Alan Wake is a game that you probably don’t remember or at least its been so long since its appearance at E3 of 2006 that any impressions of this game have long been buried. We must admit we were very impressed with the game when we first saw it. 3 years later, the graphics still impress us but with so many high profile titles coming out, we can’t help but wonder if its been too long and gamers just don’t care as much anymore. The good news is however that Alan Wake is “done” and being polished at this point. Remedy came through for us after all and the game will be set to be released some time in the spring 2010 time frame.

[Source: Gamecenteronline]

Gameinformer magazine recently took a survey of videogame failure rates. The Wii came in at about 6% while the Playstation 3 had a fail rate of roughly 10%. The Xbox has always been notorious for the “red ring of death” and so not surprisingly, it was the highest coming in at over 54%. We’re guessing that the survey interviewed a lot of new Xbox owners who have not yet had the pleasure of going through the Xbox replacement process. The new consoles with the Jasper motherboard may have also helped. If the survey had been conducted only on Xbox owners of more than 3 years, we’re pretty sure the fail rates would have been much higher. Despite the high frequency of the RRoD and Microsoft’s poor customer service, fans are not deterred as only about 4% of people actually indicated that they would not be buying another Xbox 360 due to the high failure rate.

[Source: Joystiq]

A recent job posting from Microsoft seems to suggest that they are looking for a seasoned veteran to help develop the next generation of the Xbox.

“The LIVE Engagement Team is looking for a LIVE Community Director to manage its LIVE community strategy and execution across a range of properties, from Xbox LIVE to Windows Mobile. This senior position will play a vital role in the community space as the LIVE Engagement team builds and program’s Microsoft’s next-generation, LIVE-enabled casual and social gaming platform across the Web, the console, mobile and beyond.”

Microsoft is apparently very keen on the idea of integrating their Xbox with the PC and even Windows Mobile. Microsoft is most likely trying to take advantage of the fact that the Windows platform is nearly universal in order to boost the presence of the other two.

[Source: ARStechnica]

As of August 8th, Halo 3 has become the first Xbox title (both original and 360) to sell over 10 million copies. Of course if you’re reading this blog you probably won’t be very surprised. Halo 3 had excellent reviews and the original halo was instrumental in building up the popularity of the Xbox Live network. The game opened to over 3 million sales in just its first week alone and even now, after 2 years, it still commands a respectable 30,000 sales weekly. In fact, the only reason some analysts are projecting slower sales in the near future is due to the release of Halo 3: ODST.
BTW: Halo 3 is the latest of only 35 games in all of history to sell over 10 million copies; the number 1 being Wii Sports which straddles atop the list at an astounding 45+ million copies sold.

[Source: VGChartz]

Facebook and Twitter may be coming to the Xbox sooner than expected! Now you can get status updates from your friends while playing Halo! Ok we’re kidding about that last part, but if Social networking sites are a part of your life, this promises the convenience of keeping your ass plotted on the sofa instead of walking the 5 feet over to your computer to check on your Facebook. We still don’t have a definite date yet but it is definitely due out some time in the Autumn season. Don’t get your hopes up though as it has been confirmed that this will not be part of the August dashboard update. The applications will be independent of the dashboard.

[Source: Eurogamer]

The XCM black light cases pictured above are a great way to make your Xbox look more techno pretty. Of course they are also a great way to void your warranty. If you have one of the newer Xbox modles that are supposed to give off less heat and therefore possibly spare you from the RRoD, we may actually recommend this. The entire case comes with a kit you can use to swap out your hardware in a matter of minutes and we do admit the blue looks pretty cool. With XCM black light cases for the Xbox 360, you’re sure to get laid….

[Source: Gizmodo]

In an interview with the lead designer of Gears of War Cliff Bleszinski, he gave a few thoughts regarding Project Natal and its influence on Gears of War. Sadly, CliffyB does not really see Natal being implemented into the Gears of War games. While he was impressed with the technology, the young game industry veteran does not really see Natal replacing traditional gaming. While we agree that the controller pad is by far the most efficient way to play games, we can’t help but feel a little disheartened that we won’t be able to re-enact the grusome and bloody chainsaw bayonet actions. Natal presents itself as a great alternative to the controller in racing games and fighting games but first person shooters often require many different simultaneous inputs which would only seem bothersome if you had to actually act the whole thing out.

The panels at Comicon have been very tightlipped regarding the Gears of War movie which is currently going through pre-production. They have confirmed one thing however; Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson will not in the film to ANY degree. Producers cite the reason for not casting the one human being who looks like a real life embodiment of Marcus Fenix as being the Doom connection. The notoriously bad movie tends to stand out because it is in a very small section of video game movie adaptations and despite the Rock’s decent acting prowess, even he could not save the film from horrible reviews. So the Rock is out. We still hope they’ll cast Michael Clark Duncan to play Cole though!

Bioshock 2 was pushed back to the 2010 fiscal year. Take Two Entertainment has announced that the game will need further time in development and could not meet the original November release date. Bioshock 2 has the player taking on the role of a Big Daddy, one of the more notorious enemies from the first game and it is set after the events of the first game. Currently the game is being scheduled for a release some time in the first half of 2010 and if I were an investor, I may actually be pleased since releasing a game during the unforgiving Christmas season is always a gamble even if it is a game like Bioshock. Bioshock 2 now joins the ranks of Red Dead Redemption, Max Payne 3, and Mafia 2.

[Source: IGN]

In an interview with Cliff Bleszinski, the lead developer of Gears of War, he stated his admiration for games like Deus Ex and Bioshock. These games were both FPS games that had a dash of RPG in them. Both those games were also critically acclaimed masterpieces in gaming history. Bleszinski has since hinted that there may be elements of RPG gameplay in the next installment in the Gears of War franchise. While there has been little news on the third installment, it is definitely in the making. While I’ve always been a fan of Bioshock and Deus Ex, I am not so sure the RPG elements would work well especially when introduced in the middle of a franchise. After all, we’ve all gotten used to the unchanged formula that makes Gears of War so successful a game.

[Source: IGN]