Xbox Live Activity - May 9

This being the first post, I shall explain what these mean. Basically, it's a table of the most played games on xbox live (i.e playing Alan Wake whilst signed in to xbox live). I hope to do stuff like this on a regular basis.
So here's a surprise - Black Ops is top again. *gobsmacked*. That over and done with, the Gears of War 3 Beta came 5th all in all. Not bad considering you had to either pre-order or buy Bulletstorm epic edition.
In XBLA, Gatling Gears had a solid debut at 6th, with portal at 4th place, despite being released 4 years ago. In indie games, The Impossible Game and I made a game with zombies maintain popularity at 2nd and 8th respectively. If you want the whole table, click here - courtesy of Major Nelson.

L.A Noire Achievements Unlocked

Attention detective! We've detected an achievement list of some sorts, says it's for L.A Noire, maybe you should take a look. So far we discovered some story related achievements, a 100% achievement and some collectible achievements. There are 10 or so secret achievements but because there, y'know secret. Most of them are 15G, with one being 70G, and our team is guessing they are storyline achievements.

You can find the achievement list here.

Achievement list courtesy of x360a.org.

L.A Noire will be ready for inspection May 17th in America & May 20th in Europe.

Limbo Review - Simplicity At It's Best



See the fog up in the air there?
Somewhat creepy.



When I put Limbo in my download queue, I noticed that it was only 105 mb, which is very small when put up against the big games of XBLA, but if you played just a small portion of Limbo, you'll know that it's all goodness compared to most XBLA games which just squeeze in under 2 GB limit. But in Limbo, everything is so simple. Limbo's black and white backgrounds are as powerful as Unreal Engine 3's. Limbo's silence is as tension filled as an orchestra by Martin O'Donnell. It's this simplistic nature that gives Limbo a certain, quality to the protagonist and the world around him.

Trials HD, Splosion Man & Limbo Getting Packaged For Retail

It seems that slowly, the downloadable and retail market walls are merging constantly, and this is no exception. This triple pack of arcade goodies will be at retail for $30 (which also includes a 48 hour xbox live trial & 160 microsoft points), which is $5 cheaper if you was to buy them individually. Unfortunately, this collection will only reach stores in Japan and the US. Sorry Europe, better luck next time. But let's not end on a low note, instead on a high one; the compilation will be sold at retail on April 19!

Portal 2 Achievements Unlocked

Valve have released the achievements for the sequel of the first person puzzler, Portal 2. Said achievements were produced by x360a.org, and the achievements are, as you'd expect from a Valve game, fun and rewarding, with references to past Valve games; the 'Bridge Over Troubling Water' achievement being a prime example, references to other games; the 'SaBOTour' achievement & other references; 'Stranger Than Friction' for example. You can get the achievement list here. 

The first Portal got many game of the year awards, and is packaged with The Orange Box; which is really cheap now. Portal 2 is coming out April 19 & April 22 for US and Europe respectively.

Goodbye Call Of Duty. Theres a new kid in town!

Long story short: Bulletstorm>Call of duty:Black ops (:

To be honest,I dont think I am alone in saying that, up to now, the call of duty franchise is getting old,tedious and downright boring.

MW2 was the last"oor-rah" in the franchise with the innovative pro perks,customisable killstreaks,more attachments, need I go on? However with black ops?

Diving and remote control cars? Seriously?.

Different maps and guns as is compulsory with any CoD.

Now, I've been an avid CoD fan and gamer since the CoD 4 days with my accumlative Call of duty prestiges about 30 but after double xp I just cannot be bothered with turtle beaches, RC-XD spammers etc.

Now Bulletstorm on the other hand, is a breath of fresh air in the whole concept of gaming.If you could dream of an explosive concept, chances are,you could do it. What between the explosive barrels, man-eating plants and charge shots on EVERY weapon including the leash's thumper.

*To the tune of the mcdonalds advert*

You want to shoot someone in the balls, and kick his head off? Theres a skillshot for that

You want to feed an enemy to a man-eating plant along with an explosive barrel? Theres a skillshot for that

You want to shoot a drill into a boss' stomach and kick it, shoot his helmet and leash his head clean off?! Theres a skillshot for that!

Basically, if you want to do what 90% of everyone has been doing for the last so many years and shoot, get points,killstreaks,dead and rinse and repeat for a year until the next game. Be my guest. However, if you want to actually enjoy every single individual kill, not get mad when you get owned, and kick people off cliffs then pick up a copy of Bulletstorm. I promise you wont regret it.

Besides, its good for Gamerscore/Trophies :L

Gears Of War 3 Box Art Revealed

Whilst we edge closer to the Gears Of War 3 multiplayer beta, Epic Games; the developer of the Gears Of War series, have released the final box art for Gears 3. The multiplayer beta will start sometime in April, with the full game set to rev up chainsaws on September 20th. Epic have (along with People Can Fly & EA) made the kill-tastic Bulletstorm which released yesterday (or 4 days ago if in the US), and if you buy the epic edition of Bullestorm you get early access to the Gears 3 beta.

Gears Of War 3 box art courtesy of CVG.

Coming Soon To Xbox Live Marketplace - February 21st - March 2nd

Another bi-weekly update from Major Nelson, with lots of savings on Tom Clancy games and 2 new XBLA games, a long awaited HD-ified update of Beyond Good & Evil and neat little arcade game Bejewled Blitz LIVE. Here's the list below:

Deal Of The Week:

Week of February 21 – Tom Clancy:

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 Co-op Collection, 200 points (50 percent off)

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 Co-op Collection 200 points (50 percent off)

Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Conviction Deniable Ops: Insurgency 400 points (50 percent off)

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter Chapter 2, 300 points (50 percent off)

Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. Air Supremacy, 400 points (50 percent off)
Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. 2 All-in-one Pack, 400 points (50 percent off)
Tom Clancy’s EndWar Escalation, 200 points (50 percent off)
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Chaos Theory, 600 points (50 percent off)
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Conviction Outfit, 200 points (50 percent off)
Week of February 28:
PAC-MAN Championship Edition DX, 400 Points (Save 50%)

Avatar Marketplace:
February 22:
Homefront Collection

Xbox Live Arcade:

February 23:

Bejewled Blitz LIVE - 800 Microsoft Points
March 2:

Beyond Good & Evil HD - 800 Microsoft Points

Dirt 3 Dated For May 24

Dirt 3, the off-road racer by Dirt 2 & F1 2010 developers, has been dated for a May 24 release date via EuroGamer. The May 24th date is also apparently worldwide. Back in November CEO for Codemasters Rod Cousens told Eurogamer "I don't think it does any good to publish in a congested period when everyone's putting out their shooters,". Rod also stated that Operation Flashpoint: Red River will also release in the 2nd fiscal quarter of 2011. Not much is known about Dirt 3, apart from the new Gymkhana mode & better graphics.

Black Ops First Strike Preview By Inside Xbox

With less then 3 days until the First Strike DLC is released for Black Ops, Inside Xbox talked with some Treyarch dudes (using fancy kinect video chat) about the new maps with gameplay garnished inbetween. Me personally, my favourite maps will have to be Discovery or Kowloon, due to the interactive enviroments.The First Strike DLC for Black Ops will launch on Xbox Live on February 1st for 1200 Microsoft points.