Don’t Give Up on Guitar Hero 3 Yet

The EA/MTV Money Train of “Rock Band” is rolling in next month and I see that some gamers have completely forgot about the fun that previous Guitar Hero games have given them. Are you a Rock Band Bandwagoner?

Don’t get wrong I’ve played Rock Band and I enjoyed it very much but I’m not like these other people who are quick to write off the Guitar Hero franchise as “The Past”. The Guitar Hero games are still very much enjoyable and from reports Part 3 looks to improve the foundation of the series even with development shifting to the Neversoft team.

Rock Band is going to be a great game to play with friends but how much are you willing to pay for extra instruments? I hear drum battles are fun but are you going to drop more money for an extra drum kit?

Guitar Hero 3 will include “Battle Mode” which from print alone looks pretty freaking awesome. What is Battle Mode?

Here’s an excerpt of what you can do to your opponent in “Battle Mode” taken from the GH 3 Wikipedia page.

• Broken string: One fret button on the opponent’s guitar will not work until it is fixed (by rapidly tapping the button).
• Difficulty up: The opponent will play the song on an increased difficulty for a short duration of time (except for expert difficulty).
• Amp overload: The fret board will shake and appear blurry, making the scrolling notes difficult to read.
• Whammy bar: The opponent will have to use the whammy bar before he/she can play notes again.
• Steal power: This will steal your opponent’s power-up (this will be lost if used when the opponent has no power-up).
• Double notes: The opponent will have to play any single note as a two-button chord, and any two-button chord as a three-button chord for a short amount of time.
• Lefty flip: The fret board will be mirrored, requiring the player to switch their handedness on the guitar.
• Death Drain: This power-up is only available in Sudden Death mode. Once activated, your opponent’s Rock Meter will rapidly drain on its own

Like I said Guitar Hero 3 is going to improve on what previous Guitar Hero’s have done in the past. If you played the hell out of Guitar Hero 2 you’re probably going to love part 3.

I’m not here to take sides in this Red Octane/EA war but I’m just saying give Guitar Hero 3 a chance if you have already written it off.

-Michael “Thrills Killa” Pacheco-

“Messenger Kit” Impressions

Hai Guys. I recently purchased Microsoft’s “Messenger Kit” package which includes one chatpad and one wired headset. The package was worth $29.99 and overall I feel the package was mostly worth it. What really set me on buying the “Messenger Kit” was I needed a headset and I figured “Why spend 20 bucks on only one headset while I can spend 10 more dollars and get the chat pad/headset duo”.

First let me get the negative out of the way. Maybe it was just me but the headset which came with the package was totally “Rubbish”. I kept getting complaints from gamers on Halo 3 who complained of major static. Luckily for me I found one of my old wired headsets and haven’t heard a complaint since.

When you snap the chatpad to your controller for the most part you can play without any hiccups. The chatpad is perfectly placed where it doesn’t bother or take you away from your gaming experience. Even though it feels good I still wouldn’t play with it on because hey nothing beats the feeling of freedom baby.

I had a couple of MSN messenger conversations with the chatpad and it was pretty flawless. Believe it or not I actually don’t mind the digital keyboard on the Xbox 360 system because I’ve been typing on it since 2005 and have pretty much mastered it.

If you receive tons of IM’s and are always typing you will love the chatpad. As for me a gamer who doesn’t really type a lot on the 360 I would pass on it.

-Michael “Thrills Killa” Pacheco-

Assassin’s Creed Collector’s Edition Exposed, Jade Raymond Not

Is this the new norm of the video game industry? Will every collectors edition of a game include a little toy for me to put on my desk? Anywhooo this collectors edition of “Assassin’s Creed” which has been called by some “Prince of Persia next-gen-a-fied” includes your regular hooplah of a bonus dvd, figurine, comic book, and tin case.

Sadly no Jade Raymond pin-up is included so yeah.

