Would Microsoft pay me to take their console?

No, not really free Wiis, but check this: by some estimates, Microsoft loses $125 each time it sells a 360. Microsoft is also taking a nearly $100 charge per 360 sold so far for warranty costs.

Estimates for the Wii suggest that Nintendo makes $90 each time it sells a Wii for $250.

If the Wii costs about $160 to make and Microsoft is willing to lose $225 per console, would Microsoft be willing to pay me $65 to take a Wii-like console? Microsoft would be doing better business by giving Wiis away than selling 360s.

Lots of Demos this week, next up Overlord

Play as an anti-hero in Overlord. Free Demo, 900k. Check it out.

Free Shadowrun Demo (xbl)

I would recommend checking this out if you have an xbox 360 and a live gold membership. Newbcakes and I have been playing it every chance we get. Peeforia will get it too. Lameco Also has it, but he likes to eat sand. I will post a more complete review hopefully later today.

You can read about it here.

Lego Star Wars 2 = Sweet

I got this game from gameznflix yesterday, and I thought, "Man, this is gonna blow." I popped it in the 360, and I haven't stopped playing it since.

You pretty much just play through the movies in story mode and follow the movie story or play in free play which allows you to make your own goofy characters. I made a dude with pink hair and pink light sabre and a cloak all dressed in black. He looks sweet. He also has Dark Jedi powers like choking people and hanging them up by their feet and dropping them on their heads. I love doing that. Oh and Luke is still a whiny bitch.


I have only gotten past the first movie, but I can say, this is the best adaptation of the movies in a video game I have ever played. It also has co-op. I don't know if you can play over XBL but I assume you can. Davey has 2 get it lol.

Liongames: My favorite online retailer

Tony (info@liongames.com) over at liongames is always running great promotions. Yesterday , I placed a preorder for Halo 3 and it cost me 39.99. Also, I ordered the new Shadowrun game for free with some trade ins.


Here is what liongames does: They have a deal where if you trade in games along with the order, you get a special discount. For example:

	Shadowrun XBox 360 Release Date: 05/29/07 Genre: Shooter ESRB Rating: M Catalog No.: XB3_MIC_AA7013 Pre-Order New: $59.99 $49.99
	Shadowrun With 1 Trade In XBox 360 Release Date: 05/29/07 Genre: Shooter ESRB Rating: M Catalog No.: XB3_MIC_AA7013_1 Pre-Order New: $59.99 $44.99
	Shadowrun With 2 Trade Ins XBox 360 Release Date: 05/29/07 Genre: Shooter ESRB Rating: M Catalog No.: XB3_MIC_AA7013_2 Pre-Order New: $59.99 $39.99

You trade in 2, get the game for 10 dollars cheaper, and tack on the trade in value of the game, and you have a free or almost free game.

This is a special he runs pretty much with all of the new xbox/ps3 games cominng out.

Halo 3 Information

Halo 3 confirms 4 player co op over xbox live. Go to the previous link to see what else they have found.

Scrolling through the list of on-screen text for party menus, one sentence revealed the following:

The game cannot start because all players are set to observer. Too many players for splitscreen. Only 2 players may play splitscreen coop on the same Xbox 360 console. The party size is too large to start the game. Up to 4 players may play coop on Xbox Live or System Link. Loading information from Xbox Live…

Sweet. I love co op. Nothing else does 4 player now, halo does it first again.

Halo 3 Beta: First Impressions

After downloading the Beta, I was ready to send Crackdown back to Gameznflix and I realized I couldn't. The beta requires the player to launch from Crackdown. Dumb. Anyway...


The limited time I spent with the beta was fun. I tried out the noob combo, and that didn't work as well as it did in halo2, but it did work sort of. The map I played on was High Ground. It consisted of a valley with enclosures on each side for easy ambushes.

The control was great, the responsiveness was awesome, but the only thing I didn't like about it was the jumping. Everyone, when they had a 1 on 1 would jump up and down while shooting at you. I am not used to this, I am used to just circle strafing my way to victory. In the Halo universe, everyone is a high jumping Olympian, you can jump like 10 feet into the air.

All in all a fun time. I can't wait til we get to try out the party system.

Shadowrun Demo dated

It is dated first week in June. The game comes out May 29th. Does anyone see anything wrong with this?

Q: So the demo will be out on EXACTLY the 6th of June?
A: We're pretty confident. It's in certification at the moment. As folks who were in the beta know, unexpected problems can happen, so we're not swearing anything in blood. (Yes, we learn from experience.) But we want to give you as much information as we possibly can, and right now, we're slated for June 6th.

Q: The game is releasing on the 29th of May in North America. Why aren't you releasing the demo before the game hits the shelves?
A: Most folks who've played the game know how critical getting your hands on it is in understanding what makes Shadowrun special. The demo is the best tool we have to show people why the game rocks. We'd rather release the demo at a time when players can focus their attention and time on Shadowrun, i.e., not in the middle of the Halo 3 beta. We hear that's a pretty cool game, too. Come June, when players are suffering withdrawal from H3 goodness, they can slide right into Shadowrun demo action.

Q: What features will be in the demo?
A: We want to give players a good sense of what makes Shadowrun different / fun, but we can't give away everything, of course. The feature set we're offering is limited, but there are no time restrictions on the demo. Here's what you get:

* Training: Chapters 1, 2, and 3
* Solo Match and Public Match (so both bot play and multiplayer)
* One map: Power Station (which means only one game type: Raid)
* Two races: Elf and Human
* Magic: Tree of Life, Resurrect, Gust, and Teleport
* Tech: Glider, Enhanced Vision, and Smartlink
* Weapons: Pistol, SMG, Rifle, Shotgun, Katana, and Sniper Rifle

Halo 3 Beta Ready for download

Fire up your crackdowns, and DL away.

