Ready Up Live - Frontpage News

New Xbox 360 Kinect Bundle Announced

Riot — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:06:28 GMT

As of today, Microsoft has officially announced a new bundle launching on November 4th for Xbox 360 and Kinect, this time with the 250GB hard drive. The package will include a Kinect sensor, Kinect Adventures, and of course an Xbox 360 with a 250GB hard drive and built-in Wi-Fi. This bundle will be priced at $400 which appears to be the best value yet for anyone looking to purchase the entire package. For those not wanting to dish out all that money, this bundle will also be launching alongside the $300 Kinect 4GB Xbox 360 bundle and the Kinect hardware on its own for $150.

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Halo Reach Deliver Hope Extended Cut

Rebel Rouser — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 02:09:29 GMT

The extended edition of the live action trailer fresh off YouTube!

Halo: Reach Game Audio Profile

Zolner MD — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 14:05:39 GMT

In this exclusive SoundWorks Collection game sound video profile, Bungie Studios Audio Director and Composer Marty O'Donnell and Sound Designers C Paul Johnson and Jay Weinland discuss the creative and technical challenges for creating the ultimate gaming experience in Halo: Reach.

Halo: Reach Launch Festivities

Zolner MD — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 16:57:28 GMT

Only a few days remain until Halo: Reach arrives on your Xbox 360, and Xbox LIVE has a dropship load of cool opportunities lined up for you before and after launch, leading up to Invasion Week.

First off you should prepare for a week long program of Halo downloads, LIVE competitions and special offers running 7-21 September. Among the exciting opportunities for all Halo fans is that Halo Legends will be 50% the usual price to Download to Own from 7-21 September. This stunning collection of seven animated movies gives the perfect background to the Halo universe as we prepare for Halo: Reach. You can own Halo Legends in Standard or High Definition. Buy it now from Xbox LIVE Marketplace and you can watch it later again and again. The party continues with the following dates for your diary:

7 September - Day 7: "Halo: Reach Premium Theme"
8 September - Day 6: "Campaign Preview"
9 September - Day 5: "50% off Avatar Warthog Prop Offer"
10 September - Day 4: "Firefight Preview"
11 September - Day 3: "Deliver Hope - Director's Cut"
12 September - Day 2: "Multiplayer Preview"
13 September - Day 1: "Halo: Reach Collection Update (Avatar)"

Sign in to Xbox LIVE on these days to view the fresh new content including the awe inspiring full length edit of Deliver Hope this Saturday.

Next, after securing your place on Noble Team with a copy of the game, it's officially Halo: Reach "Invasion Week" on Xbox LIVE. Six days of online activities not to be missed by any Halo fan. Between 14-20 September you can look forward to...

A free Halo: Reach Invasion Theme for your Xbox 360 dashboard, just connect to Xbox LIVE and download it while you can!
Chance to play against Bungie themselves! The guys that made Halo: Reach will be playing against you, the fans, at set times during the week.
We're also throwing open all the benefits of Xbox LIVE Gold membership to our Silver subscribers for the weekend of 17-20 September.

To find out more check out Xbox LIVE starting from 7 September. Don't forget that you can stay connected and get involved with Xbox on Facebook and Twitter.

Gears of War Fate of Carmine Charity Numbers

Rebel Rouser — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 15:07:33 GMT

That's right $150,000 was raised for Child's Play, a charity which supplies hospitals around the world with toys and games for children. Pretty impressive numbers! I for one can't wait until carmine's fate is revealed.

[Source]

Bungie's Last Halo Panel, EVER

Zolner MD — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 13:37:47 GMT

The arrival of Halo: Reach is bittersweet. On one hand, in just over a week, we'll be getting our hands on the ultimate Halo game crafted to-date; and the other hand, well it will be wiping the tears from our awe-inspired cheeks as we realize that Bungie (the creators of the Halo franchise) is moving on to another IP and officially passing the Halo torch off to Microsoft's 343 Industries, for good.

While we have yet to see what 343 Industries will bring to the table for the Halo franchise from a gaming aspect, the bar that Bungie set for Master Chief and Co. is extremely high. Halo: Reach will be hard to top and Bungie knows it; they even crafted a little "going away" present for 343 Industries, with whom they have a good relationship, wishing them good luck (see image above).

This weekend at PAX, Bungie held their last panel describing behind-the-scenes info on the creation and development of Halo: Reach. What does a campaign mission look like on Day 1 of development? Who are the voices behind Noble Team? And what was cut from the retail version of the game? If you weren't at PAX to hear what they had to say firsthand, Halo Waypoint uploaded the videos for the rest of us to see and ReadyUpLive has got you covered. Right Here:

Halo: Reach Control Point Defence Toronto Event

Juxtapose — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 11:33:25 GMT

The city of Toronto was turned into a war zone yesterday as hundreds of fans descended upon the corner of Queen and Soho, where a typically nondescript parking lot was turned into the site of a Covenant invasion. Officially beginning at 4:00 pm, fans lined up for hours in advance in one of two separate lines: the regular line, and the VIP line for those who solved the challenges of the recent Halo: Reach viral marketing campaign. The objective: to enlist in the UNSC and help drive back the Covenant's forces!

Halo: Reach launches in about 9 days, and eager fans not only got to partake in a game of laser tag at this event, but they also got to sample a sneak peak at Halo: Reach's Firefight game type!

Having arrived about an hour and a half early, I muscled my way through the VIP line to where my buddies were already waiting (sorry to anyone I pushed past!), and we all chatted and caught up while awaiting the start time. With clouds and scattered showers coming and going, many of us were forced to deploy our umbrell... er, Bubble Shields, to stay dry, but luckily the weather mainly held out and soon enough the event began (and to the random kid with the katana-hilted umbrella, we weren't pointing at and making fun of you, we were going on about how cool your umbrella actually was!).

Paired into groups of six at a time, we were filed into a tent for registration using touch screen monitors. As a drill instructor yelled at us to hurry up, my touch screen apparently didn't like the way I was touching it and would require several attempts to properly register any character, so this classified me as a "grandma" in our drill instructors eyes. Even though she gave us our snazzy Halo: Reach T-shirts, I can tell you I'm not baking her cookies any time soon!

After registration we were ushered into another tent to meet our commander and to receive our orders. After a mission briefing in which the commander gave us a "You-can-do-it" speech pretty much ripped from Troy, we were ushered out to await the dispersal of our kit.

After being yelled at by a few more instructors and watching one unlucky recruit do push-ups, we were given our UNSC issue laser tag vests and guns and prepared for deployment. We were also told to name our guns, and I called mine Vera; my very favourite gun. After quickly getting acquainted with Vera, we were deployed to the field under our new captain, who instructed us to watch out for Covenant infantry in the nearby sniper tower and behind cover.

Now, our vests had a sensor on the chest and shoulder and there was one in our guns as well. We could take 5 "hits" before being "killed," but a medic at the back lines could respawn us. Our guns had about 20 shots before needing to press a button to reload, and you could toggle between full auto and single shot.

The battlefield was a collection of crates and other debris that allowed us to take cover and slowly make our advance towards our goal: The UNSC Tower, now a generator, that was placed there a few weeks prior. To win, we had to incapacitate any Covenant (guys in purple T-shirts) that were gunning for us and to reactivate the generator by touching a sensor on it.

Unlike the last time I played laser tag, this was actually fun, and in an outdoor arena to boot. The game was paced well, with our captain telling us when to advance and when to take cover and our team picking off Covenant whenever we could. I needed to respawn once, but after an advance, retreat, and then a final push, theBruce was able to reach the generator and the game was won. The match was set up so that we couldn't lose, of course, but it was a good time.

After we got our pic taken and returned our kit (Bye Vera, I'll always love you!), we were given a lanyard with an official Halo: Reach pass which permitted us to be in the tent that had Halo: Reach itself. Several TV's were set up so people could play Firefight, and after a short wait, I got my hands on a Controller and give it a whirl (and one of the new Xbox 360 S console Controllers to boot with its black sticks and chrome Guide button). The game only lasted for about 10 minutes and the Controller was mapped out to the Halo 3-style, but it was fun. I picked the Medic Load Out, but didn't end up trying out my new ability at all. Instead, I found and drove around the new rocket Warthog, which of course splatters stuff good but also allowed one of my teammates to blow stuff up in style with its twin rocket turret. The physics did feel a bit odd though, but that could have been just me, as I'm not used to playing on such a large screen and standing so close to it.

Also in this tent was a display case featuring the Xbox 360 Limited Edition Halo: Reach bundle, the new Xbox 360 Halo: Reach Controller, and the statue of Noble Team included with the Legendary Edition of the game. Very, very cool. TV's were also set up showing various trailers of the game, and there were posters all over showing the different members of Noble Team.

Like all these events however, the best thing is not the game, not the loot, but the community. Not only did I have the pleasure of chatting with several new friends, but of course such prominent community members as Mister Switch, KowZ, theBruce, and DJDatz were in attendance. JunkInTheTrunk and JadeLive were also there for Xbox Canada, and it's always good to catch up with them!

