Tony Hawks Project 8 Demo Out Tomorrow

The promised-to-be-revolutional Tony Hawks Project 8 Demo will be available on XboxLive Marketplace tomorrow, officially announced by Activision, this heads up come from the British Gaming Blog

Lumines Live! Available on XBLA come Wednesday!

Finally! The long awaiting and eagerly anticipated 'Lumines Live!' will be available come next Arcade Wednesday, HOT DAMN that's tomorrow i hear you bellow, yup, that's right, you'll be able to play games to madonna videos all day if you want to. At least now we know the real reason Xbox Live was down for a day! Head over to TeamXbox for the full article.
Oh, yeah, its not all good news...it's 1200 points, PLUS a further 600 points for the 'Advance Pack', ouch. Well, it's still not that expensive really when you compare it to the PSP version. Who'll be snapping this up the second it comes up for download?

Splinter Cell: Double Agent Review/Info

Lucky you, we have a double whammy of Next-Gen Splinter Cell goodness...

Splinter Cell Co-op impressions. 1UP has a comprehensive look at the multiplayer co-op mode specific to the Xbox360. This can clear some confusion up about the difference between the this and the Versus mode. A thoroughly enjoyable writeup.

IGN's Review of Double Agent is mostly glowing of praise, even going as far to say that "The level design in Double Agent is off the hook." After reading through the review, all i can say is, me want, right now!

Enjoy reading these two great writeups, Splinter Cellites! (cellulite? sorry, it's what came to mind)

Bored with your 360?? FEAR NOT!

No, this isn't some lamely titled post about F.E.A.R. It is infact about an interview brought to you thanks to Kikizo. The interview is with Europe Xbox boss Chris Lewis. Now, in relation to the title, one of the more significant things to come from the interview was that Microsoft is "Of course we're thinking about that" when asked about the Xbox360's successor. Research is being put into the successor already, i wonder if they could lose even more money per Xbox sold next next generation...

Fable 2 Preview

I know i know, how did i get my hands on the official Fable 2 logo, well, let's just say i have friends in high places.
Moving swiftly on, Teamxbox have an in depth preview of Fable 2. Note they have not actually seen a build of the game, the article is comprised of things which have been said about the game and how things will play out in the game because of these features, intriguing stuff. Well worth a read.

360 Optimized Source Engine, Devs Rejoice [Update]

Courtesy of the guys over Xbox360fanboy comes the heads up that Valve, creators of the quite masterful Source engine, has announced "the availability of the Source engine as an official middleware option for developers on the Xbox 360."
What does this mean i hear you cry, well, according to Valve

"The combination of Source and the Xbox 360 provides game designers throughout the industry the chance to create powerful entertainment experiences, whether they're pursuing a traditional FPS, RTS, RPG or delving into new genres, Source and the Xbox 360 are designed to offer the flexibility and tools to allow designers to pursue any design imaginable."

So there you have it, couldn't of put it any better myself! Also to note is that the engine has been optimised to utilise (love that phrase) the 360's graphics hardware, including full Xbox Live support, good stuff.

UPDATE: Xbox360fanboy have also pointed out that Joystiq followed up this announcement by interviewing a Valve employee about the optimized Source engine. Some clarification for anyone a little confused by the announcement, and a little further info about the different between the PC Source engine and the 360 optimized Source engine.

Phantasy Star: Universe Beta out

That's right ladies and gentlemen, the beta for the much fabled Phantasy Star: Universe is out now. A couple of things to note, the beta has limited capacity, so at prime time like weekends it will be difficult to get in, and the Developers are urging players to really get stuck into all the customisation in the game, as it both helps them work out bugs, and shows off the real depth of customisation they've worked so hard to get in.
I'm enjoying my time so far with it, as a MMO newbie it was very daunting at first, but i'm starting to get the hang of it.
Impressions will follow, but with a twist, a twist you won't find anywhere else. 360insight is going to have two impressions from two different perspectives, one from a newbie to MMO's, and one from a MMO whore, JonnyW, if i may call him that. Tune in within the next 24hrs for those impressions.

