This is it. Cue The Doors record, because next Thursday, April 15th, Microsoft will be turning out the lights on the servers that run original Xbox games on Xbox Live, which means that this weekend will be the last non-workdays you've got to play Star Wars: Battlefront 2, Crimson Skies, or Halo 2 online. If it's any consolation, remember that the reason for the shutdown is that older hardware on the service is keeping Microsoft from being able to update things like the friends list limit, so in this case, change should bring some welcome progress.
But as for us, we'll be vegging out all day on Sunday playing Conker: Live and Reloaded. We just called Aunt Emma to tell her this weekend's visit will have to wait -- something more important has come up.
#original
Jesus H. Christ we had a lot of original copy this past week - fueled by our examination of religion in games and the latest break in the breakup of Infinity Ward's founders and their former Activision masters. More »
#officialkotakuforum
You could venture over to a certain social bookmarking site and ask "Am I the only one ..." or "Who else ..." and get downmods into oblivion. Or you could get answers here, in Kotaku's Official Open Thread. More »
With Splinter Cell: Conviction set to hit shelves on Tuesday, you might be tempted to do your best Sam Fisher impression and sneak into your favorite retailer early. Before you get arrested for B&E, we suggest you direct your attention to GameStop, where you can just walk right in at midnight on Monday, April 12 (which, yes, is technically 12:00am Tuesday). That's right, GameStop locations across the US will be hosting midnight launch events for the game, saving you the hassle of legal proceedings and a potential prison sentence.
You can find out if your local GameStop is participating by visiting this page. If you plan on going, you might as well pre-order and bag yourself a virtual shotgun while you're at it. And, seriously, stop breaking into places. It's not cool.
#tellusdammit
It's been a while — hope you haven't forgotten about me! But yes, let's talk. You, me and this giraffe. Giraffes are chatty. Didn't you know that? More »
Dave Morris and Jamie Thomson, prolific co-writers of a number of RPG gamebooks, recently spoke to Bit-Tech about one of their most ambitious and, ultimately, unsuccessful projects: An MMORPG commissioned by Eidos in the late 90s. Despite being bankrolled by the ocean of Tomb Raider money the publisher was floating in at the time, the MMO, which was to be based on the pair's Fabled Lands series, never got off the ground.
The game's downfall was the result of the team's overambitious goals and the studio's directionless development process. The project began to lose money, and as Eidos' success began to falter, the MMO was canned. The duo haven't given up on the Fabled Lands franchise, however -- virtual versions of the gamebooks will hit the iPhone sometime this summer. For an interesting read on how wacky game developers were in the late 90s, check out Bit-Tech's feature on Eidos' doomed foray into online gaming.
A portion of a WorthPlaying review…
For a cookbook application, America’s Test Kitchen: Let’s Get Cooking is quite good. The voice controls can get a little spotty but everything else, from the audio directions to the presentation to the amount of recipes included, is great. With the emphasis on American dishes, this is more of a [...]
Who knows where ex-University of Florida QB Tim Tebow will end up in the upcoming NFL draft, but one thing's for certain: he's landed himself on the cover of NCAA Football 11. The celebrated quarterback ends his collegiate career with one last highlight before going pro -- an honor bestowed on just 18 others in the history of the series.
Tebow is known for his decorated college football career, having won the Heisman Trophy is 2007 as a sophomore (the first to do so) and the Davey O'Brien award in the same year for being "the nation's best quarterback." But did you know that he was born in the Philippines? Bet you didn't know that! How about the fact that he spent his final three summers as a high school student in his country of birth helping his father with missionary work? Also true! And now, well now he's on the cover of NCAA Football 11.
Considering they’re both ports of older titles, I’d say that these games are holding up pretty well. Both are a great value, and they’re just plain fun. You can’ beat old-school arcade light-gun fun!
#splintercell
The Splinter Cell collector's edition has just been reduced in price, from $80 to $70. It's hardly an act of charity, though; you can instead thank some dodgy USB drives for the savings. More »
In a Nintendo Life interview, producer Jason Olson clears up something regarding the title of the sequel to last year's The Conduit: it's less definite now. "It's Conduit 2. The 'THE' got a bit clunky - too much of a mouthful - and we always referred to it as Conduit 2 internally. It flows better and just kinda stuck." Of course: now that there are two of them, each is just aConduit.
Olson also offered some details about the revamped multiplayer. Perks will now be available, which will allow players to customize their characters significantly. "If I wanted to be a medic, for example, I'd probably pick Reverse Damage (Shooting allies heals them), Field Medicine (Doubles revive times), and Robot Legs (Unlimited sprint) among my perks. If I wanted to be a tank, I'd pick Heavy Armor (Damage reduction at a cost to movement speed), Ammo Belt (Two extra magazines), and Improved Bullet Damage." And you'll be able to set up two sets of abilities, so you can switch quickly.
