xbox 360

Split/Second Impressions

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Split/Second was one of two high-profile arcade racing games to hit the market in May 2010. The other was Blur. Both Disney and Activision had high hopes for their respective racing games, with visions of turning them into the next big racing franchises. However, despite positive reviews for both, neither game sold very well, which led to the demise of both studios that made Split/Second and Blur. Despite my issues with Blur, I thought it was a shame that game and its’ creators suffered the fate that they did, as Blur was a pretty good game. I’d say the similar things about Black Rock Studio and Split/Second. This is a pretty good racing game that, unfortunately, a lot of people overlooked.

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Game Design Talk: The Racing Game Wall

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For a few days, I was on a roll with Split/Second. I was really enjoying the progression through the career mode and I thought this wouldn’t end like my experiences with Burnout Paradise or Blur, where I hit a figurative brick wall. In both games, I hit a point where I needed “x” amount of points to move onto the next set of challenges, yet I couldn’t muster up the skills to make the necessary progress. At first, I was finishing second or third in my Split/Second races, which was enough to get me to the next episode. However, my lack of perfection eventually caught up.

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Pick-Up Post: Mortal Kombat Season Pass

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One of the most recent developments in DLC is the idea of paying for a set of content up-front and receiving a discount on the set rather than buying the components of the set separately. From a business perspective, this makes a lot of sense, as it’s a lot easier to ask me for $15 now rather than four payments of $5 spread out over 8 months. It also makes sense from the player’s perspective, as we get stuff at a discount.

Case in point, the Mortal Kombat Season Pass. There are four DLC characters scheduled for release at $5.00 each. However, if you buy the Season Pass up-front, you’ll get all four characters for $15, which is a savings of $5.

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Haters Gonna Hate: The Worst of My XBOX Live Message Inbox

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It is unfortunately, a fairly well-known fact that the online video game community is not the most pleasant place in the world. Especially in the competitive gaming space, where there are no shortage of people spewing hateful epithets from their mouths, or sending over colourfully-worded text messages to others about others’ in-game behaviour.

During the last few weeks of playing Marvel vs. Capcom 3, I’ve received an abnormally large amount of hate messages; way more than I ever did playing Street Fighter. I don’t play Marvel to infuriate others, but for whatever reason, the player base seems to either really hate me, or are just a talkative bunch.

I thought I’d share some of the messages I’ve received with you just for kicks (and to expose some of these jerks who really should behave themselves). As much as I’d like to expose their gamertags, I have censored those (and any coarse language) out of respect to the message senders and to my readers. Anyway, here’s a taste of some of the worst messages I’ve received through XBOX Live of late.

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Mortal Kombat Gets Patched on XBOX 360, Online Play Improves

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The new Mortal Kombat in my eyes was a pretty fantastic game with one fatal flaw (no pun intended): crappy online play. It would take forever to get matched up with anyone and if you did get into a match, it was always a laggy mess. At Mortal Kombat’s best, it was as laggy as Super Street Fighter IV’s worst. As much as I wanted to deep dive into the world of Mortal Kombat online play, it was an unplayable mess. Without good online play, I had basically no one to play against.

If you’ve been disappointed in Mortal Kombat’s online play to date, I’ve got good news for you.

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Novril’s MS Paint Guide on How to Beat Phoenix

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YouTube user Novril is back! I loved his first MS Paint video guide on how to beat Sentinel, and this time he’s back with a great guide on how to beat Phoenix. It’s comforting to see that much of the Phoenix knowledge I wrote about a few months ago is in here, but he also has some great strategies I wasn’t aware of until watching this video.

Also, the MS Paint style and charm are pretty funny. I’m looking forward to newer installments of this series, as I think the world needs a guide on how to beat the over-powered Yun and Yang in Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition. Anyway, click through to see the Phoenix video and share your appreciation with Novril if you enjoy this series!

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Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition Review

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The Street Fighter IV series has had an incredible run. Having single-handedly bringing the genre back from the dead, Capcom rode the wave of success by releasing Super Street Fighter IV, which was an excellent update to the original. In fact, Super Street Fighter IV was so nice, I bought it twice. Now, Capcom is closing out the Street Fighter IV series with Arcade Edition, which is available now as DLC for Super Street Fighter IV owners for $15, or as a separate disc for $40.

In a time when with new fighting games such as Mortal Kombat and Marvel vs. Capcom 3 are stealing the spotlight, is the latest iteration on the Street Fighter IV worth your time?

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Pick-Up Post: More Blockbuster Liquidation Madness

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The hoopla surrounding the closure of many Blockbuster stores died fairly quickly in my area. One day removed from the start of the liquidation sales, and the lines that once wrapped around the store had dwindled to four or five people per store. While most of the good stuff had been quickly snatched away on the first day, I was able to find a few games that piqued my interest on day two of the sale. Here’s what I grabbed:

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Out Now – Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition

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Though the eyes of most gamers are focused squarely on E3, the fighting game world gets a major release today. If you own a copy of Super Street Fighter IV, you can now purchase Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition as DLC for $15. The update will feature four new characters (Yun, Yang, Evil Ryu and Oni), new balance changes and a number of major upgrades to the replay channel.

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Snap Judgments: Microsoft and Sony’s 2011 E3 Press Conferences

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Having just wrapped up watching the E3 2011 Sony press event, I though I’d share some quick thoughts on what I saw of Sony and Microsoft’s press events. I won’t speak too much on the specifics, as other major gaming sites will do a much better job of discussing the specifics. However, I wanted to share my general opinions on what I saw today.

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