Splinter Cell: Double Agent demo out

Released a few days ago was a demo for a little game called Splinter Cell: Double Agent. This is one of many of the hotly anticipated titles come to the beautiful white box (no longer must we say big black box) this fall. The demo is stricly multiplayer, but is not the versus mode online splinter cell players have come to love. It is a mode called Co-op challenge, an exclusive to the Xbox360 version of Double Agent. One thing to note is that many of the player i have spoken to online have not been able to tell the different between this new mode and the Versus mode of old.

A review of the demo will be in another post shortly in the name of not making single post gargantuan in size. Suffice to say i was highly impressed by all aspects of the game. Gameplay was very tight, graphics fantastic, and sound was excellent. I'm looking forward to giving you guys my impressions.

Tiger Woods 07 Demo out

Tiger Woods demo out now on marketplace. For a 916mb download, you get five different fully licensed courses, but you only get to play through one hole on each of them. You can choose to either play them one by one, or all of them in succession. Also tucked away is a tutorial, which explains most aspects of the game for those who are new to the series. There are some fantastic animations to be seen, and the graphics are really nice. It would be nice to get some rumble when i'm teeing off though, as seen in the original 'Links' for Xbox. Give it a whirl when you have some free time, you'll enjoy it, golf fan or not.

F.E.A.R. Producer blog launched

As we come up to the launch of F.E.A.R. on the next generation consoles (read: xbox360 and another one which i can't for the life of my remember), IGN has taken it upon themselves to launch a F.E.A.R. Producers Blog. It promises to be updated frequently in the coming weeks, with this update focusing on where the developers are with the game currently. Of note is that:

"The 360 version is nearing completion and Day 1 is chiseling away at a dwindling stream of bugs coming in from QA. We’re getting the game ready for our submission to Microsoft for our final check before we kick off the manufacturing process."

Bookmark that page if you're looking forward to picking up this game come its launch in November.

Alan Wake: Keep an eye on this one!

Ok, this game was announced, in the form of a i'm-not-giving-nothing-away-except-i'm-scary trailer sometime earlier this year. I looked at it, though it had potential, then cast it to the back of my mind. Little did i know that the next time i would see the game, i would be so impressed by it, that it would be etched into the front of my brain for weeks after i saw it. Thats right, this game certainly impresses, not only in the graphics department, but physics and gameplay elements also. 1up has a short preview based on their hands on experience of the game. It will certainly have a strong storytelling aspect to it, being dubbed a psychological thriller, and from the developers of the widely acclaimed Max Payne series, it's bound to have a fantastic story at that. I can't wait to get my hands on a demo of this game, it's a shame it's so far off.

Assassins Creed Storyline Revealed

1up has a really interesting write up about the story to one of 2007 most anticipated next gen titles, Assassins Creed. It goes into some depth and emphasises how the developer is really trying to avoid unwanted critisisms when it comes to the, possibly controversial story. Namely the Muslim-Christian conflict of the 12th Century. Go give it a read, it's well worth it for those interested in the game.

Fifa 07 Impressions

As with the Need for Speed series, I'm not an avid fan of this series. I was, up until FIFA 03... The year I discovered Pro Evo. I must say I've never turned back, I'm definitely what you would call a 'Pro Evo man' now. I had always felt in comparision to Pro Evo, FIFA never had the same sense of control, in fact, I would go as far to say I thought you never felt completely in control of the ball in FIFA games. But moving away from a rant about how I think past FIFA's haven't cut it in the gameplay department, there has been much talk these recent months about EA's Fifa 07 and how they've completely re-written the game, boasting all new gameplay, or as I perceive it, a stab at trying to be as good as Pro Evo. Sorry to all those readers who are fans of the FIFA game, no more FIFA bashing (I promise).

