The Worldwide smash hit Gears of War is ready for its second showing on the Xbox 360 with Gears of War 2. Recently a tech demo was released to show what GOW2 would look like, believe me this will blow you away. The game has being developed on the Unreal 3 engine and with GOW 2 the guys at Epic have added many new features to their famed game engine. Do keep in mind that this is a pure technical demo and involves words like Dynamic-Shadow-ambient-lightining and so on. Enjoy the video

No I am not talking about the game Brothers in Arms, I am talking about EA and Microsoft getting big time into in-game advertising:

 

“Microsoft subsidiary Massive Inc extended a previously-inked deal to provide in-game advertising for Electronic Arts titles, the company announced.

EA strongly believes that dynamic in-game advertising is an important growth area for our business,” said EA Casual president Kathy Vrabeck. “We selected Massive because they are the industry leader in this space with a global sales footprint, solid brand recognition and in-depth experience in video game advertising.” Massive currently provides in-game advertisements for the PC and Xbox 360 versions of several titles in EA’s Need for Speed series. As part of the extension, the company plans to add a number of EA Sports franchises to its in-game ad service including Madden NFL, NBA Live, NHL and NASCAR.

For more on the story click here.

 

This just in, Halo 3 getting major update, Halo freaks going beserk:

The second downloadable map pack for Bungie’s Halo 3 will arrive on April 15, publisher Microsoft and the now-independent developer have announced. At that time, the previously released Heroic Map Pack will, according to Microsoft, become a free download.Selling for 800 Microsoft Points ($10), the Legendary Map Pack includes three new multiplayer maps. One will be a retooling of the original Halo map Sidewinder titled Avalanche, with the developer issuing several screenshots of the revamped map.

For more on this news click here.

With the BLu ray winning over HD DVD, Sony and Microsoft are in talks. This is a very interesting time for Sony, as if Microsoft does include a Blu RAy drive, it would make the console the Xbox more expensive, but if they don’t the Xbox user will lose out on HD movie content. Many believe that the Xbox will opt for a external drive for watching movies, although this makes sense, I think it will be an issue at a later stage. Xbox user will have to play games on DVDs, which will soon prove to be limited in terms of space. here is some more news from Gamespot.

Citing an unnamed “senior executive,” the Financial Times said that Sony and Microsoft are not simply discussing a successor to the Xbox 360’s now discontinued, dirt-cheap external HD DVD drive. The newspaper said that there is also the possibility of an internal Blu-ray drive being incorporated into a new, more expensive “premium” 360 model, as it is already in the PlayStation 3. Thusly, Sony would earn royalties from sales of a rival console–a first for the game industry.For its part, Microsoft quickly denied any move toward Blu-ray had been officially made. “We have made no such announcement,” a rep told GameSpot. “Games are what are driving consumers to purchase game consoles, and we remain focused on providing the largest library of blockbuster games available.”if the deal works out Sony will actually make money from Xbox sales, which will be a first in console history.

Microsoft’s crown jewel aka Gears of War will make a comeback this November with Gears of War 2…. click here for the official trailer or watch the youtube version below.

for the uninitiated:



Gears of War is a tactical third-person shooter video game developed by Epic Games and published by Microsoft Game Studios. It was released for the Xbox 360 as an exclusive title on November 7, 2006 in select stores in the United States, and later broadly released in major U.S. retailers on November 12, 2006. The game was released on November 17, 2006 in Europe outside of Germany, where Microsoft Game Studios did not publish the game after it was denied a rating.[3] A Limited Collector’s Edition was also released, which included a disc of bonus content and an art book titled Destroyed Beauty that detailed much of the game’s back-story.

The game centers on the soldiers of Delta Squad as they fight to save the human inhabitants of the fictional planet Sera from a relentless subterranean enemy known as the Locust Horde. The player assumes the role of Marcus Fenix, a former prisoner and war-hardened soldier. When in cooperative play, the second player takes control of Fenix’s best friend and fellow soldier Dominic Santiago (”Dom”).

Gears of War has been highly successful since its release; it sold over three million copies in just ten weeks and was the fastest-selling video game of 2006.[4] A film adaptation is currently in the works, and the game is slated to be the first of a trilogy (according to Wiki).

although this is just a teaser trailer, its still dope enough for GOW addicts like myself. waiting for more news and a few screens may be.

 

I love my Xbox 360, its a great gaming console. the only issues is that I have already lost one to RROD, and that sucks. the RROD has cost Microsoft close to $ 1 billion and will cost them more in the upcoming months. Next Generation blog reports that an Xbox 360 flashed the infamous RROD at the Microsoft kiosk at the GDC, it left all the M$ execs quite embarrassed. 

You can just picture the redness spreading to the faces of Microsoft execs right now as yet another Red Ring of Death Xbox 360 story does the rounds on news sites and blogs across the net. Let’s face it, the RRoD stories aren’t going to go away until the problem does, so potentially never. Even when Microsoft gets round to launching its next system people will still be talking about the problems it’s had with 360 - the RRoD certainly has been a giant thorn in the company’s side and it’s bound to play a role in the 360’s future success, as well as in Microsoft’s future console business plans.   

A very genuine discussion has emerged out of all this, can we trust the next gaming hardware that Microsoft brings to us. what if the Xbox 720 (fake name) had similar issues, that would be so very uncool. well lets leave that discussion to later, for now lets hope we don’t see any RRODs. for more on the story click here.