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Bad Company 2 Day One DLC

Kevin Martin — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 19:07:21 +0000

EA has just revealed that Battlefield Bad Company 2 will have day one DLC. It will be comprised of two maps. The Laguna Alta map playable in Conquest mode and Nelson Bay map playable in Rush mode, bringing the total number of multiplayer maps up to 10. Then a little later in March, DICE will release yet another map pack at no extra charge. With purchase of new game. Internet connection required. Which is part of EA’s plan to fight against the used game sellers. I’m split on this as If I buy a game I want access to everything on the disk. But I understand we’re they are coming from as well. This economy is tough. I would think that $5 is a much fairer price than the $15 they will charge for the DLC. But really folks. 2 maps for $15 if you buy the game is a fair price. You’ll probably end up cheaper than a new copy anyways and publishers can continue to support their games. Plus we think nothing of paying $12 for a 2 hour movie. Is $15 too much for owning some maps that you will spend who knows how many hours on.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-XD8lJUv8g[/youtube]
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 will be in stores on March 2, 2010 in North America and March 4, 2010 in Europe for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and the PC.

PURE is on XBOX 360 Games On Demand

Kevin Martin — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 18:55:08 +0000

Today’s addition to XBOX Games on Demand is the great PURE. This game wasn’t perfect but I found it to be a whole lot of fun. It’s a great addition to Games On Demand and well worth the $19.99 they want for it. It will also run you about 4GB of space. So make sure you have the room as it’s totally worth it.
Source: Marketplace.XBOX.com

New Super Street Fighter IV Fighters

Kevin Martin — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 07:23:30 +0000

Here is a video showing off the new fighters in Super Street Fighter 4 with 3 of them surprisingly from Street Fighter III and Street Fighter III:Third Strike. Ibuki, Makoto and Dudley. They will be joined in this update of Street Fighter IV by Cody, Guy, Adon, DeeJay, Juri, and T.Hawk! I think Capcom has really shown how to do an upgrade of a current title yet again. Sure there have been a million versions of Street Fighter at this point. But they have always added just enough value to make it worth your while every time, And this time is no different.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zY1WGnnlLk[/youtube]
Super Street Fighter IV will be released on April 27, 2010 for PLAYSTATION 3 and XBOX 360

XBOX Live Arcade Block Party

Kevin Martin — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 09:47:47 +0000

Microsoft has a lot planned for us in the month of March. So much that they have branded the event Block Party. Here is a rundown of what they have planned for us.

March 3 is the release of Toy Soldiers for 1200($15)
March 10, we’ll get Scrap Metal, for 1200($15)
March 17th we get the long awaited Perfect Dark 800($10)
March 24th we get the Game Room Hub for free. The game will be available for 400($5) for PC and 360 version, 240($3) for the 360 only version, or 40($.50) for a single play.

I’m excited for all these games. But Perfect Dark will probably be the Gem of the month. The Game Room intrigues me though as i’m a fan of old school games. I have a feeling I’ll be loading up my arcade as my kids and wife love the classics as well. So March is looking to be a huge month for XBLA I can’t wait to get my hands on these great games. What are you most looking forward to?

Xbox Live comes to Windows Phone 7 Series

Kevin Martin — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 07:42:45 +0000

The biggest news to come out of this weekends Mobile World Conference in Barcelona. Is the reveal of Windows Phone 7 Series. It’s a truly slick interface that really makes the mobile wars interesting. Iphone, Android and Series 7 are all great platforms. Sorry RIM fanboys they have fallen behind as far as consumer orientated smart phones go.

Okay now as to why I’m personally excited about series 7 and why you should be too. Check out he pic of the start screen above. They have finally integrated XBOX Live yup you’ve heard it right. Windows mobile has really taken a huge leap forward. You will be able to have your avatar on the phone. It’s going to be a full 3d model like on xbox and you will be able to customize the avatar right on the phone. But that’s not all. There will be games that will be able to earn you achievement points for your XBOX Live account. Yes that sound you just heard is achievement whores around the world fainting. We will have to wait until MIX in April for more details of live integration on Windows Phone 7 Series.But this is great news and really has me excited for the future of Mobile Gaming on cell phones. Check out the video below for the full Windows Phone 7 Series experience. Welcome back to the mobile game Microsoft.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IOTrqlz4jo[/youtube]

Review: Darwinia+ For XBLA

Kevin Martin — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 12:00:48 +0000

Today we launch Total Hype with a review of a very interesting game by Introversion Software, Darwinia+. This game has been on my radar ever since it won top prize at IGF 2006. It was announced for XBLA in 2008. But I had totally forgotten about it. Once I seen it on the release schedule though I was instantly excited.

I am a huge fan of indie games this being matched with my favorite console was a perfect situation for me. So has my excitement panned out? Check out my review and find out…

Okay first thing you will notice about this game is it’s visual style. It has a retro style look on the surface. But it’s all part of this games charm. Once you get into it though it’s like a dream scape. Just imagine you’re a hero fighting in a computer world where everything is made out of pixels. That’s what Darwinia+ is. It’s a great looking game with a surprising amount of depth.

The visuals are great as you can see from the picture above(Click to make bigger). I really think they nailed the feeling of what it would be inside a computer having a war against viruses. The thing that really makes this game for me though is the sound. Check out the video below and just listen to that awesomeness. It goes with the visuals perfectly.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCNW1HRAIts[/youtube]

To add to the value you not only have Darwinia+ you have Multiwinia. The 49 map multi player with 2-4 players. This is the real star of this package. I played through a hand full of games and it’s very addicting. The power ups that you earn from the crates are awesome. This game will be near the top of the XBLA charts for a long time. If people give it the chance that it deserves.

I’m a huge Call of Duty player so at first glance I was a little skeptical on how I would like this game. Sure I’ve been a strategy game fan for a long time. But for the last few years it’s been mostly Call Of Duty for me. But going in with an open mind I was very happily surprised. The military strategies you can use in this game to win are very similar to call of duty.

You can rush in to the game and sure you might do okay. But more than likely you will get killed quickly. But if you look at the flow of the game and watch how the enemies are going you will do great. I’ll be playing a lot of this game especially til they fix the care package glitch in MW2.
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Check out the game and let me know what you think of it here in the comments. I would love to hear about how you feel about my review process. I don’t try to make it a masterpiece of journalism. I’m a gamer and I am just trying to convey my love for games and helping you guys stay away from crappy games.