The truth is revealed: Halo 2 causing holdup over Xbox Live 100 Friend Limit Increase

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Bungie, Culture, First Person Shooters, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox Live

A few days ago we posted an editorial begging Microsoft to fix the Xbox Live friend limit that is currently imposed upon both Xbox Live and Zune users. Well, after years of being vague about it, the truth has finally come out. According to G4, a high-level Microsoft employee has revealed that the reason that the friend limit hasn’t increased at all, even after the launch of the Xbox 360, is Halo 2.

Halo 2? Yes. You see, original Xbox games have the friend limit hard-coded into them, and Halo 2 is an original Xbox game. Since it is still so popular, Microsoft thinks they need to keep supporting it. If they increase the friend limit, they need to take Halo 2 offline.

Please, for the love of all that is sane in the gaming world, implore your friends and countrymen to switch to Halo 3, or the upcoming Halo 3: ODST, so that we might have a more social Xbox Live.

Oh, and this still doesn’t explain the whole Zune Social thing, and Microsoft’s belief that it has to be tied to Xbox Live, for whatever reason!

Read More | G4 via Gizmodo

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Pew Study Finds Most Teens Play Games

Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: MMORPG, PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox

A recent study by Pew finds that 97% of American teens of the age 12 to 17 play computer, portable, console or online video games. When asked, half of them claimed they played yesterday and the ones who admitted to daily playing say they did so for at least an hour. Here are some of the other statistics:

• 86% of teens play on a console like the Xbox, PlayStation, or Wii.
• 73% play games on a desktop or a laptop computer.
• 60% use a portable gaming device like a Sony PlayStation Portable, a Nintendo DS, or a Game Boy.
• 48% use a cell phone or handheld organizer to play games.
• 80% of teens play five or more different game genres, and 40% play eight or more types.
• Girls play an average of 6 different game genres; boys average 8 different types.

We expect that if Pew queried adults, they would find at least the same statistics, or more for those who play MMORPGs like WOW. As for the good news, another study last September found that, for the most part, teens playing games resulted in positive social action.

Read More | Pew

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Guitar Hero 5 - New Features, More Musicians

Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Activision, Music, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox

Activision has announced that Guitar Hero 5 will be available for the PS3, PS2, Xbox and Wii this fall. The new game has a set list of tunes from 85 different bands such as the Stones, Tom Petty, Kings of Leon and the White Stripes. The company says more than 25 musicians will make their debut in the game. Also new to the game are Party Play and RockFest modes, and Band Moments that gives the entire band a point boost for a good performance.

Read More | Activision

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ARM Processors Improve Look of Games

Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Driving, Portable/Mobile, Xbox, Xbox 360

Remi Pedersen, a graphics product manager at ARM, says that by this winter the Mali-200 and Mali-400 processors will allow you to play what looks like an Xbox 360 game on your lowly cell phone. On display at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco this week, he will be running Project Gotham Racer, an Xbox 1 title, in Open GL ES, which performs like the original but feature-wise looks like a 360 title.

Read More | Yahoo News

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Halo 2 Zanzibar map done up LEGO style

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Culture, First Person Shooters, Microsoft, Xbox

See, it’s stuff like this that absolutely blows us away. We’ve seen a lot of people do some interesting things with LEGOs in the past, but we think this recreation of the Zanzibar map from Halo 2 may take the cake. This was done by a college student who seemingly had way too much time on his hands.

After nearly two years of building and thousands of dollars sunk into my project, it’s finished. This is my latest video which details how I made my famous Lego model of Zanzibar from it’s very first stage, to the now near completed form. I wanted to make this video so that everyone will get the facts straight. I originally sent the picture and video files that you’ll see in this video to Bungie Studios where they incorporated them into the Halo 3 Legendary edition bonus disk.

Check the video for the full scoop, and prepare to be amazed.

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EA Shutting Down Servers For Madden 06, NBA Live 06, And More

Posted by Chris Pereira Categories: Action, Driving, Electronic Arts, PC, PlayStation 2, PSP, Sports, Xbox, Xbox 360

People always ask, “Why buy the newest Madden game? They’re all the same.” Well, here’s one very cut-and-dry reason you can use to explain: because, eventually, these game’s servers get taken down. EA is planning to take down 42 games’ servers on September 1 (although many of these are the same game across multiple platforms), and an additional seven on November 1. This isn’t a new trend, as there’s a sizable list of servers for EA games that have gone offline over time.

Apparently there really is a reason to pick up that newest Madden.

