XBOX 360 Canada once again invited the EyeCraveDVD.com crew to attend an X event where we get to check out, play, and talk all the upcoming games. As fun as X07 was X08 absolutely blew it away. The venue was awesome and we got our Gears of War 2 multi-player on. Get ready to pop into the full article.
The most anticipated games for Xbox 360 were on display with the man, the myth, the legend, the B, Cliff Bleszinski there to demo the sequel to the game that made XBOX 360 as successful as it has become. Yes, I’m talking Gears of War 2. Even though it was what I checked out first it will be what I talk about last.
As six hours was not enough time to check everything out I asked the wonderful Jade if we could stay during the community event and get our game on. Fortunately she obliged and Vern and I were able to play some of the games we only got to look at as we ran everywhere on the event floor to play what we could and interview who we could
Yes, I even managed to make a fool of myself and it was probably broadcast on TV, or will be at least. It was during Guitar Hero World Tour where I was selected to sing some Bon Jovi Living on a Prayer. I was doing alright, as I’m no singer (not even in the shower), when the rep from Midway, whom I’d met last year, said I wasn’t singing loud enough for her to hear me. Yup, you know what I did. I started singing louder and then out of nowhere a camera man is in my face with a big light recording my every off key word. Instead of playing shy I got even more into and a crowd, albeit a small crowd, started to gather. Jonathan also managed to run the camera and catch some of me tomfoolery on video.
That’s not the only time I managed to gather a crowd. Nope, I decided to check out the other singing, and even dancing games, which Vern also managed to capture on high-def video. However, the biggest crowd was when I was playing a dancing game for the first time and it happens to have been for a Disney tween version of DDR. I even busted a move while singing Bust A Move for Microsoft’s first singing game called LIPS. It will be coming with the first wireless mic for any console, and lights up and isn’t just for singing. You’ll see what I mean once we post the video.
Xbox also showed off it’s new dashboard. I know that some of you aren’t all that fond of avatars being integrated into the new dashboard at least we’ll be able to customize them for the games that already use them. I’m looking forward to playing some 1 vs 100 in the fall, at some undetermined point once the dashboard updates. We’ll have our video interview posted with Craig from Microsoft giving us the scoop. There were so many games on tap I wasn’t sure what to check out. Vern and I split up and ventured into to different areas to get as much as we could. He was able to check out games like Fallout 3, Battlestations Pacific, Rock Band 2, EA Sports titles and more. While I ventured off to check out Lego Batman, Tomb Raider Underworld, Viva Pinata 2, Scene It! 2, and score some interviews, which we’ll have plenty of to post over the next week.
Also, check out what Jonathan and Ryan wrote in the forums about each game they got to play. Once the media was kicked out Vern and I were able to get into he community portion and had more hands on time with some of the games we wanted to check out, but didn’t have time. I spent some time with Star Wars Force Unleashed on the same day the demo hit LIVE! The game is going to be phenomenal. I was also able to check out Spider-Man Web of Darkness and get some hands on time with the game I saw some video of at Comic-Con… at the Marvel party… where I met Stan Lee. The game is going to be fun as well, and I do like the way they move the camera to fit with the style of fighting in which you are engaged. Not only can you fight in the air and ground this time, you can also fight off the side of buildings for the first time.
I also was able to play some Mortal Combat vs. DC. I played as Batman and the Flash, and let me say this. I think the Flash will be a favourite of gamers worldwide. Let’s talk some Gears of War 2. Cliffy B, as he’s affectionately known around the web, walked us through some of the single player story. No pun intended, but the game looks incredibly epic. As in a movie quality epic. The game truly pushes the limits of what we’ve seen and makes Gears 2 look shockingly much better than the first version. Vern and I were also able to get in on some 5 on 5 multi-player action and it was a blast. While playing with the media I was a top player, but once the community showed up I might as well have packed it up and left, but I was able to chainsaw Cliffy B once… and only once.
We also hung out quite a bit with Sinnix, the artist who draws the 360 Prophecy comics for Xbox.ca and his posse, aka HotelQueen. Needless to say XBOX 360 has some incredible title rolling out this fall and early next year. Over the next week expect more video and more in depth coverage of all the games we got to experience.
