Rock Band for the Xbox 360 “allows gamers to perform music from the world’s biggest rock artists with their friends as a virtual band using drum, bass/lead guitar and microphone peripherals, in addition to offering deep online connectivity.” . .. allows gamers to perform music from the world’s biggest rock artists with their friends as a virtual band using drum, bass/lead guitar and microphone peripherals, in addition to offering deep online connectivity
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SEGA Rally Revo features “fully deformable surfaces, from gravel-littered tracks and smooth tarmac roads, to snow-covered mountain passes.” Videos after the break. Players can enjoy a comprehensive single-player campaign as they travel the globe racing the best drivers in the world. Sega Rally Revo also features online capabilities, with multiplayer splitscreen modes offering an extremely competitive rally experience against drivers around the world.
SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 12— Imagine your blender breaking down twice. The vacuum cleaner giving up the ghost three times. The espresso maker repeatedly going kaput. Then imagine replacing the item with the same model over and over while keeping your brand loyalty and sanity.
Stephano Nevarez can. Since he first bought his $400 Microsoft Xbox 360 in 2006, it has failed three times. Each time, he sent the game machine back to the company and waited weeks for a repair or a replacement.
“There’s nothing in the house that breaks down as much,” said Stephano, a 15-year-old high school student from Salem, Ore.
Yet he remains a devotee of his 360 console, the more so because he wants to play Halo 3, the latest iteration of a violent space epic due in stores on Sept. 25; it is available only for that game machine.
The game, published by Microsoft, could redeem the company going into the holiday selling season. Untold numbers of 360 owners have watched their machines break down, and then, in many cases, watched the replacement consoles do the exact same thing because of a severe and widespread manufacturing flaw.
But if the Xbox players keep coming back because of Halo 3, and if other gamers buy the console just for the game, then Microsoft could markedly improve its standing in its battle against rivals Sony and Nintendo.
“Halo 3 is Microsoft’s most important game,” said Dan Hsu, editor in chief of Electronic Gaming Monthly, a magazine for enthusiasts. Mr. Hsu, who has seen the game, said it delivers in spades, with one caveat: “Assuming your machine does work, it does what it sets out to do.”
The bar is high. Combined, Halo and Halo 2 have sold around 15 million units, making the series one of the most successful game franchises of all time. The game has spawned novels, comic books and a possible movie.
The $12.5 billion console and video game business is up for grabs this year. On the console side, Nintendo is off to an unexpectedly strong start with its Wii, a game system that makes its players get up off the couch and move their bodies to direct action.
It has well over 28 percent of the American console market, according to NPD Group, a market analysis firm. The Wii is currently selling at a faster pace than the 360, and the company is releasing its big games this fall, Super Mario Galaxy and Super Smash Bros. Brawl, though neither is as popular as Halo.
Sony, with about 14 percent of the market, was hurt when the release date of Grand Theft Auto IV, a game it was counting on to increase console sales, was pushed back from October into the second quarter of next year.
Microsoft, which has 57 percent of the market, has declined to say what is causing some of its Xbox 360 to stop working, or how many machines have been affected. It has set aside $1.1 billion for repairs, a figure that suggests to industry analysts that the problem could affect a third of the 11.6 million 360s already in the hands of consumers.
Microsoft has said that it will fix any faulty Xbox 360 free of charge.
The most likely explanation of where the engineers went wrong is that the 360s are poorly designed to deal with the intense heat generated by game play and that computer chips and other electronics may be popping off the motherboard, said Richard Doherty, an analyst with the Envisioneering Group, a technology assessment and market research firm.
Mr. Doherty said he thinks that Microsoft, in an effort to put is machine into the market a year ahead of the Sony PlayStation 3, had skimped on product testing. He said that the failure rate among 360s is almost unheard-of among consumer electronics, where having even 1 percent or 2 percent of machines fail is considered a major problem.
He has been doing surveys of video game consumers, and results suggest that their patience is waning and that news of the problems is dissuading some potential buyers, he said.
Even die-hard users, he said, are wondering why they cannot take their machine to a store to have it checked out, rather than wait for it to break.
