In a bizarre announcement it seem that Microsoft has decided to get into the coin-op business by creating an arcade cabinet version of the Xbox 360.  It seems these cabinets will allow you play games like Halo 3, FIFA '08, Assassin's Creed and Devil May Cry 4.  It is also reported that instead of a play per play model it will allow you to play for a block of time.  The cabinet will feature two Xbox 360 controllers, a memory card slot and have system link functionality so you could play against others on the same network.  Currently this arcade cabinet is being tested in Asia and the UK with a US release coming soon.

I guess I wonder how well this device will work.  Obviously this is an effort to expose games on the Xbox 360 to more people and is really nothing much more than a demo kiosk you'd see in a Best Buy or Target.  By placing these cabinets in video game arcades Microsoft is reaching out to that community of gamers.  I just wonder who actually still goes to arcades anymore.  I know I used to spend hours in the arcade attached to the bowling ally by my house.  With the coin-op business doing so poorly is this model really helping the Xbox 360 brand?

Source:
kotaku.com - xbox-360-goes-arcade-for-reals

  

Since I've almost finished my second play through with my Champion character I decided to create a new character and see how it differs.  To say that playing as a Berserker is night and day compared to the Champion is not an understatement.  For one thing I think my play style is ideal for the Berserker class.  So far I've only played through Hall of Hero's level but I did so earning the Unstoppable achievement for not dieing once.

The Berserker class is a melee specialist with the ability to dual wield swords to maximize his attacks.   This character comes with a weaker defense and air attack than the champion so he can't take a beating.  It's a good thing the Berserker normally kills fools left and right before they can even think of attacking him.  The Berserker is fast so it is easier to string big combos by surfing from enemy to enemy.

Now I'm not sure why I'm doing so much better at the Berserker class.  I think I tend to ignore the range weapons while playing the Champion class character which is one of it's specialties.  I was planning on building my Champion character to level 50 but now I think I'll get the Berserker to level 50 instead.  I've kind of hit a wall with my Champion where I'm dieing a lot on the last mission.  I may just see if playing the Berserker through that level makes life a lot easier for me.

  

If there is one thing I've noticed in Too Human is that I die a lot. It's kind of crazy but in my first play through I died over 100 times (achievement unlocked). Now part of the problem I think I had was I just did not know how to assign skills and when to upgrade armor and weapons. I also did not know how to get myself out of bad situations unscathed. First things first, Too Human will be dropping loot like crazy as you kill enemies. Every once in a while you need to stop, check the state of your armor and see if you have better armor. I often did these every time I leveled up since I would pause the game to assign skill points as well. Early on as you level up you will be allowed to use some of the better armor you have already picked up. Each piece of armor has a state as well and once it's down to zero it will flash red on your character. You will be dieing fast if any of your armor drops down to zero and you continue to wear it. Between missions be sure to visit Idunn's cybernetics lab in Asgard to repair your armor. At Idunn's lab you can also unlock the armor designs you pick up in the game. These are often much better than anything you'll find and wear immediately. << MORE >>

A Kmart weekend ad for the week of September 7th shows that the Arcade will drop to $199, 60GB Pro will be $299 and the 120GB Elite will be $399.  This will place the cheapest Xbox 360 model $50 less than a Wii and half the price of a PS3.  Will this price cut help boost sales through the holiday?  I think you'll see a lot of Xbox 360s move in September, October, November and December as people buy systems to play Fable 2 and Gears of War 2.

I expect this will bring the Xbox 360 sales above the PS3 but still below the Wii.  I'm not sure if dropping the Arcade to $199 will really help sell those units since they still do not have a hard drive in them.  If you are just looking for a standard gaming experience and don't plan on connection to Live then this system will fit the bill.  I expect most people would rather have the Pro model with it's 60GB hard drive.  This will allow you to download content from Xbox Live and even have room to install a game to your hard drive.  

I beleive that the price cut came later than than it should have.  Microsoft needs to make sure they have a distinct price advantage over the PS3 because most people simply do not buy more than one game console.  By having the PS3 only $50 more than a Pro the advantage had to go to the PS3 with it's BluRay drive.  Now that the Pro will be $100 cheaper than a PS3, you have that price advantage again.  Now we have to see if Sony can stomach another price cut to stay competitive on price.

Source:
xbox360fanboy - kmart-adscan-gives-us-more-360-price-cut-proof

  

It's a bit unfortunate that Too Human has been handled as poorly as it has with more press about the developer and it's outspoken director.  That said Too Human the game is a good action game with innovative controls, beautiful graphics and a new twist to a very old story.  Too Human is the story of Nordic god Balder and the Aesir in a futuristic sci-fi future.  The earth is in an eternal winter and the human race is in a losing battle against an army of machines.  The Aesir are cybernetic enhanced humans that have stepped up to protect humanity.

There are five different classes in Too Human: Berserker, Defender, Champion, Commando and Bio-engineer.  Each class has it's own unique fighting style.  The Berserker ...<< MORE >>

So last night I stayed up super late and powered my way through the last level of Too Human.  I'll try to put up an review of the game for Monday morning.  I have to say I really enjoyed the game and will be playing through it again to level up more and unlock more loot.  My first play through took me 13 hours.  I played as the human Balder using the Champion class.  I did die over 100 times but it was totally worth it.

