As most of you may know, back when Kinect’s price was offically announced Microsoft also announced an Xbox 360S arcade + Kinect Bundle for $299.

Well, the console creators put out a press release this morning and guess what was announced. They announced “The Ultimate Bundle”, which includes a 250gb Xbox 360S, Kinect, and Kinect Adventures. It will retail for $400. This will release along side all the other Kinect items on November 4th in the United States. They announced Europe will get all the Kinect stuff November 10th.

Will you be getting this or one of the other Kinect bundles?

-DarkIDefender

I suppose before I begin this review I should clarify a few things, first and most importantly this review will be as spoiler free as possible. You should also know that I am a huge Mass Effect fan, having played through both Mass Effect 1 & 2 multiple times and own all the DLC for both games, including armor packs and Pinnacle Station. While playing this DLC I used a level 30 Paragon soldier who had already completed the main story. I should also note that my character is imported from Mass Effect 1, where I never romanced Liara, but from my understanding the romance is at least addressed and potentially continued.

Now to get to my opinions, this DLC is absolutely the best and longest of any Mass Effect DLC. Without saying to much about the plot of the DLC it takes you through various locations, and even has a car chase! Though the majority of the 2-3 hours of playtime will be spent dispatching various enemies, there is also a fair bit of exploration and dialogue to go through. There are several twists on the gameplay, but saying them could be considered spoiler territory so I’ll leave that alone. After completing the DLC there are plenty of interesting things to do, but describing them may ruin the story for you so I won’t. Despite the serious tone of this DLC there is a good amount of humor, though some may only be amusing to Mass Effect 1 players.

Overall this DLC though perhaps a bit short, is easily worth the price of admission. If you, like me, still sink far too many hours into Mass Effect 2 it is a must buy. If you only play occasionally I would still pick this DLC up, as it will add several hours of new content that is some of the best the game has to offer.

Final Score: 9.5/10
+
Gameplay Twists
Interesting new story
Car chases

-
A bit short

Bungie posted this video on their blog today. It’s really quite interesting, and provides for some interesting incite into sound design for video games.

“HALO: REACH” Game Audio Profile from Michael Coleman on Vimeo.

It is not Saturday, but with PAX this weekend there has been so much news, that I figured why wait. If any of you went to PAX, and have some Halo related pictures you would like shared email them to me. So without further adieu, here is your Halo PAX Update. Continue Reading…

Today at PAX during the Gearbox panel, Randy Pitchford told the fans some exciting news. There will be an upcoming level cap. It’ll be from the current 61 to the new 69. They didn’t want to make the raise by 11 like the General Knoxx DLC. They also didn’t want it to be too low, like say 5. So, they decided on 8.

This update will be free and will and will also include rebalancing to accomodate the level cap increase.

This update will be available around the time of the release of the Borderlands GOTY Edition, which is October 12.

Are you tired of playing music on fake plastic guitars?  Do you yearn for the chance to play with a real quitar using strings instead of colored buttons?  Well, soon you can see if you have what it takes to play the real thing when Power Gig: Rise of the Six String arrives.  And here is the full list of songs that you will be able to try to play.  Good Luck.

Continue Reading…

It’s Saturday, so you know what that means, another Halo Weekly Update! Once again this is more of a prototype than the final product, so as always feedback is welcomed and appreciated. This week has a fair share of news, and I’ve even decided to add a new section in the Update. Continue Reading…

With a name like Duke Nukem Forever its no surprise that its still in development. After the closing of 3d realms most of us considered Duke Nukem to take forever to arrive but 2k and Gearbox are making sure that you will get Duke Nukem Forever some time if the future. They announced the continuing of the development of Duke Nukem Forever today at PAX.

Plus it has been confirmed for 2011 on Xbox360, PS3 and PC

Here is a quick rundown on the original post.

Michael Pachter is predicting a $100 plan as the next evolutionary step in subscription options soon to be available to Xbox Live consumers, he told IndustryGamers reports that while the initial extra $10 “translates to around $100 to 150 million per year in additional revenue for Microsoft,” the company will “reinvest at least this much in developing other new applications, and will roll out a premium service with $100 to 200 million worth of enhancements. If they can get 2 million users to switch from the $60 plan to the $100 plan, they’ll make an extra $80 million a year, and can keep investing to try to grow that business.” Continue Reading…

It’s labor day weekend and there is another Gears of War XP event starting today. It begins today, September 3 at 9am EST. It ends September 7 at 9am EST. It will be an amazing 25x XP. The horde mod is “Torque Bow Tag”, which is all Drone and Grenadiers will have Torque Bows.

So, if you don’t have your wings yet, Level 100, this is your big chance.

Who’s gonna be playing???

-DarkIDefender

This holiday, Xbox Live Gold Members are getting ESPN and Video Kinect. In 2011, Gold Members get Hulu Plus. What’s the catch???

Xbox Live Gold Memberships will be going UP. A 1-Month will go from $7.99 to $9.99. A 3-Month will go from $19.99 to $24.99. A 12-Month will go from $49.99 to $59.99. These prices will take affect on November 1, 2010.

So get out there and stock up on the current priced memberships. What do you think of this???

