Gaming News: Xbox One Backwards Compatibilty Games List Announced.

Major Nelson just announced the full list of Xbox 360 backwards compatible games for the Xbox One. It is a long freaking list which is great for Xbox 360 players who never gave up their games and want to make some space in their entertainment unit, but bad for me who has to list all these damn titles for you, vultures. I have a life you know!

Check out the list in the full blog post.

Stuff I Got Excited About: Microsoft Xbox Conference Edition

Video Games | Xbox 360 | E3 2010: The New Xbox 360 Featurette

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Okay, so yesterday we had the first of the big 3 game conference starting with Microsoft and all their Xbox news. Honestly if you didn't know any better you would have thought you were watching a Nintendo conference from a couple of years ago. Kinect Sports = Wii Sports? Kinectimals = Nintendogs? Kinect Joy Ride = Mario Kart Wii? I think so.


Basically both Microsoft and Sony are now jumping on the casual and motion controller train to grab their bag o' money and its kind of sad in a way. I like to sit on my ass to play videogames and so do the rest of the real gamers in this world. Kinect will be just another gadget people will turn on once and while but will basically collect dust once the novelty wears off. I only keep my Wii around for Nintendo's core line-up of games and that's it.

Video Games | Fable III | E3 2010: Debut Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

So besides the dumb Kinect stuff they showed off, Microsoft did managed to bring a few "A" game items like Fable 3 *drools* and Metal Gear Solid Rising which will feature Raiden in the main role this time. He will have new precision sword control.

Video Games | Metal Gear Solid: Rising | E3 2010: Debut Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

They also showed off a teaser trailer for a new game called Codename: Kingdoms. Not much was shown in the preview but it looked promising. Overall most of it was Kinect games and demo time with the new device. They also showed off Call of Duty: Black Ops, Gears of War 3, Forza 4 and a little known game called Halo Reach.

But again, most of it focused on Kinect games like Dance Central, a new full motion dance moves game or Your Shape: Fitness Evolved which will also take full advantage of the Kinect system. The only cool game they talked about here was the possible Kinect Star Wars game but until I get a lightsaber with a game, I am still not jumping for joy here.

They also talked about new features coming to Xbox Live like ESPN and the games on demand feature but more than likely this will not come to Canada, so moving along.

Video Games | Dance Central | E3 2010: Debut Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Beside Halo Reach, Fable 3 and Metal Gear Solid Rising, there was much here to jump for joy over. Even their announcement of a brand new Xbox 360 with a 250GB hard drive and built-in Wi-Fi didn't have me jumping out of my seat. I personally don't have the money to buy a new one even though my old Xbox is chugging along a horrible rate right now. Maybe if I got a freebie like the other journalists there in studio, I could jump for joy.

Note: this new Xbox still will chew your game disc to hell if you move the system mid-play. Video via Destructoid

If you are hard up for a new Xbox though, these babies are shipping out right now and should be in stores as of next week. Considering the hard drive space, built-in Wi-Fi and the fact they are the same price as the old console, I would go for it. RRoD and disc chewing aside, the new models are still better in the long run for the price.

Review: Halo 3: ODST

Halo 3: ODST
Microsoft, Bungie
Available for Xbox 360

This week’s game, Halo 3: ODST was a first for this reviewer as I have never played a first-person shooter genre Halo game in my life (played Halo Wars but that doesn’t count as it’s a real time strategy game). Though I’ve had Halo games in my home because of past boyfriends who played them, I’ve never taken any interest in playing them myself even though I liked the game’s main character, Master Chief and I even liked the game’s musical score. Basically I’m pretty much a Halo virigin.


So after some many weeks of fan girl reviews from me, you now get to read my review on the new Halo 3: ODST with no previous views or fan girl love to get in the way of my opinion on this game. But unfortunately I also can’t really compare this game to its previous games, so rather than say what this game lacks this compared to Halo 3 or whatever; I’ll just tell you what I know it does have, rather than what it doesn’t have.

Halo 3: ODST puts you into the role of an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper or “Helljumper” who has landed in the abandon city of New Mombasa after a failed drop. The city has been occupied by a small Covenant force and it’s up to you to find out what happened to the other missing members of your team. Rather than playing the game out as just your plain old linear story line, the developers set the game up in a series of detective missions where you must find clues around the city in order to move onto a mission where you play out what happened to one of your missing team members.

