After my hands-on with the game at the MCM Expo a few weeks ago and a lot of time spent in the pre-release demo, I feel I’ve got enough experience to let you, our dear readers, know how I feel about the game. You may remember last year I did a similar thing with the original game, and I seem to have really rather enjoyed it. I felt that since I did one last year, I should run through some of my impressions of Left 4 Dead 2.

Can the sequel live up to the original? To answer that question, here are some words that I have typed on my computer which you will read.

As with last year, I only played the 360 version for a small amount of time, but again I felt very hindered by the controller. My tactics from playing Left 4 Dead 1 over the whole year on the PC just wouldn’t transition into the 360 version I played, like the ability to get headshots or aim for gas cans easily. I realise that with practice one can get better at this with a controller (and in fact I prefer playing Resident Evil 5 on the PC with a controller over the mouse and keyboard) but while playing I couldn’t enjoy the new aspects of Left 4 Dead 2 without a feeling in the back of my mind that this wasn’t even capturing some of the things that made Left 4 Dead so great. It didn’t feel as satisfying to kill the infected without the ability to pop their heads open or perform actions that require a swift aim.

That said, I don’t have a problem with this version and it must be pointed out that this is my experience, and not necessarily that of anyone else. The new weapons, especially the melee types, were the thing that caught my eye the most (and as such I spent a good portion of time hitting zombies with a frying pan). After only having access to about 6 weapons for a whole year, the new shotguns and assault rifles were very welcome, and all of the weapons feel just as they should- substantial. The Uzi-style guns and the pistols are always in danger of feeling weak in shooters but here they all feel just right.

Once I had a chance to play the PC demo, I was able to take a closer look at the new special infected. The Spitter, which shoots gunk at you from a distance which covers the floor and blocks off that area for a little while, can be very effective at breaking up the group. If you huddle in a corner and the Spitter gets you, you are going to have to get away from that corner sharpish. The Jockey is another hazard to teams that split up; he can ride a player wherever he feels like, which is usually into a molotov fire spill or spitter goo. Obviously this isn’t very healthy and he can cause adverse side-effects (i.e. death) if not rapidly removed. Similarly the charger can smash through a group of survivors and grab one, incapacitating him like a Hunter would. All of the new specials have a specific use and they should make versus mode even more fun that it was already.

The demo, however, doesn’t show much in terms of new environments. The newest things about the level on show are the daytime setting and the finale where one must get to a button to turn it off instead of just waiting around for a door to open. This makes it a bit more hectic, with the players being forced to make a move instead of just waiting it out. It does end up being a bit easy, however, even on harder difficulty levels. I think this may be because the demo shows off a lot of weapons and new items, which you are given quite a lot of. This makes taking down the horde a little easier than in a full-length campaign, since you can afford to take more risks and just spray all of your ammo away at them. At the moment Left 4 Dead 2 is looking like it has everything that was missing from Left 4 Dead 1, and I feel it certainly justifies a new game. The new survivors are great, too (especially Nick). I highly recommend you try the demo, which is out now on Steam and Xbox 360.

Is that headline a bit critical of Band Hero? No. Is that headline very critical of Band Hero? Absolutely.

The demo for Band Hero hit the Xbox Live Marketplace a few hours ago, and though it’s getting rather mixed impressions, through and through, Band Hero is a family game, with family songs, targeted at a family market. Of course, with artists such as Taylor Swift, Maroon 5, and Jesse McCartney heading up the set list, you didn’t need me to tell you that.

But that’s not to say the setlist is a stinker; In fact, I really like it. Obvious mainstream appeal aside, songs like “Black Horse And Cherry Tree”, “Let’s Dance”, and “Kung-Fu Fighting” make me want to at least give the game a try, when it comes out Nov. 3rd. If this seems like your type of thing, or you’re just looking to quench your music game, button-mashing thirst, hit up XBLM and download the 3-song demo now.

We here at Ripten enjoy games quite a bit. (Well, some of us. The jury’s still out on that shifty Naylor character.) In fact, one of our highest-rated games of 2007 was Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. All things considered, you can see why we’re really excited for Infinity Ward & Activision’s latest foray into the Call of Duty series, Modern Warfare 2, and this trailer does nothing to satiate our hunger.

The trailer, titled Infamy, is the newest trailer for Modern Warfare 2, and it’s amazing. No spoilers, but there’s a rather large reveal at the end of the trailer, and I have no doubt that it’s making a lot of people excited. Maybe this is just me, but does this trailer make anyone else wish that there was a Call of Duty movie? Yes?