BTW does anyone know if you HAVE to launch halo from crackdown? I was hoping to send my rental copy back.

Halo 3 Beta delayed

I feel sorry for the poor SOBs that called in sick for work or faked a tummy ache so their mom would call in for them. The Halo 3 beta is delayed by just a little bit.

Rule of thumb with these things: They never go according to plan or launch on time. You would be better off taking the friday off, instead of the day of the launch. Goobers.

I bet newbcakes had his mom make Smiles and call the Canadian School for him,

Microshaft explains Shadowrun's $10 mark up on the 360

Shadowrun will retail for 49.99 on Windows Vista and 59.99 on the Xbox 360. Someone Newsweek asked why. This is the answer from joystiq.

Nay, this wordsmith saw a canvas on which he could be poetic! "[These] price points are our standard pricing for each platform ... This pricing structure is not uncommon in the multiplayer-only first-person shooter genre, as numerous titles have seen success at this price point and gaming model."

I would rather call him a Poopsmith.

Pictures on Madden blog site

Fantasy draft and Edit player are in Next Gen Madden 08.

D- Cas: New Madden Blog

Today, I fire up the browser at work, point it to the Madden web site, and click on the blogs tab. I still have to do that because EA SPORTS STILL DOESN'T HAVE AN RSS FEED. Anyway, D-Cas pretty much says that the last 2 Maddens on the PS3/360 blew donkeys. You can read the entire Next Gen Madden bashing blog here.

Everyone who knows me knows that I am a Current Gen (CG) player when it comes to my football gaming habits. I own an Xbox360 and enjoy playing it, but I always keep my PS2 and Xbox plugged in and ready to go whenever I need to get a game of Madden in. Really it has just been a personal preference of mine the last couple years- my friends all play CG, I work on the CG games, and I simply enjoy the way the CG game plays when compared with Next Gen (NG). I’m sure many people agree with me and others probably think I’m crazy- but even us developers are entitled to our own opinions!

Wow, even EA producers think that Madden 07 was the worst game ever.

So in the meantime I take a little harassment around the office- “D-Cas will be playing Madden 2025 on his PS2!” or my personal favorite nickname of “Low Def D-Cas.” Ya… laugh it up guys, the bottom line is that I play the games that I have the most fun with, not what the techno junkies tell me to play! Plus I remind them that I am not the only one who hasn’t fully embraced the NG game- just look at the message boards and you’ll see I am not alone. Simply put, I have always said that I will switch when I am ready to switch, and that will only happen when I personally feel I will enjoy the game more. Call me a NG hater if you want… call me stuck in past… I don’t care- when I go home I still want to play CG! And for the record I do own a couple of HD-TVs, thank you very much!

Assload of new DLC in Crackdown.

Team Xbox as a first look at the 5!?!??! pages of DLC that will be soon available in Crackdown. You can read the novel here.

It includes:

• Bug fixes
• Cheat Mode
• More Vehicles
• New Weapons
• New Game Modes.

Crackdown was a very short game, and I am glad they are augmenting this fun to play title with a lot of DLC.

Forza 2 Demo TONIGHT

Thanks to Kotaku.

Forza Motorsport 2 devs Turn 10 is that the demo for the highly anticipated Xbox 360 racer will hit Xbox Live very late tonight. East coasters will have to wait up until 2 AM EST (warning: at the earliest) to jumpstart their downloads. Early details on the demo indicate that while only one of the game's thirteen tracks will be availabe in the demo (Mugello Short), 24 different cars should keep virtual drivers plenty occupied.

Gears of war Subway gameplay video

For those of you that are waiting until September to get your free maps, here is a video for you to enjoy.

Transcript of Shadowrun Dev Chat

You can read the entire chat here.

A release date is hinted at.

Kimona- (ididurgirl) whats target release date?

Fall - We've only publicly said "June".

Fall - but think EARLY June.

Fall - very early.

Sweet. Less than a month away!

Kimona - (aDrain) Will there be any clan features?

Fall - no specific clan features. however, there is a party system a la Halo 2, where you can join into a party and then travel from game to game together.

Finally. A game with a party system.

Kimona - (Jarret) John, what would you like the gaming community to get from Shadowrun?

Fall - 1 - hand cramps

Fall - 2 - insomnia

Fall - 3 - swollen bladder

Kimona- on that note: next

Kimona - Next: (fatal1ty) How skilled do you consider the combat, movement, and strategic elements of Shadowrun, and how do you see it panning out for serious competitive play? Have you tested it in the hands of good gamers, and if so, how did they react to it?

Kimona - PM questions to me btw, Fall is not lookin' at em.

Fall - We heard through the grapevine that some of the MLG guys were too busy playing SR to practice for a big tournament

Fall - I guess that's a good sign that the competitve gamers think SR is a good fit for serious competitve play.

Madden 08 screenshots

You can see all 30 of the new ones here.

Come on EA and Visual Concepts! Let's see some video of gameplay.

Shadowrun Achievements

click here and log into xbl for a list.

Tenchu Z preview

I have always wanted to play a ninja assassin. Now I have my chance with Tenchu Z.