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• Viva Pinata 2 achievements unveil 4 player Live co-op

  by Chris Holmes August 11th 2008 10:50 AM CDT1 Comments

  360Sync.com have got their hands on the achievement list for Viva Pinata: Trouble In Paradise, and one little 10 point one is pretty surprising. Called "Full House", the description reads "Play 4 Player Online Co-Op for 1 hour".
  
  If this list can be trusted, then this is excellent for fans of our paper-mache friends as previously it was thought that the game would only have 2 player offline co-op. The game will be released in the first week of September so get your shovel whacking ready.
  
• 60GB Premium 360s hitting Europe August 15th

  by Chris Holmes August 11th 2008 10:26 AM CDT0 Comments

  Microsoft has today announced that the new 60GB equipped Premium 360s will be coming to Europe, starting this Friday (August 15th) in the UK. These units will replace the 20GB model and will cost exactly the same, £199.99 or 269.99 Euros. It's not known whether retailers will do any clearance bargains with the 20GB units, but there isn't that much room for price maneuvering given the Arcade version of the console.
  
• Stating The Obvious: Why FFXIII Is Coming To 360

  by Gus Lanzetta August 11th 2008 9:10 AM CDT0 Comments

  Albert Pennello, Microsoft's Global VP of Marketing recently spoke with the guys over at MundoRare and spoke about pretty much everything while not saying much. One thing he did clarify was that Microsoft did not pay Square Enix for the port of Final Fantasy XIII and that they convinced the company only with their "install base and attach rate". Believe it or not, that is the most in depth statement we ever got from any side.
  
  Watch the full interview below.
  
  
  Summit In The City - Albert Pennello interview from MundoRare on Vimeo.
• Designer Talks About Creating The Art of Braid

  by Gus Lanzetta August 9th 2008 6:09 PM CDT0 Comments

  Braid was this week's Live Arcade title and beyond the discussions over its price, there was a lot of talk about the innovative gameplay and the stunningly unique visuals of the game.
  
  Behind the art of the game is David Hellman, the Art Director of Braid, who was actually hired when the game was almost finished from a functionality stand point, but brought a lot to the table and helped make it the game that everyone is talking about.
  
  Read THIS INTERVIEW at Gamasutra to get a really in-depth description of how Hellman took the game from this:
  
  to this:
  
  
  
• New Trailer Shows CoD: World At War's Co-Op

  by Gus Lanzetta August 9th 2008 6:00 PM CDT3 Comments

  Call of Duty 4's huge success is enough to create a buzz over its sequel, but the fact that the new game is going back to Treyarch's favorite war has a lot of us (including me) skeptical of the game's overall quality.
  
  
  If you're in that same boat, the trailer below may change your mind. Online Co-Op is something I believe we all missed in Call of Duty 4 and the new game brings that great engine back with some ultra cool fire and melting skin mechanics. But those damn WWII weapons still don't do it for me, how about you? Leave a comment.
• Xbox 360 sales in Japan "soar"

  by Steve Wysowski August 9th 2008 1:22 PM CDT0 Comments

  To say the Xbox 360 hasn't kicked off in Japan would be a vast understatement. The "westerners' system": has been failing in the far east, with consoles remaining on racks and software going unsold. Ever since last year's release of Blue Dragon, the Xbox 360's unpopularity had been leveled at a steady, low point. But finally, this month, life for the 360 in Japan emerged.
  
  According Punch Jump, sales of the Xbox 360 have risen for four consecutive weeks. Three weeks ago, 3,807 units were sold, two weeks ago that rose again to 4,941, and last week the figure rose peaked to 5,359. To boot, the 360 version of Soul Calibur IV cracked the top-ten software list, with 34,786 units purchased in it's launch week. It doesn't end with today, with such games like Tales of Vesperia coming out next week, and the trio of Square Enix games coming out in the next year; there is a lot fo hope from Microsoft's side that finally, the 360 is becoming a hot commodity in Japan.
  
  There is still hope, and with Final Fantasy XIII coming out for the console at some point (regardless of whether that's after the PS3 version or not), expect a lot more news like this to be heading our way. You can't really do anything but go up in this position anyway.
  
• Crackdown 2? Maybe Later

  by August 8th 2008 1:16 PM CDT0 Comments

  
  Crackdown was an awesome, awesome game and maybe you do not realize it because of limited brain function, but those of us who really loved the game and inpatiently await for a sequel got a bit of bittersweet news from a recent article on VG247.
  
  In an interview with Videogaming247, Colin Macdonald, of Realtime Worlds (the developer of Crackdown), talked about how the team regrets not starting work on a sequel right after the release of the game.
  
  To not develop a sequel "was a horrible, horribe decision that we still dwell on[...] But I don’t think the door’s closed. Obviously, right now we’re tied up with APB and everything else, but hopefully in the future we’ll have the resource and something can be worked out with Microsoft.” - Hear THAT Microsoft? Give us some free-roaming, slightly cel-shaded, free-roaming love.  More after the jump.
• Master Chief in Fable 2

  by Gus Lanzetta August 8th 2008 1:13 PM CDT1 Comments

  Just a small piece of interesting news. Looks like the Master Chief will be appearing in Fable 2, or at least his armour will be anyway. Though it's not identical, the developers have tweaked the design to fit in with the Fable 2 style and I admit it actually looks pretty cool. I don't find it cool because it's supposed to be MJOLNIR armour, but the design just looks good in its own right, except the fat ass buckle on his chest. The armour will be bundled with the collectors edition of the game, shame it's not as cool as the golden Lancer that Gears of War 2 is giving away.
  
• Gears Lancer replica revealed; Cats worldwide devastated

  by August 8th 2008 6:06 AM CDT0 Comments

  Amazon just released a batch of pics showing of their exclusive $139.99 replica lancer, and what do you know: it's full-sized. The lancer comes with a "free" standard copy of Gears, but for an extra ten bucks you can upgrade to the limited edition.
  
  Something tells me that since this is sold through Amazon you won't be eventually buying it for half of it's price like that cat-sized premium replica from that other popular shooter. Sign me up. Nothing says "disturbed youth" quite like a bloody chainsaw gun on your sidetable.
  
• EA: 'Madden Cover Won't Change'

  by Jereme Puik August 7th 2008 5:55 PM CDT0 Comments

  If any of you have clued into ESPN at all the past couple of weeks there has been a lot of drama going about betwen Quarterback Brett Farve and the Packers organization and whether or not he'll play. We'll as of this morning, Farve was traded to the New York Jets and Chad Pennington was released by the team only hours later. Big mistake or golden opportunity? We'll leave that for you to decide.
  
  Right now, however, we are here to discuss craziness and what will happen to the cover of this years Madden 09 title. MTV Multiplayer decided to find out what the deal was in this direction. Apparently EA Sports will not re-issue packaging for the game. What will they do though? Read more to find out...
  
  

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