September, 2008

(Skorge)

Gears of War 2 will be released on November 7th. Here is round up of what to expect:

* graphical upgrades (Wikipedia)
* physics engine improvements (Kotaku video)
* play as a Skorge in multiplayer (dual chainsaw not usable)
* 10 players in multiplayer
* at least 3 multiplayer modes: "Guardian" is essentially a modified version of "Assassination" from the original Gears of War, but allows players to continue fighting after the leader has been killed, but losing the ability to respawn. "Wingman" splits all ten players into five teams of two, where both members of a team play as the same character. "Submission," formerly known as "Meat Flag," is a version of capture the flag in which players attempt to "down" an enemy controlled by the game's AI and move its body to their team's base to earn points.
* bots will be available in multiplayer
* A new co-op game mode was confirmed during Microsoft's E3 2008 press conference; called "Horde," this mode allows up to five players to fight off waves of attacking Locust together. Horde Mode will not feature bot support as in competitive multiplayer, and can be played alone. The Locust attack in waves of multiple enemies which become more difficult as players progress.
* the new Battle Cam allows players to pan around a map as the camera focuses on areas of intense fighting, and the Ghost Cam allows a player to roam freely around a map. A photo mode will also be featured, with each photo taken by a player rated on the amount of action in the shot.
* no plans to bring GoW2 to the PC
* to get an achievement which requires 500 kills with a weapon or 500 headshots, only the first kill or headshot made by a player in a given multplayer match will count towards the achievement.
* new characters introduced in campaign mode
* players will be able to fight the large Brumaks
* dueling chainsaw battles
* us downed enemies as shields
* players who have been injured can crawl as a final desperate attempt at life
* the level of blood and gore will also be increased, for example, when the player is close to death, wherever he moves there will be trails of blood behind him
* more "fatality" moves added
* In Co-op Players can play on different difficulties in the same game
* some of the Xbox Live achievements can be completed through both play in single player and multiplayer mode
* bigger and badder enemies than the Brumak are planned
* you'll be able to ride and pilot a Brumak
* the collection of COG tags has been expanded to include the collection of story-based items such as personal letters and medical records, and a "war journal" will track which collectibles have been found and where missing ones can be located.
* all grenades can now be used as mines by placing them on walls or floors, and will detonate when approached by enemies
* players can now be knocked over by the concussive force of a nearby detonating grenade
* Amazon will deliver this game to your door the day of release (pre-order the game here)

What do you think of these changes and features? What are you expectations for this game?

UPDATE: More developing news about this game can be found here: http://hushedcasket.com/node/3021

Bungie has released a trailer for their next project while not revealing much of any details about their work. The game is obviously based on Halo and is set in New Mombasa. From my interpretation, this looks like a campaign prequel for Halo 3.

Recall that we reported about the "Halo Blue" title that leaked from Wal-mart documents. "Halo Blue" is supposed to be an M-rated shooter that is released on September 30th.

What do you think is going on here?

In case anyone is interested...

XBL has a sale going on downloadable content for six titles including Mass Effect and Oblivion. Bring Down the Sky, Mass Effect's episodic campaign add-on and Oblivion's, IMO, overpriced Shivering Isles expansion are both discounted. Through October, Bring Down the Sky is 100gp off bringing the total to 300gp, a 25% discount. Shivering Isles is 800gp off bringing it's total to 1600, a savings of 33%.

GTH3 is also seeing some price cuts on a few of it's downloadable track packs. The complete list of sale prices is listed at IGN.

Screenshots of Halo 3 Mythic were leaked out of the Penny Arcade Expo this week. The screenshots (see the bottom of this post) show a version of Halo 3 that hints at a new campaign and multiplayer achievements coming to Halo 3. 750 additional achievement points can be attained.

Achievements:

1. Heretic Skull 25pt
2. Citadel Skull 25pt
3. Assembly Skull 25pt
4. Sandbox Skull 25pt
5. Orbital Skull 25pt
6. Longshore Skull 25pt
7. Tank Dropper 25pt
8. Zombie Repeller 25pt
9. Delicious Brains 25pt
10. Save This Film 25pt
11. Have Fun Respawning 25pt
12. Killtacular 25pt
13. Awww, Too Bad 25pt
14. ... Get the Horns 25pt
15. Post Mortem 25pt
16. Ghost Patrol 25pt
17. Blades of Fury 25pt
18. Pull 25pt
19. Hammer Time 25pt
20. Look Both Ways 50pt
21. Road Rage 25pt
22. Flag Dropped 25pt
23. Defend This 50pt
24. Came... From... Behind... 50pt
25. Alas, Poor Yorick 25pt
26. Double Double 25pt
27. Vidmaster Challenge: Brainpan 25pt
28. Vidmaster Challenge: 7 on 7 0pt
29. Vidmaster Challenge: Lightswitch 0pt
30. Vidmaster Challenge: Annual 0pt

What can we speculate?

Perhaps "Halo Blue" which was mentioned in Walmart documents in July is Halo Mythic. Halo Mythic will be a new map pack featuring new multiplayer maps as well as bundled maps from the previous Heroic and Legendary map packs.

With the Mythic disc will come updates to the Halo 3 campaign and the introduction of new skulls (THX was the first to provide you with a skull guide). It is speculated that additional Halo 3 campaign missions will be included in the update. Some of these missions may even take place before the Halo 3 timeline.

The Mythic bonus content is thought to be released exactly 1 year after the release of Halo 3 meaning the Mythic DLC and disc will be available on September 25th, 2008. The release will be here just in time to give Bungie DLC purchasing momentum before the busy XBOX 360 holiday season and release of Gears of War 2 and Call of Duty 4 DLC.

It is possible that the Mythic disc will contain the 2008 Fall Dashboard update for the XBOX 360 console so that users without live will be able to update their console with the latest updates to the XBOX 360 system, including the new user interface.

Leaked screenshots:

Best Buy has an offer"while supplies last" that will get you 11 free DLC tracks for Guitar Hero III when you pre-order Metallica's new album, Death Magnetic. Presumably, the DLC tracks are from Death Magnetic.

Some good news you might not have expected: The basic version of the album is only $9.99 with free shipping. My entire order was $10.55 with tax. I am essentially gambling $10 that the album will be at least mediocre and that I'd like to play a few of the tracks on GH III. I've made worse bets before.