If you thought a Spartan was out of place in Dead or Alive 4, your head just might explode when you see one in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Entitled the "Spartan Project," this Oblivion mod adds a brand new Halo themed mission to the game. The story actually borrows from Bungie's official explanation for a Spartan in DOA4. A ship from the future gets caught in a timespace rift, and crash lands in Oblivion's timespace. As the hero, you find a broken energy sword, take it to the local (mad) scientist, and he asks you to investigate further. After all is said and done, you wind up with the energy sword, Mjolnir armor, and even a Covenant plasma shield. All in all it sounds pretty cool. Unfortunately, this mod is PC only. Check out a video after the break.
This is an interesting week. We are fast approaching the hectic holiday season, the PS3 finally launched today, and the Halo 3hype train is at full steam. I was a little disappointed that my wild speculation about Bungie's Marathon coming to Arcade was wrong, so I decided to download it for PC. It is free, after all. It takes a tiny extra step to make it run on PC (it was originally a Mac title) but it's worth it for a piece of Halo history (does that hand in the screenshot look familiar?). If you're having trouble installing, go here.
Back on 360, of course there is Gears, I'm still collecting gold bricks in Lego Star Wars II, and chasing after the "Bulletproof" Achievement in Contra. Frankly, winning with one credit is hard, but I won't be satisfied until I can do it in one life. How 'bout the rest of you? What are you playing this weekend? Hit me up if you want to play some Gears or the Vegasdemo. (Any 360 fanboys brave enough to admit they're hoping to play Resistance?)
Leaderboards (time for Mk. III?): Xbox 360 Fanboy Leaderboard
Xbox 360 Fanboy Leaderboard Mk. II
NASCAR fans who enjoy their Xbox 360 are in for a treat this weekend as Bill Elliott is going to racing the #00 Xbox 360 / Burger King racecar of death. This puppy is decked out in 360 signature green, sleek 360 curving rings and The King driving a bumper car. I may have to turn on the TV to watch cars go in circles for hours on end just to see this bad boy in action. Also, I'm compelled to ask; do you think this racecar makes more noise than an Xbox 360 running at full throttle?
The package pictured above showed up on Gamertag Radio's doorstep yesterday. The box had a copy of Viva Piñata, a "passport" to Piñata Island, some purple Easter grass, and of course, the piñata. A sweeter piece of game related swag we haven't seen in a long time. Yes, we're afraid that it even tops RoboBlitz T-shirts. Sadly, packages like this rarely make it past the automated Nerf turrets outside Fanboy Towers -- they're not lethal, just really annoying. It's too bad really, because it's a nice bit of kit we could have given away. Speaking of Viva Piñata, has anybody picked it up yet? Is it any good?
If you're a 360 fanboy who's curious about the PS3, there is always one question on your mind: "what's the online like?" If you've been paying attention to Resistance, you'll know that it can be great. However, Call of Duty 3 paints a different picture. Gamespot's review of COD3 for the PS3 cites a couple of noticeable differences between the PS3 version and its 360 cousin. The first difference: the PS3 has a choppy frame rate that makes the game a chore occasionally. We'll chalk that up to Treyarch being unfamiliar with the PS3. The differences in online play, on the other hand, are more fundamental. The PS3 version offers 24 players online, just like the 360 version. Unfortunately, only one person per PS3 can go online versus the 360 version's four. Also, there is no ranked play available, a feature that is standard on 360 thanks to TrueSkill.
If Sony continues to put the onus on developers to create online features, we can only assume that online options will always be superior on the 360, at least when it comes to cross-platform titles. What do you think? Does the fact that Sony's service is free outweigh the depth of features available through Xbox Live?
Sadly, all good things must come to an end. The Xbox 360 Fanboy RoboBlitz T-shirt contest is over. Before we say goodbye, let's crown our final winner. And the winner one one extra special, extra large men's T-shirt is ... Tony, who will wisely use this brand new shirt to put off doing his laundry for one more day (what about pants?). Congratulations, Tony and all of our other winners. We'll be contacting all of you shortly for your shipping info.
