Xbox360 Games For Sale Too!!!!!: Please refer here for the updated Xbox360 gamelist

It's Guitar Hero meets Brutal Legends.

Activision has on June 4th announced that the latest installment of the best-selling rhythm game series, Guitar Hero, 'Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock', will be released on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii this September, courtesy of Neversoft, for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, while Vicarious Visions handled the Wii version.

And the topic on every gaming journalists would be the new "Quest Mode" that will be introduced in Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock. Narrated by none other than the legendary Gene Simmons from KISS, the Quest Mode is in fact a career mode for the players to complete the songs and challenges with a storyline to boot. The players get to transform from average joes to 'Warriors of Rock' as they got themselves recruited by the 'Demi-God of rock' in a quest to take down 'The Beast'. Brutal Legends anybody?

Meanwhile, as if the game needs any more star power than it already has, Dave Mustaine of Megadeth has written and recorded an exclusive new track for the game by the name of 'Sudden Death'. Black Sabbath, Queen, Def Leppard, The Rolling Stones, and ZZ Top, amongst others, will also contribute new materials in live or recorded forms.

While the latest entry to the Guitar Hero series will continue to be backward compatible with older guitars, Activision will be releasing a a guitar controller that has been significantly redesigned to relocate most of the base electronics and wireless controls into the main fretboard of the unit, containing the colored fret buttons, strum and whammy bar, and other controls for interacting with the game console. Do check out Gizmodo's coverage on the new guitar for more information.

Boasting the biggest on-disc track listing of any rhythm game, the title will eventually have a stellar list of more than 90 tracks, while players can also download some 500 songs from the Guitar Hero Music Library.

Here's a sneak preview of the first 35 tracks revealed for Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock:

• AFI – "Dancing Through Sunday"
• Anthrax – "Indians"
• Avenged Sevenfold – "Bat Country"
• Black Sabbath – "Children Of The Grave"
• Buzzcocks – "What Do I Get?"
• Children Of Bodom – "If You Want Peace... Prepare For War"
• The Cure – "Fascination Street"
• Def Leppard – "Pour Some Sugar On Me (Live)"
• Dethklok – "Bloodlines"
• Dire Straits – "Money For Nothing"
• DragonForce – "Fury of the Storm"
• Drowning Pool – "Bodies"
• Fall Out Boy – "Dance, Dance"
• Foo Fighters – "No Way Back"
• Foreigner – "Feels Like The First Time"
• The Hives – "Tick Tick Boom"
• Jane's Addiction – "Been Caught Stealing"
• Jethro Tull – "Aqualung"
• KISS – "Love Gun"
• Linkin Park – "Bleed It Out"
• Megadeth – "Sudden Death"
• Metallica & Ozzy Osbourne – "Paranoid (Live)"
• Muse – "Uprising"
• My Chemical Romance – "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)"
• Night Ranger – " (You Can Still) Rock In America"
• Nine Inch Nails – "Wish"
• The Offspring – "Self Esteem"
• Queen – "Bohemian Rhapsody"
• Rammstein – "Waidmanns Heil"
• The Rolling Stones – "Stray Cat Blues"
• Silversun Pickups – "There's No Secrets This Year"
• Slayer – "Chemical Warfare"
• Slipknot – "Psychosocial"
• Stone Temple Pilots – "Interstate Love Song"
• ZZ Top – "Sharp Dressed Man (Live)"


Check out the official trailer too.

Gamers interested in getting the Collector's Edition of Splinter Cell: Conviction, might just get a chance with fate.

With Xbox 360 exclusive, Splinter Cell: Conviction released in North America shipping in next week, many fans have pre-ordered the Collector's Edition which included many exclusive goodies, listed as follows, complete with the official promos:

CUSTOM USB DRIVE - This credit card–sized 3rd Echelon USB drive can stealthily fit in your wallet, is compatible with Xbox 360, and is loaded to the max with exclusive content you won't find anywhere else, including:
• Full-length 'Making of Splinter Cell Conviction' video
• Wallpaper
• Concept art
• Renders
• Screenshots
• Storyboards
• And more…

"FIFTH FREEDOM: THE ART OF SPLINTER CELL" BOOK
• Relive the best of Splinter Cell from past to present. This comprehensive hard-bound art book by Prima(TM) includes detailed art from the original Splinter Cell, Pandora Tomorrow, Chaos Theory, Double Agent, and Conviction, as well as in-depth commentary and notes from the developers.

