Archive for October, 2008

On today’s show we talk about hardcore gaming and what it really means. Can a single console owner still be a hardcore gamer? Blip74 from Games On Smash thinks so and gets into a heated debate about it with the Bitbag crew.

This show included our pre-show warmup and total time is 2hrs and 45mins!

Also on this show:

- The fallout of Fallout 3. Torrence tells us why PS3 owners who boycott Fallout 3 are idiots.
- Candid Anthony talks about why Fable 2 is the hottest game available on any console right now
- Hiphopgamer discusses the Gears Of War 3 multiplatform rumor and drops some other heavy rumors too. He also talks about why Bioshock for PS3 should have had more content and looked better after a year of development
- We had a few give aways including End War, COD: WoW, and Resistance 2 beta codes
- And much much more!

Podcast: Download

This is an insane deal. Each of these bundles are 350$  Cannot beat this value.  Even if you dont like these games they can be sold on Ebay to make back some of your cost.

First Bundle Option

• XBox 360 Pro 60GB Console
• Lego Indiana Jones
• KungFu Panda
• Saints Row 2
• Call Of Duty 4
• Wireless Black Controller

Second Bundle Option:

• XBox 360 Pro 60GB Console
• Lego Indiana Jones
• KungFu Panda
• Saints Row 2
• Bioshock
• Pure

Third Bundle Option

• XBox 360 Pro 60GB Console
• Lego Indiana Jones
• KungFu Panda
• Star Wars: the Force Unleashed
• Soul Calibur IV
• Pure

More 8-bit DLC has been announced for Mega Man 9. Capcom is really trying to get this game up to the $60 mark. Unless of course this stuff is free. I mean, how hard was it to include Hard Mode in the original build? Here’s the full release from Capcom:

Hey Mega Man junkies,

We’re proud to announce that the second of Downloadable Content packs for Mega Man 9 will be available this week. Here’s the run down on what’s coming out.

Hard Mode – Dubbed Hero Mode in Japan, this mode enables you to play the entire game on an increased difficulty level with alternate enemy distribution and spawning points. Hard Mode is not compatible with Rankings or Challenges Modes.

Expert Mode – Dubbed Super Hero Mode Japan, this mode represents the apex of Mega Man 9 difficulty settings and is not for the novice Mega Man 9 player. This mode triples the level of difficulty from the default Mega Man 9 game. Expert Mode is not compatible with Rankings or Challenges Modes.

Special Time Attack Stage – This DLC gives you an additional stage for Time Attack Mode, complete with an all new level and Robot Master Boss, “Fake Man.” Similar in difficulty to the Willy Stages, players will have a fun time tackling this time sensitive competitive stage. Special Time Attack Stage is not compatible with Challenge Mode.

All three DLC packs are available now on WiiWare Channel today (October 20 th, 2008) with XBLA following on October 21st, and PSN releasing October 23rd.

* HOME Will be answer to xbox live.
* Killzone 2 The Title To Seperate PS3 From 360
* Will 360 Have A Web Browser in the next update
* 360 Will Have a killer holiday season over PS3 Easily
* Game Review – Battlefield Bad Company
* IGN No Longer a worthy review source
* And Much Much More Enjoy The Show

In this episode we discuss using customers as beta testers as in the case with SOCOM for the PS3. It seems that the game is plagued with problems and Candid Anthony lashes out about it. Also on the show:

- Gears 2 or Resistance 2, which sequel made the biggest jump in improvements and which one will you enjoy playing more?
- Sony’s Shuhei Yoshida wants the 360 to succeed in Japan
- Why do games with good concepts always fail?
- Contests: Listen to the show for an easy chance to get in the COD: WOW beta
- We call Darkpower to see if he wants to be on the show
- And much much more!

Podcast: Download

I broke this rumor in August and FINALLY Namco has released Yoda for the PS3 and Darth Vader for the 360 for $4.99. Here’s the full release from Namco.
Read the rest of this entry »

Well it happened! I finally got hit with a RROD tonight while playing Forza 2 online. No biggie though. My box is confirmed and shipping from Microsoft as of 12:21AM. They are really fast! It’s funny cuz today I ordered an Elite. The day I order an Elite my Pro dies. WTF!?!? I’m honestly not pissed about it either. I know Microsoft has me covered.

