All Articles: Xbox 360

Welcome back Frank! Dead Rising 2: Off the Record announced

Posted on April 12, 2011 by John Scalzo

Frank West is back! The photojournalist who’s covered wars will return to experience his second zombie outbreak in Dead Rising 2: Off the Record. Available for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 this Fall, the game will reveal what Frank was up to during Dead Rising 2 in a brand new Fortune City attraction.

More than a mere spinoff, Capcom has promised that Off the Record will include “more twisted enemies” and “more outrageous combo weapons” as well as “enhancements to the save system and the co-op experience.” We also get to see Frank West deliver a suplex to a zombie while wearing wrestling tights. Oh yeah, welcome back Frank!

Frank’s return will also bring back the picture taking from the original Dead Rising and the Prestige Points (PP) exerpience system. And Frank’s camera will have plenty of new subjects as Capcom has said that Off the Record will include new enemies and new Psychos.

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CoD: Black Ops Escalation Map Pack coming May 3

Posted on April 12, 2011 by John Scalzo

Activision has announced that the second map pack for Call of Duty: Black Ops, Escalation, will be available to download on May 3. As with all other CoD DLC, the Escalation pack will exclusively be available on the Xbox Live Marketplace before eventually being added to the PlayStation Store and PC download sites.

The pack will include four new multiplayer maps, along with something Activision is referring to as Call of the Dead, “a Zombies experience like none before it.”

“In crafting the Escalation multiplayer maps – Zoo, Convoy, Hotel and Stockpile – the team developed them to be distinct experiences in their own right, giving players the variety they crave in both setting and gameplay,” said Treyarch Studio Head, Mark Lamia. “And I don’t want to spoil any surprises for Zombies fans, but Call of the Dead takes it to a whole new level.”

To celebrate the upcoming release of Escalation , Treyarch will host a Double XP weekend beginning Friday, May 6th.

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Rodgers, Hillis, Vick, Peterson are the Madden NFL 12 final four

Posted on April 11, 2011 by John Scalzo

The third round of the Madden NFL 12 Cover Vote has come to a close and now only four names remain.

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers emerged victorious over New England’s Danny Woodhead. He’ll face Peyton Hillis of the Cleveland Browns in the semifinals, who continued his cinderella run with a win over Kansas City’s Jamaal Charles.

The other half of the bracket includes Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick on top, Vick beat the 49ers’ Patrick Willis in round three. He’ll be challenged by Vikings wide receiver Adrian Peterson, who stomped Drew Brees with 62% of the vote.

Semifinal voting begins today and runs through April 17.

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Brink release date moved up to May 10

Posted on April 11, 2011 by John Scalzo

Bethesda Softworks has announced that Spalsh Damage’s parkour-inspired shooter, Brink, will be available in stores sooner than expected. The game, which was previously penciled in for May 17, will now be released a week earlier on May 10.

“Production wrapped on Brink earlier than we planned and we didn’t see any reason to keep gamers from getting their hands on this highly anticipated game as soon as it was ready,” said Pete Hines, VP of PR and Marketing for Bethesda Softworks. “It’s apparent from the tremendous reaction so far that people are eager to jump online and play, and if we can make that happen earlier – we’re going to.”

Getting a week’s headstart on the May 17 release of the hugely hyped L.A. Noire was probably a part of the decision process as well.

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Upsets abound in Round 2 of Madden NFL 12 voting

Posted on April 4, 2011 by John Scalzo

The second round of voting for the Madden NFL 12 cover athlete is complete and a ton of top seeds have been knocked out.

Jacksonville’s Maurice Jones-Drew (#3), Atlanta’s Matt Ryan (#2), Pittsburgh’s Hines Ward (#2) and San Diego’s Phillip Rivers (#1) have all escaped the Madden cover curse been voted out by the fans. The survivors of the second round include several Cinderella stories, though Super Bowl MVP Aaron Rodgers is still alive as well in round three:

Aaron Rodgers (#1) vs Danny Woodhead (#4)
Jamaal Charles (#6) vs Peyton Hillis (#10)

Adrian Peterson (#9) vs Drew Brees (#4)
Michael Vick (#3) vs Patrick Willis (#10)

Voting for the third round begins today and runs through April 11th at ESPN.com/maddenvote.

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No surprises in first round of Madden NFL 12 cover voting

Posted on March 28, 2011 by John Scalzo

The first round of the Madden NFL 12 Cover Vote has ended with few surprises. The higher ranked seed won in every matchup except for #7 Ray Rice (who lost to #10 Peyton Hillis) and #8 Julius Peppers (who lost to #9 Adrian Peterson).

Voting for the second round has begun today at ESPN.com/maddenvote and with it comes a few very interesting matchups:

Aaron Rodgers (#1) vs Sam Bradford (#8)
Danny Woodhead (#4) vs Hakeem Nicks (#5)
Maurice Jones-Drew (#3) vs Jamaal Charles (#6)
Matt Ryan (#2) vs Peyton Hillis (#10)

Phillip Rivers (#1) vs Adrian Peterson (#9)
Drew Brees (#4) vs Mark Sanchez (#5)
Michael Vick (#3) vs Andre Johnson (#6)
Hines Ward (#2) vs Patrick Willis (#10)

Voting for round two continues through April 3rd.

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Guitar Hero III tops biggest moneymakers list

Posted on March 25, 2011 by John Scalzo

Guitar Hero may be dead (for now at least), but the franchise has certainly left its mark on the gaming world. In a report released by The NPD Group yesterday, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock was crowned the king of all video games… in terms of total sales dollars that is. The music game has brought $830.9 million into Activision’s coffers, no doubt thanks to the expensive guitar bundle you see above.

Activision can also lay claim to the number two game on the list, Call of Duty: Black Ops (even though gamers have bought more copies of CODBLOPS than any other game ever). All told, the publisher snapped up half of the spots in the top ten.

But when it comes to printing money, the only other name that comes to mind is Nintendo. The consolemaker has four games in the top ten: both versions of Wii Fit, Wii Play and Mario Kart Wii. The only non-Activision/Nintendo title in the top ten was MTV Games’ Rock Band.

Interestingly, no game on the list was released before 2007, but CNBC pointed out that the list may not be entirely accurate as Super Mario Bros. 3 sold 18 million copies back in 1990 (before The NPD Group started tracking game sales). Originally retailing for $50, the game’s $900 million dollar tally would surpass every other game on the list.

Hit the jump for the full top ten. (more…)

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Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters arriving in 3D on June 7

Posted on March 24, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

Ryan Reynolds’ latest film is generating a lot of excitement, but you can get your own taste of the Green Lantern, even in 3D if you wish, before the film comes out on June 17. Warner Bros. Interactive announced today that Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters will release in 3D for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo 3DS on June 7, along with a Wii version in standard 2D. This will be Warner Bros. first game for the Nintendo 3DS.

The PS3 and 360 version are actually kind of interesting – no expensive 3DTV is needed. The 3D effects are compatible with any standard or high definition television, all you have to do is wear the glasses that come with the game. With all this talk of 3D being the new direction for gaming, it’s great to see developers finding alternate, cheaper ways to deliver it to us.

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