Next Week On Rock Band: A Very Special NIN Pack

Coming To XBLA: My Frequent Death, Castle Crashers

Even though we as game journalists play a metric ton of games across a wide variety of genres, each of us has our Achilles' Heel — one genre, sort or stripe of game that we are just no good at. It's like a huge void in the repertoire, one particular area of the landscape that just doesn't register on the radar.

For me, two key words invoke a state of terrible incompetence: Stick. Shooter.

When I arrived at the XBLA booth to check out the upcoming titles, the reps were still aglow with awe at the reportedly epic Galaga Legions skills of my colleague, Michael McWhertor. He impressed them so soundly that I thought it best to merely bypass it altogether and get straight to dying every twenty seconds at Geometry Wars 2, the better to move right on to Castle Crashers and leave the whole "embarrassing myself in front of Microsoft" episode behind me.

Microsoft and Namco Bandai are hoping that the future-retro success of the critically acclaimed Pac-Man Championship Edition can be repeated in another arcade classic, Galaga. The 27-year old vertical shooter is getting a proper update in Galaga Legions, a spectacular laser light show that blends "bullet hell" style gameplay with classic Galaga design.

It's pretty simple stuff on the surface. Move your ship anywhere on the screen with the left analog stick. With the right stick, you can place your ship's two satellite guns. These two guns can be dropped anywhere on the fly, with a quick tap in the direction you want the guns to autofire.

Your ship will autofire by default too, but you can choose to call your own shots with the right trigger. The point? Higher scoring bonuses. The whole mechanic makes a lot of sense and you'll need equal parts strategy, quick reflexes and pattern recognition to make it through all five areas.

Liveblogging Konami's E3 2008 Press Conference

Hey, it's Konami time! We'll be liveblogging the Big K's entire presentation right after the jump. Here's hoping we see lots of Castlevania — will Konami surprise us with any other new announcements, or will we get our first glimpse of some of the things we've been hearing about thus far? Hang out after the jump, and we'll find out together.

It's time for the Take-Two Interactive E3 2008 press conference! What mysteries lie beyond the jump? Will they talk about GTA DS? Will they concede and hand over the company to EA right then and there? Will they...I dunno...talk about an upcoming movie for an hour?

God I hope not.

Capcom E3 08 Press Conference Liveblog - Lost Planet The Movie

Ubisoft E3 08 Press Conference Liveblog

Been a long time since we saw/heard anything about Castle Crashers. Been too long. So it's great today to see some new screens for the game (including a couple featuring a Behemoth cameo), which while still without a release date, should hopefully be with us soon.

Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg and Marc Whitten lead a Community Roundtable discussion following the company's E3 media briefing, giving us further insight into the changes coming to the Xbox 360 dashboard. Officially dubbed the New Xbox Experience, the update was said by Whitten to be a response to the glut of content on Xbox Live, a system he claims was built with hundreds of pieces of content in mind, not tens of thousands — or potentially millions, as Whitten posited.

The new look and feel for the Xbox 360 dashboard was designed to be navigable by those unfamiliar with the current "blades" interface, with the New Xbox Experience akin to a TV remote control UI. In person, it's pretty slick — the Xbox 360 logo radiates a constant pulse in the bottom right corner, with iTunes Cover Flow-style reflections and navigation giving gamers a quick clean look at their games and content.

Fans of the current "blades" interface may be saddened to learn that the update isn't an optional redesign, it's a total replacement. They'll still get a taste of the old interface via the new Guide look and feel. Hit the jump for a photo.

Now being published by Activision (Bizarre's new masters), Geometry Wars 2 is looking great. Also looking exactly the same as the first one (though perhaps with a touch more pastel hues), but then, I guess that's what they were after. Messing with near-perfection tends only to lead to trouble. Geometry Wars 2 will be available on Xbox Live Arcade on August 6.

As is typically the case with these types of events, context is very important when you're considering the truth of a company's boast. While Microsoft didn't outright fudge or falsify any claims, there were a couple instances where they were saying one thing and hoping you would think another.

Following the jump, a rundown of seven claims made at Microsoft's news conference earlier today. Brian Ashcraft and I did the fact checking.

Game Shows Come To Xbox Live With Primetime

John Schappert said at E3 that as reported in earlier leaks, a game show channel would be coming to Xbox Live. They're playable with the recently announced Live Party avatars, and the first games are 1 vs 100 and Uno Rush (looks like Uno, but with avatars).

Players can compete against each other for real prizes, Schappert said.

Microsoft's John Schappert took the stage today at Microsoft's E3 2008 press conference to reveal the new face of Xbox Live. Coming this Fall, your gamer tag will now be linked to an avatar, designed by the folks at Rare, who will then be customizable with any of thousands of pieces of clothing, accessories, etc., all available via Xbox Live Marketplace. What a surprise!

The avatars, much like Miis, will be playable in many upcoming Microsoft games, including Uno on Xbox Live and the new Scene-It!: Box Office Smash.

There's also a new community channel called Live Party, where you can add up to 8 friends to chat and share content, such as photos.

Portal: Still Alive Dated 2008 For Xbox LIVE Arcade

Microsoft community manager Chris Paladino does a video walk through of Microsoft's E3 line-up. Games mentioned in the clip include: Fable 2, Gears of War 2, Guitar Hero World Tour, Rockband 2, Lips, Uno Rush, Galaga Legions and Portal: Still Alive. Wait, wait, wait. Portal: Still Alive? The game is hitting Xbox LIVE Arcade in 2008. It will feature single player and "a new challenge mode." Last April, Valve's Doug Lombardi stated, "You won't see a new Portal at retail this Christmas because of that. That's the trade off. People want more, but we don't want to give them more of the same right away because that would just be boring."

Thanks Brian for the tip!

Rumored and then confirmed earlier this year, Duke Nukem 3D is making its way to the Xbox Live Arcade this year, but when? The time could be near, as an anonymous tipster sends us several pictures of the game's XBLA entry. Of course it isn't available now...note the 1337 placeholder price tag...but the fact that these shots are coming out indicates the game is very close to release. Check out the other screens below, including a shot of the "Looks Like A Cleanup On Aisle Four" achievement, which makes stepping in a pile of shit fun!

Cyan Outlines "Hurdles" In Reclaiming Myst Online

Cyan Worlds said it's formulated a plan to bring Myst Online back to its fans, after GameTap shunted control of the property back to its creators.

Cyan CTO Mark "Chogon" DeForest said in a community board letter that despite having a plan in place, cheerfully titled the "Myst Online: Restoration Experiment (MORE)," there are some "hurdles to overcome." Among the necessary compromises will be an implementation of a $25 fee for a six month subscription.

"We are not trying to make any money on this at this stage - but we do need to cover some of the costs," he said.

"You should know that the roadmap does not involve any new content from Cyan at this time. The plan is to start to move the content creation - the 'Art' - to you. In addition the guilds themselves will start to exercise some authority in monitoring, approving, communicating, etc."

Kotaku also spoke to Chogon about when the bigger, better, faster, MORE Myst Online might be up and running: