Gaming News

• Halo: What's The Big Deal?
  Neocrisis - Halo was Xbox's staple game in the early days. It was the driving force behind the success of the Xbox. Halo 2 solidified the Xbox's spot among the top game consoles, beating out the Playstation 2 in sales across the USA. Halo 3, being the newest release, and the supposed last installment of the Halo series, has enjoyed a ridiculous amount of success. According to Wikipedia, "Halo 3 grossed $300(US) million in its first week. More than one million people played Halo 3 on Xbox Live in the first twenty hours. As of January 3, 2008, Halo 3 has sold 8.1 million copies, and was the best-selling video game of 2007 in the US."
  
  
• 911 Call Describes Killing Over Stolen Xbox 360
  WHIO-TV in Dayton, Ohio has posted a video which includes portions of a 911 call in which a man reports that his roommate shot a man who was stealing his Xbox 360 and then hid his body in the basement.
  
  The 911 caller told a police dispatcher that 30-year-old Mark Burwell shot and killed 24-year-old Johnny Robert Hyde, Jr. as Hyde was in the process of pilfering Burwell's 360.
  
  Burwell, who is being held on a quarter-million dollars bail, has pleaded not guilty.
  
  
• Super Smash Bros. Rumble for the DS Homebrew
  Quote from MWGAMER.com
  
  "It has happend folks hell has froze over. Because today Super Smash Bros for the Nintendo DS is real! well sort of. A man known only as Fuzzy has made a remake of the popular game. As a homebrew title, the homebrew has a sweet GUI screen. Only Mario is availbile at the moment but the game plays well and has the abilty to be a great title. So Fuzzy keep up the good work."
  
  Head over to mwgamer.com to view the video
  
  
• Valve: EA is Not Evil
  "It is funny that you read the stories about EA being this evil empire or whatever; our experience has been completely the opposite. We see the folks as being very similar in terms of their mind set as we are and they are very adult, or progressive if you would like, about how they interfaced with us and how they can help and where their value is and their relationship."
  
  
• The Top 10 Boss Battles of Last Generation
  Thunderbolt writes: "Sometimes they're like a reward, sometimes they're more like a punishment, but most games feature boss encounters, to some degree, and often they incorporate the most spectacular and memorable parts of said game. Here is a rundown of what we think are ten of the very finest bosses to feature in games on the PS2, GameCube and Xbox:
  
  10. Crimson Helm ? Okami
  
  Following the template Zelda has all but perfected over the last couple of decades, Okami is abundant with bosses waiting at the end of dungeons to challenge you and test your Celestial Brush proficiency. Far from the toughest, but arguably the finest of the bunch is this monstrous beast. Coated in flames, heavily armoured and wielding a pair of swords each sizeable enough to eviscerate heroine Amaterasu, this brute's bark may be worse than his bite but he's still the most brilliantly-designed and enjoyable boss encounter in a game full of them."
  
  
• Game Releases for the Week of July 6, 2008
  Highlights this week include Nancy Drew: The Phantom of Venice (PC) Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution (Xbox 360/PS3/Nintendo DS), Unreal Tournament III (Xbox 360), and Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon (Nintendo Wii).
  
  Check out the full list of new video game releases (USA) for the week of July 6, 2008 on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Sony PS2, PSP, Nintendo DS, and PC!
  
  
• 4 Games We Want Hideo Kojima to Work on After Metal Gear Solid
  GWN.com: "We take a look at four Hideo Kojima games that we would like to see resurrected."
  
  
• Play Super Chuck Norris Bros.
  Ripten's Chad Lakkis writes:
  
  "The "Super Chuck Noris Bros." teaser first appeared on YouTube in 2006, and the gaming world must have known it would only be a matter of time before a playable game surfaced on the web. The following demo video will give you a glimpse at the chock full of chuck experience that is Super Chuck Norris Bros. Watch the it and download the actual game after the jump."
  
  
• Diablo 3: The Wait
  A writer explores through words on how the fans of the Diablo series have been waiting for its sequel for almost a decade and he talks about how it could live up, or possibly even fail to live up to the expectations of millions of gamers, both old fans and new.
  
