This weeks Jet Pack Action...

Jetpac Refuelled hit Xbox Live Arcade this week for 400 points

I have to say my expectations and excitement for this game was pretty much nill.

I was pleasantly suprised to find it a worthy addition to my collection. The game kinda works in the same way Geometry Wars did. Simple fun classic gameplay with decent graphics. It has pretty much zero "nostalgia" factor for most people, but the price is right, and the game has plenty to do before you toss it aside for your next game.

You will probably need a custom soundtrack though. The game music doesn't seem to ever change. I am working on a mix with 80's classics, and some Electoclash.

My Catchy Commerical Tunes Obesssion

Ever find yourself humming a tune from a commerical? Recently I have been doing this a lot. Hell most of us gamers got hooked on "Mad World" from the Gears of War commerical.

Here's a few more catchy songs that have been getting stuck in my head lately.

Ice Cream : New Young Pony Club Intel Commerical "I can give you what you want.. "



Remind Me : Röyksopp Gieco Commerical




Who's Gonna Sing? Prototypes ipod Shuffle Commerical

The Swamp is Flodded with Elite Whiners... and so

I bring you some quick reviews of other random non Xbox topic stuff.

Movies:
Children of Men : New on DVD. Must watch movie.. Amazing work of art. A real movie watchers movie. Fantastic

The Return : DVD Kinda sucked..

Undisputed II : DVD Very Cool action flick, with a "heart" I guess. Must watch for action(fighting) movie fans.

Casino Royale : Newish on DVD. I "blah" Bond movies with a passion. The are much too dry and typical male driven fantasy B.S. for me to enjoy. This Movie is Bond becoming Bond, and being very ruff around the edges. I loved it.

The Black Dahlia: DVD Most people will hate this movie. I will leave it at that, because I am odd like that.

The Illusionist DVD : I really wanted to see this movie for awhile. Kinda dissapointed. Good movie, just not fantastic. The story was a little too Romeo and Juliet, with Romeo as a Magician.

Music Reviews

Arcade Fire : Neon Bible Love this album. I honestly think it is better than the first. I can't pin point a favorite song. Thats a good thing. Soilid Full burner I keep playing over and over.

The Mars Volta : Amputechture Fantastic Album. Can be a tad absurdly psychadelic and wandering at times, and they pretty much once again tossed out any pop sensibilities making the tracks seem more like drawn out epic jam sessions. Only a real problem if you long for a sequal to Comatorium.

The Fratellis : Costello Music On the Verge of being a one hit wonder. Pretty much known for the song used in the ipod commerical. The rest of the album is decent, but everything sounds overly cleaned up. Like the entire album was built on pro tools. Very likely that it was. Sadly I like my music dirty and rough sounding.

Very Sick, and busy ..

I have been sick sick sick, and still had to work alot this week.
I did manage to finish Castlevania SOTN though. Best arcade game yet, easily.

I am probably going back to bed now...

It's True, now STFU.

Limited Edition Black 120 GB Xbox 360 with HDMI. Source

True, end.

Grindhouse - April 6th

I was pretty much ready to see this movie when I found out it was a Quentin Tarantino project.

Add in Robert Rodriguez, and you have an event to be placed on calendars.

My review of 300

I finally got up and went to the movies here in OKC.
Basically 300 was the kick off to my movie watching season.

Meanwhile my 300 review can be summed up in two words.

Bad Ass.

Pretty much a must see movie. A perfect mixture of stylized macho barbaric violent adrenaline. Not too much to ponder on mentally, but I honestly didn't care. Kinda like a really great powerful rock song, you just "feel" this movie and enjoy it.

Devil May Cry goes 360

LMFAO.

Actually I was never a DMC fan, but it's hard not to find this news funny. Specially after the countless debates on the official forums about this game, and how it "would never come to the 360".

I would be all over this game if it was made by Team Ninja.

Oh My God.... And some podcast notes.

Kotaku posted this AWESOME fan art mash up of God of War w/ Moogle.

My jaw pretty much dropped when I saw it.

