Epic's Mark Rein announced on their forums that GoW is getting patch with some promising gameplay enhancements. There's a new gametype called Annex and some bug fixes. He promises more details next week. The patch is currently going through certification. From his post on the forums:

The next title update for Gears of War is currently going through the certification process. We'll have more detail about the update next week but I can tell you that in addition to fixing a whole bunch of glitches, and providing 720p for VGA users running at 1280x1024, it will contain a brand new multiplayer gametype called Annex.

Some folks who got to play it a few weeks ago said they think it is our best multiplayer gametype yet but I'll leave it for you fans to decide what you think for yourself when it shows up soon on Xbox Live. More details next week.

The new Hang 'Em High is known as Tombstone

Remember the H2 maps anounced a while back? Well they are being released on April 17 and they are renditions of Derelict and Hang 'em High. $4 will get you both maps. I hope they're cool and work well with the H2 weapons. Now if only I could make a playlist to only play hang 'em with snipers.

Gamespot coverage

Press release:

“Halo 2” Fans Prepare for Battle as Exclusive New Maps Expand the Most Popular Title on Xbox LIVE

Two of the most popular multiplayer maps from the original “Halo: Combat Evolved” will arrive as premium downloadable content for “Halo 2” in April.

REDMOND, Wash. — March 30, 2007 — Microsoft Game Studios and Bungie Studios today confirmed the upcoming release of two new, eagerly awaited downloadable maps for “Halo® 2.” The maps will be available as premium downloadable content for Xbox® and Xbox 360™ on April 17.

Fans of the original “Halo” have long requested the addition of some of their favorite maps to the critically acclaimed multiplayer experience of “Halo 2.” These re-creations, developed by Bungie and Certain Affinity Inc., are a perfect way to thank fans for their support as they surpass 800 million hours of “Halo 2” gaming on Xbox LIVE®.

The two maps will bring new life to ancient battlefields and legendary skirmishes, as both are new, improved and redesigned remakes of fan favorites from the original “Halo: Combat Evolved.” For the price of $4 for the pair, these maps bring a fresh burst of action to the seminal “Halo 2” online multiplayer experience. Both of the maps will be available through the “Halo 2” in-game content downloader for both Xbox and Xbox 360.*

The king of “Halo” maps has returned at last. Hang ’Em High, arguably the most popular multiplayer map for the original title, has been reimagined for “Halo 2” as Tombstone, with all-new graphics, features and a few hidden surprises. Now fans will enjoy the dangerous catwalks and trenches that made this the most requested “Halo” multiplayer map ever, with a modernized “Halo 2” flavor.

The second map, Desolation, is a symmetrical, Deathmatch-oriented map and a beautiful remake of the original Derelict. With new graphics and effects and a massive gameplay overhaul, the old favorite is now faster-paced and more balanced than ever — perfect for intense “Halo 2” combat.

“Halo 2” is the sequel to the highly successful and critically acclaimed “Halo: Combat Evolved” and represents the second chapter in the epic “Halo” trilogy. Since its launch in fall 2004, “Halo 2” has maintained its place as the most popular Xbox LIVE title ever. To date, gamers have logged more than 800 million hours of “Halo” multiplayer action on Xbox LIVE, and they are eagerly awaiting “Halo 3,” slated for release this fall. The “Halo” franchise is among the biggest worldwide entertainment properties in history and continues to change the way people think about interactive entertainment.

The Hushed Casket is hosting a Shadowrun blog and news site at http://shadowrun.hushedcasket.com. The site is full of the latest Shadowrun information with reports as they are released or, well, invited by the writers. Since the site is powered by beta testers, it should have in depth coverage of the game. Thanks to EnragedGnome for helping out.

view Shadowrun - the blog

XBOX.com has the first trailer for GTAIV. XBOX.com also listed the release date at October 16, 2007 on the GTAIV game page. (download .zip archive of trailer from xbox.com)

I have to say that the in-game graphics looks very good, especially for there to be so many moving avatars and characters on screen. I'll give this game a close look once the release da

XBOX.com now has a page for the XBOX 360 Elite. Video of the Elite in action was released last night at on10.net. From the press release at XBOX.com.