  
• The Internet Hates Diablo III
  One of the Internet's most well known websites, SomethingAwful, has commented on the recent upsurge of hatred against Diablo III's art direction with a humorous article about that very subject.
  
  Its author rails against those complaining with comparisons between his opinion and the opinion of "the internet".
  
  
• Top Five Patriotic Games of All Time
  Ripten writes:
  
  Happy 4th of July, everyone! On this special day, many get together for barbecued hot dogs and burgers before setting up chairs on the lawn to watch the fireworks. However, if you're like some of us here at Ripten, it's simply another day to play videogames. So, keeping the holiday spirit in mind, hit the jump to check out the top five patriotic games of all time.
  
  
• StarCraft Game Development, Interview With Dustin Browder
  StarCraftWire.net recently posted an Fansite QA with Dustin Browder from earlier in celebration of their website launch, and have continued to post updated information from the Blizzard WWI 2008 in Paris. The most recent published article is an interview with Dustin Browder, where they talk about the Map Editor, map protection, modding, extra races, the complicated Mothership, the Queen and much, much more.
  
  Anyone interested in the future of StarCraft II or the current developments of StarCraft will probably find it an interesting read. The drawback of the length is made up by the in-depth answers.
  
  
• Why do videogame movies nearly always fail?
  TVGB: "Videogame movies go back a long time. It kind of started out with the movie Cloak & Dagger, which was released simultaneously with the Atari arcade game back in 1984, and have come a long way since then in terms of budgets, qualities and advertising, but somehow they always seem to flunk out. Why is this, really?"
  
  
• Valve: PC Market is Not Dying, PC Retail in America is
  "We have really been outspoken lately about that. There is this broken story about the PC being on the decline, right? And that is one of these things like that we are really sort of being cranky about right now and being outspoken about and saying, it is not the PC market that is dying, it is the PC retail in the states that is dying."
  
  
• Stream netflix movie rentals to the xbox360
  Learn how to stream your netflix video to your xbox360.
  
  
• Spore Spawns Mario's Worst Nightmare
  Spore's population of creatures continues to steadily rise since the game's Creature Creator was released just a few weeks ago. GamesRadar have already taken a look at how freaky Pokemon invaded Spore. But today it's all about Mario.
  
  From badass Bowsers to busted Bob-ombs, check out the most awesome and awful clones of Mario's most memorable foes.
  
  
• Bungie's next project, something to do with a Superintendent?
  Neogaf writes:
  
  For those not following the past few months of Bungie Updates, or the giant Halo 3 mega thread, Bungie appears to have been dropping a series of hints about their first post-Halo project. Today three more iterations of the teasing showed up, so in the interest of keeping the discussion out of the Halo threads - since it's pretty clearly not Halo related - I've compiled all of the hints that have been spotted so far.
  
  
• Should Male Characters In MMOs Be Stronger Than Females?
  MTV Multiplayer writes: "Last month, some "Age of Conan" forum members discovered that female characters in the MMO swing their weapons slower than males, causing them to do significantly less damage over time.
  
  Developers at Funcom stated earlier this week that they "never intended for any character to be stronger/weaker than another based on its gender." They said the fix will be coming in the next several weeks.
  
  Reading about this topic on a few other gaming blogs, I noticed a few comments from people who thought there should be differences between male and female avatars in terms of physical abilities. Here's what I found:"
  
  
• Gaming Deals of the Week: July 4th Edition
  It's time to celebrate Independence Day with some great deals brought to you by Ripten. Here are some money saving tips that will leave you with enough cash left over to buy a few extra cases of booze this weekend.
  
  
• Full Bungie Day details released
  VG247: Bungie and Microsoft just put out a press release detailing everything gamers can expect from the developer on Monday:
  
  "The tradition of Bungie Day was born in part due to the significance the number 7 has played in all of Bungie's games over the years, including the "Halo" series (7 Halo rings, Master Chief is Spartan 117, etc.), and each year the developer makes a point to use this date to treat fans to something special ? usually new content, a free download or other surprise."