Teens in Tech Games

Activision Publishing today announced the latest game to be introduced in the Guitar Hero franchise; Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock. The latest installment in the world’s most popular music game series, Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock will “redefine music gaming with an all-new, story-driven Quest Mode, a completely redesigned rock-inspired guitar controller, the biggest on-disc selection of rock music ever in a Guitar Hero game and Quickplay+, which invites challenge-starved fanatics to test their rock skills in any of the on-disc or over 500 songs in the Guitar Hero Music Library.”

Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock offers the complete interactive and connected experience bringing friends and foes to the stage in the ultimate rock music adventure. Running on the powerful Guitar Hero engine that has been expanded and refined, coupled with the return of the critically acclaimed and fan favourite features like Party Play’s jump in/jump out gameplay, a host of Competitive modes and the ability to play any combination of guitar, bass, drums and vocals.

No date has been announced yet, but once we have more information, we’ll let you all know!

2K Sports announced today that 24 year-old Wade McGilberry of Semmes, Alabama has won $1,000,000 by being the first person to throw a verified perfect game in Major League Baseball 2K10, the latest iteration of the popular Major League Baseball 2K series. The special contest, which was available for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation3, features vastly improved gameplay and pitching mechanics this season in Major League Baseball 2K10.

Fans were able to participate in the $1,000,000 Major League Baseball 2K10 contest beginning on March 2, 2010 at 12:01 AM PST. The competition ended on May 1, 2010 at 11:59 PM PDT. To compete, gamers had to play in MLB Today mode, select from any of the available matchups, and then choose the option to participate in the ‘MLB 2K10 contest’ that automatically defaulted to the proper gameplay settings as defined by the official contest rules. Entries had to be recorded via camera or digital video recorder in compliance with guidelines provided by 2K in the official rules, and all eligible entrants had to submit a copy of their recording in its entirety for verification. Submissions were only accepted on DVD.

To ensure accuracy in the verification and submission process, 2K Sports partnered with Twin Galaxies International, the worldwide authority on video game world records, and provider of scores to Guinness World Records that are published in the Guinness World Records: Gamer’s Edition. On May 2, 2010, 2K Sports, in conjunction with Twin Galaxies International, began reviewing player submission videos. After a thorough review process, 2K Sports determined that Wade McGilberry was the first person to throw a verified perfect game in Major League Baseball 2K10.

You can pick up Major League Baseball 2K10 today in stores.

After the much anticipated wait, Halo: Reach is finally available for download as a beta. Halo fans around the world are now able to download the Halo: Reach multi-player beta via their Halo 3: ODST game discs and help make entertainment history by participating in the biggest console beta ever. Starting yesterday and concluding on May 19, the beta is a chance for millions of people to experience a portion of the competitive multiplayer offering in Halo: Reach, and an opportunity to test and help perfect the definitive multiplayer experience.

Building upon the successes of its predecessors, “Halo: Reach” breaks new ground with a host of new content and features, delivering the most thrilling and feature-packed multiplayer experience yet. With new game types, weapons, armor abilities, players rewards, customisation options, social settings and more, the “Halo: Reach” multiplayer beta introduces a wave of innovations that will take the award-winning “Halo” multiplayer experience on Xbox LIVE to the next level.

Additionally, an introduction video to the “Halo: Reach” beta featuring actress Aisha Tyler, which debuted last week via the “Halo 3: ODST” game disc, is now widely available. In the light-hearted video, Tyler breaks down all the action-packed new game types in the beta and offers insider tips, all while wielding a variety of life-size “Halo” weaponry. It’s a must-watch for any “Halo” fan.

Bungie has recently announced the launch of their newest game in the Halo series, Halo: Reach. This is not however a continuation of the campaign from Halo 1, 2, or 3. This new game features new weapons, new maps, new game types, and a new ranking system for multiplayer use. Also, Halo: Reach was designed around the multiplayer experience, and less focused on the campaign aspect, so you hardcore multiplayer gamers are sure to get as much out of it as possible. For those of you who purchased Halo: ODST, you have a beta key for the upcoming beta launch of Halo: Reach, and you can expect to be playing the beta in a couple months.

