Co-op, Evolved!

Halo fans recently had a bit of wind taken out of their sails when Bungie intimated in an EGM cover story that online co-op play could possibly end up on the cutting room floor due to technical issues.

It had been widely believed (though never confirmed by Bungie) that the game would support 4 players online, so the news that even 2-player co-op wouldn't be there was a major disappointment, especially after online co-op had also been removed from Halo 2 at the last minute. (more…)

Hot on the heels of the Wal-Mart and Toys 'R Us fliers revealing a possible $50 price drop on the Premium 360, comes a Circuit City flier that answers the important question: What about the Elite and the Core?

Way to keep things simple Microsoft. The people who brought you five different versions of Windows Vista now present the staggered price drop.

The Core, with only $20 excised from it's price, is even less of a value compared to the Premium than it already was, and since the Elite is only seeing a $30 drop it is $100 more expensive than the Premium instead of just $80 as it was previously.

(more…)

Rumors have been swirling about a possible Xbox 360 price drop ever since Sony's pre-E3 PS3 price drop. Yesterday, the rumors got a shot of adrenaline when CheapAssGamer user DX posted the following image, depicting a $349 Xbox 360 Premium, on the CAG forums:

There are, however, a couple of inconsistencies in the image that set off some people's fake-detectors: (more…)

The baby? Guitar Hero III. The Shark? Rock Band.

In keeping with their promise to have new downloadable content once a week following the launch of Rock Band, Harmonix has revealed to GamePro magazine that Nirvana's 1991 album, Nevermind, will be one of the first fully playable albums made available following the previously announced Who's Next by The Who. It has also been implied that one or more unspecified Metallica albums will eventually be available as well.

All three bands are featured in the game's main tracklist so one need only look at the already announced tracks to get an idea of what other bands we may see get the full album treatment: Stone Temple Pilots, Blue Öyster Cult, Weezer, Foo Fighters, The Ramones. I may never leave the house again.

The most important piece of info is still at large, however: (more…)

Since the launch of the Xbox 360, Xbox Live users have gotten used to the free demos that are regularly made available, but every once in a while the Official Xbox Magazine gets exclusive rights to distribute a demo on its pack in demo disc. Past exclusives have included F.E.A.R. and TimeShift.

360 owners who wanted to play these demos would need to then shell out $10 for a newsstand copy of the magazine; not exactly an exciting proposition. The infrequency of these exclusive demos hardly justified maintaining a subscription to the magazine either.

A newly announced service, OXM Digital, could benefit those who want to play the exclusive demos but don't want to shell out $10 for a magazine that is going to end up in the garbage faster than an empty bag of Doritos.

(more…)