Games announced for Xbox 360 at X06: New Halo, Splinter Cell 5, PGR4, and more

New games that were announced for Xbox 360 at X06:

A new Halo game (In addition to Halo Wars) and a completely new original property. From the press release: "A landmark partnership announced between Academy Award-winning writer, director and producer Peter Jackson, Academy Award-winning screenwriter Fran Walsh, and Microsoft Game Studios will create two new interactive entertainment series exclusively for Xbox 360 and Xbox Live^®. The first series will be a collaborative effort with Bungie Studios to co-create the next great chapter in the “Halo^®” universe. The second series will be an entirely original property targeted at bringing new audiences into the captivating world of interactive entertainment. In addition, Microsoft Game Studios will partner with Jackson and Walsh to establish Wingnut Interactive, a studio dedicated to the creation of world-class interactive entertainment." There is no information on what the new property will be about, but Bungie had this to say about the new Halo game on their website: "...we can tell you it will be a blend of gameplay and storytelling quite unlike anything the games industry has ever seen before." If that doesn't get you excited, there must be something wrong with you.

Halo Wars, a Halo RTS. Here are all the details, along with an amazing video.

Another Splinter Cell game (After Double Agent). It will be console exclusive to the Xbox 360. That's right, no Splinter Cell for the PS3 or Wii.

Project Gotham Racing 4

Banjo-Kazooie. From the press release: "The beloved “Banjo-Kazooie” franchise will breathe new, high-definition life on Xbox 360 exclusively from famed developer Rare Ltd.; astonishing next-generation visuals and presentation reunite beloved characters Banjo, Kazooie and Gruntilda — among other fan favorites — with their sharp wit and hilarious sense of humor."

Marvel Universe Online

DOOM for Xbox Live Arcade. It is now available for download, costing 800 Microsoft Points ($10).

Sensible World of Soccer, also for Xbox Live Arcade. From the press release: "Based on the classic 1994 Amiga title, “Sensible World of Soccer” will let gamers choose between the original graphics or an updated, high-resolution look and feel — while still capturing the original’s entire world of football."

Some other news about already announced titles:

Grand Theft Auto IV. Just a few months after it's release (October 16th in North America, October 19th in Europe), two downloadable "epic episodes" will be available, each coming with hours of new gameplay. These will be exclusive to Xbox 360.

Bioshock will be released exclusively on Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows.

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Halo Wars: The Halo RTS

Today a new game based on the Halo universe was announced: Halo Wars. It is a Real-Time Strategy game, made by Ensemble Studios, the creators of Age of Empires (this explains the seemingly unfair shut down of the fan created mod Halogen, also a Halo RTS). Exclusive to Xbox 360, you will control a group of UNSC soldiers, the "Spirit of Fire", and learn more of what happened before Halo 1. You may also be able to play as the Covenant, but the website won't say for sure.
"The folks at Ensemble are the only team we trusted to make a Halo RTS and from what we've already seen (and played), it's going to be awesome," Bungie says on their website. There is no information on when it will be released, but here is a pre-rendered trailer (also available on Xbox Live Marketplace or the Halo Wars website):

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Peter Jackson on the Halo movie

Peter Jackson, Executive Producer of the Halo movie, has been interviewed by Ain't It Cool News. It's a good interview, and definitely worth checking out if you're interested in what's going on with the Halo movie.
[Via Kotaku]

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Halogen: The Halo RTS that could have been

Slip Stream Productions has been working on a mod that would make a Halo RTS. But just a few days ago, Microsoft asked them to shut it down. In the forums on their website, they posted this letter:

Dear Friends,

For the last three years, we've worked incessantly to bring you the best Halo mod that we could. There have been a lot of ups and downs, but somehow Halogen has always managed to come out kicking. The problem with using copyrighted intellectual property as a base for a fan project is that you're very susceptible to legal action. We always figured that since Halogen was such a different take on the Halo franchise, we might manage to make it without incident. That changed today.

Hours ago, we finally recieved the words we've been dreading since the mod started to get noticed. Microsoft has decided that we are infringing on the intellectual property of Bungie Studios and has asked us to stop development on Halogen.

