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So I just happened to be reading over my buddy ZaaM’s blog and he happened to mention “So I got told that my blog posts tend to miss a bit of.. Personal touch, you know”, which got me thinking about my own blogging habbits over here at my little home.  I started thinking about how when I started this blog, I simply posted gaming recaps - and random tid bits of information about what gaming I had done recently - which it could be argued was mostly just rehashing what the 360voice blog service does for me on its own. 

So I started to stray a bit away from that and post more about news I might recieve in my inbox - find interesting or things my friends have in the works, and sometimes about the various projects I am working on - which at times I don’t do the best of job at this (there is a TON of news when you start to really dive into it), I seem to be keeping up with it for the most part - of course much like my friend says here, some of the personal touch of my blog might have been lost in the transition.  I do try to post my input on an upcoming game if I know anything about it, but sometimes even that is minimal if at all.

So I am going to “borrow” my friends idea here and try and post a bit of a recap about the weeks events - in my life, gaming or otherwise etc - and perhaps made myself look less like a press release repost robot.  I hope you dont mind ZaaM

What: ScrewJumper!
When: 11/14/07 5AM EST
How Much: 800 MP ($10)
More Info: xbox.com
Screenshots: my gallery

Xbox LIVE Arcade launches its 100th title with “Screwjumper!.” Published by THQ and developed by Frozen Codebase, players take the plunge in “Screwjumper!” and free-fall into the depths of a chaotic underworld, driving aliens back to their home world by destroying their precious mining equipment. The free-falling action takes place on four different planets and features a total of 20 mines.
 
“Screwjumper!” allows players to compete with friends locally via a split-screen mode, as well as over Xbox LIVE. The game will be available worldwide with the exception of Korea and Japan this Wednesday at 9:00 a.m. GMT (2:00 a.m. PST) for 800 Microsoft Points and is rated “E 10+” by the ESRB.
•             For more details on “Screwjumper!,” please visit http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/s/screwjumperxboxlivearcade/default.htm

What: Shrek-N-Roll
When: 11/14/07 5AM EST
How Much: 800 MP ($10)
More Info: xbox.com
Screenshots: My Gallery

Join “Shrek®,” “Fiona,” “Donkey,” “Puss in Boots” and 20 other twisted fairy tale friends in “SHREK N ROLL,” a puzzle game designed for ogres of all ages on Xbox LIVE Arcade.
 
Navigate through 16 challenging mazes across four unique environments in Far Far Away’s newest competitive tournament. Test your tilting and rolling skills in Single Player mode, challenge others in Versus mode, or work together with friends and family in 2-player local Co-op mode. The game will be available worldwide with the exception of Korea and Japan this Wednesday at 9:00 a.m. GMT (2:00 a.m. PST) for 800 Microsoft Points, and is rated “E” (Everyone – Comic Mischief) by the ESRB.
•             For more details on “SHREK N ROLL,” please visit http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/s/shreknrollxboxlivearcade/ 

Well Steve and Trapper from 360voice officially announced the big thing they were working on so diligently lately, and its looking pretty cool.  You can now create and join gamerscore challenges.  Remember the Old Spice Challenge from Microsoft?  Well its that, but with a twist (and the same sponsor to boot).

Currently in an open beta format in which you simply play to be considered the winner of the challenge - but they have mentioned in future there will be a prize structure in place for some of these user created challenges. 

 Near the tail end of their Alpha phase of this project I was added as a tester - I played a few challenges and for the most part lost - but it was fun in any event.  Keeping with the blogging format, the system generates a blog entry recapping the gaming done by all attendees, and you also have the ability to talk smack to the other members of the challenge while its going on.

Another popular thing on the voice blogs are the badges, which they added some new ones based on challenges as well, so head on over and check what they have brewing.

http://blog.360voice.com/2007/11/old-spice-exper.html

 Also, it hasn’t been officially announced, but Trapper said it was OK to talk about so here goes.  Next weekend (Nov 16th) Trapper and Steve are having another 360voice Code Weekend, and I was invited to attend!  So it will be pretty cool to meet the boys in person, get some gaming, get some drinks, write some code together and discuss the future and ways that we can work together for the future!  Can’t Wait!

