Xbox Oustider

Terminator Salvation Xbox 360

I am giving away a copy of Terminator Salvation. All you have to do is post comments to my site and listen to my podcast.

For each legitimate comment to my post will get you an entry in to the contest. Post stating “first” or other one word phrases are not eligible. Also, hate posts will not qualify.  All post are up to my discretion.

One other rule is that if you are the winner, you will need to know the code word from my next podcast. If you are picked as the winner and you don’t know the word, I will pick another name from the proverbial hat.

You must be at least 13 in order to receive the game.

This contest will end on August 1st, 2009 and I will pick and announce the winner that weekend. Good luck.

A new wireless microphone is coming to the 360 this fall and will retail for $49.99. It is said to have lights, motion sensors and high-quality voice reproduction. Now, you may be asking, $49.99…  just for a microphone? Yes, I think that is a little pricey for an add on device, but it is really a pretty resonable price for a microphone.

I play a lot of the music games like Rock Band, Guitar Hero and even Lips. I think a good univeral mic that works in all the games would be a welcomed addtion for those of us that play and sing these music games.  What do you think?

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There are rumors flying around about the 360 getting a 1TB hard drive. I think it is very plausable since by the end of the year Microsoft will add downloadable, full versions of 360 games and the upcoming release of Project Natal. I know my 120GB hard drive get pretty full with videos, demos and DLC, the new rumored hard drive would be a welcome addition. Personally, I think that MS should allow for users to add thier own hard drives to the system, but I don’t see that happening anytime soon.

Sacred 2

I am a big fan of RPGs and I played Sacred like crazy on the PC. I was very excited to hear that Sacred 2 was coming to the Xbox 360 and could not wait to get my hands on it.

I have had the game for about a month now and I have to say, I love this game. Sure, it has a few problem areas, but I feel that the little quirks do not take away from the gameplay.

First thing I really need to say about this game is that the game world is big, real big. I played about 4 hours straight when I first got it and looked at the percent completed that read 7%. I knew I was in for a long game.

One of the best feature of this game is that you can play with 4 other players in a co-op play mode. But beware, what you complete in co-op does not always complete for you if you take the same player in solo mode.

One of the bad things about this game is the interface. At times it is slow and does not seem to function correctly. One example is that when I was using the skill screen, if I hit the details button, sometimes the details would not come up unless I picked another skill, opened the detail, then moved back to the skill I was interested in (details stay open once you can get it open). Little things like that are annoying, but there are workarounds.

I think that the graphics are pretty good, presentation is so-so, but the game play is very nice. It also has some replayablity since you can create characters of 6 different classes and each class has certain weaknesses and strengths. Also, within each class, you get 3 major skills with 5 abilities that you can enhance to help develop you character. But with only 12 hotslots to use, you will need to pick from the 15 skills. Adding weapon to hot slots also limits the number of skills you can hotkey. Potions are hotkeyed using the D-pad, which is nice so they don’t use up a hot slot.

This game did not get very high marks from some other reviewers, but I think that it is a great game and definitely worth checking out, especially RPG fans.  If you played the PC version of Sacred and liked it, I think you will like this game.

I give it a solid 8 out of 10.

Don’t you hate it when you need to find out what the right bumper does in your favorite game and you can’t for the life of you remember where you put the manual. You know what the manual is…   the little booklet that came with your game and has never been opened. Well, now it is lost and you are forced to look at bad renditions of the manual from someone who may or may not have typed the whole thing in. Soon, you may be able to get those manuals straight from your 360. Check out the article over at EndSight (link).

Now here is a game that should bring back fond memories of the 80s. I am really looking forward to picking this game up and having an all nighter.  Check out the review at WorthPlaying (link).

Bustin’ makes me feel good.

As we all know, it was announced at E3 that, with the fall update, you will be able to use Facebook with your 360. An interesting article over at G4 (link) talks about interation with games through Facebook.

The darkness… for me… is where I shine!

I remember playing the original Butcher Bay game on the Xbox and was looking forward to sitting down with this new installation of the Riddick series. But unfortunately, this game does something that a small percentage of game do to me…  made me very queasy. I think it has something to do with jerky camera or low frame rates. I am going to push that feeling aside and try to give this game its due.

First, I have to say that visually, the game is very nice and the voice work is really good. the lighting in the game is pretty incredible and adds the the ambiance of the game. The game play is a little slow moving and there are many cut-scenes that slow down the game even more. One really nice thing is that the cut-scenes are done really well and they are enjoyable to watch.

The controls are fairly easy to understand if you have played a FPS in the last 2 years (no reading the manual to figure this one out… like you read manuals). The one feature that is a trademark of Riddick is the Eyeshine (up on the d-pad) which lets you see in the dark, but no so good for the bright areas. Since this game is a sneak and peak game, hitting X will put you in to stealth mode so that you can hide in the shadows.

This game is a little too slow moving for my taste, but if you liked the original Butcher Bay, you will probably like Assult on Dark Athena. Also, to my surprise, the original Escape form Butcher Bay is included with the game and it has been remastered. Having the original, you can go through the full story and may help fill in some of the blanks for the Dark Athena.

Pros: Great graphics and good cut-scenes. The origninal Butcher Bay is included.
Cons: Slow paced. AI can be a little dumb and buggy.

Conclusion: From what I played, it is a solid game, but since I got motion sickness from the game I was not able to play for very long. If you like the original or you like the Riddick story, the you will probably enjoy this game. Also, don’t expect to get blow away by the online play which seems like an afterthought to the game.

I give it a 6.5 out of 10.