So it happened again: the 360 which I was using since the last RRoD in 2007 died today. Just when you want to play a game in months it’s dying… damn!

After a very very long wait finally Forza 3 arrived! The first panoramic view of a 1-series BMW in Forza 3:

Finally a game where I can drive that car!

Source: http://www.forzaclans.com

Apparently DiRT 2 is coming with several funny features – one of which is that you can decorate your cars interior – like: you can hang your avatar on the rear-view-mirror… great idea!

In the newest Firmware update of the Playstation 3 there’s support for “Trophies” – which plain and simple are a copy of the Achievements available on the 360.

Create your own Achievements with the Achievement Generator.

Source: http://achievements.schrankmonster.de

The thing with the current XBOX 360 dashboard is that there’s obviously more unused space than there is really used space… there are now and for some time rumors that the user interface will be revamped completely…

Now there are people who know how to do it and they just made a mockup of what a dashboard with more used space would look like:

What do you think of it?

Source: http://news.filefront.com/dreaming-of-a-new-xbox-360-dashboard/

Besides my own project called “Forzaclans.com” (which is on hold right now) there are several other cool projects available for the forza community. One of which is the International Forza Club Association.

Source 1: www.forzaclans.com
Source 2: http://www.ifcaracing.com/

Major Nelson announced this weeks Xbox Live Arcade game: N+. Because this game evolved from a former Flash game you can also get the “original version”:

“play as a ninja trapped in a world of well-meaning, inadvertantly homicidal robots. version 1.4 includes tons of levels (500), organized neatly into 100 unlockable episodes, and features 50 levels made by fans of N!”

Source 1: http://www.harveycartel.org/metanet/downloads.html
Source 2: http://majornelson.com/archive/2008/02/18/this-week-on-arcade-n.aspx

It has been the most awaited game of the year – Ubisoft’s “Assassin’s Creed”. The official plot deals about a member of the legendary assassins, an organization of … eh, yeah… assassins. Your mission as player is to kill nine different persons because they destabilize the peace of the hole Middle East with their actions. So far, so political correct.

I say this is bullshit.

The historical assassins had been a bunch of fanatical and ideological blinded killers who dreamt of establishing a strict theocracy (think of Iran). This sounds very familiar with what islamic terrorists are doing these days, doesn’t it?

Just imagine a few changes:

- change of time: not the Middle Ages, but the present

- change of scenery: not Akkon or Jerusalem, but Bagdad or New York

- change of armament: not the dagger and poison, but AK-47 and explosive belts

- change of mission: not a hidden single killing, but casualties as many as possible

The rest remains the same.

What about escaping after the kill? Not historical. Assassins didn’t run away – they accepted their death and now you know where the modern suicide assassin is descendent from.

This is of course only a game, but with an interesting setup.

Jens Heymann

Die Koch Media GmbH sucht ab sofort Studenten und interessierte für Testvorführungen neuer Video- und Computerspiele:

“Wenn Sie bereit wären, natürlich gegen eine kleine Gegenleistung, die Entwicklung eines neuen Spiels (plattformunabhängig) zu verfolgen und zu beeinflußen und dies auch mehrmals in den kommenden Monaten machen würden, melden Sie sich bitte unter der Telefon-Nummer: 089-24245196.”

Source: http://www.kochmedia.de

There was this update. My 360 died right after it. Well: Coincidence?

The support / repair experience is quite good so far – besides the fact that I have to get a coffin by myself and that they won’t add the lost Xbox Live Subscription Time to my account….

Now this is my second 360 that craps out. If you want to know what happened in 2006 to my first 360 go here.

Source: http://www.schrankmonster.de/PermaLink,guid,944f2bb2-696b-48fb-b06a-d8734f5a6f44.aspx

Look what I got here:

Painted from scratch just with the original game as a guideline. I’ll put some of these up in the auction house soon. So keep an eye out for them… Any sort of comment is appreciated.

New York this time… hmmm looks sweet…

… it seems that there people at the Nürburgring do have a problem with tree decimation… the over one year old Project Gotham Racing 3 Nürburgring had significantly more trees…

This is the Forza Motorsport 2 Nürburgring:

(Forza Motorsport 2)

… remember when I had the exact same location pictured before in Project Gotham Racing 3:

(Project Gotham Racing 3)

I asked for it and they did it. Once again.

I’m just speechless.

I did not write about that one time when Sony made the mistake to use a Project Gotham Racing 3 Screenshot in their advertisements for Gran Tourismo:HD (the PGR3 thing is a racing game by Microsoft exclusively for the 360 and GT:HD is the Sony exclusive racing game). They pulled it just hours after it went up and we all had a good laugh.

Oh… it looked like that:

Just today the car maker KIA decided to start his PS3 related marketing campaign. And guess what? Someone did it again. They used a PGR3 screenshot in a Playstation 3 advertisement.

Have a look:

There we have it: Two advertisements for the Playstation 3 doing all the same: Advertising the fact that you’ll better buy a 360. Priceless.

Do it again Sony, Kia, or whoever would like to make my day…

Just about a month and Forza Motorsport 2 hits the shelves. I cannot wait!

This is the tv-commercial:

Source: http://www.forzamotorsport.net/

I wrote about geomerics approach on realtime radiosity lighting less than a year ago. They now have something to show and be proud of: Enlighten is there and they are working on porting it to the 360 and PS3.

Watch what’s possible:

Source 1: real time radiosity lighting
Source 2: http://www.geomerics.com

Some people are already playing:

Go to amazon now and place your order!

Hmm… Once upon a time there was a guy with an idea. The idea simply breaks down to this:

“Sell full price games to people and get an extra revenue out of in-game advertising.”

So here we are: I just found pacific city in crackdown literally plastered with Dodge advertising. Once day it was Dell… if you’re playing in the UK you’ll probably get army ads… how sick is that.

The first game that got this kind of in-game advertising was Testdrive Unlimited. The advertising was only available in the US of A and when you bought the game there it wasn’t full-price but $20 less than a full price title – because of that in-game ads. As an european player you didn’t see any ads and you had to pay the full price.

To be clear: I don’t think in-game advertising sucks. I just think that if you’re gaining revenue from in-game advertising you should share it with the players who actually bought the game. (e.g. lower the game price).

In the case of crackdown there’s no lower price. And that sucks.

Great that is – one of my 360 favourites just got updated and now you can have force feedback through the wireless wheel and a hardcore mode that injects realistic driving physics…

“We’re delighted to offer you this place where you can learn and share experiences with the XNA family of products. Whether you’re using XNA Game Studio Express or the native DirectX tools and APIs, this is the place to come to!…”

I really do love the pivot function of my display…

Source: http://www.xna.com

I just realised that I got my copy of Crackdown more than 5 days earlier than I was supposed to be. Crackdown is available in stores starting Feb. 20. Oh and it’s a great great game. GTA is nothing compared to this one…

Those who are also getting crackdown may want to consider visiting http://crackdown.wikispaces.com/. You can find some great maps there that come in handy when you’re on the orb hunt.

And for those who want to try co-op: add me to your friendslist (gamertag is “bietiekay”) and we’ll do a co-op mission or two.

Thanks for linking to me. And you kotaku readers: grab the RSS feed and keep on reading this blog!