MICROSOFT PRESS RELEASE

Redmond, Washington—Microsoft Corp. today announced the upcoming availability of Xbox 360™ Elite, a new model of the video game and entertainment system that includes a 120GB hard drive, a high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) port, a high-definition cable, and a premium black finish for the console, wireless controller, and Xbox Live® headset.

Xbox 360 Elite has enough space for a library of Xbox Live Arcade games and thousands of songs, as well as downloadable high-definition TV shows and movies available on Xbox Live Marketplace. The new 120GB hard drive also will be sold as a stand-alone accessory to give current Xbox 360 owners greater choice and flexibility in their games and entertainment experience.

Additional Xbox 360 Elite accessories, such as the black Xbox 360 Wireless Controller, Xbox 360 Play & Charge Kit, and the Xbox 360 Rechargeable Battery Pack, will be available separately. The Xbox 360 Elite and its accessories are expected to begin arriving in U.S. stores on April 29.

"Today's games and entertainment enthusiast has an insatiable appetite for digital high-definition content," said Peter Moore, corporate vice president for the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft. "Xbox 360 Elite's larger hard drive and premium accessories will allow our community to enjoy all that the next generation of entertainment has to offer."

Distinguished by its black finish and signature metallic detailing, Xbox 360 Elite will have an estimated retail price of $479.99 (U.S.), and comes packed with components and accessories for the ultimate high-definition entertainment experience:

* Xbox 360 Elite console: The console is equipped with a premium black finish and three powerful core processors capable of producing the best in HD entertainment (up to 1080p), 16:9 cinematic aspect ratio, anti-aliasing for smooth textures, full surround sound, HDMI output and DVD playback with upscaling capabilities right out of the box.
* Xbox 360 120GB hard drive: The 120GB detachable hard drive lets you save your games and store television shows, movies, music, pictures, trailers, levels, demos, and other content available from Xbox LIVE Marketplace. The hard drive is sold separately for an estimated retail price of $179.99 (U.S.).
* Xbox 360 Wireless Controller (black): This award-winning, high-performance wireless controller, now in black, features the Xbox® Guide Button for quick, in-game access to friends and music. It has a range of up to 30 feet and a battery life of 30 hours on two AA batteries. It is sold separately for an estimated retail price of $49.99 (U.S.).
* Xbox 360 headset (black): Now available in black, the headset lets you strategize or trade taunts while playing games and send voice messages to friends on Xbox Live.
* Xbox 360 HDMI cable: New to Xbox 360, HDMI allows you to get HD video (up to 1080p) and multichannel surround sound, all from one cable.
* Xbox Live Silver Membership: With this, you can chat with friends online, collect achievements and gamerscores, send and receive voice and text messages, and access Xbox Live Marketplace content such as gme demos, HD movies and TV, as well as the best in downloadable games from Xbox Live Arcade.
* One-month subscription to Xbox Live Gold: An Xbox Live Gold Membership provides a complete online entertainment experience. Subscribe to this premium service and engage in competitive online multiplayer matches, tailor your matchmaking via feedback and accomplishments, chat with more than one person at a time, and take advantage of unique privileges in the Xbox Live Marketplace and Xbox Live Arcade.

The following accessories for the Xbox 360 Elite console will only be sold separately:

* Xbox 360 Play & Charge Kit: Complete with a charging cable and a black rechargeable battery pack, the Xbox 360 Play & Charge kit lets you recharge your Xbox 360 Wireless Controller without interrupting your game.it is sold separately for an estimated retail price of $19.99 (U.S.).
* Xbox 360 rechargeable battery pack (black): The rechargeable battery pack provides more than 25 hours of gameplay per charge. It is sold separately for an estimated retail price of $11.99 (U.S.).

Microsoft will make two major announcements tonight (Tuesday) and Wednesday night at 11PM CST. These announcements are supposed to be the biggest announcements since CES. The announcements will be in the form of video at on10.net a Microsoft nerdie hangout.

