I am not sure when something was considered cool by the fact that old people are using it in some way, but Nintendo sure is milking this Public Relations cow to death.  It seems like every other Blog post about the Nintendo Wii is about somebody’s grandma or grandpa bowling with Wii Sports.  Well Microsoft finally took notice of this and decided they want some of this Geriatric love also.  But without any motion controls what is a console maker to do?  Well create a game that the Grannies and Graps of the world already love, bring on Solitaire!  For the price of an entire Social Security check you can play solitaire, but it will be worth if is the only way to get those pesky grandkids to come and visit.

If you want an idea of  the game play in Soltrio Solitaire go to any Best Buy, Wall mart, or any Big Box store head on over to the computer section and find a Microsoft Windows computer.  And play the version of Solitaire that comes free with Windows, but the trick is this.  To get the real Soltrio Solitaire experience you need to not use the mouse, only the keyboard.  Using only the keyboard will give you the same sticky clumsy interface that has been programmed for the game controller.  Like a teenage boy fumbling with his first bra snaps (or hooks), you to will fight and wiggle and curse trying to unlock the wonders that are being kept from you.  The focus or sparkle highlight seems to jump rather unpredictably around the screen.  While the game does offer a little more then just the basic game of Solitaire that has come with every copy of Microsoft Windows since the early 1990’s, I just can not recommend spending $10.00 in Microsoft Points to buy this game.  Even at $5.00 this game would be really hard to recommend, most of you probably have it on a computer in your house or you could pick it up in some card game compilation pack for about the same price.  Not to mention they are already trying to get more money out of you for more skins and different decks of cards in the form of extra downloadable content available at 150 Microsoft Points each.

I got a free code to download the full game to test it out, if you can get a free code also I highly recommend you use it.  Otherwise I would have to say let this one sit on the Microsoft LIVE server, download the demo if you really need to get a Solitaire fix but keep your cash!

So when was the last time you saw a game released on every gaming console, every hand held, even the PC and MAC that was not some cheap crappy movie based game?  Well best selling author Darren Reid is about to release a point and click fantasy adventure with MMO and RPG community elements to every next generation console, handhelds, PCs and Macs.  Darren with NextGenBooks.com today announced that they are brining an all new point and click fantasy adventure to PCs and consoles. Darren Reid’s The Half Broken Crown: The Broken Kingdoms is an all new game based upon the best selling author’s upcoming novel The Half Broken Crown. The game is a point and click style adventure which incorporates MMO elements which allow all online players to communicate and solve puzzles through collaboration and cooperation.

 “Of all my upcoming projects this is perhaps the one I am most excited about,” admitted Reid, “It is a unique opportunity for me to expand upon the [upcoming] book and to tell new stories.”

Look for The Broken Kingdoms this June and will be free to play with optional micro-transactions available to enhance the player’s experience. The main game will feature over 100 unique screens.  Additional in-game purchases will open up episodic content that add hours of game play will become available over the course of the year.  Each episode prices ranging from $2.50-$5.00, depending upon the depth of the content being purchased.

The game will be launched exclusively on www.NextGenBooks.com and be playable through internet web browsers with specific and individual versions designed for Wii, DS, PS3, PSP, PC and Mac. All console and computer versions of the game will be fully featured however the DS and PSP users will have to wait for multiplayer support.

If you want to learn more about the game pick one of the following ways check Darren’s MySpace Page, or Next Gen Books Website.
www.myspace.com/darrenreidcell
www.NextGenBooks.com

For more information about Darren Reid’s books The Half Broken Crown: The Broken Kingdoms visit www.DarrenReid.co.uk.

So it looks like Alex over at GamingTalkHQ must have himself a neat little video game predicting crystal ball.  Last week he broke the story that Mad Tracks was going to be next weeks XBox LIVE Arcade and what do you know, today Major Nelson confirmed it.  I wonder if that thing works with Power Ball Numbers?

Players can race through 15 challenges consisting of nine mini-games and six different races behind the wheel of one of 12 sleek compact cars. “Mad Tracks,” from Load Inc., features 12 power-ups to keep engines revved up and players in the fast lane ahead of the competition.