Good.

Shacknews reports that with the release of Modern Warfare 2, a 250Gb Xobox 360 bundle will become available. The hard drive is the biggest available on the 360, and the box itself will feature a “limited edition” paint job.

This news comes straight from an Activision event that I bet you wish you were at. The multiplayer portion of the game was shown and played by attendees, who now must be quite smug. I hate to make predictions, but I reckon this game will sell more than 8 copies in its first day. In fact, I’m willing to put money on it. You can even quote me on it. As for the bundle, well, at $400, it’s pretty steep. I think most Call of Duty fans already own a 360, or at least another platform to play it on.

With the recent $100 price cut to the 120 GB Xbox 360 Elite, it looks like Microsoft might have a more superior console taking its place. The above ad was discovered from a South African retailer, BT Games, showing a “Super Elite” Xbox 360 with a 250 GB hard drive and two wireless controllers. XboxGaming.co.za is reporting that they have spoken to Comztek, a South African Xbox distributor, and they have indeed confirmed that they will be getting the “Super Elite” Xbox 360 bundled with a copy of Forza 3 and two wireless controllers for R4,999 ($644).

None of this has been confirmed by Microsoft, but it hasn’t been denied either. I guess we’ll just have to wait for an official announcement, but if had to put a bet on it, I’d say the “Super Elite” Xbox 360 is more than likely real and we should see it in stores within the next few months.

According to Kotaku, via the above pic from a Meijer catalogue due on August 30, the Elite version of the Xbox 360 is set to drop in price a whole $100, to $299.

Well, what does this do to the Xbox 360 Pro? Looks like the Pro version is being phased out and will eventually be completely taken off the market. That will leave only two versions of the Xbox 360 to choose from: the hard drive-less Arcade and the 120GB HDD Elite. According to the catalogue, this is set to take place in just a matter of weeks.

No confirmation from Microsoft yet, but if they don’t announce it this week, you can bet they will next week at Gamescom.

If your one of the unlucky gamers who missed out on any of these three great games, well, your luck is about to turn around. Capcom is repackaging three of their Xbox 360 platinum hits into one huge, cheap-ass bundle. Exciting, I know.

You’ll be getting Dead Rising, Lost Planet: Extreme Condition Colonies Edition and Devil May Cry 4 all in one box! And the best thing about the package is that it’s dirt cheap. Yep, just $39.99 for all three games. Now at about $13.33 for each game, you can’t beat that.

Capcom is calling it the Platinum Hits Triple Pack, set to hit the Xbox 360 in September. If you missed any of the games, now is your chance to get all three in a great deal. Thanks Capcom!

It’s August 11 folks and that means the Xbox Live New Xbox Experience summer update is now up and running for everyone to download. I’m actually downloading it right now as I’m typing this, so I’ll be able to enjoy all the new perks like Games on Demand, the Avatar Marketplace, new updates to Netflix and more in just a few moments. Oh, I think it just finished downloading. Time to check it out, holla!

Fancy owning an Xbox 360 signed by the former Empress of Alaska? Simply head here and snap it up before someone else does! You could probably afford it with the loose cash hanging around in your PayPal account. It’s yours for just over a million dollars.

Oh, wait. Seventy-five bucks for shipping to the UK? No sale. Get it signed by McCain and I’ll think about it.

Looks like you clicked the “read more” button. Now that it’s just you and me, let me tell you something. The guy who put this up on eBay for $1,100,000 is a fucking moron. There. Now I feel a little better.

So for the past week & a half, we’ve been holding a contest over on Twitter to give away an Xbox 360 andBut  a copy of Sacred 2. Plenty of you entered, but to my dismay, only one of you guys can win. I wish I could give everyone that entered an Xbox 360, but if I could do that, I probably wouldn’t be writing for Ripten, and I’d probably have a trail of cops behind me trying to recorder the 100-odd Xboxes that suddenly went missing from my local game store. But enough of my rambling, the winner of the Sacred 2/Xbox 360 contest is…

@t34p075! Congrats, kid. Follow me on Twitter and send me a direct message so we can get your Xbox, swag, and copy of Sacred 2 out to you pronto. Fortunately for everyone else that entered the contest, there’s a runner-up prize, of a copy of the game and a bunch of swag. That prize goes to @nickreaume. Enjoy your prizes, guys, and don’t forget to follow me and send me a direct message on Twitter so we can get your prize out to you.

