XBox Gaming Blog

South Park Seasons 5-8 Now on Xbox Live Marketplace

Hey, if you’re a South Park fan (and there are a bunch of you, given the persistance of South Park in the Top Ten Weekly Xbox Live Marketplace downloads), you’ll want to keep your eye on Xbox Live, starting this week. 

You can now download the South Park movie, and exclusive to Xbox Live Marketplace this week, all the episodes from seasons 5-8.  I’m told you should keep checking back over the next few weeks for more new South Park content, including how to get episodes from the new season. 

Tony wanted to remind everyone to download new episodes from two of his favorite shows, Laguna Beach and The OC.  Major Nelson has the whole list on new TV shows, Movies, and trailers on his blog. 

Halo Wars Community Update

The Halo Wars team is hard at work, and the team just posted their monthly update to the community on the Halo Wars Community Forums. 

From the Community Update for Feb 28, 2007:

Last week, a bunch of Microsoft Games Studio (MGS) big wigs were down here to view the latest build of our game.  This was more than a conventional milestone, as they sat down to play the game and get a hands on feel on how the project is really coming along.  Our visitors included Shane Kim, the head of MGS, and a number of his cohorts.  We made sure we had a fairly polished build of our game ready for these folks to play, including some wicked new UI work by Ensemble Studios Artist Andy Gotcher and Programmer Billy Khan.  By all accounts the Microsoft gang had a good time with the game and was quite impressed with its current state.  We’ve got a long way to go still, but it’s very encouraging when a group like this can sit down and have fun beating the hell out of each other so far from any ship date.

Check out HaloWars.com for more inside info.

Achievement Tip of the Week

Are you addicted to achievements as much as I am?  I’ve decided to create a weekly blog post for those of you that need a little help in raising your gamerscore.

Today’s Xbox 360 achievement tip is for Crackdown.

Make your way to the supply point on the map called “Garcia Point” (second north most supply point in the Los Muertos section of Pacific City).  Exit out of that supply point (or make your way there if you haven’t already secured that supply point) and jump up onto the plateau just above the shack.  There you should see a jeep.  Get into the jeep and drive forward about a car length and drive your front wheels up on a rock. 

Congratulations, you’ve just gotten the “Driving High” achievement for 10 points!

[Thanks to Loungepunk for the tip.]

Forza Motorsport Challenge on the Speed Channel

I’m hooked on the show!  I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but after watching it, I’m definitely in for the rest of the season (four shows). 

The idea is that several experienced, but amateur racers get the chance to play out the game in real life.  They are assigned a car and a pit crew from one of several types of racers.  As they compete, they earn credits the pit crew uses to modify the car from week to week. 

Che is blogging about the show on the official Turn 10 Community site, and is offering details about the cars and drivers.  If you’re a Forza fan, you should check out the newly-designed site! 

I uploaded a few bits of video to give you more of a flavor of the show, if you didn’t see it.  Xbox.com is also offering an inside look at the racers.

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Video: Forza Motorsport Challenge Promo (Feb 07)

The Speed Channel is running reruns of the first show for another week, so if you missed it, it’s not too late to tune in.  New episodes of the >Forza Motorsport Showdown are shown Wednesday night at 11pm Eastern / 8pm Pacific. 

During the show, there’s a 2-minute “pit pass” segment where game producer Dan Greenawalt gives you a look at the game.

Pit Pass 1: Forza Motorsport Challenge 

Here are a couple more videos from the show, including the first 3.5 minutes that gives a good overview of how the show works.

 
Forza Motorsport Challenge Episode 1, First Segment

Forza 2 Cinematic Trailer

Plus, don’t forget to enter the >Forza Motorsport Showdown Sweepstakes for a chance to win an Xbox 360 console and a copy of Forza 2!

26 new titles added to Gamespring

This one caught even me by surprise… our release guys were frighteningly busy last week.  MSN Games has just added 26 new casual games to the Gamespring all-you-can-play service.  That brings the total up to 89 full-featured games.  Here’s the new stuff:

AdventureBall, Charm Solitaire, Charm Tale, Fizzball, GameHouse Sudoku!, Gutterball™, Hammer Heads, Legend of El Dorado, Mahjongg Artifacts, Mahjong Fortuna 2, Mysteryville, Pat Sajak’s Trivia Gems™, Rainbow Mystery, Bounce Out!, GameHouse Solitaire Vol.1, GameHouse Solitaire Vol.2, GameHouse Solitaire Vol.3, Glinx!, Granny 3, Letter Linker, Pop & Drop, WHATword?™, Treasures of Montezuma, Virtual Villagers, Wild Wild Words, and Word Slinger.