September 1, 2007 Online Service Shutdown

• Arena Football for PlayStation 2
• Arena Football for Xbox
• FIFA Soccer 06 for Xbox 360
• FIFA Soccer 06 for PC
• FIFA06 for PC
• FIFA Soccer 06 for PlayStation 2
• FIFA Soccer 06 for PlayStation Portable
• FIFA Soccer 06 for Xbox
• FIFA World Cup 2006 for PC
• FIFA World Cup 2006 for PlayStation 2
• FIFA World Cup 2006 for PlayStation Portable
• FIFA World Cup 2006 for Xbox
• Fight Night Round 3 for PlayStation Portable
• Fight Night Round 3 for Xbox

Check out the full list of September and November shutdowns after the break.

Click to continue reading EA Shutting Down Servers For Madden 06, NBA Live 06, And More

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Morrowind Headlines New List Of Backwards Compatible Xbox Games On Xbox 360

Posted by Chris Pereira Categories: Action, Activision, Adventure, CAPCOM, Driving, Eidos, Electronic Arts, Fighting, First Person Shooters, Microsoft, Namco, Puzzle, Role Playing Games, SEGA, Simulation, Sports, Survival Horror, Third Person Shooters, THQ, Ubisoft, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox Live

It’s about time – finally, Xbox 360 owners who weren’t fortunate enough to play The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind on Xbox or PC can now do so on Xbox 360. The update brings the total number of back compat Xbox games to over 300. And all games are upscaled, so those who have been waiting to play NBA Live 2002 in 720p or 1080i can now do so.

Updated:

• Crash Bandicoot 5: Wrath of Cortex
• Jet Set Radio Future
• Rogue Ops
• Sega GT 2002

Check out the new games after the break.

Click to continue reading Morrowind Headlines New List Of Backwards Compatible Xbox Games On Xbox 360

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Game Releases For The Week Of 6/25: The Darkness, Pokemon, And Transformers

Posted by Chris Pereira Categories: Nintendo DS, Nintendo Gamecube, PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Portable/Mobile, PSP, Release Dates, Wii, Xbox, Xbox 360

Some big name titles are hitting this week, including the much anticipated The Darkness for both Xbox 360 and PS3. Transformers is bound to be a big seller by virtue of its name and the number of platforms that it’s coming out on. And Pokemon Battle Revolution for Wii is going to sell a scientifically accurate 1,432,345^100, or in other words, a metric crapton.

Click to continue reading Game Releases For The Week Of 6/25: The Darkness, Pokemon, And Transformers

Read More | Gamasutra

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GamerAndy Live! Episode 83: A Sucker for Game Bling

Posted by Edie Sellers Categories: Action, Adventure, Announcements, Corporate News, Electronic Arts, Fighting, Microsoft, PC, PlayStation 3, Portable/Mobile, PSP, Reviews, Sports, Xbox, Xbox 360, GamerAndy

Finally a return to gaming news! So much for Andy, Hawkes and Edie to talk about, including Sony’s “major announcement,” the 80Gig Europe hate, Blu-Ray price drops, and (gasp!) Andy’s discovery of a great PS3 title! But that’s not all! We’ve got conversation about EA and ID going to the Mac, the PSP “slim, Shadowrun and Forza 2.

But wait! There’s more! Winners of last week’s contest are annouced.

Order now and you’ll recieve GamerAndy’s TV corner, where we discuss the end of the Sopranos and the return of Jherico.

Don’t walk… RUN to the download!

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GamerAndy Live! Episode 82: Sex, Lies and Gamertags

Posted by Edie Sellers Categories: Internet, Namco, Politics, Release Dates, Rumors, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Arcade, Xbox Live Marketplace, GamerAndy

It’s a veritable cornucopia of co-hosts, as Andy, Hawkes, Edie and Steve519 (from XBLRadio) initially intend to talk up this week’s gaming news but instead delve deep into what we think is a growing plague on the landscape of podcasting: Corporate Lapdoggery. Yes, this is the episode where we pretty much rip apart Microsoft’s MVP program and pretty much expect we’ll be banned from all Microsoft events from now on.

We didn’t want to do it, but it had to be done. What can I say, kids, after months and months of everyone thinking it, someone had to pipe up and say the emperor has no clothes.

Just be warned, we’ll say a lot of stuff that will make us enemies, but we believe we are firmly on the side of truth, fairness, and the open exchange of information. We believe that you should be able to trust podcasts—any podcast—as much as you trust your local newspaper. Is that too much to ask? And even though we’ll probably take a lot of heat for this, we’d rather be dead right than alive and wrong.

AND!! There’s a contest for Halo2 and Shadowrun for Vista and Stalker for the PC (XP or Vista). Just listen before the first break and the end of the show to find out how to win!

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