Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas brethren! I know that 'Bloody Rids' doesn't necessarily evoke feelings of love, joy and good will towards men, but I do wish all three of my readers a Merry Christmas. And for those of you who do not celebrate the birth of Christ, Happy Monday!

What's Next?

Although we are all enjoying the current crop of Xbox 360 games, such as Gears of War and Rainbow Six. Some of us have recently wondered... What's Next? The games of 2007 look to take us to new gaming levels. In my opinion we have only begun to bare witness to the innovative game play to come. With new games such as Assassin's Creed, BioShock, Crackdown and Mass Effect set to revolutionize their genres, we will soon exclaim "It's 2007, I'll do what I want." Here's a brief synopsis of some upcoming games. Be sure to vote on my "Bloody Poll," located underneath my Gamercard.

Assassin's Creed:

Assassin's Creed is the next-generation game developed by Ubisoft Montreal that redefines the action genre. Assassin's Creed merges technology, game design, theme, and emotions into a world where you instigate chaos and become a vulnerable, yet powerful, agent of change.

The setting is 1191 A.D. The Third Crusade is tearing the Holy Land apart. You, Altair, intend to stop the hostilities by suppressing both sides of the conflict.

You are an Assassin, a warrior shrouded in secrecy and feared for your ruthlessness. Your actions can throw your immediate environment into chaos, and your existence will shape events during this pivotal moment in history

• The Assassin: Master the skills, tactics, and weapons of history’s deadliest and most secretive clan of warriors. Plan your attacks, strike without mercy, and fight your way to escape.
• Realistic, responsive environments: Experience a living, breathing world in which all your actions have consequences. Crowds react to your moves and will either help or hinder you on your quests.
• Total freedom: Eliminate your targets wherever, whenever, and however. Stalk your prey through richly detailed, historically accurate, open-ended environments. Scale buildings, mount horses, blend in with crowds. Do whatever it takes to achieve your objectives.
• Epic times of the Crusades: Assassin’s Creed immerses you in the realistic and historical Holy Land of the twelfth century, featuring life-like graphics, ambience, and the subtle, yet detailed nuances of a living world.
• Intense action: Experience heavy action blended with fluid and precise animations. Use a wide range of medieval weapons, and face your enemies in realistic swordfight duels.
• Next-gen gameplay: The proprietary engine developed from the ground up for Xbox 360 allows organic game design featuring open gameplay, intuitive control scheme, realistic interaction with environment, and a fluid, yet sharp, combat mechanic.

BioShock:

BioShock is a revolution in the shooter genre that will forever change the expectations for the FPS. Going beyond "run and gun corridors," "monster-closet AIs" and static worlds, BioShock creates a living, unique and unpredictable FPS experience. BioShock is the Shooter 2.0.

• Take control of your world by hacking mechanical devices, commandeering security turrets and crafting unique items critical to your very survival.
• Upgrade your weapons with ionic gels, explosives and toxins to customize them to the enemy and environment.
• Genetically modify your body through dozens of Plasmid Stations scattered throughout the city, empowering you with fantastic and often grotesque abilities.
• Explore a living world powered by Ecological A.I., where the inhabitants have interesting and consequential relationships with one another that impact your gameplay experience.
• Experience truly next generation graphics that vividly illustrate the forlorn art deco city, highlighted by the most detailed and realistic water effects ever developed in a video game.
• Make meaningful choices and mature decisions, ultimately culminating in the grand question: do you exploit the innocent survivors of Rapture or save them?

Mass Effect:

Mass Effect is a sci-fi action RPG created by BioWare, the commercially and critically acclaimed developer of Jade Empire and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Mass Effect delivers an immersive, story-driven experience coupled with awe-inspiring visuals, delivered exclusively to the Xbox 360™.

As one of the first human beings to step onto the galactic stage, you face a grave threat that may destroy all of civilization. Your job is complicated by the fact that no one believes that there is any threat at all. Travel across an expansive universe, exploring the uncharted corners of the galaxy, searching for pieces of the truth in order to discover how to defeat the coming destruction.

• Explore uncharted worlds: Uncover a mystery that defies imagination as you travel to the far corners of the universe. Visit unexplored planets, finding side quests that unfold parallel to the main story. Discover alien life, new resources, ruined civilizations, and powerful technologies.
• Fight in real-time: Mass Effect features a real-time, squad-based, tactical combat system. Enjoy intense and exciting third-person action as you face off against your enemies. Engage your foes with ranged weapons, biotic powers, science-based magic, and tech powers, all accompanied by astonishing visuals.
• Customize your character: Build a stunning, photo-realistic character, expanding your skills and statistics as you progress. Utilize a deep reward system as you travel further afield and discover more about the coming invasion. Change the appearance of your characters with the additions of newly discovered weapons, equipment, and armor to make each one truly unique.
• Experience the next generation: Mass Effect takes full advantage of Xbox 360 hardware, providing players with photo-realistic high definition graphics, amazingly realistic characters, branching dialogue with A.I. responses, and a massive universe to explore. As the future of gaming continues to expand online, look for premium downloads on Xbox Live.