The announcements may or may not be related to gaming or the XBOX platform. However, XBOX Live was down for maintenance today. Was the maintenance related to one or both of these announcements?

Is the HALO 3 beta related to the XBOX Live maintenance and/or these announcements?

For the record, I think we'll be getting HALO 3 beta news on April 1 which is when Bungie does something with their "Pimps at Sea" title. "Pimps at Sea alpha" is the code name for the HALO 3 alpha build on XBOX Live.

Details from on10:

"Two of the coolest Microsoft annoucements since CES are going to be breaking tonight and tomorrow night, and we have exclusive video for both of them. So if you are online at 9:00PM PST tonight (midnight on the east coast) check in to get a full scoop on what your friends will be talking about tomorrow.

And the same goes for tomorrow night, stop by at 9PM PST to see the first official look at a very cool announcement. Feel free to leave your best guesses in the comments, but fair warning; we've hidden Tina's keyboard so she can't spill any secrets. ;)"

Bungie.net has finally gotten a much needed makeover. No longer does the site tax your browser with javascripts and slow loading animations and graphics. The new site looks hot! Give it a look at bungie.net or check the attachment below.

The next XBOX 360 is due out in April will be called "Elite". It will be all black (including accessories) have a 120GB hard drive, and an HDMI video output. It won't have an HD-DVD drive. It should cost about $480. The black version will be a limited edition. The Elite will be found in the white color scheme after the limited edition is sold out.

XBOX360fanboy.com has details.

Update: cool beta vid - http://useruploads.mythica.org/view/Shadowrun.wmv

As reported by rapture here the Shadowrun Non Disclosure Agreement has been lifted allowing the beta testers to fully talk about the game without worrying about getting a lawsuit slapped on them. This comes soon after a not so smart beta tester decided to break the NDA and post a video of himself playing the game on youtube. The genius also forgot to blur out his gamertag. As I currently understand, videos are still under NDA, but people can now talk about the game without restrictions.

So, the final packaging for Halo 3 has been officially announced. Here's what Louis Wu says about it:

Official Halo 3 Packaging Announcement
TeamXbox has the official Microsoft press release for Halo 3's commercial packaging - and some pretty big changes can be found in it. There are still three editions - Standard, Limited, Legendary - but price and contents for the Legendary and Limited Editions are quite different from the older information we got at the end of last year. (The Standard edition is the same - ERP of $59.99, box contains only the game.) The Limited Edition is still $69.99 ERP, comes in a metal box, and contains the game, along with the Making Of Halo 3 DVD that was promised earlier - but now it also contains a book:

Here's a look at some really lame achievements from destructoid.com

Whether you like to collect them (or buy them), Xbox 360 achievements have been the new e-peen for everyone to flash. It's almost like you aren't a real man unless you have an uber achievement score. Well, as most of you who own a 360 already know, some achievements are cooler than others. Some make you feel really special, while others seem to just happen as you do the most mundane things. Our pals over at G4 scrapped together a top 17 of really lame achievements that have since been a part of our gaming life. Take a look and see if you have anything to add to the list.

HALO 2 for Windows Vista will be launched on May 8th. This is according to tons of new reports that were released early this morning. The Games for Windows - Live service will also be launched at that time in the US.

Kotaku
Shacknews
1up
Planet XBOX 360
Team XBOX
Gamespot
USA Today

I've begun building my new gaming system. I've decided to hold out for the new ATi DX10 cards that were supposed to be out this month. While DX10 isn't required for HALO 2 for Vista, I want one of those cards any way. The released date of those cards is expected to be sometime in April. Those cards were supposed to be released before Vista. Here's hoping for an April release of the R600 cards and that they don't get pushed back any further.

Check out this fan made Halo AR Replica reported on HBO. Here's, Link4044's website with some more pictures. I've always wondered how this thing was to be held because of the strange stock on it. Not sure if I'd want to have to fight with something this weird in real life though. It seems there's nowhere to brace the gun against your shoulder. It's as if it's almost a 'fire from the hip' type of weapon. Cool none the less.

