American McGee
Beautiful Pixels
Hideo Kojima
Hitachi Wasabe's Xbox 360
Xbox 360 Marketplace Updates: (MajorNelson.com)
Adam Creighton, Computer and Video Gaming (Subscribe)
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
Halo 2 update, Nintendo online, and "one GameStop to rule them all ..."
- Halo 2 update available
- Nintendo finally recognizes network gaming
- GameStop is buying EBGames
- Oddworld Inhabitants is getting out of the game biz
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NEWS:
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- Halo 2 update available
- Starting yesterday, Bungie started rolling out an autoupdate for Halo 2. The auto-update is free, improves online gameplay, fixes "all known bugs", and addresses cheats and glitches. Given the traditional immutable nature o' console titles, this update is a big deal -- and has been long coming just due to the amount of testing that needs to go in to the download.
- A high-level summary of what's included in the update (full breakdown here):
- Weapon Tweaks: Increased damage by all melee attacks; grenades are more "realistically" powerful (more like Halo CE); reduced bullet damage and dual-wielding accuracy of the Magnum (bummer); and normalizing the Plasma Rifle/SMG combo when compared with other weapons combos
- Cheats and Glitches: Allows detailed monitoring of online gameplay (cheaters will be found); addressed known exploited cheats (flag bouncing, sword-flying, stationary "ghost" avatar, "ghost" weapons, the modem standby button cheat (I hate the bastards that use this), and cheats exploitable by hosts); and addressed unknown, but internally identified cheats that could potentially be exploited. Cheating has become so prevalent, that Bungie has questioned the credibility of the leaderboards, and is considering resetting everyone's standings over the next several weeks. And all of you cheaters are keeping Bungie from being fully focused on on Halo 3!
- Weapon Tweaks: Increased damage by all melee attacks; grenades are more "realistically" powerful (more like Halo CE); reduced bullet damage and dual-wielding accuracy of the Magnum (bummer); and normalizing the Plasma Rifle/SMG combo when compared with other weapons combos
- Starting yesterday, Bungie started rolling out an autoupdate for Halo 2. The auto-update is free, improves online gameplay, fixes "all known bugs", and addresses cheats and glitches. Given the traditional immutable nature o' console titles, this update is a big deal -- and has been long coming just due to the amount of testing that needs to go in to the download.
- Nintendo finally recognizes network gaming
- OK, so Nintendo seems to trying to do a big ol' retraction. After Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto said in November of last year that online play was "of no interest" to gamers, Broadcom Corporation announced a strategic partnership to integrate Broadcom wireless solutions into Nintendo's next generation gaming systems. Specifically, Nintendo's so-called "Revolution" console was named.
- OK, so Nintendo seems to trying to do a big ol' retraction. After Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto said in November of last year that online play was "of no interest" to gamers, Broadcom Corporation announced a strategic partnership to integrate Broadcom wireless solutions into Nintendo's next generation gaming systems. Specifically, Nintendo's so-called "Revolution" console was named.
- GameStop is buying EBGames
- Does anyone care about monopolies anymore? Anyway, #1 GameStop Corp. is going to buy #2 Electronics Boutique Holdings Corp. (EBGames) for around $1.44 billion (~70% cash, ~30% common stock). The combined company will be GameStop Corp., have 600 worldwide stores, operate two online stores (gamestop.com and ebgames.com), and publish GameInformer Magazine.
- Does anyone care about monopolies anymore? Anyway, #1 GameStop Corp. is going to buy #2 Electronics Boutique Holdings Corp. (EBGames) for around $1.44 billion (~70% cash, ~30% common stock). The combined company will be GameStop Corp., have 600 worldwide stores, operate two online stores (gamestop.com and ebgames.com), and publish GameInformer Magazine.
- Oddworld Inhabitants is getting out of the game biz
- Criminy. After the original Oddworld sleeper hit created a cult and critical franchise, Oddworld Inhabitants' latest entry, Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath was critically succesful, but a commercial disappointment. Following that, president and creative director Lorne Lanning told the Hollywood Reporter Oddworld Inhabitants will be moving away from video games, and primarily focus on using intellectual properties for movie and TV projects. They've closed their San Luis Obispo, California development offices and downsized as they moved to the Bay Area.
- Lanning went so far as to blame publisher Electronic Arts for not fully supporting the single-platform title.
- Criminy. After the original Oddworld sleeper hit created a cult and critical franchise, Oddworld Inhabitants' latest entry, Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath was critically succesful, but a commercial disappointment. Following that, president and creative director Lorne Lanning told the Hollywood Reporter Oddworld Inhabitants will be moving away from video games, and primarily focus on using intellectual properties for movie and TV projects. They've closed their San Luis Obispo, California development offices and downsized as they moved to the Bay Area.
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SOURCES: Gamespot.com, joystiq.com, kotaku.com, Xbox.com, IGN, GameInformer, Official XBox Magazine, CNN, gamesindustry.biz, and others.
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