Mini Podcast - Show 1.

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Updated Australian Release Dates

31st August 2006 Saint's Row

7th September 2006 Enchanted Arms
13th September 2006 Lego Star Wars 2 The Original Trilogy
14th September 2006 Dead Rising
14th September 2006 Madden NFL 2007
21st September 2006 Superman Returns
21st September 2006 Timeshift
28th September 2006 NHL Hockey 2007
28th September 2006 Samurai Warriors 2
28th September 2006 Test Drive Unlimited
28th September 2006 The Godfather
28th September 2006 Xbox Live Arcade Unplugged Volume 1
29th September 2006 Just Cause
30th September 2006 LMA Manager 2006

12th October 2006 Import Tuner Challenge
15th October 2006 Crackdown
19th October 2006 NBA Live 2007
19th October 2006 Tom Clancys Splinter Cell 4 Double Agent
31st October 2006 Bomberman Act Zero

Backwards Compatibility Update

There is a backwards compatibility update now available over Xbox Live. This free update brings the complete list of original Xbox games that you can play on your Xbox 360 to almost 300.

Rainbow 6 Las Vegas New Screenshots

Our friends over at xboxworld.com.au have posted 6 new Rainbow 6 Las Vegas Screenshots. Check them all out here. Looks like this game is going to be a big 2006 hit.

Demo:Madden NFL 07

Xbox Live members can now download a free demo of ‘Madden NFL 07’ from the Xbox Live Marketplace. This free demo is available in the US, Canada, Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand.

Classics Heading Our Way

Just like they did on the original Xbox, Xbox 360 is to have its own line of "Classics" Come October, the XBox 360 will be selling their Classic series of games in Europe, priced at 30, which is around the same figure XBox Classics are being sold at. All in all, sounds like a good deal, right? Well... the games are Classics because they're cheap... though they aren't 100 awe-inspiring. The first two titles in the Classics line for the XBox 360 will be Kameo: Elements of Power and Perfect-Dark-Zero, which didn't really do all that well across review sites.Still, for that kind of price, it should be a good way to while away time till they announce the next set of Classics releases. Lets hope we get the same out here in Australia.

From: Steve519 XBLradio

Here it is, its the 2006 keynote for PAX, the Penny Arcade Expo where Alex St. John, one of the original leaders behind the Manhattan Project and of course, DirextX, tells the tale of how the Xbox came to be, and the dirt that comes with it.

Audio can be found in the Podcast Section

News from PAX

Our good friend Steve519 from XBLRadio has posted some new movies and screenshots from PAX over in Seattle, Washington. For those that dont know PAX or Penny Arcade Expo is a yearly expo for video gaming but as opposed to many "Industry Only" events this one can be attended by the public. So heres some of the media from Steve519 including some new Splinter Cell Double Agent Footage.

Pictures from PAXS 2006 Can anybody spot Trixie?

New Splinter Cell Movies
1 / 2 / 3

New Castle Crashes Footage
1

New Splinter Cell Double Agent Screenshots

Check out the latest Splinter Cell Double Agent Screenshots. The game is due for release come September 2006.

New Podcast Intro

I've been working hard to get things up and running for the Podcast show. Below is the audio from the opening of The Xbox 360 Show. Hope you like. The podcast will air beginning the 1st week of September and will be produced weekly. A Podcast player is available in the right hand margin making it easy to stream the show direct from the site or download the mp3 file.


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Tony Hawk's Project 8 Hands-On

A new hands-on review is up at Xboxic.com for the next installment of the Tony Hawk's series. The series went downhill (no pun intended) with the last couple of iterations but Neversoft promised to change their ways and yours truly was able to check on their progress here at the GC. So, did they stick to their word? Read the whole article here.

New Marketplace Content

Well it's been a busy night for the Xbox Live Marketplace tonight as 2 big demo's have been released. Go get your hands on the new Test Drive Unlimited demo and also Just Cause demo. Hope you've all been saving your bandwidth as there is more on the horizon as well with a rumoured demo of Pro Evolution Soccer 6 (PES6) to be out shortly.

GC 2006 :: Joytech Xbox 360 Control Centre

The basic idea behind the Control Centre 540C is to allow you to connect multiple devices through one input, in this case up to five round the back and another round the front (for temporary connections such as video cameras)... nothing new there. But the Control Centre 540C uses only component or composite inputs, meaning all you hi-def gamers will be well catered for. Read the whole article here.

New Call Of Duty 3 Screenshots

Below are the latest Call of Duty 3 screenshots. There's a huge difference between this and COD2 if you look at the graphics style, and I can't wait to play it.

GC06: Splinter Cell Double Agent Gameplay Footage

One of the guys from Xboxyde is currently at the Leipzig Game Convention in Germany and while walking through the Ubi booth, he noticed someone playing Splinter Cell Double Agent, on a level he had never seen before. You'll see Sam Fisher, wearing his good ol' green goggles, jumping off a plane to a very dark place... Beautiful.

