Halo Waypoint Released for iOS December 10, 2011
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In another surprising move, another program Microsoft designed that was originally designed as a Windows Phone 7 exclusive has been released to the iOS through the App Store.
Halo Waypoint started off as an Xbox 360 program which allowed you to watch exclusive videos and track your game progress. It started off by creating its own ranking system but with later revisions allowed you to track your multiplayer statistics online. A smartphone version was released in conjunction with Windows Phone 7 and featured almost all the features of the original Xbox 360 version for people on the go.
Unfortunately, this iOS release of Halo Waypoint lacks almost all the features Halo Waypoint offers through other means. You cannot watch Halo Waypoint exclusive videos or check your Halo Waypoint Ranking. The only thing you can do is check the daily Halo Reach challenges or your multiplayer statistics, and you could already do that with the Bungie App! If you want multiplayer tips and strategies, you’ll have to pay extra for the ATLAS feature.
There really is no excuse for features like video to be omitted from this version of the program, as they have been included in the mobile version of Halo Waypoint for Windows Phone 7 since that OS released.
You can download Halo Waypoint for free through the App Store. It has also been made avaible for Android.
Alan Wake XBLA Teaser 2 December 9, 2011
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The second teaser to the next Alan Wake game, which will be an Xbox Live Arcade exclusive release, has been posted to the official Alan Wake Facebook Page. Go give it a watch!
This teaser seems to be a recap of the theme of the Alan Wake series, which is the battle between light and darkness. This is a decent setup for anyone unfamiliar with the series. Remedy had said that this new game was intended to be a good jumping point for new Alan Wake players.
The full video will premiere tomorrow night on the Spike VGA Awards at 8pm.
Xbox Live App On iPhone…Officially December 8, 2011
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The days promised to us back in 2006 with the Live Anywhere announcement may finally be coming to fruition. Or you could say that Microsoft has decided to just give up a major exclusive feature that was previously only officially on Windows Phones, because lets face it, nobody had one.
My Xbox Live has just been added to the iTunes app store free of charge. With the app you’ll be able to read your messages, achievements, view your friends list and achievements, and modify your Xbox Live Avatar. You will also be able to stream various videos you can stream on your Xbox 360 like Talk With Tina or Major’s Minute.
I’m hoping this means we’ll see more programs which were only on windows phone coming up for more widely used platforms, like Halo Waypoint and some previously exclusive games, like the one I got to play at E3 while in line for Gears of War 3.
You will need to have previously accepted the recently updated Xbox Live Terms of Service in order to access your profile on the phone. You can do that when you log into Xbox.com or your 360. The My Xbox Live app is free.
Xbox 360 Dashboard Update Coming December 6th November 23, 2011
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It’s been in testing for a while now, but it has just been announced by Major Nelson that the next incarnation of the Xbox 360 dashboard update will release on December 6th.
First shown at E3 2011, the new dashboard will greatly expand the Kinect functionality of the Xbox 360, give a whole new interface, and add new features like cloud saves.
When released, Xbox 360s will automatically update to the new dashboard when connected to Xbox Live.
Doom 3 Source Code Released November 23, 2011
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As John Carmack has promised for several years, the source code to Doom 3 has been released with the help of Timothee Besset.
Doom 3 was released in 2004 and was at the time considered to be one of the best looking graphics engines of its day. Since then, graphics engines have improved, but Doom 3’s unified lighting and shadowing system still holds up today.
Doom 3 wowed everybody when it first came into the spotlight at E3 2002, but I had been eagerly awaiting it for the entire four years it was being developed. The morning it was released I intentionally took an early shift at work just so I could have a break when the stores opened. I had preordered it at three different locations because they had three different preorder incentives (which were little pewter figurines of the original Doom enemies). I had no idea one of the stores I preordered at just so I could get one of the figurines would be the place I would actually pick it up from! When my boss saw what I was playing on my computer during lunch, instead of repremanding me, he sat down just so he could see how the game looked on my computer!
The code is released under the GPL. If you intend to modify it to create your own product with it, you MUST release it under GPL and include your source code with it. According to the terms of the source code, no game content is included with the code, as that is still protected under the game’s EULA.
Give the code a download here! This code is literally a huge footprint in the history of gaming and should be seen by software engineers and coders everywhere!
Alan Wake Xbox Live Arcade Image Analyzed November 10, 2011
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Now, we have known Remedy has been in development of a new Alan Wake game for a while now, as Remedy teased us a few months ago. They had said they were working on a new Alan Wake game, and it wasn’t going to be a sequel or DLC. Armed with just that information, I spent a whole article with my own speculations on what it could possibly be. Well, now we know what it is. Earlier in the week, Remedy has announced that a brand new Alan Wake game is in development and it will be released exclusive to Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA).
Remedy has already promised that even though the game is going to be released through XBLA no sacrifices will be made to any of the core gameplay we know and love from the very first game. They have also stated that if you had removed the cutscenes, the physical space the game took up in the retail disc was around 2GB, which nowadays is small enough to fit maximum XBLA file size specifications. Anyone remember when maximum XBLA filesize was 50mb?
Well the first image of the new game has been released. For legal reasons I’m not going to embed it here, but feel free to check out where its being hosted. The cool thing is, a lot can be speculated on from just the single image! I looked at it myself and drew my own conclusions about it, but some other die hard Alan Wake fans I’ve talked to have noticed things in the image that I had missed!
First off, it looks like we aren’t in Washington anymore! Both the background enviroment and Alan’s attire speak volumes to that. Gone are the forests of the Pacific Northwest, replaced by a desert enviroment. Alan’s attire appears practical given the rugged enviroment. Alan could be somewhere in the midwest or even the south. The background and designs of the buildings around him do scream Montana or the Dakotas (which aren’t that far east of Bright Falls), but given Alan’s attire (and the steer on his belt buckle) he could be as far south as Texas.
