Denny Atkin takes a look at this week in Xbox news.
The forecast for Xbox gamers: severe financial crisis ahead. No, I'm not talking about the, uh, excitement that Wall Street and Washington have unleashed on the country. I'm talking about a strained wallet because of the staggering number of awesome games being released between now and December. At least in these tight times, it's hard to find any form of entertainment that gives you more bang for your buck than gaming. My son and I are about 55% of the way through LEGO® Batman™: The Videogame, and at this point we're already down to just over $2/hour. (Playing co-op with a six-year-old is definitely not conducive to "speed runs," so you get even more value.) By the time we're done? Sweet gaming fun for about a buck an hour. (Then there are the Halo® 3 and Call of Duty® 4: Modern Warfare™ multiplayer fans, who must be down to pennies-an-hour by now.)
At about $60 for Halo 3 and 250+ hours played for some of you, that's fun for less than a quarter per hour!
This week, your wallet's going to get hit hardest if you're an action game-playing basketball fan with kids. On the action front, we have Fracture™, the earth-bending shooter from LucasArts (check out the demo available from Xbox LIVE® Marketplace), and the unique fighting game Guilty Gear 2 Overture. Sports fans get to decide between NBA 2K9 and NBA LIVE 09 (the truly hardcore will get both), and families are sure to love the action-packed Crash Bandicoot® Mind over Mutant. Oh, and don't forget the whopping three new releases over on Xbox LIVE Arcade.
You literally move mountains to defeat the enemies in Fracture.
I won't even mention the absolutely amazing $299 Rock Band 2 Ion Drum Rocker kit that just appeared in our lobby, for fear of pushing your personal economy into deep recession. Oops, just did.
Wrapping Up
Yes, short column this week. Too many games to play! Plus, as usual, I'm writing this column right before I have to wrap up the script for our latest Insider Moves tips show. Drop by the Insider Moves forum topic and let us know what you'd like to see in future episodes.
