All Articles: Xbox 360

Madden NFL 13 picks the Ravens as the winner of Super Bowl XLVII

Posted on January 28, 2013 by John Scalzo

The football Nostradamus that is EA Sports’ annual Simulation Bowl has made its pick for Super Bowl XLVII and it’s the Baltimore Ravens. Using a copy of Madden NFL 13 running on an Xbox 360, the simulated game features Ravens narrowly defeating the San Francisco 49ers 27 to 24.

The simulation started slowly with both teams only managing a field goal apiece after the first quarter. The 49ers shot ahead 10-3 in the second quarter with a Frank Gore touchdown, but a Torrey Smith catch and a Ray Rice run put the Ravens up 17-10 at halftime.

The simulation was knotted up again near end of regulation after Joe Flacco tossed a TD to Anquan Boldin and the 49ers answered with another Frank Gore run and a Colin Kaepernick to Vernon Davis throw. But the simulation ended thanks to a field goal from rookie kicker Justin Tucker and an Ed Reed interception to put the 49ers away for good.

Joe Flacco was named the MVP of the Super Bowl simulation for his 19 of 27 completion rate, 260 yards, and two touchdowns.

EA Sports and their Madden NFL Super Bowl Simulation correctly picked last year’s winner (the Giants over the Patriots) and is 7-2 since they first began picking winners in 2004. We’ll see if they move up to 8-2 this Sunday.

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Warner Bros. has (probably) registered more Batman: Arkham Asylum-related domains

Posted on January 13, 2013 by John Scalzo

batmanarkhamcitycomicBatman: Arkham City wasn’t always known as Batman: Arkham City. Originally, WB Games referred to the project as Batman: Arkham Asylum 2 when it was first unveiled during the 2009 Spike TV Video Game Awards. it was only later that we would learn the game’s official title as part of a mass registration of domain names by WB Games.

Can you guess where this is going? Yup, Warner Bros. has gone on another domain registration spree.

The following domains were all registered by MarkMonitor, the domain management company that handles all of Warner Bros.’s web addresses. So it is (technically) unknown if Warner Bros. even owns these domains. But they probably do. And they could have been registered for any number of reasons. As misdirection… as a pre-emptive strike against domain squatters… to promote a product completely unrelated to video games… for some other reason entirely. It is literally too early to tell.

But here’s the list of domains anyway. Personally, I think “Batman: Arkham Knight” sounds kind of awesome…

  • arkhamuniverse.com (Arkham Universe)
  • batmanarkahmuniverse.com (Batman: Arkham Universe)
  • batmanarkhamarises.com (Batman: Arkham Arises)
  • batmanarkhambegins.com (Batman: Arkham Begins)
  • batmanarkhamdarkknight.com (Batman: Arkham Dark Knight)
  • batmanarkhamknight.com (Batman: Arkham Knight)
  • batmanarkhamlegend.com (Batman: Arkham Legend)
  • batmanarkhamlegends.com (Batman: Arkham Legends)
  • batmanarkhamnight.com (Batman: Arkham Night)
  • batmanarkhamorigins.com (Batman: Arkham Origins)
  • batmanarkhamstories.com (Batman: Arkham Stories)
  • darkknightarkham.com (Dark Knight Arkham)
  • dcarkhamuniverse.com (DC Arkham Universe)
  • dcarkhamverse.com (DC Arkhamverse)
  • thearkhamuniverse.com (The Arkham Universe)

[Source: Fusible]

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Diablo III is “up and running” on consoles; still no official announcement

Posted on December 12, 2012 by John Scalzo

diabloiiiconsoleOh Blizzard, you’re such a tease!

Speaking to Polygon, Blizzard’s Rob Pardo has confirmed that the developer has a version of Diablo III “up and running” on console hardware. But, he reiterated, the company is still not ready to officially announce it.

“We’re still kind of exploring it,” said Pardo. “We’ve got builds up and running on it. We’re hoping to get it far enough along where we can make it an official project, but we’re not quite ready to release stuff about it, but it’s looking pretty cool.”

I realize Blizzard wants to ensure a console version of Diablo III can live up to its PC predecessor before they officially announce it or post screenshots or give it a release date, but come on, this is getting ridiculous.