But for the rest of you, stay tuned! We’ll be sure to have some more contests soon enough.

The console versions of Sacred 2 came out about two months ago, and while it’s recieved pretty decent reviews, a lot of people haven’t played it, or just didn’t have the chance to. Maybe you couldn’t afford the game’s $60 price tag. That’s understandable. Maybe you just don’t have a console to play it on. That’s also understandable, too. But we here at Ripten aim to remedy both of those situations, by giving away an Xbox 360, a copy of Sacred 2, and some swag for it!

Hit the jump to see how you can get your hands on this prize.

Grand Prize: Xbox 360, copy of Sacred 2, & some Sacred 2 swag
Runner-Up Prize: A copy of Sacred 2 (For PS3 or 360), & some Sacred 2 swag

With Twitter reaching Skynet-esque status and towering over the other social networks, it only seems fitting that we use the social site to giveaway something. So all you have to do is log into your Twitter account (or get one, at least) and retweet this message (or just tweet the following message):

RT @electrolemon: Win an Xbox 360 & Sacred 2 from Ripten.com! RT this to win! Details: http://bit.ly/PFw0b #ripten360

But remember, only post it once! Anyone that posts this message more than once will be disqualified. On midnight (between Friday & Saturday) on August 1st, a winner will be randomly chosen, and announced on Twitter & on Ripten. But if you don’t win the grand prize, you still have a chance to win something else! So get to it, guys. You’ve got less than two weeks to enter!

For those of you out there who never picked up the full version of Battlefield 1943, the demo timer has been reset, giving players another 30 minutes to enjoy the slam-bang action. For Xbox 360 users, the server issues seemed to be fixed now, so if you couldn’t get into a game before, you should be able to now.

Gamers Digest

As an African-American male in today’s society, it absolutely pains me to see racism become so pervasive in video games. Sure, I’ll shoot the black zombies in Resident Evil 5, and I’ll absolutely love doing it, but behind these hazel brown eyes, a little black man (with a tiny hat, even) inside me cries- which is why it’s absolutely APPALLING to see Left 4 Dead 2 follow RE5’s pattern and include some black zombies.

Despicable!

The Houston Chronicle’s Willie Jefferson was quick to point out that several of the zombies in Left 4 Dead 2 are black. Sure, a lot, if not most of the zombies are white, but Valve putting any black zombies in the game? How insensitive, Valve! Even worse is that the game is set in New Orleans, a city famous for its black residents. And since everyone knows it was only black people that suffered in Hurricane Katrina, we can only assume Valve purposefully picked this setting for their own, racist purposes.

Well it’s not going to work, Valve. We can see through your eye-holed bedsheets and torches at the monsters you truly are, and we’re not gonna stand for it! Nobody puts blackie in the corner- especially when that corner is full of zombie discrimination! It’s absolutely sickening that a black man can’t get ahead in today’s society, and is reduced to playing the undead.

One point Jefferson fails to point out is the fact that half of the survivors are black as well. Only half? Come on Valve. Did Rosa Parks settled for only half of the front of the bus? Did Michael Jackson only half moonwalk into history? Did that one lady from Touched by an Angel only get half touched by a half angel?

No she did NOT.

[via Destructoid]

DICE is currently performing maintenance on the soldier profiles in the recently released Battlefield 1943, so you may have noticed that your stats have been reset. Not to worry, my friends, as this is temporary.

Simon Dalziel (I presume of DICE) explains that the soldier profiles are actually being made “better than they already are” and that all of the kills will still count towards the Coral Sea challenge. After maintenance is over in the next few days, ranks and badges will be restored.

Game Stooge

Destructoid reports that the full XBLA release of Marvel vs. Capcom 2 will happen on none other than July 29, 2009. The PSN release is not known at this point, although it is likely to be a very similar date. The game is also set to be sold at a price of 1200 MS Funbux™, and likely a similar price on the PSN but in actual Dollars/Pounds/Euros/Yen/Your currency.

I remember seeing this game in the shops when I was a kid. At the time, I wanted to buy it because it had Marvel characters in it. Now, I want to buy MvC2 because it has Capcom characters in it. Time changes things, especially the relative coolness of Ryu in my mind.

