Recently, rookie developer Yager Development released the Spec Ops: The Line demo for Xbox 360 and PS3, and although the game might not have the hype surrounding other big budget titles, it appears to be approaching the third-person cover shooter genre with a unique narrative fold. Set in a mysteriously crumbling and sandstorm-stricken Dubai, Spec Ops: The Line looks to add a few layers of meaningful depth and intrigue to the typical shooter formula, but does it succeed? Hit the jump to find out!
Spec Ops: The Line Demo Impressions
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Tagged 2k games, impressions, spec ops the line, take two. demo, xbox 360, yager development
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Will the Release of Minecraft Kill the XBLIG Channel?
Although the release of Minecraft technically has little to do with Microsoft’s often maligned attempt to show independent developers some love, it could spell the end of days for the already much criticized Xbox Live Indie Games (XBLIG) channel.
A little background for those who have never heard of the channel (and trust me you wouldn’t be in a minority): Launched in 2008, the then named Community Games channel was a place where any fledgling game development company could sell its game, potentially reaching an audience as large as the Xbox 360 faithful in the process. It sounded like a great idea, but because the channel was buried deep within the dashboard, and was infiltrated by games ranging from mediocre to abhorrent, it met with little success. Granted, beyond a community driven peer review system there was little in the way of quality control, so the flood of crapware was to be expected.
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Tagged Adam Sawkins, CastleMiner, FortressCraft, Indie Games Channel, Minecraft, Notch, Total Miner, xbla, XBLIG
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Why the Xbox Live Certification Process is Pointless
Recently, a Street Fighter x Tekken patch was released for both the PS3 and Xbox 360, with an interesting glitch that somehow, some way, went completely unnoticed. When Rolento, a Street Fighter character from older Capcom fighting games, throws a shuriken that makes contact with an opponent’s fireball, the entire game freezes and requires a hard reset. While it is predominantly Capcom’s fault that such a glitch slipped through the cracks in QA, the fact that Microsoft also completely missed this makes one wonder why patches are even submitted for certification in the first place.
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Tagged certification, microsoft, sfxt, street fighter x tekken, xbox live
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Far Cry 3 Closed Multiplayer Beta Coming This Summer
Ubisoft recently announced that the popular Far Cry franchise’s latest addition will be getting a closed multiplayer beta over the summer. Although the notion of a “closed” beta usually implies a limited amount of players and keys, Ubisoft has noted that there are a number of different ways to gain access to the multiplayer beta.
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Tagged far cry 3, ghost recon future soldier, multiplayer beta, ps3, ubisoft, xbox 360
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Buy a PC, Get a Free Xbox 360 (If You’re a Student)
In an attempt to compete with Apple’s domineering control of the college computing market, Microsoft is reintroducing its “buy a PC, get an Xbox 360″ deal for students. At participating retailers in the US and Canada, students who provide valid proper identification and purchase a PC priced at over $599 (Canada) or $699 (United States) will be given a 4GB Xbox 360 to whittle away their free time with when they should probably be studying.
The deal starts May 20th in the U.S., and is already well underway in Canada. If you’re looking for a sweet graduation purchase to make with all that money your friends and family gave you, this could be one hell of a way to spend it.
Borderlands 2 Loot Chest – A Buyer’s Guide
It’s only fitting really. Given the seemingly endless wealth of red chests, shotguns, rocket launchers and mods that populated the Borderlands universe, the announcement that the Borderlands 2 Collector’s Edition would feature an utter enormity of loot came as little surprise. Alright, it came as some surprise, but if anyone was going to release a loot chest the size of a small canine, who better than the team that revitalized the looting sub-genre for consoles?
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Tagged Borderlands 2, Deluxe Vault Hunter's, Gearbox Software, loot, Ultimate Loot Chest
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Rare Reportedly Seeking Triple-A Developers for Next-Gen
Finally, some good news regarding the esteemed British developer! According to recent job postings on Microsoft’s employment boards, Rare is looking for a few good men to fill their program and product manager positions. The job descriptions are looking for the usual qualifications of a good manager, but a few interesting sentences in the offerings have lead people to believe that Rare might just be harkening back to its roots for the next-generation Xbox.
Although the developer isn’t likely to hang up its Kinect offerings any time soon, but it’s looking as if we might see some more hardcore titles coming out of the woodworks for Microsoft’s Project Durango. One can only hope that Rare will see a return to form in the future generation, with a few old franchises getting the revival treatment to boot.
Why the Shooter Genre Desperately Needs Another Call of Duty 4
I’m not sure what happened between 2007 and now, but for some reason, shooters just aren’t as appealing as they used to be. Ever since Call of Duty 4 revolutionized first-person shooters with its genre-bending features, other shooters have been emulating Infinity Ward’s crown jewel with varying levels of success. Unfortunately, because of this perpetual game of catch-up, the shooter genre hasn’t enjoyed a healthy dose of real innovation in years. Incremental changes and moderate adjustments aside, the gaming renaissance that Call of Duty 4 introduced ended long ago, and now we’re left with a small handful of quality FPS experiences and a whole bunch of forgettable ones. If shooting aliens, corrupt Special Ops baddies, and zombies wants to remain enjoyable and exhilarating, the genre is going to need an enormous injection of innovation once more to keep it afloat.
Posted in Features
Tagged activision, black ops 2, call of duty, cod4, fps, gears of war, halo, halo 4, infinity ward, shooters
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Walmart Secures Brand New Halo 4 Footage
I know, I know. How ridiculously unfair. How did Walmart, of all places, get exclusive access to this killer interview video with Halo 4 lead designer Frank O’Connor and never-before-seen gameplay footage? I know you’re angry (so are we) but at the very least, you can enjoy this exciting new video after the jump below. Careful now, your mind may be blown.
Activision and EA Finally Settle Infinity Ward Lawsuit
Remember this one? The whole, “EA stole our Call of Duty lead designers to sabotage Modern Warfare 2!” claim by Activision back in 2010? According to Gamasutra, the two mega-publishers have buried the hatchet and settled on the lawsuit. The terms of the settlement have yet to be announced, but it’s quite likely that one of the two decided to plunk down a large sum of cash to shut the other up.