Of course, amongst the entire clue finding you still get to kill hordes of the covenant that have brought along a new alien type (a passive type that acts as a shield generator) and some new weapons like the Jiralhanae. Now unfortunately for all you veteran Halo fans, the ODSTs are not apparently as tough as Master Chief and tend to need a few more melee hits to take out enemies. Plus they don’t handle the bumps and bruises of war quite as well as Master Chief either, so don’t be afraid to retreat to safer ground when facing tougher enemies that you would normally take head on with the Chief.


Once you are done with the main campaign story mode which can be played alone or with a friend via online co-op play, you can still enjoy all that New Mombasa has to offer with the new Firefight mode. Playing with up to 4 friends, Firefight mode allows you to defend against a never ending horde of the covenant on various maps from New Mombasa. The only feature which would have been a nice addition to this mode would have been open online game play as you can only play this online with people on your friends list.

Included in the ODST box was a second disc which includes all the available Halo 3 maps you could possible own and while is a great feature for someone like me who doesn’t own Halo 3, Halo fans didn’t seem to be too impressed (what I read online) to purchase a $60 game featuring a 5 hour campaign game, a new online firefight mode that they could only play with friends and a map disc full of stuff they already owned. But taking into consideration that the game does give players access to the Halo Reach beta when it comes out, this whole deal might just be worth the $60 to fans for just the beta access alone.

Being that I’ve never played any Halo games before, this is my first time really looking at the world of Halo closely (I may have looked at it once or twice when the ex-boyfriend played) and I have to say it is darn pretty - like Blade Runner meets the US Army. The world of Halo is very futuristic from the building design to the aliens you fight to the weapons you use. There were a few glitches in the game that caused me to get stuck in a death loop after I jumped on board a banshee and somehow stand on top of a brute’s head which were both pretty darn annoying. This is something that you wouldn’t expect from a game company that has had 4 games to get it right by now.


The music I am familiar with thanks to Guitar Hero 3 and Video Games Live and while the electric rock epic track were fabulous for heading off into battle, the rest of the music didn’t seem to pop up at the appropriate times. When I’m killing covenant, I really don’t like to hear jazz music or adult contemporary, no matter how cool it sounds so please leave that stuff where it belongs – at the sappy moments in the game.

Based on my Halo newb opinion, I have to say that even though this was a short experience, it was a cool experience for me and I have the urge to check out the previous Halo titles now. I loved playing the main game with my friend as well as the firefight mode and I think this might be the perfect launching game for new Halo players. As for Halo fans, I can’t really say how you would review this game but I can saw that the campaign mode has a engaging storyline and the firefight mode I would assume should be addictive to all, but there’s still that pesky second disc with all the Halo 3 maps. Just try to focus on the Halo Reach beta and maybe you won’t be bothered by the thought of buying stuff you already own.

Rating: 8 out of 10
Buy it!

E3 2009: Xbox 360 Natal vs PS3 Wand

Both Microsoft and Sony revealed new motion control technology for their consoles during their press conferences. Both were significantly different from each other in how they worked but ultimately they both were designed to allow full body control in game.

Sony's motion control device was a wand with a light sensor device on top that could change colour and buttons on the back. This wand which could be used in twos, allowed for 1:1 movements on screen that were both smooth and extremely accurate.

The tech demo shown live on stage during the Sony press conference showed off several different uses for the device including writing, painting, fighting with sword & shield, throwing stars and guns (use of two wands here), directing a flash light, building a tower with blocks and hitting a tennis ball.

This new technology unfortunately will not be coming to the Playstation 3 until Spring 2010.

Microsoft revealed their Project Natal which is a full body motion control device that plugs into an existing or future Xbox 360 device. It incorporates facial recognition, full body motion controls and voice recognition.

This device uses no sensor device on your body anywhere but will allow you to use the device in various ways like scanning real life objects for in-game use, clothes modeling, game controlling and even turning off your console using voice commands.



At the Microsoft press conference, they showed off a few tech demos for Project Natal live like a full body control brick breaker game and a dancing avatar. Those these demos looks alright they didn't really show off some of the better ideas posed in the trailer they featured at the conference as well.

Until I actually see all of the promised features of the device shown in real time, I don't believe the hype around this yet.

In the long run, I think Sony has the better motion control device here as they have proven live that the motion control wand has the smoothness and most accurate controls out of all the game companies.