-DarkIDefender

Just as the title says 10 minutes Firefight on the Outpost map in Halo Reach firefight. – via G4TV

Hey all, as you may or may not have heard on the most recent podcast I will be doing a Halo Weekly Update. Every Saturday or Sunday I will be posting one of these, so to make sure I’ve got all the kinks worked out when Reach actually releases I thought I’d start now. Continue Reading…

I know this will be my second Best Buy story this week, but used game discussions alway seem to find their way on our show. This weekend Best Buy will have nearly 600 stores accepting used games for store credit. Here are some details including an update via Joysitq. Continue Reading…

If your one of the people that got a invitation for the Kinect beta program and you have been accepted. Microsoft hopes you don’t like people! Because since they are using a new codec for the chat you will only be able to talk to other people that have the beta.

According to kotaku you will also lose stuff from your avatar because of the new avatars Kinect will be using, you’ll lose any avatar marketplace purchases, as the old cloths don’t fit the new characters. Presumably, these would all come back in November once they’d been re-tooled.

Here is the official word from the beta agreement:

While we strive to provide full compatibility with others outside of the pre-release program, there is one audio change planned that will prevent you from performing party or individual chat with people not included in the pre-release program. Note – this will be addressed when we officially release Kinect to the world. Game chat is expected to function as usual and should not be impacted by this change.

Seems like some people already got the accepted so if you haven’t been there is not much hope left that you will be

So are you unhappy about the sound quality? Probably not, but if you are its going to be a problem of the past soon, here is what the interview of eurogamer said about it:

“The refresh, designed to coincide with the launch of Kinect, will upgrade the codec and audio infrastructure that underpins the quality of voice communication from Xbox 360 to Xbox 360, and should make for clear chat between gamers when they play online, Xbox Live Studios boss Jerry Johnson said at the Edinburgh Interactive Festival this afternoon.

The codec we used when we first launched was a low bit rate codec and we stuck with that,” Johnson explained.

“We launched and we said we required broadband. We required a 64k connection, which not many people think of as broadband any longer. But that was the minimum requirement to run the service at the time.

“It’s time for us to move on. Especially if we want to think about broadening – a crackly headset on the top of your head – not what people think of when they talk about popular entertainment.”

Two live action shorts for Halo Reach have been released one taking place before the Battle of Reach, and the other during. Warning mild spoilers are present in the deliver hope trailer, assuming that it actually happens in the campaign, so watch at your own risk.
Also don’t forget to visit Remember Reach to place your point of light in the Noble Team memorial (Facebook login is required to place your point).

One of my favorite stores is giving away gift cards if you buy any 2 games or accessories. Please see the details via joystiq below…

Best Buy is offering a pretty sweet incentive to do your game shopping on its online store. The retailer will reward you with a $25 gift card when you purchase two games or accessories from its site. There’s no end date listed for the promotion, but there is a list you’ll have to choose your games or gear from. Don’t worry about having to pick from a crop of stinkers though — it contains 694 items, including all the big upcoming releases. Continue Reading…

Earlier this week Bioware’s Chris Priestly confirmed, via a forum post to Bioware’s Mass Effect forums, that the previously announced DLC Liar of the Shadow Broker will be released on September 7, 2010 for 800 Microsoft Points. This DLC will have Commander Shepherd and Mass Effect 1 squad mate Liara T’Soni confronting the Shadow Broker.

-a BlG gabers

Some time ago, Microsoft released Halo: Reach on games on demand for review purposes. Only people with a code could download it. The problem being that there are people that want Halo: Reach more them Microsoft wants them not to have it. So servers got compromised  and Halo: Reach was stolen.

Only a fool would download the game and play it online but for those who did the banhammer did not take long to find them.

Aside from console bans, Microsoft is also suspending gamertags who are seen playing it:

“Xbox LIVE
Notification of Permanent Suspension: Prerelease title play

This email is to notify you that your Xbox LIVE account privileges have been permanently suspended due to illegitimate prerelease title play.

Your conduct was brought to the attention of the LIVE Enforcement Team through the course of our operation of the service. The LIVE Enforcement Team has reviewed the evidence regarding this conduct and determined it violates the Xbox LIVE Terms of Use and/or Code of Conduct. Because your conduct is in violation, the Xbox LIVE Enforcement Team has issued a permanent suspension.

During your suspension, you will not be able to log into Xbox LIVE. Your Xbox LIVE privileges will not be reinstated.

Customer Support is not able to modify or provide any further details about your suspension.

Microsoft expects that all customers abide by the Code of Conduct. The Code of Conduct provides guidelines for appropriate behavior while using the service.

You can view the Xbox LIVE Code of Conduct from the Xbox LIVE Dashboard under Xbox LIVE Policies in Account Management, or by visiting http://www.xbox.com/live/codeofconduct.htm.You can view the Xbox LIVE Terms of Use by visiting http://www.xbox.com/live/termsofuse.htm.

Note: if you are not a user of Xbox LIVE, this suspension may have been enacted due to your activity in the Zune Social. You can view the Zune Social Code of Conduct by visiting http://www.zune.net/legal/codeOfConduct.htm. You can view the Zune Social Terms of Service by visiting http://www.zune.net/legal/termsofservice.htm.

Thank you,
LIVE Enforcement Team”