Over at the Official Xbox Magazine they’ve just launched a brand new feature called The Scoreboard, which takes a different approach to reviewing Xbox 360 games. Instead of reviewing the games themselves, Casey Lynch critiques the games’ achievement points. The inaugural installment takes a look at Guitar Hero II, Kane & Lynch: Dead Men, Assassin’s Creed, Call of Duty 4, and Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Burning Earth, listing their best, worst, easiest, and hardest achievements, and then giving a final overall score for each title. Guitar Hero II took the the low mark of this round with a 5/10, mainly because many achievements ask you to do things outside the normal parameters of the game, such as playing through a career using the standard controller. The winner was Avatar with an 11/10, an extraordinary score justified by the fact that you can get 1,000 gamerscore points in two minutes. This is just a completely brilliant idea, and I look forward to future installments of The Scoreboard.
The Scoreboard #1 [OXM Online - Thanks GetsomeYo!]
A commenter on sister site Valleywag, who claims to be a current Gamespot employee, wrote anonymously about the current situation surrounding rumours of former editorial director Jeff Gerstmann’s termination. The new user, known as “gamespot”, who does a fairly solid impression of a bitter employee of CNET, if nothing else, provides possible insight into the emotional state at Gamespot’s editorial staff. In response to a Valleywag post that quoted another supposed CNET employee, one whose “gut” had informed them that Gerstmann was fired for unspecified “larger” reasons, “gamespot” chimed in. Many had questioned the timing of the termination, wondering why, if the Kane & Lynch: Dead Men review had been published over two weeks ago, was Jeff fired just two days ago?
Commenter “gamespot” responded.
The Shacknews crew got word from 2K Games that Xbox 360 and PC gamers will be on the receiving end of some fresh BioShock content next week. The downloadable goods consist of extra plasmids, a harder difficulty that disables Vita-Chambers and more. Those particularly annoyed by BioShock‘s widescreen display implementation will also find a fix for that. The full when, what, how and why is at Shacknews.
BioShock Patches, Free Plasmid DLC to Hit Next Week [Shacknews]
The nice folks at Wizards of the Coast, producers of everything Dungeons and Dragons, just dropped me a line to remind me that December 4th is National Dice Day here in the U.S., when we all should set aside some time to marvel at the wondrous simplicity of dice. While the origins of the holiday remain shrouded in mystery, WotC did offer some helpful background info on dice themselves. Dice have been around for more than 5000 years and have been part of the popular roleplaying game, D&D since its inception more than 30 years ago (though current gamers likely use dice made from plastics rather than oxen ankle bones like early forms of dice).
Okay, so it is just a way to market D&D, but the holiday certainly predates the WotC email, according to my good pal Google.
This is it, kids. The start of a new era of video gaming has begun as Nintendo has shipped Wii Fit in Japan. The 8800 yen (about $US 80) game with its custom controller, the Wii balance board, was revealed at E3 2007, with some expecting it to act as the Wii’s answer to Nintendo DS-selling mega-hit Brain Age. North American and European gamers won’t have access to Wii Fit until sometime in 2008, but Japan is burning calories as we speak (or will be within hours).
We’ll know next Wednesday how well Wii Fit performed in its debut week as Media Create sales numbers are released. Friendly wagers are certainly welcome in the comments. For those with the means, did you pick it up? Import it? Let us know what you think, if so.
The patch that Ubisoft promised to deliver to PlayStation 3 owners of Assassin’s Creed is due to be delivered over the course of a few days. Ubisoft’s community manager posted on the company’s official forums that “a corrective update has been developed and will be released worldwide on the PLAYSTATION® Network over the next few days.” As you may have heard, Assassin’s Creed PS3 users have reported lock ups and “white screens of death” on the official forums.
Those affected should be able to grab the update from within the game’s interface. Let us know if and when you do.
Game update for PlayStation 3 Assassin’s Creed is now live [Ubisoft Forums - thanks, Jason!]
This week’s Dojo Dump reads more like an instruction manual than anything else, so a pair of NES era remixes adds some nice welcome variety. I have to admit that I remember almost nothing from Zelda II, and hearing the Temple theme mix didn’t help dust off any cobwebs. It really is a bit insane how much stuff the gang at Nintendo have packed into Super Smash Bros. Brawl, as the number of options available are approaching staggering. Of personal interest is hilarious detail on my favourite Nintendo character, Wario, and his amazing Final Smash. Don’t miss it.
The Dojo Dump is right after this (and by this I mean that ->).
Alright, all of you Final Fantasy and anime fans out there who are trying half-heartedly to learn Japanese, say it with me! “KAWAII!” It helps if you giggle, jump into the air, and clap as you exclaim it in a slightly squeaky voice. Very good! I’m beginning to worry that my life-long love of Final Fantasy was really just a life-long love of chocobos that disguised itself up until Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales came out on the DS. The tingly feeling I got as I grinned a dimple-revealing grin while watching this Japanese trailer for Chocobo’s Dungeon: Toki-Wasure no Meikyuu for the Wii only serves to confirm my fears. *violently sweeps Final Fantasy figures from bookshelf to the floor* My life is a lie!
Me? I’m still eyeballs deep in The Orange Box. Actually, I’m in passive playing mode right now, watching my roommate work his way through Half-Life 2: Episode One while I relive the experience and offer sage advice. I’ve also got some work obligations with Atlus’ Draglade and Trauma Center: The New Blood to undertake, but I fully intend to finally break the seal on my copy of The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. I’ve had previous weekend intentions to get some time with it, to no avail.
Other than that, I think my Rock Band rock band The Bad Dates will be piling into the virtual van so I can brush up on my fake drumming skills. What about you kids? Got any gaming plans for the weekend?