TWO EXCLUSIVE IN-GAME CONTENT ITEMS
• Gain first access to the MP5-SD3, a lethal close-quarters submachine gun with an integrated suppressor.
• Customize your multiplayer character with an exclusive 3rd Echelon outfit.

COLLECTIBLE DECALS - Available only in the Collector's Edition are two unique Xbox 360 decal stickers.
• 3rd Echelon Logo Decal
• Iconic Bullet Hole Decal

"DIGGING IN THE ASHES" COMIC BOOK
• Watch the sequence of events preceding Splinter Cell Conviction unfold before your eyes in this one of a kind digital Splinter Cell comic book.

STEELBOOK DVD CASE
• Premium embossed metallic steel case packaging with iconic imagery.



Originally priced at $79.99, the Splinter Cell Conviction Collector's Edition just got cheaper. Published Ubisoft has announced that they will slash $10 from its initially suggested retail price. (The game is also available as a $60 standalone product.)

Before you start harboring any thoughts that Ubisoft is pulling some fan appreciation stunts, there's an absolutely legitimate reason for the "charitable" act: According to Gamespot, Ubisoft representatives have, through a "random sampling" of the custom USB drives included in the Collector's Edition, found many of them "defective". Do note that a representative for the publisher emphasized that not all USB drives included in the package had problems, but declined to say what percentage would not work properly. The rep also declined to say what is exactly wrong with the USB drives, saying, "We do not have that information at this time."

As the game will be released next week, Ubisoft has decided against removing the defective USB drive from the pack. For die-hard fans dying to have their hands on the bonux content promised on the USB drive, fret not. Ubisoft will be releasing details on how to receive the bonus content included on defective USB drives on the game's official Web site on April 15th (Thursday).

Anyway, gamers getting the Collector's Edition will get to play chance with fate to see if they will get a shot at a fully functioning USB drive and therefore, a $10 saving.

"Introduce a little anarchy. Upset the established order, and everything becomes chaos. I'm an agent of chaos. Oh, and you know the thing about chaos? It's fair!"
And chaos sure as hell can make for more than fairly good gameplay.



Just Cause 2
Developed by: Avalanche Studios, Eidos Interactive
Published by: Square Enix
Platforms available on: Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Released Date: March 23, 2010
Genre: Action Adventure, Sandbox
Rating content: ESRB: M / PEGI: 18
Blood, Drug Reference, Language, Sexual Themes, ViolenceBlood, Drug Reference, Language, Sexual Themes, Violence
















"The only thing that can destabilize this island is chaos. And nobody does that better than you." With that we kick off the rip-roaring wild ride tearing up the fictional tropical island of Panau in an unexpectedly ridculous yet fun way that in its sublimely little ways reinvent the sub-genre of Sandbox gaming forever.

Since including "Just Cause 2" in the "Lucky Seven To-Watch-For List" to the Top Thirteen Most Anticipated Games Of 2010, we have featured the well-made "Just Cause 2 - Anatomy Of A Stunt" Trailer series on two occasion, running all seven of the previously released trailers. That said, let's take a look at the latest entry to the brilliant trailer series.



For those wondering if this is one of those instances where the game doesn't live up to the promise of its trailer, we here can jolly assure you that Just Cause 2, plays every bit as good as it looks. Despite few notable annoyance, this is one of the best sandbox games we have ever played.