We had fun tonight with this one. We talked about PS3 not including HDMI or component cables with the system, politics, SOCOM issues and my 360 dying on me. There’s a lot of big laughs in here. Tell us if you like it and we’ll post more! Read the rest of this entry »

Last but not least, Microsoft extends their tale of the tape to us! Here’s their response:

347,000 Xbox 360 consoles sold in September following our U.S. price cut on Sept. 5 contributing to a U.S. install base of 11.3 million (September NPD data). Xbox 360 is now the most affordable next generation console on the market—$50 less than the Wii and half the price of the PlayStation 3.

Backed by September sales data, which showed $326 million in total consumer spend in the U.S. and a record software attach rate of 8.1 (September NPD data), we know Xbox 360 owners will continue to flex their buying power in the coming weeks when blockbusters like “Gears of War 2,” “Lips,” “Fable II,” “You’re in the Movies” and “Scene It? Box Office Smash” hit shelves.

Xbox 360 is the preferred stage for this holiday’s hottest music games

New music tracks for popular games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero extend every music experience so every party feels like a new party. Xbox LIVE has delivered more than 80% of the downloadable songs for music games, currently averaging 3.8 million music downloads per month. In total, Xbox 360 users have enjoyed more than 45 million music downloads. (Microsoft internal data)

In addition to leading the online music game market, Xbox 360 sells more copies of the world’s favorite music franchises. To date this generation, in the U.S., nearly 2 million copies of the Rock Band franchise have sold on the Xbox 360, almost 1 million more than the competition combined. Life-to-date sales of the Guitar Hero franchise on Xbox 360 top 4 million, securing more than 50% of franchise sales this generation (September NPD data).

“Rock Band 2” debuts exclusively on Xbox 360

· Since its U.S. launch on Sept. 14, “Rock Band 2” on the Xbox 360 sold 363,000 copies in September, making it September’s #3 selling game.

· This holiday, Xbox 360 will continue to sell more third-party games like “Rock Band 2” than the competition. In September alone, Xbox 360 generated $167 million in third party game sales.

Calling all shower singers, wanna-be rappers and pop princesses – “Lips” hits the stage in November

· “Lips” will have music fans singing their favorite tunes this holiday season as this totally new singing IP lands around the globe. “Lips” lets people sing the music they want with breakthrough wireless motion-sensitive microphones, backed by master tracks and original music videos. “Lips” hits in mid-November, exclusively for Xbox 360 from Microsoft and iNiS.

“Guitar Hero® World Tour” drops on Oct. 26 with a cooperative band experience, newly redesigned controllers and in-game Music Studio music creator

· “Guitar Hero World Tour” launches on Oct. 26. Xbox 360 gamers worldwide have early access to an R.E.M. track pack featuring three songs from the band’s new album, and Metallica’s highly anticipated full-length album, “Death Magnetic,” was offered to music fans around the world as downloadable content on Xbox LIVE in its entirety on the same day the record was released.

At the Tokyo Game Show last week we announced that the New Xbox Experience will launch worldwide on Nov. 19. For the first time in the history of the internet, 14 million consumers across 24 countries will all tune in at the same time to watch their Xbox 360 completely reinvent itself, for free, with the New Xbox Experience.

From the best music games and blockbuster titles, to LIVE Parties, photo sharing and access to a movie and TV show library 30,000 deep through the New Xbox Experience, Xbox 360 has something for everyone this holiday.

In this corner, we have the reigning champ, Nintendo! Let’s see what they had to say:

Nintendo News

Unique Controls Put Wii at No. 1 for September NPD; Nintendo DS at No. 2

Backed by a variety of unique interfaces, Nintendo’s Wii™ console topped the U.S. video game hardware sales charts with nearly 687,000 units sold in September, according to the independent NPD Group, which tracks video game sales in the United States. Nintendo DS™ was the No. 2 best-selling system, with nearly 537,000 sold.

Wii enjoyed the biggest monthly unit sales increase with 234,000 more units sold in September than August. Wii also saw a year-over-year increase of more than 37 percent over September 2007.

Four games made for Nintendo systems placed in the top 10 best-selling games of the month, including Wii Fit™ at No. 2 with nearly 518,000 sold, Mario Kart™ Wii at No. 4 with more than 353,000 sold, Wii Play™ at No. 7 with nearly 243,000 sold and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed for Wii at No. 8 with more than 223,000 sold.

