic 'zombie survival' genre and push all the boundaries in immense multiplayer cooperative gameplay.

The release date for both PC and Xbox 360 versions has been confirmed to: November 18th 2008. A little longer than the original October date, but there is a lot of polishing off to do to make the game as good as anticipated.



From the recent interview with Chet Faliszek - the Left4Dead writer - and the "Counter Strike guys", two key points have been noted about the gameplay. As in CS, it will feature downloadable content, which will include more levels and enemies, plus the Xbox 360 version will use dedicated servers, allowing more players on each server and of course, faster, more action-packed gameplay.

In the interview, Chet made strong hints at new weapons being available from the standard pistols, shotguns and rifles; a flamethrower was heavily mentioned, plus the game is being planned to be expanded to 6 scenarios rather than the original 4. Along with new bosses and melee weapons, the game looks set to be as popular as Counter Strike has been - and still is.

There are a few new functions been added to the game so far, most notably the split screen cooperative play, which lets players in the same room go out and kill zombies together. The screen can be split horizontally or vertically.


There have been some small considerations made on the Xbox version of the game - Zombies that attack less often from behind, and a 180 turn button, that turns you around instantly. Maybe we will be seeing a beta version on Xbox live and Steam soon?




Left 4 Dead Xbox 360 Playtest Video:

Left 4 Dead 360 'Subway' gameplay'

Halo 4 on Next Xbox ( Nextbox ? )

Gearbox software - the creators of such classics as Half Life 1, Tony Hawks Pro Skater 3, Counter Strike 1, Brothers in Arms, and of course, HALO - promised their next project as "something big" in an interview back in February.

Industry spies were sent in from OXM to undercover what this big project was, and came back with unofficial inside information that Halo 4 is under development - for the next Xbox after the 360 gets old.

The developers of the latest Halo titles, Bungie, have recently left complete partnership with Microsoft, and with these rumours from Gearbox software, it looks promising that this is more than just a rumour.

MGS4 - Metal Gear Solid 4 on XBOX 360

The creator of the Metal Gear Solid series, Hideo Kojima, has officially released his statement to all your questions about MGS4 being released on XBOX 360.

Metal Gear Solid's success is believed to be linked to the success of the PlayStation console, and therefore, the new release of the game - Guns of the Patriots - has been completely optimised for PS3, and would "probably not be possible" to port the game over to the 360.

Hideo Kojima has definately shown interest in producing the game on other consoles, partly because of the sheer profit he would generate, and partly because of the (lack of) success of the new PlayStation 3 compared to the rival XBOX 360 and Nintendo Wii.

One of the pet hates that Kojima has discussed is the fact that people are looking at consoles' hardware issues rather than experiencing the gameplay, and has stated that he "feels like it should be made for PC, so that people don't ask him about hardware platforms."

To get to the point of MGS4 being released on 360 - Kojima has "no problem with it", but feels that it wouldn't work in this case. He says in the interview that he would like to follow in the footsteps of companies like Capcom, who make games for the PC platform, which can then be ported to Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.

The whole interview with Hideo Kojima can be found here: http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=225581

New Nintendo DS with two touch screens

Rumours have been started as Nintendo fans speculate a report, from various non-Nintendo sources, of the new DS being manufactured with two touch screens.

A Nintendo spokesperson has announced in the past that "any official word on such a device would not be announced by Nintendo until after the Christmas sales period". Probably because of this rumour, sales of the now 'ordinary' DS have dropped by 30% in Japan but are still going strong across Europe.

We will keep you informed!