Yes, you read that right. There is another set of multiplayer maps coming out for Halo 3, no joke. When ODST launches this fall, it will come packed with a Halo 3 multiplayer map disk complete with three new maps.

And if you’re thinking the picture above looks a lot like “Midship” from Halo 2, well you’re right because it’s a remake called “Heretic” included in the new map pack along with “Citadel” and “Longshore”. Hit the jump for a look at the other two maps coming out with ODST this fall.

Citadel

Longshore

1 vs 100, the new Xbox Live online game show for the 360, will feature prizes of Xbox Live Arcade games and Microsoft Points beginning this week. Starting July 10 at 7 p.m. PST, Xbox Live Gold Members will have the chance to win up to 10,000 MP in every round played in 1 vs 100.

The easiest way to win Microsoft Points is to be chosen as “The One” or being part of “The Mob”. If you’re lucky enough to be chosen as the One, you’ll need to eliminate players in the Mob, earning MP for each member you eliminate, up to a total 10,000 MP if you can eliminate every player.  On the other hand, if you’re part of the Mob and the One makes a mistake, you’ll be able to earn an Arcade game and a part of the One’s MP. If you’re one of the people stuck in the crowd, you still have a chance to win a prize if you’re one of the top three highest scoring members.

Sounds like a lot of fun and a great chance to win some Microsoft Points and even some Arcade titles. Good Luck!

Source: 1up

My favorite part of this is that they kept all of their postal reciepts. You need to be diligent with your finances, even if you’re a filthy criminal!

It’s surprising how many games there are that actually use microphones on the Xbox 360: Guitar Hero Metallica, Rock Band 2, Disney Sing It: High School Musical 3: Senior Year, Lips and The Beatles: Rock Band. This fall, Microsoft is poised to release a new wireless microphone that’s compatible with all of those games, and presumably more.

Although I have no use for a microphone myself, I’m sure someone loves the look of it and wants to rock out cordless. If you’re willing to spend $49.99 on the microphone, you should look forward to it hitting store shelves this fall.

Unlock the what in the what now? Folks who pre-order the sequel to Assassin’s Creed will get the chance to explore the Palazzo Medici, a famous palace in Italy. I think that’s lame.

This trend of sectioning off a part of the game for customers who pre-order is not something I’m liking. I’m also talking about when people get special weapons, like the kind that came with the gold edition of Battlefield: Bad Company that actually gave players who spent $10 more an advantage in multiplayer. Why can’t we just stick to fancy cases and physical collectable items?

Source: Exophase

No, silly. That’s not happening in this lifetime.

I joke all the time about Crysis running on a cell phone, but the guys at TechCrunch have managed to do so- or at least make it look like its so. Rather than running Crysis right through the phone, TechCrunch ran the game on a PC then streamed it to OTOY, a mobile streaming server, which then redirected it to the Omnia. Pretty cool, I think.

While the guy demoing the software in the video is controlling the game with an Xbox 360 controller, the controller’s actually connceted to the PC. Don’t get any ideas about Crysis coming to consoles, now.

But it’s gonna happen eventually.

Microsoft updated the Xbox 360 Dashboard in November of last year, but they’re already slated to make another update to the system. It doesn’t look like this will be graphical, though- Major Nelson says that the next NXE update will make the Dashboard much faster.

Nelson also makes a point of saying that a lot of very cool features will be coming with the update, presumably the Twitter and Facebook applications announced at E3. We don’t have many other details about the update, other than the fact that it’s coming this year.

(via Gizmodo)

Contrary to my usual anti-Activision diatribes, I’ve been pretty positive about Guitar Hero 5 ever since the setlist was announced in May. As a huge fan of Vampire Weeekend, Stevie Wonder, and Bob Dylan, I can’t complain about the partial setlist, but I can complain about this- Activision sent out the Guitar Hero 5 box art today, and it’s, well, bad.

You can make your own judgment on the box art after the jump, but I think it’s too plain. Usually, I like minimalism, but when the minimalism is akin to Googling “trunk” and plastering your logo on the picture you find, you should probably just go with the usual box art shenanigans. Plus, what’s with all the text?

*gasp* Man, that title is a mouthful.

The second Call of Duty: World at War (seriously, I refuse to call it Call of Duty 5.) map pack just hit, and while presumably thousands of people are having fun with it right now, you might’ve just hoped it would hit the proverbial online bargain bin soon enough, even though it’s a measly $10. Well, now you don’t have to, because we at Ripten are giving away 5 PS3 codes and 5 Xbox 360 codes for the map pack.

