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• Rock Revolution setlist announced

  by Beau King August 5th 2008 11:42 AM CDT1 Comments

  When word first hit of Konami's rhythm based music game I laughed myself silly. Then like everyone else I forgot all about it. That was until this morning when a company insider sent Kotaku an e-mail detailing the game's setlist. Apparently it's not a joke. The game is to have a full outfit of instruments needed for anyone to rock out to its 41 songs.
  
  The number of tunes may seem lackluster, but the list contains some pretty good songs. Unfortunately we do not know if they're master recordings or garage band trash-ups. Also, quite a few of the songs have made their run or will debut in the competition's sets. The only way I see this one floating a sea of profitability is if it's heavily discounted upon release. Look to the jump for All The Small Things to we're Not Gonna Take It.
• Conquest mode coming to Battlefield: Bad Company

  by Beau King August 5th 2008 11:25 AM CDT1 Comments

  If like me, you're tired of one good squad dominating a match in Battlefield: Bad Company then hope's on the horizon. EA is releasing a new (actually old) mode for the title dubbed Conquest. Those not familiar to the franchise can think of it as a team deathmatch with strategic capture points. Each team has a certain number of tickets that dwindle as team members die or lose said strongholds.
  
  The mode will be available for free on August 7th via XBL. Considering EA's fleeting thought about making us pay for weapons I would say this is a pretty good move. Gold Rush can be fun, but it's not the same game us vets are used to. Finally some people may pick up their mics and use a little strategy.
  
• Microsoft price cuts: round two.

  by Beau King August 4th 2008 9:26 AM CDT1 Comments

  The relationship between the age of a system and its price is a beautiful thing. Unfortunately we're always too impatient to realize it. Nonetheless, those lucky few may get some reprieve in the coming months as another leak has sprung in the way of a price cut. Known already is the new 60GB model and its $299 price point. The leak however suggests a drop for both the Arcade and Elite versions.
  
  The less than stellar Arcade is rumored to hit sometime near September 7th at about $199 and the 120GB Elite will sell at $399. With each SKU being $100 apart from one another it may make sense to just spring for the next best; unless extremely strapped for cash. If you've waited this long however, you may just want to sit out the holiday season as even more bundles and specials are expected to hit the market.
  
  Look to the jump for some proof and a little more info.
• Avatars to be used outside the Dashboard

  by Beau King August 4th 2008 8:25 AM CDT0 Comments

  Pilfering through the weekly info concerning the Fall update I found something actually worthwhile. Xbox GM Eric Kilgore has recently gone on record to explain the flexibility of the Avatar through various media. He specifically states, "We think it’s really important that these things can scale between in game and out of game, and how we can use them on the web." That means anything from Facebook and MySpace profiles to in-game characterizations can be filled by the avatars.
  
  Rolling back the tide however, Kilgore says that for now these in-game versions of ourselves may only be used for non-violent games. So shooting your buddy in that bunny costume is out of the question. That aside, customizing and stuffing your avatar into the various internet safehouses you keep will be interesting.
  
  Any wonder about the extent to which and how to customize has been kept aloft. Today however, X3f brings shots of some of the icons used to make and develop your avatar. The screens after the jump are merely a collage of these icons rather than an actual screenshot of the interface. What can be gathered though is how extremely cartoonish it all looks. I for one do not want to feel transplanted back to third grade when making my semi-awesome self portrait.
• Rumor: Infinity Ward developing Call of Duty 6

  by Chris Holmes August 2nd 2008 5:33 PM CDT0 Comments

  Gamespot is reporting that Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick confirmed "an all new Call of Duty" for 2009 in a conference call with analysts. What's more, he alluded that the title might be under development at Infinity Ward, simply saying that it will be "utilizing our leapfrog studio strategy". Infinity Ward haven't disclosed whether they are doing it or not yet, but apparently they have started their new project, whatever it will be.
  
  Treyarch is doing this year's version, World at War, taking the series back to WWII and bringing vehicles in as a key component across both the single and multiplayer parts of the game. The title is currently rumored for a Remberance Day November 11th release this year.
  
