We Play For Fun!
IGN just posted this quick clip with gameplay in the new Azura map that’s part of the upcoming DLC coming on November 1st. I have yet to buy my season pass, it’ll be tough to keep playing this game with Uncharted3 coming out on the same day. Have you bought your GoW3 season pass yet?
As a Kinect owner and a mom, I was pretty excited to hear about some great family gaming news from Microsoft today.
My daughter was a huge fan of Kinect Sports, and she was thrilled to have the chance to try out Kinect Sports: Season Two demo today. Golf and Tennis are available in the demo, but the full retail game (available on Oct 25), will also include Baseball, Skiing, Football, and Darts. This one will definitely be on her Christmas list this year!
As well, for those who were fans of the first Dance Central, the Dance Central 2 demo is also available on the Xbox Marketplace today, giving gamers a chance to try out simultaneous multiplayer, the Free 4 All minigame, voice commands, a revamped Break It Down mode and more. The entire song list was also released, with song choices ranging from Lady Gaga – Bad Romance to Willow – Whip My Hair.
These days its all about TDRC giving back. This weekend Neil & Mark are participating in the Extra-Life gaming marathon for the Chirldren’s Miracle Network and next week I will be participating in the annual Fight Like a Girl ”FLAG” Tournament event with Rory from GameFocus on the weekend of Oct 22 – Oct 24.
I can assure you I am certainly not an expert Halo Reach player. But I couldn’t resist such a good cause. Fight Like a Girl, or FLAG for short, is an annual Halo tournament that raises money for breast and cervical cancer research.
Organizers Kari Toyama (@TheDonWan) and Tasha Pettengill (@zoomdemon) have organized this tournament since 2006.
FLAG is played every October during breast cancer awareness month. 100% of all entry fees and donations are sent directly to Susan G. Komen for the Cure and National Cervical Cancer Coalition. To date, they have have raised over $22,000 for breast and cervical cancer research.
Want to participate? Here’s some information regarding the tournament:
Friday
12:01AM PDT
(This event is starting at 3:01 AM your time.)
Firefight Score Attack Events Start
[beat the best score] Solo and 4 Player Score Attack
Begin submitting your best score for Firefight Score Attack
Entry Fee: $10 Solo Event / $40 Team Event
Saturday
9:00AM PDT-3:00PM PDT
(This event is starting at 12:00 PM your time.)
2v2 Slayer Tournament
[bracketed, double elimination]
Saturday’s carnage entails a 2v2, double-elimination tournament.
Length of time subject to change due to tournament conditions.
Entry Fee: $20 Team
Sunday
9:00AM PDT-12:00PM PDT
(This event is starting at 12:00 PM your time.)
4v4 Team Tournament
[bracketed, single elimination]
Sunday begins with the return of a classic event.
Length of time subject to change due to tournament conditions.
Entry Fee: $40 Team
2:00PM PDT-5:30PM PDT
(This event is starting at 5:00 PM your time.)
FFA Slayer Tournament
[bracketed, single elimination]
FLAG ends with a bang with our Free-For-All Tournament
Entry Fee: $10 Per Person
11:59PM PDT
(This event is ending at 2:59 AM your time.)
Firefight Score Attack Events End
Your best score must be submitted by 11:59PM PDT.
I’m really looking forward to having fun and doing something I love for such a good cause.
If you’re curious on how you could participate or just give to the cause please visit FLAG’s official page http://www.flagtournament.com/
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Just announced via Major Nelson‘s blog. The Horde Command Pack game add-on for Gears of War 3 will be out as of November 1st.
Here’s a rundown of what the press release has to say.
Taking you deeper into the fight with three explosive new maps, three new playable characters, two new weapon skins, and additional achievements worth 250 Gamerscore, the Horde Command Pack also includes new fortification upgrades to help you mow down the Lambent and Locust threats in the fan-favorite Horde mode.
The Horde Command Pack includes:
Three new maps:
I would call myself a moderate car nut. That said, a few years ago I would only swear by Sony’s Gran Tourismo series but in that time something happened. Actually, something didn’t happen. As we all know now, Polyphony took way too long to release GT5 which in turn gave Turn10 and Microsoft the chance to take over the racing simulator genre. There have literally been 3 Forza games between GT4 and GT5, each improving on the last.
