EA confirmed today that NBA LIVE 08 will be the third game in the EA lineup feature Online team play. This is pretty innovative as the entire team can be controlled by human user son both sides of the ball, making a 5 on 5 basketball match a real 5 on 5, instead of just two people using two teams. This actually increases the level of realism and could be a lot of fun online to play with 4 buddies against an entire team of user controlled opponents.

Online team play makes me want to grab this game and give it a try. Expect an NBA LIVE 08 demo in some time in late November.
Hit the jump for more…

With the much anticipated launch of Crysis around the corner, November 16th, a lot of gamers have been wondering what kind of a super computer they will need in order to get in some Crytek fun. Crytek and the folks at EA aren’t just looking at whats available now, but also what they might be able to do in the future as well a couple of years from now.

Here are the minimum and recommended system requirements from Crytek and EA:

Minimum System Requirements:

OS – Windows XP or Windows Vista
Processor – 2.8 GHz or faster (XP) or 3.2 GHz or faster* (Vista)
Memory – 1.0 GB RAM (XP) or 1.5 GB RAM (Vista)
Video Card –256 MB**
Hard Drive – 12GB
Sound Card – DirectX 9.0c compatible

* Supported Processors: Intel Pentium 4 2.8 GHz (3.2 GHz for Vista) or faster, Intel Core 2.0 GHz (2.2 GHz for Vista) or faster, AMD Athlon 2800+ (3200+ for Vista) or faster.

** Supported chipsets: NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT or greater; ATI Radeon 9800 Pro (Radeon X800 Pro for Vista) or greater. Laptop versions of these chipsets may work but are not supported. Integrated chipsets are not supported. Updates to your video and sound card drivers may be required.
Hit the jump for more…

Activision sent over a press release letting us know that Spider-Man 3 for the PSP is now available.

In Spider-Man 3 for the PSP system, players must draw upon Spider-Man’s unique combat and powerful, upgradeable moves to protect the citizens of Manhattan by defeating arch-rivals from the blockbuster film as well as classic Marvel villains during missions and epic boss battles. In the PSP system exclusive Conquest Mode, missions must be completed by dawn, and if successful, players will be rewarded generously with Hero Points, which allow them to upgrade and customize their Spider-Man skills.

I was disappointed with Spider-Man 3 on the PS3, after really loving the first two movie-based games. Hopefully the camera has been re-worked for the PSP, which was the biggest issue with the console title.

Hit the jump for more…

Microsoft today released word that the Halo 3 franchise has topped off $300 million in sales since launch. MS have dubbed it the “fastest-selling video game ever and already one of the most successful entertainment properties in history.” This is hard to argue with as the boys at Bungie and MS really marketed it well and made sure everyone got a taste of the hype train. Kudos boys.

There is one part of the press release I don’t agree with, where MS states “Xbox 360 has the greatest lineup in the history of video games and is the only console where consumers can play all the year’s biggest blockbusters.” I think this is far too over zealous to state, the lineup is looking good, but the best in history, wow that is a tough call.

There have been some great lineups in the days of the NES, Xbox, PS1 and 2, which paved the way for what we have today in video games. MS has definitely the bankroll to show for their current success, which is also attributed to the fact that video gaming in the years of old was more of a underground cult, where gamers were a minority. Today video games have become a huge industry and I doubt we will diminish in size as all those kids that played the old consoles are now grown up and spending their hard earned money on games. I think their best in “history” is a bit over the top and minimalizes what the other older consoles have done to get games to this point.

It is impressive that about one third of all Xbox 360 owners have gotten a copy of Halo 3, I actually figured this statistic to be higher and will probably reach a lot more people during the holidays.

