When 2K’s Top Spin 2 was released for the 360 in March of 2006 the game immediately felt broken to me, a veteran with countless hours logged with the first Top Spin (then developed by Microsoft’s in house sports team) on Xbox. Something felt amiss and that left me feeling betrayed. Eventually a time came when there was nothing else to play so I popped it back in to see if I missed something along the way. I came to know the slightly different feel and eventually ended up spending a fair amount of time with it until the game started to outpace how fast my career character was advancing his talents. I was trying to play at a higher level than my player would allow based on his skill point distribution and I ended up in a loop with no satisfying solution.

2K decided to go back, strip the game down and rebuild it. They’ve revamped the look, presentation, career system, online play and most notably the controls. How did they fare? Hit the jump, open up that new can of balls (not that kind Jimmy!) and getting ready to return serve. Continue Reading »

When I’d first heard that a Bourne game was on the way, I was a tad skeptical. When I’d heard Matt Damon refused his likeness, I was beyond skeptical. When I heard that it was going to distance itself from the films and focus on the books, a skeptical bird flew through my window and hit me in the face, knocking me clear out of my skeptical chair. But then I’d starting hearing things — good things — and my skepticism turned to curiousity. So how did it play out?

Continue Reading »

Fallout 3 has got to be one of the most hotly anticipated titles ever for me. This trailer furthers my belief that the series is in good hands with Bethesda. The trailer starts in typical Fallout fashion with some sort of ad (this one features Mr. Handy), zooming out to show a devasted landscape. After that, it goes on to show a bloody mess of a montage of gameplay footage with a cameo by Dogmeat. I just wish we could see some more of the RPG aspect of it.

The battle scenes, though gorgeous, leave me wondering how, exactly, it will function. I seem to recall hearing that the battle system would be flexible between a sort of turn based-type system which allows you to target body parts (like the originals) and the run-and-gun style gameplay that dominates this trailer. Anyways, I’ll have to go do my homework on this while you watch the trailer. Hope you enjoy it!

UPDATE: There’s some gameplay footage after the jump that shows exactly how the combat system works, as well as some other footage that should satisfy your curiosity for now. Those classic sound effects have got me so excited. Can’t wait!

Continue Reading »

One of the biggest gambles to kick off E3 this year was Microsoft’s decision to put a playable demo of Too Human up on Live. Were the critics at E307 right? Was the constant stalling of release date and the recent attack dog face on Silicon Knights founder Denis Dyack indicative of a knowingly botched product? Or did Dyack and crew pull it together when it came time to put up or shut up? Hit the jump for impressions from Jim and Kevin: Continue Reading »

Remember 1942? I do. I played the hell out of it back in the day. Now, the remake of that iconic title has finally got a release date set for July 24, 2008 on the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade. Actually, ‘remake’ is not the right word. It’s definitely a new entry, but it will take a lot from the previous entries of the 194X series. Anyways, 1942: Joint Strike will feature a full 3D engine that looks pretty good from the screenshots and videos that I’ve seen.

That’s about all there is to it other than it will also have a 2-player online co-op mode and a new soundtrack by Norihiko Hibino (Metal Gear). Good times will be had. Any takers?

Video: Xbox 360 Content License Transfer Tool on Xbox.com

So I went ahead and did this last night, and it started off easy as can be and quickly turned into a WTF? moment. After doing all the computer-side stuff you’re instructed to download the new licenses to the console, which sounds easy except you need to choose each item individually and download it again to get the new DRM code. That’s fine if you have a few things but Xbox.com told me I consolidated 299 licenses! Awesome, now I suppose I’ll be downloading each of those again???

Also, I think it’s funny to hear the MSoft people keep using the example of people upgrading to the Elite as a reason to need this, completely glossing over the fact that it’s the Red-Ring-O-Death that screwed most (99.9%) of us over. But it’s a solution, so in the end it’s a good thing.

Click here to get started.

After our recent review of Buku Sudoku went up, we had the opportunity to sit down and speak with Buku developer Ben Moy. Hit the jump to hear him discuss his sudoku inspirations, the Microsoft de-listing debacle, what he’ll be working on next and a host of other topics.

Continue Reading »