Alan is still brandishing a flashlight but he has a new weapon in his hand. Upon initial inspection I thought it was some kind of power drill but other people have commented this is actually a nail gun. The player may be forced to using more improvised weapons in this new game. Not content with just one power tool, I’m sure a lot of people will be asking if a chainsaw will also be on the list. There is a light pole behind him (which were heal/savepoints in the first game), so it looks like all the light based gameplay of the first game is quite intact.
A die hard Alan Wake fan also noticed an improvement to the graphics engine has been made. Paticularly, the model for Alan Wake (played by the actor Ikka Villi) looks a lot more like the actual human actor in the new picture than he looked in the original game. I remember Remedy mentioned they had improved their technology a few months ago (before the new Alan Wake game had been teased) so this is probably the first official image of that new techonology as seen in a product.
Next off is the most obvious thing you can take from this and that is the Night Springs sign on the right side of the picture. Night Springs does not really exist in the Alan Wake world. Night Springs was a fictional series in the game which was probably influenced by shows like The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits. Over the course of the game, some of the televisions in the game will show various episodes of the show. The major significance of them is that Alan’s agent, Barry Wheeler, had mentioned Alan had written a few episodes of that show, although I don’t think we saw any episodes he had written in the game. In the opening of the game, Alan did have a nightmare (which served as the game’s tutorial) that he was driving towards Night Springs, which was to make it clear to the player he was in fact dreaming. Sarah Breaker did mention in the first game that the older residents of the town were fairly certain that their town was the original inspration for Night Springs. I mean Night Springs is pretty much the opposite word of Bright Falls. Could Alan be traveling through fictional episodes of the series that he created?
Another tidbit no one has really talked about. I’ve kind of sat on this information for a few months now but the Poets of the Fall (who recorded the song “War” for the game’s soundtrack) did tweet that they heard The Old Gods of Asgard recording some new songs. I wonder what that was for…
The first full trailer for the new Alan Wake game will premere on the Spike Video Game Awards Show on December 10th, 2011. If you can’t wait till then a teaser for the trailer has just been released and you can watch it here.
Halo Waypoint and Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary Update November 6, 2011
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Given the fact that Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary is being released in just a few days, a lot of content has been released this month detailing what is to come for all the Halo fans!
First off, a major update is coming to the Halo Waypoint, which is accessible through the PC, Xbox 360 and Windows 7 mobile phone. A whole new interface is coming with it, as well as new features.
The Waypoint update should be coming around the time of the Fall Dashboard Update for the Xbox 360. Windows Phone users will have to upgrade their phones to version 7.5 (Mango).
There has also been a ton of new Behind the Scenes videos for people interested in seeing the progress of Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary. They have been talking about the game quite a bit since the New York Comic Con (where I got to see it playable) but you can take a look at these behind the scenes videos right here.
First off, a little something about the music.
This details a whole new feature for the game, the new Terminals.
And now, a look at the game’s campaign.
They also released a whole new campaign trailer.
GameTrailers.com also has done it again and made another one of their FANTASTIC retrospectives and Halo is the focus. The first part detailed the making of the Halo franchise and the games that released for the original Xbox. The second part focuses on the games that released for the Xbox 360. However, even though only two parts of the retrospective has been released, but they have said a third is coming and it is going to focus on the game’s multiplayer.
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary is coming November 15th, 2011 exclusive to the Xbox 360.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim E3 Demo November 6, 2011
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When I attended E3 this summer, one of the more fortunate opportunies I had during the event was an invitation to the Bethesda booth on Day 1. As far as I could recall, this booth was not open to regular attendee access, and the three games that were being shown there were only shown by appointment only.
I was able to demo RAGE for the first time (which is now out), I caught a full preview of Prey 2 (which is scheduled for release in 2012) but everyone has told me the game I was most fortunate to see was The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The game was only demoed behind closed doors and no press were allowed to record footage of it.
Well, now the video is officially out. Since the game is to be expected this month, I thought I’d share with you guys exactly what I saw at E3 this year.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is coming November, 11th, 2011.
Nightwing Coming to Arkham City October 28, 2011
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Dick Grayson, yes the Dick Grayson formerly known as Robin The Boy Wonder, is coming to Arkham City in his current vigilante incarnation, Nightwing.
Nightwing has been previously seen in incarnations ranging from appearances in Batman: The Animated Series (when it was moved to the WB channel) to getting name dropped in other Batman video games like Batman: Dark Tomorrow.
But this is not just a reskinned Batman texture, Nightwing has his own style of fighting and his own special weapons, take a look for yourselves what he can do.
Alternate Nightwing costumes will be included with the Nightwing pack (similiar to what was included with the Catwoman pack), such as a version of him from the Animated Series.
One last thing I’d like to mention is does anyone else think that the model used for him in this game looks a lot like Aaron Scheonke, who played Nightwing in the recent fanfilm Batman: Seeds of Arkham?
Nightwing DLC is coming November 1st to your respective platform. A copy of Batman: Arkham City will be required.
Playstation Vita US Release Date October 19, 2011
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Multiple gaming news outlets are reporting that the Sony Playstation Vita, which I demoed at E3 this year, will launch on Feb 22nd, 2012 in the United States.
The handheld is currently on track for a launch in Japan this December, so we’re going to have to wait a while for it to come to these shores. All speculations are the reason for the delay has to do with a shortage of the device components, which is common for Sony platform launches.
The Playstation Vita will retail for $249 US for a standard WiFi model. If you’d like a version which supports 3G cellular data downloads, it will cost $299 US. AT&T is the lone Vita 3G provider for the United States, and if you buy a 3G model you will have to buy a data plan through them.
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