Enjoy the robust, full game features of “Mad Tracks” this Wednesday, and also be on the lookout for new tracks coming soon. You can double and even triple the challenges in “Mad Tracks” with the Bravo and Encore expansion packs, arriving in the near future. For about half the price of the full game, players will be able to add additional races and mini-games to “Mad Tracks” by downloading the Bravo and/or Encore expansion packs. Each expansion pack includes an additional 15 nail-biting races and action-filled mini games for 350 Microsoft Points each, extending the fun and offering a great value.

Game Features

• 15 distinct challenges (6 races & 9 mini-games) provide a full-fledged racing game experience
• 12 stackable power-ups (rockets, freezer, oil drop, EMP and more!)
• 12 sleek looking cars to choose from
• 4 player multiplayer over Xbox LIVE and 4 player local multiplayer via split screen mode
• Championship mode & Arcade mode
• 2 free gamer pictures
• Earn up to 12 Achievements and 200 Gamerscore points

“Mad Tracks,” will be available for download on Xbox LIVE Arcade for Xbox 360 beginning Wednesday, May 30, at 9:00 a.m. GMT (2:00 a.m. Pacific Time).   Have 800 Microsoft Points in your account because that is what this little racing game is going to set you back.

Check out the GamerScoreBlog Flicker Photos of Mad Tracks

Via Major Nelson

To help kick off our new Podcast we are giving away a brand new copy of Guitar Hero 2.  This will contain the guitar and game.  Stay tuned to the site for more details and listen to the first episode of Live for XBox Podcast set to be released later this week on how to enter the contest.

This give away is only valid to listeners in the USA and Canada.

Just in case you did not know this, September 19th is official talk like a pirate day.  So that would be the ideal day to try out this demo.  But I am guessing most of you are going to try this baby out right away.  And why not, its FREE!  The Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End DEMO finally sailed across the sea from Europe and has landed here in North America.  Live by the sword and keep your edge.  Captain Jack is back hat and all in this new action adventure game from Disney Interactive Studios.  Get on XBox LIVE and download the demo for free.  It includes the first level tutorial of the game.  This game contains environments and story lines from both the second and the third movies.  Gamers can play as Captain Jack Sparrow, Will Turner, and Elizabeth Swann and try to keep Jack’s dark past from catching up with him.

From rumors floating around the internet and other blogs you may want to try this demo out before you buy the game.  Hmmmm, a game based on a movie.  Those are always the top notch quality games, going back as far as ET for the Atari 2600.  Just make sure you have 972.3 MB free on your 360’s hard drive.

Source: GamerScoreBlog

Today only Amazon.com are selling AND 1 Streetball for the Xbox for $9.99, reduced from $19.99 with free shipping if you add another $15.01 to your cart

I can’t say this is a game I’ve played before, but a quick trip through the internet’s tubes shows the horror that is And1 Streetball. Know someone you don’t like that has a Xbox? This could be the game you’ve been waiting to buy them

OK, another new special edition game pack. Let’s see metal box, extra DVD full of stuff that you look at once and then never use again. Not this time. Rockstar is breaking from the tradition of special edition and collector edition items in a way that only Rockstar would.

The new Special Edition of Grand Theft Auto: IV will feature:

• Grand Theft Auto IV on the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system or the PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system, both with special packaging
• The Grand Theft Auto IV Art Book, featuring never-before-seen production artwork from Grand Theft Auto IV
• Selected soundtrack CD from Grand Theft Auto IV, featuring new material from top artists, only available on this release
• An exclusive Rockstar keychain for the safety deposit box keys
• Completing the collection is a limited edition Rockstar duffel bag

Pre-Orders should be available soon. The special edition will retail for $89.99.

The items included in this collector’s edition announcement has really peaked my curiosity. Usually extra items included with a game have some sort of significance to the game itself. While the music CD and the art book are pretty obvious I can not help but wonder how a security deposit box and a duffel bag will fit in. I am hoping that this is a hint by Rockstar implying that there may be some sort of bank robbery aspect to Grand Theft Auto: IV? Only time will tell unless a little bird at Rockstar wants to call me up sing me a song.

Check the Grand Theft Auto Website here.

Via Press Release

No matter how you look at it Sony has borrows many ideas from Microsoft and Nintendo.  From Trophy Cases in Home to PlayStation Network to SIXAXS motion controls no one at Sony can say that they do not borrow good ideas from their competitors.  Now with rumors that Microsoft wants to jump in and offer some additional help to the Folding at Home project, Sony officials look down their nose and pooh pooh them for copying them.

