H3 to feature 4 player online co-op!

During a official press conference in Amsterdam Microsoft and Bungie confirmed that Halo 3 will feature 4 player cooperative play on Xbox Live. More info coming soon.

“In Halo 3, the third installment of the legendary epic, the war has come to a climax; the Flood continues to grow in numbers and strength, the armies of Earth are scattered and decimated, and the Covenant threatens to activate the Halo, effectively destroying all life in the galaxy. Master Chief’s mission is to stop the Covenant, destroy the impending Flood threat and, ultimately, save mankind.”

http://www.n4g.com/xbox360/News-55843.aspx

Fanboys rejoice! Now the only question remaining: How awesome is Halo 3?

Will this game just come out so we can get over it already?

XBL Radio ver 49.0: ROID RAGE!!!

XBL Radio Ver 49.0:
TECH NEWS:
-Video Game Politics: Are you standing up for your rights as a gamer?
-In Game Advertising: It’s here to stay, and some think it’s working.
-EA to ad to games. err… I mean Advertise in games. Err I mean more ads.

GAME NEWS:
-Dead Rising 2: It may or may not be in development. And Shaun is nowhere to be found.
-The house that Slime Built is about to get your casual game dollars.
-Rusty Ranchero Listen Up: SHADOWRUN gets a little love. This should PATCH things up.

GAME REVIEWS:

-NCAA 08: TOG huddles up with Carpal for the latest in College Football.
-The Biggs: Mighty Carpal tells us why this Slugfest is actually fun.
-KID PIX: Surf’s Up for Cameron as he hangs 10 with XBL Radio.

PLUS:
-Squdpunch has the 360 Friendspot SPOT.
-GUI J hits us up with the Marketplace Minute.
-Useless Tips.
-Console Crimes.

All this and our winner of the 360 RacingWheel on this edition of XBL Radio. The only other way to get this pumped up would be to eat a urinal cake from Barry Bond’s Locker!

Direct Download ver 49.0,
Right Click here (and save as… for best download experience).

To subscribe to the podcast you can click on one of these…

Halo 3 Campaign News, it has replay value!

Yes, believe me, this was some big news for me as well as any other halo fan out there, the campaign in halo 3 is finally going to have some replay value other than just beating the same game on three difficulty levels. And they better, because gamers need designers to be more creative than “You beat the game on easy, well try it out on hard mode now”.

According to an article released by the Canadian press on Friday, Bungie announced that there were two all-new single player missions that were not shown at any of the major gaming events this year, but yet shown behind closed doors to members of the Canadian press.

One of the missions, called “The Storm”, has a part in it known as “The scarab conflict”, which is set in a factory complex. And according to the article, this level has more enemies than bad guys and allies in the first mission of the original Halo:Combat Evolved combined.

The other mission, called “Tsavo Highway”, is set to be the first vehicle mission in the game, and takes place in a dark tunnel cave, and mountain landscape. No more details were released on this level, but let’s hope it has just as much excitement as the other mission mentioned, or gamers are going to be bored. The lead sandbox designer from Bungie, Jaime Griesmer stated that “This just gives you an idea of the scale that we are going for”, he also said,”and these are not even the largest encounters in the game, the size really ramps up as you got through”.

Now where does the replay value come in you ask? Well, there was also talk about halo 3 having a point system to help increase replay value. Things like headshots, boarding vehicles, and assassinations will all be figured into this system, and then posted on leaderboards on Bungie’s website.

If somehow this was all configured to gaining achievements for each type of kill you get in online multiplayer and the campaign, then this could give the game more replay value than it has ever had in the past, and that could be a very good thing, especially if you’re a halo junkie like myself. Sept. 25th isn’t too far away, and if the game is anything like the article stated, than we have a lot to look forward to. But I am out for today, see you next time gamers.

Take care,

Mr B4

Two Worlds Fantasy Sword Giveaway

Ok as said before our 100th show is just around the corner. Now one of the things that we want to do is air ALL of your comments about our show. So to do that we set up a very special voice mail number that you can call and say what you want (Now it would be nice if you do it starting off with your gamertag, where your from, your site (if you have one) and then your message). But to help show our thanks you guys and gals that call in we are giving away this:

Its a fantasy sword/knife that was donated to us from Jay Fitzloff (PR Manager for Two Worlds) and it is one of many that was donated. The others will be given away on our 100th show. So feel free to call, send us a message saying whatever, and then you will be entered to win one of our awesome prizes. And if you don’t win this one, like I said earlier, theres more to be given away on our show. Now the number to call is, (206) 965-9269.