But wait, there’s more! <- *best game show host voice*

Gamespring has also announced new subscription options.  In addition to the monthly rate of $14.99, you can now subscribe for three months at $38.97 (which works out to $12.99 a month), or one full year at $95.88 (a mere $7.99 per month).  Not bad for all the casual games you can play.  ^_^

Alien Hominid HD Coming Wednesday

Trivial Pursuit: ’90s Edition debuts exclusively on MSN Games

Oh, I know I can’t be the only person out there psyched about this.  ^_^  Trivial Pursuit tackles what might very well be the strangest decade of our lives, and gives us the opportunity to not only remember it, but revel in our encyclopediac recollection of its critical milestones… or, more likely, of its entertaining eccentricities.

What type of underwear did Bill Clinton admit to wearing in an MTV interview?  Where did the “Friends” hang out when not in their amazingly affordable New York apartments?  Who was the hero of the popular Star Fox series of videogames?  You know you know this stuff!

Trivial Pursuit: ’90s Edition is available for download for free trial on MSN Games, and costs a paltry $19.95 to purchase if you like it.  You can play against up to three friends, or solo against the game’s rather ill-tempered but cute AI, Mr. Bear.  (*currently gloating because Mr. Bear blew a question about the Exxon Valdez, allowing her to regain the dice*)  Anyway, there’s a pool of 3000 questions, the usual six categories, and options to turn on a couple of popular “house rules”.  Good stuff!

Want to Make FPS Games?

I’m sure most of us have wanted to create our own video games.  From the guys who There is a program coming for all of you who want to make your own video games.

There’s a product coming that should make your dreams much easier to manage.  Check out a video on it.

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It’s being released soon, and a demo is available on the official website, admittedly I haven’t downloaded it, so if any of you have, let me know how it goes!

Shout-out to the folks on NeoGaf, where I found the thread!

Lunchtime Conversation - Episode 006 - Games, Video, and You

Starting to get a schedule here for the podcast.  Ideally we’d like to record each Tuesday, and post the audio each Thursday/Friday.

We’ve received many questions/topics to discuss on the comments and via email, keep them coming!

MP3 File: 8.9 MB, 26 minutes

Remember that these podcasts are available via the RSS feed, or the iTunes feed as well.

This week John, Tony, Wolf, and Chris talk about:
- Intro/Outro Music:  Hellish Dreams by Leechmaster (found over at Podsafe Audio)
- Shadowrun (Details and discussion)
- 360 Wireless Gaming Receiver (Details and discussion)
- Live on Windows (Dedicated/Private Servers for PC Titles?)
- Crackdown (Tips on getting Stunt Markers in Co-Op games)
- Street Dates on Games (Why have them?)
- SPEED TV’s Forza Motorsport Showdown
- Forza Community Site
- Games Developers Conference (What is it?)
- Xbox Live Arcade (Explanation of the “video̶
- Content by Region (Why is it restricted by region?)
- Email us at GSBlog@Microsoft.com

Solitaire In Motion open beta on MSN Games

We’re looking for a few good Solitaire players!  Okay, actually we’re looking for a whole lot of Solitaire players, of every skill level.  The latest title from Carbonated Games, Solitaire in Motion, is ready for open beta, and we’re hoping for plenty of feedback.  So if you have the chance to take a look and send us your impressions, we’d really appreciate it.

Casual game fans might also want to know about a new behind-the-scenes column on MSN Games.  Casually Speaking will feature designers, programmers, artists, sound engineers, and others involved in the process of creating casual games for Microsoft.  Frankly, this is kind of a no-brainer; we have so many game developers around here who are witty, dedicated, interesting, visionary, and in some cases brilliantly eccentric that it’s almost a crime not to showcase them.  As a bonus, this may be the first place you’ll hear about casual games in development here; the first installment was posted just yesterday, and I don’t think we had ever mentioned Solitaire In Motion publicly before, so hey, scoop!