In a quote Jack Tretton said :

Would they be even having this conversation if we weren’t doing it? I don’t know. I would guess that the medical community would take help from anywhere they could get it, but the commentary that I heard is that Stanford isn’t sure that [the Xbox 360’s processing abilities] would help them very much, which is odd to me because if it helped at all, it seems like they would welcome it with open arms.

It’s really ugly territory to get into, but let’s take fighting a disease and see if we can get some credit for that. It’s not a cool game to play one way or the other, so I don’t want to even give the impression that that’s our motivation, and I’d be very disappointed if they’re looking for PR value or to try to suck off some of the goodwill that we’re doing.

So Jack when says “and I’d be very disappointed if they’re looking for PR value or to try to suck off some of the goodwill that we’re doing.”  Yeah, because Sony has done this all out of the goodness of their corporate heart.  They had no idea that the Playstation 3 would run circles around all the Personal Computers running the Folding At Home software, there by making their product look like a phenomenal number crunching work horse.

My comment to Jack Tretton would be this.  In the future contact Sony Public Relations before making demeaning comments about your competitors.  And here is the statement that I may have issued had Jack Tretton asked me to write his response for him:

“We are happy to see competitors of our opening up their platforms to assist in helping the researchers who diligently search for cures to diseases that plague mankind.  We are happy Sony was able to lead the way in utilizing the powerful interactive entertainment systems of today to assist with the massive number crunching process that is required to help cure these diseases.  We welcome our competitors to this endeavor and while we our primary interest is in what is best for humanity.  We can not help but be interested to see fans of the Playstation 3, XBox 360, and Personal Computers all compete to which platform can get the most Folding at Home work done.  Welcome to the competition!”

If any of you are interested in joining the folding at home effort you can follow this link to get more information.  If you want to download the client for your PC you can follow this link.  And if you would like to join the Around the Controller Network Folding At Home team you can click here on how to do that.  We look forward to you helping out and helping out science.

 
The Halo 3 beta was finally released on May 16th with a little delay to the dismay of some of the Crackdown users. The demo was due for release in the early hours of the morning although it arrived after 10pm (CST), which caused large backlash on the bungie.net forums, where threats of suicide and lawsuits were thrown around like monkeys with feces. Now all the drama has past it’s time to take a look at this BETA demo and see if it lives up to the hype.

Firstly, the game runs really well, the frame rate is steady, the graphics are greatly improved and the matchmaking is easy, making it a good pick up and play demo. Load times are great also which is something with often hasn’t been tuned yet in a beta. In all it does feel more like a retail demo rather than beta, as everything down to typical Halo esque music has been included, Bungie clearly took their time on getting this ready and it shows.

Gameplay has not been adjusted in any major way since Halo 2, the winning formula and style is still in place. It’s still the Red Vs Blue Spartans dukeng it out across a series of 3 maps (Snowbound, High Ground, and Valhalla) with a handful of game modes:
Rumble pit: Everyone is your enemy in a fast paced death match.
Team slayer: Red Vs Blue, 4 on 4 action
Team skirmish: Capture the flag/base style game mode for teams

The major new weapon I experienced was the Spartan laser, this weapon deals out quick and hit death after a short charging time. I’m wondering if this weapon is overpowered or if it’s just that other people haven’t yet become accustomed to avoiding it, but it seems you are guaranteed several kills if you manage to stumble across one of these beauties

The biggest change to the way the game plays is through the equipment button X. Using this you can throw down a quick bubble shield, that rather than just granting temporary invincibility only keeps you safe in certain ways adding to the technical element to the game. You are complexly safe from all incoming fire and grenade as long as they originate from outside the shell, anyone can walk inside and lay the smack down on you as well as drive straight through the shield and deliver some four-wheeled justice. This modifies the controls slightly as now you can press the triggers to fire the left and right weapons and the bumpers to reload left and right. This adds a useful feature of reloading one weapon while firing another, which takes a little getting used to.

Besides from being a part of the carnage you also have the option of viewing the replays and saving them. One awesome feature is saving the replay and going back to it even when you are in the matchmaking menus and the match is over. Sadly you can only view the replay from your own first person view, which is a real shame as something more akin to the photo and video modes in some driving games would be ace, imagine being able to get that moody close-up view of you and your team saved and uploaded to the interwebs.