I would love to have the time to go though all the differences and nuances between the two series but how about I shut up and let you guys download the Forza 4 demo.
Also, here’s the official rundown of the game: Forza Motorsport, the highest rated racing franchise of this generation, makes its return to the race track in Fall 2011 with Forza Motorsport 4. The definitive racing game of 2011, Forza Motorsport 4 brings together genre-defining, controller-based racing, the power and freedom of Kinect, and content from leading brands like Top Gear to create an automotive experience unlike anything before it.
Forza Motorsport will be in stores on October 11th, 2011.
Source: MajorNelson
In case you’ve been living under a rock, Battlefield 3 is going to be one of the most popular titles this coming season. As of today the public beta is open to all. Here’s the link to add it to your Xbox Live download queue.
Source: MajorNelson
Major Nelson just posted all the new features that will be coming to Xbox 360 and Xbox LIVE members later this year. The new Xbox LIVE Experience includes a whole new dashboard that (IMO) mirrors what Microsoft is doing with Windows 8. BING search will also be integrated to find all content relative to the console, an expanded Kinect voice support. Beacons which allow you to broadcast your activity on the Xbox and Microsoft is following in Sony’s footsteps by giving us a cloud storage system for save games and LIVE profile.
Hit continue to read a full description of the new features.
What better way to celebrate the summer than with a nice summer inspired beverage and a little class based third person shooter meets tower defense?
In this installment of Six Pack Game Reviews I’m taking a look at a one of the Xbox Live Summer of Arcade titles, Monday Night Combat from Uber Entertainment. Accompanying MNC is a summer libation by the name of Shipyard Summer Ale. Both so far have been refreshing and exhilarating.
Monday Night Combat
Although this is my first experience with the “retail” version on MNC, I did get to play it at PAX east earlier this year. I enjoyed it very much then and I am enjoying it even more now. There is a surprising amount of depth to the game play. The in-game upgrades via cash earned for kills during the round, keeps you constantly buying new abilities or upgrades to turrets that can be built in predetermined locations on the maps. There are six classes making mixing and matching the various upgrades and sponsors (think Call of Duty perks) almost endless. Each character class has very specific moves that are mapped to the controllers face buttons and compliment their roles on the battlefield. There ia a persistent leveling system that is based on you’re overall money earned and can be cashed in to buy custom class slots. These slots let you select a class and 3 sponsors. MNC offers online and offline modes. There is Crossfire which is a 6v6 online mode where you are attacking the enemy money ball while defending your own. And, there is also Blitz mode that comes in both online and offline versions. Blitz is like tower defense meets horde mode from Gears of War. Blitz will have me coming back for again and again!
The graphics and presentation are very clean and have a Team Fortress 2 meets American Gladiators feel. The futuristic game show esthetic is well done and makes a nice platform for selling the game play. In the sound department, I enjoy the little one-liners from the various class types and the announcer adds a nice touch to the game shows overall persona.
I have to say this is the best class based shooter on the Xbox 360 in a while. Although it’s an arcade title, I think it just as good and in many cases better than a Team Fortress 2 or Shadowrun.
The demo can be downloaded here for 1200 Microsoft Points (about $15)
Game rating: 
Shipyard Summer Ale
I’ve never had a Shipyard product before but they do produce quite a few favors of delicious beer.
Shipyard’s Summer Ale is a crystal clear bright gold color and very crisp. There’s a buttery almost wheaty taste that lingers. It’s 5% alcohol does the job but is does not overpower the clean ale taste. For a bottled beer it has a micro brew taste and feel that I appreciate.
Like MNC, it took me a few rounds of the summer ale to understand it’s true potential. It was after about 5 rounds that I got into a groove with my Shipyard and custom assault class. That last round was pure nirvana.
Price: $7.99
Six Pack Rating:
Although the summer is coming to an end soon, I recommend Shipyard’s Summer Ale. Especially if you are enjoying some Monday Night Combat with friends.
