Battlefield 3 Beta Videos

Now that the Battlefield 3 beta is live on the Xbox 360 you probably want to see what you're getting yourself in to. While you wait for the massive 1.3GB beta to download why not check out some of the videos IGN.com has posted.

These videos are direct feed from the Xbox 360 and PC versions of the beta. One is a comparison video detailing some of the differences between versions. While the Xbox 360 version might not have the excellent DX11 lighting of the PC version it still holds up very well. Other videos include a shotgun spree on Operation Metro and even more gameplay goodness.

Look for more Battlefield 3 coverage very soon.

More Battlefield 3 Videos

More Battlefield 3 Videos

More Battlefield 3 Videos

More Battlefield 3 Videos

Syndicate Coming in 2012

From satellite tracking to GPS to geocaching, the world is hooked on technology. It’s not impossible to imagine a time when we slip one step further and move from external devices to internal…literally implanting chips inside people. Prosthetic limbs already prove that the relationship between organic and manufactured can yield incredibly positive results. So, why not CHIP technology? Maybe it really could happen. And if it did, would it be used for the greater social good or for corporate profit? These are the types of ethical and moral questions asked by EA’s cult classic game, Syndicate back in 1993. Now, on February 21, 2012, gamers will again contemplate these same questions as they play through an action packed, epic sci-fi shooter adventure in EA and Starbreeze’s remake of the game.

Set in 2069, Syndicate takes players into a dark, Machiavellian world where corporations are vying for market dominance with no government oversight. The people become the causality of this war as these corporations have the technology and power to influence the public via bio-chips installed in their heads. Syndicate blends fast paced action and futuristic settings with innovative chip breach gameplay to provide a unique and brutal sci-fi first person shooter experience.

In the game, players take on the role of Miles Kilo, Eurocorp’s latest prototype agent. Through DART 6 bio-chip technology implanted in their heads, gamers can dilate down time, see through walls, breach the digital world and enemies around them using a variety of upgradable hacking mechanics. Gamers that reserve Syndicate will receive The Executive Package at no extra charge, which includes unique perks for the game’s deep 4-player co-op campaign. Like every good executive, players with The Executive Package will be able to stand out amongst their friends as they flaunt their solid gold versions of all loadout guns, utilize golden dart vision, and showcase the executive gold Syndicate logos during co-op missions.

Major League Gaming Teams Up With Call of Duty

The MLG and Activision have teamed together to offer COD players a chance to recieve a free year of MLG Gold if they pre-order the game through the MLG Store. Those who pre-order the game will also recieve a chance to partcipate in an exclusive tournament.

Check out the full details below: The countdown to the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is on. To celebrate the launch, Major League Gaming (MLG) and PlayMonks have announced an exclusive pre-order/membership bundle. Beginning today, fans who pre-order Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (release date: November 8) through the MLG Store will receive free standard shipping to anywhere in the continental United States, a free full year of MLG Gold Membership, and automatic entry into an exclusive, members-only Gamebattles tournament with over $3,000 in prizes, all for $59.99.

MLG CEO, Sundance DiGiovanni, is also providing those who pre-order Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 through the MLG Store the opportunity to showcase their skills LIVE from MLG Headquarters in New York City at the “Sundance Invitational.” The 4v4 match will be played on Xbox 360 and streamed live on MLG.tv on November 8th in conjunction with the game’s official launch.

Couriers Stash & Gun Runners' Arsenal Now Available

Bethesda is very pleased to announce that Courier’s Stash and Gun Runners' Arsenal are now available for download on Xbox LIVE. So go grab them! Here are the highlights...

Courier’s Stash (Xbox LIVE for 160 Microsoft points) gives players immediate access to four content bundles previously available only through pre-ordering Fallout: New Vegas. The Caravan Pack, Classic Pack, Mercenary Pack and Tribal Pack each offer unique weapons, apparel and aid advantages that will help you throughout your journey.

Gun Runners' Arsenal (Xbox LIVE for 320 Microsoft points) increases the range of unique weapons, weapon mods, ammo types and recipes waiting to be uncovered in the vast Mojave Wasteland.

