Toronto Thumbs

CONTEST WINNER
Resident Evil 5 Original Soundtrack

Earlier this week, I launched a little contest for a three-disc Resident Evil 5 Original Soundtrack courtesy of the fine folk at Sumthing Else Music Works. The concept was a simple one: participants had to use their Twitter accounts to reply to us with either their best zombie grunt or their best zombie survivor scream.

Twitter user ryoji has come out as the winner. Rather than scream to draw attention to himself, he decided disguise was the way to go. His entry was “maybe-if-I-pretend-to-be-a-chicken-they-won’t-notice-me BAWK BAWK BAWKKKKKKKKK.”

Though I’m unsure if such a ruse would work on a zombie hoard, I do know one thing: It was the best entry we had. Congrats, ryoji!

Posted in News | No Comments »

ARE YOU EXPERIENCED?
New Xbox Experience Launches Nov 19

Microsoft is set to transform Xbox 360 consoles via next Wednesday’s automatic console update. If you’ve got a 360 and have it connected to the Internet, chances are you’ll want to upgrade.

The new interface is much cleaner, and a little remniscent of the new Zune interface as well – which is a good thing! Overall it really seems as if the Xbox will be embracing a more social angle in the near future.

Among the new features is Xbox LIVE Party, which will allow users to create a “party” with up to seven friends. The party consists of voice chat, playing games, and photo sharing. And to help facilitate the social concept is the introduction of customizable animated avatars. These have previously been referred to as Microsoft’s answer to Nintendo’s Miis, and in a way that’s a valid comparison. It does, however, appear that the animated avatars will have a greater degree of customization than Miis allow for.

I’m looking forward to the interface changeover. I’ve gotten used to the way the current UI operates but it’s an absolute mess when trying to scroll through the titles on my system and when looking through the marketplace. November 19 can’t come soon enough!

Posted in LIVE, News, Xbox 360 | 2 Comments »

BIGGER IS BETTER
Xbox Introduces 60GB Starter Pack

Today Xbox Canada announce the launch of the Xbox 60GB hard drive and Xbox LIVE starter pack, which is a handy way for Xbox Arcade owners to upgrade their consoles for a more engaging media experience. The bundle’s in stores today and retails for an approximate $109.99 CDN. It includes the new 60GB hard drive, a wired headset, a three-month subscription to LIVE and an ethernet cable (you can never have too many of these!).

And now, I am sad, for I only have 4 GB os space left on my now-outdated 20 GB Xbox hard drive. Technology is such a cruel mistress sometimes.

Posted in LIVE, News, Xbox 360 | No Comments »

OVERVIEW
Spectrobes: Beyond the Portals

About a month ago I had a one-on-one demonstration of Spectrobes: Beyond the Portals, the sequel to the only third-party Nintendo DS game to break the top ten sales chart last year. Ross Purnell, Associate Manager, Public Relations at Disney Interactive Studios and I sat down to go through some of the highlights of the game, in particular what new features were added to the gameplay.

Among the most noticeable of the new features is that the world is now a 3D environment with a wide degree of camera control. The game’s developer, Jupiter Corp. did have a 3D environment in the original title but found that the ¾ overhead view restricted the player’s view of what was happening around them; and enemy could be around the corner and the player wouldn’t know till it was nearly too late. The new camera is positioned behind Rallen (one of the main protagonists) and allows the player to scope out the environment to plan movements a little more strategically.

This time around, Rallen can also participate in field battles using a blaster, sword, or gauntlet. This doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of Spectrobes battles to be had, however. These fights take place in real time and the Spectrobe types (red, green, and blue) function as a rock, paper, scissors balancing device.

Read the rest »

Posted in DS, News, Overviews | No Comments »

LOL ZANGIEF

Capcom released a statement today regarding the still-upcoming Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix which started off with “Do you remember Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix?” and then went on to promise that the game is in fact on its way “very soon.”

