As promised, a multiplayer demo of Capcom's upcoming Xbox 360 title Lost Planet: Extreme Condition is now available for download in the Xbox Live Marketplace. The demo weighs in at 173.65mb and is currently available for Xbox Live Gold members only. The demo will be made available to Silver members on November 30th.
I hope everyone out there is having a great Thanksgiving. This is just a quick note to remind anyone who may have forgotten that Amazon will be selling 1,000 core Xbox 360 units today at 2pm EST/1pm CST/11am PST. If you still haven't experienced Gears of War and need some way to get a 360 cheap, this may be your best chance.
One thing I do need to remind you of is that at the very least you'll probably need to pick up the 360 hard drive for another $99.99 and possibly component or VGA cables if you plan on using anything other than old school, non HD-capable composite cables supplied with the core model. Head over to Amazon.com for all the details - the link to the deal is on the right side of their front page. Good luck!
While there appears to be a delay on the downloadable version of Oblivion: Knights of the Nine for the PC, the expansion is already available (on PC) in a retail boxed set and on the Xbox 360 via the Xbox Live Marketplace. For those who missed the earlier announcement, here's the content description as per the Official Oblivion download store;
"Knights of the Nine- DLC8
The Gods have forsaken Tamriel.
A fallen King has been unchained from the darkness of Oblivion to seek vengeance upon the Gods who banished him. Only a champion pure of heart can vanquish the evil that has been released upon the land. You must heed the call, reclaim the lost relics of the Divine Crusader, and return the Nine to glory. New dungeons, characters, quests, and mysteries await.
Features:
- Begin a New Faction - The Knights of the Nine have long been disbanded. Reclaim their former glory as you traverse the far reaches of Cyrodill across an epic quest line.
- Battle New Foes - Encounter Umaril, the ancient Ayleid Sorcerer-King, and his minions, the fearsome Aurorans.
- Discover Unique Items - An entirely new armor set and weapons, each with unique powers, are within your grasp…if you are worthy." - Official Oblivion download store
Those of you who've been looking for something new to do in Cyrodill, this one's for you.
Some new blood joins the Xbox Live Arcade as Gastronaut Studios original title Small Arms makes it's debut in the Xbox 360. Truth be told, other than a few screenshots, I haven't seen much on this title, so I'm really looking forward to trying the demo to see what the game is like and find out if Microsoft has another hit on it's hands.
Title: Small Arms
Developer: Gastronaut Studios
Publisher:
Genre: Xbox Live Arcade
Release Date: 11/22/06
Console: Xbox 360
Players: 1-4
Xbox Live: Yes
HDTV Support: 720p
Full Game: 800 points ($10)
Demo?: YesDescription as per Xbox.com
"Easy to pick up but hard to put down, Small Arms™ is a frantic multiplayer action game with the feel of an arcade shooter. Up to four players can join in the fight across many dynamic and richly detailed levels. Choose from a cast of awesome fighters like cyborg tabby cats, assassin truffle pigs, and mutant chimney sweeps! Leap from platform to platform as you shoot targets to pieces with 360° aim! Familiar and original at the same time, Small Arms is an essential Xbox Live® Arcade title for anyone with an itchy trigger finger.
- Make your choice: 12 different characters, each with a unique weapon. Look for other weapons in the game, each with primary and secondary fire modes! You can also choose between three different single-player game modes: Story, Challenge, and Shooting Range.
- Go online: Play four-player multiplayer both online and off. You can even switch out a character from a local friend to one on Xbox Live without ever leaving the game! Look for exciting new levels and characters available for download from Xbox Live.
- Find the dev team: If you're lucky enough to play with the Small Arms development team on Xbox Live, you become part of the Six Degrees of Small Arms viral achievement. Play someone who's played the dev team up to six generations removed for this unique achievement! Small Arms also offers 11 other different achievements.
- Explore the world: Progress through eight unique levels, each with their own feel. Experience the colorful 3D graphics in this new take on classic side-scrolling run and gun action." - Xbox.com Small Arms page
For those that don't know, most consoles are at least initially produced at a net loss (The Wii being a notable exception) with the idea being that you'll try to make the money back on software and accessories until production prices drop to a level where the hardware is no longer costing you money for every unit sold. Further, you take the loss in hopes of dominating the market so that you can maximize the profit coming in from your games and accessories. It's the old maxim of selling the razor cheap and then making your money back on razor blades brought into the modern age.