So, how do we let go of a contest gone by? We're not really sure. Look at it this way, you may not have won a shirt, but soon everyone can actually play RoboBlitz. That's something to look forward to, right? We'd like to take a moment to thank Tian Mu of the RoboBlitz dev team, Naked Sky, for making this possible. Thanks, Tian. We'd also like to extend an invitation to other companies for game related swag. People love swag, you silly companies! Send us swag and we'll ceremoniously give it away in a fabulous, buzz generating contest. Seriously, drop us a line. Wait a minute ... do they make Small Arms T-shirts?
I just downloaded the Superman Returns demo and gave it a quick play through. In short, it's actually pretty good (I invite my fellow 360 Fanboy bloggers to disagree). It seems like for all the crap EA puts on the market, there's always one or two good games, too. It's the law of averages really. After all, if you put out 500* games a year, at least a few of them have to be good, right? Superman, however, is special, and not just because he's Superman either. No, the Son of Krypton has a sordid past in the videogame world. It's arguable that there has only ever been one Superman game that was actually fun, and that was the arcade game -- in fairness, I've never played the NES Superman and I somewhat enjoyed The Death and Return of Superman on Genesis/SNES. Read on for impressions (especially Live Silver members, who, we have just learned, cannot currently download the demo).
This is it folks, your last chance to win a RoboBlitz T-shirt. As usual, before we get into today's contest, we must announce yesterday's winner. And the winner of yesterday's fine T-shirt is ... Cth, for a very creative weapon idea: the pen is mightier than the sword. It's kind of a complicated idea, so we suggest you read Cth's description for yourselves.
So, here we are ... the final day of our RoboBlitz contest extravaganza. Today is the day that many of you have been waiting for, a chance to win a men's XL RoboBlitz T-shirt. The other puny large men's shirts and the tiny women's shirts would never fit your manly girth. Well now is your chance, because today, we're making the contest easier than it's ever been. RoboBlitz is about tackling your objectives in any way you want. You can do it however you please. In the spirit of this freedom, today you can choose to leave a comment about anything. Just comment on this post. It doesn't matter what you say, you'll be entered to win this mythical T-shirt. So, leave a comment and make history.
General contest stuff: Only one entry per person. Winners will be contacted via email in order to obtain shipping information. This contest is open to residents of the United States only
Microsoft's little mp3 player that could the Argo ... I mean Zune has hit retailers today! Yes, I know this is a blog about Xbox 360 and not mp3 players, point taken. But, have you forgotten the rumors that the 360 and Zune would play nice and possibly be able to show off some gamercard goodness? And of course Microsoft makes the Xbox 360 and Zune, both headed up by our buddy J Allard. Hmm, I think this whole post was about me trying to justify why there should be Zune news on this blog. Go buy your Zune today! (Zune news will be sparse from here on. I plomise.)
The internet and wild speculation are like peanut butter and chocolate; they just go together. Today's wild speculation began when I ran across this entry on Phuze (which actually looks like a cool ezine). The speculations goes a little something ... a-like-a this: Bungie reported in their most recent update that there was a special "BIG" Halo announcement coming this week, in celebration of Halo's fifth anniversary on Wednesday, November 15th. 1UP's Halo 3 page lists a "Special Halo Announcement" as part of tomorrow's coverage. Phuze speculates that this announcement is probably something along the lines of an official release date -- and we agree -- but proffers the tantalizing possibility of something more. What if, wonder of wonders, it's an actual playable Halo 3 demo? Is it possible? Very slightly, yes. After all, as Phuze notes, all these game journos were playing a multiplayer build as early as last month, so it's possible (not to mention it's a great way to make 360 owners forget about the PS3).
