New Xbox 360 2011 dashboard update is now live!

The new Xbox 360 dashboard is now live! I personally like the dashboard of the 360 more than the Playstation 3 but its hard to navigate to find what you really need. This dashboard update fixes seems to fix that and added features that will make any Xbox 360 owner happy.

My Xbox 360 is already updated so I've tried the new dashboard myself. Off the bat, it's definitely easier to navigate compared to the old one. I remember taking awhile finding a specific content in the games marketplace because of how cluttered the content was. Now, everything feels simplified and compact. The overall layout of the dashboard design was definitely made for people with Kinect though, but the reason why I think this dashboard will work overall is because this layout is still friendly to users navigating with a controller.

If you don't like the new layout maybe the new feature will make you appreciate the latest update. The first one is my favorite.

Cloud Save

Yes! This is a great addition. A place to put your save files as either backup or if you'd like to play your save in a friend's house. This feature gives each Xbox Live gold member 500+MB of storage space to put your player profile and game files. The files saved on your cloud save will be accessible in any Xbox 360 console when you log into your account. While I don't see myself going to a friend's house to play with my save file, at least I won't be in a complete lose if something happened to my Hard Disk. I just love the fact that you have an option to place game files on Xbox Live for back-up. Back up is so important.

Beacons and Activity

I really like this idea. So usually you join a group or send a message asking if they want to play  some Call of Duty or any type of game. With Beacons and Activity, it makes it easier for people to find who's up to play a specific game in your friends list or Facebook account. Adding a beacon lets you state that your up for a specific game. When you set the beacon up, your friends will be notified that your up for that type of game, even though your seen playing Skyrim for 10 hours straight. You also have the option to sync your Facebook account and say that you want to play this game with friends. Beacons and Activity also records you and your friends currently gaming activity. It pretty much records what you've played recently and for how long.

Bing Search engine

Like I said, easier to navigate through Xbox Live. Bing is Microsoft's search engine and gives you yet another way to navigate through all of Xbox Live's content with ease. Put something like Fable in the search, and the search result will organize all content related to fable. Its pretty darn fast when searching too. I also appreciate that its first in the line of categories so I can go straight to what I need to see.

Xbox Live is really growing on me. I appreciate how easy it now is to navigate and the fact that it feels smooth and fast during its release day. So far no issue. This is not the end of what I'd like to call 360 Dashboard 2011. They say that they will be integrating youtube, the promised UFC application, and more before 2011 ends.

Rayman Origins out now, a full retail game?

Rayman Origins is out but for some reason I always thought it was coming out as a downloadable game for PSN and Xbox Live. Never crossed my mind that Ubisoft went retail with a 2D Platformer. These games are rare, so if you're a fan of the genre(like myself) then you should consider this to keep these games alive.

I remember seeing the demo on Game Trailer's live streaming of this year's E3 and was underwhelmed because I thought it was another downloadable game worth 14.99. It being released as a full game got me curious. When I found out it was a full retail game, I started doing research on what else it offers. Tons of collectables, and I mean tons! Is it enough for a game to have its very own disc? For a platformer, yes, what else do you need really? As long as its challenging, easy to maneuver, and have incentive to replay stages, you're set.

Rayman Origins is getting positive reviews thanks to its beautiful art design, four player co-op feature, and solid controls. . You can never go wrong with platformers. Games such as Super Meat Boy, Outland, or even the classic Mario bros. are tons of fun and this should be no exception.

Sadly this might be ignored since it doesn't provide the Full Package(game having online) that every game developer provides nowadays. With a 2D Platformer priced as a full game, it's definitely a hard sell, but kudos for Ubisoft for taking on the risk.

Playing with a friend or family member in Rayman Origins seems to be the way to go, so if you want a casual game where anybody can join in on the fun, this will do. If ever I get this, I'm going to include my 5-year old nephew in on the fun to introduce him to 2D Platformer at its best.

Rayman Origins is out now for the Playstation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii.