Crackdown:

Crackdown pushes the action-driving hybrid genre into the next generation with the first ever truly 3-D playground. Enforce justice by any means necessary in Pacific City, a crime-ridden urban center primed to explode and ready for you to explore. Enter an interactive world where anything can be used as a weapon as you clean up the streets the only way you know how. Your way.

Developed by Scotland’s Real Time Worlds exclusively for Microsoft Game Studios and the Xbox 360™ console, Crackdown is the brainchild of Dave Jones, the creative genius behind many innovative game titles such as the legendary Lemmings and the global blockbuster Grand Theft Auto.

• True next-gen visuals: Harnessing the amazing power of Xbox 360, Crackdown players enforce justice against the backdrop of a crime-ridden metropolis that is massive in scale and meticulous in detail. The game's unique presentation employs a highly stylized rendering technique that turns it into a living, breathing graphical novel.
• Double the mayhem: From the initial conception, Crackdown has been built to feature a dynamic and engaging co-op experience for double the action, carnage, and intensity.
• Free-form gameplay: For the first time ever, every inch of an urban playground has been designed for you to explore and exploit. Use any route necessary as you take down the crime syndicates, going under, around, or through the environment however you choose.
• Over-the-top action: Get the job done, no matter what it takes. Any strategy or tactic is acceptable, so long as you re-claim the streets. Unleash the awesome powers of your agent, developing his full genetic potential, becoming faster and stronger, learning bone-crushing moves, using outrageous weapons, and defying certain death at every turn.
• Environmental weaponry: Low on ammo? Never a problem. Thanks to an amazing amount of props and a deep physics system, you can use whatever you get your hands on as a weapon: Trash cans, vehicles, even people. Set the scene for mass destruction with a game that remembers your actions better than you do. Gather vehicles to assemble barricades, build epic piles of explosives, push it to the limit. Crackdown can take it.

Halo 3 "ViDoc"

A Halo 3 video documentary has been released on the Marketplace. The "video documentary" gives the public its first peek at the game's campaign mode--something that has been highly guarded until now. The 97MB video, titled "Et Tu Brute?," focuses largely on the Brutes, the apelike race that act as bodyguards for the Prophets.

Bungie has said that the in game footage is months old and in no way should be construed as a current build of the game. More on this info can be found here.

Extended Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 trailer

Here is the extended trailer for GRAW 2, that aired on Spike TV's Video Game Awards. It's available in HD and SD flavors.

HD | SD

[via TeamXbox ]

Honda Asimo finally gets what his smug ass deserves

During a recent demonstration Asimo's world comes crumbling down. Somebody get a syringe!



One question remains. Is R080T upset or elated?

Ubisoft Announces Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter™ 2

Today Ubisoft announced that Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter™ 2, the next installment in the popular squad-based action franchise, is currently in development for the Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, the PSP® system and Windows® PC. Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter™ 2 is being developed by the award-winning teams that created the original Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter™ in Ubisoft’s Paris and Red Storm Studios. Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter™ 2 is scheduled for worldwide release in Spring 2007.

“Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter set the standard for what we know as the next-generation gaming experience,” said Laurent Detoc, president of Ubisoft North America. “With Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2, Ubisoft is taking all the successful elements in the original to an unparalleled level of quality – the sophisticated technology, weaponry, graphics, story and online gameplay will heighten the intensity and bring gamers an even more amazing experience.”

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 builds off of the events in the first game and places gamers in control of the U.S. military’s elite fighting unit, the Ghosts. In the year 2014, the rising conflict between Mexican loyalists and insurgent rebel forces has thrown Mexico into full-scale civil war. Under the command of Captain Scott Mitchell, the Ghosts are called upon to face an imminent threat to the United States. The fate of two countries now lies in the hands of the Ghosts as they fend off an attack on U.S. soil. Equipped with the most cutting-edge weaponry and technology, the Ghosts must battle on both sides of the border to neutralize the escalating rebel threat.