The demo starts with one of the features which EA has been insistent will be integrated into all of their sports games. This feature lets you play a simple version of the full game while you navigate menus to set up your game. In this demo, your given a ball, half a pitch, and ronaldhino at your disposal to start with. You can choose to either mess around trying to score some goals past the keeper, or you can dive straight into the game. I was content to play around shooting at the goal keeper for quite a while actually. Seeing as you only have once player to control, all you can really do in this part of the demo is try out the dribbling system, and the shooting mechanisms. Also, you have the option to take a direct free kick from anywhere on the half-pitch you're given. The free kicks were exceedingly easy to score, up to around 40 meters away, all you had to do was align the middle of the screen with the inside of your chosen post, power up to half way and it will go in nearly every time. The goals look good however, and it makes a very pleasant change over Pro Evo's very difficult to master free kick system, however I must say I prefer it the hard way though, it makes you feel so much better when you do manage to score a free kick. How easy free kicks will be with a wall in the way remains to be seen.
After extensive free kick scoring, dribbling and lobbing the keeper, I decided to dive into a match. As soon as the match opened up (Barcelona VS Manchester UTD) I was disappointed. I'd gotten used to the close-behind-the-player view which was used in the 'main menu' which was much more enjoyable to play with. The camera was now very far out and it became difficult to see which direction the ball was travelling. I got past that and just got on with playing the game, but still, no matter how hard I tried, I could not bring myself to like it. Believe me I wanted to, I'm one of the only Pro Evo men in my social circle, the rest all play FIFA and I've read a number of articles about FIFA playtests at TGS/X06 saying that it was closer to playing like Pro Evo and that play felt more responsive. Now I'm a reasonable guy, but if the play had felt any LESS responsive than that, I wouldn't have been able to play the whole half, as I was close enough to ending the demo early as it was. It was so difficult to retain possession of the ball, and there was no real control of your player and the ball. (Now I may suck, so again like my last article, someone let me know if it IS just me). If i didn't mention it previously, i found the shooting mechanism very enjoyable in the one on one section... In a full game however, it was bloody awful, I don't think I got a shot on target compared to 9 out of 10 earlier. I couldn't understand it. Then i remembered the thing with FIFA's - you do the same thing over and over for a goal and if you don't do it that way, you don't score. I obviously hadn't found that WAY of scoring. Passing wasn't great either, short passes exchanged between players were quick and snappy, but trying to get a string of passes of more than 10 meters together was a bitch, the players just didn't kick it hard enough, no matter how long or hard i pressed the friggin' A button. Through balls using the Y button never had enough power behind them either. I did notice that the way the controls were mapped a little better however. Switching players had now been more to the left trigger (a la Pro Evo) which was more intuitive for a Pro Evo man like myself. And in order to do chip or lobbed versions of shots or passes holding in the left trigger while pressing the respective button is required, again, like Pro Evo. Overall, i was very let down by the claims they had re-done the game engine from scratch, because it still doesn't play well. To be honest, if the demo had just been the one on one mode with Ronaldhino, i would have come away with a much more positive impression. I for one, will not going anywhere near EA's latest effort, as after exiting the demo, Pro Evo 5 promtly went back into my 360 tray. Or was it Saints Row...

NFS Carbon Impressions

Having only played through one NFS before, I don't consider myself to be a great NFS fan. I must say I did enjoy the game, the levels of customization were great, enabling you to make a really great looking car and one which none of your mates had, however I found the actual racing was the real let down of the game, it played very poorly, the cars all handled roughly the same and that the handling of the cars was generally very unresponsive. It was probably just me being spoilt in that department by the likes of Metropolis Street Racer and Project Gotham Racing that didn't help the driving experience for me, so despite the fact that I enjoyed my play through the game, I've not been compelled to pick up another NFS game since.

This brings me onto my impression of the demo for the latest
game in the NFS series, Need for Speed: Carbon.