“It’s dissipating a tremendous amount of momentum they built up prior to July,” Mr. Doherty said, referring to when Microsoft first publicly discussed its $1.1 billion repair fund. “This is going to get worse before it gets better.”
But some financial analysts said that the eventual damage to reputation and revenue may not be so profound. Evan Wilson, an equity analyst with Pacific Crest Securities, said he thought that Microsoft’s fix-it-free policy had mollified many avid game players who have been among the first to purchase the 360.
Aaron Greenberg, group product manager for Xbox 360, said the repair campaign is aggressive and that the company, while it is not discussing what has gone wrong, is not taking the failures lightly.
“It’s our equivalent of the Blue Screen of Death people talk about with Windows,” he said, referring to the derogatory vernacular used to describe what happens when a PC running Microsoft’s operating system mysteriously stops working
In the case of the Xbox 360, affected users have taken to calling the problem the Three Red Rings of Death. That’s because when the 360 dies, three lights on the front of the console blink red.
“It started getting really loud,” said Michael White, 27, of Montreal, a high school teacher, who said his system died in April. “You expect somebody’s expensive product to be more durable than that.”
Is he infuriated? Not really. “I’m a happy customer,” he said, given it only took three weeks to repair and he likes the games on the system.
Others are feeling slightly less generous — or, at least, their spouses are.
“My wife told me she didn’t want me to buy anymore Microsoft consoles,” said Joshua Bridges, an accountant in Spring, Tex. “But I told her I’m a huge fan of the games that come out for this platform.”
Chief among his interests is Halo 3. He said he likes the fast-twitch action, but particularly the story, which involves soldiers battling against an alien race called the Covenant for control of a destructive force called the Halo. Halo 3 is the last in a trilogy. When it comes out on Sept. 25, the avid fans will be waiting in line at video game retailers across the country. More than one million units have already been ordered.
For the last three years, a team of 250 full-time and part-time designers and engineers at Bungie Studios, the development house that is owned by Microsoft, have been assembling Halo 3, said Frank O’Connor, the game’s head writer. (He declined to say how much money they spent on the game).
Developers felt enormous pressure, he said, and he hopes this version will be the most popular ever, particularly given new features, like the ability of players to record and make short movies of the action they just played.
“Instead of being able to say: remember the time I did that one thing? Now they’ll be able to save it and show it,” Mr. O’Connor said.
One question is whether it can help Microsoft sell more consoles to mainstream consumers, or to those who may be concerned about the reliability of the 360 systems.
But there is little doubt the faithful will be there in force, and thrilled about it, having forgiven Microsoft for the flaws in its console.
“I’m on my third 360,” said Benjamin Lin, an 18-year-old Halo enthusiast from Seattle, “and it’s working great for me.”
Halo fans rejoice! Bungie, maker of Halo 3, one of the most anticipated games for Microsoft’s Xbox360, has just confirmed today that Halo 3 will have a not two, not three, but four person co-op in campaign mode, either through System Link or over Xbox Live. The addition of a four man team promises to open up heretofore unavailable strategies, resulting in endless possible tactical scenarios, according 
to the announcement. In addition to the Legendary difficulty mode, developers promise to reveal “more ways to make the game more interesting and challenging for multiple players in the very near future.” While split-screen co-op is still limited to only two players, two split screen games can link up to form the aforementioned four person game.
For fictional reasons, Bungie has decided to forgo the traditional compromise of multiple Master Chief characters; while the first play still controls the Chief, the second player will control the Arbiter, and the third and fourth spots will be filled by two totally new characters: N’tho ‘Sraom and Usze ‘Taham, both Elites. While cosmetically the players may look different, all characters will have the exact same abilities as each other.
From Bunjie .net
” The Truth About Co – Op In Halo 3
It’s time for us to sack up and tell you what’s what regarding online co-op.
So you were probably wondering why we didn’t want to commit to two player co-op online over Xbox Live. We certainly got plenty of mail asking, no, demanding that we make it happen. Of course we were working on it, but we were also working on something better. Not two player co-op. Not three-player co-op, but up to four player co-op. Online. On Xbox Live, or sure, System Link if you prefer.
That is correct – up to four player co-op in Campaign mode on Xbox Live or System Link.