Also, weekends have gotten to be a big issue with my new job/jobs, so expect the podcast sometime Monday... errr later today. I am training while working on getting possibly a second job, or different job. Right now my schedual is pretty stressfull, and not set in stone. So I don't know if the Podcast is going to fall back into routine on Saturday yet or not.

The Media Whore Epic Continues

Well it is Jack Thompson Vs. Rockstar Week over at Gamepolitics.com

In the wake of a recent legal threat by Miami attorney Jack Thompson (left), game publisher Take Two Interactive has launched a pre-emptive strike.

With Thompson threatening to file suit to block the release of Grand Theft Auto 4 and Manhunt 2, Take Two has petitioned the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida for relief.

The software publisher seeks to block Thompson from trying to have the games declared a public nuisance under Florida law. Thompson filed a similar action against Take Two’s Bully last October, but a Florida judge rejected Thompson’s contention, allowing Bully to be sold by retailers. more...

Well JT has responded with:

have been praying, literally, that Take-Two and its lawyers would do something so stupid… that such a misstep would enable me to destroy Take-Two… more...

There is a whole lot more over at Gamepolictics.com

This Weeks Blood Sucking Action is...

This weeks Xbox Live Arcade game will be Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.

800 points for this classic game.

Enhanced or Classic Graphics & Audio, Native Widescreen Support, 200 Achievement Points, and all that other good stuff.

Looks like my predictions of Early June were wrong. Oh well.

Lunatic Core Note + Edits:
New Game Indeed.
Woo F N Hoo!!! I have been working, so I didn't get the news until right now.
I am so happy.
Number 16 on IGN's Top 100 games.

Flintstones Powered Roller Coaster in Japan

"…future of the green amusement park: The Skycycle at Washuzan Highland Park in Okayama, a pedal-powered roller coaster. They clearly have some dramatic topography to take advantage of here, and it looks truly frightening"

More pictures and the full story.

More than meets the eye?

Small bit of interesting info for the Transformers fans.

"turns out that when the MPAA took a look at the first cut for the movie, they slapped it with a rating of "R" for intense action and violence. "

Get the rest of the story here.

Worst Rated Video Game Movie of All Time.

Rotten Tommatoes has a list up of the worst rated movies of all time.
Alone in the Dark comes up as #2 on that list, making it the worst rated game based on a movie. Hint: The number 1 movie has a game based on it.

Some other notable movies on the list:
Alone in the Dark @ 26
Bloodryane @ 33
and the New Jim Carrey Movie "The Number 23" shows up.
Absent from the list was the "Super Mario Brothers Movie".
Check out the full list here.

This Weeks Turtle Action is.....

I'm Donatello.
This weeks arcade game is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

400 Microsoft Points.
Some blah blah blah official media B.S.
Enhanced for Xbox LIVE Arcade – includes voice support, cooperative multiplayer mode over Xbox LIVE and leaderboards
Earn up to 12 Achievements and 200 Gamerscore points
Oh yea.. and I'm Donatello.
For the Achievement whores here is the list

I'm Donatello or I'm going home.

I have been rewarded!

Yes, thats right folks. I have completed my 1500 Gamerscore challenge and and have been rewarded. If you weren't on the Xbox Live scene about a month ago, you can find out all about it here.

Xbox Rewards

Well, the only problem was, I was too late to get the good prizes. All I get is Contra and a nifty Gamerpic for free. Atleast I get this gnarly badge to show everyone!

In Before Lock: Eleven

This weeks show.

nb4l11.mp3 (right click - save target as)

This weeks show:
Pshome, Little Big Planet, Super Paper Mario, Worms, and more..

Also Bonus Video !!

Delay?

It's almost Sunday and the podcast is not out. Chances are it will be put out tommorow. I'll try to get in touch with lunatic about it.

Quick Note:

Gears Sequel Reconfirmed, other cool facts

This is really neat, not the fact that Gears is having a sequel but how Cliff B. explains the process in which Gears evolved into what it is now, and his inspirations on it's design.

Super Paper Mario Looks AMAZING!