The ever so popular DVD game “Scene it?” releases today exclusively for the xbox 360.  For those of you that dont know the game, its a trivia game allowing up to four players (or teams of players) and relates to scenes in various movies.  For the $60 price tag you get the game, and 4 of the ‘big button’ controllers, perfect for your family game night.  Official press release below: 

Continue reading »

I still haven’t picked up Tabula Rasa yet, I could give a number of excuses, but you don’t really care why do you?  In any event one thing I used to love about playing Everquest ‘back in the day’ was the special events - not just the dragon raid weekends planned with guilds but the random times when the GMs would join the game and create something unique for the players in the area.  I just got a press notice with such an event planned in Tabula Rasa, below is a copy of that notice: 

Richard Garriott, aka General British, will be holding an in-game event in Tabula Rasa tonight. The event will be held on all servers (click here for times and details).

General British is known for making frequent appearances in the game, to the excitement of players, but the success of the launch of Tabula Rasa has prompted this “impromptu” event to be created.

“I wanted to quickly do something fun in-game as a thank you to the players who have made this such a smooth launch. We have continued NCsoft’s track record for incredibly successful launches and player interest and excitement is higher than we expected in both North America and Europe. The battlefields are full of players taking down Bane invaders & we’re having a blast kicking alien butt.”

Details about the event, a sci-fi trivia game where players have the chance to win in-game money (called credits), can be found at: http://www.rgtr.com/community/community_news/the_afs_scifi_trivia_challenge.html

Please encourage your readers to join in the fun. In addition to the many large content updates in the works now, the Tabula Rasa team plans to have a lot of community/dev interaction and involvement. This is just the first of many fun things to come!

So if you have a copy of Tabula Rasa make sure you show up at the proper time for your server and get your hands on some free (in game) cash!

Well as previously posted, Gears of War is now available for your PC gaming needs.  Just a reminder it comes with 5 new campaign levels, all the content release to date on the xbox360 version, a new achievement list (though VERY similar to the original).  All that and it’s priced less ($49.99 MSRP) then what you would pay for a used xbox360 copy  and um…well runs on your PC - so dont go stuffing it into your 360.  My birthday is just about a month away - as is Christmas, so if you are so inclined feel free to buy me a copy, I will give you my address Continue reading »

What: SwitchBall
When: 11/07/07 5AM EST
How Much: 800 MP ($10)
More Info: xbox.com
Screen Shots: my gallery

Without playing this or Marble Blast Ultra, I will make an assumption that this is a similar game.  I could be completely wrong on that fact but they both seem to have 3d boards and marbles :-)  Lots of my friends loved Marble Blast Ultra - so for the sake of Switchball I hope that my assumption is right, and it will most likely end up being a pretty big success - even so it looks like an interesting arcade game to at least try the demo.  Originally I posted about this game about a month ago - it is just one of the very large number of arcades Sierra Games has in store for us.  The following description comes direct from the press release:

In “Switchball,” players conquer breathtakingly beautiful labyrinthine mazes as they manipulate the unique physical properties of an ever-changeable ball to solve clever puzzles. Morph into the Metalball and ram objects out of your way, charge the Powerball to dash up ramps and jump over obstacles, switch to the Airball to float over physics based death traps or use the Marbleball for speedy rolling around action. Created by Sierra Online, “Switchball” empowers players to harness the laws of physics and triumphantly roll their way through five elegantly detailed 3D environments or they can join friends in 2 player co-op or 8 player competitive racing fun through Xbox LIVE. The game will be available worldwide (with the exception of Korea) for 800 Microsoft Points and is rated E.

What: Word Puzzle
When: 11/07/07 5AM EST
How Much: 800 MP ($10)
More Info: xbox.com
Screen Shots: my gallery

For those of you that like to buy those puzzle books at the magazine stand, or do them in the daily paper you can now have a digital format to cover your word puzzle needs. You should have known it was coming because it was listed on the upcoming titles message I posted not that long ago.  The following description comes direct from the press release:

The traditional pen and paper word search game is taken to a whole new level this week as InterServ brings “Word Puzzle” to Xbox LIVE Arcade. This brain-busting game features intricate 3D boards, exploding word bombs and a whole host of synapse melting challenges and special effects. With five unique game modes, LIVE support for up to four players and Xbox LIVE Vision Camera support, “Word Puzzle” will keep you playing with friends and family for hours. The game will be available worldwide for 800 Microsoft Points and is rated E.

So yet another Mass Effect video was released to tease us anxious gamers.  This video is all in game footage and gives a look at the soilder class, I have seen some people on the live eye as well as other community sites that have the game all ready - but sadly most of us will still have to wait until Nov 11th.

All footage in the video is taken directly from the game, and you’ll get to see a sampling of enemies and weapons in addition to the user interface.