This past week at GDC, Cliffy B hinted at a sequel to GoW. They've always dodged questions about more GoW's in the past.

What's interesting is some of the things that didn't make it into GoW. Read below from this article at Gamespot.

SAN FRANCISCO--It was a big week for Cliff "Cliffy B" Bleszinski. The Epic Games designer took the stage several times on Wednesday night at the Game Developers Choice Awards, where his game Gears of War won four trophies, including Game of the Year. Given his reputation for letting les bon temps roulez, many wondered if Bleszinski's post-ceremony celebrations might put a damper on his 9 a.m. presentation the following morning.

Having missed out on the original GRAW and looking for some gaming excitement to hold me over until some of the new summer releases, I bought GRAW 2 from BestBuy last night. FYI, I had them pricematch Circuit City's online price, so I got it for $49.99.

Gamespot gave it 8.7. You can read the full review here.

Overall, I like it a lot. One of the first things I noticed is that it comes pretty close to matching Gears of War's graphics. The lighting, textures, and ploygons are very, very impressive--definitely the most realistic I've ever seen.

I justed South Park in HD for the first time. The episode is a free 1GB download from the Live Video Marketplace. The episode is titled "Good Time with Weapons" and is hilarious. It originally aired in 2004. See what happens to the kids when they buy ninja weapons from the county fair.

Let's fighting love.

Still looks like a toy to me...

Source = http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/771/771007p1.html

Halo 3 Legendary Edition Revealed
Master Chief's helmet aims to please later this year.
by Rob Burman, IGN UK

UK, March 7, 2007 - Microsoft has finally unveiled some images, demonstrating exactly what the $100 Legendary Edition of Halo 3 will look like on release - and it's rather impressive. Although it would have to be for $100, really.

This four-disc special-edition of Halo 3 comes complete with a replica MJOLNIR Mark VI helmet. At first we thought it would be life-size and that we'd be able to wear it round the house, but then we realised it was only 10" and, as such, probably wouldn't even fit a baby. Very disappointing.

Gamespot is reporting that when you buy Live, you are buying the service for XBOX and Games for Windows. In other words, it won't cause PC gamers any extra money to play Live enabled games on their PC _if_ they are already subscribed to XBOX Live. They WILL have to pay out money to become a member if they don't have an XBOX Live Gold account. Just like with the Xbox 360 there will be a free Silver package as well as a Gold package which retails for $49.99 for a year subscription, $7.99 for one month, and $19.99 for three months. From the article:

Just when our 20GB hard drives are near full of game demos, HD movies and TV shows, music, and gamesaves, Microsoft goes out an makes a 512MB memory unit for the XBOX 360. It costs $50, comes with Geometry Wars pre-loaded, and will plug into one of the memory unit slots on the front of the XBOX 360.

What's the selling point for this 512MB device? Who would buy it?

Is this geared for Core system users that think $100 for a 20GB hard drive is too much money?

Where are our mass storage devices for the XBOX360? How big is that free HD episode of SouthPark going to be? How many demos am I going to have to delete just to have room for this 30-minute episode?

And why can't Microsoft allow us to use network storage devices with our XBOX 360. We can already do it for sharing music, movies, and pictures from our PCs to our XBOX 360s. Why can't we do it with gamesaves and demos?

Gears of War has sold 4 million copies making it the most sold XBOX title behind HALO 1 and 2. GoW is the best selling game for the XBOX 360. I can't help but think that this game would have sold even more copies had it shipped with objective-based gametypes and had a few glitches fixed.

If you're looking for info on Crackdown, the MS-Xbox World forums has it. You can view maps of every race location, stunt location, and hidden orb location. Furthermore, you can find the map of hidden orbs with screenshots of every orb here. FoulBreed and I have been tagteaming the hidden orbs and it's a beast with only a 2D map. The screenshots should help tremendously with the more difficult orbs.

Another in Bungie's continuing and in-depth looks at the weapons of Halo 3. This time they expose a dual wieldable weapon, designed exclusively for Halo 3. The Brute Spiker. A nasty, vicious, shredding horror used primarily by Brutes. Learn to love it now.