I am not suprised. I was already a huge fan of Paper Mario, and Intellgent Systems the developer of the game is easily one of the top developers ever.

I love how they took the Paper Mario "style", and went classic 2D side scroller with it. I am blown away with the game footage so far. I must get a wii for this game. I believe it comes out in April.

Must have wii killer app for mii, for sure.

Castle Crashers in 08?

Wow, here everybody was expecting it to be out within months, and BAM!..

Mr. Paladin noted that the XBLA title still had "about a year of development left," thus placing the completed Castle Crashers in 2008 at the earliest. Source: Joystiq

This Xbot Am Cry.
The game looks ready to go. I am really suprised. I am also somewhat curious to know if it is staying exclusive. Another year would give them time to have it ready for release on the other two systems as well. I might be paranoid, but it does seem like it would be good for The Behemoth to release this game multiplatform.

Little Big Killer Video - Check out the Level Editing in Action

This is probably the coolest thing Sony and showed off since the PS3 was announced.

Geometry on a PC? That's Crazy!

Geometry Wars in available for Vista... Here With Trial, or for $7.95. Isn't that expensive?

I also think this game begs for mods since a sequal hasn't even been announced yet. I am also kinda bummed they didn't allow owners of the Xbox 360 version to DL the full game for free. I "understand" they want to make money, but offering people the ability to "buy once", and play everywhere would have been a step in the right diretcion for XBLA games on Vista.

Bizarre Blabbery Here as well.

Achievement Unlocked.. Killed with Noob combo.

You think you don't want to know, but you actually do. New information on Halo 2 Vista's Achievements, and some general Vista Live stuff.

Achievement Development Process
Designing anything for an existing and best-selling game can be arduous and risky, as options are weighed heavily against already-popular and well-trod game aspects. We started by brainstorming every possible achievement that trickled out of our caffeine-addled minds, and then whittled our list to a beefy 40+ achievements. It was a process we performed in lockstep with Bungie Studios and their designers and producers, through the course of many design meetings and reviews. What we ended up with was a set of achievements that beginners and skilled “Halo 2” players alike will immediately tackle with different results, but we were sure to include several that any veteran will only get to after some serious work. Lots More


photo source

Quick Note - Worms online issues

Sadly it seems Worms has some major and minor online issues.

Thread on xbox.com

1. When the Host disconnects it drops everybody. This happends too often.

2. Often when you try to host a game your console will freeze. This happends after the room fills, and you're trying to start the game.

3. When players drop sometimes there is an annoying delay where you have to wait for the timer to count down an entire move.

4. When players leave lots of extra useless white flag waving worms are all over the place... kind of annying when this happends at the start of a game. I ended up i a one on one battle with 8 extra worms..

5. Too many noobz using generic teams. If you are one of these noobz.. Name UR WORMZ!

I am still having fun with the offline. I still think it is worth the 800 points, but obviously this is not acceptable for many people, and just another issue with XBLA.

We have a very high bar that each title must pass over in order to be released on Xbox Live Arcade and unfortunately, no titles were ready in time. - Major Nelson

Little Big Planet

In LittleBigPlanet players are encouraged to customize and build their own games and environments. This is possible thanks to an intuitive tool set that allows players to manipulate objects and photos, which can then be placed in the game world. Source

Obviously the game "looks" fantastic, but the gameplay seems to revolve more around the creation of the game instead of the actual game. I had the same issues with Rag Doll Kung Fu. The gameplay was pretty bland, but the graphics and customization was fun. If you have played a PC game in the last decade you know this isn't really "new", it is just "modding" for console gamers.

Quick Serve Comments.

A couple of comics popped up today mixing in a little too much reality with our favorite video games. Enjoy!

Penny Arcade covers Fable 2

Ok, I admit it! I am a bit of a Penny-arcade fanboy, but who isn't?

Perry Bible Fellowship "uncovers" Mario.

