Gamerscore Blog

Does this sound familiar? You are sitting at your computer, most likely at work or school and you check out Xbox.com (I won't tell, or will I? MUAHAHA), to see what new content is up on Marketplace. Maybe you see a new Theme you want to download, or notice that the map pack you’ve been waiting for has finally arrived.

So, you sit there and let the profanity fly (hopefully in your head) because there's nothing you can do, but wait until you get home. Those sexy Gamerpics, movies and additional levels just sit there and mock you saying, ‘I know you want me, but you’ll have to wait to queue me up for the download.’

Guess what? Not anymore.

Once the New Xbox Experience launches you will be able to browse Xbox LIVE Marketplace on your PC (even using text search) – and if you see something you like, you can add it to your queue and even purchase it right there and then. As soon as you get back home to your Xbox 360 and turn it on, the content will begin to download. Think about it – by the time you finish getting out of your shirt and tie, or skirt, or pajamas, or pink fuzzy bunny outfit, you will have a new Xbox LIVE Arcade game to play or a new TV show to watch.

Check out the screens of Xbox LIVE Marketplace on the Web, coming November 19 when the New Xbox Experience launches.

As always, click on any of the photos for a larger version or visit our flickr set.

Oh, Chris wishes he was here in rainy Seattle instead of sunny LA. Yeah right - but he is missing out on the news that his baby, Gears of War 2 has gone gold.

“After two years of pouring our heart and passion into ‘Gears of War 2,’ the team is immensely happy with what we’ve created,” said Epic Games Design Director Cliff Bleszinski. "This is Epic’s best work yet, and we can’t wait to see the response from fans and newcomers to the series alike.”

Ahhhhhh November 7th, boys and girls.

Gears of War 2 is rated M for Mature and will be available at $59.99 for the Standard Edition and $69.99 for the Limited Edition.

For all of the merchandising goodness associated with Gears 2, check out the media alert.

Now, on Xbox LIVE Marketplace and on Xbox.com, you can view the new trailer for "Quantum of Solace". I checked it out this morning and have to say, I am still really happy with the look of it. As well as showing scenes from the single player campaign, multiplayer gameplay is also there for you to drool over. I'm giddy like a school girl. Bring it on, Mr. Bond!

Wow!  Two videos in the same day?

Late last week we went out to LucasArts to ask YOUR questions to the team about Fracture.  It's an incredible campus, and it was hard for Nelson and I to leave.

The producers of Fracture talk a bit about the ideas behind the terrain deformation, and the weapons - one of which burrows underground like Bugs Bunny!

Shoutout to Duff3C, Mr. Fangs, Deaconblade, and White10 for their questions!

Want a chance to check out the new video documentary on the making of Gears of War 2? Then head on over to ESPN.com where you can get a peek at "Never Fight Alone" before it hits gearsofwar.com tomorrow.

This week, Cliff Bleszinski (Design Director), Rod Fergusson (Senior Producer) and Lee Perry (Senior Gameplay Designer) talk about the beauty of multi-player. Also, Cliff gets into a brief discussion about one of his favorite insults... Let's just say it involved a feminine hygiene product (see Chris' post below).

On a slight tangent, I'm sure you're aware that strange items have been showing up on people's doorsteps. Hmmmm... What is this?

(Code went bye bye - I cry - check out the forums on gearsofwar.com for more codes.)

I had the opportunity to talk to one of my favorite guys in the industry, Peter Molyneux, at the May Showcase several months back.  I asked him questions provided by you in the community, and his response to a question about moral choices in may be one of my favorite interview responses of all time. (Well, either that or Cliff calling people a "d-nozzle" in the latest Gears vid-doc.)

Thanks to Mordeux, The Mighty Oot, and The Game Reviews for their questions!

Howdee all, I'm Ryan Miller, the newly-appointed PC Gaming Apostle, here to spread the gospel of all things PC Gaming.  Just a quick few words about me: I've been playing PC games since I was 12 (programming games in basic on a Commodore Vic 20, tape deck drive and all!!) and have been hooked ever since.  I've been working as a game designer for the past seven years for companies like Sabertooth Games and Wizards of the Coast, working on all sorts of card games and miniatures games - I was also on the digital team there and worked on a few yet-to-be-released online games. 

