Now, the announcement of Fable 2’s XBLA pub games was not a huge song-and-dance during the press conference Peter Molyneux hosted back in February, but since the E3 coverage many questions have been raised, with specific focus on the minigames, so I have dug out a bit of info straight from the horses mouth. For those of you who’ve not been following the Fable 2 information train, the download will compose of 3 pub-type gambling minigames, where any money you make can be transferred straight to your fable character in the full game.

Lionhead explains that the XBLA pub gambling games are to be released sometime in august for the princely sum of 800MSP, but anyone who preorders the game will get them for free. Quite how they plan for people like myself who preorder to play the minigames before the full release I don’t know, unless it comes in some form of email code, a-la Bad Company’s QBU88 preorder-only sniper rifle.

One point to note is that the games will be free regardless of whether you preorder the standard edition, or the limited one, that also gives you a “bonus disc with a making-of video, a collectible Hobbe figure, a LIVE trial card (woot) and additional in-game content“.

Let’s just hope this “additional in-game content” doesn’t cause as much of a scandal as EA’s original plan to only include some of the weapons in the standard edition of Bad Company…

So, undoubtedly most of you enjoy a good FPS, as that’s the main staple of the Xbox library, but when it comes to some games, the hype and media coverage can be overwhelmingly biased. Take Fifa. We all know it’s a load of crap, but it’s bought every year because up until recently it has totally dominated the advertisement scene on most mainstream media outlets. Now take Pro Evo. MUCH better game all-round, but only the less ‘casual’ gamers benefit from actually reading reviews and a bit of insider knowledge.

The exact same thing is true for any game genre, or indeed most industries, more media coverage means more profit – but not always a better experience or product.

Excellent news for all those N+ fans out there; published on metanets metablog – witty, aren’t they – they posted a little news about they’re upcoming game Robotology, but nevermind that, you’re reading this for N+. They’ve sent off 750 new maps to Microsoft to be certified and released onto the Xbox Live Marketplace! They will be split up into 3 packs each costing 200 points

If I was to have one grumble about N+ it would be it’s lack of multiplayer maps, but of these new maps, an amazing 300+ of them will be multiplayer. Good stuff!

Metanet also tease of a little something extra that will come with each of the packs, but who knows what that’s gonna be, my hunch? A gamerpic.

Here’s the excerpt from the Metablog:

We just submitted three downloadable levelpacks for N+ XBLA (one of which is free), we’ll be posting with more details as soon as we get a launch time. In total there will be over 750 new levels! The multiplayer maps in particular (over 300 of them) are a lot better than the ones that came with N+, since we’ve had more time to learn what works. We made sure to include more co-op maps, since they’re apparently quite popular.. these ones are even harder, so start practicing!

There’s also a small bonus in each pack which will remain secret for now.. or will it?!  

 

Daniel O’Brien

So I linked Chris to the new Call of Duty: World in Conflict trailer to see what he thought of it, with me not being a particularly avid Call of Duty fan, I was intrigued to see what someone who plays CoD a lot thinks of this new ‘direction’:

Link to video

Dan: They’re actually doing another WW2 game…

Chris: lol

watching now

well, I think that chronologically it was a good idea for infinity ward to take a step back, rather than a step forward – a lá BF2142

looks quite good though

Dan: yeah, agreed

But I think they should have done another game similar to modern combat… 

This is only really going to be a passing mention of the new Codemasters game RaceDriver GRID. Basically, it rocks my socks, the gameplay is tight, as it was in DIRT it’s spiritual predecessor. The graphics are sweet, just like in, oh hell, what it comes down to is a touring car, street race, Need for Speed version of Colin McRae DIRT, which is FANTASTIC new for me. Sorry about the caps, it’s easy to get carried away with an article about GRID and DIRT. Anyway, the demo’s out now, check it out, you owe it to yourself if you’re into racers, even if only slightly. It has 3 different race styles on the single player side, whereas up to 12 people in 2 differing styles online. The perfect demo, I’ve preordered my copy solely down to the demo.

Anyway! To the point of this damn post, a personal plug really. I beat some, well, LOADS, of french dudes on Xbox Live, and found the consequent pictures highly amusing with all those french flags beneath the sole English Flag. ONE American came into the room, only to be promptly kicked, not by me I might add:

Daniel O’Brien

It’s rare indeed that this site seems to be updated, even rarer still is that I actually have something to post about but after seeing this I had to report on it.

Popular entertainment website Variety announced yesterday that popular XBox360 and PC title Bioshock (2kgames) is hitting Hollywood…

I am off work today with an ear infection so I thought I’d check out what’s floating around on Live. What I saw there, specifically the Alone in the Dark trailers, prompted me to come straight here and tell you all about it. I’m currently re-watching the three related videos… With the volume turned down very, very low.

Unfortunately for ourselves, and Xbox Live players everywhere, The LiveEye has had it’s proverbial plug pulled. It’s a real shame for me especially, as I’d just started up an account, and wanted to track how long I’ve been playing the Frontlines demo (it really is that good).

Perhaps on a better note, it comes only days after we gave an open invite for you all to judge us by our addictions, with Dan’s stats showing just how much he loves Pro Evo, and Matt ranking up a whole load of hours on Devil May Cry 4, despite the crap view.

At least It was axed just before the Frontlines release, now no-one will know if I stay up until the wee hours playing it before heading out for a 9am lecture; given my current addiction to just the two maps, and not even having the jet fighter, I can see 4am being an ‘early’ finish.

But don’t be too worried; “Bring down the sky” is the title of a new downloadable expansion pack for everyone’s favourite squad shooter/RPG. Mass Effect of course.

The pack is the first in a series of planned DLC, expanding the universe, and delivering between one and two hours of extra action-packed missions for you to take on.

The first pack introduces the Batarians, who are one of the most feared races in the Mass Effect universe. An extremist group sets an asteroid space station on a collision course with Terra Nova, a new uncharted world. The pack is set to give around 90 minutes worth of extra content, so that’s a fair old slog, matching up to Noveria and Feros, almost. Of course the day can only saved by Commander Shepard, but from what I gather through the online grapevine it’s going to be an optional quest rather than a critical story element (makes sense really; how would that fit into the story if you’ve already completed the game?), so it won’t appeal to anyone who rushed through the game with just one character and put it back behind the Orange Box, or Guitar Hero.

Also included is a new achievement worth 50 Gamerscore points, awarded simply for saving Terra Nova. Simple, eh?

 

So, hands up who’s been playing the Frontlines: Fuel of War demo then?

I know after the single player demo it seemed a little too quirky to be considered as a serious shooter, but you really have to give this game a chance to grow on you, and definitely get into the multiplayer. In fact, start downloading the new demo now before you read any more.