Of course, we can’t just give them to you. That would be crazy! No siree- but you can hit the jump to see what you can do to win a code.

(header image by AgentMOO. Play his game, yo!)

To win one of these codes, all you have to do is make a drawing in MS Paint (or Paintbrush for Mac, Tuxpaint for Linux, or whatever) and leave a link to the picture in the comments below, but don’t forget to tell us which console you want the code for. The drawing can be of anything- as long as it’s gaming related, and the Ripten staff will choose the 5 best PS3 artist drawings and the 5 best Xbox 360 artist drawings. The main point of the contest is that you absolutely cannot use anything other than a rudimentary paint program. You can even use an iPhone paint program if you want to, but if we see any hints of Photoshopping, GIMPing, Paint.NET-ing, or A.viary-ing, your painting will not count.

Keep in mind though- best doesn’t necessarily mean most skillfull. If your drawing is though provoking, or funny, or artsy, or even just totally outrageous enough to make us like it, then you’ll probably win. That’s not to say that skillful artists won’t win- you can make a drawing of anything, as long as the drawing is related to video games. It doesn’t have to look like a Monet, though- Pollacks and Picassos are just as welcome.

You can submit as many masterpieces as you want, but make sure you leave a link to them before midnight (between Tues. & Wed.), Tuesday June 23rd, one week from now. Get to it, guys!

Okay that’s all cool with me, but on a night when it’s double experience points for World at War? That’s whack and it’s even more whack that Xbox Live will be down all day today until midnite. No Xbox Live gaming for today me, guess I might hop on my PS3 and play some Killzone 2, maybe SOCOM? Or I could possibly hit up my Wii for some Punch-Out!!?

The red ring of death is something that Xboxers the world over dread. However, Microsoft has done what they can to ease the pain of the repair process, which includes shipping you a pre-paid box to send your broken console in. As of May 26th, however, you need to get your own damn box.

Microsoft will no longer be sending out pre-paid boxes to victims of broken consoles.

“Customers can now ship their consoles themselves using an e-label provided by Microsoft and do not need to wait for an empty box to be shipped to them.”

I love how they make it sound like they’re doing this to benefit the customer. Customers have always had the option of shipping using their own box, so really that statement should read “Customers must now ship their consoles themselves.”

Xbox Scene

Edge reports that Metal Gear Solid: Rising, a new Metal Gear game announced at the Microsoft E3 conference, will likely not be exclusive to Xbox 360 and will also release on PS3. Geoff Keighley was told by Jack Tretton that “Metal Gear Rising is absolutely coming to PS3 alongside Xbox 360.” Now you can stop whining, PS3 owners. That said, I think people have some reservations about the whole “Raiden” thing. Remember, MGS2 was a great game, and part of that experience was being able to hate Raiden as much as you did. I hope this game manages to recapture that.

There may be no actual gameplay footage, but the video looks awesome nonetheless. The first Dead Rising was great despite its flaws, so I’m pretty excited for this one. You’ll be playing Chuck Greene, a MotoCross champion who is likely fighting his way through Fortune City (Vegas knock-off) in search of his daughter Katey. Dead Rising 2 is scheduled to hit Xbox 360, PS3, and PC sometime this year.

Yesterday during Microsoft’s pre-E3 press conference, Infinity Ward took the stage to finally show us some actual gameplay footage of Modern Warfare 2, coming out November 10. The game looks awesome and I’m even more excited about it after seeing this demo. Along with their demo, Infinity Ward announced that all map packs for Modern Warfare 2 will come out for the Xbox 360 first, but nothing was said about exclusivity. Check out the video.

Yesterday at Microsoft’s pre-E3 press conference Bungie’s Joe Staten took the stage to show off some actual gameplay footage of Halo 3: ODST, which is scheduled to drop later this year. The single-player expansion campaign will put you in the role as “The Rookie”, a rookie Orbital Drop Shock Trooper, a few weeks before the events of Halo 3. Some features in the game include new silenced weapons, a new visor (which enables a “low-light vision mode”) and a handgun similar the pistol from the first Halo game.

Along with an expanded single-player campaign, ODST will also feature a four-player co-op mode called Firefight mode that will have players take on waves of attacking Covenant (think Horde mode from Gears 2). Check out the video and give us your thoughts.