Is it going to be good? I can't really say. It does look nice, at the least. The functionality in it seems improved upon the current dashboard, however some of the UI usability choices they made seem kind of... annoying? Since the new dashboard is in a coverflow type of setup, they 'conveniently' placed all your main channels among multiple advertisements. To get to, let's say, your gamer profile when you turn on your Xbox, you'll have to scroll through ads just to get to it. To get to your Games Library, you'll have to scroll through more ads. Etc.

The new avatar system looks nice and they have a wide selection of customization for people to tinker around with. They added a few new features to the new experience so that you can interact with your avatars. Furthermore, the Netflix channel looks decent and may just give me a reason to sign up to it.

Everything is a bit shinier than the last Xbox dashboard. We'll have to see how the community takes it when the update is released November 19th. Below is a video from CrunchGear that showcases and narrates a lot of the new Xbox 360 Experience.




Source: Review: The New Xbox 360 Experience

Harmonix promised that they would give 20 free downloadable songs for Rock Band 2, and finally the twenty titles have been revealed. The tracks will be available for download on November 4th for the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3. When Rock Band 2 finally makes its way onto Nintendo's white box of glory, the songs will be ready for download. The tracks are as follows:

* The 88 - "Sons and Daughters"
* Authority Zero - "No Regrets"
* Between the Buried and Me - "Prequel To The Sequel"
* The Cab - "Bounce"
* The Chevelles - "Get It On"
* The Cocktail Slippers - "Give It To Me"
* Dealership - "Database Corrupted"
* Endeverafter - "I Wanna Be Your Man"
* The Ghost Hounds - "Ashes To Fire"
* Hollywood Undead - "Young"
* Kutless - "The Feeling"
* The Len Price 3 - "If I Ain't Got You"
* Lesley Roy - "I'm Gone, I'm Going"
* Opiate for the Masses - "Burn You Down"
* Semi-Precious Weapons - "Magnetic Baby"
* Shaimus - "Like a Fool"
* Thenewno2" - Crazy Tuesday"
* Tickle Me Pink - "The Time Is Wrong"
* Underoath - "Desperate Times, Desperate Measures"
* X Japan - "I.V."

Source: Rock Band 2 Free DLC Revealed

It's a very rare case when games that are scheduled to release in under a week get delayed. However, for the hugely anticipated Playstation 3 platformer, LittleBigPlanet, this is unfortunately the case. 1UP.com stated that in a forum thread, a Muslim member noted about the licensed track "Swinging Safari" in the game. The song quotes passage from the Quran. The user respectfully asked for the track to be removed seeing how the combination of popular music with the holy book could be seen as offensive. The two passages found in the song are as follows:

"In the 18th second: ("kollo nafsin tha'iqatol mawt", literally: 'Every soul shall have the taste of death')."

"Almost immediately after, in the 27th second: ("kollo man alaiha fan", literally: 'All that is on earth will perish')."

Sony took action on this and issued a global delay of the game. Additionally they released the following public statement:

"During the review process prior to the release of Little Big Planet, it has been brought to our attention that one of the background music tracks licensed from a record label for use in the game contains two expressions that can be found in the Quran. We have taken immediate action to rectify this and we sincerely apologise for any offence that this may have caused. "

Luckily, the North American release date is only pushed by about a week, scheduled for the 27th of October. Release dates for other countries will be specified soon.

Source: Little Big Planet Delayed Due to Quran Controversy

Do you suck at videogames? Go ahead, ask yourself.

Over the past few hours, I've learned that I do indeed suck at videogames. But I'm OK with it, because Mega Man 9 is totally worth the ass kicking.

Mega Man 9 is the latest in the series of original Mega Man games, that has been at a standstill since Mega Man 8 in 1997. But don't get confused, because it has less in common with Mega Man 8 than any of the original Mega Man's for the NES. The graphics, music, and gameplay look, sound, and feel just like one of the originals. In fact, since it was originally announced, Mega Man 1 and 2 have been cited as the main inspiration for Mega Man 9.

