Xbox 360 Receiving a Hard Drive Update

Xbox Live's update preview program members will be able to utilize up to 2-2TB hard drives on their Xbox 360s in the next update.

All other Xbox Live users will have access to this update later this year according to Major Nelson's blog.

This update will allow users to connect up to 2-2TB hard drives to their consoles to store downloaded games, profiles, save files, etc. from their consoles.

Previously, users were limited to only being able to use up to 32GB of space on an external hard drive, so this update will give users access to significantly more space.

Another previous requirement of the Xbox 360's external hard drive policy was a pre-format of space on the hard drive. This would section off the desired portion of the hard drive up to 32GB to put aside for future file saves. This update will remove this requirement and will allow users to only use the amount of space they're actually using at the time.

Our Take: This update is amazing, but it's too little, too late. This update would've been amazing about two years ago. I'll still be using this to download all of the games I've purchased over the years and to get all the amazing Games with Gold, but I really needed this years ago. Hopefully Microsoft learns their lesson and updates the Xbox One with this soon, and the PS4 soon after.

Bound by Flame developer announces new game The Technomancer

"On the run from the Secret Police and confronted by the harsh realities of the Red Planet, you must undertake a quest that takes you through tribal communities, cities lost under the ice, and dystopian shanties sprawled across Mars' dusty embrace."

This is the official description of Spider's (Bound by Flames developer) upcoming RPG The Technomancer.

Technomancer takes place on Mars during an event known as the War of the Water. Players will play as the Technomancer, described as a"combat proficient warrior," who uses both cybernetic and magical abilities as he fights through the various sides of the War.

Common RPG elements like crafting and a leveling system will be an integral part of the game's mechanics. Spider claims, however, that many of the missions throughout the game will have upwards of 5 different endings. To be clear, the game doesnt have up to five endings, each mission within the game will. This, presumably, means the game will have a large diversity of endings depending on the choices made by the player.

The Technomancer will also be accompanied by dynamic companions who will assist his quest throughout the war.

The Technmoancer is set to be released sometime in 2016 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

Our Take: Science-Fiction RPGs seem to be getting announced fairly regularly now, and we're excited! Games like Mass Effect and Rage are usually pretty fun and innovative. Spider's take on the genre, so far, sounds pretty good. It also sounds like they have a way to go until the concept becomes a reality, so we're excited to see further news and trailers for the game. 

Dante's Inferno

 

Dante's Inferno made by EA and Visceral Games is a disturbing action adventure game that sends you on a disturbing descent down Dante's eight layers of hell. You battle through progressively harder levels and enemies all the way to the eighth layer all in the name of...love. That's right, that is what warrants this rampage through hell, love and an unhealthy need to be absolved for all the people you've killed. This game is fun and addicting as you meet new enemies and solve new sin-themed puzzles all the way to the devil himself to save your dear loving Beatrice.

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Pros: Constant action, Highly detialed enviroments, compelling story, fun combat system, Amazing boss battles, tons of gore and intense and emotionally powerful landscapes 

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Cons: main character is uninteresting and overall is depicted as a real jerk, the constant change of enemies and environments makes the learning curve spike randomly, many special attacks seem to lack any real punch and enemy glitches can make some fights seem dull or just plain aggravating.
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Dante's Inferno is a great game, if not significantly disturbed in almost every sense of the word. The depiction of hell is exciting and provides a unique videogame experience that is both fun and challenging. While many players might find it hard to slaughter a hoarde of unbaptized babies or may feel sick seeing the lust goddess constantly flail giant tongues out of her breast, once you get passed the openly demented game you'll find a pretty bad ass hack and slash game.

While many might argue that it's a lot more than a hack and slash it really isn't, you may learn new ways to hack and slash and occasionally may have to time blocks and counters just right it doesn't change the fact that every level you have to find a new way hack through your enemies and slash them to pieces.