Its predecessor, Just Cause, was released in 2006 to mediocre reviews despite its attempt at reinventing sandbox gaming. Set on a fictional Caribbean tropical island called "San Esperito", players followed the adventures of black ops agent Rico Rodrigues in a guerrilla war to overthrow the island's dictator, Salvador Mendoza, who is conspicuously suspected of possession of weapons of mass destruction. The name (and premise) was drawn from the real-life event of the invasion of Panama by the United States, code-named "Operation Just Cause", which involved United States military action to overthrow military leader Manuel Noriega. While the gameplay was frankly nothing to write home about, the game is a mixed bag of decent ideas and awkward gameplay (due to some unforgivable technical bugs).

Just Cause 2 picked up the very same setup and firmly thread the same ground, albeit employing the Avalanche Engine 2.0, an updated version of the game engine used in the first game. Set on yet another fictional locale, the tropical island of Panau in Southeast Asia, we see the return of the ruggedly dashing Rico Rodriguez as the protagonist. A special agent for the American agency called... the Agency, Rico is sent to the exotic island of Panau in search of his friend and mentor, Tom Sheldon, who had went missing. Needless to say, the objective soon turned on its head as Rico takes on one job that he is exceptionally talented at: To cause as much chaos as possible on the island in a quest to overthrow the evil dictator, Pandak "Baby" Panay. In the process, Rico soon find himself working with multiple rebel factions intent on taking down the regime themselves. But of course, there are more twists and turns along the ride but in an intriguing way, "Just Cause 2" spin a new definition on the quote, "Happiness isn't a station you arrive at, but a manner of traveling."

While the plot and all its associated obligatory twists are frankly, straight out from the B-movie fodder, the game basks in glory in all its ridiculousness and twisted humor while spiting right in the face to conventional action thriller. If you are looking for a convoluted action adventure plot a'la Metal Gear Solid 4, you have come to the wrong game. Avalanche Studios boldly values cheap visceral thrills over the need of a morale or a motivation of the character. And guess what? That, is a good thing.

With this game, we have finally come to a crossroad of sandbox gaming. For the uninitiated, sandbox gaming is often a sub-genre of Action Adventure games, but employs a non-linear gameplay and a level design concept where a player can freely roam a virtual world. The most notable game of this genre would of course be the Grand Theft Auto series. However, while we enjoyed immensely in Niko Bellic's downward spiral in Grand Theft Auto IV, following his trials and tribulations, Rico Rodriguez's misadventures proved to be particularly singular and repetitive. That is until you let loose on the tremendously huge playground of Panau.

Fully utilizing the loose mechanics that constitutes a sandbox game, the open-world exploration never dulls as players can always find something new and interesting to knock themselves out. While completing missions and following through the plots are the standard procedure in action-oriented games as such, Avalanche Studios seemed to be inclining to encourage players to add more spice in their usual quests, with the help of possibly the in-game gadgets of the year - Rico's trusty grappling hook and stunt parachute. While at first glance a standard action adventure shooter, the two gadgets provided the game with an unique gaming mechanics that fundamentally set apart the Just Cause 2 from all the run-of-the-mill sandbox games.

Rico's grappling hook miraculously allows Rico to not only zip around all surface and hang from ceilings, pull all objects, living or dead towards him, but also capable of hitching a ride by striking at a vehicle, any vehicle including an airplane that is flying by. What's even more awesome is the fact that the grappling hook can also be used to tether two objects together, providing players with intriguing tactical options. For example, you can attach that obnoxious looking security guard to a speedboat passing by, or attached your car to a helicopter. The possibilities is endless. You can attached your enemy to a propane tank before you ignite it. You can stop a motorbike that is hot in pursuit on you by attaching it to the floor or the side of the road and see the rider fly. In summary, this is like a far-enhanced version of the Spider-man games that we have seen.

The other astonishing item would be the 're-loadable' stunt parachute. Conveniently providing you with an amazing quick escape from whatever height you are plummeting to, and adding some gliding fun along the way, the stunt parachute is always ready to be deployed, even if it had been deployed and discarded only moments before, and can be opened in mid grapple or when free-falling.

