Red Dead Redemption pre-order bonuses announced
Red Dead Redemption’s many, many pre-order bonuses are now detailed on the game’s official website, and we can’t imagine anyone will be prepared for the barrage of options listed when you click that link. No less than eight different pre-order bonuses, split between ten different US and UK retailers have been dreamed up by marketing. In typical Rockstar fashion, the practice of “exclusive” bonus content has become excessive bonus content.
Among the options listed are the “Golden Guns Weapon Pack” (more “Fame” per kill), from Amazon, which also comes with a $10 Amazon gift card; the “War Horse,” a steed that Rockstar claims can’t be bested by any other horse in the game, only available from Best Buy and HMV; and the “Deadly Assassin Outfit” from UK retailer Game (and maybe GameStop, if the getup wins the vote — uh-huh, there’s a pre-order vote). So yeah, we’re going with the Amazon option, too.
Red Dead Redemption pre-order bonuses announced originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 10 Feb 2010 12:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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PSA: Original Xbox games’ DLC already offline
Plans to disconnect Xbox Live services for original Xbox games have apparently already begun, as DLC servers for Xbox titles have been quietly taken offline. According to numerous forum threads and our own tests of an assortment of Xbox titles, attempts to download original Xbox game content are now fruitless. Each title tested yielded the message: “Could not download content list. Please try again later.” (The image above was taken from our test of Halo 2.)
Last Friday, Microsoft announced online support for original Xbox titles would be discontinued on April 15, but made no mention of disconnecting DLC servers earlier than that. Some forum users claim that the DLC servers for Xbox titles were taken offline as soon as the announcement was made last week. So, if you’ve continued to put off your infiltration of the Kola Cell in the original Splinter Cell, you’d better have already downloaded the mission.
[Thanks, Bren]
PSA: Original Xbox games’ DLC already offline originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 10 Feb 2010 14:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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X3F TV — XBLA in Brief: Darwinia+
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X3F TV — XBLA in Brief: Darwinia+ originally appeared on Joystiq Xbox on Wed, 10 Feb 2010 15:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
ESRB lists Freekscape for PSP Minis in the US
Creat Studios, one of the few proud and brave developers supporting Sony’s PSP Minis service, recently announced in a PlayStation Blog post that it had three titles in the works for Europe: Alien Havoc; Freekscape and Bubble Trubble. Alien Havoc is already available here in the States, but a recent ESRB listing suggests that Freekscape is also on its way.
The ESRB site describes Freekscape as “a platformer game in which players run around a “cartoony” version of the underworld (“Hell”) as a small demon creature, essentially a “good” devil.” You can check out a two-minute video sample of Freekscape‘s blend of puzzle-platforming after the break.
[Thanks, Blake]
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ESRB lists Freekscape for PSP Minis in the US originally appeared on Joystiq Playstation on Wed, 10 Feb 2010 16:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Metareview: BioShock 2
The return to Rapture may not be as universally exalted as the original adventure, but nevertheless reviewers tend to agree it’s a journey worth taking (again). The enchanting aesthetic of the game world appears to have remained intact in this sequel, which doesn’t veer far from the original’s tone, despite delivering a different message. So, would you kindly dive below and observe what critics have said of Rapture’s reemergence:
- IGN (91/100): “Anyone looking for a first-person shooter that offers more than flat, stereotypical characters and copy-and-paste supersoldier plots, one that attempts to establish a sense of right and wrong and loops you into the decision making process, and one that’s set in one of the most vividly realized settings around should pick up BioShock 2.”
- GameDaily (90/100): “Much of it looks and feels familiar, but 2K Games proved that there is a whole other side of Rapture worth exploring, as well as new and interesting stories to tell. Gripping, wondrous and at times horrifying, it’s a superb effort that opens the door for perhaps another game, but don’t worry about that.”
- GameSpot (85/100): “Rapture may not be as mysterious and intriguing this second time around, but it is nonetheless host to a powerful and moving tale that allows you to better realize — or pervert — [Andrew] Ryan’s principles at your own discretion. Regardless of whether or not this is a return visit to paradise lost, there is plenty to be found here to make it a worthwhile, meaningful, and compelling one.”
- Eurogamer (80/100): “Your passage through Rapture may not be a matter of free will – a challenge someone surely ought to take up with this series — but BioShock 2 argues even within the strictures of fate that mercy and compassion or bitterness and revenge ring loud enough to echo through the lives of those who follow. The result is a less openly provocative game than its predecessor, and one that will capture less attention, but while it may be damned for subtlety it is every bit as deceptive, and perhaps that’s the greater of the series’ illusions regardless of what else a BioShock sequel might have become.”
Metareview: BioShock 2 originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 10 Feb 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Schappert clarifies EA’s sweeping DLC and online strategy
During this week’s quarterly earning’s report, EA COO John Schappert answered an investor question with a somewhat vague but potentially far-reaching comment regarding the publisher’s future strategy for implementing online functionality into its games. “In fiscal 2011 [from April 31, 2010 to March 31, 2011], every one of EA’s releases will have an online component, both downloadable content and online play,” Schappert said, according to a VG247 report. CFO Eric Brown then cited Mass Effect 2′s Cerberus Network as the company’s “most recent example” of how this plan might manifest.
The obvious question: Does the plan apply to all platforms, including Wii, DS, PSP, and mobile? Schappert clarified to Joystiq today: “My statement wasn’t in reference to any specific platform as most of our titles are multiplatform and have different features per platform. Though you can expect our PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 titles to have very robust online features. Of course, depending on the title, this may extend to other platforms as well.”
While this clarification is not exactly the firestarter statement one might interpret from Schappert’s original comment, the plan still raises concerns — based on recent experiences — that EA games’ online components could continue to induce headaches so long as they are tied to EA.com accounts and the issues that have arisen as EA has increased its DLC efforts. If the plan is to include online components in all EA games in the future, then the wrinkles need to be ironed out of Project Ten Dollar now.
Schappert clarifies EA’s sweeping DLC and online strategy originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 10 Feb 2010 13:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
FIFA 11 to tackle online quitters by rewarding players that finish games
It’s the perfect Saturday. You’re rocking your team’s jersey as you settle onto the couch, a Shasta in one hand, bag of Fritos in the other, preparing to hit the pitch in FIFA 10. You head online, get yourself into a match and suddenly you’re up one-nil. And then, just as suddenly, your opponent quits. You go bananas, hurling your controller into the TV. Then your wife comes in and says she’s had enough and takes the kids to her mother’s. A month later, you’re divorced.
It’s a story we hear way too often here at Joystiq. Thankfully, EA is working on a way to punish these quitters — outside of rectifying the fact that they’ve wrecked your life forever — in the next series iteration, FIFA 11. EA Canada’s Simon Humber told Eurogamer these “rage quitters” are a “complex problem.” See, there’s a loophole in the game that allows players to quit within five minutes of starting a FIFA 10 match online, in case there’s a connection issue — but EA is looking for ways to keep players from exploiting that feature.
Humber says that EA is thinking about adding functionality to FIFA 11 that would reward players for finishing matches, rather than try to punish those that quit. As for the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2010 South Africa, don’t expect any changes: “We haven’t done anything different for this game as far as I know,” Humber said.
FIFA 11 to tackle online quitters by rewarding players that finish games originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 10 Feb 2010 17:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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