LIVE on LIVE 49.5 - “Episode 100″

LIVE on LIVE The Gamers Roundtable™

We hope you enjoy the festive and extend to us your feedback. We have about 30 awesome voicemails and messages of support scattered throughout the show as we discuss the past, present and future of XBL Radio. You’re invited to find out each hosts most memorable moment of doing the podcast. Hear us explain why we do all this hard work for free. And see what we think the future may hold for XBLR and possible sacrifices that may be unavoidable. It’s a frank discussion with six guys doing what we love to do for our fans.

And now for the contests! Please note that these “rules” written below are the official “rules” to enter each of our seven giveaways. If we stated differently on audio, these below take precedence.
1For a chance to win Mad Tracks for XboxLiveArcade, post a comment right here on this blog post. Thanks to Dennis from Load Inc. There will be multiple winners for this giveaway.
2UK residents, send Steve519 a PM on the XBLR forums (you must be registered and you must live in the UK) for a chance to win Harry Potter for PC. courtesy of Ben from red-rant.com.
3Digg this article and you may win one of 2 prizes. One Xbox 360 game or one Two Worlds Mini-Sword. There will be two winners.
4From DeconBlade 360, at unscripted360.com, we are giving away Def Jam ICON autographed by the developers! (Thanks, D!) To enter this one, all you have to do is be an active member of our forums. (Active = more than 1 post.) The winner will be chosen randomly.
5All Games T-Shirts are up for grabs, all you have to do is be an “active” member of our forums. (Active = more than 1 post.) The winners will be chosen randomly.
6Write an iTunes review for a chance to win a Two Worlds Mini-Sword or an Xbox 360 game. There will be two winners. (If you have left an iTunes comment in the past, you are entered.)
7Rusty Ranchero is giving away an Xbox 360 Back Sack. To enter, post your gamertag on our LIVE on LIVE Waiting List in our fourms. If you have already posted there, then you are entered. The winner will be drawn at random. (I got it from Kellog’s [I’m still waiting for the beanie though]).

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Xbox 360 Price Drop Confirmed

Last night, Microsoft announced that the Xbox 360 will finally be receiving a price cut (currently only for the US). The price cut will take effect this Wednesday and it will nearly coincide with the Madden NFL 08 launch a week later. The price cut is as follows:

Xbox 360 Premium- ERP $349.99 ($50 cut)

Xbox 360 Elite- ERP $449.99 ($30 cut)

Xbox 360 Core- ERP $279.99 ($20 cut)

We all knew it was coming. It was too good for Microsoft to pass up this prime opportunity, especially at this time of the year. It has been nearly 2 years since the Xbox 360 launched and Sony even had something similar to a price cut before Microsoft even though the Playstation 3 launched a year later. Though only a $50 price cut at most, the Xbox 360 coupled with Madden 08 (and with Halo 3 coming down the pipe), the Xbox 360 looks so much more tempting to splurge money on. It is also a safe bet that Microsoft will drop the price even more next year. In addition to the price cut announcement, Microsoft also announced that the Halo 3 Special edition console will be released in September for and estimated retail price of $399.99.

Official Press Release: http://gamerscoreblog.com/team/archive/2007/08/06/PriceDropAug8.aspx

XBLR Podcast 100 this WINsday

Since we all love hype, here is a dose XBLR style. “Episode 100″ of XBL Radio will be served tomorrow with a sprinkle of prizes and a dash of contests.

This milestone version features all six hosts, MrCT, ToG, Rusty, Steve, GUI J and Silent Cypher! We promise to be frank and provide brain stimulation as we look back at the highlights of our casts. So, tune it to listen to six guys pat them selves on the back or tune in to findout what cool prizes we’ll be giving away. Either way, it’s a win-win, it’s a celebration and it will be out Winsday.

GTA n Halo sitting in a tree K.I.SS.I.N.G

Ask any gamer, “what are the two biggest titles to release this holiday season?” They would have said, Halo 3 and GTA4, and you could go to Vegas with that answer. So, now that the dust has settled from the earth shattering delay of RockStar’s title, it’s got me thinking’…

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Innovation or aggravation?

Some people say that there isn’t enough innovation in our games today, that all the games we play are the same, that all first person shooter’s are the same shooter, that all RPG’s are the same RPG. Well, I’ve got to say maybe having lots of innovation isn’t always such a good thing.

Games are criticized for not doing anything new, that there just clones of another game and they need to innovate. But is too much innovation a bad thing? Look at the Wii. Motion controlling hasn’t been done on a home console before and I think it’s a little too much. I don’t want to wave my arms to play a game. It just doesn’t work that well. We’ve been using normal controllers to play games for decades and maybe there is a reason for that. Most Wii games are minigame collections. Is that because motion controlling isn’t a good idea? And so far, none of the consoles FPS’s have been impressive which is surprising since motion controlling would sound great for them. Is innovation just a buzz-word? Is there such a thing as too much innovation?

With console games, innovation is a lot harder to find then with PC games. It’s easier for an indie developer to release a game on PC. Lots of games doing completely new things are released on PC all the time. Rag Doll Kung Fu was a fighting game released a couple of years ago where you controlled all your attacks by dragging you mouse. But, unfortunatly, it received mediocre reviews for getting boring quick and being a pain to control, a real pain. After playing for 30 minutes or so your hand felt like someone had smashed it with a bowling ball. A couple of months ago another game where you control attacking with mouse movement was Penumbra which was also given average reviews due to the fact that it was hard to control.