Combine both the grappling hook and the stunt parachute, and the party is on. Using the grappling hook on the ground in front of you and deploying the stunt parachute while you are in motion will provide you with an immediate lift and forward momentum. This will enable you to slingshot your way through the air, providing a great way to escape whenever you are in the midst of a battle and is low on health, or whenever you need a quick getaway. You can easily hijack anything within your grappling distance, be it a speeding car, a speedboat, a fighter jet.

With both grappling hook and stunt parachute at hand as your basic inventory, Just Cause 2 certainly provides all the open-world fun you can imagine. Couple that with the numerous types of weapons available (the standard issue detachable mounted minigun, rocket launcher with laser-controlled rockets, one-handed grenade launcher, remote-triggered C4, etc.), and more than 100 different vehicles (bikes, bus, Boeing 737, speedboat, etc.), the potential explosive action sequences that you are capable of creating are endless. For those keen on showing off how they pull off their crazy stunts, the PlayStation 3 version of the game allows the user to capture video of their gameplay and either export it to the XMB or upload it to YouTube from within the game.

Say you want to travel to another end of the island and you don't know how to get there. There are tons of alternatives at your disposal. Should you be hijacking an innocent bystander's vehicle or cling on to a passing-by helicopter and flew your way and make a grand entrance?

Say you are going to take out a certain area filled with soldiers. Should you arrange for an aerial death to rain on them by dropping a double-decker bus on them or charge in guns-ablazing? It's your call.

Should you ever find yourself short on ammo or in need of a lift, you can call on a black-market dealer who will airdrop guns and vehicles, or just take you where you want to go. Upgrade of weapons and vehicles are also conducted through this dealer, utilizing supplies that you earned through missions.

Chaos points, serving as the underlying currency of progress in the game will be earned via the destruction that you create in the mission. New story missions and many other goodies will be unlocked by blowing more stuffs and wreaking more havoc, a blatant message from the developers to remind you to indulge in all the fun by not adopting the conventional shoot-em-up methods.

As cool as it all sounds, Just Cause 2 has its fair share of annoyance. The incredibly forgiving auto-targeting system are in many ways a cause for uneven gameplay. When going out in a blaze of glory spray firing at multiple targets, it worked perfectly well. Okay, a little too perfect in a way. However, you might find the auto aim a hassle when taking specific shot. The audio aspect is also conspicuously inferior when compared to the other much established elements of the game. While the playful attitude of the game have no doubt affected the overall tone of the voice-acting (resulting in some probable unintentionally fun dialogue), some of the voice actors just fall short and sounded sloppy. One common flaw of modern sandbox game also managed to show itself here: The game save feature is flawed as player have to restart the entire mission whenever they got obliterated (which occurred more often than you might thought), and the checkpoints are only for the longer missions. This issue added more frustration for the already monotonous missions.

Nevertheless, these flaws are ultimately minor blemishes that are unlikely to ruin the overall freewheeling experience that Just Cause 2 provides. After all, when in doubt or if you're just feeling down, there are always new and exhilarating elaborate way to massacre obnoxious-looking goons while making that ultra-cool quick escape.

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The Rundown
Despite having its fair share of problems and suffering from a lack of originality, Just Cause 2 cleverly put together a myriad of interesting gameplay into one cohesive action adventure of a massive summer blockbuster proportion.

An absolute must-play game for adrenaline junkies who enjoyed over-the-top action sequences, Just Cause 2 is quite possibly the best sandbox game since Grand Theft Auto IV.

The Good
- Stunts, stunt, and more crazy-assed stunts. This game put that Stuntman game to shame. PlayStation owners can even show off their stunt by posting on youtube online
- The gorgeously rendered island of Panau proved to be an insanely enormous playground
- The ultimate combination of both the grapple hook and the stunt parachute single-handledly elevate the 'fun' factor
- Great replayability with tons of items to unlock

The Bad
- The voice-acting can get a little lackluster at times
- Despite the blockbuster quality of the action sequences, the graphic still experience occasional clipping and animation issues
- Several missions are rather monotonous, resulting in some repetitive gameplay
- Room for improvement for the auto-targeting gunplay

And The Pink Ice Cream Van?
Yes, the first DLC is here and it's for free!
Developer Avalanche Studio has just release a pink ice cream van - Chevalier Ice Breaker - on April 8th, available for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC for free, as a compliment to the players.