Meanwhile, I am offline having a blast with worms. I hope to be online for some Multiplayer shortly. The game has been obviously streamlined all around, including the huge chunk of severed content. I didn't know they comepletly removed all the "fun" voices leaving only varius languages. Also the amount of backgrounds and map "obstacles" is very limited compared to armageddon.

I think the 200/200 in achievements is doable in a single day. Beating the single player "challenge" mode is pretty much the hardest one. I have been playing for a few hours, and killing 100 worms goes by pretty quick. 20,000 damage is roughly 200 worms worth of kills.

Photo Source:

Introductions

Just a quick notice. I ,Unedited, am now a poster on the NB4L blog. If you listen to the show, you'll probably know who I am.

Also, Xbox Live Subscriptions have hit 6 million.

A few neat facts are listed. My favorite being that over 300 Million Acheivments have been unlocked with a combined total of around 7.5 Billion Gamerscore. Geo Wars isn't the Arcade killer app anymore, It isn't even one of the Top 5 Downloaded.

Trippy Visual Journey of Self Destruction

Sounds like a bad high school blog.

Thankfully it is the description of another psychedelic game based on music interaction from Tetsuya Mizuguchi and Q? entertainment.

Every Extend Extra Extreme (E4) Confirmed for XBLA. Via Joystiq.

Here's video of the PSP version.

My 360 turns one.

I don't really know why I am celebrating the end of my warranty, but My 360 is officially 1 year old now.

I bought my Xbox 360 at "lunch" on the 6th last year. That's right "lunch". I started freaking out with the release of Oblivion comning around the corner so me and one of the other slackers at work called around until we finally tracked one down. In a sudden moment of impatience I took a really long lunch (2+ hours) to go buy it.
My first 2 games were Doa4 used, and GRAW new. Followed by tons of Arcade downloads.

Photo Source:

TMNT for XBLA finally "official"

Did you know IGN did a vote for most wanted XBLA titles back in Jan 06?

I didn't, and I was suprised to see TMNT was #1.

I am from the X-men fanboy camp though.. I want X-men!

400 points, no date announced, but the movie and retail games hit the week of the 19th in March. Sometime in the next 2 weeks would be best for optimal "synergy".
The 21st looks like the perfect hot spot.

TMNT Officialized via IGN.

photo source

More excuses from the VF5 team.

I never "loved" the Virtua Fighter series. Let me just get that out of the way. I have a handfull of fighting games I rather play.

I stated long ago that without online I wouldn't bother with VF5, before it was even on the way to the Xbox 360.

I have heard all the excuses, I know the Hardcore care about every last frame being perfect, I don't care. Sega is killing it's own franchise by caring too much about the HK players, or they are using the HK as an excuse to deliver an easier/cheaper product. So what if the Online isn't as perfect as the offline, does that stop the HK players from playing offline?

AM2: Our stance toward the online gameplay has not been changed from what it was before. VF5 runs at 60fps. It would be nice if there were an environment where we could communicate with no problem at all under this condition, but unfortunately, there are various barriers for the network gaming. We wish we had an Internet environment that would convince the players who develop frame-by-frame offense and defence. The Japanese advanced players play battles that can be determined within one frame! We were interested in dowloadable extra service and PlayStore, but we decided not to adopt them this time. Instead, we decided to include every possible item we can offer since we could secure sufficient space due to the introduction of Blu-ray Disc.

Sorry Sega, you fail again.

Source: Eurogamer

Lego MMO Announced

What? Do you need more than that?
I mean come on, just think about the possibilities, and then if you are like me,hope it doesn't get fully muffed up.

Meanwhile they don't seem to mention a platform, and that leads me to believe this is a standard PC MMO project. :(

Wow, don't ask for help on xbox.com

Note: This isn't an attack on Microsoft, Xbox 360, Xbox.com, or any group of people in general.

I was just so blown away by how insulting this reply was. Guy asks for help, and gets an insult tossed at him from a Mod. Hell I don't even know who this mod is, so this isn't personal either. I personally didn't figure out how to get a redhott either, because the way you get one is very abstract. It was one of the last Pinatas I got. Meanwhile this is still an "E" rated game, and it's not like this guy knows the age of the topic creator. It was just all around rude & snobby. No reason for that.

http://forums.xbox.com/10729843/ShowPost.aspx

In Before Lock - Ten - The Acid one.

