Criterion on why Burnout online needs HDD

Criterion has decided to clarify why Burnout Paradise requires a HDD for full online play on 360. They say that they wanted to create a game that was seamless between offline and online play and that they wanted to be able to extend the game with additional downloadable content. However it was not possible for all online players to show off new content when they go online because of the limitations of the 64Mb Memory Unit and its data read speeds. They talked to MS about possible solutions, however one was not available so they decided to use the HDD for full online play.

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In the interests of clarity we wanted to let you all know why Burnout Paradise requires a HDD for full online play on 360.

When we envisioned Burnout Paradise we set out to create an amazing open world experience in Paradise City, one that ran at a blistering 60Hz, that featured incredible vehicle deformation and importantly, one that was seamless between offline and online play. We also wanted to create a game that could be extended with additional downloadable content. We've made no secret of this fact and we see it as a great way to respond to how players experience Burnout Paradise by offering new content in the future.

It's important for us that all online players could show off new content when they go online and unfortunately it wasn't going to be possible to do this by supporting the lowest common storage denominator, the 64Mb Memory Unit, either in size or data read speeds. Crucially we also didn't want to split the playing community between those that have updated data and those that don't. We saw this as vital in maintaining simplicity to all online users; different players having different content packages wouldn't be able to play online with each other.

We opened a dialogue with Microsoft to attempt to discover a possible solution and all possible technical options were investigated to retain the seamless freedom of Burnout without requiring the HDD. Unfortunately a solution was not available and we decided together that it would be in the best interests of the Burnout community if we require the HDD for full online play.

We're disappointed that we are unable to offer Core users the complete Burnout Paradise online experience. However, Core users do get to access the online Road Rule gameplay where they can compete to see who has the best time or the best showtime score amongst their friends on each of the games 64 roads. Additionally they get access to the extended leaderboard content for this feature where they can view the Top 10 players amongst their friends on each road and see which car their friends used to set their fastest time or highest Showtime score. This is a great feature that allows players to compete against each other irrespective of whether they are actually online at the same time.

We hope that this answers all your questions,
The Burnout Team

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Ella Koon wears sexy cosplay outfit to promote Lost Odyssey

Chinese singer, actress and model Ella Koon dressed up as a character from the role playing game Lost Odyssey to promote the Xbox game today. Ella was asked if she felt if the outfit was too sexy, she said she felt that the dress was actually quite conservative and she enjoyed her cosplay debut.

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Asked if she felt that the outfit was too sexy, Ella said that she felt the dress was quite conservative and her 34D figure is actually only the same as many other girls. She revealed that she quite enjoyed her Cosplay debut, but said that she did not have the figure to carry off the dress that the other model was wearing.

Ella later said that the costume was rather uncomfortable and she had to adjust herself through the performance. She added that she had taken precautions to avoid revealing herself accidentally on the stage.

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Lawyer: MS put the cart before the horse with Xbox Live

MTV managed to have a chat with the lawyer who is suing Microsoft based on their lengthy Xbox Live outages. The lawyer stated that MS knew what was going to happen with the Xbox Live overload and if they didn't then they wouldn't have put out so many Xbox 360 unit's to start with thus proving MS's priorities were out of order. Moreover, he went on to comment they take money for subscriptions but don't make sure the service will be there and in the process put the cart before the horse.

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At least some gamers' hopes lie with Gibson, a consumer-fraud attorney who claims he's never lost a trial and who has recently been working on a case against coin dealers who allegedly suckered elderly collectors into bad deals (one of the alternate URLs for Gibson's law firm is coinfraud.com).

"When you have one person who is mad and they can't get a response, and they can't get their complaints addressed by a company like Microsoft, the only way to get their attention is in numbers," Gibson said. He said the company had to have known what was going to happen with the Xbox Live overload. "If they had not anticipated the sales, then they would not have put out that many units of the Xbox to begin with." Last week, Microsoft announced that Live had reached 10 million subscribers and claimed record-setting revenue for consoles sold in 2007, covering strong sales through the holiday season. Gibson said that proves Microsoft's priorities were out of order.

