Over in Tokyo where it’s not the middle of the night Microsoft had their keynote address at the Tokyo Games Show. The big announcement was the day we can finally ditch our clunky dashboard blades: November 19.

Coming with the new visuals are Avatars (picture a Mii but with arms and legs), the ability to install games to the hard drive (though it will still require the disc in the drive to start, defeating most of the point) and, for Netflix subscribers, the ability to stream movies directly to your 360 (I have no snide parenthetical for this, this part is awesome).

Ladies and gentlemen: Mark your calendars.

By Wes Schwengels
Reviewer

There may not be a better name than Edge of Control for this off-road racing sim; it can be a bumpy ride at times, but in the end, it still crosses the finish line strong.

Baja: Edge of Control is definitely not your typical racing game. The visuals won’t blow you away like Gran Turismo, and there aren’t any arcadey explosions, a la Need For Speed, but Baja finds a nice balance and adds its own style: An isolated, gritty feel that lets you focus on your truck and how to take those hairpin turns without winding up in a pile of prickly pear cactus.

Sure, you’re still racing in a field of six to 10 cars, but depending on the event, you may go minutes without seeing any of them. This may not sound all that exciting, but you’ll be busy enough navigating bumps, mud and banked turns that you won’t worry about it.

There are other things here worth worrying about, though. The learning curve, even on Easy, is ridiculously tough. I struggled to scrape together enough credits to upgrade my first car just to get it to the point where the game became enjoyable. Until then, my VW Bug was falling behind, going off course, smoking like the Marlboro Man and frustrating me to no end.

More on Baja: Edge of Control on the jump

According to Major Nelson, Xbox Live will be going down at 12:01 a.m. Monday, Sept. 29 and will stay down for up to 24 hours.

He makes it abundantly clear that no new features will be added and this is just prep work for the big upgrade this fall, so just be forewarned that if you planned on some online Xbox gaming next Monday you might want to reschedule.

Castle Crashers, the long-awaited XBLA title about four colorful knights crashing a castle from the creators of Alien Hominid, will finally go on sale this Wednesday for $15 (1,200 in fake Microsoft money).

It’s been done since May but got trapped in the endless Live Arcade approval cycle, and I think I speak for everyone who’s had a taste of it when I say: Come on, Microsoft, streamline the approval process! That took forever!

After hearing about the shiny new dashboard updates (seen above) I had my doubts the Xbox fall update would actually come in the fall. It’s a pretty big change after all, and on top of the new menu it includes the ability to make a Mii avatar. But, what do you know, according to a webcomic of all things the current target is still November.

It’s nice to see a console maker get a new feature out the door in the same year as the announced release date for once, isn’t it?

If you haven’t played Braid, you should. It’s the best title on Xbox Live Arcade and one of the best games to come out this year.

But for indie developer, Jonathan Blow, the process of getting it to players wasn’t as smooth as it could have been he told Gamasutra. More specifically, he criticized the certification process, saying that it actually hurts the development. Blow found some Xbox Live requirements totally unnecesary.

He said he could have made an already great game even better. Are you kidding me? Braid could have even been better? Yes, this blows my mind because I (heart) this game already. And I’m glad that he doesn’t plan on making a sequel. Some games don’t need them.

Retail employees and camera phones are running the rumor mill on overdrive today.

Another anonymous retail employee has snapped another shot of his inventory computer’s screen, but this time rather than a release date it’s as evidence of an impending price drop for the Xbox 360 down to the low low price of $199.99 effective Sept. 7 (or, as I like to call it, Spore Day).

It’s a deep cut in price but it makes sense, it was only a matter of time until someone undercut the Wii’s $250 price tag. Of course the Wii is profitable at $250, whereas Microsoft is taking a hit every time they lower the MSRP.

My question to you, our loyal readers, is this: Have any of you avoided buying a 360, and will this potential new price cut push you over the edge?

(Photo and report from VGChartz)

I have to hand it to Major Nelson. This is a brilliant marketing idea. Microsoft is announcing a Summer of Arcade, in which some pretty big downloadable titles will be hitting the Xbox Live Arcade. The parade of games kicks off with Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 this week and follows up with these titles, according to Major Nelson:

• August 6: “Braid” – From acclaimed developer Jonathan Blow, “Braid” is a mind-bending and artistic puzzle-platformer where the player manipulates the flow of time in strange and unusual ways. “Braid”is rated E10+ for Everyone 10+ by the ESRB.

• August 13: “Bionic Commando: Rearmed” – The classic 8-bit side-scroller reports back for duty in a stunning remake, complete with all-new HD graphics and features that put 2D gaming back on the map! “Bionic Commando: Rearmed” is rated M for Mature by the ESRB

More Summer of Arcade lists on the jump

Afro Samurai, based on the Spike TV show of the same name, is violent.

There’s more to it, such as the impressive cross-hatched textures giving the game the appearance of the show on which it’s based, but after seeing a demonstration of the combat system everything came back to the very graphic violence.

Read the rest of this entry »

Since 2005, Creative Assembly has been working on a secret game. The goal: They wanted to make a console real-time strategy title. The result: A title called Stormrise that boasts a control scheme that’s been built from the ground up to work on the Xbox 360.

The latest title from the makers of Total War have a pretty simple scheme based on the two analog sticks and one button. That’s it. Players move the camera around with the left stick. With the right stick, players activate a lighthouse looking cursor that picks units in any direction.

After picking a unit, the camera zooms on them and the camera sticks to their perspective. The control moves quick enough and lets players go in new directions, specifically up. Instead of having a top-down experience done with 3D characters on a 2D field, Creative Assembly builds a polygonal world for its polygonal characters.

More on units and multiplayer on this console RTS on the jump