Gah. Does any game look like more of a franchise cash-in than Halo Wars? Serious….a trumped up strategy title that plans on sucking even more money out of the dozens of devoted Halo fans who care enough to bother. Halo junkies help me out…are you actually interested in playing an RTS? Would you genre flip just to support the Halo brand?

Let us know in the poll on the right hand side of Play-Girlz.com.

Post from: EveryJoe

Poll: Halo Wars A Cash Grab?

The beta application page can be found by clicking here, and you’ll need a Playstation Network account to get in on all the fun. Here’s what you’re aiming to try out:

Post from: EveryJoe

Resistance 2 Public Beta Live

Just in case you weren’t thinking of picking up a copy of Gears of War 2, Epic has sweetened the pot with a couple of treats that may convince you otherwise.

The first is really quite fun and is described as a “Flashback Map Pack”. Gamers who purchase a copy will find a voucher that can be cashed in on XBL for a free download of a set of classic maps from the original GoW, including Canals, Subway, and Gridlock. The vouchers are good to go on game release day: November 7th.Buy new and get a voucher, buy used and lose out. Think of it as Epic’s attempt at controlling the seedy underbelly of used game profiteering by the likes of Gamestop et al.

The second will be available to those who brave late nights, long lines and fellow gamers in the Midnight Madness events on November 6th. You lucky folks will be treated to a gold Hammerburst. It does nothing different except for look prettier, but hey, sometimes we all need pretty things to get by. Pretty nifty looking weapon I suppose, though I hope in addition to being gold, it can also blind enemies with the glaring light reflecting off of its shiny, expensive surface. Then at least you’ve have some value added. They do suggest that it will help you locate teammates…so I suppose that’s something, as long as you all participated in Midnight Madness and actually have the golden gun.

Neither item is scheduled to be available and a purchasable download. As CliffyB from Epic puts it, they are meant to be “special gifts” for GoW super fans.

Via | GamePro

Image courtesy of Microsoft

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Golden Hammerburst Used As Lure

Post from: EveryJoe

Those Darn Browser Games

Reminds me an awful lot of another thing that’s high on my fanlist at the moment: freerunning. Don’t know what I mean? Check out a fairly commercial example with top freerun artists B13 & David Belle, and then spend awed hours surfing through the hundreds of impressive runs on YouTube.

Post from: EveryJoe

Latest Obsession: Mirror’s Edge

Oh man, I must be getting old. I remember sitting with rapt attention in front of my very first non-Commodore computer, desperately trying to decode the musical pattern and intricate puzzles of Myst. It was the first, and only, game I have every bought a “cheat” (read here strategy) book for, when I thought that I might go insane for being unable to find the correct sequence of buttons

Well, the game that really got me going just turned 15 years old, having launched way back on September 24th, 1993. It remained the best-selling PC game of all time until The Sims de-throned it in 2002 and played a critical role in the popularization of the CD-ROM format for the PC.

Happy birthday old friend and thanks for the memories!

Via | Wired

Post from: EveryJoe

Myst Just Turned 15??!

It’s a fairly standard equation: good games + lots of them = profit, so it’s no surprise that Microsoft’s XBL pulled in the best monthly sales figures it’s ever had. Microsoft is crediting the 67% increase to its “Summer of Arcade” promotion, which saw five weeks of rapid-fire, high-quality games hit the online platform. Of course it also didn’t hurt that there were some bigtime giveaways that included oodles of Microsoft Points, 360 Elite consoles and other goodies.

Geometry Wars 2, Braid, Bionic Commando:ReArmed, Galaga Legions, and Castle Crashers all made their debuts, appealing to both old schoolers with a bit of nostalgia and new gens with some interesting titles. The big names and old favourites not only helped to boost sales for the month, but also to boost the number of unique XBL users downloading the games. Mass appeal led to a 58% increase in members of the community purchasing during the promotion.

Via | GameSpot

Logo courtesy of Microsoft

Post from: EveryJoe

XBL Rides Tide of Great Releases

On a side note, the game looks horrendous.

Post from: EveryJoe

Buy The Game Or Lee Redmond Will Skewer You

I love the offbeat, irreverent humour of Lion Head Studios’ Fable II. It’s a cheeky, somewhat abrasive look at a fantasy world that is right up my alley, so to speak. As you can then imagine, I was more than a little disappointed at the announcement that the game would not be shipping with the online co-op as originally promised. No, like every other game studio in existence when under extreme deadline pressures to shove out less-than-finished products, they’re going to release a patch with the co-op hopefully during launch week meaning that gamers really won’t have to wait all that long for the chance at some socializing fun.

It kind of begs the question then, if the co-op is that close to being ready, why they can’t just delay the game release for a single week and ship the entire thing in one nice, cohesive package. The ship’n'patch mentality that seems to exist in the industry these days probably does more damage to the reputations of the companies involved than just announcing a very short delay and doing everything thoroughly and properly the first time around.

This smacks more of Microsoft than Lion Head’s Peter Molyneux, whose candid nature about difficulties and flaws has landed him in hot water in the eyes of the Microsoft PR crew on more than one occasion. Frankly I’d rather be told honestly that things are going to be delayed because of issues than to be fed horse sh*t from Microsoft’s PR machine designed to make sure that the hype stays high.

Via | videogaming247

Image courtesy of Microsoft.

Post from: EveryJoe

No Online Co-op Shipping With Fable II

When training your brain, or battling Pokémon, you can now help those facing an infinitely more difficult real-life battle against breast cancer.

A new edition of the Nintendo DS Lite has popped up on Amazon.com showcasing a polar white console sporting a pink ribbon to show solidarity and support in the fight against breast cancer. In a burst of charitable goodness, Nintendo has pledged to donate $5 from the purchase of every one of these special edition consoles to Susan G. Komen for the Cure, with a minimum donation of $100,000.

If you don’t already have a DS, what better time to jump on the bandwagon? At the already reasonable price of $129.99, you’ll feel better forking over the cash (even for a second unit) knowing that part of Ninty’s profits are going to a worthy cause.

Via DSFanBoy.com

Image courtesy of Amazon.com

Post from: EveryJoe

Pink Ribbon DS Lite