December 17, 2007 – 3:53 pm
OK I am the first to admit that Burnout was a game that I spent many hours playing and mastering, so I was looking forward to this version as I have stated some time now. I grabbed up the demo on the Xbox 360 and fired it up to get in my fill of Burnout mayhem. The demo gives you a section of Paradise City to roam around in and 1 car to do it in , which is pretty good for a demo.
You roam around a small portion of Paradise City in a beat up muscle car and learn about some of the new features of the game, like now you can pull into a garage to fix your car damage. I don’t like the new concept they moved to where you need to drive from event to event, this is modeled after the Need for Speed games, but I am not a big fan. Burnout was all about sheer speed and crashing, not open world environments. Another gripe I have with he game are the constant cutscenes to show off the crashes, OK they are very cool the first few times but then after that they are just kinda boring and time consuming.
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November 13, 2007 – 11:13 am
Holy dog shit people. This is a feature begged for by the internet savvy crowd for both the Xbox 360 and PS3 since launch. Today, Sony has delivered in an announcement directly from the CEO of DivX.
Kevin Hell, CEO of DivX commented, “We are excited to work with Sony Computer Entertainment to bring DivX to PS3. Our technology will expand the multimedia functionality of PS3 by enabling users to enjoy access to the broad library of content in the DivX digital media format.”
Sounds great to me. Nothing like streaming DivX movies from my PC to my PS3. Gamers will be able to take advantage of the new features in an upcoming software update.
November 12, 2007 – 2:07 pm
Yeah, I know it’s late, but I’ve been tied up. While I was detained, Sony updated the PS3 firmware to v2.00. The magic potion everyone was waiting for, in-game XMB access, was not included. But there are some cool new features to check out. Here’s what you can expect to find with the new firmware update:
- XMB Themes - you can now customize a theme for your XMB backround
- Playlists for Music and Photos
- Information Board to feed you news items in the PlayStation world
- New PlayStation Network category in the XMB
- Remote Start for Remote Play - you can now turn your PS3 on and off from anywhere in the world with the PSP and a WiFi connection
A few other minor things were included with this update. Overall, I’m a bit underwhelmed. I expected a lot more for such a major version number change. I was hoping for in-game XMB, custom playlists in-game, or something like that. I also found that having the Information Board running all the time causes some noticeable slow-down in the XMB. Personally, I don’t see a point in the Information Board if you use an RSS reader on your PC anyway.
Hopefully v2.1 will include some of the bigger features we’ve been waiting for.
October 22, 2007 – 5:17 pm
Warhawk will be seeing two patches in the near future on the PS3. The first patch, v1.1, will be hitting a console near you in the very near future. This patch will introduce both server-side and client-side fixes for the game. Here’s what you can expect fixed in v1.1:
Server-side updates
* Stat database stability improvements
* Improved server stability
* Max Clan limit changed from 32 to 64
* Viral Rank-up bug fixed and correct for players that were accidentally ranked up.
* “Time-in-Vehicle” Stats fixed so certain awards can now be granted properly.
Client-side updates for Patch v1.1
* Stat connection, fetch/post fixes
* Significantly improved client connection stability
* Quad “????” Ping display bug fixed.
* Added support for Player-Ranked Servers.
* Game synchronization fixes due to fluctuating network conditions (packet-drop).
* Crash fixes for end of game and split screen.
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October 18, 2007 – 11:51 am
Today The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar announces that players will get Book 11: Defenders of Eriador, another free expansion to the already deep LOTR MMO. THis update brings 100 new quests, a new 12 player raid, more areas to squish hobbits and a new house system, so now you can stuff your orc in a hobbit house. Book 11: Defenders of Eriador will be available to subscribers of The Lord of the Rings Online on October 24, 2007 in North America and October 25, 2007 in Europe.
For full details hit the jump!
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October 11, 2007 – 8:45 pm
Sony updated their User Agreement today, revealing some new features that are coming to the PS3 and PSP. You can read the whole User Agreement here, but we’ll summarize all the new happenings. The User Agreement indicates these changes take effect on October 30th, 2007.