“The four Wii games in the top 10 all feature controls just not possible on other video game systems,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “The Wii Balance Board and Wii Wheel give players new ways to interact with their games, while the Wii Remote controller transforms into a pool cue, table tennis paddle or lightsaber. Consumers have truly responded to this variety of entertainment options.”

And it’s that time of the month again! Let’s start it off with Sony’s response to the NPD numbers!

PS3 Sales Setting the Stage for a Solid Holiday Season; Total PlayStation Sales Up 20 Percent Year-Over-Year
PlayStation 3 Hardware Unit Sales Top 232,408
PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3™) again experienced consistent momentum in September 2008, with 232,408 hardware units sold according to The NPD Group, an increase of over 94% year-over-year and an increase of more than 25% over the previous month. Additionally, software sales for PS3 experienced year-over-year growth of 130% with 1.72 million units sold.
Software sales are expected to continue their upward projection in October as SCEA kicks off the holiday season with the highly anticipated launches of LittleBigPlanet, SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Confrontation, MotorStorm: Pacific Rift, and NBA ’09: The Inside.
PlayStation®Network remained a popular destination with newly added games and entertainment content such as WipEout HD, Linger in Shadows and PAIN: Amusement Park. There are currently more than 12 million registered accounts worldwide and over 240 million pieces of content have been downloaded worldwide.
PSP also experienced strong sales, with 238,056 hardware units sold.
Fueled by enthusiasm for the limited-edition LEGO Batman: The Videogame PlayStation®2(PS2) Pack, PS2 generated solid sales in September, with 173,527 hardware units sold, 20% growth from last month. An impressive 42.9 million PS2s have been sold in the U.S. as of September 2008.

Power of the PlayStation Portfolio
The PlayStation brand experienced strong sales across all three platforms, earning $379 million in September.
Year-to-date (Jan-Sept), the PlayStation brand has generated $4.03 billion in revenue, representing an increase of 20% year-over-year.
PlayStation total hardware revenue was $160.5 million in September, representing a year-to-year growth of 11%.
PlayStation total software revenue in September was $180 million, representing a year-to-year growth of 17%.

CEO Perspective

“We remain confident that our footing is solid as we enter the holiday season this year. Our new 80GB PS3 model has made its way to retail shelves and into consumers’ living rooms as the best value for both their gaming and entertainment needs. If the impressive pre-sale numbers and ratings for LittleBigPlanet, SOCOM: Confrontation, and Resistance 2 are any indication, we anticipate hardware and software sales to continue to lift in October as we officially kick off the broadest and deepest software line-up this holiday, including LittleBigPlanet, SOCOM: Confrontation, MotorStorm: Pacific Rift and NBA ’09: The Inside.

– Jack Tretton, president and CEO, Sony Computer Entertainment America

I have never seen video game marketing that’s this aggressive in my entire life. It seems Microsoft will not settle for less than numero uno. It seems that 8 countries in Europe are getting a PES09 360 Pro bundle. It will only be for limited time but damn, the sales are gonna be explosive. Here’s the full release from Microsoft:

Xbox 360 nets the winner with PES 2009 Fans

Starting 24th October in Austria, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and United Kingdom Xbox 360 will exclusively bundle Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 with their Pro console. For a limited time and the estimated retail price of £189.99/€269.99, the bundle will include Konami’s PES 2009 popular video game in a custom box and the console with a 60GB hard-drive.

“We are thrilled to partner with Konami to give football fans the latest in high-definition gaming at a great price in time for Christmas,” said Chris Lewis, third-party marketing manager for Europe.

The Xbox 360 PES bundle is great value and is perfect for those who want the complete football gaming and entertainment experience.

As we head into the holiday season, Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft will try every trick in the book in order to maximize sales. One of the best weapons Microsoft has is its price point; after the september price drop, the least expensive 360 model is selling for $200, $50 less than even the Wii. While the Arcade unit doesn’t come with a hard drive, Microsoft is seeking to fix that: the company has launched a promotion giving Arcade users the choice of a free 512MB memory card or a $20 refurbished 20GB hard drive. Arstechnica

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