Source [Xboxygen]

-Michael “Thrills Killa” Pacheco-

PGR 4 vs PGR 3: The Power Struggle Begins

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Xbox Domainer “Bill J” sends word of this video uploaded on Gametrailers which compares the gameplay of Project Gotham Racing 3 and Project Gotham Racing 4. Both games look very similar but in certain instances PGR 4 looks better. PGR 3 was of course rushed to meet the launch of the Xbox 360 system back in 2005 and PGR 4 was developed with less pressure.

I have to tip my hat off to Bizarre Creations because these two PGR games look very good and I know a lot of racing fans are having a blast.

-Michael “Thrills Killa” Pacheco-

Soldier of Fortune: Payback Trailer Owns Your Soul

Vodpod videos no longer available.

I love games which show me some limbs flying off and blood spraying all over the place! It’s that touch of realism which keeps my inner mad man at ease. I’m not a violent man in real life but video games with shooting just gets me all excited.

Board games on XBLA? Not for me. Racing Cars? Meh. Give me guns and shooting!

Activision has heard my cry and that’s why they’re releasing Solder of Fortune:Payback because of crazed shooting fans like me.The game looks sweet during this video but will it be good when it’s released to retail? One can hope.

-Michael “Thrills Killa” Pacheco-

Bungie Updates Matchmaking Playlists

Bungie has updated their matchmaking playlists today and are in full effect. If you’ve played matchmaking then you probably know how much Shotty Snipers ends up being the match. This update should help ease your pain. Bungie has updated the playlist so that Shotty Snipers will not appear as much and if vetoed, it will not appear again. YAY!

Here is what Bungie had to say:

Halo 3’s Matchmaking Playlists, just like Halo 2’s, are dynamic and ever-changing entities. Even now in the perilous Bungie towers, we’re looking at new hoppers, gametypes and modes to test for future iterations and changes of these playlists. Multiplayer Lead Tyson Green and test wunderkind David Gasca sent the following list of changes to us — and these changes are live now:

• Big Team Battle matches are now 16-player affairs.
• In the Team Slayer playlist, the appearance of Shotty Snipers has been greatly reduced.
• Now, when players veto Shotty Snipers, the game that results from the veto will not be Shotty Snipers.
• In one-sided VIP matches, the attacking team will now see a waypoint for the VIP they are hunting.
• In Lone Wolves, Slayer gametypes will appear more frequently.

[via Bungie]

– Jerome “the360loop” Francisco –

Team Fortress 2 : Meet the Demoman

Vodpod videos no longer available.

In the latest of the “Meet the” Team Fortress 2 videos comes “Meet the Demoman”. Unlike the other videos, you’ll see more than one class. Yay!

Ship date for The Orange Box. Tomorrow! (in the US) If you can find it.

US: October 10, 2007
Europe: October 19, 2007
Australia: October 18, 2007

[Via X3F]

-William “thewilleffect” Bell-

Two new Demos on XBL

Two new demos are hitting the xbox live marketplace this morning.

Content: PGR 4 Demo
Price: Free
Availability: All Xbox LIVE regions
Dash Text: [ESRB: E (Everyone)Mild Lyrics] Race three exotic cars and two beauteous bikes through the streets of Macau and a snow laden Nürburgring. Includes an exclusive Nürburgring Snow Challenge and unique PGR Arcade Events.
Size: 1.27 GB

And the second demo is…..FEAR: Extraction Point

Content: F.E.A.R. Files: Extraction Point
DemoPrice: Free
Availability: Canada and United States
Dash Text: [ESRB: M (Mature) Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language] F.E.A.R. Files combines the award winning F.E.A.R.: Extraction Point with the brand new F.E.A.R.: Perseus Mandate in one terrifying package. This demo based off of the events in Extraction Point showcases the hyper-stylized action and paranormal horror that define F.E.A.R. Engage the Replica soliders and powerful supernatural entities in close quarters combat with a powerful arsenal, including the new Minigun. Highly destructible environments and combat adaptable AI bring the action to life in this follow up to the critically acclaimed F.E.A.R.
Size: 584.87 MB

[Via Major Nelson]

Jereme “Restless Devil” Puik