There are many instances in the new User Agreement that refer to uploading materials to the PlayStation Network. Here’s a couple excerpts:
You may not upload, post, stream, or otherwise transmit any content that contains any viruses, worms, spyware, time bombs, or other computer programs that may damage, interfere with, or disrupt PSN.
[...]
You may not take any action, or upload, post, stream, or otherwise transmit any content, language, images or sounds in any forum, communication, public profile, or other publicly viewable areas or in the creation of any Online ID that SCEA, in its sole discretion, finds offensive, hateful, or vulgar.
With the PlayStation Eye coming out soon, this doesn’t seem too surprising. This could also be covering user content being shared over the PlayStation Network, as we know Unreal Tournament 3 will allow mods and sharing a content.
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October 8, 2007 – 6:58 pm
So Halo 3 has been out now for 2 weeks and I am sure everyone has gotten a chance to check this out in some way shape or form, so now it’s time to tackle a review. Halo 3 is Bungie’s follow up to its two predecessors Halo 1 and 2 and picks up right where they left off. After months of advertising and hardcore marketing now gamers get a chance to put Master Chief into action and judge just how good this behemoth really is?
Presentation and Graphics: Halo 3 is polished, not light years beyond Halo 2, but you can see the difference when viewing the game on an HD screen, especially during the cut scenes. Master Chief’s visor never looked so shiny! A nice new distinction now is that you can customize your characters appearance for multi player matches, now you don’t have to always use the same Spartan armor and can actually get the Ninja Gaiden helmet if you collect all the skulls. 4 out of 5
Sound and Music: Halo 3 in 5.1 surround sound does extremely well; there is enough Gregorian chant and inspiring orchestra music to fill a room at any time. From the opening credits the familiar sound of Halo comes booming out of the speakers and carries all the way through. The music plays a big part in the game in that when you hear the inspirational music begin you know you are headed up to a big encounter or cut-scene. AI commentary is pretty funny too, a few times I found myself laughing after hearing grunts yell out that I killed their brother. 4.5 out of 5
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September 13, 2007 – 12:17 pm
Not content with drinking tons of beer in the real world, MapleStory is recreating the German festival in their online realm.
To take part in the event – which is open to everyone and can be participated in once a day for the duration of the promotion – players must deliver a hidden sample of ‘malt’ to MapleStory Europe’s ever present event-NPC Charles. Doing so rewards them with entry to an exciting new beer tent map, where they can enjoy a traditional, hearty German atmosphere of ale, sausages and lederhosen. By completing special objectives within the beer tent, such as fighting off a horde of red-faced, staggering monsters, players can win themselves special Oktoberfest themed items such a German sausage-shaped hat and power boosting mugs of (non-alcoholic!) beer. Players are also encouraged to collect empty beer glasses dropped by monsters, which in turn can be exchanged for special stat-enhancing food items.
Sounds like fun to me. MapleStory has added new features frequently over it’s life span, which definitely adds to the gameplay.
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September 11, 2007 – 9:52 am
Here is the second part of our interview with Brent Fox of Wahoo Studios/NinjaBee where he discusses with us some of his plans for the future as well as his preferences in development medium. He also talks about his thoughts on the PSN and VIrtual console, what is coming next and even a possible exclusive title only discussed with us.
Again we thank Brent and the folks at NinjaBee for the interview and the information. We will keep on the lookout for more great titles from this camp.
- Any plans to develop titles for PSN or Wiiware?
We love Xbox Live Arcade but we are also certainly open to other possibilities. We plan on maintaining our position as a driving force in downloadable console games and we will see where that takes us.
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September 10, 2007 – 9:00 am
Are you sick and tired and just reading our reviews on games? No? Thank God. Anyway, you now have an opportunity to have your own reviews posted on Loot Ninja.
Today we’re launching our Reader Review program. If there’s a new game you want to review, just hit up the contact form and let us know. Even if we’ve already reviewed the game or are going to review it, we’d love to get your feedback as well. As long as the review is formatted in Loot Ninja review style, is well written, and provides good information for everyone to see, we’ll publish the review.
If you’ve been dying for 15 minutes of fame, here’s your chance. We’re going to be kicking off the series this week with our first Reader Review, so stay tuned.