But in reality, real gamers tend to want to sit on their butts and game, so all these motion control devices won't decide the fate of the console wars anyway. Tell me when someone makes a holodeck and then I'll claim them the new winner.

E3 2009: Xbox Arcade's New Line Up

Microsoft announced their new line up of Xbox Live Arcade titles and the list was pretty cool, but none as wicked as The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition. I wrote about this game just a while ago and I can't wait to play this new version as well as the new episodic titles from Telltales games.

Now if only someone would make a Day of the Tentacle title. I miss Purple Tentacle's plots to take over the world.

XBLA's Line Up:
- Secret of Monkey Island - Lucasarts
- Splosion Man - Microsoft Game Studios
- Shadow Complex - Microsoft Game Studios
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time Re-Shelled - Ubisoft
- Marvel vs Capcom 2 - Capcom
- Battlefield 1943 - EA
- Joy Ride - Microsoft Game Studios
- Trials HD - Microsoft Game Studios

Microsoft's CES Keynote: Halo and More Junk

Microsoft held their keynote at CES 2009 which covered the Halo franchise for 2009 and improvements coming to the Xbox Experience this year. Now I'm sure the Halo fans are stoked for Halo Wars and Halo 3: ODST and that's good for them, but the rest of the crap that Xbox announced was boring.


The game creator looked like something Nintendo should be selling to their casual market and not Microsoft to their key gamers and the fact that Microsoft is talking about the PrimeTime channel again is nothing new. We knew about it already and it should have been available at launch time with all the rest of the new features on NXE.


Show us something we didn't already know about or something we care about. Thanks.

Review: Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise

Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise
Microsoft Game Studio, Rare Ltd.
Available on Xbox 360

Once an avid Pokemon trainer, I have since moved onto a more mature game that insists that I "catch them all". Rare's Viva Piñata series hit the Xbox 360 console last year with so much love and candy goodness and now the studio is back with a sequel, Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise.

Why is there trouble in paradise you may ask? Well, the happy people at Rare have allowed Professor Pester and his Ruffians access to the garden this round and they have managed to destroy Piñata Central records. Now it’s up to you to invite piñatas into your garden, fill them up with candy and send them off to parties around the world in order to restore the missing files.



Fans of series will love the improvements made to the controls and menu systems in order to streamline planting seeds and finding your piñatas. New piñata central goals have been added and mini games have also been added so you can show off the talents of your best piñatas. Also several new types of piñatas have been added to the roster and two new regions, Dessert Desert and Pinartic have been created to trap snowy and desert piñatas in.
Local and online multiplayer have been added to the game, so you can now share you gardening experience with others, if you so choose. If you don't fully trust your online friends though, you can limit their access to viewing your garden only. A card function added into the game allows you to print off rare piñata cards from the official website and scan them on your Xbox Live Camera to download them into the game.

Just for fun mode has also been added for younger gardeners to finally get a chance to tend to their own garden and earn piñatas at an easier level. Personally I found the requirements way too easy for my taste and since I can't even move anything from this mode to gardens in the regular mode, I figured this was really just a waste of time for a seasoned gardener like me.

Graphically the game hasn't improved much over the original except now the game doesn't chug anymore especially during auto save. However the game looked pretty darn good before for a bunch of paper piñatas, so expect some colourful environments and detailed paper piñatas in this sequel.



The sound is very cute and upbeat in this game. I personally love the theme song in Viva Piñata and tend to sing it while in the shower or while waiting for the elevator. The voices are all the original actors from the first game and cartoon, so fans will be happy with the continuity. I was very happy to hear Professor Pester cry "Victory is mine" during game play even though he had just destroyed one of my piñatas. Bugger.

Ultimately I think anyone who loves Pokemon or the previous Viva Piñata series will love this game and will be especially happy with the improvements in the game. I expect newcomers to the series will also love trying to catch them all as well as working on their digital green thumbs.

Rating 9 out of 10
Buy it!

Review: Ninja Gaiden II

Ninja Gaiden II
Microsoft Game Studios, Team Ninja
Available for Xbox 360

Team Ninja has finally published the long awaited sequel in the Ninja Gaiden series, but this time they did it with Microsoft Game Studios as their publisher instead of Tecmo. With the recent controversy between Team Ninja and Tecmo, it’s not surprising that the development team had branched out to work with other game publishers. Now the only question that remains is the success of Team Ninja based on their publisher or on their games? Let’s answer that today with my look at Ninja Gaiden II for the Xbox 360.