Why I love the XBOX 360…

I have been recently told that I never post in a positive way. Well I’m prepared to make amends. Here is a “pat on the back” for those who wag their finger at my criticism.

50 reasons to love the box:

1. It looks cool on your entertainment console.

2. Wireless controllers.

3. Halo

4. Geo Wars

5. Achievements.

6. Guitar Hero 2

7. Burnout Revenge.

8. Easy to turn on.

9. My wife doesn’t play.

10. My kids do play.

11. The community.

12. The blades.

13. Media Center tie-in

14. Crackdown

15. Splinter Cell

17. Affordable

18. Extended warranties.

19. Semi-portable.

20. My faceplate is cool

21. The ring around my vision camera makes people look at it.

22. Demos

23. Easy to replace batteries.

24. The controller works in Vista

25. Cross platform gaming

26. Halo 3 is coming

27. Uno

28. Poker

29. My dog isn’t afraid of it.

30. It’s only broke once.

31. 20 gigs is all I need

32. Chromehounds

33. The black controller looks nice

34. It has a nice soothing fan sound at night.

35. Its not too heavy

36. My gamertag

37. Voice messages

38. Live Eye

39. Can use pledge on it.

40. Controllers don’t hurt much (when tossed at you)

41. The remote is small

42. Updates are easy to install.

43. Can see what game is in disc tray.

44. The cool swoosh sound of the blades.

45. Doesn’t emit any odors.

46. Live on Live

47. Invites to games.

48. Cheaper than the PS3

49. Auto sign-in

50. My blade background of my kids.

I’m sure there are things I am missing. However I just wanted to verify to those, that think I’m a hater, that me and my box have an honest and loving relationship.

My Heart Will Go On and On…

A lot can happen in a week. I was recently on Vacation, with my family,  this week. Gaming was the last thing on my mind. However with E3 and the Billion dollar warrenty situation; I may have picked a good time to take off.

Well now I am back, and something is eating away at me. So here I go with my “Conspiracy Theory” (or thats how it was reffered to on Major Nelson’s Podcast)

I will start by stating Peter Moore has done a lot for Xbox. As far as a figure-head goes, he promotted the console in a vibriant, intelligent manner. He made his name a staple on the MS team.  I tip my hat to what I concede as a job well done.

So why am I writing this? I want to let Major Nelson and Moore know why people will draw conclusions to his departure:

You’re the Captain of the Ship. In smooth sailing you stand at the helm and bask in the glow of those green rings. However when the dust hits the cooling fan; you don’t jump ship.

You’re on record as saying your a Family man first. That was a big reason for your departure. I saw Titanic several times. Isn’t it “Women and Children first” or were you just referring to your family?

You also said your Children wanted to move:

I, like you, have kids. They, like yours, want to eat. With that in mind my career comes first.

Finally the last thing you announce at your MS title is your taking up residense at EA. Isn’t this the same company that took micro-transactions to a whole new level? So EA goes from leaving the Xbox out of the loop (remember the early Xbox days) to owning the one person who spoke loudest for the console.

In the end it doesn’t matter to most why Peter decided to jump ship. However callingthose who post and blog about possible scenarios “conspiracy theorists” is just lame. Perhaps thats the reason you had a hard time relating to all those pissed off red ringed customers. You couldn’t read your own writing on the wall.

-There I said it!

LIVE 48.5 Bonus + ThreeSpeech Interview

Rusty Ranchero guides you in this Extra Edition of The XBL Radio Podcast, Version 48.5, featuring an Interview with Ben and Dave from the ThreeSpeech.com Podcast.  Also listen to extra conversations from the Gamers Roundtable that didn’t make the final show.

Highlights include…
Transformers the movie: Have you seen it?  Did you like it?
GTA4 and offtopic discussion.
Gears of War for PC: 360ers get the shaft?
REHASHES: Why still existent in the “Next Generation”?