The demo download as usual is free, and me being the free download whore that I am, snapped it up as soon as it became available. I left for an hour or so expecting to come back and be able to make a decent looking car with limited parts (the best bit) and try one of the race modes. I was right for the most part, though there was a big feature that I was certainly not expecting, a feature which made me perk up and think, hey, this might not be as average as I thought. That feature was the ability to scuplt your own body parts, dubbed 'Autosculpt' (genius) - this enables you to adjust many aspects of the different parts of your customised ride, from alloys to hoods, bumpers to spoilers, through a series of sliders. For example, you can increase the grill size of your front bumper; you can increase the amount of spokes on your alloys; make the tyres wider; adjust the tilt on your spoiler; hell, you can even put a curve on the spoke of your alloys to make them look scythe-like. This is a great feature which I hope will be integrated well in the final game.
I hope they still have a massive variety of parts though, because although you can customise the look of each part, you can't make them look significantly different from the original.

Once you've selected and customised your ride, you have a Muscle (Dodge), Exotic (Lamborghini), and Tuner (Mitsubushi Lancer) car to choose from, you're dropped into a section of the game in which you have to complete 2 races (a lap street race, and a drift competition) in first place to unlock the final part of the demo.
From the off, the racing felt the same, which i thought was a shame. It was unresponsive, (wait, a thought just came to me, i might just suck at this game...does anyone else find the driving experience particularly responsive??) and was difficult to get any sort of racing line as the car was either understeering or powersliding. I found that the tuner handled the best, but it was most suited to the race in the demo. Next was the drift, which I feel has been significantly improved over the last NFS game that I'd played as I clocked a massive 150,000 point drift in the Lambo; possibly the highlight of the demo for me, i'd always found drifting fun, despite you sliding all over place.
The final part of the demo was a one on one race on a canyon road, where if you hit the barrier 'stopping' you from plunging to a valley, you just crashed right through it and the race was over. I only went through it a couple of times...ok several (damn understeer!).
The racing was better than previous efforts I'd decided after getting further through the demo, it is more responsive and certainly more bearable, still not great mind, it won't disappoint the big fans of the series. The only other gripe I have with is the opponent AI, it seems very fixed, as though the capabilities of the opponent's car has no bearing on how quickly they can either get away from you or catch up with you. In the one on one, the trailing car caught up over 200 feet on me in a matter of seconds (NOS was not an option in this mode) when we were seemingly going the same speed on a straight before hand...Ah well, no game is perfect.

This demo certainly has increased my interest in the latest rendition of the NFS series - despite first impressions of the racing. Improved racing mechanics(not significantly so), a fantastic Autosculpt feature with bucket loads of potential, promised plentiful options for customising your ride on top of autosculpt, and loads of licensed vehicles.

Hope you enjoyed my take on it, I enjoyed writing it.

UPDATING: TGS Marketplace Content Available, right now!

Here is a list of all the "TGS - Bringing It Home" Marketplace content available right now. This list does not contain any of the content exlusive to japan. Those items which are in bold text are the latest items to have been uploaded to Marketplace:







Demos:
Fuzion Frenzy 2
F.E.A.R.
Lego Star Wars 2

Trailers:
The Darkness
Sonic the Hedgehog
NBA 2K7
Shrek 3
NHL 2K7 - Cinemotion
Just Cause Launch Trailer
Need for Speed Carbon
Battlestations: Midway
Eragon
Import Tuner Challenge
NHL 07
Virtua Tennis 3
NBA Live 07
Forza Motorsport 2 (customization trailer)
Portal
Team Fortress 2
Vista Gaming Montage
Fuzion Frenzy 2
Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom
Tenchu Senran
Half-Life 2: Episode 2

Specials/Documentaries:
GameSpot Day 1 Showfloor Behind the Scenes
GameSpot Day 2 Showfloor Behind the Scenes
GameSpot Day 2 Live Arcade Bonus
TGS Press Briefing
TGS Theme (very orange!!)
Mass Effect Picture Pack
TGS Picture Pack
Forza Theme (150MP)

Everything is FREE unless stated otherwise!

Again, Happy Downloading!