Crackdown is the one of the most successful game of the sandbox-style genre. It is one of the game under Microsoft’s strategy to promote Xbox 360 as it can be played only on the platform of Xbox 360. It was created by David Jones, the man behind Grand Theft Auto. It sold more then 1.5 million copies in first six moths of its release. A sequel for the game is under development, it will be named Crackdown 2. Just like the predecessor genre for the game will be sandbox-style third person shooter video game. Crackdown is under the development of Ruffian Games and will be published by Microsoft Game Studios. It will be released for Xbox 360. No release dates are announced by the developers. Designers for the game are Billy Thomson and Steve Iannetta. Crackdown 2 is modeled like the previous game of the series. It will be a third person shooter in open world gameplay. The player will be a super human simply known as “Agent”, working for city-funded Agency. Just like the predecessor Crackdown 2 will support a seamless so-operative play in the main game. Only difference will be the number of players is now increased to four from two in the previous. A new mode will feature in the game, known as competitive mode will support up to sixteen players. Overall gameplay of the game will be mostly similar to the predecessor.

Plot of the game was reveled at E3 2009. Agent will be the playable character of the game. He will roam in a fictional Pacific City, which is infected with urban gang War. He assists Agency in the battle against numerous crime kings who controls the city. There are some strange looking creatures shown in the trailer. This indicates that Agent will have to deal with more powerful enemies that the previous street gangs. The game will be set many years after Crackdown. This was reported by Billy Thomson who is creative director of Ruffian Games. Previously he along with Phil Wilson confirmed that game was designed from the beginning of the series. They stated that there will be sequels for the game. later it was commented that Realtime Worlds was not working on a sequel to the game. However, Microsoft stated that they still got the holds the intellectual property rights to Crackdown and there will be a sequel very soon. The game was confirmed in the 2009 Electronic Entertainment Expo Conference. This time however it was an official announcement and the game was finally off to a start.

It was noted by Ruffian that half of the team that formerly worked on Crackdown in all the areas of the game development, and felt that their studio will be a perfect place to develop games sequel. This decision was later confirmed by the publishers. Development team decided to keep the sequel to be located in Pacific City. Settings for the previous game got the character of its own in the first game and the development team want to conserve these settings so that player will feel similar to the previous game. The City however got a bit more larger then the previous time. Developers avoided any possible similarity in the dialog driven cutscenes. Gameplay parts that were criticized previous time were also improved. Mechanical part of the game was kept similar, only change to the game engine is that now it will allow the display of the large view for the City. Every other thing will be unique about the game, like music of the game. Everything for the game was kept confidential with Microsoft. This will help to attach all the sensory experience of the game.

Game Server Social Bookmarking

Ninja Blade is continuously featured in various lists of most awaited games for the year 2009. It is developed by Adventure Core games famed From Software for Xbox 360. Ninja Blade has been classified as a “Cinematic action games.” Gameplay of Ninja Blade cane be considered as a combination of hack and slash elements with context sensitive commands. Characters of Ninja Blade are designed by Capcom’s Keiji Nakaoka and a track by Norhiko Hibino’s GEM Impact Studio. Storyboards and animation are from Production I.G. Ninja Blade is published by Microsoft Game Studios. It was released in North America on April 7, 2009. A demo was released for the game was released in Japan and North America on December 29 and March 10, 2008 respectively. Engine for the game is Havok.

Ninja Blade is a story of a small village, attacked by unknown creatures. Survivors are forced to move to facility where they undergo various examinations. After the incident the village is marked as “Alpha-Site.” In the research facility survivors starts showing symptoms flesh eating disease. Survivors are found to carrying a type of Hook worm, classified as “Alpha-worm.” Their bodies’ stops showing response to traditional medicine and it cause them genetic failures. Researchers try to stop the genetic failures but they are unable to because due to the infection there bodies are grown strength and resilience.