So all in all, a good public event! Laser tag was fun, and while the promotional staff's military acting wasn't exactly spectacular, you could tell the younger kids in attendance were really getting a kick out of the whole event, as they should have been. The quick sampling of Halo: Reach was great, and actually getting to check out the limited edition items was sweet!

Thanks to Xbox Canada and their marketing partners for planning this event, and for those who did make it out, I hope you had as good a time as I did!

Update: Thanks to theBruce for the heads up that Gameshark has posted a video of the event. KowZ, theBruce, and myself all appear in it. You can check out the vid below.

Pictured below:

- Halo: Reach T-shirt ("Remember Reach" on the back)
- Halo: Reach lanyard and guest pass
- UNSC dog tag (from viral marketing campaign)
- Halo: Reach sticker (from viral marketing campaign)

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Halo: Reach Boardwalk and Countdown Videos

Juxtapose — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 11:29:13 GMT

In this past week's Weekly Update, Bungie showcasing two more Halo: Reach multiplayer maps, Boardwalk and Countdown.

Boardwalk is the backdrop for a game of Headhunter, and Countdown showcases SWAT.

You can check them out below.

Gears of War 2 25x XP Labour Day Event

Juxtapose — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 11:27:22 GMT

Going on right now is the Gears of War 2 25x XP Labour Day event. That's right, fire up your copy of Gears of War 2, and you'll earn 25x XP in both Versus and Horde.

As an added bonus, all players can access the gold plated versions of the Lancer and Hammerburst! Not only that, but all enemy rifles are replaced with Torque Bows, meaning you'll have plenty of ammo to make stuff go splatter!

The event runs until September 7th, and you can check out the official announcement right here.

Six New Fallout: New Vegas Screenshots

Juxtapose — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 11:26:52 GMT

Bethseda is hosting six new Fallout: New Vegas screenshots on the main page, and you can view them right here.

Not bad, though I'm still going to wait for a Game of the Year edition which will include all of the inevitable DLC. That is, assuming I'm still not all Fallout-ed out by the time it releases and there's nothing else to play.

Mass Effect 2: Lair of the Shadow Broker

Juxtapose — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 11:26:21 GMT

Also launching this Tuesday, the next Mass Effect 2 DLC, "Lair of the Shadow Broker," hits the PC and Xbox 360. You can check out it's trailer below.

I still figured this would have been a storyline reserved for Mass Effect 3. If you play through it, let me know what you think (spoiler free please).

Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions

Juxtapose — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 11:24:14 GMT

Launching this Tuesday, the launch trailer for Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions can be viewed below.

Looks promising, but with Halo: Reach right around the corner, I'll hold off and likely rent this game some months down the road.

Batman: Arkham City Screenshots

Juxtapose — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 11:22:38 GMT

Joystiq is hosting several screenshots of Batman: Arkham City, the first screens released for the game as far as I know.

These screenshots are not official as Joystiq does not know where they originated from (read their article), but I agree with them that they look legit; so much so that I'm posting this as actual news.

Get your first look at Catwoman, Two Face, new gadgets, etc. Day one purchase for me!

Get your own Music Video Featured in L4D's next DLC

Zolner MD — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 19:19:41 GMT

If you found yourself particularly inspired by the quartet of southern rock troubadours prominently featured in Left 4 Dead 2's "Dark Carnival" campaign, you can now stretch your creative muscles to give one of the fictional band's hit songs some visual flair.

Valve recently announced a contest to create the best music video for the Riders' chart topper:
"Save Me Some Sugar (This Won't Take Long)," which will make its debut in the upcoming "The Sacrifice" DLC campaign. The winner of the contest will receive a Valve "gift pack" and a guitar signed by all four members of the band.

The manner in which you create this music video is entirely up to you, of course - will it be live action, in-game footage, or a hybrid of both? Regardless of what style you decide to go with, we hope you can get some thematically appropriate inspiration from one of these three links. As always, if you want some feedback before your final submission, feel free to link your creations in this thread.

Good luck!

[via XJ]
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Duke Nukem Forever Coming

Rebel Rouser — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 14:06:17 GMT

(Image Courtesy of Kotaku)

Duke Nukem Forever was originally announced 1997 making it one of video games longest running vapour wares until today.

The sequel to the game Duke Nukem 3D it has been long awaited by many people. It recently was dropped by 3D Realms when it went out of business. The IP was picked up by the developer Gearbox (creators of titles such as borderlands). It will be coming out sometime in 2011 for the PC, Xbox360 and PS3.

A video of some gameplay can be found below

[Source]