Category: Xbox 360

Amish Otaku, Features, Interviews, Video Games, Xbox 360

Interview: Bryan Lam on Guitar Hero

Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s has less than half the number of tracks as Guitar Hero II for the PS2 yet carries the same price. Why wasn’t a lower price sought at launch?

Well it’s something we definitely took a careful look at. Comparing GHII to GH 80s, there were different timelines, licensing agreements and other logistical parameters to work within, though we strongly feel we put out a title that felt and played just as well as the other GH games. And just to put it into perspective – and from what the media is saying – Rock Band is only going to have forty songs available on the disc, yet it’s going to cost gamers a whopping $200 to play.  As reference, Harmonix worked on both of these titles. What are your thoughts on that?

Although Harmonix’s new game will cost over $200 to play with the full experience, it must be said that it is a richer experience. At best, Guitar Hero allows for two separate instruments at once while Rock Band will allow four inputs simultaneously. It’s like comparing apples and pears: they’re close, but still different fruit.

It’s also important to remember that while GH 80s price per song is about $1.30 compared to the 360 version of GHII, which had a price per song of $0.88, the downloadable content is priced at a whopping $2 per song: double the price per song of the Xbox 360 GHII. Incidentally, at a $200 price point Rock Band comes out to about $5 per song. Continue reading “Interview: Bryan Lam on Guitar Hero”

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Amish Otaku, PC, PS3, Video Games, Xbox 360

Fallout 3: Heaven or Hell?

Image from the Fallout 3 teaser
Bethesda

If you who haven’t already seen the teaser (I recommend it, if only to kill a couple of minutes), I’ll give you the condensed version:

Vacuum tubes, Inkspots music, radio panning out to an abandoned bus, panning out further to a ruined bus, panning out further to a ruined cityscape (arguably Washington D.C.), pulling back over craggy destroyed cement, Fall 2008 release date. The End.

… Oh, yeah, and a guy in Brotherhood-of-Steel-style power armor. Continue reading “Fallout 3: Heaven or Hell?”

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Amish Otaku, Video Games, Xbox 360

Halo 3 Beta: Let the Carnage Continue

 

Having missed every opportunity to get into the Halo 3 beta for free, I – like many others – opted to purchase my beta key for $60 in the form of Crackdown. Now Crackdown isn’t a bad game, in fact it’s pretty good, but we all know I only bought it for Halo 3. Thank god it’s finally here.

The public beta was launched this past Wednesday, unfortunately a minor glitch kept the players with the Crackdown key from downloading and playing the game until late Wednesday and even then errors persisted. Continue reading “Halo 3 Beta: Let the Carnage Continue”

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Amish Otaku, Video Games, Xbox 360

Guitar Hero II: The Future of Red Octane’s Crown Jewel

Like many, I have been eagerly awaiting the release of Guitar Hero II for the Xbox 360 since it was announced. Despite already owning the game for the Playstation 2, I picked up another copy because the game quite obviously has the potential to be the far superior product.

Unfortunately, almost 48 hours after launch, a large number of people have reported through various forums that their X-plorer controllers are defective, particularly the whammy bars. Some complaints even go so far as claiming to have completely non-functioning guitar controllers. Continue reading “Guitar Hero II: The Future of Red Octane’s Crown Jewel”

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Amish Otaku, Video Games, Xbox 360

Crackdown: Police Brutality with a Superhuman Edge

I haven’t dabbled in the world of sandbox games since the days of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Although not much has changed since then, this game takes a refreshing step in a new direction.

Crackdown borrows heavily from the conventions of the GTA series in much the same way most new shooters borrow heavily from Halo (don’t mess with something that works). Although you now play the role of a law enforcement agent instead of a criminal, little has changed in the mechanics and conventions of this game. While you can’t pay and then kill prostitutes in this game, you can appropriate any vehicle you please as long as you stop it or catch up to it.

There are still radios playing in all the cars you take, providing the soundtrack for the game. For instance, in the area dominated by the Latin gang, the majority of the cars will have Latin music. Not tejano or mariachis, but some of my personal favorites like Molotov and Control Machete, two deliciously heavy Latin bands. Continue reading “Crackdown: Police Brutality with a Superhuman Edge”

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Amish Otaku, Video Games, Xbox 360

Lost Planet: Extreme Condition

Lost Planet comes to us from the creator of Mega Man and Phoenix Wright, Keiji Inafune. With such a diverse pedigree it can’t help but be a fun gameplay experience. The graphics shine on the Xbox 360 as they should, with absolutely no slowdown even with uncountable enemies on the screen.

The action of the game takes place throughout the frozen world of E.D.N. III, a world in the midst of colonization in the future. No word is given on why humanity felt the need to abandon their original home, but their determination to colonize is firm, motivated in no small part by the newfound thermal energy within the bodies of the planet’s only inhabitants, the insectile Akrid. You play the role of Wayne, an amnesiac who can only remember two things: his name and the death of his father at the hands of the giant Akrid Green Eye. Continue reading “Lost Planet: Extreme Condition”

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Amish Otaku, Video Games, Xbox 360

Gears of War

Gears of War is the embodiment of all the hype over the current generation of consoles and what they’re capable of.

Maybe we had just become too complacent with Sci-Fi shooter genre (Halo, Quake, Unreal, Doom . . .) to expect any really new or surprising innovations.

Finding cover has always been important in 3-D shooters, but it’s never been integrated so seamlessly into the game play. Before, you could just “run and gun” your way through a game with a healthy margin of success, but in Gears if you don’t cover, you die. Continue reading “Gears of War”

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Amish Otaku, Bargain Reviews, Features, Video Games, Xbox, Xbox 360

Bargain Review: Burger King’s Bargain Games

Get it your way with Burger King’s new value-priced games.

Sneak King

I’m sure this was the game they came up with first, before they made the other two. This is the game where you get to play the King and do the things he does on TV.

Just like in the commercials, it’s your job to sneak up on hungry and unsuspecting members of the populace and give them a hot and tasty Burger King sandwich or coffee. Pretty straight-forward stuff. Continue reading “Bargain Review: Burger King’s Bargain Games”

Daniel Allen