They also provided a bunch of screenshots and character art of Blanka, Cammy, and Zangief. I’ve decided to not show them all here because I’m sure another game site has posted them with giant ugly watermarks already (cough*IGN*cough) but I did find this one particularly funny because Zangief is, well, funny!

Posted in Awesome, News, Pics, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 | 4 Comments »

Bungie keeps achievements up their sleeves

The developer behind the massively successful Halo series has always been good at wooing gamers into their fold and keeping them there. And that hasn’t changed with Halo 3.

To ensure its title stays at the top of Xbox Live’s most played list, Bungie released Title Update 2 Tuesday for Halo 3. The update adds 10 new achievements for a total of 250 points. All can be earned through online multiplayer.

However, leave it to Bungie to keep secrets.

Read the rest »

Posted in Awesome, News, Xbox 360 | No Comments »

Excellent Deal On Xbox 360 This Week

Future Shop has an excellent deal on Xbox 360 this week. You can grab a 60 GB model with Gears of War and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed for $299.99. Not only do you get a pretty cool console, but those are both very enjoyable games.

Hey, and if you’re one of the people who keeps writing us complaining about our public displays of Xbox affection, maybe you can buy one so you can see why we love it so much (seriously, we like all consoles). At $299.99 (a price which includes two games and a giant hard drive) it makes the 360 the cheapest of the current-generation consoles.

Posted in News, Xbox 360 | 5 Comments »

Get in the Hockey Hall of Fame with NHL 2K9

Say there, have you ever wanted to be in the Hockey Hall of Fame but can’t play hockey, or even skate? Well you might be in luck if you can at least play video game hockey. Canadian gamers have been given the chance to be honoured in the 2K Sports NHL 2K9 Zone at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto! By competing in matches over Xbox Live over the next three months, players will vie for their turn in the spotlight.

Here’s how it works – register by downloading the official tournament entry gamer pic from the LIVE Arcade Marketplace. Then, play NHL 2K9 as much as possible starting October 7 because only the top 256 players will be placed into the single-elimination tournament, which starts in November.

From xbox.com:

Participants will have a number of opportunities to get into the Hockey Hall of Fame through three different individual awards designed after their real NHL counterparts including the 2K Sports HHOF Championship Award, 2K Sports All-Around Offense Award, & 2K Sports All-Around Defense Award. All the trophies will live at the Hockey Hall of Fame in the exclusive NHL 2K Sports interactive area, and each winner will have their name engraved on their respective individual trophy, along with the honor of also getting their names on virtual versions of the above trophies in next year’s NHL 2K10.

Yes, looks like there will be an NHL 2K10. They’re saving no characters with that “K” from here till 3K.

Posted in Canada, News, Xbox 360 | 1 Comment »

HADOKEN! It’s beta time
Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix

The Toronto Thumbs staffers are certified fighting game aficionados, and have a particular fascination and appreciated for all things Street Fighter.

Tomorrow we’ll be playing the crap out of the BETA release of Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, which will be available to anyone who has previously purchased Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3 on LIVE Arcade. Commando 3 is an awesome game on its own, but the fact that players will now be able to test out this much-awaited Street Fighter title is the icing on the cake.

The only downside to all this is that the Xbox 360 controller is likely the worst controller ever to play a 2D fighting game with. The directional pad is so horrible that one has to wonder if its engineers actually set out to design the most useless D-pad ever. If so, they’ve succeeded. Your best bet is to pick up the HORI fighting stick for the Xbox 360. It’s well worth the price and offers good, old-fashioned arcade controller clicky goodness.

Posted in LIVE, News, Xbox 360 | No Comments »

WiiWare Finally Launches

Check out the Wii Shop Channel today because WiiWare has gone live in North America. Right now the service features six different games that were developed just for the Wii. Here’s a list of the titles available today:

• FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES: My Life as a King
• LostWinds
• Defend your Castle
• Pop
• V.I.P. Casino: Blackjack
• TV Show King

Posted in Download Updates, News, Wii | No Comments »