As the infected are growing stronger they are also growing violent and insane. The infected broke free one day and attack the researchers. Only few of the researches survive and later find themselves infected. To control the situation military is send to sterilize the site. Military raids the facility and destroys all traces of the infected and Alpha-worms. All the events of Alpha-worm are kept secret by the government to prevent panic. Over the years there have been many outbreaks but all of them are eliminated by the G.U.I.D.E. squad. Government was confident that they have could control the spread of Alpha-worm until now.

Initial idea for Ninja Blade came when From Software were looking for a game to the gamer to be enjoyed in the same manner as from a Hollywood action flick. Protagonist of the game is developed by From Software working closely with Microsoft. Protagonist is named as Ken Ogawa. The character of the Ken Ogawa is developed by Keiji Nakaoka, who works for Capcom 2nd Character Development Studio as a designer. Before being announced Ninja Blade was coined as Otogi 3 by many sources. Planner for Ninja Blade Kazuhiro Hamatani cleared that the game is not a direct sequel to the Otogi series. But Ninja Blade will contain action-adventure elements of which the Otogi fans would like.

Game Server Social Bookmarking

Halo 3: ODST or formerly known as Halo 3: Recon is an upcoming game for Xbox 360. It will be a standalone expansion for Halo series. You can call Halo series as the best FPS (First Person Shooter). Halo 3 will be based in the same fictional universe of Halo. The character you will take on will be of an UNSC Orbital Drop Shock Trooper (ODST). Just like the other Halo games Halo 3 is developed by Bungie. The game will be published by Microsoft Game Studios. It will be released in five playing modes as Single player, co-op, online co-op, online multiplayer and multiplayer. Halo 3 will use the proprietary Halo engine mixed with Havok Physics. Combination of Halo engine with Havok will give it a different look from other Halo games. Release date set by the Microsoft Studios for Halo 3 is September 30, 2009.

Halo 3: ODST resembles previous Halo games strongly. However players will not assume the role of Master Chief as in the Halo trilogy. In its place the player will take on as alone UNSC soldier in the city of New Mombasa, Kenya. Players this time are forced to act more cautiously, because the trooper you are assuming will not feature the reflexes and strengths and advanced armor of the Master Chief. The ODST trooper will be more vulnerable to gunfire. Although, the game is not focus on stealth gameplay, it will have some stealth elements will be incorporated. One of the new and exciting feature will be inclusion of open world environment.

Primary objective of ODST is to lead the soldier through the ruins of New Mombasa. While doing so the soldier has to discover what happened to his teammates. The game starts when the soldier founds a piece of evidence left behind hanging on lamppost. After discovering the evidence a flashback is triggered and the player assumes the role of the missing soldier. After the fist signal for the player, the choice of the direction will be on the player. Multiplayer of ODST is same as like Halo 3. There are total 24 maps. Total maps of the game will consist of:

Halo 3 Maps – Snowbound, Narrows, Epitaph, Construct, Guardian, High Ground, The Pit, Valhalla, Sandtrap, Isolation, Last Resort.

Legendary Maps – Blackout, Ghost Town, Avalanche.

Heroic Maps – Rat’s Nest, Standoff, Foundry.

Mythic Map I – Orbital, Assembly, Sandbox.

Mythic Map II – Longshore, Heretic, Citadel.

Halo 3 ODST is set during the events of Halo 2 in the fictional city of New Mombasa. Games protagonist is unnamed and is refereed as “The Rookie.” He serves for UNSC Marines’ Orbital Drop Shock Troopers (ODSTs) or “Helljumpers.” ODSTs often position in small, one-man Human Entry Vehicles (HEVs), launched form spaceships in the upper atmosphere. The rookie is separated from his four teammates Romeo, Buck, Mickey and Romeo. He must find out what happened to them, he assisted by an city maintenance AI known as the Superintendent. Just like for the previous games of Halo Martin O’Donnell (Bungie Audio Director) is contributing music for ODST. O’Donnell anted to create new music that was redolent of Halo but in branched in a different direction.

