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The Story Of Doodle Jump: Brotherly Love And Digital Snacks XBOX Live Outage Watch 2008: Day 13
Xbox LIVE Remains sketchy. Latest update? Could have something to do Windows Live Data Authentication service, which impacts live, according to Larry Hryb. Right now billing, purchasing, linking to Gamertags, redeeming points, recovering tags and online play is acting up. “Resources have been engaged to correct the issue,” according to Xbox.com. Still no official statement from Microsoft on the nearly two weeks of spotty service.
This is the trailer to Wrath Of The 1337 King, a World of Warcraft movie/mockumentary that…I don’t know what it’s doing. Some kind of Ali G-esque stunt, perhaps, but with WoW jokes throughout. Or it’s a joke on WoW. Not really sure. Either way, World of Warcraft fans may get something out of this. A chuckle or two, even. Or maybe just a chortle. Me, though? This is exactly why I don’t play WoW. It’s also, incidentally, why I’m afraid of Europeans.
Shame on you. Criterion delivered a perfectly enjoyable demo of Burnout Paradise, but instead of thanking them, you attacked them. Called them out, called them names, called them words that would make a Parisian whore blush. Which upset them, and upset them dearly. But instead of hiding in the corner, sobbing gently to themselves until Paradise’s release, do you know what they’ve gone and done for you, you ungrateful sods? They’ve doubled the multiplayer capacity for the demo. Both 360 and PS3 versions. Which means between January 4 and January 14, you’ll be able to have eight players in an online session instead of four. Try and hold off on complaining about that, will you?
When Xbox Live got a case of the internet sniffles this past week, many just assumed that either the hamster powering the Live servers had given up the ghost or that the crush of Christmas-figted 360s put a heavy strain on the service. Not Primotech, as they say they have word from “a source close to Microsoft” that Live buckled under a systematic denial of service attack. Yeah, hackers!
Primotech couldn’t confirm the story with Microsoft rep and Live face Larry Hryb, but writes it expects a PR announcement soon. As long as Microsoft and the Xbox team do right by subscribers, I can’t imagine a furious uproar over the downtime. What I want to know is what did Xbox Live ever do to you, DOS meanies?
Recent Xbox Live Issues May Be Result of Attack [Primotech]
When we played Mercenaries 2: World in Flames at the Leipzig Games Convention last year, we walked away with the impression that stuff blows up. It would appear that stuff will continue to blow up, as new screens from Pandemic would indicate. If you look closely at the in-game screen shot above, you might be able to pick out one of the things that blows up. Mercs 2 feels like it’s already been released for some reason, but it seems it hasn’t. Regardless of my confusion about how time flows, a handful of new official screens are in our mini-gallery below.
I love the concept of a thinking shooter, a game that rewards for both thoughtful murderous mayhem and artful kills. I hope The Club lives up to my expecations.
According to the company’s crack PR team, Microsoft has a handful of sales figures for 2007′s big releases to crow about. Mass Effect and Halo 3, as well as the Xbox 360 itself, have been selling in the “good to very good” range, they say. The company claims that some 17.7 million “chill white” consoles have been sold worldwide, which we’ll read as shipped to retailers, naturally, since the 360 launched.
More impressive are figures for software, with Halo 3 shipping out some 8.1 million copies over the course of just 100 days and Mass Effect providing alien sex dream fodder for 1.6 million buyers since November. Not bad! It always makes me well up with joy to see these scrappy underdogs finally see get their due.
Some Xbox 360 numbers [Microsoft]
Cory Barlog, formerly of Sony Computer Entertainment America’s Santa Monica studios and God of War II-producing fame, has ended an extended period of blogging silence following his departure from the developer. In today’s update to his personal blog, Barlog reveals that his “whole departure from Sony was not exactly the ideal route that I wanted to go, but in the end I think it is the absolute best thing I could have ever done” and gives a status update on the third proper Kratos adventure.
The producer writes that fans can “rest assured that [God of War III]is all in good hands,” heaping praise on the Santa Monica team who will undertake the inevitable sequel. As far as known progress on GoW III, Barlog reveals that “immediately after I finished God of War 2 I was already working on the story and design for the third game.”
German Site TeamFortress 2 has listed what they say are the 36 new achievements for the game’s Medic class that Valve mentioned way back in last year.
Most of the Medic-centric achievements seem rather lacklustre, more like gimmies than something you have to really work for, like helping with a capture or healing for a “long time.” There are a couple of neat ones in there like the “killing a scout with the syringe gun achievement.
Hit the jump for the full list via Team Fortress 2 [Via Evil Avatar]
The latest issue of Games For Windows *checks mailbox* should be arriving at subscriber’s doors any day now, but 1UP teases one of the mag’s reveals today, Gas Powered Games’ Demigod. The follow up to Supreme Commander borrows from Defense of the Ancients, bringing a multiplayer-focused (demi)god game that blends role-playing, strategy and action into one tasty supernatural package. Like Defense of the Ancients for Warcraft III, hero focused combat is the name of the game. Only one screen, available at 1UP, is only display, but the coming issue of GFW is promised to have many more.
Demigod Revealed [1UP]