From what I have seen, this new Halo looks pretty sweet, and it is definitely worth a shot. I am most interested in the new ranking system, which is much like the one used for arenas in World of Warcraft. I can’t wait for Reach to come out, and I am excited to hear more about it. It looks like a treat that everyone should enjoy.

Harmonix and MTV Games today announced that singles from bands including Flyleaf, Busted and Silverchair will be added to the Rock Band Music Store. The songs will be added to the Rock Band Music Store for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii.

With more than 400 artists, including Jimi Hendrix, The Who, AC/DC and Green Day, as well as more then 1,100 songs available through the music store, 65 million songs sold through the download store alone. Rock Band is claiming to the sales and content leader in the interactive music space, providing the deepest and best selection of artists, songs and albums.

Busted, one of the new bands featured in the music store, have sold more than 3 million albums worldwide, won two BRIT awards and sold out several arena tours. Songs from the three bands, Flyleaf, Busted and Silverchair, will be added to the Xbox 360 and Wii on April 27, and PlayStation 3 system on April 29.

The songs will be available for purchase as individual tracks on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 system and as individual tracks only on Wii. Pricing information as follows:

Price: $1.99 USD,£.99 UK,€1.49 EU (160 Microsoft Points for Xbox 360) per track

$2.00 USD (200 Wii Points) per track

Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices Division was awarded the Grand Prix award at the MCV Industry Excellence Awards, where over 600 industry executives were in attendance.

The Grand Prix award annually recognizes a leading UK-based brand or company which has enjoyed both commercial and critical success, while also demonstrating the highest levels of trade level support.

Neil Thompson, General Manager of Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices Division (UK&Ireland), stated that winning this prestigious honor was truly is a humbling moment.

MCV publisher Stuart Dinsey commented,“The Xbox 360 team is worthy winners of the Grand Prix. It was won for being true market leaders, driving sales of hardware, working brilliantly with third party licensees, supporting retail and showing true innovation with Xbox LIVE – by far the leading online games network today. The entire UK industry approved this choice so congratulations to everyone on the Xbox team.”

Introduction-

Assassin’s Creed II is a third person action-adventure video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 video game consoles, and Microsoft Windows. It is the second video game installment of the Assassin’s Creed series and is a direct sequel to the 2007 video game Assassin’s Creed. The game was released on video game consoles in November 2009, and will be released on Microsoft Windows in February 2010 in Europe and in March 2010 in North America.

First Impressions-

When I first watched the trailers for Assassin’s Creed II, I was blown away. The graphics were the first thing that really caught my attention, and they were simply amazing — some of the most realistic graphics I have ever seen. The story line seemed kind of weird, but then again, it is Assassin’s Creed, and the story in the first game was a bit strange too. The whole “explore the world how you want to” idea is really cool, and I enjoy being in control of the game I am playing, not the other way around. Upon first playing the game, I realized that the controls were fairly easy to use and remember, and the overall gameplay was extremely smooth. My first impression of this game was definately that this would be a great game.

The Good-

The good parts of this game are not too much different than my first impressions were, the graphics were great, fun and fairly easy to manipulate gameplay, and the overall smoothness of the game. To me, the most impressing part of this game was in fact how smoothly it ran and how quickly it loads new maps and locations. The generally short load times make the game more fun to play, since you don’t have to wait ten minutes to clear a 5 minute mission.

The Bad-

One thing that can actually be more annoying than good to some people is in fact the openness of the game. Many people might get lost wandering off to some random areas where they no longer are following the main story line, or they will get caught up doing a side story for a majority of their time. For most people, this will add to the greatness of the game, but for some it can cause confusion and frustration.

Overall-

Overall, I thought that this game was really fun, and extremelly addicting. The always changing story and constant twists make for a suprise every time. Sure, the game starts out slow… really slow, but if you just hang in there for a bit, the real fun will begin. Aside from the extremely borin start, this game is truely epic, and I would definately rate it a 4.5 out of 5.