Development for the game began in March 2008. in the Bungie community Brian Jarrard stated in an interview that ODST “is a labor of love to the Bungie fans” who want more and more Halo related content. After Halo 2 fans were excited about what is happening on Earth and how humanity is defending it. ODST is more about action on Earth then story elements. Bungie wanted something different from Halo games, that’s why main character of the game was made an ODST. Fans were not happy for Halo 2 leaving Earth settings early in the game. With in an interview with MTV, Microsoft cleared that Bungie is working on new Halo game independent of the franchise spin-offs Halo Chronicles and Halo Wars. A year after Halo 3 was released on September 25, 2008 Bungie debuted a teaser for the game. During Tokyo Game Show on October 9, 2008, officially unveiling the game’s name as Halo 3: Recon and release date Autumn 2009. The trailer was created on pre-rendered graphics instead of using game engine. In the unfinished elements of the game includes dialogue delivery by voice actors.

Game Server Social Bookmarking

The Forza Motors are back to thrill you with Forza Motors 3. After the success of Forza Motorsport and Forza Motorsport 2, Microsoft Game Studios are back with a thriller. It will be a sequel to the previous two titles. It only be released exclusively for Xbox 360 gaming system. According to a leaked survey “Forza 3” will offer the premier racing experience only to be available for Xbox 360 exclusively. There will be around 400-450 cars in Forza Motorsport 3, nearly 100 more than Forza Motorsport 2. New downloaded packs are included. Due to the number of packages and cars the game will be sold as a 2-disc set.

Forza will be much better then the previous titles as it will have several never seen before features. Like highly detailed real-car and track models, never ending near limitless options for car customizations like car tuning and custom artwork. Many kind of online community features. Racing simulation will be more real and accurate; the damage would be more realistic. Racing modes are increased and it will feature drift, drag, oval, point to point and many other racing modes. For the new players a powerful assist system is also included in the game. Aspect ratio for Forza Motorsport is 720p, 1080p.

There are news about an exclusive Forza 3 Limited Collector’s Edition. In this edition a full version of the game plus membership in a special VIP program that would entitle the buyer to all future Forza downloadable content. It will also give access to exclusively online race events and prizes. The owner will also get VIP status on Forza Auction House and Community boards, extra server space for photos and videos and a free month of LIVE. Some unique content is also included in the game. These contents are not found anywhere. This could be anything from authentic racing gear (gloves, helmets, e.t.c.) to specially created automobile manufacture gear (branded jackets, e.t.c.) to VIP motorsport event tickets.

Game Server Social Bookmarking

Alan Wake is an upcoming action psychological thriller video game for Xbox 360, and Microsoft Windows. It is under development of the Finnish company, Remedy Entertainment, the one behind best third person shooter of all time Max Payne series. It will be distributed by Microsoft Game Studios. It will be available for Vista version of Windows. The character of the game Alan Wake is inspired by llkka villi. He is a Finnish professional actor and writer.

Alan Wake is a best selling writer. His life is disturbed a bit and he is not able to write anything for past two years. To sort out this his wife Alice brings him to idyllic small town of Bright Falls to recover his creative flow. But everything goes wrong when his wife vanishes without a trace. He finds himself in a nightmare. Now word by word the novel he is looking for and not able to write is coming before his eyes. Not much is revealed about the game. According to the community manager of the game little is posted on the forum of the game community. It shows a message from the game from Alan Wake it reads like “The amount of pages keeps growing each night. Old pages are also edited. They are getting more and more aggressive.