The Ninja Gaiden series is a popular franchise going back as far as the original Nintendo system and when Team Ninja creates a new title in the series; gaming world stands up and pays attention. Being that I’ve never played a Ninja Gaiden game ever, I figured that a new game in the series was the best excuse I’d get to finally dive into the franchise and was I ever glad I did.

This game takes place one year after Ninja Gaiden with master blacksmith Muramasa setting up shop in Tokyo and receiving a visit from a CIA agent named Sonia, who is looking for Ryu Hayabusa. She is there to warn him of an impending attack on the Hayabusa Village by the Black Spider Ninjas, who wish to steal the Demon Statue they possess and protect. At that moment though, the evil Black Spider clan appears and kidnaps Sonia, only to have Ryu show up just in time to chase after them and rescue her. From here, Ryu must save the world from the possible resurrection of evil Archfiend and the evil Black Spider clan.

Now having not played the previous Ninja Gaiden games, I really didn’t have anything to compare this game to, so instead of saying it plays like previous titles in the series or whatever, I would have to say this game reminds me of Capcom’s Onimusha series which I had played. The game play, camera angles, menus, items, controls are all very similar, but the huge difference is this: Ninja Gaiden II is Onimusha perfected.




While the game can be quite difficult as you start to get into the higher chapters, even on the easier Path of the Acolyte setting, the controls are fluid and each of Ryu’s move are quite stellar to perform. He has a small arsenal of weapons he can choose from as well as some magic spells and projectile weapons. The best part of the game play though has to be watching Ryu pull off his special finishing moves where he will kill enemies in a sweet cinematic move. Gore movie fans will love the amount of blood in this game which literally paints the stage’s wall in some areas.

Besides the wicked Ninja moves players will have the opportunity to perform in this game, Ninja Gaiden’s neato prize in the box is really its graphics. From the detailed environments to the stunning cut scenes, this game is all around impressive to look at as it is to play. You literally get impressed just from how the gold shines on Ryu’s costume and weapon in the first cut scene.

The music draws from its Japanese roots and provides a very appropriate soundtrack to match the ancient/futuristic world that Ryu comes from. The hack and slash sounds really bring the death and destruction to live, but the voice actors were a little strange sounding in some parts.

Before I give my verdict, I just wanted to compliment Team Ninja on two things in this game besides the obvious, I love how the enemies refuse to give up and continue to crawl on the ground towards you even when you’ve hacked off their arm and maybe a leg. Also I love the name of Ryu’s father, Joe Hayabusa. A very classic name.

For never playing a Ninja Gaiden game, I have to say I really liked this game and plan to pick up future games in the series. It was beautiful, challenging and an absolutely stellar to play through. Fans of the series should definitely get this game and hack and slash genre fans will not be disappointed either.

Rating 9 out of 10
Buy it!

The Girl Gamer Visits Microsoft's X'08 in Toronto

While everyone else is spending last week checking out the latest in gaming at Leipzig GC 2008 or packing their gear for the upcoming PAX 2008 convention, Mike from Attack This! and I was checking out the latest in the gaming from Microsoft at the X'08 preview event in Toronto.

Since I don't get to jet set off to any of the big gaming events due to money and time issues, X'08 is one of the two gaming events I get to look forward to every year in my local area. The X event is put on by Microsoft to showcase all the upcoming Fall and Holiday titles coming to the Xbox 360.

This year's event was held in downtown Toronto in a bar called Circa, which is a pretty amazing looking bar with multiple levels and even a special room decorated in vinyl toys.

Several developers were on hand at the event like Activision, Midway, Warner Bros. Interactive, Square Enix, Electronic Arts, 2K Games, Sega, Ubisoft, Konami, THQ, Epic Games, Disney Interactive, and even a few small developers were there showing off their independent Xbox Live Arcade titles.

While no big announcements are ever released at the X event, Microsoft did decide to bring in the big guns with Cliff Bleszinski, who was on hand for interviews about his upcoming title, Gears of War 2, which was playable on the show floor.

While there were tons of big titles to play like Rock Band 2, Guitar Hero: World Tour, Call of Duty: World at War, I was only able to get my hands on a few titles for which I will be posting my hands on impressions soon.

I will say Microsoft definitely knows how to throw a party with tons of food, a open bar and a nice swag bag, though none of the t-shirts fit me. All of them were one size fits standard male geek and I'm standard female geek. All the better to sleep in I guess.

