The GameShadow Blog

Microsoft has put its foot down and cut off a reported 600,000 XBOX Live users.

The reason is based around users modifying, or chipping,  their console in order to play pirated copies of games. Microsoft has stated that this action by users violates the XBOX Live terms of use.

The 600,000 could even rise to the 1 million mark as the crackdown takes place.

It looks that the Call of Duty: World at War map pack could be just round the corner. I saw this (above) when browsing through the Game Marketplace yesterday. Right now it’s quite confusing as the section it’s advertising doesn’t include any W@W stuff.

How long is Microsoft intending on it being this way? And what should we expect, for our hard-earned MS points?

Have Your Say, what kind of maps would you like?

I know you guys love to hear about the new ways you can team up with your mates to slay monsters or overthrow a Nazi invasion but I really had to post about FIFA 09’s demo. I downloaded it on my 6th xbox (a post for another time maybe), and instantly took a liking to it…

Well done EA. Nice one. You remembered to add the “EA sports, it’s in the game” mp3 - it just wasn’t the same without it. =D

I should say I didn’t buy Euros so I don’t know if that had it, or if it had any of the stuff below.

Anyway ‘remembering’ the mp3 really sums up the other improvements too. Basically EA have added all the stuff they keep forgetting like linesmen, players pointing where they’re about to run to and a through-ball control that actually works.

That and they’re added some cool new features; players throwing their arms up when they think an opponent’s offside, the player stat update thingy and subbing without the huge interlude.

All in all I thoroughly enjoyed it and suggest every football game owner to at least get the demo.

Oh and one last thing… Please, please, please bring back the invisible walls option!

Update: Apparently Microsoft jumped the gun; Rockstar reckons we won’t be seeing any DLC until Jan / Feb next year.

15 hours long, arriving November. There, happy now?

There’s not much more confirmed, and no footage, but with release in just two months such things can’t be far away. What’s more, with 15 hours of play tim, the rumours that an entire new island will be added to the game suddenly seem altogether realistic.

You’ll know as soon as we do. Let the GTA IV news-a-thon recommence!

So, Braid’s finally arrived on Xbox Live, and shot straight to the top of the charts. Developer Jonathan Blow is rightly chuffed - he’s reporting in the region of 30,000 sales and counting, and I haven’t seen so many 10/10 scores in a long time. In fact, Braid is rated the 10th best Xbox 360 game ever and, to be honest, I’d say it was better than most of those anyway - though in a very different way.

Blow has a habit of coming over a bit preachy, but this release has pretty much justified every evil he may ever have done. The game - or at least, the gameplay - is a true triumph of design over budget, and, as Blow points out, goes further than most indie games to reinforce the idea that an independent game can be more than just another retro shooter.

Clearly, though, Blow has an advantage in Braid over the AAA titles - it’s one of simplicity. The core concepts of the game may be fresh, and the level design astounding, but nonetheless its relative simplicity compared to a Bioshock or an Oblivion make it somewhat easier to achieve those 10/10 scores.

The major flaw to the thing is its writing. Blow’s high aspirations are in full, overly verbose flow, and the abstract, intentionally murky story really undermines his lofty intentions - it’s as if he’s saying his story is so artistic it doesn’t need to make sense. For a time it looks like it’s going to go somewhere exciting, somewhere valuable for gaming as a whole, and then it drifts off into Lynchian obscurity, breeding endless discussions of what it all really means. There’s nothing wrong with a subtle piece of story telling and some healthy interpretation on the part of the reader, but hiding your big picture beneath endless layers of confusion doesn’t make you an artist, it just makes people think you are.

Still, it’s nice to see people trying, and I’d take Braid’s writing and plot over 99% of the crap that’s usually turned out by this industry. And I wouldn’t dismiss the gameplay’s quality for a moment - play this thing.

After much musing on this here blog a few weeks ago, further details have emerged regarding Bungie’s unanounced project: it’s Halo.

The game was due to be revealed at E3, but the announcement was pulled by Microsoft at the last minute - to much uproar and conflicting reasons for why.

However, Microsoft man Don Mattrick has confirmed, in probably the most botched game hype reveal this year, that the game is in fact a Halo title.

