Halo 4 Launch Gameplay Trailer October 24, 2012

The trailer that premiered last night during the commercials of Sons of Anarchy has been posted on the official Halo Waypoint Channel.  Showing a pretty decent amount of in-game footage and cutscenes, Halo 4’s Launch trailer probably gives us the deepest look into the game’s story that we’ve seen up to this point.  Check it out for yourselves!

Halo 4 is coming November 6th, 2012 exclusive to the Xbox 360.

Playstation 3 Firmware 4.30 Patch Notes October 24, 2012

PS3 Firmware version 4.30 has been released today.  The list of changes is quite small, and says only that version 4.30 will add the ability to view Playstation Vita Trophies on the PS3.  To view Vita trophies on your PS3 you will need to have a Playstation Vita and a supported game, as well as use the same Playstation Network account for the Vita that you use with the Playstation 3.

Firmware 4.30 is required to continue to use the Playstation Network.  You can download the Firmware by selecting the Network Update option, which is the top option in your PS3 settings menu.

Xbox SmartGlass Supported Launch Titles October 23, 2012

Xbox SmartGlass isn’t out yet, but a lot of people, myself included, have been looking forward to it since it was announced at E3 2012.  Microsoft promises that it will allow a major expansion of the Xbox 360 by offering an interactive second screen interface to a wide range of common devices.  It will tremendously increase a game’s capabilities and should add a wide range of playability to whatever games are going to make use of it.

With the release of the Fall 2012 update today, the Xbox 360 is now SmartGlass compliant.  The program has not yet been released but it will be soon and here are the initial games and apps that will be ready to make use of it.

Games:

• Ascend
• Dance Central 3
• Forza Horizon
• Halo Waypoint
• Home Run Stars
• Karaoke
• Kinect Sesame Street TV
• Prima Games

Sports:

• ESPN
• NBA Game Time
• UFC

Entertainment Apps:

• Elections 2012
• HBO GO
• MSN
• NBC News
• NOW TV
• Slacker Radio
• TODAY
• Univision

SmartGlass is coming to Android, iOS and Windows 8 devices.  Windows 8 launches October 26th, 2012.

iPad Mini Announced October 23, 2012

Well it has happened.  Apple has announced today that a new iPad will be coming to the consumer market…and its smaller.

From the looks of it, this new device is going to have all the capabilities of the full-sized iPad, only at a smaller size.  It has a 7.9″ display, making it smaller than an iPad but larger than an iPhone screen.  That makes it thinner and lighter than a current iPad.  The new iPad Mini will feature the A5 processor, full Siri support, a 1080p rear video camera and 720p front face camera.  It is also expected to be compatible with the incredibly wide range of iPhone and iPad apps.

Apple promises the iPad Mini will have 10 hours of battery life on a single charge.  The iPad Mini will make use of the Lightning Port to charge itself, which is the same adapter that shipped with the iPhone 5.  You can read all the specific details of the new device here.

iPad Mini WiFi Edition is coming November 2nd, 2012.  Cellular LTE-Equipped iPad Minis are coming Mid-November 2012.

Xbox 360 Fall 2012 Update is Live October 23, 2012

Those of you who are logging your 360s into Xbox Live starting today will probably be noticing a prompt upon login.  The highly anticipated Fall 2012 Update for the Xbox 360 has been released.  The changes are too wide to post here but I will try to post the most important changes.

The Xbox 360 dashboard has been completely revamped once more with an improved interface and better Kinect integration.  Internet Explorer 9 has been added.  Facebook and Twitter apps have been removed.  Zune Music and Zune Video have been changed to Xbox Music and Xbox Video.

The update will also bring support for Xbox Smartglass, which was originally announced at E3 2012.  Smartglass is not out yet, but it is coming to a wide array of Tablets, Smartphones and Windows PCs.

The Fall 2012 update is required for Xbox Live access.

Final Presidental Debate Tonight on Xbox Live October 22, 2012

Just a reminder to those of you political buffs out there, the final Presidential Debate will air tonight from 9PM-10:30PM EST on Xbox Live.  The debate will be between the incumbant President Barack Obama and his challenger former Governor Mitt Romney.  The focus of tonight’s debate will be Foreign Affairs.

For those of you who are Xbox Live Rewards Members and watch thirty minutes of tonight’s debate, as well as thirty minutes of at least two other debates.  Since this is the final debate which will air before the election, this is the last chance you will have to earn the highly coveted Gold SPARTAN-IV Halo 4 Armor for your Xbox Live Avatar.

Microsoft promises that download codes for the avatar armor will be e-mailed to users who met the requirements for it on or around November 1st, 2012.  Halo 4 is coming November 6th, 2012 (which in the US is also Election Day).

The Making of Alan Wake Collector’s Edition Documentary October 19, 2012

A bit of a blast from the past tonight.  We’re going to be covering something we haven’t covered on the site in quite a while.  Remedy has saw fit to do something special for their community and posted up all three parts of the previously exclusive “Making of” documentary that was made for the Alan Wake Collector’s Edition.  The documentary is made up primarily of interviews with various Remedy team members.  Some development footage is shown, as well as footage of the game, but for the most part it is a narrated story.

The documentary is cut up into three parts.  The first part focuses on the history behind Remedy, the game’s developers.  They are the creators of Max Payne and Death Rally, and the first part talks a lot about what it was like for the industry in those days.

The second and third part focus exclusively on the making of Alan Wake, and they are fantastic.

Alan Wake is out now for PC and Xbox 360.

Halo 4 “Scanned” Trailer October 19, 2012

It looks like the new part of Forward Unto Dawn is not the only Halo 4 news today.  A new Halo 4 trailer has been released, and for the first time in a video medium we get a look at the Master Chief’s life and see just what made him the mechanized destruction machine he is today.  The trailer is produced by David Fincher (Fight Club) and it looks…just glorious!

If I may speculate a bit on the trailer here, I am curious if this scene (or a scene like it) is going to appear in the final version of Halo 4.  It looks like the Master Chief is being interrogated and tortured by the Prometheans.  The Covenant never bothered to do this sort of thing, which already shows a major difference between the two enemy races.

The Chief has never been tortured before.  If this scene is a part of a sequence in the game, it would be fascinating to see how it plays out.  Torture sequences have appeared in games in the past, I’m sure the most famous one was probably the one in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.  It will be interesting to see just what the Chief will do.

Halo 4 is coming November 6th, 2012.

Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn Part 3 Released October 19, 2012

Its Friday, that means the third part in what will probably be the closest thing that is ever released to a Halo movie has been released on Halo Waypoint and Machinima Prime.  While you can watch it just fine on your Halo Waypoint app for the Xbox 360, you can check out the movie on your computer or mobile device below.

More episodes will be released each Friday, leading up to the release of Halo 4.

If you haven’t seen the other parts yet, you can watch Part 1 here, or Part 2 here.  Be aware that a feature-length Director’s Cut of the movie is going to be released with the Halo 4 Limited Edition, and there has been talk that it will also be released to Blu-Ray Disc (BD) in December.

Halo 4 is coming November 6th, 2012 exclusive to the Xbox 360.