Big howdy to Jimmy at The BBPS.com and the gang at This Week in Geek! Sorry we didn't get to spend more time with you at the event.

So stay tuned for all my hands on game previews.

The Girl Gamer Heads to X'08 and Fan Expo this Week

This is completely full of epic week for me.

Tomorrow I'm going to Toronto to check out all the new and upcoming games for Xbox 360 and Games for Windows at Microsoft's X'08. I attended this event last year and though the building lost power an hour after I got there, it was still a great day and loved every minutes of it.

On Saturday I'll be hitting Toronto again for the Fan Expo which is 5 conventions in one: Science-fi, Gaming, Horror, Anime and Comic Books. There I'll be checking out all the vendors, stopping in on some Q&A sessions with some celebs and hopefully get to meet, Electric Playground host, Victor Lucas at the G4 Booth.

I'll hopefully have lots of coverage for you when I catch my breathe on Monday after all the excitement.

Now, back to Too Human!

Fallout 3 E3 2008 Gameplay Walkthrough Video

From the Microsoft conference yesterday, a developer walkthrough for Fallout 3. View the first video of game play footage for the game. The video shows off some of the game's weapons, the targeting system, a couple of the enemies, a devastated Washington D.C., some tools, and finally a selection of music from the game.

Looks good so far, but nothing is jumping out as spectatular. The music is terrible.

Review: Microsoft's Zune MP3 Player

About a month ago, I got a new 8 GB Zune 2. They were recently launched in Canada and I decided it was a good time to try out a new mp3 player. Here's my review on this iPod killer:

Like the competition, the Zune 2 is very well designed and constructed. Though it appears bulky, the Zune is actually pretty lightweight at 47g or 1.7oz. The bottom half is made of brushed aluminium which makes it resistant to scratches and the top half is made up of a porous plastic, which doesn’t leave many fingerprints.

The screen's glass construction gives it strength of 5.5 on the Mohs scale, which is very impressive if you know that iPod’s screen is only 1 on the same scale.

As far as the battery goes, under ideal conditions (without WiFi, brightness minimum standby mode after 1 second, etc.) it allows for 24 hours of music or 4 hours of video.

Zune 2’s sound quality has greatly improved since the first generation. Though Microsoft left out the equalizer this time around and it seems the community wasn’t too impressed. Hopefully there will be an update for the Zune 2 in the future with the equalizer program attached to it.

The Zune 2 allows you to play mp3, mp4, wav, and wma format, but iTunes users will be disappointed to know that they can’t play their purchased iTunes songs on the player.

A great feature about the Zune 2 is its ability to play music without pausing between tracks. Great for techno fans whose music sounds like one endless song anyway.

Given that I only have the 8GB version of Zune, I didn't really enjoy playing videos on its small screen 4.5cm, but visual the video clips that I did test out on the Zune 2 looked pretty good on full colour screen. The videos appear in widescreen format.

Podcasting is very convenient on the Zune 2 as it saves you having to constantly check if a new episode is available. Quite simply save the Podcast link in the Zune software and it takes care of downloading the latest episodes for you.

The Zune can store 25,000 images regardless of the model chosen and can be shared by friends who have a Zune via WiFi. The images, like the videos appear automatically in landscape format.


On the software side, I was quite impressed with the Zune software manager. Based on a tab design, you can click and drag items from other tab to another. Setup photo albums, play lists, podcast downloads, etc.

The use of WiFi for synchronization or exchange between friends for songs or photos is probably one of the neatest features on the Zune. It connects to the local WiFi network and supports all protocols wireless security.

Regarding the exchange of files and songs, just look for friends in the vicinities with the Social section on Zune. Then you can select a friend and send photos without restrictions or songs with restrictions. As far as restrictions, each song sent can only be played 3 times by friends. It does not matter if the original file is protected or not by a system of protection of digital rights.



The Zune Marketplace is not yet available for Canadian users; I can only hope that it will be as user-friendly as the competition. This will be a place where you can buy music, video and television episodes. If you buy a TV Show, you'll be notified when a new episode is available and it will download and synchronize automatically with your Zune, just like podcasts.

The touch pad control is much like the iPod’s as it allows you roll your finger across the pad to move the cursor on the screen around. I personally never liked touch sensitive controls, so I turned it off and opt for the click pad controls instead.