LIVE on LIVE™ guests (regular gamers, just like you) are
II V0LD3M0RT II, GamerAndy, ROORhighness, INFECTEDPB503 and Evolgenius.

Direct Download ver 48.5Bonus + ThreeSpeech Interview,
Right Click here (and save as… for best download experience).
–Duration 01:06 (30.50MB) 64Kbps–
–The ThreeSpeech Interview begins at 43:26–

If you missed it, catch the original LIVE on LIVE 48.5 here.

Thought i was gone, well not anymore!

I bet most of you thought that since i haven’t been able to play games with you guys on Xbox live that i might be gone from XBL Radio forever, guess what, I am back, but this time as a writer.

I’ve had a few problems lately with my 360 and my internet(no three rings of death, but close enough). I can either set up my router so i can play games online, or have an internet connection on my computer. I guess this is more or less a moral dilemma to me because i just wish i could have both and be done with it, but i can’t and that’s where I am stuck. If you guys have any way of helping me out here, please let me know because i want to get back to some gaming nights and keep on fragging Mr. Steve like i used to.

Well anyways, it’s great to be back as a writer, as a poster in the forums, and as a part of the greatest gaming community out there. I will do my best for all of you, because the gamers are the best people out there, rock on.

Take care,

Matt(Mr. B4)

XBL Radio Gaming Night 7/28

Come join us tomorrow for an XBL Radio Gaming Night. Tomorrows game, Bomberman!! as voted by you guys in the forums. We will kick off gaming night at 7pm pacific time, all you have to do to join us is send me a message over Xbox Live requesting an invite. Now space is limited, especially with Bomberman maxing out at 8 players so it will be strictly first come, first serve. But if you don’t get in or don’t have the game, don’t worry, because all you have to do is check out our forums to see what else is being played tomorrow and message that person. So take it easy everyone and I hope to see you online tomorrow night.

Wing Commander Arena Initial Impressions

Wednesday at 5 AM EST, Wing Commander Arena, a space combat action game, was released on the Xbox Live Market place for 800. Wing Commander Arena is a spin-off from the franchise Wing Commander, which was released in 1990. Wing Commander was published by EA and developed by Gaia Studios. Just as expected for an Xbox Live Arcade game, Wing Commander Arena was completely remade from the ground up; having better graphics, sound, and enhanced features such as multiplayer over Xbox Live as well as playing in 2D as opposed to 3D, so don’t expect a souped up port.

This is being written from the point of view of a person who is looking for another good Xbox Live Arcade game. Just seeing the videos on IGN made me excited for this title, despite not playing its predecessors. When I played my first single player match, I noticed that the controls were very easy to pick up. Everything felt fluid and natural. The first game that came to my mind when I played this was Star Fox for the N64. I felt a similar level of enjoyment from Wing Commander, despite playing in 2D. As far as game balance goes, Giga Studios nailed it. It was as easy to go on the attack as it was to defend, making for very interesting battles. Other than straight up deathmatches, Wing Commander had an interesting gametype. This gametype had two GIANT motherships. The object of the gametype was to destroy the opponent’s mothership. The mothership was equipped with turrets and weapons. The mothership could not be destroyed by firing it in general; it could only be destroyed by taking out the mothership’s weakspots. Overall this gametype was intense and lengthy.

The best part of Wing Commander is the plethora of power-ups and ships at your disposal. Power-ups had a wide variety of effects ranging from defense to offense. Some of these included energy efficiency, clone, absorption, refill weapons arsenal, enhance shields, and MUCH MUCH more. Ships in Wing Commander ranged from little fast ships to colossal tanks. Each ship could hold four weapons and had its own stats such as hull strength, thrust power, turning radius, and velocity. However, I was very disappointed about one part of Wing Commander Arena. It lacked 4 player local multiplayer; a feature that is now becoming less and less of a trend on the Xbox 360. 4 player splitscreen would have been totally possible, but it only has single player and online.

If you are looking for a fast paced action game, Wing Commander Arena is for you. Only playing for just a few hours, it feels like Wing Commander Arena has made its way in the top five Xbox Live Arcade Games. Overall, Wing Commander Arena is definitely worth the 800. I would definitely recommend Wing Commander Arena as a purchase for any hardcore gamer.