Impressions - Star Wars: The Old Republic weekend beta test

I was given a chance to try out Star Wars: The Old Republic last weekend during their weekend server stress test. Problem is, I found out I was invited the weekend it was happening which resulted in around just about a day of testing out the game.  Lesson learned though: Emails must be checked religiously when applying for beta testing. Regardless, I did get enough game time to get a feel of how EA's new MMO plays.

I just had to realize the invite late...

It sucks, I know. Found out last friday that I was accepted and received the link to download the client, but with how big the client is,  it took me two days to download it. 20gb was it? I do have decent connection but I occasionally turned off the PC to de-stress it since it's usually oven hot in the afternoon, which resulted in me having the client all patched up and ready for use by Sunday afternoon. Then when I saw the login screen all ready for me to add my info, I had to go out for the night. Before leaving though, I quickly created my character so it's all ready when I get back. I knew server's were going down after the weekend and that I had a very small window to try out Star Wars: The Old Republic. So I decided that when I get the chance, regardless of how late it already is, I'll try the game. 1AM in the morning, I started my Human Smuggler class.

There where 2 region's to choose from: North America or Europe. With me living in Asia, lag was inevitable with those choices, but Europe felt like the best choice to have less lag, well that's what  I thought. I had a latency of 600-800(1-2 bars) which was close to annoying at certain points during play. I bet there will be asian servers but during my time with the game, I had to live with it.

Fully voiced NPC's makes a HUGE difference

While I did start having my first character as the Han Solo class of the game, the lag avoided me from enjoying the unique cover system for the class, so I quickly switched to something easier, the Jedi Knight class. What came out awesome when I started with both characters was that each class has it's very own prologue. With the jedi Knight class, the prologue has you coming out of a transport ship, with a training lightsaber stick equipped ready to be assigned as the new Padawan of a Jedi Master. The back story given gives you a sense of how important you are to the story it tries to tell, and with the whole game fully voiced, it's the best introduction you will experience in any MMO.

The conversations you have is as if your playing a Dragon Age/Mass Effect game which is the games strong suit because it actually works well. Choices at times also matter since there is light and dark alignment. If you choose a more jedi-like approach(Which is always the top choice), you earn light reputation; If you pick the dark choice(always the bottom choice), it will earn you dark reputation. They say raising this will give you access to certain items depending how high you are in that alignment, so there's a bit of an incentive to choose what path you'd like to take for your character. It's literally Bioware's conversation wheel in their past RPGs but now placed in an MMO.  You will see a conversation bubble above a player's head to indicate that he is engaged in a conversation with an  NPC.

Gameplay is nothing much to mention since its very similar to World of Warcraft but with a slower pace. Which is proven by WoW to be a very effective format, so why change it? Quests still require to kill this much, or activate certain devices but again what makes it unique is that you can engage in conversations that make you care about the quest a bit more.  Even with a mini boss that die in like 2 minutes, you first talk to him and have the option to find out his intentions(If you really want to care). Thanks to this sto-driven element they focused so much on, this MMO will definitely stand out and make players look the other way, question is for how long.

I sadly only was able to produce a level 8 Jedi Knight and was so close to finishing the prologue to see the game outside the introduction. Was close to collapsing so had to call it quits. They say around level 10 is where you get out of the prologue and at the same time pick your specialization(two for each class) - For my Jedi Knight, I had the choice to be either more damage focused or more designed for the tanking role.

Star Wars: The Old Republic Opening Cinematic

Am I Interested?

No. While I enjoyed how this MMO is very story-driven , the gameplay has too much similarities to a game that I've spent 2 years of my life on. While it's a formula that just works in the MMO world, I personally don't plan to go through it again. Thanks to this beta opportunity, I get a chance to get rid of my curiosity in Star Wars: The Old Republic. For avid MMO gamers though - It's worth exploring and is definitely THE Star Wars online that fans have been waiting for. Its sound score gives me goose bumps as I charge through a group of droids and the quality of the voice acting is one of the best, just as expected from Bioware. How I wished I had more time to explore more of what the game has to offer but If I was still into MMO's, I'd definitely pick this game up, even pre-order it since you get to start playing the game 5 days earlier.