"They take the money for the subscriptions, but they don't make sure that the service is going to be there," Gibson said. "They kind of put the cart before the horse. To me, you make sure the service is going to be there. Make sure the product is going to be there. And then feel good about taking money for the service and the product."
Dennis said Microsoft could not comment on the lawsuit because the company has yet to be served. Gibson is in the process of doing so, after which Microsoft will have 20 days to respond to the suit.

Asked if any alleviation of the Xbox Live issues would nix the suit, Gibson said the damage has already been done and that he would proceed. He said he has received more than 500 e-mails from gamers, 10 percent of them mocking or questioning the lawsuit but the rest expressing solidarity. He said that more than 50 more plaintiffs have joined Kay, Smith and Perez in the suit.

"What they would like to see is Microsoft fix the problem," Gibson said. "They'd like to be reimbursed for the money they spent when they haven't received the service, and hopefully it will make Microsoft do the right thing in the future."

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K-mart employee who packed games in larger boxes and purchased them later busted

A 21 year old K-mart employee has been busted for stealing $7,000 worth of electronics by packing them in larger boxes and later purchasing the item. One of his significant thefts including stealing 30 DVD's, two Xbox controllers and ten games by putting them in a Crock Pot box which he bought a few days later. Other instances of theft included packing in a camcorder, 10 value games and 10 movies in a toaster oven box which he went on to purchase a few days later.

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Gustafson was arrested Thursday after admitting to the thefts in an interview with a loss prevention officer at the store, 2633 S. Business Drive.

Gustafson told police he started taking sodas from K-mart in August, and in December moved up to electronics. In his first significant theft, Gustafson took 30 DVDs, two Xbox controllers and 10 Value games, concealing them in a Crock-Pot box that he bought a few days later.

A week later, he took a camcorder, 10 Value games and 10 movies in a toaster oven box, which he similarly purchased a few days later.

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Benq iXtreme v1.41 released

Xbox 360 firmware hacker C4eva has released a new build of his hacked firmware for the Benq VAD6038 Xbox 360 DVD drive. This new build includes a read sector fix and 8x firmware dashboard speed fix. Read more about it here.

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Job listing suggests L.A. Noire is no longer a PS3 exclusive

A job listing for Team Bondi regarding their title L.A. Noire which was previously believed to be a PS3 exclusive indicates that Rockstar has had a change of heart and is bringing the title to the Xbox 360 as the listing denotes both the PS3 and Xbox 360 platforms.

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Big in 2008 - Xbox 360 Ultimate?

According to Stuff Magazine, a rumored Xbox 360 Ultimate SKU is set to hit in Autumn 2008. This 'PS3 killer' will benefit from three years of Xbox development, featuring 1080p HDMI output, built in WiFi, hi-def audio output, cooler architecture and a near silent fan. It'll also have a built in HD-DVD drive and take advantage of IPTV services with a 320GB hard disk.

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This PS3-killer will benefit from almost three years of Xbox development, featuring 1080p HDMI output, built-in Wi-Fi, hi-def audio output, cooler 65nm hardware architecture and a near-silent fan.

It’ll also have the ability to make the most of the by-then established Xbox IPTV service, which will mean recording TV shows to its vast 320GB hard disk and watching live TV shows via your broadband provider.

But the piece de resistance? It’ll have a built-in HD DVD drive. Let Round 12 with the PS3 commence...

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Xbox 360 games fail to make a mark in Japan

Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu has published the Xbox 360 top 50 lifetime sales of games in Japan since its launch up until December 9th. The top selling title was Blue Dragon with 203,740 units followed by Dead or Alive 4 with 108,618 units and Ace Combat 6 with 83,045 units sold. The total sales total of the top 50 Xbox 360 software titles combined is 1,818,924 units.