However this never takes away from the game. In fact it actually adds to it. You play as Dante, a pissed off and heart-broken crusader whose one true love has been stolen by the devil himself to be his queen of hell. This is all because she made a deal with the devil that Dante would stay faithful during the crusades. Spoiler: he doesn't. So her soul becomes Lucifers and it's Dante's job to kill every damned soul, demon, and guardian to get the soul of his beloved wife back. Many of the figures you fight or see in the game were real historic figures who messed up enough in life to find themselves in hell. Some of these you get a chance to "absolve" or give their soul a pardons, this is strongly recommended for late game strategy.

You're constantly faced with new enemies and new puzzles. Most are incredibly hard to fight or solve without knowing the specific tactic to defeat each. But I once you learn every enemy's Achilles heel it becomes incredibly easy to just mow through enemies. If you find yourself running really low on health half way through battles try to max out your health bar and grab the last perk on the holy side. Dante's inferno is huge on collectible items, so search every square inch of the map and solve every puzzle to get every coin and item, it not only drags the play time out but it helps give you that little extra boost you may be looking for.

Overall once you get past a lot of the horrifyingly disturbing images that'll make you want to bathe every time you play Inferno is one hell of a game. Definitely worth the $15 it now cost. If nothing else it's great to crank up the difficulty and give yourself a little bit of a challenge between your other video games. Inferno takes about 20-35 hours to complete depending on your play style and need for achievements, I love achievements so it took me a little around 40. Definitely worth checking out but I'd give replay value a 6/10 it's really a one and done kind of game.

Bloodborne (PS4) review

Blood-borne is made by gaming developer From Software and is the spiritual successor to the action/adventure RPG Souls series.

Bloodborne is set in the Gothic land or Yarnhem, where Grimm fairy tales and steam punk collide in a grotesquely beautiful fashion.

Bloodborne shares a lot of its mechanics and themes with previous entries in the series, while offering up new features that make the game feel unique.

The game, while punishing, still welcomes new players and long time fans of the series by creating beautiful environments, intense enemies, and a dark and mysterious narrative that entices players to push forward through the gruesome gothic world.

The game utilizes the capabilities of the ps4 to present a beautifully detailed world and stunningly grotesque enemies, with flowing bandages, ripping skin, and other haunting qualities that make each enemy unique. While there are some distracting visual and auditory glitches on occasion, the overall game looks very well designed.

The mechanics of the game feel intuitive and incredibly responsive. Movement and attacks feel fluid, but the game still suffers from some hit-box problems that can be frustrating and make some combat feel unrealistic. Occasionally the dodge/ roll mechanic won't let the player properly maneuver around an enemy or piece of the environment where it clearly should, again pulling the player from the game and causing some undue frustration. Otherwise the gameplay feels amazing and natural.

This game is definitely not for the faint of heart as it reaches deep into some primal fears to create feelings of dread and despair. Playing through the game left me feeling angry, scared, and occasionally elated when I finally mastered an area that I was having particular trouble with.
The game is grueling but satisfying in the most masochistic of ways, and no matter how challenging it became I always found myself crawling back to its devastating jaws.

As with previous Souls games, Bloodborne is filled with diverse and memorable Boss fights that require planning, strategy, or sometimes, just plain dumb luck. Each boss offers unique fights, and often through many attempts feel incredibly satisfying to finally vanquish.

One of the best, and perhaps joyfully unnoticed qualities, is the seamlessness of the world. There is absolutely no load screens in between areas and it possible to travel from one end of the map to the other without a single load screen. This allows the open world to feel even more immersive, but this unfortunately leaves the post-death load screen to take even longer to process the entire world of the game. It should be noted that From Software has promised to fix the 40-second loading time in a future update for the game.

The weapons of Bloodborne are scarce but unique. In previous souls games weapons were frequent, but many lacked diversity or any truest great qualities. However, in Bloodborne this problem is solved by only giving the player access to a small number of unique weapons that all hold interesting abilities that require the player to think strategically about combat. Luckily the diversity of the weapons, and the ability to switch between two different weapons, allows players to be ready for a variety of encounters.