We’ve been playing it for quite some time, and bluntly, having some of our greatest ever Halo experiences. We wanted to make sure all our “t”s were crossed and our “i”s dotted before unveiling this important new part of Halo 3’s Campaign mode.
Apart from the horrifying network challenges this new mode presented us, were the various gameplay balance issues it adds to the fray. So we got it all together, polished it, and that’s why we’re revealing it now. As a result, you’re going to want to play co-op as hard as you can stomach it. We’d certainly recommend Legendary, but we’ll be revealing some more ways to make the game more interesting and challenging for multiple players in the very near future.
Acting as a team is a fantastic new twist to the Campaign gameplay – something that works as well on foot, in close confines as it does on the battlefield, with large scale vehicle mayhem. Scared of Jackal snipers? Send out a scout to see what dangers lie ahead. Terrified of an open field? Flank your enemies and swipe their rides. The combinations and scenarios are endless – and you’ll be able to enjoy them time and time again in Saved Films of your co-op exploits.
We mentioned that we’ve been having a blast. We have a lot of stories. Many of them would require that we explain some of the reasons replay will be a big factor, but not quite yet. Soon, we promise.
Like every other aspect of Halo 3, this mode is chosen from a Lobby. Simply select Campaign, choose your network (Xbox Live or System Link) and invite your friends to join you, or they can simply join your session once it’s set up and in a lobby (but they cannot join a game once it’s in-progress). They will pop into your lobby instantly, and when you have all the players you need (anywhere from one to four) you can begin the game from the beginning – or from any of your saved checkpoints.
Split-screen co-op is as ever, limited to two players per screen – but they can if they wish join two other friends online or via System Link.
For fictional reasons, we decided to avoid Halo’s slightly surreal compromise of two identical Master Chiefs and rather, use this opportunity to expand the Halo universe just a little bit. Player one will control the Master Chief, player two will control the Arbiter and players three and four will get the chance to control two brand new Elite characters.
Allow us to introduce them:
PLAYER 3 (Sangheili)
Name: N’tho ‘Sraom
Affiliation: Fleet of Retribution/Special Warfare Group/Special Operations
History: N’tho ‘Sraom is the youngest member of his Special Operations unit and is one of a growing number of human sympathizers amongst the Sangheili youth. He is a fairly typical young male adult Sangheili—he began compulsory military service at the end of adolescence, and remains unmarried with no close, non-familial relationships outside of his martial order. N’tho Sraom refused to stand idly by while the Prophets replaced Sangheili units with Jiralhanae packs, and now bears deep resentment toward those Sangheili politicians who landed his kind in their current predicament.
Although N’tho ‘Sraom’s romanticized nationalism is emblematic of all Sangheili, he has developed a healthy respect for humanity—not for their physical abilities or martial prowess, but for their audacity and resolve.
PLAYER 4 (Sangheili)
Name: Usze ‘Taham
Affiliation: Fleet of Retribution/Special Warfare Group/Fleet Security
History: Although Usze ‘Taham was born into a respected merchant family he was fathered by Toha ‘Sumai—one of the preeminent swordfighters of this age. Usze graduated with honors from the top War College in the Iruiru region of Yermo, Sanghelios (a distinction he shares with Rtas ‘Vadum). Shortly after receiving his first post within the Covenant Navy he was offered a place on the Prophets’ Honor Guard but he declined citing “lack of practical experience”. In truth, he had no desire to be part of a largely ceremonial unit, and at the end of his third combat tour, Usze ‘Taham again refused the post—even though his superiors warned him such behavior could be misinterpreted as apostasy.
Since that time Usze has evaded countless punitive actions, at least two assassination attempts, and served with distinction for two additional tours before the Schism. Following the dissolution of the Covenant, he was approached by the Ascetics to become one of their liaisons within the Navy.
Every player will have identical abilities – only their appearance and weapon starts are different (Elites will start with Carbines versus Battle Rifles for example, depending on the mission). So there you have it. Mystery solved. Internet dramas ended. Four player online co-op it is. And a special thanks to the test, engineering, production and design teams who worked incredibly hard to make this feature happen.
Bam! “
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