I was going to write a big sappy letter here, but what's the point. So..that's it then, I guess. The forums, site, and Moddb profile will all be shut down within the week. I can't say it hasn't been fun. It's a shame it has to end like this, but I suppose that's how it goes. Thanks, guys, for all the time you've spent supporting us. It's been a pleasure. We hate this as much as you do.

- The Halogen Team

The Halogen site has been closed, and the mod is officially over. It really is too bad, as it looked like it would have been awesome if it had ever been released. Why did Microsoft wait three years, after so much hard work had been put into it, to tell them to stop? Luke Smith at 1UP speculates that maybe Microsoft is planning on making their own Halo RTS. But no matter what Microsoft's plans are, something that could have turned out to be one of the coolest mods ever will now never be finished.

I've put together a collections of videos showing Halogen. Here they are:


[Via Kotaku, Joystiq]

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Xbox Live Vision, Wireless Racing Wheel, Wireless Headset, and Faceplates - details and prices

At the German Games Convention, Microsoft confirmed the bundles the Xbox Live Vision Camera will be sold in, along with the prices for the Wireless Racing Wheel, Wireless Headset, Wireless Gaming Reciever for Windows, and new faceplates. Here are the details:
The Xbox Live Vision Camera will be sold in two bundles, as follows:
Xbox Live Vision, which includes 1 month of Xbox Live Gold Membership, a headset, free downloads of UNO and TotemBall, will retail for around $39.99. The Xbox Live Video Chat Gold Gold Kit is the same as the first, except for it comes with a year of Xbox Live Gold Membership, a free download of Robotron (along with UNO and TotemBall), and 200 Microsoft Points. It will sell for about $79.99. The U.S. release date stays the same (September 19th), but in Europe it has been changed to October 6th.
The Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel will be released in November for around $149.99, and (while supplies last) people who purchase it will also get a limited edition force feedback version of Project Gotham Racing 3.
Also in November, the Wireless Headset will be available for around $59.99.
Then, in December, the Wireless Gaming Receiver for Windows will be released for about $19.99.New faceplates will be available in early November, including ones for Halo, Viva Pinata, and Forza Motorsport 2.

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More on the Director of The Halo Movie

Joystiq has a post looking into what Neill Blomkamp, the recently announced director of the Halo movie has previously done. It's interesting, and it's definitely worth checking out.

Read the article

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The Halo Movie Director Chosen

Team Xbox writes that the director of the upcoming Halo movie has been chosen. Neill Blomkamp, who has directed short films and commercials, will be making his big screen debut with the Halo movie, set for a summer 2008 release.
The original article on Gamasutra also reveals the most recent sales figures for Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2. Combined, they have sold 14.5 million copies and and grossed over 650 million dollars.

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Needler Productions

I got a message on Live today from RNS TOILET about his site, NEEDLER PRODUCTIONS. It's great to find out that someone actually cares about my site, and I'm always willing to help someone else trying to make a name on the internet. The site is a collection of Halo 2 videos he and his friends have made, so check it out.

Update: The site is now needlerproductions.com

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E3 2006 Awards

At the Gamerscore Blog, there is a list of all the awards the Xbox 360 won at this year's E3. It's pretty cool, as it lists awards from a whole lot of different sites.

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Halo 3: Behind the Scenes video

A little while ago Bungie revealed they were working on a video about the Halo 3 trailer. It is now available on their website, Bungie.net, with both Quicktime and Windows Media formats. They have HD versions for both, and it will be availble in HD on Xbox Live Marketplace in a week or two. You get to see a lot of what went into making the trailer, and the music composing. There are some things that got cut from the trailer, and new angles and views from in the trailer. And the most interesting part: Bungie says, "If you look very, very carefully, you'll see hints of things to come. Nothing too dramatic, but the fans will spot stuff, of that we're certain."

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Over half a billion games played in Halo 2

As of around noon yesterday, half a billion Halo 2 games (not player-sessions) had been played. Halo 2 is still the most popular game on Live, and the number of hours and games played are growing all the time.