One aspect that did not seem to improve since Dark souls 2 was the new transportation mechanic. In the previous entry players could travel to any rest location that had been unlocked from any of the other locations. In Bloodborne, however, it is only possible to travel to the players main hub from the game world, but players can travel to any rest locations from the main hub.

Despite its various glitches and extended loading times, Bloodborne is a fantastic entry into the Souls series, and should please old fans of the series, while still feeling welcoming to those new to the punishing world created by From Software

Leaked Screenshots Show Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

New images have surfaced for the next entry in the popular game series Deus Ex. The series focuses on a not-to-distant future where human augmentation has become a reality, and is commonplace.

As the leaked title suggests, however, mankind is indeed divided over the issue, and riots and revolution ensue. 

The previous entry, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, showed the beginnings of a Civil War between the conservative anti-augmentation groups, and large pro-augmentation corporations. Without spoiling the game, there are some heavy themes regarding humanity and technology through out the game and it seems as though these themes will persist into this next entry.

The title, "Mankind Divided," definitely suggests that a civil war of sorts must be in full swings, and now potentially rogue agent is caught in the middle.

The leaked screenshots definitely confirm that Adam Jensen, the protagonist from Human Revolution, will be returning in some capacity ( I suspect as the main protagonist once again), as well as the traditional first-person shooter, third-person cover play style.

A screenshot of gun modifications suggests that the game is updating its previous weapon detail screen for something closer to Crysis. If this truly is a Crysis clone of gun-modding, then players can expect to be able to examine and modify guns on the go for quick and easy combat. 

As usual the screenshots look amazing and incredibly above par. It is, however, unusual for a final product to look as good initial screens and demos. I am still excited for the game even if it doesn't meet the graphic capacity of the screenshots. 

The game will be made by Square Enix and Eidos Montreal, however there is no confirmation for which consoles it will be released, or a potential release window. 

My midnight release reaization

I'm standing in GameStop right now. Like right this second waiting for From Software's Bloodborne so I can go home and start my let's plays. Waiting here I came to a depressing conclusion: I'm 23 and I don't belong at a midnight release.

I'm a senior in college, already applying to gaming companies around the country, ready to take on the world as part of the most amazing industry I can imagine, and I don't belong at a GameStop midnight release.

Around me are a bunch of high schoolers talking about sex, racism, and making stupid voices. There's two girls huddled in a corner having a far more intelligent conversation than anyone else in the room. Two guys, who are either older than me, or at least my age, are talking about the sick bowl they smoked before some concert last night, and how they're gonna invade all of us "scrub noobs." I thought I would come here and be with a bunch of people who I would have a mass wealth of shared interests, make some one-night friends, and go home happy. I don't belong here.

At school I have a great group of friends to talk about this stuff with, and I'm applying to places where I know I'll find a great group of individuals whom I'll be able to hold awesome conversations with about gaming. I'm honestly surprised I didn't find that here. Is the age of the midnight release party gone? Is it an isolated incident?

I hope not. I can dream that soon, me and a large group of people will flood a game store and have an amazing time waiting until midnight for an amazing game. That doesn't mean I think that gaming culture is doomed at all. In fact I think gaming is nearing the next golden age (we've had like two already), not now but soon. 

In any event, look forward to my Bloodborne let's play and review soon!