Download the gameplay footage here or get the streamed version here

Fifa Soccer 2007 : New Game New Engine

FIFA Soccer 07 on Xbox 360 will have a new and dynamic engine that's supposed to blow other soccer games out of the water. The engine has spent two years in development to ensure that it will redefine the way sports videogames play and feel. It's a physics and data-driven technology wonder that'll allow individual player movement, authentic athletic motion, and never-before-heard-of responsiveness. Read the full article here

Test Drive Unlimited Finished

Test Drive Unlimited for the Xbox 360 is complete. That means, it'll only be a few weeks before you get your hands on the game, and race your friends down the electronic asphalt road. You'll be able to drag race your heart out in the safety of your own home. This will be the first Massively Open Online Racing (MOOR) available anywhere. You can go wherever you want, race whomever you want in a spectacular tropical setting. A new demo of the game will also be up on the Marketplace for the 25/08/06 for all the people wanting to check out a final build. The game is due out here in Australia on the 29th September

Xbox 360 '06 Peripheral Peek

The guys over at Gamevideos.com have posted up some footage of the new Xbox 360 peripherals. The have video footage of new Xbox 360 accessories, including the steering wheel, camera, wireless headset, and the HD DVD Player. Check it out below

Lost Planet Trailer

Earlier this year we were able to play a early build of "Lost Planet" for the Xbox 360. Even at a young stage the game looked refined and something to behold. Well today from the Leipzig Games Convention a new trailer for this game has surfaced. In this trailer, Capcom introduces some of the gameplay options, which let you walk around in the snow killing all sorts of insectoid baddies with different weapons, from a shotgun to a full-fledged Arnold Schwarzenegger giant machine gun. You also get a taste of the vehicles you can ride in the game which includes not only a tank, but a full fledged robot with jump-jets.

Download: Lost Planet Trailer- Leipzig Games Convention

Texas Hold'Em Review

The guys over at xbox360.qj.net have post one of the first hands on reviews of this much anticipated xbox Live Arcade game. Theres a lot of infomation over there so go check it out now. Link Texas Hold'Em is set to be released this Wednesday 23/08/06 at Xbox Live Arcade. Free download for the first 48 hours, 800 Microsoft Points afterwards. It's a safe bet to say the Marketplace will be flooded those first 48 hours. No need to quote odds on that.

Xbox Live Arcade Unplugged

I just noticed the guys over at www.dvdcrave.com have listed something interesting. Coming out on the 28 September 2006 is the Xbox Live Arcade Game.

Xbox Live Arcade Unplugged Volume 1 gives you the chance to play the great collection of Xbox Live Arcade Games that were previously only available via the Xbox Live Service.

The amazingly fun and accessible package comes with the following popular games: Geometry Wars, Wik: Fable of Souls, Outpost Kaloki,
Bejeweled 2, Hardwood Backgammon, Texas Hold Em. The product is going to sell for $44 AUD

Xbox Live Vision Camera

A new article has just been written on the soon to be release Xbox Live Camera. The article shows infomation regarding video chat, video conferencing, video email, Digimask face mapping and Gesturetek. Read the whole article here.

New Chromehounds Content

Today saw the release of new content on the Marketplace for the game Chromehounds. The add-on included the following parts



Light arms 01
Heavy arms 02
Light arms 03
Light arms 04
Spacer 01
Light arm s05
Spacer 02
Generator 01
Spacer 03
Color Pattern 03

The real stir about this content has been the pricing. If you heard the uproar over the GRAW Chapter 2 content just wait for this. The content is 100 points a piece, making the whole package, if you wished to buy them all, 1000 points ($16.50 AUD)
To see some of the many angry Xbox 360 users comments about the Marketplace pricing, have a look here

Xbox 360 on Right Track

Microsoft are pretty chuffed with themselves at the moment. Not only do they expect to shift 10 million Xbox 360 units by Christmas 2006, but apparently the Xbox 360 has a peripheral attach rate of a whopping 2.9 accessory units per console, which is a US record for any console considering the machine has only been out for nine months. Another interesting statistic is that on average each 360 gets 4.6 games for its library. Not bad for something people were comparing to the Dreamcast (sales wise) only ten months ago.

This all seems quite amazing, but even more amazing is the fact Microsoft expect to shift up to 15 million 360’s by the end of the current fiscal year in June 2007. This would give them a massive leap over Sony (unless Sony have a very strong supply chain set up in time for Christmas) and would put them so far ahead it would take a while for everybody else to catch up. Only time will tell.

Mass Effect - New Artist Drawings

Check out some of the latest Mass Effect Screenshots below. Mass Effect is a Revolutionary Action-RGP set in the future, where a living galaxy comes to life in what can only be described as a futuristic epic adventure.

New Zune Details Emerge

iLounge has published a detailed report on Zune's interface and features. A whole list of features can be found here. The Zune will include Wi-Fi, FM Radio, Album Art and a Custom User Interface. The Zune will launching in the US for the Christmas season (and hopefully not to much longer afterwards for us here in Aus)

Xbox Live Camera

Microsoft's Gamefest, being held this week in Seattle, has released new details on the launch of the Xbox Live Vision video camera for the Xbox 360 including the fact that it will be bundled with a free gesture-based game - TotemBall. It has a release date in the US of 19th September with a price of $39.99 USD ($52 AUD). The Australian release date has not been set yet.