Star Wars: The Old Republic is out this December 20 for PC only. It will have a monthly fee of $14.99 with other payment plans like a 3 month plan or a 6 month plan. If you want to gather more info, head over the official site or check out the game's FAQ.

Capcom's new IP, Dragon's Dogma now dated

If you remember back in April, Capcom's mystery game was revealed to be a new IP called Dragon's Dogma that gave us that Monster Hunter-ish gameplay where you go off to slay huge monsters.  Well the game has finally been dated and whether it's not you're kind of game or not, a new title is always good to experience.

March 27 , 2012 is the release for the US with a Europe release following right after on May 1, 2012.If you've seen footage of the game when it was released, I'm sure you're also with me that this game is the one to look out for on 2012. Dragon's Dogma will be set in a fantasy world were you get to roam around the world, hunt down monsters with a group of NPC characters and on a quest to retrieve your heart stolen by a Dragon. Yes, I have no idea how that works but hunting for a dragon always sounds good. This will be an open-world game with Capcom revealing it to be around 30-100 hours long depending if you're a side quest junkie.

The key feature with this game is the ability to climb on this huge monsters.Inspired by Shadow of Collossus(must play btw), instead of just hacking away  on creatures side, you climb on to either it's back, wing or head to deal significant damage.  Clinging on a flying Gryphon to stop it from flying away with the help of your AI companions is what makes it unique from other games. I like this direction since the player get's to experience the full encounter of facing a huge monster.

The biggest question is, why no online co-op? With a game like this, it would seem rather ideal to place that as an option, even a main focus. Sadly, with regards to online capabilities - the only thing you can do online is grab other player's characters to be used as one of your AI controlled buddies. Hopefully they surprise us in the end that we can actually play this with a friend, but with the March release, seems unlikely.

Most triple titles are either a sequel or a game that has a number right after its title, especially this year. That's good and all but I actually prefer fresh titles coming out more often. To have a good mix of the well known and the unknown. Wouldn't you want to take a risk and surprise yourself on how blown away you were? or prefer to play it safe and purchase a title that you know will be worth you're while? Depends, I know. With games priced at the standard $59.99 or PHP 2,000+ range, playing it safe is the preferred choice for most nowadays  which is why most company's stick with what works if they find that golden title. Is Dragon's Dogma worth the risk though? I definitely think so.

Max Payne 3 Special Edition announced

 

Rockstar Games just announced the contents of their Special Edition for Max Payne 3. It will be priced at $99.99 in the US and can be pre-purchased only from November 21 to January 15.

No word yet if this Special Edition will be accessible outside the US, but since the Special Edition is only for pre-purchase, chances are slim. Sad I know, contents are pretty sweet too if you're into the whole collecting video game statues and all.

The Special Edition will include:

• A Copy of Max Payne 3
• 10" tall Collectible Max Payne Statue created in a collaboration between TriForce and Rockstar Games.
• Series of game-inspired Original Still Life Art Prints that depict some of Max Payne's inner demons and vices.
• Copper and brass-plated iron, bullet-shaped Bullet Keychain featuring a screw-off back.
• Classic Multiplayer Character Pack of eight playable multiplayer characters for Max Payne 3 Multiplayer, including fan favorites  from the original Max Payne and Max Payne 2 like Max Payne from Max Payne 2, Mona Sax and Vladimir Lem.
• Disorderly Conduct Multiplayer Weapons Pack for Max Payne 3 Multiplayer that includes the Hammerhead Auto Shotgun, 69 Grenade Launcher and Molotov Cocktail.
• Max Payne 3 Official Soundtrack featuring the game's instrumental score.

A decent package for those hardcore fans. Max Payne 3 will be out next year on March for the Playstation 3, Xbox 360, and PC.

[Source: Gematsu]