Looks all out-of-place yet nifty, isn't it?




Outstanding

For a more transparent understanding on the Game Reviews here in The Daily Zombies, please check out "The Daily Zombie Rating System And Review Policy for Gaming".

And the Just Cause 2: Anatomy Of A Stunt Trailer Series continues. Crazy-assed action sequence ensues.

Square Enix and Eidos continues their spiral downward down their relentless indulgence of ultra-violence and maddening action sequences.

The result? Hell, even more excellent action sequence than the first two.

Jet Plane versus Fire Engine? You're fucking on.


Mid-air sabotage? Screw all air plane simulator.


Vehicle "Upgrade", it would seemed? In a literally exploding way...


One hell of a rocket launcher attack unlike anything we have ever seen.


And to top everything off, this is Tuk Tuk, at its most inventive usage ever.

Xbox360 Games For Sale Too!!!!!: Please refer here for the updated Xbox360 gamelist

A new trailer for one of the most anticipated games for 2010.

One of the entry in our earlier entry compiling thirteen of the most anticipated games of the year 2010, Bioshock will be officially released tomorrow, amidst fever pitch anticipation.

BioShock 2 takes players back to Rapture, 10 years after the first installment, as players take on the role of the former antagonistic Big Daddy (the first of its kind, complete with new weapons and powers), exploring the underwater city in a pressurized diving suit, allowing players to experience the city in an all new way. Little Sister, along with their new evil counterpart, Big Sister, will be joining the ride, promising another engrossing steam-punk First Person Shooter experience with an utopian/dystopian undertone.

We take another look at this sequel to the ground-breaking First Person Shooter, BioShock, with another recently released trailer.




Please refer here for the updated Xbox360 gamelist

Here comes the pain, now exclusively in UFC.

While the ongoing war between Wrestling and MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) continues as their respective strongest promotion, WWE and UFC, gears up to do battle in the Pay-Per-View (PPV) market, the fight has moved on to another battleground as UFC scored a runaway hit with their debut game, UFC 2009 Undisputed. On the other hand, WWE, with its best-selling signature gaming franchise, Smackdown! series, has dominated the niche-sport category. Interesting enough, both game were developed by Yukes and published by THQ.

On February 6th, THQ unveiled the cover to the sequel to 2009's best selling UFC 2009 Undisputed, with Brock Lesnar on the cover.

Brock, a WWE veteran who have had numerous championship reign back in his days in WWE, has moved on to another successful championship run at UFC. Although he was out in October 2009, due to mononucleosis, he is slated to return soon.

Yeah, don't even speculate about it. It's Musou, Hokuto Shinken style, coming to the third-gen consoles come 2010.

"You're already dead."



Koei must have gotten their fair share of joyous experience bringing their Musou formula and applying it on manga/anime epic with their 2007 effort, Dynasty Warrior: Gundam. So much so that they are now releasing another such joint-collaboration.

Ever heard the everlasting single complaint (other than its repetitive gameplay) for Musou series that despite its usually heavy body counts in the gameplay, not one drop of blood were ever present in all the glorious violence? Samurai Warriors did nothing to change that, and so is Dynasty Warrior: Gundam. However, things will almost definitely be different for this animal.

Fist of the North Star (北斗の拳 AKA Hokuto no Ken), the iconic Japanese manga series illustrated by Tetsuo Hara and written by Buronson originally serialized from 1983 to 1988 in Weekly Shōnen Jump has been an inspiration to more pop culture products than you can possibly think of. And insanely explosive bloody gore violence (that actually inspired Riki-Oh (力王 Riki-Ō), which notorious HK movie adaptation remained as the staple of splatter fest for its insane amount of gore scenes.) is indeed the signature of the series, of which interestingly, transferring these scenes to the game is actually the main appeal of the game. Successfully getting the right gameplay mechanics for this element will in fact determine the success of this Koei's production.

