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.
Leading PC executives have attempted to allay fears that consoles are threatening PC gaming, although some acknowledged that PC gaming has perhaps become too specialized and needs to appeal to a broader audience.
Representatives from Nvidia, Intel, Microsoft, Electronic Arts, and Crytek used Nvidia's GrForce LAN 4 event in Alameda, Calif. to ensure consumers that the state of PC gaming is healthy, although there were signs that the proliferation of home consoles which cater to both serious and casual gamers appear to have put the PC gaming industry on the defensive, reports News.com.
NPD statistics show that sales of PC gaming software totaled $970 million in 2006, a dramatic fall from $1.5 billion in 2001. It is believed that the relatively expensive price of PC hardware required to play games, in comparison to that of consoles like Microsoft’s Xbox 360, Sony’s PlayStation 3 or Nintendo’s Wii, is largely to blame.
The PC gaming industry has combated the increased capabilities of next-gen consoles to cater to casual audiences by playing on its unrivalled capacity to deliver increasingly hi-tech titles such as flagship PC game Crysis (pictured), said Roy Taylor, Nvidia's vice president of content relations. He then acknowledged that the first-person shooter can't be played at its maximum settings even on many of today’s top of the range PCs, forcing consumers to upgrade their systems simply to play the game in all its glory.
"Something needs to be done so a person buying a PC at Wal-Mart could be a PC gamer too," noted Randy Stude, director of Intel's gaming platform office. He suggested that Intel’s integrated graphics chipset, which delivers basic graphics performance for cheaper PCs, could be one solution for getting casual gamers interested in the PC as a gaming platform again.
Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices division, has belittled Sony’s PlayStation Network, insisting that Microsoft’s online gaming service Xbox Live has no rivals.
Bach told the LA Times that the platform holder was years ahead of its rivals when it came to online gaming and media services.
“It's fair to say that Xbox Live is clearly head and shoulders above anything anyone else has tried to do,” he said.
“We don't have competition. Sony has done some things online, but nothing that can be called a service. We have a big advantage and we're going to keep pressing that advantage.”
Xbox Live, which recently celebrated its fifth birthday, has eight million subscribors. It has managed to broaden iits appeal beyond the traditional male game playing audience by targeting casual gamers and delivering other forms of media content.
“Demographically, when we started, you would say that it was a place for serious gamers. That has changed a lot in the last five years,” Bach continued. “It's now become a great place for casual gamers. When one of your leading games is Uno, you realize you've reached a new type of customer.
“Secondly, it's expanded from being a gaming service to an entertainment service with a social network. We have now expanded into the world of movies and TV shows. It's become a much broader place for people to experience entertainment.
“We have a broad long-term vision for connected entertainment across all platforms. That includes music, video, television and gaming. You're going to see pieces of that roll out over time. We're not ready to talk about the specifics.”
In comparison, Sony’s relatively young, free of-charge PlayStation Network service has 3 million subscribors, a number it hopes to boost dramatically when it launches online social networking space Home next year.
HQ Network: 7,581 | 
Guests: 4139 |
Members: 0