The game comes with five different character classes that offer different advantages.  The Champion class with I played as is a balanced character with good melee and range combat.  The other four character beak into either more defensive characters or more offensive characters.  You can play the game using just swords or just guns.  I found mixing it up with guns and sword combat was more effective for me. 


Since this game is a planned trilogy you are going to be able to take your character from this game into the next game.  I'm currently a level 27 so I definitely want to get my main character to a level 50 before the next game comes out.  This game also offers a co-op so I'd like to try that out as well.

  

So far I'm over eight hours into this sci-fi action rpg game and it is sucking me in hard.  I'm a bit busy so I can't get into all the great stuff Too Human does but I can say it's a lot better then the reviews so far.  Too Human is not like you typical game where you are given a big sword or hammer and told to go kill stuff.  In Too Human you don't spam a button on your controller swing your sword, you move your right analog stick in the direction of an enemy to perform a melee attack.  This new control idea tends to take some time but once you have gotten used to it you can rally up some great combos. 


I'm not going to say that Too Human is the best game ever but it's a lot better then just average or worse.  This game throws tons of enemies at you with no slow down ever, it looks totally awesome and there are no load screens.  The game tells an interesting story that actually matters in the game unlike most action games.  I highly recommend picking this game up.  The controls are easy to master and the game has no penalty for dieing making it a great game for the casual action game crowd.

  

This is a really strange story to hear out of Japan.  It seems that every store in Japan has sold out of Xbox 360 game consoles.  Now considering the Xbox 360 sells around 20,000 consoles a month in Japan it's quite odd that now there is a shortage.  It seems that the launch of Tales of Vesparia has cause Xbox 360 fever in Japan.  Who would have thought this Xbox 360 exclusive would have caused this much fuss.

It seems that this shortage has taken Microsoft by surprise since they have announced they will not be able to ship new consoles to the region till September.  Sure that's a couple weeks from now but it seems Microsoft really dropped the ball not having enough consoles to meet demand.  I guess this is what happens when your first console never sells out it's original launch shipment.

Source:
kotaku.com - japan-is-totally-sold-out-of-xbox-360s-new-shippment-next-month

  

This past weekend the whole family, along with other members of my wife's family, headed up to her uncle's cabin.  Considering the main cabin is larger than my first house, we were not exactly roughing it up north.  The cabin is decked out with multiple LCDs, wifi and Direct TV in case you didn't want to ride on one of the three jet skis or the speed boat or the pontoon.  They also happen to have a Wii to play in case your not an outdoors type.  Naturally I tried to get as much time with the Wii as I could.

Surprisingly they did not have a plethora of games to play.  As it turned out Wii Sports was scratched so we couldn't play bowling or tennis.  They did have Mario Kart Wii and American Idol though.  To no ones surprise we spent most of our time singing songs in American Idol.  It is a nice casual game that almost everyone was willing to give a try.  I happen to be very good at Phil Colin's "In the air tonight" and Boston's "More than a feeling."  

Besides playing the Wii I setup the console to use their wifi.  It really wasn't too hard to get resolved but downloading patches to use WiiConnect24 and access to the store was a pain.  I ended up buying Super Mario Brothers from the store, setting up the weather channel, the news channel and Wii Vote channel.  

I did get to play a little Mario Kart Wii with my son and by myself.  My son is still a little too young to play a racing game but he really wanted to play the Mario game.  I helped him race and we had fun but it was clear he was getting frustrated. I spent some time playing the time trials and was having fun racing ghosts and seeing how will I placed regionally.  I'm still not convinced a Wii will be much more than a novelty we pull out when people come over.  I think my son's a good year away from playing games.  

In was a fun but tiring weekend.  I did spend some time on the boat and outside enjoying the country air.  It was a fun little escape from the usual  routine.  The most fun I had was definitely drinking vodka tonics and singing songs in American Idol.  I think I'll have to give then a second mic for Christmas. 

  

Well that might be one's reaction to seeing this weeks Japanese sales numbers.  Media create tracks software and hardware sales on a weekly basis in Japan.  This week they released the previous weeks sales numbers and.......wait for it.....the Xbox 360 outsold the PS3 over 2.5:1 which is the BEST WEEK EVER* for an Xbox 360 in Japan.  Why did the console sell so well? Tales of Vesperia, an Xbox 360 exclusive, sold 108,000 copies the same week which is the fastest selling Xbox game in Japan.  

Now the numbers below are all very typical for Japan except for the Xbox 360 which sold about 20,000 more than it usually does.  I expect the Microsoft Japan folks are partying like it's 1999 right now.  This may be a very temporary bump but it does give hope considering there are a couple Xbox 360 RPGs on their way to Japan.  

Nintendo DS - 60,434
PSP - 58,501
Wii - 38,506
Xbox 360 - 24,962
PlayStation 3 - 9,673
PlayStation 2 - 8,503

*Console sales and game sales
Source:
kotaku.com - japan-loves-the-xbox-360-this-week
kotaku.com - tales-of-vesperia-is-xbox-360s-fastest-selling-game-in-japan