Microsoft's latest update to their Xbox360 console, dubbed NXE (New Xbox Experience), has just gone live today.  What does this mean exactly?  Well, taken at face value, Microsoft has effectively grabbed the best parts from Sony's Online platform (media distribution and sharing) as well as Nintendo's (Avatar and Community Customization) and combined them with LIVE's already stellar multiplayer gaming facilities. 

The new features receiving the most hype are Netflix support, Avatars, a new Party system, and Game Installations. LIVE has already supported video downloads for some time now but adding Netflix support effectively multiplies the amount of titles at your disposable with the possibility of renting instead of buying. Avatars, besides being a shameless rip of Nintendo's Mii's, lets you customize your online identity a little more. The new party system allows you to stay with a group of online friends outside of individual games.  One implementation of this is the ability to watch a rented Netflix video with your party even if only one person has rented it! The latest and greatest feature though is probably Game Installations.  You can now install a game to your Hard Drive which means no more long load times and no more excessively whiny and loud DVD-Rom drives to annoy the crap out of you. There are piracy implications with this one so we will see how it pans out.

The update is currently being rolled out as we speak and is approximately a ~100mb download which means you cheapos with Core or Arcade bundles are SOL unless you upgrade to a larger drive.  If the update is not available to you yet or if you're like me and you are at work without access to an Xbox360, you can read about the Top 10 Things to do When you Get NXE while waiting in anticipation. I'm wondering if Microsoft will let me do a 'Sackboy' avatar =D

This is quite possibly the coolest (or the most annoying depending on how you look at at) advertising tie-in I have ever seen for a video game.  At first, it looks like your standard youtube video, but when you visit the actual website , you get a completely immersive experience.  Let's hope the actual game is just as neat and not another gimmicky bore-fest. CLICK!

I remember the gold old days when games like Golden Axe, Double Dragon, Streets of Rage, etc could entertain a group of my friends and me for hours.  Now, thanks to The Behemoth, Castle Crashers was released.  The graphics are nice and simple (all hand drawn).  At 1200 points to download, it's roughly $15 for this game.  That's pretty cheap compared to those $50-$60 games out there now.

The game play is amazingly addictive.  It's a pretty simple hack n' slash game where you basically keep pushing a button or two.  I downloaded it the day it was released hoping I didn't waste my money, and I'll have you know it was well worth the money.  I sat in front of my Xbox 360 playing Castle Crashers for hours and hours on single player.  I kept waiting for more of my friends to buy the game so we could play multiplayer mode.  Two days later I had beaten the game with three characters, gotten all the animal orbs (pets), and managed to get the red knight to lvl 99.  You'd think after that I'd be tired of the game, but no...I just wait for a friend to call, tell me to get on and I'm online playing.

So go download your copy of Castle Crashers and send me your gamertag and let's crash some castles. 

It's fairly old news that you can download, burn, and play Xbox360 Backups by modifying your firmware.  Most Xboxers avoid piracy anyways since Microsoft has had no qualms about banning your console from LIVE when they detect a modified system.  Others stick to playing just single player games which don't connect to LIVE. It was always a mystery how exactly Microsoft determined that you had an illicit copy but one sure fire way to let them know is by playing a leaked copy days before the release date.  Rock Band 2's release date on the 360 is September 14, however you can grab a leaked copy on the internet today.  The question is, should you play it before the release date?  One gamer gets to find out if Harmonix is a jokester or a snitch...

The first Mercenaries was a pretty mediocre game but watching this co-op gameplay video from Mercenaries 2 has renewed my interest in this series. The action reminds me of the early days of playing Contra with a buddy on the NES. Check out the flying helicopter bit towards the end.  More games need awesome co-op like this!

Recently, I have noticed an uproar in the gaming community over inflated review scores for GTAIV and Konami's upcoming Metal Gear Solid 4.  GTA4 currently holds a solid A-score on metacritic's weighted average while MGS4 has been getting 90-100% scores before even being released to public.  Interestingly, GTA4 has an "only good" B-score for user submitted averages.  This shows that professional gaming editorials are handing out scores higher than what the general public may agree to.  Many gamers are afraid that the same thing is going to happen with MGS4:  Getting a 100% rating is highly unusual and people will point to editorial-publisher relationship ethics; this is a whole different issue altogether.  What I want to delve into is the fact that Nintendo seems to be immune to these allegations.  I have heard the argument that GTA4 does not deserve an A+ score because while it is a solid game, it doesnt really add anything new to the formula.  Well geeze, have you played the latest Pokemon or Mario Party?  It's pretty much the same thing as the previous iteration except with some tweaks and a new paintjob (and in the case of pokemon, it barely even improves on graphics).  If that isn't the very definition of milking a franchise, I don't know what is... and Nintendo commits this act on ALL its franchises.  Somehow the fact that the new Mario Kart adds support for motion control (which is horrible compared to a traditional gamepad might I add), it is innovative enough in the eyes of nostalgic nintenboys to hunk over $40 for the same game you played 3 years ago.

Sony is often cast in the light as the big evil corporate entity that steals your hard earned money with over-priced hardware.  Well, no one is forcing you to buy a new limited edition PS3 .  However, I see people plunker down cash year after year for another revision of the gameboy (an ingeniously milked design btw: gameboy pocket, gameboy, micro, gameboy advance vs sp? come on now) or the 20 different fruity colors of the DS and Wii.  Apparently its okay to be nickle and dimed when you have a smile on your face while day dreaming of your childhood playing duckhunt. 

Now, don't get me wrong here, I am a firm believer in the classic adage: "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."  I eagerly looked forward to every reincarnation of Super Smash and thoroughly enjoyed saving princess Zelda from Ganon for the 30th time.  I am just saying that if you are going to be critical of an inflated review score for GTA4, then you gotta use the same metrics in judging games from your favorite 1st party developer.  I don't think GTA4 deserved a 90-100% score, but I could also say the same for a handfull of titles with the word "Mario" in it.