SKYLANDERS: Spyro's Adventure

 Skylander's is an all age appropriate game from Activision and Toys for Bob. While the price to play the full experience is higher than most games on the market the game and the collectibles are well worth it. Even as a veteran gamer I had a refreshing good and worry free time playing Skylanders. The different worlds, the ever changing characters and exciting quest and puzzle solving adventure is fits perfectly into this new world of Spyro. So whether you're nostalgic about your days playing as a polygon shaped Spyro or if you're young and new to the gaming world looking for something to get you hooked, this is definitely the game to turn to.
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Pros: Fast exciting game play, Amazing and cartoony characters and worlds that add layers of enjoyment to the game play, a fun soundtrack, seemingly endless possibilities that fit any level of gamer and their various play styles, a collectible character for everyone you're sure to find one that fits you perfectly, fun collectibles in-game that keep you looking for secret puzzles in each world, easy to play for any gamer but it never really gets boring.
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Cons: Expensive, Voice acting and NPC character design could use a major overhaul, could use skill trees instead of an upgrade store, some of the collectible hats don't quite fit right on every characters head.
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Skylanders is a fun game there's no doubt about it. Not only does it bring a renewed sense of childhood nostalgia it also gave me hope for the new gaming generation. It's hard to find games suited towards the young pre-teen generation that deliver the amazing and addicting experiences I found when I was a child coming into gaming. However, while it may not be the new ocarina of time or super Mario 64, it is certainly an amazing game that any parent should be proud to let their child play. Not only does it have some of that sneaky "educational-value" parents look for in games, through things like puzzle solving, semi-complicated task and often vague objectives that any younger gamer might have to take time to figure out, it also has two fundamental addictions that any proper gamer child should have: collectibles and really silly humor. Skylanders is in no short supply of both.

 

However parents may raise one serious concern over Skylanders: Price. A well founded fear of their wallets being drained as their new gamer child begs for a new character pack every time they step into Walmart. The picture above shows all the current available Skylanders (save some pretty awesome yet expensive collectors editions) and at $10 for each (or $20 for 3, a way better value) it is easy to see what concern most parents would have. However when all your kid wants is another skylander to play with instead of a new pack of Lego's or a new barbie or any $20-$30 toy that most non-gamer children want it is certainly easier to justify buying a skylander instead. Lets face it, the Skylanders look cool and kids love playing with them on whatever system they have for it. Can't think of a good birthday present or Christmas gift? BOOM! Skylanders, an easy $20 to make your kid feel like the richest kid in the world. Trust me the same applies for any self-respecting teen and veteran gamer.

 

 

Speaking of which, what does a game like Skylanders have to offer to anyone above the age of 14? Surprisingly a lot. If you were like me and love to play Spyro as a kid this game is a no brainer, while not as Spyro focused as the other games were (for obvious reasons) this game is the next step in Spyro's natural evolution. SO if you did play Spyro you'll get an infectious case of Nostalgia that will keep you rolling out $20 bills to keep on playing, leveling up and just trying out new and awesome characters. Even if you never played Spyro as a kid most gamers will still get a kick out of this inventive way to play, collecting toys and watching them come to life certainly makes my day and certainly makes me feel like I'm trying out a whole new gaming world. So if you've been on the fence about Skylander's don't be! Go out and buy it right away and get addicted just like so many gamers have.

 

 

 

 

You'll face many of the same enemies through most of the game, though it seems like every 15 minutes or so a new bad guy pops up. The main quest places you in the shoes of the new portal master, sort of like a controller or keeper of the skylanders, and by using your "portal" you summon the Skylanders from their frozen state to help fight for and save their world from the clutches of KAOS ( presumably Chaos and Khaos have been beaten to death as villain names.) And most people will recognize Kaos' voice right away as the one and only INVADER ZIM! That's right for any veteran gamer this is sure to give you a double shot of memories as you constantly listen to this new bad guy with ZIM's voice bantering on just like the good old days. The game is easy to follow and is nothing if not straight forward and to the point when it comes to your quest's and objectives. Your main goal is to repair an ancient device that keeps the good in the Skylander world protected from the bad. Essential a beaten to death concept, but it still has an awesome kick to it.

 

 

The puzzles are simple, while some take longer than others to figure out they are never to hard as most involve pushing Turtle's or rocks one way or the other. While not the most challenging game it's still a lot of fun and shouldn't be passed over as a "kids game." Spyro is certainly back and this time I think he's here to stay and be passed on to the next generation as the game that got them started.

Look out for the exciting new Skylanders Adventure: Skylander Giants, due out October 21st 2012!


You can buy the Starter Pack here through Gamestop: http://www.gamestop.com/ps3/games/skylanders-spyros-adventure-starter-pack/90629