From the press releasse:

REDMOND, Wash. — Oct. 4, 2007 — Interactive entertainment will never be the same, with the launch of one title that has changed the way the world thinks about video games. “Halo® 3” has captured the attention of consumers worldwide and has made history as one of the biggest entertainment launches of all time.
Hit the jump for more…

As someone who has played quite a bit of Halo, mostly Halo 2 multiplayer on the original Xbox I was interested in Halo 3. Not like some other gamers out there that flocked to retailers at midnight to get the first glimpses of the game, but still interested. I found it interesting that some retailers were pushing for consumers to pre-order Halo 3 and actually told people that they couldn’t sell the game opening day without pre-orders, this is ridiculous. I went in the day of the launch into a Best Buy and saw literally hundreds of copies sitting on the shelves and heard reports of more the same throughout the US.

I actually know people that got screwed because of pre-orders, they went in and the retailers system was having problems so they couldn’t get the game on launch day! That is insane, you make me pre-order because if not you won’t sell me a copy of a game you have tons of, so I do and then your computer screws me.

Anyone else run into these problems?

Well everyone foretold of the coming of Halo 3 and we all saw the fierce campaigns and marketing strategies, looks like they paid off big. Halo 3 is now the big daddy of entertainment, kudos to MS and Bungie, they have de-throwned Spider Man and Harry Potter.

Halo 3 pulled in a record $170 million in 24 hours, now that is one impressive statistic and shows the reach that video games and gamers have now a days. Yesterday when I was on Halo3 there was an impressive 600,000 people playing at the same time and this does not count those people playing offline, just think that all those people made up only $36 million of that reported $170, so there are a lot of peripherals, consoles, controllers, etc. flying off the shelves.

From the press release:

Microsoft today announced that the Xbox 360 exclusive game “Halo 3” has officially become the biggest entertainment launch in history, garnering an estimated $170 million in sales in the United States alone in the first 24 hours. The Xbox 360 title beat previous records set by blockbuster theatrical releases like “Spider-man 3” and novels such as “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.”
Hit the jump for more…

Today was the Launch Event for Guitar Hero III, held at Spotlight Live Night Club in New York City.

On hand were Kai Huang, president of Red Octane, as well as Jason Young, CEO of Ziff Davis. Young started off the event talking about how Digital Life had grown over the last few years, and spoke about how the first Guitar Hero had debuted at Digital Life four years ago. He then brought up an official from NYC to present Huang with a proclamation from the city declaring today Guitar Hero Day.
Hit the jump for more…

If you’ve had any trouble over the past 36 hours connecting to Xbox Live or the My Xbox section of xbox.com, you can freely blame the Master Chief. Players have been utterly hammering the servers playing Halo 3, and has caused some downtime and hiccups.

Major Nelson reminds up to check out the Xbox Live status on the official website (here) to see what’s going down. Everything should be back to normal now, as most people have Halo 3 already.

I guess that downtime earlier this month didn’t include beefing up the servers for the Halo 3 launch.

So of course with all the Halo 3 related news the good old big apple would not be outdone so they had a huge event at Best Buy for the Midnight Launch of Halo 3, complete with guys dressed up as marines riding around on quad bikes. The crowd was ridiculous as they awaited the arrival of Halo 3 as if the New Year were being rung in. There was even a pretty convincing looking Master Chief walking around, I wonder how much that would cost for Halloween? All and all a huge success in NYC.

Hit the jump for some more pics.
Hit the jump for more…

With Halo 3 coming out this week, what are your launch plans to get a copy of the game? I got a call today from my local Gamestop letting me know they’ll be open Tuesday at midnight for the launch of the game. They indicated you needed to be there by 9pm to make sure everything is paid in full so everyone can get the game promptly at midnight.

I haven’t decided if I’m going then, but most likely I won’t. Sure, Halo is going to be THE killer app this year, but I’m honestly just not that excited. The multiplayer will be amazing, and we’ll get to see the end of story of Master Chief. Halo just has never really drawn me in like some other games. I’ll probably pick the game up sometime Tuesday and not touch it until Wednesday.

So what are your plans? Are you camping out and waiting for the release of Halo 3? Are you donning your most fitting Halo outfit? What are odds we see someone dressed as a Brute, with mask and everything? I’m betting fairly high.