In the coming weeks I'll be launching my own blog site about PC gaming, but in the mean time I've managed to hack my way onto gamerscoreblog Sam Fisher-style so I'll be able to make some contributions myself. 

But enough about me - on to Crysis.  As I'm sure many of you know by now, the latest chapter in the story (Crysis Warhead) was released only  a few weeks ago, and now publisher Electronic Arts has made an interesting move to promote the game's online multiplayer component known as Crysis Wars.  This weekend you'll be able to play online for free... As I read this my first thought was "they DARE charge a monthly fee to play their game?!?!"  Fear not, internet citizens - this is not going to be EverCrysis or World of Warcrysis or Age of Crysis.  It simply means that you will not have to buy Crysis Wars in order to try it out this weekend - just download the game, register at mycrysis.com to get your special cd key, and start fragging.

The free online play doesn't start until friday, but in the mean time you can gather your PC-equipped friends for free LAN play.  I'll be logging on friday around lucnhtime (PST) so come find me if you like - my username is socross.  Hope to see you there!

I had no idea that you spell segue (pronounced seg-way) like that.  It distracted me, and ruined my intro paragraph, and blog headline.

In Vancouver a few weeks ago I had the chance to interview some NHL 09 developers, as well as pro Hockey players Josh Harding (Minnesota Wild), and cover athlete Dion Phaneuf (Calgary Flames).  I also wanted to give a shout out to Jaken Bear from Xbox.ca who we missed at the event.

In the Community/Press vs. NHL Pros game I was the goalie, and I got a goal scored on me by Jeremy Roenick, who then proceeded to jump up and yell "and THAT's why I have over 500 goals in the NHL baby".  In my defense when Jeremy shot, Andy Agostini (one of the producers) had just shown me how to follow the action more close with the Back button...  Or something...

On November 14 (U.S.), Daniel Craig will be in theaters again as James Bond in Quantum of Solace. I checked out the official site today over at 007.com and watched some of the trailers, the music video ("Another Way to Die" performed by Jack White & Alicia Keys) and read some news.

I'll admit, I'm one of those who has been less than happy with the questionable content that Hollywood has been dealing out these days but I have yet to be disappointed with a Bond flick. Wait - I lie. Timothy Dalton's movies were... blah but ANYWAY, I am loving the new, darker, grittier Bond that Craig has brought to the screen and from all the trailers I've seen, Quantum of Solace looks to be a winner.

What does this have to do with anything? The game? Yeah, that. It's a shooter that uses the COD4 engine - That's hopeful, right? It also uses the real actors from the new movie to do the voice parts - Another BIG plus in my book. Lastly, if you check out some of the behind-the-scenes videos, you can see the level of detail they went into with environmental design. Dare I say it? It's really looking good.

I'm not a big fan of movie based games, like I've said before, but The Bourne Conspiracy brought me back from the edge of complete abandonment. I've have high hopes for this!

And yes, you get a cheesy notebook sketch to accompany this post. Although it looks more like Clive Owen, it's supposed to be Daniel Craig. Deal with it.

I've seen many rumblings on the intarwebs about getting a baseball game on XBLA and now, we have something that should go a step in appeasing that want. Ok, so it's not official baseball but a take on it - MLB® Stickball.

There are different rules for different environments and you can earn points for hitting certain things within your chosen space.

You also have the ability to unlock 120 of your favorite professional players through collecting Topps^TM Pro cards.

Stickball will be 800 MS Points and is rated E for Everyone.

For more information, check out:

http://www.2ksports.com/games/mlbstickball

While I'm not a "shoe person" or a "clothing person", I giggled like a little kid when these showed up at my door today.

I couldn't help but share with other people who wouldn't just say "you are a dork Chris".  Those of you following me on Twitter, or on Facebook have already seen these.

Globe made limited edition Gears of War skate shoes, that have the Gears logo on the tongue, the Crimson Omen on the side, and the cover of the box art (with Marcus Fenix holding the lancer) on the inside of the shoe.

If you want to get a pair of the Gears kicks, you can follow this link.