TXB Feature A Deeper Look at NHL 12's Be a Legend and Online

While digging through NHL 12, there are many new features to be found. We decided to take a closer look into one of the new features, while also seeing how the game handled online – secretly hoping that this editor didn't get (completely) embarrassed on the ice while trying to enjoy a game of hockey.

Read Our Features

Max Payne 3 "Pop Up" Trailer

Last week we got our first real look at Max Payne 3 after a long hiatus. Now Rockstar Games has released a revised version of the trailer showcasing some tidbits the casual observer may have missed. Did you spot everything the first time around?

Check out the trailer in the embedded player below. Max Payne 3 is due out in March of 2012. Stay tuned for more!

Arsenal Mode for CounterStrike Global Offensive

Valve today announced the new game modes for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS: GO).

Targeted for release via Playstation Network, Xbox Live Arcade, and Steam (for PC and Mac) in early 2012, CS: GO will expand upon the team-based action gameplay that it pioneered when it was launched 12 years ago.

Arsenal Mode is based on the popular Counter-Strike: Source mod Gun Game. "Arsenal: Arms Race" and "Arsenal: Demolition" add eight new maps and expand on the classic Counter-Strike gameplay.

Valve is working directly with creators of Gun Game to create Arsenal Mode. "We are excited that Valve reached out and is working with us to ensure Arsenal Mode is the best version of Gun Game.", Michael Barr project lead of Gun Game.

For more information, please visit http://store.steampowered.com/app/1800/

NHL 12 Sets Sales Record

EA Sports latest hockey simulator, NHL 12, hit store shelves just over a week ago and already the title has posted impressive numbers. The latest entry set a record for the franchise with 27 million $ in sales (all figures in USD). In terms of units moved EA reports that over 450,000 games were sold across North America and Europe.

"NHL 12 is our most exciting hockey game ever, with more than 300 gameplay improvements and the ability to play with some of the NHL's greatest legends." Andrew Wilson, VP for EA Sports.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time with NHL 12 while reviewing it last week. In fact I am still playing through it in Be a Pro Mode. Here is a quick excerpt from last week’s review:

NHL 12 offers a surprising amount of depth. Across the multiple modes – Be a Pro, GM Mode and Online especially – you could easily loose 100s of hours. Some of these modes do throw a lot of information at you, and if you're not well versed in Hockey statistics it may seem confusing, but overall each mode presents a unique and enjoyable experience.

Dark Souls Gone Gold

Namco Bandai today announced that Dark Souls has been approved for production for the Xbox 360, releasing in North America on October 4 2011, and Europe on October 7.

Spiritual successor to 2009’s critically acclaimed PlayStation 3 system exclusive Demon’s Souls – winner of GameSpot’s “Overall Game of the Year” and “Best PS3 Game”, and IGN’s “Best RPG for PS3” awards – Dark Souls is a new action-role playing game (RPG) developed by FromSoftware. Stricken by the curse of undead, gamers are abolished to the northern realms and must battle hideous demons and unimaginable monsters to collect souls and find the Eternal Flame of Life, which is losing its light, to survive and cure the curse of undead.

With tense dungeon crawling and fearsome enemy encounters, the seamlessly intertwined world of Dark Souls is full of extreme battles, rewarding challenges, nuanced weaponry and magic, and the flexibility to customize each character to suit any desired play style. The innovative online component allows gamers to draw from the collective experience of the Dark Souls community as they either help or sabotage each other on the journey through the Northern Realms to save the land from darkness. With a massive, seamless open world design, Dark Souls encourages deep exploration and an adaptable gameplay experience.

Worms 2 Armageddon Retro Pack Now On Live

Following last week’s free medley of mischief, the Worms 2: Armageddon “Mayhem Pack” on Xbox LIVE Arcade, Team 17 are kicking it old-school with the Worms 2: Armageddon “Retro Pack”, now available on the Xbox LIVE Marketplace.