At Spike’s Video Game Awards Medal of Honor was previewed. What can we expect from this game?

The game actually does look cool. Although it looks like a Call of Duty knock off, I think it will be a popular game. Considering the Medal of Honor games made shooters, as we know them, can it compete with Call of Duty?

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 was a hit and it would be hard for Medal of Honor to beat it. Call of Duty has both that FPS and RPG aspect to the game. You can level, earn guns, earn challenges, and kill people. I think Medal of Honor will be more of a campaign game. Call of Duty didn’t have one of the greatest campaigns, so I think Medal of Honor will try to beat that.

Medal of Honor will be taking place in Afghanistan. One of the developers stated, “Medal of Honor is “historical fiction” set against the backdrop of the current war in Afghanistan. Much like “Saving Private Ryan” is a fictional story told through the lens of a small band of characters during WWII.”

The game sounds really cool and I can not wait to hear more about it. Maybe more information will be released at CES this spring.

Introduction-

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is a first-person shooter video game developed by Infinity Ward and published by Activision for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. Officially announced on February 11, 2009, the game was released worldwide on November 10, 2009. It is the sixth installment of the Call of Duty series, and the direct sequel to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, continuing along the same storyline.

First Impressions-

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has gotten more hype than virtually any game ever released, and the midnight launch showed for all the hype. At my local Gamestop the lines were probably 3 times as long as the lines for the Halo 3 midnight launch, and they had booths with screens to play some of the game while you were waiting, along with a live DJ! When I started the game up, even the title screen got me excited to play this extremely hyped game. My brother wanted to play too, of course, so we decided to play some Spec Ops. The graphics were great, the gameplay was extremely fun, and the missions were actually very challenging, what more could you ask for. Also, they implemented a ton of new weapons into this game, along with new vehicles too! (Weapons list). My overall first impressions: This is a great game that any hardcore or casual gamer should most definitely play. It has all the components that make a great FPS (First Person Shooter), or any gametype for that matter. And for those of you who loved Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, this sequel will not disappoint. Try to imagine Call of Duty 4, but any problem you had with it fixed to perfection, yeah, its that good.

The Good-

It is really hard to pin point the good aspects of this game, as the whole game is really good. One thing that I found particularly good was the online play. Multiplayer in this game is incredibly fun, and it is challenging too. I cannot stand a game that isn’t hard, and this game definitely does not lack any challenge. Also, the amount of different types of weapons and vehicles keeps a never ending cycle of new adventures going throughout you experience. Another thing that I found really cool about Modern Warfare 2 was the third-person mode. This adds an extra twist to the game. Most games are either first-person or third-person, but they took it another step and just added both, fun! I have seen lots of people complain about how it is really unbalanced because as a low level it is hard to kill higher levels because they have better guns…DUH! Is that not the point of the game? What Infinity Ward really did is made it so there is a driving force that makes you want to play more…the higher level you get, the better guns you will get. Any RPG (Role Playing Game) style game will be like this, otherwise there is no point in leveling and gaining experience.

The Bad-

There is not a lot of bad in this game, but if I were to have to point out one bad thing, it would simply be that you can’t play online with more than one person per Xbox 360. This really sucks for me because I have 3 siblings, so we have to take turns when we want to play online. Also, the campaign is single player, and Spec Ops is only for 2 players per Xbox. It was the same way with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, so I really wasn’t expecting a change, but I would really have loved to see that change specifically, it definitely would make this game the perfect FPS. I have also heard a lot of complaints about the campaign being too short, but from what I have played, it seems really fun so far.

Overall-

Overall, with multiplayer, spec ops, campaign, split screen, and third-person mode, this game is awesome. I see no reason anyone would rate this game less than a 10 out of 10. The game is about as balanced as it can get without making it way too easy for anyone to kill anyone, regardless of rank. I was kind of disappointed about the one player per Xbox again, but that is just the smallest spec of dust on an otherwise perfect game.