Now then, if ArsTechinca is right and the Xbox 360 has already gotten to a point where Microsoft makes roughly $75 on every console sold, I'm genuinely shocked that it happened so fast. Unlike the PS2 or Gamecube (or Wii for that matter) the original Xbox never turned the corner and was consistently a loss leader for it's entire lifespan - and the Xbox 360 was supposedly going to be much the same story.
"It's a gloomy picture, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. When iSuppli tore down an Xbox 360 around this time last year, the firm estimated that Microsoft was losing $126 on each 360 sold. Microsoft is whistling a much happier tune now. Revised component costs for the Xbox 360 indicate that costs have dropped to the point where each $399 Xbox 360 sold costs $323.30 to make—leaving Microsoft $75.70 in the black on each system, before marketing and other costs are figured into the equation.
The two biggest points of contrast between the PS3 and Xbox 360 in terms of component costs are what iSuppli calls the "motherboard"—CPU, GPU, memory, controllers, etc.—and the optical drive. The PS3's "motherboard" costs $500 for Sony, while the Xbox 360 motherboard is only $200—down from a $370 figure at launch. The Xbox 360's vanilla DVD optical drive is only $19.45, over $100 cheaper than the Blu-ray's price tag.
As we said in May, Sony's decision to use the PS3 to gain a Blu-ray beachhead is an expensive one. If the PS3 sells like gangbusters once the supply constraints evaporate sometime in the first half of 2007 and Blu-ray wins the battle against HD DVD, the decision will have been worth it." -ArsTechnica
If Microsoft is actually now seeing a profit on every Xbox 360 sold, it makes you wonder whether they'll use the additional funds to further the 360's lead over it's competitors. For more information on both the 360's production costs as well as an estimate on how much Sony is currently spending to produce the PlayStation 3, check out the ArsTechnica article at this link.
Burger King's Xbox promotion has now kicked off, and all three games should be available for $3.99 each at your local Burger King with the purchase of any value meal - and for those wondering, based on the experiences of myself and a few others, you are allowed to buy all three at once when you purchase one value meal - there's no need to buy 3 meals.
The three games are Sneak King, Pocketbike Racer and Big Bumpin' and each game disc includes both the Xbox and Xbox 360 versions of their indicated games - so there's no need to specify which version you want. I've had a chance to try all three and while they aren't anything special, at $3.99 per game they do offer some level of amusement. If you're interested in grabbing these titles, be sure to stop by a BK soon, as the offer is only good while supplies last.
I guess selling cheap games is the only way BK can get anyone to eat those fries, huh? (Don't tell me I'm the only one out there who usually goes to Burger King for just a hamburger and then stops at McDonalds for the fries) Those of you who want a little more information on the games before you buy anything can check out the BK Gamer website at this link.
Gamers may have something else to give thanks for come this thursday, as it's looking like a near certainty that online retailer Amazon.com will be offering 1,000 "Core" Xbox 360's for $100 each. That's not a misprint - we're not talking $100 off, we're talking $100 total. Here's the story - Amazon has started a new promotion where they list four deals each week, and Amazon users vote on which they want the retailer to actually run the next week. The inaugural deal list has 1,000 core Xbox 360's for $100 each as an option, and as you can imagine, it's running away with the competition. I think at this point, it would take some serious work to knock it out of first place.
So here's the deal - on thursday, November 23rd (yes, Thanksgiving Day) at 2pm EST (11am PST), Amazon will put the 1,000 360's up for sale. They have some hints on how to give yourself the best chance of managing to get in on that 1,000, so be sure to check out all the details of the promotion at this link. Good luck to all who try to get in on this one!
As you can imagine, we've got a relatively small list of titles hitting retail this week - my guess is just about everyone figured that with the PlayStation 3 and Wii having just hit the previous week, there are going to be a lot of broke gamers out there this week. While that may be true, there are a few brave souls who are going to risk the rapids of retail this week, and Rainbow Six: Vegas (360) leads the pack. Following it's lead, the Knights of the Nine expansion pack (360 & PC) for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion will be released via download on both the Xbox 360 and PC as well as in a retail box exclusively for PC's. Beyond that, there's not much to really get excited about in the list this week, but with how many great games there are on the market right now, I'm sure if you need a new fix, there's going to be something in the store to ease the pain.
As promised, here's the first look at what 5 major outlets are saying about the Nintendo Wii's launch titles - as I did with the PlayStation 3 launch, I'll be updating the list as more information becomes available. Here's what we've got so far;
For those of you too lazy to scroll down a bit, here's the latest look at the PlayStation 3 review round-up chart. I'm considering dumping Gamepro from future updates to all the charts as they seem to lag behind in reviews - probably because they want them to appear in print first. If you have any suggestions for a replacement, let me know!
