One of the biggest reasons to come to PAX 2008 is the first public hands-on showing of the highly-anticipated Gears of War 2 multiplayer modes. We put some time in with the game and are ready to give you our hands-on impressions of Epic’s great follow-up to the highly addiction multiplayer of the original Gears of War.

First things first… the game is 5 versus 5 and it definitely adds a lot more action to the matches. Thankfully, adding two more players doesn’t seem to have slowed down the game and it runs smooth, even is the most hectic firefights. We cannot comment on how these two extra gamers will affect lag over Xbox Live as we were playing over a local System Link.

So is the game “bigger, better, and more badass?”

Yes. Yes it is. If you were a fan of the original Gears, we’re pretty sure you’re also going to love Gears of War 2. It takes everything that was great about the first game, amps it up, and adds a lot of new things to freshen up the gameplay. Let’s take a look at the new weapons first. Sadly, we didn’t get to try them all.

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Yesterday we were able to take this photo from the Bungie Booth at PAX:

This is straight from PAX, so take from it what you will! I imagine this is something to do with the rumored “Expansion Pack” that has been hinted in past Halo videos. “You may have finished the fight, but the ride isn’t over just yet” - Words that have intrigued all of us Halo 3 fans for nearly a month, perhaps these words may now have been answered. There are however literally hundreds of things this could be, so we’ll wait to see what “Mythic” actually is. We’ve contacted Microsoft for an official comment on this.
A few things we can see:

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The first order of business this morning at the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle, was to head on over to the Bethesda booth on the Expo floor for our appointment to play Fallout 3 for a whole hour. By ourselves. In an awesome air-conditioned Airstream trailer, decorated inside with vintage 1950’s accoutrements and furniture for that authentic look. With lots and lots of Nuka-Cola. Needless to say, excitement was very high.
Of course, only spending an hour with a game as expansive as Fallout 3 is hardly a decent taste of such an enormous feast. But this little amuse-bouche was just what we needed from a game that we are really looking forward to sinking our teeth into when it releases in late October. Bethesda’s prior game, Oblivion – which has a similar “flow” to it as Fallout 3, according to Game Director Todd Howard – was a powerfully addictive experience. And we’re old enough to remember how great the original Fallout was in terms of style and tone. So as far as “want lists” go, Fallout 3 is sitting pretty at the top of ours.

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Fable 2’s pub games was the first cross-over Xbox Live title that let you earn something for a retail game by playing. Sure it was glitched, but they’re fixing it, and it’s a very neat idea.

Speaking with Lionhead Studio’s Sam Van Tilburgh earlier today I discovered that Pub Games won’t be the only way you can earn cash for Fable 2.

When the game’s official website relaunches it will include a web game or two that allows you to earn Fable 2 gold and unlock goodies like dye pots and a chicken suit for the game. All told, gamers will be able to unlock six to seven special items through the website, Van Tilburgh said. You can also earn coin through the games.

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The only sign of real-time strategy title Halo Wars at PAX comes during Graeme Devine’s presentation of the game during the show. But that doesn’t mean the game’s not moving along.nicely. In fact Devine, lead writer and a designer on Halo Wars, said that it will be playable at next weekend’s GameStop convention in Las Vegas. Perhaps it will even make an appearance at Tokyo Game Show.

And Devine is itching to unveil more about the game, specifically about the story he’s written for it. The events of Halo Wars take place twenty years before the original Halo and center around a band of humans and their ship, the Spirit of Fire.

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A Bristol mother is warning other parents to beware of online hackers after someone used her son’s XBox Live account while the family were on holiday.The hacker got into 12-year-old Robert Best’s account and was able to access his mum’s credit card number and use it to buy 20,000 points for XBox Live games.Juliet, 40, of Barrs Court, discovered an extra £170 had been racked up on her credit card without her knowledge.

She immediately reported the fraud to Microsoft and cancelled her Nationwide card. Mrs Best, a student nurse, said: “Because Robert is only 12, a parent has to register with Microsoft using a credit card. “This enables Robert to buy Microsoft points to use in XBox Live games.” People play against each other online and can be in different countries. Mrs Best said: “Robert buys 1,000 points at a time from his pocket money. “We were on holiday for a week and when we came back Robert found that he couldn’t get into his account.

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Halo Wars is a strategy game based on the legendary Halo universe. Players will command armies of familiar and new UNSC units in its initial encounters against the Covenant, an alien coalition threatening to obliterate mankind. Halo Wars will immerse gamers in an early period of the storied Halo universe, allowing them to experience events leading up to the first Halo title for Xbox. With the guidance of Serina, a spirited artificial intelligence (AI) persona, gamers will direct legions of UNSC soldiers, Warthogs and Scorpions against Covenant Grunts, Elites, Ghosts and Scarabs, each group having its own strengths and uses in battle. Strategic-minded players who react well under pressure will emerge victorious.

Created from the ground up for the Xbox 360 console and Controller, Halo Wars is being developed by the veteran real-time strategy developer Ensemble Studios, the team responsible for the best-selling and critically acclaimed Age of Empires franchise on the PC. Halo Wars can be played online via Xbox LIVE and through the single-player campaign. Published by Microsoft Game Studios, Halo Wars is an exclusive title for the Xbox 360 video game system.

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Blurry snaps of sales flyers are fanning speculation that come September 7, Microsoft will drop the price of all three Xbox 360 models by at least fifty bucks a piece. From top to bottom, the Xbox 360 family currently ranges from $450 to $280 in variants ranging from a high-end “Elite” model with a 120GB hard drive down to an entry-level “Arcade” without a hard drive or high-definition video cables.

Ars Technica started a rumor in early August suggesting the 360 would shed 12 to 29 percent of its retail sales cost in early September. The rumor gained some credibility in recent weeks as various blogs snapped pics of sales flyers from Best Buy to Kmart to Radio Shack showing the same thing: price drops a-comin’ across the board.

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The first couple of review scores for Star Wars: the Force Unleashed have made it’s way onto the interwebs thanks to gamerankings.com and forums. Official Xbox Magazine gave a score of a 7.5/10, calling it an “Entertaining story,” but “Is less polished than the Jedia Knight game.” The US version of the Official PlayStation Magazine gave a little lower score at 3.5/5. At this time, we couldn’t find an article for OPM.
The Nintendo Power review also gave it a 7.5/10 saying, “You can hack and slash with your lightsaber, which isn’t as satisfying as I’d hoped.” Isn’t that the only reason why we would buy that version?

Although the scores are more positive than negative, it is disappointing to see such an average score from a game we are excited to play. We still feel the game will have an unbelievable story-line and it could be worth purchasing just for that, even if the gameplay is not up to par as some others.

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Powering up the Xbox: what’s in store for the next-gen console?

Will Microsoft launch its next-gen Xbox in 2011? There have been a couple of articles recently that have speculated on just that.

TechRadar looks at whether the ‘Xbox 720′ will feature a return to Intel chips, the inclusion of a Blu-ray drive, and more storage than you can ever fill.

A PlayStation 4 and potential ‘Xbox 720′ could arrive as early as 2011, estimates Crytek president and CEO Cevat Yerli. Industry analyst Colin Sebastian agrees, suggesting that “the general consensus amongst industry professionals is that a new generation of home consoles will arrive on the market in 2011 or 2012.”

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