The Worms 2: Armageddon “Retro Pack” features 20 single-player missions that have been hand-picked from the classic Worms: Armageddon game and re-worked exclusively for this downloadable content pack. The “Retro Pack” also includes 3 new hats, 3 new gravestones, a new “Retro” landscape theme and 5 new Achievements.

The Worms 2: Armageddon “Retro Pack” is now available on Xbox LIVE Arcade for 320 Microsoft Points.

NBA 2K12 Demo Now Available

2K Sports today announced that a free demo of NBA 2K12 is now available on the Xbox LIVE Marketplace. The demo allows players to relive this past season’s exciting NBA Finals and play one quarter as the Miami Heat or Dallas Mavericks. The demo showcases many of this year’s improvements, including an all-new post play system for full 360-degree player movement to dominate the paint, total shot stick control for more intuitive offensive moves, and updated visuals complete with dynamic broadcast-style pre-game highlight reels.

This year’s edition of NBA 2K, the top-selling and top-rated NBA video game simulation franchise, will allow players to take control of some of the most iconic names and teams in NBA history, such as Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Julius Erving, and put them head-to-head against other classic and modern-day teams to create NBA dream matchups and end the debate over the “NBA’s Greatest” once and for all.

Red Dead Redemption Myths and Mavericks DLC Available Now

The free Red Dead Redemption Myths and Mavericks Bonus Pack DLC is now available for download worldwide on Xbox LIVE.

This completely free Bonus Pack, a token of our appreciation for all the amazing Red Dead fans out there that have been playing the game since its release last year, injects a host of new fan-favorite characters from the single-player story into multiplayer, including legendary gunslinger Landon Ricketts, Deputies Eli and Jonah, Mexican Army Captain Vincente de Santa, outlaw Javier Escuella, rancher Drew MacFarlane, Native American informant Nastas and John Marston's weathered old ranchhand Uncle.

The Myths and Mavericks Bonus Pack also features a bevy of new multiplayer locations, including Cochinay, Nekoti Rock and Beecher's Hope and more, along with new Stronghold games in Armadillo, Tumbleweed, and Chuparosa (a full list of locations is listed below). To check out some screens from the new pack, click here.

Maps/Modes (bolded locations are brand new to multiplayer)
Cochinay – Gold Rush, Shootout, Gang Shootout, Stronghold
Nekoti Rock – Gold Rush, Shootout, Gang Shootout
El Presidio – Gold Rush, Shootout, Gang Shootout
Plainview – Gold Rush, Shootout, Gang Shootout
Gaptooth Mine – Shootout, Gang Shootout
Pike’s Basin – Shootout, Gang Shootout
Perdido – Hold Your Own, Grab the Bag
Benedict Point – Hold Your Own, Grab the Bag
Beecher’s Hope - Stronghold
Torquemada - Stronghold
Armadillo - Stronghold
Chuparosa - Stronghold
Rio Bravo - Shootout, Gang Shootout
Tumbleweed - Stronghold

Fruit Ninja Kinect and Toy Soldiers Top XBLA Titles For August

Exact sales data for the Xbox Live Arcade has never been released by Microsoft but that hasn't stopped those in the industry from speculating. Sales data may mean very little to your average gamer. Outside of a heated debate about a console install base when will these figures ever come up? Regardless Gamasutra believes that the top selling XBLA games for August where Toy Soldiers and Fruit Ninja.

Gamasutra analysed data collected from the leaderboards for all of August's new releases. According to their work Toy Soldiers Cold War was on top with 160, 734 copies. Fruit Ninja followed with an impressive 115,445 copies moved.

Did you pick up any of August's Summer of Arcade titles? It was truly a great month for downloadable games with the likes of Bastion and From Dust being released as well.

Orcs Must Die Gameplay Trailer

Robot Entertainment has released a unique interactive gameplay video featuring their upcoming Xbox LIVE Arcade game, Orcs Must Die! This demo video is the next best thing to playing the game! The video allows viewers to choose traps between successive waves of enemies with each choice changing the final outcome. The 30 possible avenues for completing the demo highlight the enormous variety of methods to kill orcs and defend your towers.