So how does this all manifest itself? Well for one, the graphics are mind-blowingly 8-bit. I'm talking pixels everywhere. The low frame animations look just as smooth as they did on your NES back in the day. Which is to say, not very. But thats fine, because it works great. From the moment I started playing I was taken in by severe retromania. They really went all out too. The sprite flicker triumphantly returns, and yeah it's a little annoying at times, but you get used to it. It really mimics the old behavior.

The music, as always, is pumping. The classic energy the music is known for is present, and I couldn't be happier. The music from these games has always been one of my favorite things about them, and I'm glad this one follows suit. The title theme and stage select theme are notably full of extra awesome.

Finally, we get to the core of the Mega Man series, the gameplay. Lets get the most obvious one out of the way first. This game is HARD. I haven't been challenged like this in a long time. It's not without its limits though, and with enough practice you can get through it. However, it can also get a bit frustrating at times, and even seemed a little cheap on 1 or 2 occasions. These were rare though, and you can generally pass through them with ease the next time around. I noticed the stages themselves provided more challenge than some of the bosses, which does a good job of evening out the difficulty. Don't get me wrong, the game is fairly consistently hard, but as you become accustomed to it, you grow wise of certain aspects.

The bosses themselves overall are very challenging, with certain ones standing out above the others (ahem, Concrete Man). Even with the right weapon selected, you can find yourself fighting a losing battle. This is a nice change, as I can recall times during the X series when a weapon would completely disable a boss, making him ridiculously easy.

Outside of the gameplay, there are some new features. Roll has opened a shop, and is accepting screws as currency. Here you can buy energy tanks, extra lives, and new power ups like 1/2 damage modifiers and get-out-of-instant-spike-death-free cards. This is a welcomed addition, although at times I did miss hunting for the energy tanks.

Also among the new features, Capcom has implement its own achievement-like system, that keeps track of special goals that can be accomplished. There are about 50 of these in the game, and they range from very easy to near impossible. Speaking of achievements, the XBox Live version includes the most difficult achievements I've ever seen. They really took the meaning of achievement to heart when thinking these up.

I'll be honest, I haven't officially beaten the game yet, but rather I watched as the final boss and I died at roughly the same time. At about this same time I also lost my cool for about the 1000th time of the night. But I digress. Mega Man 9 is an excellent game, and I'm very pleased with the retro choices that were made during development. If not for the nostalgia, for the challenge. It feels good to win when you've struggled so much, and Mega Man 9 rewards. It's a bit short, but most Mega Man games are. The polished gameplay and the extra content / in-game achievement system make it well worth the price.

We all knew it was bound to happen. Bioshock was one of the best and greatest selling games of last year. With the upcoming release of Bioshock for the PS3 (October 21), they have included a teaser trailer for BioShock 2: Sea of Dreams in the extras menu. Thankfully, it has already been uploaded to youtube.

The trailer does not show much, but it does feature a pretty sweet big daddy doll. I'll just have to make my own I guess. Video follows:

If you have never heard of Cave Story, shame on you. This 2D action adventure game that was originally created for the PC by Daisuke Amaya in 2004. The game takes on an old-school Castlevania/Metroid type of feel and quickly became popular among gamers.

Nintendo recently confirmed that the title will be making its way to WiiWare with exclusive new content this holiday season. The game will include newly designed characters, ten new unique weapons, and over twenty boss battles. It is said that the beloved Aeon Genesis translation of the game will be used. Little else is known about the game. IGN has some off-screen shots of it. We'll keep you up-to-date as more is released for the port of this classic piece of gaming.

Source: Nintendo's Holiday 2008: Wii Speak Channel, Club Nintendo, More Surprises

The first Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved gained the respect of both Matt and I by keeping the gameplay so simple and easy to pick up, but at the same time fun, AMAZING and ADDICTING. So when we heard that Retro Evolved 2 would drop a few weeks after E3, we naturally got excited. So how can you expand on an idea and still keep it simple and just as playable as the predecessor? Well I'm not sure, but apparently the guys over at Bizarre Creations have a pretty good idea.

There are a few basic core gameplay changes that were made to keep things fresh. Your multiplier is now determined by collecting "geoms", and it will no longer reset when you die. There are also quite a few new enemies, as well as the old favorites, that will take some time to get accustomed to.

