X06 Rumor Control

The X06 event in Barcelona Spain is only one day away and already rumors are swirling as to what will be shown. According to gaming website Kotaku, a few very juicy rumors about what will be shown during the pre show press conference have surfaced on TeamXbox and NeoGaf forums.

Here are the most interesting rumors to surface (left unedited from its original state)

Tommorow is the X06 conference in Barcelona. Some info has been leaked
including some big surprises. Here is a list of what is going to be anounced
tommorow. Tune in for the confernce at Xbox.com from 6pm GMT.

Gears of War single player and multiplayer videos shown. Playable on
show floor.

HD-DVD anouncement. Release date and price for Europe and United
States. £119.99/E149.99 and December 1st release in Europe.$199.99 USD and
November 24th release in US.All will be bundled with Universal Media
Remote.

A new Halo 3 trailer is shown. Some multiplayer info revealed. Aiming
for 50-64 player online. Announce that Halo 3 will be the first game to run
natively on 1080p. They will make full use of this update. Available in 2007.
Playable behind closed doors.

More info about 1080p and how it will be done. New dashboard
announcement. Release date revealed for late November. Will allow users to try
out homebrew content made with XNA game express.

More news on Live Anywhere and how it will function. Talk about
function with Zune and XBLA titles.

Rare show off new version of Killer Instinct for the 360. Will
support 4 player tag matches. Playable on show floor.

Alan Wake shown and fully playable. Will also be availble on Windows
Vista. Coming this Spring.

Fable 2 trailer shown. Multiplayer confirmed.

Black Xbox 360 anounced. Available this Christmas around the world.
New Xbox 360 core and premium bundles shown. Xbox 360 Classics game list. Kameo,
PDZ included. More this spring including Oblivion.

Many more videos and games are playable. I have just listed some of
the major ones

The validity of the information has come into question, as the writers of said information have not listed their sources, if there were any to begin with. X06 officially begins tomorrow, September 27, 2006, so gamers will not have long to wait until the truth is revealed.

The Nintendo Fusion Tour is heading to a town near you!

Nintendo’s mantra concerning their upcoming Wii console is that “playing is believing”. Now, gamers across the US will get their chance to do just that nearly two months before the console launches at the Nintendo Fusion Tour. Though Nintendo planned on showcasing the console on the tour, only recently did they announce that the console would be made playable to the public.

The list of playable games (which is subject to change) includes Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Tony Hawk’s Downhill Jam, Excite Truck, Wii Sports and WarioWare: Smooth moves. The portable Nintendo DS Lite will also be playable, including games such as Elite Beat Agents and the mega popular New Super Mario Bros. More DS games will be made available to attendees that have not yet been announced.

Beginning on September 27th in Columbus, Ohio, the Nintendo Fusion Tour will make 35 stops in cities across the US, ending on October 31st with a special Halloween concert in Seattle, Washington. The Hawthorne Heights will headline the event, and will feature the likes of Relient K, Emery, and Plain White T’s. Tour dates can be found on the official web site.

Nintendo has stated that the Wii is something that gamers have to experience the Wii to truly appreciate the innovative features of the Wii remote. Before this year’s E3, many gamers had been skeptical, but after having experienced it firsthand, attendees walked away convinced. Nintendo is hoping this tour will turn skeptics into believers.

News: Microsoft announces Xbox 360 Platinum Hits collection


Microsoft recently announced that they would be bringing back the Platinum Hits collection for the Xbox 360 console. Beginning on October 15th, gamers will be able to purchase Perfect Dark Zero, Project Gotham Racing 3, Need for Speed Most Wanted and Kameo: Elements of Power for $29.99 USD. This will soon be followed by a second wave of games in the spring of 2007

“The Platinum Hits program allows existing gamers and new gamers alike to have access to great games at a great price,” said Mitch Koch, corporate vice president of Worldwide Retail Sales for the Interactive Entertainment Business. “Not only does the Platinum Hits program offer games at a great value,” Koch added, “it ensures that the platform's best games are available to new customers at an amazing price. And if you missed playing a game the first time around, now is a great reason to pick it up.”

Europe, Japan, Latin America, Asia and Australia will soon receive their own Platinum Hits lineup, with titles tuned to gamer’s tastes in those regions.

Nintendo Wii launch detailed in New York press event.

At this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo, Nintendo’s pre-show press conference answered a lot of questions about the Wii’s upcoming games, the Wii Remote and left the majority of the gaming public very satisfied, but a few crucial bits of information were left out. These being the launch date, and price. Well after months of speculation about both, Nintendo has finally revealed the information they have kept such a tight lid on in a recent press event.

The price was among the first details to be released. On the November 19th release date, the Wii will retail for $249.95 in the US. The box will contain the Nintendo Wii console, one Wii remote controller, one nunchuck attachment and the sensor bar, which you place in front of the television screen and detects the movements of the Wii remote and the nunchuck. In addition, Nintendo, for the first time in over a decade, has announced that they are bringing back the pack in game. Every Wii console will come with the game Wii Sports, which was demoed on stage at this year’s E3 to show off the motion sensing functions of the Wii remote.

With game prices jumping ten dollars, to round out at $59.99 for third party titles on the Xbox 360 and possibly more on the upcoming Playstation 3 (although rumors have been swirling that Sony will adopt a similar pricing strategy to Microsoft’s), the gaming community has been wondering whether or not Nintendo will also make the jump in pricing. These rumors were shot down as Nintendo announced game pricing for both Wii games, and the legacy Virtual console titles. The price for Wii games will remain consistent with Gamecube game pricing last generation of $49.99. Virtual console game pricing is as follows, $5 for NES titles, $8 for SNES titles, and $10 for Nintendo 64 titles and will be purchased using Wii points, which can be obtained through pre-paid cards.

The Virtual console has been a point of interest for a long while since it was announced, but until now, nothing much had been said about it. Nintendo blew the doors off the virtual console, announcing both pricing, as mentioned above and titles available at launch. Nintendo announced that beginning on launch day and through the end of the calendar year, over 30 legacy titles will be available for download, including classics such as The Legend of Zelda, and Super Mario World. Beginning in January, the Virtual console library will grow by approximately 10 titles per month.

During the press conference, Nintendo spoke at length about the Wii’s interface, now known as “Wii Channels”. This interface is designed to make the Wii simple to use and very user friendly, another nod to their vision of expanding the market to include non gamers. The Wii shop channel will be the home of the virtual console games and will allow users to purchase and download other software, including the Opera web browser using Wii points, which can be purchased through pre paid cards. One channel they demonstrated at length for the audience was the “Mii” channel. This channel allows you to create custom avatars for use in upcoming games, including the aforementioned Wii Sports. You can create as many Mii’s as you wish and can even transfer them to the Wii remote itself and take them to a friend’s house. Two more channels of interest were the Weather channel and the News channel. When the console is connected to the internet, the user can browse recent news stories. The weather channel allows players to check the weather forecast for not only the region in which they live, but around the globe.

Rounding out the new push towards the internet Nintendo expects to revolutionize online play with what they calls WiiConnect24. This service is always on, and allows your console to receive updates such as new game news and content, even when the console is turned off.

This conference did what it promised. It answered the majority of the big questions surrounding the Wii, and left gamers with a lot to look forward to come launch day.