Gameplay of Alan Wake is different from Max Payne. It will feature many similarities though. Enemies of Alan Wake are not revealed but it known that they are afraid of light. A search light is the most used weapon for Alan Wake. Player can place Booby traps for the enemies, they will illuminate when executed, etc. Light weaken outs the enemies of Alan Wake, so he can take advantage of any of the light sources. This feature of the game is considered interesting aspect of the gameplay. A cinematic trailer of the game was released just before the release of the movie version of Max Payne. The developers of the game Remedy Entertainment also promised that the game would feature a free roaming three-dimensional City just like Grand Theft Auto series. Graphic details of the game seem better then any of the till date game released.

The developers are vague about the story of the game they are, more about the release date of the game. They are unwilling to give any details of the release dates of Alan Wake. Earlier it was stated that Alan Wake will release in 2008 but it was postponed to an unknown date. The developers also stated that there would not be any shared official homepages for the release date. Official homepage of the game will be the first to launch the released date for the game.

Game Server Social Bookmarking

A Nightmare from Below. A Hero from Within

Now with this tag line, what you most expect most is a game full of action, role-playing and strong story line. Most of the Hardcore gamers are well aware of the name Gears of War, so they must be well aware of the name Gears of War 2. Developed by Epic games and published by Microsoft Game Studios for Xbox 360. Gears of War 2 is a tactical third person shooter game. It is the sequel to the game Gears of War, and was announced by lead designer Cliff Bleszinski on February 20, 2008 Game Developers Conference. The best use of the upgraded version of the Unreal Engine 3 is shown in this game. November 7, 2008 was set as worldwide release date for the game. Since its release, it’s rocking the world with over 2 million sales on its opening weekend. And almost on every gaming website, it received best score. It is one of the few “Halo Killer” games produced in few years. This is humanity’s last stand. Everything is at risk. Nothing is safe. This was quoted by famous comic book writer Joshua Ortega, after the release first teaser of the game.

The story follows as the Locust have found a way to make giant emergence holes capable of sinking entire cities at once. Marcus Fenix the main protagonist of the game and the rest of Delta Squad are now drilling underground to “take the fight to the locust.” As the teaser, shows COG soldiers are engaged in battle with a large army of locust in the underground region. The detonation of Lightmass Bomb, which caused in destruction in most of the Locust Horde, but it also, caused much of the liquid imulsion underground to vaporize, causing a fatal disease called rustlung to spread among the diminished human population. But after few months of peace, the cities of Tollen and Montevado suddenly and mysteriously disappear underground, leading the COG to suspect the resurgence of the Locust. And once after Jacinto, one of the last remaining safe heavens foe humans begin to show signs of the same epidemics, COG are left with no choice but to open a large scale Counter offensive against the Locust. In order to save Jacinto, they have to take War to the Locust.

Gears of War 2 is loaded with new characters, new enemies, and new weapons. Adding to that you can also perform a duel with the chainsaw attached to the Lancer rifle with an AI or human opponent. The player can also use the downed enemies as shields. A wounded player can crawl in a final attempt to save your life. There are many other ways of killing an enemy as punching them until they are downed, using the torque bow as an axe, or using the sniper rifle as sledgehammer. You can complete some of the Xbox live achievements both in single player and in multiplayer mode, such as achieving 1,000 headshots. One of the new enemies added is given a look of a giant panda bear. New weapons are added to the firearms of the previous game. The function, accuracy, and power of the most of the weapons is changed. Grenades can now be used as mines by placing them on walls or floors. And will detonate when approached by enemies. And players can now be knocked out by the concussive than before of a nearby detonating grenade. Brumak, which was previously, can be fought as an enemy can now be used to drive.

The best of the Unreal Engine 3 was showcased At the 2008 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. Gear of War creators Epic Games showed various improvements to the in-game lighting through ambient occlusion, in which dynamic shadows could be generated through ambient occlusion technique to render more realistically lit and shaded actors and objects. It was illustrated through comparison between characters and environments models in the original game engine to that of Unreal Engine 3. One more thing that showcased was the ability of the engine to hold hordes of the hordes of actors within the game, as demonstrated with a large force of Locust flocking through the “Gridlock” multiplayer map. Matinee a new technique used for rendering and editing a 3-dimensional scenes within the game.