The menu is setup into categories like music, podcasts, albums, etc. and when you click on them, they open into your files lists. They’re extremely easy to navigate.

Despite a rocky start out on the market, I think the Zune has potential to be a great mp3 player. With the Marketplace coming to Canada in the future and the possible of Microsoft integrating its XNA games software into the system, I think we Canadians have lots of cool addition features to look forward to too.

Review: Lost Odyssey

Lost Odyssey
Microsoft, Mistwalker
Available for Xbox 360

This week I got to dive into the in-depth world of Lost Odyssey, a role-playing game for the Xbox 360 that was created by Hironobu Sakaguchi, who is famous for games like Final Fantasy and Blue Dragon. Lost Odyssey follows the story of an immortal named Kaim who is one of two survivors of a giant meteor spell that wipes out an entire battlefield and now he cannot remember anything about his past. Charged with determining the cause of the giant meteor strike, Kaim is sent to investigate a new magic station being built and is joined by several other immortal and mortal companions along the way.

Lost Odyssey’s storyline is very different than most videogames in the sense that most of the meat of the story is in the memories that Kaim remembers throughout the game and though you have the ability to read or skip each, I suggest you take the 10 minutes to read them as each memory is very well written. I was however disappointed by the fact that the game took almost 2 hours to get going into the actual game play and to be honest, it almost made me turn the game off.



The game play’s core is basic RPG turn-based fighting, but the developers have added in combat rings for additional battle affects, front defence strategies, item forging, and immortal/mortal skill linking to give the battle system a different twist for Final Fantasy fans. I personally was not impressed by how hard the bosses were in the beginning and the fact that escaping is a learned skill, rather than normal battle option really made it hard to fight through the first few levels.

Graphically and sound wise, this game is a complete success from the amazing soundtrack created by Final Fantasy maestro, Nobuo Uematsu to the fine detailed character designs and the epic battle scenes. Getting to play it in HD was just the icing on this game’s visually layered cake. Character voices were quite well done, expect for Jansen who sounded too much like a bad 1980s stand up comic to be in this game.



To be completely honestly, I am only suggesting this game as a buy to those extreme RPG fans out there, because Lost Odyssey is more demanding then a girlfriend who wants to talk about your relationship while the Super Bowl is on. Expect to spend lots of time with the game just listening and don’t be surprised when you die a lot because you didn’t plan your moves right. For rest of you normal gamers, pass on Lost Odyssey and wait for Grand Theft Auto IV to consume your life 3 weeks from now.

Rating: 5 out of 10
Forget it!

Everybody loves April Fool's Day

Running through all the major videogame web sites and blogs, I found that everybody was getting into the spirit of things and though some gags were better than others, I was just glad to see that gamers can always have a good sense of humour.

Me .... I'm too sick to be in mood to pull a prank. The Qwest customers I talked to on the phone today are just lucky I didn't hang up on their annoying butts and then yelled "April Fools!"

So my fav today was Destructoid:

They turned the entire site into Foxtoid for the day complete with spoof right-wing, nut bar, videogame hating articles. Now that's dedication to your joke. I really loved how they included a long running scandel on one of the Destructoid community members and a real interview with Jack Thompson.

Game Spot had a fake front page that had stories like how Disney was buying the rights to Hobo boxing for a gaming series, how Rock Band for the PSP was being released and there was even an interview with David Jaffe that included a lot of swearing. I was disappointed to see that once you clicked on a story, they all took you to the real front page and you couldn't read the fake stories.



IGN.com had a cool fake trailer for a Legend of Zelda movie that was apparently coming to the big screen and as cool as that idea was, the actual trailer looked terrible. Nice effect IGN, but I'm glad it's fake.

Think Geek had Super Pi Pi Bros. for the Nintendo Wii, which was a fake game where players could put on a wii remote with a strap-on to play a peeing wii game. Of course, the product was fake and the order button took you to a Happy April Fool's Day page.


Kotaku had all games cakes stories. 1Up.com had a story about Halo Lego. 4 Color Rebellion had changed their name to 3 Color Rebellion and changed all the pictures on the site to look like those old 3D books you could buy as a kid with the cheap little 3D glasses.

The stories running through the web including a fake World of Warcraft DS game, World of Warcraft: The Molten Core, coming from Blizzard web site directly and I love that they included a sweet trailer with the press release too.