Check out all the latest news about the camera here

Enchanted Arms

Being the next release title for Xbox 360 here in Australia here are a few gameplay videos as well as some comments and scores from a few reviews.

XBOX 360 - Enchanted Arms


Play Magazine Score 80/100
[eM] is most impressive when placed in its proper context: From Software managed to craft a sprawling, 60-hour-long, traditional J-RPG on a next-generation platform in an incredibly short ammount of time....and it's actually pretty darn good. [Mar 2006, p.61]

GameBrink Score 75/100
[EM]-eNCHANT aRM- has a predictable, yet entertaining, plot featuring a small cast of likeable characters, a moderate sized world that will take about 40 hours to explore, and a good battle system. Sure the graphics are a mixed bag, music is strangely absent, and the encounter rate is high, yet it's still a nice start for next-gen rpgs. [JPN Import]

Edge Magazine Score 60/100
It’s a unique offering for 360 owners – as it would have been for Xbox – certainly, but one who’s highlights can’t match those of the RPGs currently burning brightly on PS2. [Apr 2006, p.87]

New Mad Tracks Interview

One of the hard decisions the Load, Inc. development team had to make was whether to delay the release of the game or not, twenty days before launch, in order to incorporate XBox Live multiplayer support. They decided to delay it much to peoples disappointment but read here to find the reasons why.
The main points we are looking forward to include:

Besides the "basic" release of Mad Tracks, which will feature fifteen challenges (a mix of races and mini-games), the game will also throw in two "add-ons" (Mad Tracks Encore and Mad Tracks Bravo) simultaneously, each with fifteen challenges, for a grand total of 45 challenges (23 minigames and 22 races).

The pickups and powerups are stackable (coming in packs of one or three), and have no time limit for use before disappearing.

The game environment will be open, "all things are physical" and can be knocked around. Bourdain even hinted that players will be required to roam around for some achievements.

Mad Tracks is about 48Mb, plus 11Mb per add-on. So far, Load, Inc.'s looking at about 4-8 players on XBox Live multiplayer. The team's System Link multiplayer, in favor of split-screen 4-way home multiplayer.

The team's also looking to add other enhancements, such as voice support.

Xbox 360 HD-Drive Pricing

The guys over at DigiTime have released some new info on the much anticipated Xbox 360 HD-Drive. The unit is heading for a December launch here in Australia with a price tag of $200US ($280 AUD). The unit combined with the Xbox 360 will bring the current Xbox 360 pricing in line with the Sony's PS3 sporting its HD technology known as Blu-Ray. There has been no official announcement from Microsoft yet but we will let you know as soon as we hear something more official.

Updated Australian Xbox 360 Release List

31st August 2006 Madden NFL 2007
31st August 2006 Saint's Row

7th September 2006 Enchanted Arms
14th September 2006 Dead Rising
14th September 2006 The Godfather
15th September 2006 Lego Star Wars 2 The Original Trilogy
15th September 2006 Samurai Warriors 2
21st September 2006 Superman Returns
28th September 2006 NHL Hockey 2007
29th September 2006 Just Cause
29th September 2006 Test Drive Unlimited
29th September 2006 Timeshift

5th October 2006 NBA Live 2007
12th October 2006 Import Tuner Challenge
19th October 2006 Tom Clancys Splinter Cell 4 Double Agent
27th October 2006 LMA Manager 2006

3rd November 2006 Pro Evolution Soccer 6
24th November 2006 Bomberman Act Zero
24th November 2006 Eragon

15th February 2007 Battlestations Midway

Capcom Oversight Leaves SDTV Owners Angry

According to numerous frantic posts over at the Capcom BBS, there are quite a few very disappointed XBOX 360 owners stuck with Capcom games that were only tested on HDTVs. For whatever reason Capcom failed to test the game on standard definition television sets before releasing it for sale.

The result,is a game that looks sub-par and in a game that has no dialogue, like this one, players are stuck guessing or lip reading in order to follow the story of the game.

Check out the screenshot to understand the problem. To Capcom defense, they have confirmed the problem and are hard at work on a patch to fix it.

Just Cause Demo Announced and Dated

Although Microsoft and the Xbox Live team hate that developers put a date to downloadable content, Avalanche Studios announced today that a Just Cause demo is in the works and should be available on Live Marketplace on August, 24.

Just Cause is a massive, free-roaming action game that puts you in the sholes of a Latin field operative and specialist in regime change backed by a top secret government agency that will overthrow the corrupt government of San Esperito - a rogue South American state suspected of stockpiling Weapons of Mass Destruction.

This is one game we here at Xbox 360 Australia are looking forward too.

New Texas Hold'Em News

Its seems as though some news has just come out about Texas Hold'Em that wasnt suppose to be out just yet. There is news that Texas Hold'Em will be free for the first 48 hours and if you miss this window you will need to play 800 Microsoft Points for it. It has however been pushed back to the 23/08/06. The full article can be read here