2K Games and Bethesda Softworks announced today that the highly-anticipated role-playing game, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is now available for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PC in stores across North America and will be available at stores in Europe on March 24th.
The long-awaited Oblivion represents the quintessential role-playing experience for the next-generation of gaming, inviting gamers into the sprawling environments of Tamriel, the most vibrant game-world ever created. With a powerful combination of freeform gameplay and lush, unprecedented graphics, gamers can choose to unravel Oblivion's epic narrative or simply explore the vast landscape in search of their own unique challenges.
We’ve been asked from quite a few of you for a comment about the recent “hacked” Xbox 360. I got the official response for your perusal:
The core security system has not been broken. However, it is reported that the authentication protocol between the optical disc drive and the console may be attacked, which if accurate could allow people to play illegally copied games. Our security team is aware of this and we are investigating potential solutions to this issue. The Xbox 360 platform was designed to be updated, and we are prepared to respond appropriately should any unauthorized activity be identified.
Everyone should keep in mind that Microsoft invests a great deal of time and effort to ensure that Xbox gamers enjoy the most powerful and exhilarating game experience available today. Genuine and unmodified Microsoft Xbox products provide gamers with the reliability, security, support and dynamic gaming experience that they expect. Microsoft works with a large group of legitimate business partners to sell and service genuine Microsoft Xbox products. Microsoft does not authorize or support any products or companies that modify or change the Xbox console in any way.
The most anticipated next generation video game console will launch at 12.01am on 23 March.
This is a call to action to all Sydneysiders out there wanting to be part of Australia’s biggest entertainment launch…ever!
The Xbox 360 will go on sale next Wednesday evening amidst a carnivale atmosphere at Sydney’s Pitt Street Mall. Crowds will be treated to entertainment by street performers and provided abundant free food and drink. As a special bonus to all customers purchasing the console on launch night, the Pitt Street EB store will be giving away a free game with every Xbox 360 purchased after the doors open at 12.01 am.
Channel V will be filming the festivities and radio station Nova 96.9 will be broadcasting live direct from the mall after 9pm. And for those who just can’t wait for midnight, there will be LCD screens set up so people can get their hands on the wireless controller and games prior to the doors opening.
Based on pre-order figures $30-$40 million worth of Xbox 360 consoles and games are projected to go through cash registers at launch. And this figure doesn’t take into account accessory sales, which are also expected to be very strong at launch.
WHEN:
Wednesday 22 March 2006 from 9pm
WHERE:
Pitt Street Mall (outside Westfield Centrepoint) Sydney
WHAT:
Xbox 360 official launch party
Street dancers
Xbox 360 and LCD screens
Nova live broadcast
Q: What were some of your inspirations/influences for The Outfit?
A: Obviously Battlefield and Battlefront were games we played a lot of, but we had plenty of non-videogame influences as well. The over the top action of Predator or any Jerry Bruckheimer film, for instance. In the comic book realm, Sergeant Rock was something we looked at as well. I wouldn’t say we set out to copy any of those things though - we just adopted their balls-out action and made sure we focused on fun first.
Q: What will gamers find most exciting about the game? What makes The Outfit stand out from other army-based video games?
A: I’m most psyched about our Destruction on Demand (click here to go to the official site and check out the Destruction on Demand section). The ability to call in anything at any time - vehicles, troops, machine gun emplacements, air strikes, etc. We’ve found that Destruction on Demand mixed with a killer online multiplayer component really puts The Outfit in a league of its own. We’re much more fast-paced, frenetic and fun-focused than other military games and our feature set backs up that philosophy.
Q: With all of the WWII simulation games out there, I'm glad to see someone do an arcade-style WWII game. What new features have been implemented to retain historical facts, but make it more fun for the gamer?
A: There was a point very early on in our game’s development where we agonized over how to deliver new weapons and vehicles to the player. Initial concepts revolved around vehicles driving out into the action to deliver stuff to you or you being forced to return to an armory or motor pool to pick stuff up. Then someone suggested everything just parachuting in from planes. For a split-second we all thought, "but that’s not real!" - before realizing that it was really cool and we had to do it.
That’s the approach we’ve taken throughout the game. To err on the side of what’s cool. Everything in the game is real - i.e. all the weapons (click here to go to the official site and check out the Weapons section) really existed. But we may have stretched some in some places. Like they had bazookas and they had 4x4s, but they probably didn’t have bazookas mounted on 4x4s. But that’s pretty cool, so you can order a Bazooka 4x4 in The Outfit.
Q: How has your previous experience developing in the RTS genre helped you transition into the 3rd person war game genre?
A: First of all, The Outfit team is mostly made up of huge console gamers and developers. So our pedigree is console development primarily. But because we’ve developed The Outfit within Relic - a studio renowned for its RTS work - we were able to infuse the Destruction on Demand aspect of our gameplay with an incredible amount of depth. Every item you can purchase via Destruction on Demand has been tuned separately and competitively to ensure it fulfills a unique role in the product. It’s that depth, coupled with the unique squad commands of the heroes and the different hero abilities (click here to go to the official site and check out the Characters section) that hints at the depth of player choice you usually find in an RTS.
Check back for Part 2 of this Developer Interview to find out more about the Destruction on Demand and integration with the Xbox 360.
For months, CoD2 gamers have been waiting for something to fix the unbearable lag and the lack of features the game presented online. Today, the problems have been fixed as Microsoft released a patch for the game on Xbox 360.
The new main features are the ability to set up private matches, the ability to choose which map preferences you want and they have fixed the lag issues.
Feel free to go download the patch by being connected to Xbox Live and putting the Call of Duty 2 disc into your Xbox 360.
SAN JOSE, Calif.--Since last spring when the Xbox 360 was first announced, one of the biggest concerns was that it would be too expensive for most game developers to create games for the next-generation console.
In the end, it's hard to judge whether those concerns were valid, since the Xbox launched with a pretty solid lineup of games. However, almost all of those games were published by the big dogs of the industry: Electronic Arts, Activision, Sega and the like. Not so many mom and pop-type development shops were in the mix.
But at the Game Developers Conference here on Tuesday, the rumor is that Microsoft plans on announcing Wednesday a developers kit that would make it possible for anyone to build games for the console, or for PCs, and that the kit will cost only about $100.
It's hard to know exactly what such a development kit would mean for the larger body of Xbox games, but one thing seems clear: There would be a lot more games on the horizon, something that would no doubt annoy Sony as it ramps up for the launch of the PlayStation 3 sometime late this year or early next year, presumably not with such a cheap developers kit available.
Another result could be that a lot of small teams might start building low-cost online games in a bid to make it onto the Xbox Live roster of games, or to take on the more traditional massively multiplayer online games from the likes of Blizzard Entertainment, Sony Online Entertainment and NCSoft.
Microsoft did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
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