Set for release on the next-gen consoles (PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360) in mid 2010, Hokuto Musou will take gamers down that nostalgic line to the apocalyptic wasteland in 20XX, with the ultimate tough guy protagonist, Kenshiro bringing the battle for survival to his brother, the equally cool and tough-as-nail Raoh, AKA Ken-oh (拳王) or the King of Fist, the fan-favourite antagonist. Pathetically sandwiched between them are hordes after hordes of freakshows, the likes of which only apocalyptic future can produced. Ever the master of the incredibly ass-kicking martial art, Hokuto Shinken, expect exploding heads, flying organs in the game, raising the bar of the Musou series.

According to the official media release from Koei, two main story modes will be featured; one chronicling the original manga plot (I wondered how are they pulling this off with the relative lengthy arcs), while the other one will feature Kenshiro in an original storyline.

Hardcore gamers will probably be wondering by now if the game will make it outside Japan due to licensing issues (not unlike Capcom's Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars, as posted earlier). Although it is still early to speculate on this, a Koei representative had indicated that they have not made the final decision on this. Nevertheless, this should be inconsequential for PS3 owners since almost all PS3 Blu-Ray games have no regional issues though it will be somewhat costly to import the game this way.

Anyway, Fist of the North Star is no stranger to gaming adaptations with its stellar list of games ever since 1986, with Playstation One's Hokuto no Ken : Seikimatsu Kyūseishu Densetsu (北斗の拳 世紀末救世主伝説) in 2000 of particular interest. Not to forget the Nintendo Entertainment System Family Computer's longrunning series from 1986 to 1991.


The hype for this news can be summarized down one word. Musou. Known for its crazy-ass actions, the anticipation will no doubt be extremely high for this one.

Can't wait to see some of the actions? Well you can only make do with the teaser video trailer from Gamespot embedded below.

Welcome to the continuing chapter of the (hopefully) neverending battle between the gaming console. Reason for the joyous tone?
I got two words for you: Price War.

Previously...
We ended with "Do you seriously think that Nintendo gonna let its Wii sit by, missing all this fun?".

Well, it sure doesn't take a prophet to deduce this out. Nintendo has announced that moving forward from September 27th, the price of Wii will drop by $50 to $200 in the U.S., while the price of Wii would drop in Japan to 20,000 yen (about $210) on October 1st. Interestingly, the announcement was made while Sony's head honcho, Kaz Hirai, were in the midst of his, reportedly boredom-filled speech in the disguise of "an announcement".

The game console war rages on to the next level... And it has just reached every gamers' favourite level... Price War.






Reports came in on last Thursday (August 27th) that the price on all three models of Xbox 360 videogame console will drop in price on August 28th. In short, this means that Xbox 360 Elite, the higher-end evil big brother of the triplets with its superior hard disk capacity (120 GB), will drop in price from USD $400 to an encouraging price of 300 bucks, aligning itself perfectly in line with the PS3 Slim.

Just in time for the next round of gaming console world war.

The move came one week after Sony Playstation 3 Slim was announced with several new modification such as upgradeable 120GB hard drive and is 33% smaller, 36% lighter, and consumes 34% less power than previous models.

On the other hand, the top of the line of the Xbox 360 promotion, the Elite model, get more than its price cut. The component and HDMI cables will be removed as well, leaving only the standard issue composite ones. Before you admire the slyness of Microsoft, hell they even have reason for that: The player didn't need it in the first place. Aaron Greenberg, Microsoft's Director of Product Management for Xbox 360 and Xbox LIVE told ArsTechnica, "According to our research, most of the customers who bought the Elite weren't using the HDMI. We've removed it, and passed it on as part of our price savings". Yeah right.

On the other hand, the Xbox 360 Arcade (affectionately called by the Wired crew as better known among hardcore gamers as the Xbox 360 Your Elite Red-Ringed Out of Warranty So Why Spend The Money On An Extra Hard Drive You Won’t Use) is still priced at $200.

Regardless, being a gamer these days just got better. Do you seriously think that Nintendo gonna let its Wii sit by, missing all this fun?