Key Features:

• Groundbreaking Visual Experience: The war zone in Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter comes to life as you navigate through trash-strewn streets and pick off enemies from behind bomb-scarred structures. The cutting-edge physics and particle systems will show you some of the most intense and realistic explosions, smoke, and environment destruction ever seen in a video game. Dynamic lighting and shadows will morph as real-time day/night cycles and a constantly changing weather system require you to adjust to the changing conditions on the fly.
  
  
• All-New Battlegrounds: For the first time ever, the Ghosts will defend U.S. soil from a cross-border attack, taking the fight to all-new locations. The Ghosts will battle enemies in mountain terrains, barren deserts and even on their home turf in El Paso, Texas. Each environment presents its own benefits and challenges and will call for fresh tactical approaches.
  
  
• Vastly Improved Artificial Intelligence (AI): Watch your back as rebels send their own team members to flank your position or gain vantage points by utilizing vertical gameplay to pick you off from the rooftops above. Improved squad-mate AI will now feed you more of the information you need with descriptive commands like “enemy spotted behind red truck ahead.”
  
  
• Improved Cross-Com: The revolutionary new Cross-Com 2.0 will give the player more information than ever before. You will be able to see what your friendly forces see in the top left display and the click of a button will expand that to full-screen view for a clearer and more precise picture. This will give you a more comprehensive view of the entire battlefield. The new Full Command View will allow unprecedented precision in developing and issuing tactical plans on the battlefield.
  
  
• Expanded Support: Command lethal air strikes with jet fighters, gain mobile cover for otherwise impassable situations and replenish armaments on the battlefield using an unmanned artillery MULE. Players can now heal their team on the battlefield, including squad leader Scott Mitchell, with an all-new Medic class of soldier.

Teaser Trailer Direct Link: HD | SD

[ Via Team Xbox ]

Ranbow Six: Vegas Patch Coming Soon

Ubisoft has announced today it is working on a patch for Rainbow Six Vegas.

Many of these issues were reported by members of the community, thanks to everyone that took the time to communicate with us. Please understand that this first patch was being worked on a few weeks ago already and that some of the recently discovered issues may not be addressed right away. We do know about these critical issues and are planning to address them as well.

Here is a list of issues that will be addressed in the upcoming patch for Vegas.

Single Player

• Fixed bugs with voice recognition
• Fixed a bug that made the game crash when killing Dr. Smythe under a specific circumstance.

Multiplayer

• Getting stuck at briefing screen when joining a match in progress
• Fixed a coop crash when failing a mission numerous times
• Fixed an exploit where observers received same kills as host in terrorist hunt
• Fixed a intermittent coop crash in map Factory
• Fixed a disconnection bug when host changes map
• Fixed a bug with live camera that forced a reboot.
• Fixed an issue with max players not being related to recommended players for maps.
• Added better feedback in the game search menus.
• Fixed a bug with the siege specialist achievement.
• Fixed players crashing when using shield and entering a game with shield restricted.
• Fixed a rare crash when starting a coop story game
• Fixed a bug that made the shield become invisible in certain circumstances.
• Fixed a display bug with weapons disappearing while using shield
• Fixed a crash while using the Live Vision Camera
• Fixed a display bug with the canister in retrieval staying visible after being taken.
• Fixed a random crash for clients in COOP games.
• Fixed a display error that showed 14 players instead of 16 for dedicated servers.
• Fixed a bug with score limits not working properly.
• Fixed a bug that sometimes prevented grenades from being used at game start.
• Fixed a crash through the world bug related to starting COOP games while playing Terrorist Hunt.
• Fixed a crash through the world bug in Casino COOP.
• Fixed a bug with invalid recommended players in COOP maps.
• Fixed a lockup in COOP mode related to clients joining a game late.
• Fixed a bug where a dedicated server set for 16 players only accepted 14.
• Added better feedback in the game search menus
• Remove proximity voice chat from team games.
• Adjust TerroHunt XP based on density setting:
• Fixed bug regarding voice chat - Now voice chat works for all players
• Fixed a crash where clients crash when host change map or quit the game before they have time to load lobby
• Fixed a crash when clientnt selects Option/ Map name either in the lobby or In game
• Fixed a bug related to the infiltration specialist achievement
• Fixed a bug where when score limit is 10 a game does not end when canister is deposited
• Fixed a bug in splitscreen:Crash when player 2 Press ready before player 1 in the login profile menu
• Fixed a bug where game occasionally crashes on boot at the Title Screen.

General

• Fixed some localization errors in Spanish

[ via TeamXbox ]

Motivational Gaming Posters

Destructoid has posted some Motivational Gaming Posters to help you keep the wind beneath your wings. Most of which are pretty lame, but there are some gems.