 

Fallout New Vegas Lonesome Road Trailer

Check out the hurricane-swept canyons of the Divide, a landscape torn apart by earthquakes and violent storms.

Watch the newly released (and awesome) trailer for Lonesome Road — the fourth game add-on pack for Fallout: New Vegas, coming out on September 20th. Props to our very own Salinee Goldenberg for her great work on all the New Vegas DLC trailers!

In Lonesome Road you are contacted by the original Courier Six, a man by the name of Ulysses who refused to deliver the Platinum Chip at the start of Fallout: New Vegas. Ulysses promises the answer as to why he didn’t take the job, but only if you make one last journey into the hurricane-swept canyons of the Divide, a landscape torn apart by earthquakes and violent storms. It’s up to you whether you take the job or not.

Lonesome Road will be available next week for download on Xbox LIVE.

 

Gears of War Universe Timeline Revealed

The Gears of War universe has a rich backstory, but most gamers don't know the precise details of the story leading up to the events of the first Gears title, set some 14 years after the emergence of the Locust horde.

Now Epic Games has given fans the chance to delve further into the series' backstory, as Gears of War 3's launch date fast approaches. You can track the history of Sera, and the main characters in the Gears series, right from the Pendulum wars almost a century before the first game, right through to Emergence Day and the sinking of Jacinto.

Click here to begin exploring the Gears timeline. Gears of War 3 launched worldwide next Tuesday, September 20. We'll have a full review for you soon.

Final Fantasy XIII2 Development "90% Complete"

Development on the upcoming Final Fantasy XIII-2 is nearing its conclusion, according to reports from Adriasang. FFXIII-2 director Motomu Toriyama, the game is 90% done and on track for the for release in the previously-announced "December" timeframe.

The developer also dropped a pretty big hint that the specific release date would be announced at the Tokyo Game Show between September 15 and 18.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 is the second direct sequel in the series' 24-year history. Recently rumors emerged suggesting that a third instalment to FF-XIII's story may be in the works, based on recent domain name registrations by Square Enix.

Dead Island Tops UK Xbox 360 Charts

TechLand's zombie-infested Dead Island hit the top of the UK games charts last week, according to the latest set of figures from British charts monitoring firm Chart-Track.

Relic's Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine made its debut at #2, knocking last week's first second place games, Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Driver: San Francisco to fourth and third place respectively.

Over on the multiplatform charts, Dead Island and Space Marine fared similarly well, also taking the first and second place spots.

Here's your Xbox 360 top five for the week ending September 10. Hit up Chart Track for the full top 40. Dead Island Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine Driver: San Francisco Deus Ex: Human Revolution Rugby World Cup 2011

Rock of Ages Review

As simple pleasures go, you can’t get much simpler than smashing things with a rock. It’s a past-time that humans have enjoyed for millenea, and now Chilean developer Ace Team has brought it into the 21st century in its delightfully silly and highly stylized strategy game, Rock of Ages.

Click here to read our Rock of Ages review

Deus Ex Human Revolution DLC Hits In October

Square-Enix has announced that The Missing Link, the upcoming DLC pack for Deus Ex: Human Revolution that promises to fill in a story gap, will be hitting digital download services in October.

The contents of the DLC, which sees Adam tortured by Belltower, was previously leaked and promises new environments, characters, and the power to respec Adam's augmentations.

You can also find our Deus Ex: Human Revolution review right here.

Original Crysis Announced For Consoles

Crytek today confirmed recent rumors, announcing that the original PC hit Crysis is being ported to the Xbox 360 and PS3, promising new features such as better lighting, new visual effects and more. It will be a downloadable title available via Xbox Live and Playstation Network.

Crytek also released a trailer for the game, containing footage taken from the Xbox 360. The game's gameplay and graphics look fantastic, but what's even more impressive? The release date -- October 11th, 2011.

It's unclear if multiplayer will be apart of the game or not -- but with a launch date so close, be sure to stay tuned to TeamXbox as more information about Crysis is revealed.