With large sale, it was also critically acclaimed and most of the gaming websites like 1up, gamecritics, and gamespot gave away the Gears of War 2 9/10. It also won many awards including Best Shooter and Best Xbox 360 Game at the 2008 Spike Video Game Awards and Overall Best Shooting Game and Overall Best Graphics Technology for 2008.

Game Server Social Bookmarking

Master Chief this is not just a name it is a legend in the gaming world, saving our dear earth from some freaking aliens. This character is role player round the globe for gamers, not just for teenagers but also for children to mature. Its weapons to talking style everything set a trend. You can simply say that it is the most known and one of the most famous character of the gaming world. Anyone from the gaming world still not got his hands on Halo is missing a whole era of games.

Halo is a science fiction game franchise. It was created by Bungie and owned and published by Microsoft Game Studios. The main trilogy of the games centers Master Chief and his experiences. Master Chief is a cybernetically enhanced human super-soldier, and his artificial intelligence (AI) companion, Cortana. Master Chief helps future humanity in battling a theocratic force of aliens known as Covenant. In this science fiction saga, the term “Halo” refers to Halo megastructures: large, habitable ringed structures, similar to Larry Niven ringworlds.

The Halo trilogy has been praised as best first person shooters on a video game console, and are considered as Microsoft Xbox’s “killer application”. Sale of the games of the franchise confirms this statement. This led to the use of term “Halo killer” for a game, which is considered better than Halo. Supported by the success of Halo: combat evolved and by immense marketing from publisher Microsoft, both the sequels went on to create history as both the games broke various sales records. Halo 3 sold copies worth US $170 Million  in the first 24 hours of release, breaking the record set by Halo 2 three years ago. The whole trilogy has sold over 20 million copies worldwide. Strong sales have led to the franchise’s expansion to other items including novels, sound tracks. Bungie’s own musician Martin O’Donnell gave series award winning music. Cultural effect of Halo is sometime compared to that of star wars. Collective group of the fans refers it to it as “Halo nation?”

The Halo trilogy is set in several centuries in the. There are around 800 planets colonized in 200 years, and categorized as “Inner colonies” and “Outer colonies.” Inner circle are the one closer to earth and outer being away. The Inner colonies are more developed and politically stable. Outer colonies provide, tensions and outright civil war foments between the colonies. Until July 2008 the Halo series includes three main games, the games were released in chronological order, with each new game continues following the events of the previous game. Halo series features science fiction and action game elements. The games of main Trilogy are first-person shooters, with players experiencing most action from the protagonist’s view.

The Halo franchise has been highly successful critically, commercially and with its audience. After just two months of releasing Halo: combat evolved was their on the fifty percent of Xbox, it sold a million units. Halo 2’s first day sales were US $125 million, which was twice compare to the most grossing movie of that year- Spider-man which earned US $ 58 million on its first day of release. Conclusion was drawn that Halo 2’ record will remain intact for a very long time and is very difficult to break. 8 million copies of Halo 2 have been sold since its release. Then September 2007 saw the release of the epic game Halo 3, within its first day of release it was making US $170 million. Halo 3 broke the previous record for the highest grossing opening day in entertainment history, making US $170 million in its first twenty- four hours. World-wide sales of Halo 3 for the first week was US $ 300 million helping to more than double the sales of the Xbox 360 when compared with the weekly average before the Halo 3 launch. All the three games of the franchise already had sold 20 million units.

Just like sales critics also breaking the records for the greatest trilogy of gaming world ever. Halo: combat evolved had received Game of the year as well as it was named best game on Xbox ever released. Like that, Halo 2 was ranked as best game on Xbox 360. Halo 3 won game of the year, best online game, and innovative design of the year. Over all this game was the main reason for the sales of Microsoft’s gaming consoles Xbox and Xbox 360.

Game Server Social Bookmarking