Ubi Days: Assassin's Creed steals the show

"Hey everyone, we are writing this directly from the Ubi Days show, and we want to share with you this awesome teaser (100% realtime) of Assassin's Creed Ubisoft show us a few minutes ago. Sorry in advance about the rather bad quality of the image and sound, we did what we could with the very bad screen."

Ubi Days: Gameplay of Splinter Cell: Conviction

"More Ubidays goodness with this quite long gameplay video of Splinter Cell: Conviction. You'll be able to see the fantastic lighting and animations of the game, and more importantly see how different the gameplay is from the previous games of the series. The version they showed was still very early, but it looked great.
Update: Added a trailer that will show the graphics way better than our video."

Reuters Addresses Xbox 360 Game Prices

Reuters is running an interesting story today that takes a look at the real prices gamers are paying to play Xbox 360 games. The company did some research of the additional costs gamers incur after the get a game, including the cost of Xbox Live Gold membership and post-release downloadable content. Here are some highlights:

More than 3 million Xbox Live subscribers pay a $50 annual fee that allows them to play games online against one another. About 3 million more use the service without an annual subscription, taking the total to more than half Xbox users.

Through Xbox Live, players can buy maps for fighting terrains and other add-ons that are indispensable to serious gamers, usually at a cost of $10 each. Such add-ons used to be free most of the time and the additions can raise a game's cost to $80 or even $100 over its life span.

Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter estimates Microsoft charges a royalty rate of 30 percent for most downloads. That means that, for a $10 download, Microsoft gets $3, while the publisher pockets $7.

The article also mentions the hot discussion between Epic Games and Microsoft regarding the cost of the Hidden Front Map Pack, which Epic wanted to be free but M$ decided to release it at a cost of 800 Microsoft Points.

Microsoft was criticized by many gamers after the May 3 release of a map download to its popular alien-blasting game, "Gears of War," which has sold more than 3.7 million copies worldwide since its November release. The first map pack was released for free months earlier and generated more than 1.5 million downloads. The new download included several new battlegrounds online users could fight on during multiplayer matches, but this time they cost $10.

Mark Rein, vice president of "Gears" developer Epic Games, said in an interview on video game Web site 1up.com that the studio would have preferred to give away the maps, but Microsoft, which published the game, decided to charge for it.

This set off angry complaints from fans who felt Microsoft was taking advantage of them. Epic declined to comment for this article.

Microsoft Xbox Live group product manager Aaron Greenberg said few gamers complained about the add-on features and that the charge helped Microsoft recoup the cost of developing games and running the expensive online service.

To read the entire article, click here.

Notixbox360. Tortillas calientitas sobre 360: Mejora tu rendimiento en Guitar Hero II al estilo Corn Flakes.

No se trata de ninguna campaña publicitaria ni nada por el estilo. De hecho se trata de un pequeño hack que Beacon, un usuario de GrownUpGamers se sacó de la manga para mejorar la respuesta de su guitarra en Guitar Hero II: Al parecer, poniendo un trozo de cartón delgado (como el de las cajas de cereal) entre los botónes de colores y sus correspondientes interruptores, la presión necesaria es menor y la guitarra se vuelve mas cómoda y responsiva.

Beacon incluso posteó el proceso para que puedas hacerlo en tu propia guitarra. No se ve demasiado complicado y parece que vale la pena. Yo no lo he probado pero espero hacerlo mañana por la tarde y les contaré que tal me fué. Pueden ver el proceso completo"

Free TV episode, theme, and picture pack

"You smell that? Yes sir, it's the smell of free content available on the Marketplace including a TV episode, a theme, and a few gamer pictures. First up, MTV was kind enough to offer the season two premiere of Rob and Big for free, so go give that a watch. Next is Ocean's 13 who is dishing out the goods with a lackluster theme and a set of gamer pictures, again all for free. So, navigate the Marketplace like a true sailor and find your free content, because it's your birth right! That is, only if you live in the United States."

Team Fortress 2 shaping up nicely

Eurogamer got to try their hand at Valve's upcoming Team Fortress 2, and they came away impressed. In particular, Eurogamer notes that the developers of Team Fortress 2 have gone a long way towards solving problems with good art direction. For example, when using a spy to infiltrate the enemy base, you can physically change your appearance to look like any enemy class. Rather than have your own team see an icon over your head representing this, they will see a spy wearing the appropriate mask. This is both visually interesting and solves the problem accordingly.

Also mentioned in the preview, each class has several defining characteristics that make them fun to play. For instance, wrench kills with the Engineer give bonuses to build speed, though they also put you in harm's way. Like Snipers? If you stay zoomed in for a few seconds before you make the shot, you cause more damage, but you also risk someone sneaking up on you. Each class has these trade-offs that increase tension and entertainment.

Honestly, with the campy art style and seemingly endless variety, Team Fortress 2 just may sway a few players from the juggernaut that is Halo 3. Hit the "read" link for the full preview.

New Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation Screenshots

Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation, takes the popular franchise to new heights with its Dynamic Operation System feature. Fans of the series will experience new intensity and depth on the battlefields as the Dynamic Operations System allows players to engage in multiple operations at one time. Taking advantage of the Xbox 360, players will be able to control all air, ground and sea units at one time, as they all take on different objectives on the battlefield. As the battlefield comes alive, players will have multiple operations going on simultaneously in vast war zones, just like in real life war.

Keeping the intensity sky high, Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation never lets the player have a dull moment as up to six operations can be happening at once. As soon as the player succeeds in one operation, they are immediately thrown into another fierce battle happening at the same time. After each operation is cleared, the situation of the battle dynamically changes according to the tactical order the player chooses to take on each operation. To win the mission and move forward in the game, a certain number of operations must be cleared.

New Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s tracks revealed!

Activision reveals 7 new tracks from their upcoming 80s themed Guitar Hero release!



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