Let’s face it. The number one reason you turn on your Xbox 360 is for the games, and the team creating the New Xbox Experience certainly didn’t forget about that. This week we wanted to share with you what the Games Store will look like later this fall when the New Xbox Experience launches.

(Remember to click on any of  the images below to get larger, clearer versions.)

Current Games Store:

New Xbox Experience:

Today, when you look at a particular game in the Game Store you get a pretty basic list of information: name of the game or piece of content, ESRB rating, price and a short explanation of what it is. Check out the screens above to see. That information is really useful, but with the New Xbox Experience we thought we could give you even more.

Current Games Store:

New Xbox Experience:

Here’s a snapshot: When you go into the new Games Store this fall, you will be able to check out screenshots of the game, watch trailers and read the back-of-the-box description like you are shopping at a retail store. The Games Store will also display every available download for the game you are looking for. Let’s say you are looking at “Gears of War 2,” you will have all available Gears of War 2 options easily accessible such as: previews, trailers, gamerpics, themes, game add ons, game images. You’ll never need to search for the content you want.

Now you will get all of the information you want about the games you want to play, in one easy-to-navigate place right there on your TV.

Like we said… the games are the top reason why you turn on your Xbox 360, and this fall we will make the gaming experience even better.

Today is the day for video documentaries, apparently!

The Gears of War 2 team has released the fourth in their series about the game's creation called, "Enter the Horde". In this episode, Cliff Bleszinski, Rod Fergusson and other members of the Gears 2 team talk about the gory, underworld Locust Horde. Learn about the inspirations behind the characters and hear about some of the new additions including their special abilities.

I don't know, a creature that walks on its hands and attacks you with hook feet is crazy and extremely gross, yet so satisfying to see.

You can check out the video and more information on gearsofwar.com

Does the behind-the-scenes work on games pique your interest? Then you won't be disappointed if you go check out the seventh in the series of video documentaries for Fable 2. This documentary is available for free on the Xbox Marketplace.

In this episode, the Lionhead and MGS teams talk about capturing the epic orchestral pieces, creating ambient sound and, of course, the sound effects attached to actions.

You can also watch this and the other six episodes on lionhead.com

• Episode 1 - Emotions in Action Games
• Episode 2 - Research, look and feel of combat in Fable II
  Episode 3 - Central Technology Group
• Episode 4 - World Design in Fable II
• Episode 5 - Magic and Multiplayer
• Episode 6 - Art and the Hero

Episode 3 - A Pyramid Head costume? Oh yes. And it is sweet.

Check out the forums over on lionhead.com to submit your questions and find out more about these documentaries.

We now have the last in the series of Gamercards for my team. Mr. Tony Hynes aka Gamerscore Wh**e Extraordinaire aka Bastelyon.

As you will be able to see from the card below, game completion is not at the top of the agenda for Mr. Hynes. Rather, he and Chris are in a race to see who can stay at the top of the list on the right of the blog.

Last week, I saw a message from Chris' better half, HPaladino, on Facebook asking if the list had been updated to reflect his higher score. I immediately went in to fix it. The next morning, Tony came in and admitted that he had been playing offline just so he could come in and crush Chris' hopes and dreams. Really? Oh, yes - This geek competition has reached heightened levels of foul play.

I wonder if he will actually use the excuse of loving all of those games in the left column? And no completion in TMNT? Shameful!

As our boss, Tony needs to lead by example - or so he'd have you think. He really just likes to make us feel small and inadequate as we stare at the awe inspiring number on his Gamercard.

It's almost to the point where we can't not try to reach his score. I try to stick to getting as many achievements as possible in each game but I won't lie - Part of me wants to deviate and play games I'm not necessarily AS interested in **cougheasysportscough** just to put him in his place. Must... Resist...

If you're wondering about the lone achievement, it was for "Angry Plumber" in Hellboy.

Tony is most looking forward to Pink Pony Cake House - Oh crap, I was supposed to keep that to myself. Ahem - Fallout 3, Fable 2, Gears of War 2 and Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts.

I hope you've gotten some enjoyment from the outing of my team. I've certainly had fun doing it. Maybe I'll start doing it to some of you and just write complete fiction on what I think your real motives are MUAHAHAHA