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Marketplace download stats, Top Ten marketplace downloads during E3

Here are some of the stats for Xbox Live Marketplace, taken from Major Nelson:
-Over 24 million downloads since launch
-Over 1.5 million gamers connected to Live last week
-People downloaded over 5 million pieces of content during the 7 days of E3, which is over 600 Terabytes of data

Top ten downloads during E3: Bringing It Home:

1. Halo 3 Game Trailer (Microsoft Game Studios)
2. Lost Planet: Extreme Condition Free Playable Demo (Capcom)
3. Test Drive® Unlimited Free Playable Demo (Atari)
4. MotoGP™ '06 Free Playable Demo (THQ)
5. X-Men™: The Last Stand Pack (20th Century Fox)
6. Gears of War GameTrailer (Microsoft Game Studios)
7. Call of Duty ®2: Skirmish Map Pack (Activision)
8. Spiderman™ 3 Game Trailer (Activision)
9. Fable 2 Trailer (Microsoft Game Studios)
10. Uno® Xbox Live Arcade Game (Microsoft Game Studios)

Full article and more information at Major Nelson

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The Halo Movie

There hasn't been any news on the Halo movie recently, but for those of you who don't know much about it here's a rundown. Feel free to use this, as long as you credit me.

On November 9th , 2004, Halo 2 shattered records with 125 million in sales the day it was released. Now it has grossed 600 650 million—in the United States alone. Together, throughout the world, the massively popular games Halo and Halo 2 have sold 13.8 14.5 million copies. On Xbox Live, 324, 362, 454 Halo 2 matches have been played. In each of those matches, there are many people competing, for a total of 2, 189, 713, 986 experiences. Those aren’t individual people, because on person can (and does) play many matches, but that’s still a whole lot of people. There have been 184, 137, 245 hours accumulated in matchmade games. That’s 21,006 years, and not including setup time, just actual game time. Not to mention people who don’t play on Xbox Live, and the many hours of campaign racked up.
With all this, a movie is a must. And in the summer of 2002, 6 months after the release of the first Halo game, the creators of the game, Bungie, started receiving calls from Hollywood. The movie companies wanted the license to the entire Halo universe, with no help from Bungie in the process of making the movie. But Bungie wanted to be part of making their vision into a movie, and wasn’t willing to just cash in, then be pushed aside. Plus, Halo 2 was in the works, and they wanted their full attention on that.
But that was years ago. Now, the Halo movie is becoming a reality. It is set for a release less than two years from now, in mid 2007 in summer of 2008. Twentieth Century Fox and Universal have partnered to create it, and the group who will bring it to the big screen is getting bigger, and more importantly better, as time goes by. Alex Garland, author of the book The Beach and the script for 28 Days Later has been paid 1 million dollars to pen the script. According to Bungie, so far it is looking great.
On the Bungie website, Joseph Staten explained they were searching for “Someone who's as committed to the Halo universe – it's characters and their stories – as Mr. Jackson was to Tolkien's Middle-Earth. The same goes for actors, production designers, you name it.” Well, they seem to have found the perfect person to fill the job—Peter Jackson. The winner of various awards for the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Jackson will be the Executive Producer. “As a gaming fan, I’m excited to bring Halo's premise, action and settings to the screen with all the specificity and reality today’s technology can provide,” said Jackson. “Fran and I are intrigued by the unique challenges this project offers, and we’re delighted to be working again with our friends at Universal, and with our new ones at Fox and Microsoft. I’m a huge fan of the game and look forward to helping it come alive on the cinema screen.” Just the fact that such a renowned person will oversee the project is almost a guarantee it will be great. But, there’s more. WETA digital, the people responsible for the amazing effects accomplished in Lord of the Rings and King Kong, will be on for the ride. They will bring the Halo universe to life, from the aliens to the Halo itself. With all this, the Halo movie is sure to be awesome.


For more information go to Bungie.net and read The Great Hollywood Journey Parts I, II, and III, and Halo: By the Numbers.

The director for the Halo movie has been chosen. Click here to read more

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