This brings the total number of Halo projects up to three: Bungie’s project, Halo Wars (Ensemble developed RTS), and Peter Jackson’s game.

So, Halo 4, or something else entirely? My money’s on the former.

A lot of attention on Microsoft at E3 this week, the firm has announced that it plans to re-design XBOX Live, with an emphasis on building communities and shaping the XBOX 360 to be at centre of  home entertainment.  The company also unveiled XBOX Live PrimeTime, a service which will introduce online quiz games, made in conjunction with the TV giant Endemol.

Plus, the usual range of big titles heading out over the next 12 months, to keep gamers hooked, including Gears of War 2.

This story concerns Microsoft and its strict controlling of gamer tags on its online service - it’s been running for a few days, but has now reached amusing enough levels to be bloggable.

Things kicked off last Wednesday when Consumerist reader Grant ‘I’m the only gay on Xbox Live’ wrote to say that his gamer tag ‘thegayergamer’ had been banned for being offensive. Now, clearly had he been prefixed said tag with the letters ‘UR’ he may have been venturing into hot water, but it’s plain that simply being gay and proud is not cause for banning.

Soon after, Microsoft crony Stephen Toulouse - who you can’t help but feel has been caught in the middle of a larger social dispute that has lead to him receiving legions of gay hate mail - posted on his own blog the justification for the move.

Essentially, Microsoft doesn’t allow anything that can be interpreted as sexual in nature - ‘themostlyheterosexualredbloodedmalegamer’ would have been removed just as quickly. You can kinda see the reasoning - a black out on all of these sticky issues keeps Microsoft safe - but it still seems like a step that shouldn’t be necessary.

Things took a turn for the funny today, when Kotaku reported that Welshy Richard had also found himself in the sin bin. His tag? RichardGaywood.

Which is funnier, the story, or his surname?

Less than two weeks to go, and all major UK retailers have already sold out on GTA IV:

Gamestation.co.uk, Play.com, Woolworths.co.uk, Asda

But all is not lost. It looks like if you’re in the UK there’s now two options to get a hold of GTA IV anywhere near the release date.

1. Pre-order from Amazon. As of right now, the retailer is offering to dispatch any pre-orders made in the next few days by 1st May - just two days late. Grab the 360 version here, or on PS3 here.

2. Alternatively, you could get that ’90s vibe going and actually trek down to the shops on 29th April and pray the other 4 million gamers with the same idea don’t get there first.

Good luck everyone. Some of us may not leave this thing alive.

8Bit Joystick is reporting that the joypad (codenamed Newton) rumoured to revolve around Wiimote-copying motion sensing functionality is indeed in development at Microsoft. They also helpfully point out it’s named after some guy who invented gravity, so give yourselves a pat on the back for not being as ignorant as the 8Bit audience in needing to have that pointed out to them.

Word has it Microsoft has licensed technology from the same company Nintendo did in developing for the Wii, and that the controller will be out for Christmas 2008.

The good news is Rock Band is finally confirmed for a Euro release, and it’s just around the corner: May 23rd. It will launch with all US DLC available, and will keep pace with future releases. It’s also got some exclusive tracks from bands like Blur, Oasis and Muse (Hysteria, result!!).

Now the bad news. EA and Microsoft are launching the game as a timed 360 exclusive, meaning there’s no set date for Playstation or Wii versions, and may not be for some time (as long as Microsoft can wrangle I imagine).

Tracks will cost 160 points to download - double what the yanks are paying.

Finally, compared to the $169 paid in the States for a guitar, drum kit, mic and game, the same kit will cost more than double over here: £129.99 / €169 for the peripherals, and a further 50 quid / 70 Euros for the game.

Fun.

Gamerush is reporting that Australian retailers (granted, not always at the forefront of industry trends) are stocking 360s only out of good faith to Microsoft.

“The Xbox 360 is dead. We are stocking it because of our relationship with Microsoft however all our energy and marketing is going into the PS3 and the Nintendo Wii unless Microsoft come up with something new or additional marketing dollars,” a Melbourne-based retailer said. “Halo 3 was big on the Xbox but that was about it.”