Halo 3 makes a great free demo, although I’d highly advise buying Crackdown to get it as you’ll likely find Crackdown gets as much Gameplay from you as the beta, especially after June 10th when the beta expires and thousands of copies of Crackdown appear on eBay and Craigslist.

The final version of Halo 3 is currently due on September 25th, look for it!
 

Back in 1989 a little game came out called Prince of Persia.  And now 18 years later it is being re-released on the XBox 360 Arcade.  If you believe the Ubisoft PR team they are quoted as saying “Prince of Persia game that was lauded as THE game that started the platforming genre”, Hmmmm I remember this little game called Super Mario Brothers?

For those of you who are too young or who were not big enough geeks back in the 80s like I was to remember this game let me tell you a little bit about it.  While the Sultan of Persia is away for a war, the evil Vizier seizes the throne for himself. He has also imprisoned the beautiful Princess and has given her an hour to decide her fate – marry him or die. As the courageous Prince, you have 60 minutes to complete the mission of saving the Princess from her deadly fate.

For those of you who remember this game like it was yesterday be warned the game has been enhanced with new game play experience, new traps, puzzles and enemies.  Look for Prince of Persia to come out early this summer!

Via Press Release

Rockstar Games has announced the fourth installment of the Midnight Club racing franchise.  Hopefully they have non-playable characters walking down the sidewalk or crossing the streets that look like Jack Thompson, and Dr. Phil.  Sorry just wishful dreaming there….. Oh yeah back to Midnight Club: Los Angeles release information.

For the folks out there that have not ever played a Midnight Club game let me summarized the game for you.  Fast cars that get upgraded there by letting you go even faster.  Now if you want to hear a quote from the Rockstar PR department that will go a little something like this, “Midnight Club’s addictive blend of freedom, style and sheer sense of speed sets it apart from its competition,” said Sam Houser, Founder and Executive Producer of Rockstar Games. “With Midnight Club: Los Angeles, Rockstar San Diego looks to once again push the boundaries and expectations of what a racing game can be. Rockstar San Diego has always been the technology leader in delivering the ultimate racing experience, and with this game, they are looking to re-define the idea of a completely immersive racing game experience, both offline and online.”, they then go on to say “On prior consoles, the Midnight Club franchise continually raised the bar for racing games, evolving from being the first ever street racing game to setting the defining standard for credibly integrating street racing culture with an intense racing experience,” said Jay Panek, Producer of the Midnight Club series. “With Midnight Club: Los Angeles, our goal is to evolve on all possible levels and stay true to the hardcore gaming experience the series is known for, while making it accessible to casual gamers and car enthusiasts.”

Forza 2, and Test Drive have really set the bar high for this Gen racing games, lets hope the Rockstar folks are bringing their A game and set new standards for racing games to be measured by.  For more information check out their Rockstar website.

Via Press Release

With the big announcement yesterday of Halo 3 being released September 25th, 2007, it got me to wondering how this will affect other games that were already scheduled to be released at that time.

Peering into my video game crystal ball I see some really big titles that could be hurt by this announcement.  First and foremost is BioWare’s Mass Effect, but also Assassin’s Creed, TimeShift, and to a lesser extent Grand Theft Auto IV.  Lets face it Halo is the game that every developer wishes they had, and no one but no one wants to go against.  I am actually looking forward to see what Sony will throw out in the month of September to try to steer some of the PR hype away from the Halo release.  Nintendo has a whole string of their heavy hitters coming this fall, but Halo 3 is so big that it could really cut into their sales as far as the Wii60 homes go.

I was really looking forward to Mass Effect, Assassin’s Creed, and Grand Theft Auto IV.  I had planned to bang through Mass Effect this summer, in time to work on Assassin’s Creed this September but figured I could have that game finished by the time Grand Theft Auto IV made its way onto consoles in October from there with a few late nights I am guessing I could be very close to finishing GTA IV to finish off 2007 with Halo 3 in November.  But with Halo 3 coming in September, and the fact that all the Halo series have always had such strong multiplayer functionality, many gamers could be playing Halo 3 way into 2008, and picking some of these other could have been big titles up later next spring after some price drops.  Microsoft may find it more difficult to negotiate deals for exclusive and simultaneous release for cross platform development projects next time due to the fact that developers will worry about AAA first party titles like Gears of War or Crackdown sequels being released in close proximity their games.

Only time will tell how sales will be affected.  Lets face it right now all most of us care about is Bungie getting the Halo 3 beta working for us Crackdown owners!