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X06: Shock and Awe!
First of all Bungie Studios and Peter Jackson have teamed up to work on new episodic downloadable content for Halo... Sorry, let’s run that one by you again – Bungie Studios – the creators of the mighty Halo franchise – and Peter “Mister Lord of the Rings” Jackson are collaborating on totally new content episodes for Halo! This is almost too much to comprehend – an awesome partnership and the promise of plentiful downloadable Halo happiness to come, and that’s aside from Halo 3! The additional announcement that Peter Jackson has now set up his own game development studios – Wingnut Interactive – seems very minor in comparison. Which, of course, it isn’t… But the Halo joy deepens further with news of a brand-new real-time strategy game from the creators of the excellent Age of Empires series. It’s another Xbox 360 exclusive and it will be known simply as ‘Halo Wars’. If you’ve ever wanted to command an assault on a heavily fortified Covenant base, Halo Wars is certainly for you. But we’re only just getting started here folks… Next up – and don’t call it a comeback – Rare has announced the revival of a genuine old-school classic, Banjo Kazooie. Last seen haunting a 64-bit console back in 1999, this thoroughly next-generation title reunites Banjo the Honey Bear and Kazooie the Red-Breasted ‘Breegull’ with their old friends and, of course, their chief adversary, Gruntilda Winkybunion the Witch (yes, that is her real name). Madcap humour, dazzling high-definition graphics and innovative gameplay are all guaranteed. Speaking of which, Bizarre Creations has unveiled Project Gotham Racing 4. Unsurprisingly it’s the sequel to PGR3, which should tell you everything you need to know about the quality in store, although “exciting new experiences” are also promised. We are duly intrigued! We’re similarly fascinated at Ubisoft’s announcement of the next chapter in the fabulous Splinter Cell series. Sam Fisher’s exploits are usually available across multiple gaming platforms, but this time he’s ours exclusively. Ours, you hear! This latest game is set to capitalise on the 360’s online capabilities too. More details to follow – and they will certainly be worth waiting for. If Splinter Cell’s atmospheric thrills aren’t edgy enough for you, how about Rockstar/Take Two’s news that Grand Theft Auto IV is coming to Xbox 360? Once again we’re talking brand new, episodic content – two wholly original episodes, in fact, and each to be at least ten hours long. Much, much more on this very soon. Xbox Live Arcade is not being overlooked either. Hot from the show floor comes the news that the mother of all football games, Sensible Soccer, will be arriving on Live Arcade in the near future, but available with immediate effect is the grandfather of all first-person shoot ‘em ups – Doom! ID Software’s genre-defining blaster comes as the original four-level single-player game, or for up to four gamers in cooperative or deathmatch modes – playable offline or over Xbox Live too. It’s downloadable right now too. Are you still here? And if you enjoy your games with a multiplayer flavour you’re going to love ‘Marvel Universe Online’. It’s a massive multiplayer online RPG from Cryptic Studios, the creators of City of Heroes. It’s exclusive to Xbox 360 and Games for Windows – hey, they’re part of the family too, you know. To conclude this exhilarating roundup of the X06 bombshells we can confirm that the hugely anticipated HD DVD player will launch on November 7 – just a few short weeks away. The player will come bundled with a Universal Media Remote and, for a limited time only, a copy of Peter Jackson’s amazing King Kong, also in HD DVD format. All for just €199.99, or a mere £129.99 in the UK. And there you have it. The future is blindingly bright, hugely exciting and is shaped very much like an Xbox 360 (with an HD DVD player attached!). But we guess you already knew that, right? Of course you did… |