Xbox Live Deal Of The Week Bad Company 2 DLC

If you're looking to warm up your Battlefield skills before BF 3 hits, this week's Xbox Live Deal of the Week is for you.

For a week, Gold subscribers get discounts on a range of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 DLC. Included is the VIP online pass, the Onslaught DLC, unlock kits, themes, and even the Vietnam DLC, which is on sale for a tempting 600 Microsoft Points.

Crimson Alliance Price Structure Explained

Crimson Alliance, the newest hack and slash dungeon crawler for the Xbox Live Arcade, has gained a lot of free press thanks to it being the "free game" given to those who purchased all five Summer of Arcade titles. If you log in the Xbox.com Marketplace or the Dashboard you'll notice that Crimson Alliance is free. What's the deal? Allow us to explain.

Certain Affinity's latest game is the first "freemium" or "free to play" game on the Xbox Live Marketplace. The free "full version" that anyone can download will indeed give you access to all three classes from the start but you will only be able to progress so far. After that you will be prompted to purchase one of the following "packs" to continue playing.

1200 MSP ($15) - All Classes Pack, gives you access to each playable class and their full progression tree.
800 MSP ($8) - Each class has its own Class Unlock that can be purchased. This is viewed as a cheaper option for those who only want to play one role.

Presumably the version that will go out to all Summer of Arcade purchasers will be the premium 1200 edition. It would be kind of silly and frustrating to find out that you were only given one class for free after purchasing all of those games. Not to mention if that were the case, then the cost of to unlock all three classes would skyrocket to nearly $20!

What are your feelings on Free to Play or "Freemium" games on the Xbox Live Arcade? Does Certain Affinity have the right idea when it comes to the pricing structure? Let us know in the comments.

TXB Preview Crimson Alliance

During last weekend's Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle, we had a chance to sit down with Crimson Alliance, the newest title by Austin, Texas-based Certain Affinity, which is being developed exclusively for Xbox Live Arcade. Certain Affinity are the folks that have contributed to many big titles such as various games in the Call of Duty and Halo franchises, as well as Age of Booty, which was released in 2008.

Read Our Preview

Battlefield 3 Physical Warfare Trailer

Have a peek at the latest trailer released by EA for Battlefield 3. It shows off some flechette ammo and flash suppressors used in the game.

In Battlefield 3, players step into the role of the elite U.S. Marines where they will experience heart-pounding single player missions and competitive multiplayer actions ranging across diverse locations from around the globe including Europe, Middle-East and North America.

Hands On With Batman Arkham City

Batman has always been one of my favorite super heroes of all time. Growing up as a kid in the early 1990s I watched the Tim Burton Batman films and of course I tuned in every weekday to watch the Batman Animated Series. 2 years ago when I found out that the voice of Batman, Kevin Conroy, and Mark Hamil, the voice of the Joker, had both signed on for Arkham Asylum I was excited. Now the entire asylum has been set loose in an entire section of the city with Batman Arkham City.

Read our Preview

5 New BloodRayne Beytral Screenshots

WayForard Technologies, the California based developer behind the upcoming 2D reimagining of the BloodRayne franchise, has released 5 new screnshots to promote the game.

These new screenshots showcase two different environments – one purple and one green. BloodRayne Betrayl uses a very dark palette of colors namely blacks, greys and reds accented by very bright lighting and particle effects. Some of the best examples of this contrast come from screenshots featuring gunfire or magical spells.

BloodRayne Betrayal has a very Castlevania Symphony of the Night look to it - With its focus on gothic architecture and side-scrolling action. What are your thoughts on BloodRayne Betrayal? One this is for sure, it will be better than the Uwe Bowl movies from a few years back.

Deus Ex Human Revolution Reviewed

We've published our review of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, the post-human game of choice from Eidos Montreal. Does it soar like the original (and innovative) Deus Ex, or does it encounter some bumps, like the sequel, Deus Ex: Invisible War? Check out our review to find out!