Good news for Call of Duty 3 fans everywhere, a new FREE bonus map pack has just been released onto the Xbox Live Marketplace.
“Champs” is an exclusive new multiplayer map that brings CLASSIC Call of Duty infantry-based combat to Port Royal des Champs, a war-torn French farm town. The map’s compact design is perfect for small and medium-sized team games in online, split-screen, and System Link play, or crank up the intensity with 24-player mayhem. A country road snakes across the landscape from a private chateau to a heavily battered cathedral. Vast wheat fields, hidden ravines, and blown-out buildings provide endless tactical opportunities for squads or lone soldiers to flank the enemy with stealth. Experience explosive action like never before in this free Bonus Map!
Ms. Pacman is now available for download from the Xbox Live Marketplace. Ms. Pacman is available in all Xbox Live regions and costs 400 points.
Xbox Live brings one of the all time classics from Namco Bandai Games to Xbox Live Marketplace. The sequel to the incredibly popular Pac-Man, his girlfriend Ms. Pac-Man takes a turn through the maze. Ms. Pac-Man attempts to clear various challenging mazes filled with Pac-Dots and moving fruits while avoiding the ghosts.
One collision from any of the ghosts means a loss of life. Survive a few rounds of gameplay, and be treated to humorous intermissions showing the growing romantic relationship between Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man, leading all the way up to the arrival of “Junior.”
Hot on the heals of the news of new maps for Gears of War comes the details of the patch that should preceed them. The patch should be available sometime Wednesday 10th January.
Fixed aspect ratio distortion when using VGA cable with 4:3 displays at resolutions higher than 640×480
Fixed voice issue with new players joining Player Match games in progress
Players can now get the Achievement for “Dish Best Served Cold” when using Troika turret to kill RAAM
Fixed rare situation where host could loop countdown and never start match
Fixed rare situation where players could get stuck after chainsawing in multiplayer
Reduced Grenade Tag melee distance
Enabled “Strict” NAT check on host to prevent possible connection issues
Optimized server browser queries to return results more quickly and prevent scroll bars from hiding quality of service icons
Reduced number of possible revives in Execution to match Warzone
Removed host name from Ranked match server browser
Disabled security cameras in Ranked matches
Ranked matches now require balanced teams (3v3 or 4v4)
Increased penalty for quitting a Ranked match to -50 points
Great news for Gears of War fans, two new multiplayer maps will be coming very soon to an Xbox 360 near you. The two new maps, Raven Down and Old Bones, should be available on Xbox Live Marketplace early Thursday morning (11th January) Wednesday 10th January and be available FREE of charge (Sponsored by the Discovery Channel).
Raven Down
A Raven Helicopter has gone down in the middle of a large scale battle with the omnipresent Locust Horde. Gears have taken out the Seeder and gamers join Delta Forces moving into the crash site from all angles to search for survivors.
Old Bones
In an attempt to eradicate any traces of human history and culture, the Locust Horde has emerged under Sera’s Capitaline Museums and has begun to destroy them brick by brick. Each gamer’s mission is to help the Delta Force recapture the museums before all remnants of humankind’s existence are obliterated.
Not long go now before the release of one of the most anticipated racing games on the 360, but if you really can’t wait check out this new video of some of the multiplayer action. The video shows over 4 minutes of online game play using various cars. The driving may not be top notch, but at least the crashes show off the cool new damage effects. Enjoy.
So desperate are we for Halo 3 information that the interweb has gone mad over a couple of the crappest videos you could imagine. The in-game footage of Halo 3 multiplayer comes via the US Army who was given a special preview by Microsoft and Bungie while on tour in Iraq.
No sooner than it was confirmed that Virtua Fighter 5 would no longer remain a Playstation exclusive title and would be coming to the Xbox 360, new rumours are suggesting that Tekken 6 will also be making an appearance on an Xbox 360 near you. According to an “IGN Insider Source”, Namco are currently working on both the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of the hit fighting game.
W00TAGE, early reports from the NPD Group, which tracks video game software and hardware sales in the US, are suggesting that the Xbox 360 was the best selling video games console during the Christmas holiday period.
Between 1st November to 25th December, approximately 2 million Xbox 360 consoles were sold in the US. Nintendo’s Wii came in second with around 1.8 million units sold. Sony’s Playstation 3 came in third with 750,000 units sold. Although these figures should be taken with a pinch of salt due to the Wii and PS3 having only just been launched and being in very short supply. Still good news for the 360 me thinks.
It has recently been reported that chip manufacturer Chartered Semiconductor has postponed the mass production of the new energy efficient CPU for the Xbox 360.
Market sources are claiming that this chip might now be delayed by several months. It is not clear why the chips are late though.
The current Xbox 360 CPU runs on a 90nm chip, with Chartered Semiconductor planning to manufacture a new processor based on form factor of 65nm. Moving to 65nm will make the new chip both cheaper, quieter and more energy efficient, thus reducing heat build up in the 360.