There were rumours of Wii remote driven cars, Master Chief being visible from the stars, and then there's my favorite, the video featuring Jade Raymond as she introduces the next chapter in Assassin's Creed. Apparently that chapter takes place in Metal Gear Solid 4 ... ? How cool is that sh*t?

And my new Xbox red rings on start up

So today I received my Xbox after sending it out for repair and guess what?!

They send me a "new" Xbox 360 and halfway through the setup process the bitch red rings again. No freeze, no delay, just red rings every time its turned on.

At least my last console let me watch a movie on it or try to run a game before it froze and then red ringed. Needless to say I'm pissed and I'm pissed even more that I had the tech support guy trying to trouble shoot like it was my hard drive or power supply.

This time I better get a brand new console in a brand new box, instead of a piece of crap refurbished console. Plus they actually told me to call back, since my other repair hasn't finished processing.

Microsoft hates me. I must have killed a puppy or something

Red Ring at GDC: 360 turns on its masters

How embarrassing for Microsoft! Apparently the red ring of death knows no bounds on where, when and who they pop up on, because someone discovered a red ringed Xbox 360 at GDC in the XNA area.

I guess no one is safe from the red ring, not even the Xbox 360's lord and master, Microsoft.

[Via Destructoid]

Xbox Live is down and Gamers aren't happy

With lots of people home for the holidays right now, there couldn't be a worse time for Xbox Live to be down. Gamers in North America have discovered that since Saturday, December 22 that they have been unable to sign in to Xbox Live, recovery their accounts or access match making in game.

Major Nelson's blog has comfirmed that there is a wide spread problem with the servers and that Microsoft have their people working on getting the system back up and running smoothly as we speak.

Gamers are not impressed with the problem and are now asking if Microsoft will be compensating members with at least enough Xbox Live time to cover the days everyone has missed playing online.

I agree that everyone should be getting some free Xbox Live time, especially when the servers have been down for almost 2 weeks now and there are probably a lot of disappointed gamers that got a new Xbox 360 for Christmas and haven't been able to test out their gold membership yet.

Come on Microsoft computer geeks! We're counting on you to bring in the new year with problem free Xbox Live.

I've got friends in high places

I check my site meter at least once a day to see where all my readers are coming from and I especially love to comment on other blogs that post about me and my articles, just so I can thanks.

Today I found the best link for my site since 1UP.com posted about my Miss Video Game story. Xbox Canada posted my little blog in their Friends of Xbox section on the community main page. OH MY GOD! SOMEONE UP THERE LOVES ME!!!

I've had chats with Xbox community members like Sinnix and Trixie before, but I never knew people loved me that much that Microsoft. Now my only question is ... where's the PR love? What? No press releases or review copies? Don't friends usually send birthday and Christmas presents? Where's my copy of Eternal Sonata?

Just kidding ... actually I would love the inside scoop.

I'm playing with the big boys now. *struts with confidence*

Thanks to my friends at Xbox Canada for the link ... shoot me an email at Christina@Destructoid.com, so I can thank you personally and know how ya are.

The X'07 Blackout: Yeah, that was me ...

Believe or not, I think the power loss at Microsoft's X'07 event was my fault or something, cause this damn blackout is following me around. Friday night at work, it happened again.

I get to work and after about an hour, suddenly the bar goes dark ... no music, nothing. And then the power comes back on but only slightly. The black lights, bar lights, microphone, TVs, promo DVD player and strobe lights were working but nothing else. No house lights, no music and no bar register, so no hard liquor or draft beer for sale.

This was fine by me cause I just pulled out my Nintendo DS and started playing Final Fantasy but then an hour later, the rest of the power goes out and now everyone is scrabbling to light candles and setup a ghetto blaster with batteries to play some music from the radio.

Now, I can't see a damn thing to keep playing and so I cave and go hang with some regulars.

It took Niagara Hydro two hours before they fixed the problem, which apparently happened when a raccoon jumped on a power line.

Talk about weird, eh? I never thought two power losses where possible in the same week unless it was storming out or something.

So everyone who went to X'07 can blame the power loss on me, cause apparently it was following me around or something. Sorry.

If it makes anyone feel better, I have a cold now.

Blue Dragon: Video Review

I got this game as a gift from Microsoft's X'07 and plan to start playing it once I finish Final Fantasy II and Heroes of Mana. Plus there's BioShock and the Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare beta and I still have Final Fantasy XII ...