News Roundup - 4th Of February

February 4th, 2010

Hello RUL and Welcome to News Roundup, hmm i do sound like a game host here....anyway lots of news to sink your teeth into...First of all....Some...news. Also no game releases this week because of people critising my scores. The scores were based on SHOULD YOU BUY THE GAME. Not how good it is. Enough said.

Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of war II First game updated to
2000g

Ok, please, before everyone starts freaking out with the "OMG M$ broke their own rulez!!1!" hear me out and understand why I think this is actually a legit move on their part.
First of all, if you didn't click that link to read the rules, Microsoft has currently set an 80 achievement/1750 point cap on all games that are increased through downloadable content, with a 250 point per quarter (3 month) stipulation. All in agreement, yes? Good.
Now, here is a game that has now hit 2000. Rules broken? Not quite. Dawn of War II is a PC-exclusive game at retail. It's sequel/expansion "Chaos Rising" will also be through retail outlets only. So, therein lies the rub. It's not downloadable content! Flimsy? Yeah, but I believe their "rules" may still be intact. And really, they are still two completely separate retail games, their achievement lists just happen to be merged together.
Regardless, the original 1000 points have all been edited on xbox.com (and of course here) to include "in Dawn of War II" at the end to signify what the original list was, with 24 new achievements being added for the upcoming expansion (all stipulating "in Chaos Rising" in their descriptions), adding a full retail's worth of 1000 gamerscore on top of the original list.
So here you have it, folks. Another first in the history of gamerscore! Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising is due March 11th in the US and the 12th in Europe.

Original XBox Live Servers To Shut Down

I KNOW THIS HAS ALREADY BEEN POSTED

As of April 15th 2010, Microsoft has decided to discontinue the old Xbox Live service for the original Xbox.
This will not only include Xbox Live connectivity for all original Xbox games, but will also extend to any Xbox Originals you may have downloaded for your Xbox 360. Boooooo!
Major Nelson comments on his blog, "...this change will allow us to continue evolving the LIVE service with new features and experiences that fully harness the power of Xbox 360 and the Xbox LIVE community."
So that's that then. If you've any unfinished business online on your old Xbox games, you'd better sort it quick. Well, before April 15th anyway.

[Via Major Nelson]

This also means HALO 2 Will be getting shut down online as many (or not) as you know Halo 2 is the ONLY game stopping people from having more than 100 friends. Meaning ummm.... MORE FRIEND SPACES :p

Skate Reel Service Going Down March 1st

EA has announced yet another server closing of sorts. The original Skate's Reel service will close on March 1st. This will block the uploading, sharing or rating of videos. The regular online servers will still be active.
If you still need any of the Reel-related achievements in Skate, be sure to use the specified thread on the forums to ask for help, and rate as many other videos as you can. Even if you have no plans of playing the game, help out your fellow x360a members and rate some of the community's videos. They'll be very grateful, I'm sure!

505 Games Announce 'The Swarm' New 3rd Person Shooter

505 Games today have announced a new post-apocalyptic third-person shooter set in Moscow after a devestating alien invasion. "The Swarm" will test your humanity as you struggle to choose whether to enhance your character with alien DNA to become stronger, or keep your humanity but remain weaker than the invaders for an increased challenge. Using the alien DNA can eventually lead to the growth of thick armor, claws and other visible upgrades as seen in the screenshots below. Without the upgrades, you will have access to a variety of ranged and melee weapons for use in your standard human capacity.505 president Adam Kline describes The Swarm as "not your standard third-person shooter," claiming that "the gameâ€™s adaptive combat allows players to mold their characters, draw them into the alien takeover and force them to make tough decisions typically not found in other shooter games." Sounds good to me, but how can you really pass up all those advancements? Methinks an achievement for playing the game without using any alien upgrades is in the cards!
The Swarm is set to be an Xbox 360 exclusive, due out this May.

Bioshock 2 Release Trailer Looks BADASS

Welcome back to rapture...

You may already know that BioShock 2 is out very soon, so we've got the launch trailer for you to feast your eyes upon, which sees your Prototype Big Daddy protecting a vulnerable Little Sister from marauding splicers.
That's before everything goes completely wrong, with the malevolent Big Sister smashing her way through the glass ceiling, flooding the ballroom. And just as we were about to have a dance too.
BioShock 2 is out February 9th.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_e4bDYpxG0w"]YouTube- BioShock 2 Launch Trailer[/ame]

Come Back Next Week For MORE News....

Sources: www.xbox360achievements.org
www.kotaku.com
www.joystiq.com