Microsoft had their big XNA '06 conference today, and the really huge news was that Halo is going back to its original roots as an RTS. Sure, the first Halo ended up being an FPS as the final product, but the original plan was for it to be a full-blown real time strategy. Here's the trailer:
Other not so noteworthy highlights:
-Doom is now available on Xbox live and has online deathmatch! Whoopdee-fucking-do! Seriously, no disrespect to the game that really kick-started the FPS genre, but it just simply hasn't aged well in the nearly 15 years since it's been out. It'll be fun for a little nostalgia, then you'll quickly go back to Halo 2 & Counter-Strike.
-The Xbox 360 HD-DVD player will launch in North America in mid-November, will cost $199.99, and will include in the box an HD-DVD copy of Peter Jackson's King Kong. I'm sure king Kong will look amazing in in HD on HD, but this officially makes the 360 a lot more pricey than the PS3 if you want to watch a high-def movie on it.
-A Marvel MMORPG is on the way. So it's City of Heroes with a license? Big yawn.
-Banjo Kazooie is returning. Great, another well-remembered franchise that Rare can flush down the drain. They have had 3 releases to date since they joined Team MS, and they've all vastly underwhelmed at best, I don't see this finally fixing their recent track record.
So really mostly a somewhat underwhelming conference, especially considering that all they've really got for the near future is Gears of War to combat the launch of the PS3 & The Wii.
There was one big bit of news for the 4 PS3 fans still left-Elder Scrolls: Oblivion is going to be a launch title. Congrats on having a game us PC & 360 players have been playing for months already! If it actually runs much smoother and looks significantly better, great, but my bet is it won't...
But with potentially good news comes potentially horrid news (for PS3 fans anyways): Square is spreading the wealth this time around, saying they aren't really committed to any one system. Final Fantasy is still going to remain mainly a PS franchise, but others may end up elsewhere, namely Kingdom Hearts. Oddly enough, I've always said when the next Kingdom Hearts game is announced is when I'll probably break down and buy a PS3. Now that may not ever happen...
The Sony style store has "officially" listed Sony PS3 titles at a 59.99, same as most 360 titles. But the Sony store is just some little offshoot, I'll believe it more when I hear an official statement from Sony Corporate.
Unfortunately, I've been a little too tired from work to really make the effort to go see Fearless yet, but I'm pretty open most of Saturday & Sunday, so I'll be sure to check it out this weekend.
SCRUBS CLIP OF THE WEEK:
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