So imagine this: You're a huge gamer who bought the Xbox 360 on day one. You stood in line for over 20 hours in the pouring rain, just for Microsoft's newest console. Pretty hardcore, right? It gets better.
Imagine now, with me, that over the course of the past several years, you've played games on your 360 nearly every chance you got. You've racked up a huge gamerscore, only to have it all taken away one day without ANY warning.
This is story of SlapStic reader "JackTheWhack." Jack, whose real name is Jack Barbosa, not only had a huge gamerscore; he had more than any other person in the entire state of New Jersey: 121,250, in fact.
He achieved this impressive score through renting via Gamefly for games that he was only mildly interested in, while he purchased many games that he thought could give him more lasting enjoyment. Obviously, with a score that high, he WAS a MASSIVE 360 fan.
Console modder RDC has set out to make a slot-loading Xbox 360 by modifying an iMac DVD drive. He says its now functional and has provided a video of it.
To quote: Well, I figured I'd see how far I can get on this thing and have been wanting to take a stab at it for awhile but didn't feel like trashing a perfectly good slot loader drive to see if I could.
Then I remembered I had this little gem just sitting around doing nothing at all, figured I may as well use it for something besides dumpster filler..
WipEout HD is hard. If you've played the game, you probably know that and, if the newest patch is anything to go by, the developers at Studio Liverpool have also realized this.
The new WipEout HD patch v1.20 reportedly makes gaming life a whole lot easier. The patch allows you to change the difficulty setting within campaign mode to novice, skilled or elite just like in other modes. In turn, this changes the medal requirements which makes completing things a much easier task.
To quote: Updating the game to version 1.20, which will happen as soon as you start the game, will make getting medals in campaign mode a lot easier. You can now change the difficulty setting within campaign mode to novice, skilled or elite, just like in other modes. This changes the medal requirements, making completing the game a much simpler experience.
It also means the difficulty ramp for the game is far less steep, as you can blitz through on novice, then change up to... More »
A couple days ago we reported on a few holiday adverts that are part of a “bigger campaign”.
Today Sony's Senior Vice President of Marketing & PlayStation Network Peter Dille detailed their PlayStation: Entertainment Unleashed ad campaign officially via PS Blog as follows:
This is one of the fun parts of my job, when we get to unveil our TV commercials and give you, our loyal fans, a preview of our spots before they hit the airwaves. This year’s campaign is dubbed “Entertainment Unleashed” and for good reason.
The campaign actually began quietly a few weeks back with three fifteen second “tease” executions. Hopefully, you’ve seen these by now. These initial ads depicted various people catching glimpses and reflections of beautiful PS3 game footage magically appearing ... More »
For gamers, the new year usually begins after mid-November and this year’s no different; pretty much all major console exclusives have been released.
So, this is the first time that we can actually look back at 2008 and see which console had the best exclusives for the year - the PS3, Xbox 360, or Wii.
To do this, I decided to tally up the Metascore ratings (as of 11/20) for what are arguably the top ten exclusives for each console. Games that are available on PC and only one console are on the list as well (World of Goo and Left 4 Dead are two examples). So let’s dive right in to those potentially forum-rioting numbers:
Nintendo Wii: 1. No More Heroes - 83%
2. Super Smash Bros. Brawl - 94%
3. Mario Kart Wii - 82%
4. Wii Fit - 80%
5. Wario Land: Shake it! - 78%
6. Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility - 64%
7. World of Goo - 95%
8. Wii Music - 63%
9. Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the N... More »
Nintendo released a recent update that once again tries to secure some existing bugs on the console, breaks some things, deletes others. This time they’ve also gone around and modified the TOS. As usual, mass panic ensues.
The people who are panicking can be divided roughly into two groups (non exclusive):
- The pirates
- The clueless
This should go without saying, but we don’t want to have anything to do with the former group. Nintendo is obviously going to fight piracy (and that’s going to hurt homebrew). We’ll have to deal with the homebrew part, but don’t expect that to help piracy in any way. It may, or it may not. And if it doesn’t, pirates will have to deal with fighting nintendo themselves.
The usual messages about WADs, “backups”, and all that crap are going straight to /dev/null, and we’re seeing... More »
A new Firmware update for the Nintendo Wii has been released, specifically System Menu version 3.4. In the update, the following changes have been made:
- Enhanced parental controls
- USB Keyboard support for Mii channel added
- System functions improvement (Improved SD card read/write speed, Improved disc reading)
- Twilight Hack version 0.1 BETA1 cannot be copied to the console.
Sadly, the update also removes any illegal saves (i.e. Twilight Hack) and any other homebrew channels you may have on your Nintendo Wii.
To quote: It's recommended that you do not update your Wii through Nintendo, as it disables some homebrew (DVDx, PatchMii, Twilight Hack). Recent reports suggest System Menu 3.4 removes all custom channels.
It is suggested that you disable your Wii from the Internet as their network service privacy policy has been updated so that they now have the right to auto-update your system without notification.
... More »
2008 has been full of ups and downs for the PlayStation 3. Whether or not Sony delivered on all their promises is questionable.
However, if there is one thing that can't be taken from Sony's next-gen console is the tremendous growth its software library has undergone over the past year.
In 2007, critics of the PS3 lambasted the console's software catalog. The system was victim of numerous shoddy ports, and lacked any defining title it could call its own. Then, early in the new year, Sony made the eyebrow raising announcement that they intended to drive sales not by slashing the price again, but by delivering quality software.
And, to the disbelief of even the most devout Sony fanatics, things did begin to change. The PS3 became the lead platform for many multiplatform projects, ironically, not because it was the most powerful platform, but because it was the most infuriating to develop for. Starting with Burnout Paradise in January, the differen... More »
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