Evolved 2 features 6 play modes: Deadline, King, Evolved, Pacifism, Waves, and Sequence. Each mode has specific rules that must be adhered to, but the goal remains the same; to rack up the highest score possible. Each mode must be played a few times to unlock the next mode, but it is not to challenging to advance if you are a seasoned Geometry Wars player.

Deadline mode is similar to classic Evolved gameplay, however there is a timer set to 3 minutes and you have unlimited lives. Enemies are spawned in more abundance and more challenging varieties as you progress, however the real twist comes with the timer. No longer can you simply run circles around your rectangle for minutes on end, slowly racking up points. Your goal here is to collect as many geoms as fast as you can while shooting down your enemies, so you can get the highest score possible before you run out of time.

Next up is King mode, which is can get challenging very fast. This mode consists of "safety circles" which enemies cannot enter. This circle is also the only place you can shoot at your enemies. It becomes a matter of finding a circle, shooting as much as you can before your circle slowly destroys itself, then running for another. I found this mode to be very challenging. When the screen begins to fill with enemies, it is easy to not have enough time to clear a path out of your circle (omgz!).

Evolved mode is the same as the gameplay in the original Retro Evolved. You get 3 lives and 3 bombs, and get tossed into the madness. So long as you can stay alive, you can keep your points rising. This is obviously a familiar mode, but I'm glad they included it. It is still fun to play, especially with the new enemies.

Pacifism mode does not let you shoot, but rather features "gates" that when passed through set off an explosion, destroying your enemies. Hordes of blue diamonds will chase after you, and this mode gets very difficult very fast. It will put your dodging skills to the test. If your anything like me, you will also die a lot.

Waves mode focuses on a new type of enemy; an airplane/dart looking thing, that shoots across the grid, turns around and does the same thing over. Series of these are spawned in rows, to form a wall of enemies that you have to shoot through to get by. I had a lot of fun with this mode as well, although it can be a bit repetitive.

Finally, Sequence mode features a series of 20 "levels", each with its own pattern of enemies. You have 3 lives and 3 bombs at the beginning, just as in evolved mode. Each level has a 30 second timer, and can either be passed or failed. You can fail by dying in that level, or by running out of time before you destroy all the enemies. Definitely a fun and challenging mode, and something i've still yet to beat.

The visuals are very appealing, as usual. Particles will fly every which way across the screen, gravity wells will warp the grid underneath you, and all the enemies have a vibrant glow. At times there is so much going on, it will be hard to keep track of your own character, but that is really the typical Geometry Wars fashion. The soundtrack keeps the techno vibe it has always had, and it works well with the game. There is more than one song this time around, and while the focus is mostly on the visual, it still adds a nice touch.

As you can see, there is a lot of new stuff here. But what's great is that it keeps the same core gameplay in each mode. Sure they may have different rules, but your goal is always to survive and kill. I found all the modes to be fun to play, each offering something unique and requiring different strategies. At 800 MS points, or around $10, it's well worth the money if you have never played, or even if you love, the first one. They manage to keep things fresh, while not changing the core Geometry Wars gameplay that has been tried and proven totally sweet.

Naturally, in the past week IGN has gotten playtime on the highly anticipated Fallout 3. One of the staff members put down six hours of straight questing and killing. From the consensus that they made, Fallout 3 is shaping up to be a hit RPG/shooter like we've hoped.

The developers, Bethesda Game Studios, are keeping a lot of the game's plot a secret from everyone. What we do know about the story is that your character is a survivor from the nuclear holocaust of 2077. You start the game finally managed to escape out of the underground vault you've been living in for years in search of your father, who also recently escaped.

There's a unique system to the combat. You can either use the traditional first person shooter style to fight, or switch to a system that lets your character target different parts of enemy's body parts. Then after selected the body part and choice of weapon, you can watch your character gun down the foe in a cinematic fashion. Additionally, (and obviously) the game also looks great. The world looks expansive and detail and the character modeling is top notch.

We'll have to see how everything pans out when it hits store shelves in a couple weeks (October 28th). Below is IGN's video preview of the game.