Here is this weeks podcast.

Number TEN! (right click and save as)

This weeks show contains Acid references, worms, aliens, crack, a brand new wii, blackballs, and more!!!

Enjoy.

Hallelujah! ... errr or not.

"THE" classic 2D multiplayer strategy based party game hits XBLA this Wednesday.

That is two weeks of awesome in a row. This is a must have at 800 points. Should be the number one XBL game by the end of the week. Sadly the lack of the Baseball Bat and Holy Hand Granade means this game ships incomplete in order to meet a bogus artificial limit. So this week is not without some sour feelings.

Source: Gamerscoreblog

How to make a Good Rumor into Bad Press. *Updated*

The masters of Bad Press have once again managed to turn the intertubes into a flaming pile of BullSh**.

Kotaku today wanted to run a rumor of leaked new features for the PS3, and are now being blackballed by Sony for not backing down to threats.

I am very disappointed that after trying to work with you as closely as possible and provide you and your team with access and information, you chose to report on this rumor.... I can't defend outlets that can't work cooperatively with us.

So, it is for this reason, that we will be canceling all further interviews for Kotaku staff at GDC and will be dis-inviting you to our media event next Tuesday. Until we can find a way to work better together, information provided to your site will only be that found in the public forum.

Dave Karraker
Sr. Director, Corporate Communications
Sony Computer Entertainment America

God Bless Kotaku.

The Media in the game industry right now is far too paid off, and it is refreshing to see a media outlet refuse to allow one of the major controllers of the industry force them to keep quiet. If this story had been released directly to the media with an embargo things would have been different, but instead they were threatened not to report on a rumor.

It is sad to see the brainwashed Sony Defense Idiots praising Sony for keeping information from them. Official PS3 forum

On the other hand it is cool to see support from another Blog (Gizmondo). I hope to see more support.

Joystiq picked it up as well. I love the last line:

By doing our job and informing readers, have we become the enemy?

Of course this information is too much about Sony for the Swamp. At least I got one last comment in before lock.

*UPDATE*
Hmmm....
http://kotaku.com/gaming/sony/sony-and-kotaku-makeup-240922.php

He told me his take on the story and his frustrations and I told him mine, in the end we agreed to disagree on some level, but also decided that our readers and gamers in general would be best served if Sony and Kotaku could still play nicely together.

New/Odd game trailers ..

Today's "current" most viewed Game & Gadget video on Youtube is trailer for SSX Blur, and is really annoying. Funny at first, but shorty into the vid I wished death on EA once again.

You can then follow that up with this cracked out Battlefield : Bad Company trailer that seems to be ripping off a joke from Rooster Teeth's "Panics" fear spoof. I got a chuckle from the "embedded" line at the end though.

Tetris Priced, still not on XBLA.

So Tetris Evolved is going to be $29.99 and it comes out in march. Source: IGN
Will the title be worth the $30? If not, at least it will eventually drop in price and it comes with 1000 achievement points. Unlike an arcade version that would probably have far less content, never drop in price, and only come with 200 points.

I say win/win. It is about the same price as a fully upgraded copy of Lumines Live, with more achievements. I think they could have sold a cheaper smaller Tetris on XBLA though and ended up with a larger profit return.


Picture Source

Happy?

Yup, it is that day again. Normally I don't really get into my Birthday much, since I hate how you kinda have to "advertise" that your B-day is on the way, and I also hate making a big deal out of things like this. So what happens is my stubborness to let people know means nobody knows except my close family, if they are paying attention. I guess the problem is, I feel like it doesn't matter if people don't bother to remember on their own, and of course that is sort of a high expectation for most humans.

However this year I guess I am feeling a tad festive, and I wanted to share. Yes that picture is me. I don't know my age in that picture, but I had to be really young. I guess it would have been ironic if I was in to motorsports or something these days. No luck on getting a picture of me with my old video games.