Microsoft is upping its assault on the casual market by offering free Xbox Live Arcade games to prospective 360 owners and the friends that persuade them to buy a console.
Microsoft is hoping to take advantage of Wii shortages this holiday by reaching out to those looking for a casual gaming fix. European gamers who persuade a friend to purchase an Xbox 360, and the person who actually parts with the cash, will each receive ten free XBLA games for their troubles, assuming they don’t forget to fill out and send off a form.
The ten titles in question are Every Extend Extra Extreme, Sonic The Hedgehog, Street Fighter II Hyper Fighting, Bomberman Live, Marble Blast Ultra (pictured), Spyglass Boardgames, 3D Mini Golf Adventures, Small Arms, Assault Heroes and Zuma Deluxe.
According to Stephen McGill, head of Gaming and Entertainment, Microsoft UK, the offer “…enforces the fact we’ve got an exceptional online service in Xbox Live, which truly does bring everyone together.”
Last month Microsoft launched the Xbox 360 Arcade pack in place of the prior entry-level unit, the Xbox 360 Core system, in a bid to target the family-friendly market being bossed by Nintendo. The Arcade pack comes with a wireless controller, five full pick-up-and-play arcade titles, high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) support and a 256MB memory card.
Two new special-edition DS bundles will go on sale in North America this Friday.
Each bundle will pair a custom-color Nintendo DS system with one of the platform's top titles. The new Gold edition will come bundled with The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (pictured), and will be emblazoned with the series' signature Triforce logo, while the Metallic Rose DS, which will come with Nintendogs: Best Friends, will be accented with a distinctive pink puppy paw print.
"Nintendo DS remains the portable system of choice for gamers," said George Harrison, Nintendo of America's senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications. "Our new bundles will be collector's items for current gamers while offering an attractive way for people new to video games to play with style."
Nintendo also used the press release to throw some NPD sales statistics into the mix.
The DS has sold in excess of 13.6 million units in North America since the system launched three years ago on November 21, 2004. The system sold more than 458k units in October, lifting year to date sales to almost 4.5 million. It also boasts 14 different million-unit selling titles in North America.
After months of submitting, waiting, revealing, more waiting, playing and some final waiting the Doritos sponsored Unlock Xbox contest has officially come to an end. And we survived. The winning submission ended up being Mike Borland's dinosaur delivery game called DORITOS Dash of Destruction which will be fully developed and placed onto the Xbox Live Arcade sometime early next year for all to enjoy. You can preview what Dash of Destruction has to offer by trying out the demo over at the Unlock Xbox website. We aren't sure how (for the lack of a better word) cheesy the game will end up being, but it'll be free and will be used to market a product. So really ... how bad could it be? ::cough:: Yaris ::cough::
Super Mario Galaxy enters UK charts at number five
Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed has shot to the top of the UK all-formats charts and become the second fastest-selling new IP on an individual format behind 2002's The Getaway.
The Xbox 360 version of the game claims 67 per cent of sales, with the PlayStation 3 version taking the remaining 33 per cent. It also becomes the third fastest-selling Xbox 360 game within a weekly sales period.
Last week's number one, Activision's Call of Duty 4, has been knocked from the top as it suffers a 33 per cent fall in sales.
At number three this week is EA's The Simpsons Game, taking a 9 per cent dip in sales, while THQ's WWE Smackdown Vs Raw 2008 is at number four.
Nintendo's new entry Super Mario Galaxy only manages to debut at number five but becomes the fastest-selling Wii game, with Dr Kawashima's Brain Training staying at number six following a 62 per cent climb in sales.
Electronic Arts' FIFA 08 slips to number seven this week, whle Disney's High School Musical: Sing It! leaps into the top ten at eight with a massive 170 per cent boost in sales following a release on the Nintendo Wii.
Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 is down to number nine and More Brain Training from Dr Kawashima sits at number ten.
The only other new entry in the top forty this week is EA's PC-exclusive Crysis at number 14.
In celebration of MTV's Gamer's Week and Rock Band, MTV.com recently posted a list of the Top 5 worst music-inspired videogames. And you know what? Usually TheFeed thinks MTV lists are full of crap, but this one is pretty spot on!
Check it out!
Journey Escape
Data Age, 1982
Wimpy pop-rock band Journey actually try to escape from their sex-crazed groupies? Hmmmm…
Michael Jackson's Moonwalker
Sega, 1990
The moment this lovable white-skinned (alledged) pedophile moonwalked into our hearts….and America's boy-pants.
Aerosmith: Revolution X
Midway, 1994 (arcade version); Acclaim, 1995 (console versions)
Aging Bean-Town rockers try to thwart shadowy government. With rock and a rollercoaster.
Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style
Activision, 1999
How could a Wu Tang Clan kung-fu game possibly suck? Just play and find out!
KISS: Psycho Circus - The Nightmare Child
Take 2, 2000
Much like the album of the same name, this was a major mistake for KISS…or KISS-take, as I like to call it.
So who do YOU think shoulda made the list or didn't deserve to? Speak up, mofos!
With numerous reports of hardware problems arising since firmware version 2.0 was released, Sony says inbound firmware version 2.01 “is a minor update that will improve the stability of PlayStation 3.”
Since the release of firmware version 2.0 earlier this month, numerous users have reported running into PS3 problems, from systems being unable to read movie or game discs, to systems failing to power up. Sony acknowledged that it had received “a relatively small amount of contacts” regarding such problems when contacted by Next-Gen last week, and said it was “looking into it further.”
It has since been announced, via PlayStation.Blog, that new firmware that will improve the stability of the system will be released imminently.
“Firmware v2.01 is a minor update that will improve the stability of PlayStation 3,” states Eric Lempel, director of PlayStation Network Operations.
When contacted Monday Sony was still unable to clarify whether firmware version 2.0 was at the root of the recent influx of PS3 problems, or exactly which stability issues the inbound firmware will address, although the platform holder said an update on the matter should be made available over the coming days.
One of the latest issues to come to light relates to a host of technical issues with Assassin’s Creed on PlayStation 3. On the game’s official forums users write of a host of problems including frame rate issues, screen tearing, and game-stopping lock ups dubbed the "white screen of death". Many users also confirm that they are using firmware 2.0 at the request of an official Ubisoft forum manager.
HQ Network: 9,809 | 
Guests: 5747 |
Members: 1
The ten titles in question are Every Extend Extra Extreme, Sonic The Hedgehog, Street Fighter II Hyper Fighting, Bomberman Live, Marble Blast Ultra (pictured), Spyglass Boardgames, 3D Mini Golf Adventures, Small Arms, Assault Heroes and Zuma Deluxe.
"Nintendo DS remains the portable system of choice for gamers," said George Harrison, Nintendo of America's senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications. "Our new bundles will be collector's items for current gamers while offering an attractive way for people new to video games to play with style."