Is innovation something that actually works in games or just something we think we would like? Now I’m not saying there should be no variation in games, but maybe its only good in small doses like the Gears of Wars cover system. But I don’t think that its something we want to use all the time in games.

Maybe Peter can tEAch them

EA is shutting down a boatload of servers and all online play for many EA Sports games will expire. Even if you have the notorious, 50 dollar yearly MSRP, Xbox Live Gold, you’re not safe from the wrath of EA’s money saving business practices.

The questions that arise are countless. Who at EA made this decision? Is it really that expensive to operate? Why doesn’t EA just use Xbox Live’s servers? Is it a ploy to get gamers who prefer the older versions, to just fork out the money for the latest $60 expansion?

It seems EA has a reputation of “not caring about the gamer” and making moves like this doesn’t prove otherwise. I wonder why they picked up Peter Moore? He was the captain of the 360, known for having much respect for the community. What would Peter have said about this action? Did EA aquire him because they want to give their character a makeover? Whatever the hell is going on at EA, it needs to change. Peter, please show them the way.

A FAN of the FANBOYS

If most of you are like me, interested in gaming news, then I want to point you to another informative podcast. It’s called The Fanboys Lunchcast. I recently heard their latest show. They discussed everything from Shadowrun to Major Nelson (I think he made an appearance on the show). All while eating lunch. So if you’re on your lunch break; why not take them along with you. Who knows, they might even pick up the check.

Visit them here: The Fanboys Lunchcast

CALL in… CASH in…

As most of you already know XBL Radio uploads it’s 100th version this Tuesday. Over the past 100 episodes XBL Radio has always took pride in the Gamer coming 1st. Before we brag about Listenership, Awards for our Cast, Interviews, or any type of self gratification, we always put the listener first. Thats why our show is built around the gamer.

While this week, on our Anniversery show, we will pat ourselves on the back. None of this would be possible without YOU the listener. With that in mind we would love to hear from you. So all of you that have made past appearances on LIVE on LIVE, and those who are too busy or to shy to come on, now is your time to be heard.

All you have to do is simply call: (206) 965-9269 and tell us why you listen to XBL Radio. It doesn’t have long and drawn out, just a few sentences why you listen. We want to include the voices of those who make XBL Radio one of the only podcasts that isn’t about the Podcasters: It’s about you.

As a little incentive: when you place a call befor Sunday Aug 5th (or if you have already done so) you will be entered to win select prizes from XBL Radio:

Including Points Cards, Games, and an autographed picture of TheOtherGuy1.

So what are you waiting for? Join the celebration, join the talk, and spread the word that XBL Radio is Your Game. Your Voice. Your Radio.

*if you cant call send a voice chat to and still be included.

Cypher’s Soapbox

Many times in the gaming industry, you see games often pushed and sometimes even cancelled. The question I have is, why must they be the games I care about?

Yesterdays push of the next chapter of the ever popular Grand Theft Auto series left me a bit shaken, since this has been the first time in years that a GTA has been delayed for more than two weeks after original launch date.

As I look around at games, I wonder… what do I care about buying this holiday season, now that a few of my most anticipated have been pushed into the abyss. I know, I’ll probably get a lot of flak for saying that I’m really not excited about Halo 3, and it’s probably deserved. However, multiplayer is the only thing I care about with Halo 3. Let me make a psychotic Warthog Wars gametype that all players involved will love, and you’ve got me hooked… but the slayer and team slayer matches have just been overplayed.

Along with my Grand Theft Auto fix being Car-Jacked, I’ve recently read that The Wheelman has been pushed to 2008 also. Now I guess I can’t really complain much in this situation, because we’ve never even seen gameplay for this title. Maybe something critical is being tweaked, so the core gameplay mechanics will be fixed. Speaking of Midway games, Blacksite: Area 51 also was pushed to November 5th. That isn’t as bad, as it is still this year, but the constant delays have me going loopy.

Don’t get me wrong, there are things I am looking forward to, for example: Guitar Hero 3, Mass Effect, Half Life 2 Orange Box, Stranglehold, and Bioshock. I just wish a couple of my most anticipated would be available, but I suppose I have others to tide me over until then.

Speaking of Most Anticipated, What is your ‘Top 5′ for this holiday season?

GTA IV Delayed 6+ Months

Yes, you read it correctly. Today, Take Two Interactive announced that Grand Theft Auto IV will be delayed until the second quarter of 2008 for both the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3. Such a highly anticipated title for this year and the cornerstone of Microsoft’s “perfect storm” has now been pushed back several months due to “additional development time required to complete the title.” However, this announcement should not be viewed as unfortunate; but we now know that Rockstar Games cares enough to launch a quality AAA title. It is also understandable that Grand Theft Auto in particular would take a long time to develop due to high expectations and a likely hood of a plethora of tech issues. Being able to manage so much AI and physics at one time on a console must be difficult and it would require a long time. At least this is the first big title that is known to release for sure in 2008.