If you log on to Xbox Live right now, you will notice that there are actually video commercials playing on your dashboard, complete with sound. No longer are there little images of ads, but there are actually full-fledged Silverlight videos.
If you aren’t so happy with this, you can just chose not to watch them since no one is forcing you to. But one can’t help question why these ads are fair if players are already paying for their subscription to Xbox Live. I can understand the need for them if it was a free service, but clearly it isn’t.. Anyways, the ads claim to be non-intrusive, so we can only hope for the best.
EVO 2009 wrapped up yesterday, deeming Japanese player Daigo “The Beast” Umehara the victor of the Street Fighter IV finals. Of course, the other games of the event are not to be forgotten, but the main attraction of the evening was definitely Capcom’s newest fighting game. Here’s a list of the top eight competitors for the SF4 bracket:
Daigo Umehara (Ryu)
Justin Wong (Boxer, Abel, Rufus)
Ed Ma (Akuma)
Sanford (Akuma, Cammy)
Long Tran (Akuma)
Eduardo Perez (Boxer, E-Honda)
Dan (from Japan) (Ryu)
Ricky Ortiz (Rufus)
I caught a few minutes of the Marvel vs Capcom 2 semi-finals as well, and was very disappointed to find out that I’m not as good at the game as I thought I was.
Anyways, a new documentary titled King of Chinatown is also being released, focusing on runner-up Justin Wong’s road to this year’s EVO. However, the trailer makes the assumption that he is, in fact, the best Street Fighter IV player even though it was made official at EVO that he is not. Regardless, the documentary still looks very interesting.
Capcom has announced today that Spyborgs will be seeing a September 25th release in Europe, and September 29th in the United States. The beat-em-up is designed to be played in co-op mode, so you’re going to want a friend with you to enjoy the game. However, if you can’t find anyone, you’ll have to play both of the characters by yourself, alternating between the two.
The art style of Spyborgs resembles that of a classic Saturday morning cartoon show and boasts 35 different stages of combat and five playable characters with their own unique abilities. The game will be released exclusively for the Wii.
NHN USA announces that a new Soldier Front update has been released today, releasing a new map and female character faction, the Mulan Special Forces. The new map is titled Venice, Italy and is based off of the streets of, you guessed it, Venice.
Soldier Front is run on a free-to-play model, with the option to purchase game currency for paid content. The game is published on ijji, NHN USA’s game portal website. You can grab it for free over at the official website in a quick 300MB download.
I’ve played the game and I can say that it’s definitely not worth to buy the special weapons and such, but it’s worth a go in case you want a pick-me-up FPS.
The “There is Only War” beta period for Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II officially ended yesterday night. Although the beta was scheduled to end on the 14th, Relic Entertainment decided to extend the beta to keep it playable for a bit longer, even though no more feedback would be accepted.
The developers mention that the beta was a success, receiving an “overwhelming amount of community feedback and support.” That being said, the retail launch of the patch will be rolling out soon, except this time with even more bug fixes and balance changes unseen in the beta.
“There is Only War” includes eight unreleased multiplayer maps, balance changes, bug fixes, and a map editor.
For this week only, Steam will be offering a 50% off deal on every single Paradox Interactive game in their library. The Swedish video game developer and publisher is known for its historical real-time-strategy games, such as the upcoming East India Company.
Among some of the titles currently on sale include King’s Bounty: The Legend, Mount & Blade, and the first two Heart of Iron games. The sale ends on July 26th so if you’re in the mood for a fun history lesson, be sure to check out these gems.
It seems that the Wii isn’t the only Nintendo getting some Rabbids love as Ubisoft has just let us known that a Rabbids Go Home title will be released for the Nintendo DS this holiday season.
If you’re familiar with the Wii version of this game you’re in luck as the DS version shares the same storyline. However, instead of the collecting gameplay featured in the console version players will find themselves in a puzzle-adventure oriented Rabbids Go Home. You will be tasked with completeing puzzles, collecting garbage and ultimately creating a tower to the moon.
Again, expect Rabbids Go Home to hit store shelves for the Nintendo DS sometime this holiday season.
Mad Catz Art Director, Roentgen D. Reyes, commented on the hardware’s artwork:
“When we set out creating the Limited Edition artwork we knew that we had to create an impactful design that was radically different from the previous imagery and color schemes. With that in mind we chose not to concentrate on a group of characters but instead produce something targeted to the fan community. After working through a number of designs, we focused on one of the strongest ‘fan-favorite’ characters in the game, Sagat. The character is renowned for his large scar which game legend tells us was caused by archrival Ryu. In my mind, playing Street Fighter® IV evokes the player’s competitive nature, with rivalry a key element of the experience.”
The exclusive Tournament Edition arcade sticks will go on sale for Comic-Con attendees for $179.99 while the exclusive SF4 controller, pictured after the break, will go on sale at the convention along with on the Mad Catz website for $49.99.
Treyarch only released the second map pack for Call of Duty: World at Warlast month and already they are gearing up to launch the game’s third installment.
Appropriately entitled Map Pack 3, this pack will include three multiplayer maps and an additional Nazi Zombie map. Pictured above is Revolution, one map to be included in said pack, with pictures of the other two maps, Breach and Battery, included after the break. Unfortunately, Treyarch released no screen shots of the new Nazi Zombie map, Der Riese.
With the success of World at War‘s previous 2 map packs it’s no wonder that Treyarch would continue to release similar content. I mean, the game is published by Activision, remember?
If you’ve played Square Enix’s WiiWare exclusive My Life as a King you’ll be glad to hear that the game’s follow-up, My Life as a Darklord, has recently hit the service.
This game will apparantly take the empire-building elements from My Life as a King and adapt them in a darker way. Players will be pitted against an onslaught of adventurers from who they must protect a tower from with an arsenal of traps and monsters.
There are two more WiiWare titles along with a DSiWare title included in this same update all of which you can read more about after the break.
NHN USA announces that a new Soldier Front update has been released today, releasing a new map and female character faction, the Mulan Special Forces. The new map is titled Venice, Italy and is based off of the streets of, you guessed it, Venice.
For this week only, Steam will be offering a 50% off deal on every single Paradox Interactive game in their library. The Swedish video game developer and publisher is known for its historical real-time-strategy games, such as the upcoming East India Company.
It seems that the Wii isn’t the only Nintendo getting some 
If you’ve played Square Enix’s WiiWare exclusive My Life as a King you’ll be glad to hear that the game’s follow-up, My Life as a Darklord, has recently hit the service.