Allow us to add even more fuel to the fire. Tomorrow, as most of you are no doubt aware, is Wednesday. Wednesday typically marks the release of a new Xbox Live Arcade title. Could Bungie have an Xbox Live Arcade title lined up for the anniversary of Halo? If they do, what better way to celebrate Halo's birthday than by releasing its spiritual prequel, Marathon? So there you have it. If Bungie releases Marathon on XBLA tomorrow, you heard it here first. If they don't ... well then why the hell were you listening to us in the first place?
And the mighty RoboBlitz T-shirt contest keeps moving across the land, distributing T-shirts to those in need. Before we announce today's contest, we must pick a name from the proverbial hat. The winner of yesterday's RoboBlitz shirt is (fanfare) Beef! Beef's dream robot is named Ephraim, which is apparently Beef's real name as well. It seems that Ephraim's primary function is to be a clone of Ephraim. Some of you came up with other really good ideas, too. Read 'em all right here.
Now, what to do for today's contest ... we should really start coming up with these beforehand. Let's see ... okay, we have an idea. RoboBlitz has some really interesting weapons (don't believe us? Watch this). To enter today's contest, leave a comment describing an interesting, fictional weapon. You know, something that would be fun in a video game. The winner -- randomly chosen -- will receive a women's XL RoboBlitz T-shirt. We'll get the creative juices flowing by coming up with a weapon first. We would create the Poodle Launcher, which would launch specially trained ballistic poodles (properly shaven for aerodynamics, of course). So there you go, get crackin' and good luck.
Update: This contest is now closed. Click here to see the winner and enter the latest contest.
General contest stuff: Only one entry per person. Winners will be contacted via email in order to obtain shipping information. This contest is open to residents of the United States only.
The lads at GearsRealm.com have started a Gears of War wiki guide to help budding Gears players reach their full potential. There is a problem, though: the guide is empty. Right now, it even lacks the basic information that you can find on Wikipedia, which is why Gears of War Realm needs your help. If you've got some valuable information about Gears that you'd like to share -- pictures, map layouts, strategies, tips, etc. -- head over to the guide and start building it up. We've already learned one valuable tip, the reload melee trick, that assures us our bullets will always be boosted. We're sure all of you have plenty of other tips to share (it's not like people on my friends list are playing anything else). Besides, what else are you going to do today? Work? Study? No, we didn't think so.
We must be making Stootsi.com a lot of money by now, because they keep piling on the 360 deals. Today, they are repeating last month's wireless controller sale. For $29.99 plus $5 shipping, a brand new wireless controller can be yours. That is a substantial $15 savings off the retail price. That's enough scratch to buy some buffalo wings to get you through another night of GOW -- just remember to wipe your hands. As of this posting, you have just over 20 hours left, so hurry up if you want those wings.
Update: Oops, forgot to credit our tipster, who seems to keep a good eye on Stootsi. Thanks, get over it.
The RoboBlitz contest train keeps a-rollin' along. Now, before we get started with today's contest, it's time to announce Friday's winner. And the winner of a women's large T-shirt is ... Jack Lukic for his Green Eggs and Ham inspired quote:
"Look a box,
inside is a fox!"
Congratulations, Jack. Now for today's contest. RoboBlitz has cool robots. We like robots. We're betting that you like robots, too. So, today we'd like you to make one. No, you don't actually have to build one -- this isn't BattleBots. Just leave a comment about your dream robot. Give it a name and describe what it does. The winner will receive a large men's RoboBlitz T-shirt. Also, we know some of you have been holding out for XL sizes. Well, fear not, for they are coming. We still have a men's and women's XL to give away. In the meantime, start dreaming up robots.
Update: This contest is now closed. Please click here to see the winner and enter the latest contest.
On Monday night set your DVR, TiVo, VHS recorder or just tune into MTV's little documentary Gears of War: Race to Launch airing at 8:30PM. Oh and by the way, this is the same special that a GearHeads of War ultimate fan was chosen for. Seriously, you can't have enough Gears of War or Cliffy B interviews ... that's just how it is right now.