#tellusdammit
It's been a while — hope you haven't forgotten about me! But yes, let's talk. You, me and this giraffe. Giraffes are chatty. Didn't you know that? More »
#modernwarfare
The legal stoush between publishers Activision and former Infinity Ward bosses Jason West and Vince Zampella isn't just giving us all some entertaining reading. It's also holding up development of Modern Warfare 3. More »
#konami
Given Castlevania: Lords of Shadow star Gabriel Belmont's situation in the screen shot above, we'd offer the advice "Don't look down." But if you want to see how the new PlayStation 3/Xbox 360 game is shaping up, do just that. More »
#konami
Konami rebirths another of its 8-bit classics—admittedly, we may be a little fast and loose with that accolade—revealing an update to its 1985 side-scrolling stab-a-thon Rush'n Attack, currently in the works for PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade. More »
click to revenge-size
Did you order the collector's edition of Splinter Cell: Conviction yet? A Ubisoft representative informed us late tonight that the official price of the CE will be dropping $10, from $79.99 to $69.99. The reasoning behind the price drop is the possibility of faulty USB drives, included with the package. The publisher recently noticed that some of the USB drives didn't work, and is offering a compensatory price drop before the game's official release on April 13th.
None of the other content included in the CE has been affected, such as the comic book, art book, and bonus DLC. However, the bonus content included on the USB drive may be inaccessible in some copies. The bonuses, which include art and a behind the scenes video, will be distributed in a new manner, to be announced on the Ubisoft site after the game's launch. The Ubisoft representative wanted to emphasize that the game is not affected in any way. Good thing, too -- we don't think we could handle yet another delay.
Considering most retailers do not require full payment of pre-orders, the new price should go into effect when you pick up your copy. Make sure you contact your retailer before the game's launch if your final price doesn't reflect this $10 discount.
#konami
Konami rebirths another of its 8-bit classics—admittedly, we may be a little fast and loose with that accolade—revealing an update to its 1985 side-scrolling stab-a-thon Rush'n Attack, currently in the works for PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade. More »
#oddities
About two years ago, a guy posted a how-to for turning old NES cartridges into a harmonica. If you lack the tools, know-how, or NES carts to make one yourself, someone's now selling them, for $24.99. More »
#consoletaisen
As it has done for the past few weeks, the PlayStation family of products take first and second in the battle for Japanese gamers hearts, minds and dollars, with the PlayStation 3 taking the lead this week. More »
We can't be gaming all the time, despite our best efforts, and from time to time we'll actually take advantage of the movie-playing abilities on our gaming systems. JBO features our top picks for XBL, PSN, Netflix's Watch Instantly and Blu-ray each week.
Recommendation of the Week: The Killer (Blu-ray: $29.99 MSRP, much lower at most retailers)
This week's recommendation is a bit tongue in cheek, mostly because the video quality isn't the sharpest in the world. Granted, the source material is 21 years old, but I've seen what they can do with movies like The African Queen and The Wizard of Oz on Blu-ray, so why not one of director John Woo's and actor Chow Yun Fat's best films, The Killer? Still, all of that complaining aside, the film does look better than I've ever seen it look on home video format, and it runs circles around the murky theatrical print I saw back when I was in college. While probably not a disc you'll slap in to show off how much Blu-ray rocks, it still looks fantastic, and it's got a completely new interview on the disc with Woo (where's Yun-Fat, though?) that is well worth it. There's also a Q&A session where he talks about The Killer and Hard Boiled. This is being produced by Dragon Dynasty, a joint company venture from the Weinstein brothers and Genius Products, and I'm hoping things improve a bit in the transfer department. Let's get Chow Yun-Fat's God of Gamblers, A Better Tomorrow trilogy, City on Fire, and Treasure Hunt on Blu-ray, stat.
Read on after the break for the rest of our recommendations, then chime in below!
#callofdutylegalwarfare
We know court documents aren't generally very entertaining, but the Activision Cross-Complaint against Infinity Ward's West and Zampella is so three-thousand and eight, while others are two-thousand and late. More »
#konami
There's a new Silent Hill game in the works at a new developer and it's coming to the Xbox 360, PlayStation and PC. Beyond that details on the next entry in Konami's psychological horror series are hazy. Wait, foggy. More »
#psp
Whoops. File this one under things I should have followed. When EA Sports said Tim Tebow was its coverboy across all versions of NCAA 11, I assumed that included the PSP. It doesn't. Because there will be no PSP version. More »