Xbox 360 top 50 game sales totals in Japan

1. Blue Dragon - 203,740
02. Dead or Alive 4 - 108,618
03. Ace Combat 6 - 83,045
04. Halo 3 - 82,987
05. Ridge Racer 6 - 73,501
06. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - 72,274
07. Trusty Bell - 70,244
08. Gears of War - 68,270
09. Dead Rising - 68,078
10. Lost Planet - 61,555
11. DEAD OR ALIVE Xtreme 2 60544
12. Lost Odyssey - 60,376
13. Idolm@ster - 48,695
14. Dynasty Warriors 6 - 44,292
15. Assasin's Creed - 41,436
16. Ninetynine Nights - 38,019
17. Forza Motorsports - 2 31,255
18. Rumble Roses XX - 29,187
19. Crackdown - 28,588
20. Culdcept Saga - 27,960
21. Earth Defense Force 3 - 27,087
22. Perfect Dark Zero - 26,085
23. Test Drive Unlimited - 25,788
24. PGR3 - 25,058
25. Beautiful Katamari - 24,186
26. World Soccer Winning Eleven X - 21,904
27. Armored Core 4 - 21,096
28. Dead Rising (Xbox 360 Platinum Collection) - 20,325 (total sales 88,313)
29. [eM] eNCHANT arM - 20,233
30. Saint's Row - 18,593
31. Rainbow Six Vegas - 18,592
32. Oneechanbara vorteX - 18,443
33. Need for Speed Most Wanted - 17,973
34. Bulletwitch - 16,241
35. Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 - 15,994
36. PlayOnline/Final Fantasy XI All-in-One Pack 2006 - 15,754
37. World Soccer Winning Eleven 2008 - 15,090
38. Idolm@ster (Xbox 360 Platinum Collection) - 14,864 (total sales 63,559)
39. Earth Defense Force 3 (Xbox 360 Platinum Collection) - 14,707 (total sales 41,794)
40. Final Fantasy XI Wings of the Goddess Expansion - 14,412
41. Call of Duty 3 - 14,194
42. Virtua Fighter 5 Live Arena - 13,169
43. Chrome Hounds - 13,110
44. Tenchu Z - 12,974
45. Project Sylpheed - 12,283
46. PGR 4 - 12,237
47. Viva Pinata - 12,184
48. Godfather - 11,670
49. Dynasty Warriors 5 Special - 10,957
50. Bulletwitch (Xbox360 Platinum Collection) - 10,857 (total sales 27,098)

News Source: Neogaf

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Halo Wars dev: We've got magic in the disk

Speaking in a recent interview regarding the progress of Halo Wars, the lead designer Graeme Devine was asked why he thinks Halo Wars may be one of the biggest games of 2008. He responded by stating that they have magic on the disk and that they worked the controls, gameplay and the story of the game being very aware of what has gone on before their game.

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“I think we’ve got magic in the disc. We’ve worked on the controls, gameplay, and story for this game being very much aware of what has gone before us. I was down in playtest yesterday and actually did not get to sit down and play because folks were spending their lunches playing the game. I know we’re doing well when that happens. More than that, I believe we will be huge not just because I believe, but because when we put the controller in your hands, you will believe too.”

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Mistakes of 2007 that game companies should avoid for success in 2008

Doug Elfman of Kansas City indicates that if video game companies want success in the year 2008 then they should look at at the failures of 2007. The failures that they should be keen to avoid are - Maddening fumbles, game testing falling short, Xbox 360's RRoD, meager marketing for 2008, rechargeable batteries stink and poor web surfacing on console based platforms.

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•Maddening fumbles: “Madden NFL 08” looks beautiful. It plays sweet, mostly. But “08” came with more fumbles and interceptions than ever. Defenses are beefed up. Offenses have buttery fingers. This makes things more realistically challenging, because you can’t toss ill-advised passes without repercussions. Fine. Sure. Whatever. I haven’t played “Madden” much. Don’t plan to.

•Game testing fell short: Before a game is released, testers play through them, of course. But not only did testers drop the ball on “Madden” fumbling, they didn’t find troubles with a few other big titles. (Or, possibly, game designers didn’t listen enough to testers’ complaints.) The most disappointing experience of 2007 came in “Spider-Man 3,” a downfall that should have been caught during the testing process.

It’s great fun until halfway through, when it becomes unfathomably difficult. I’m a moderately hard-core gamer, and I failed for hours to beat some big bosses. I threw the game on the ground, angry as a shaken hornet.

People in charge: A hard level is fun; an impossible one in a mainstream game kills sales

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