• Rumorbox: Halo Chronicles is in testing

  by Beau King August 1st 2008 4:26 PM CDT0 Comments

  Bungie Employees may be mum about projects in the pipe, but that certainly doesn't mean they aren't working on anything. A busy bee at Bungie (alliteration anyone?) has been spotted by someone at AddictGaming playing the game Robins Perch. In and of itself this remains cryptic. Thankfully however, more detail was spotted below the title reading Chronicles Alpha - Exploring Onyx.
  
  This may be a complete coincidence, but i doubt it. Halo Chronicles has been running around the rumor mill for a while. Only, no official word on a plot has been released. Speculating for a minute at this little phrase above may point to a Halo game much like Mass Effect. The Covenant and Flood were most likely spread across the stars; meaning that our friendly Spartan may have been needed to put out fires elsewhere.
  
• Doom 4 announced along with Rage details

  by Beau King August 1st 2008 3:57 PM CDT0 Comments

  Barring a horrible film adaptation; the DOOM franchise holds a pretty respectable seat in the halls of gaming. First and foremost a PC celebrity, the title has always impressed us with how much gore can be stuffed into a video game. Other variations have surfaced through the years on consoles, but with a dud like effect. Now that consoles rival the PC in terms of graphical quality id has hit the next gen market running.
  
  At this years Quake-Con the developer has confirmed DOOM 4 and released more information concerning Rage. CEO John Carmack doesn't offer that much about DOOM beyond the usual. In fact, he states that "There will be guns, blood, demons, and gibs". Nothing new there. What is really of interest is his hypegasm of Rage. He touts that the game will be most spectacular on PS3 and PC because of their storage capacities. The 360 however will be offered in a slightly diluted matter as even two discs won't hold enough information to keep up with the other formats. Ergo, a tradeoff was made. We still get the game, only crappier to look at.
  
• XF Shout: Columnist days and reviews info

  by Steve Wysowski July 31st 2008 5:24 PM CDT0 Comments

  As you guys have probably noticed, our columns have quickly become XboxFocus' most popular feature. While the columnists have all been doing a great job, I wanted some more consistancy. So, I have decided to give scheduled days of the week to each columnist, and hopefully give you, the readers, something to look forward to each day. We're also adding Chris Holmes to the columnist team, and he will be both blogging with our news team and tending to his own column.
  
  Sunday: Six Rings In
  Monday: The Xbox Guy
  Tuesday: Running Riot & Outside the White Box
  Wednesday: Six Rings In
  Thursday: Steady Aim (Currently on hiatus) & The Overheater (New Columnist**)
  Friday: The Xbox Guy & Outside the White Box
  Saturday: Running Riot
  
  We're interested in hiring two more columnists to bring the team's total to eight. So, if you're interested, use the Contact Us page for more information. Also, our reviews system will be going through a bit of an overhaul: new writer, XBLA titles, a new system, and most importantly: more reviews.
  
• 60GB model had no real street date

  by Beau King July 31st 2008 1:13 PM CDT0 Comments

  Everyone loves a conspiracy. Which is exactly why so much hoopla exists around the various 60GB 360's popping up. We normally assume anything mentioned at E3 will come in the following months or year unless explicitly stated. And since Microsoft didn't say the higher storage models were set for immediate release; here we've sat on our thumbs as usual.
  
  Realizing the confusion, Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb has confirmed that retailers were able to sell the new models as soon as they got em. No conspiracy, no jumping the gun, and consequently no fines. Sorry folks. Good news is if you find yourself in the same boat as our very own Zack Rovinski; a worthy replacement model is now here.
  
• Facebreaker and Madden 09 demos hit Live

  by Chris Holmes July 31st 2008 11:22 AM CDT0 Comments

  Two new demos arrived on the Xbox Live Marketplace today, both from the frighteningly large house of EA; Facebreaker and Madden 09. Facebreaker is a cartoony overly-dramatic boxing game, completely inverse to EA's other boxing franchise, Fight Night. The demo surprisingly allows you to play as previous Microsoft bigwig Peter Moore, so if you feel like showing the world some tattoos, go and play that. Madden 09 speaks for itself, being yet another yearly addition to the financially successful American football franchise.
  

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