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Black Tusk Studios is creating Microsoft’s next “Halo-like” franchise

Posted on November 29, 2012 by John Scalzo

Microsoft opened their Vancouver studio last year, but the team is finally ready for the big time with a new name and a new focus. Now known as Black Tusk Studios, the developer has begun work on creating the consolemaker’s next big franchise.

“[W]e are working on Microsoft’s next big entertainment franchise. We’re not working on an existing franchise, we’re looking to build the next Halo here in Vancouver, for example, which is really exciting. We are building something from the ground up,” said Mike Crump, the Studio Manager at Black Tusk.

To that end, Black Tusk has announced a massive recruitment drive in an effort to bring new talent to the studio. If you’re interested, you can find all of the job postings at BlackTuskStudios.com.

Details on the new franchise are being kept tightly under wraps, but previous recruitment efforts by Black Tusk (back when they were known as Microsoft Vancouver) have confirmed the developer is working on a “AAAA” shooter that makes use of the Kinect sensor in some way. It’s likely (but unconfirmed) that it’ll appear on the Xbox 360 as well.

[Source: The Vancouver Sun]

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Rumor: Rocksteady readying Silver Age-styled Batman: Arkham Asylum prequel

Posted on July 11, 2012 by John Scalzo

Maybe the joke’s on us, but Variety is reporting that Rocksteady is planning to follow-up Batman: Arkham City with a prequel based on The Dark Knight’s Silver Age showdowns with The Joker.

One question, though. Who would voice The Clown Prince of Crime now that Mark Hamill has said he’s finished playing The Joker?

That wasn’t answered in the Variety report, but their tipster did reveal a bit more about the game. First, it’s said to be “highly stylized” and will feature cameo appearances from some of Batman’s fellow Justice League of America members. The game is also quite early in development and will launch in 2014 (or possibly later) for next generation systems.

You know, next week’s Comic-Con convention would be the perfect time to announce a new Batman game…

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Griffin, Durant, Rose score a spot on the NBA 2K13 cover

Posted on June 26, 2012 by John Scalzo

With the lockout a thing of the past, 2K Sports has decided to not go with a retired legend for the cover of NBA 2K13.

Instead, the publisher has tapped three of the best players currently playing the game: Blake Griffin of the Los Angeles Clippers, Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder, and Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls. All three were suitably humbled to be selected for the cover. And why not, they were preteens when NBA 2K was released!

“Being crowned as one of the NBA 2K13 cover athletes is a huge honor and something I always dreamt about,” said Durant. “It’s definitely humbling to grace the cover after the likes of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird.”

“There’s so much young talent around the NBA, so it’s very exciting to be chosen for NBA 2K’s ‘New Dynasty’ alongside Kevin and Derrick,” added Griffin. “The NBA 2K series has always been my first choice when I want to get a game in.”

“It’s a dream come true to be one of the cover athletes for NBA 2K13,” commented Rose. “I’ve worked closely with 2K Sports since NBA 2K10, and I’m honored to follow in the footsteps of Michael Jordan as the latest Chicago Bull to be featured on the cover.”

NBA 2K13 will be released for the PC, PS3, PSP, Wii, and Xbox 360 on October 2. A Wii U version will also be available before the end of the year.

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Quantum Conundrum comes to PSN, XBLA on July 10/11

Posted on June 21, 2012 by John Scalzo

Quantum Conundrum, the multidimensional puzzle game published by Square Enix and developed by Airtight Games, was made available to download from Steam today.

But what about the promised PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade versions of the game? Well, you’ll be happy to know that Square Enix will add Quantum Conundrum to those console download services on July 10 (PSN) and July 11 (XBLA), which is well within the promised “Summer” timeframe.

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Diablo III named best-selling game of May 2012 after collecting a ton of loot

Posted on June 15, 2012 by John Scalzo

Can you guess the best-selling game of May 2012 according to The NPD Group’s monthly calculations? Go on, guess, it’s not really a mystery… The best-selling game of May 2012 was Blizzard’s Diablo III.

Diablo III’s loot frenzy was the lone bright spot for the game industry this month as total sales were down 28% from May 2011 with console hardware taking the biggest hit (a 39% drop).

But that’s not for lack of trying. A ton of new releases broke into the top ten this month including Max Payne 3 (#2), Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier (#3), Sniper Elite V2 (#7), and Dragon’s Dogma (#9). But I guess they didn’t put up the sales numbers to compete with last May’s biggest game, L.A. Noire.

The complete top ten can be found after the break. (more…)

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