OMG! I can't login! The forums look different! Settle down, read this.
The NXE is coming and everyone is excited. Unless you're one of those Xbox 360 owners without a hard drive installed. You may have found out that you'll have to buy a 512 megabyte memory pack for $50.
After a bit of criticizing journalism on the internet and the subsequent consumer outrage, Microsoft has started an upgrade program for owners of the Xbox 360 Arcade and Core packages. Albeit I found it a little confusing when I first read of it: they kept calling it a memory upgrade. Wait, since when does some Xbox 360s have more RAM than others? Oh, wait, they're talking about the hard drives - so the proper term would be storage upgrade.
Aside my confusion, if you own the now defunkt Xbox 360 Core, you can upgrade to a 20 gigabyte hard drive or a 512 megabyte memory pack for $20. Arcade owners can purchase the 20 gigabyte hard drive with a 3 month free Xbox Live Gold subscription for $30. Which is a pretty decent deal since that hard drive usually goes for $80. It's a shame they didn't drop the price of the 120 gig drive, which is still selling for an outrageous $150.
Once upon a time, in the days of Nintendo 64, Rareware released a great game. Sure, it did follow the normal formula of a bunch of games (Mario, Sonic the Hedgehog, etc.): run around, jump on bad guys, collect one or more forms of iconic currency to progress. It was Banjo-Kazooie. You took on the dual-role of a fuzzy lazy, banjo-playing bear Banjo and his feisty red bird Kazooie.
Now I long grew tired of that aformentioned formula, but Banjo-Kazooie had another element to the game that captured my interest. Every level had some sort of puzzle and a new way to play to defeat the level. Hell, if you put the game away for a few weeks and went back to it you'd find yourself struggling to remember all the moves you learned from the beginning. The actual content was pleasing as well since characters and levels were amazingly imaginative and detailed.
Rareware is now teaming up with Microsoft and the release of Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts is set for November, 11th. Not only will we see the return of Banjo and Kazooie in an Xbox 360 developed game, but the original Banjo-Kazooie is being ported and upgraded for download on Xbox Live arcade and planned to be released on November 26th.
How long has it been since you played Halo 3's campaign? When I ask myself, "Halo 3 XBL or campaign?" my sentiments come close to "Not long enough!" Bungie is attempting to revive the spark in Halo 3 by releasing an add-on stand-alone campaign called Recon.
While you won't take on the role as the Master Chief, you don't have to worry because you won't be a retarded Elite. Halo 3: Recon puts the player in the shoes of a UNSC Orbital Drop Shock Trooper (ODST) during the events of Halo 2 while everyone is battling it out on Delta Halo. And if everyone else is having a blast on Delta Halo, where are you? Smack in the middle of the Convenant invasion tempest on Earth in New Mombasa.
Keep in mind that not playing as the Master Chief has its consequences that none of us are looking forward to. No MJOLNIR armor means no Spartan damage resistance and no finishing the game without picking up health packs (unless you're really good). It's an element returning from Halo: Combat Evolved that I'm not looking forward to. However, Bungie will continue to put the player in the shoes of a faceless protagonist to make assuming that role easier just as they did with the Master Chief.
When will we see this expansion to keep us away from our jobs, school work, and significant others? Fall of 2009.
Not sure what's really the best in this video: the kid getting tasered or the cop falling down chasing him.
In case you're wondering, NXE stands for New Xbox Experience, which is what all the cool kids are calling it now. I'm not precisely sure when it happened, but I do know I'm sure as hell going to use the new monicker from now on. It'll be available for download November 19th as part of the Xbox fall update.
Now for those who are somehow playing online without a hard drive (does that even work???) you'll have to buy a 512 megabyte memory card to install the upgrade. Yikes! $50 for an upgrade. Just goes to show you that spending the extra cash for a hard disk in your Xbox 360 doesn't make you a tool... buying the memory card to install the upgrade does.
A lot of us have seen the demo of the New Xbox Experience, but Microsoft has yet to release a date as to when we actually get the nifty new interface and the ability to watch Netflix videos with friends online. There are a few hints floating around out there that'll give you an idea if you're paying attention.
The rumored release is sometime around November. If you own Rockband 2, you may notice a message in the menus that says, "Check out the New Xbox Experience coming in November!" Furthermore, word has it that games being released in November, such as Gears of War 2, will have the update content on the game disc and will install when you start the game.
It's going for about $50 through Gamestop and Best Buy. They're clearing them out making way for a new Chatpad bundle. This is particularly handy for some of you do the more naughtier things via Xbox Live. Also, imagine the laughs you can get requesting a video chat with someone and when they accept they see a gamer's pale posterior. I can really think of no better use for a webcam, much less for one on the Xbox 360.
From what I hear it takes decent video and even better pictures and you can get it pretty cheap.
I made a pun on words there. There's an update coming to the Xbox 360 which will provoke what's being unamimously called an not-so-fun 24 hours downtime for Xbox Live. No date has been released for this update, but Microsoft promises it's not going to be the day after the downtime. In fact, there's no solid release day for it.
The update brings a new interface for the Xbox Dashboard which seems a lot easier to use than the blade layout, but is somewhat similar to Playstation 3's interface. Competing with Nintendo Wii's Miis, you can make your own animated avatar to look like you or whoever the hell you'd like to impersonate. Looks like they're teaming up with Netflix for buying movies and TV shows via the internet, which will be pretty cool as Netflix has a much broader selection of movies and television programs.
Check out the link and you can demo the new Dashboard yourself!
