It's been a really good week for rumormongering.
Web site Engagdet claims a newer version of the Xbox 360 is set to release in 2007. This retooled console may come with a 120 GB hard drive, an HDMI port, and an improved processor.
Everybody is claiming the PlayStation 3's exclusive Tekken 6 is going to Xbox 360. So far, Namco has yet to say anything on the matter.
Electronic Arts' The Lord of the Rings:The White Council, which was formerly hyped as Project Gray Company, may have been canceled, or had its focus changed.
And, finally, Guitar Hero II for Xbox 360 will feature new content, according to a leak of, of all things, its game box (see below).
As for the validity of these rumors, well, consider this:
1) The cheese stands alone.
2) If the mule don't kick, you know the mule don't ride.
3) Console revisions are a sure bet, Namco wants to make money with Tekken 6, Electronic Arts would sooner implode or relocate to the fourth level of The Inferno before losing an opportunity to cash in on its Lord of the Rings license and, hey! why not.
Microsoft already closed one door to Halo 3's beta test when it cut off applicants who tried to register for it through Bungie's Web site. But when Microsoft closes a door it also opens a window, or makes lemonade or something like that: two new avenues will allow would-be Master Chiefs to play Halo 3 before its release.
Thirteen thousand and some-odd people will be able to join the Halo 3 multiplayer beta test by joining through Microsoft's "Rule of 3" program. Here, players will need to sign on to Xbox Live and play at least three hours of Halo 2 before February 3, 2007. Doing so will enable them to log on to the Halo 3 Web site to register for the beta test. Many will enter, as the cereal commercials say. Only 13,333 will be accepted.
The second path to gaming nirvana winds its way through Crackdown, an Xbox 360 game set to release in February. Buy the game, which features you as a superhuman agent of law enforcement trying to protect and serve a city on the brink of anarchy, and its disk will let you download the Halo 3 beta via Xbox 360 Live.
Although we are vehemently anti-reading, we are definitely pro-free. And Play.d definitely fits the bill in terms of cost. The video game magazine can be downloaded in .PDF form for free on its Web site.
Issue 5 has ever so much to offer: previews for Xbox 360 games Too Human and Alan Wake, reviews for Gears of War and Okami, and a delightful article where the writer mistakenly uses "tree's" as the plural form of "tree."
It would be nice to herald Tribulation Knights as the video game industry's first big bombshell for 2007, but that would be a lie, and lies, frankly, make baby Jesus cry.
Instead, let's just say God goes stealthy in this recently announced PC game. You play as a post-rapture Knight with a high-tech slingshot trying to save Christians from persecution by sneaking around in the third-person perspective. The game's developers have stated there will be no shooting and killing of characters in the game, which means that everyone who plays Knights will be sorely disappointed when they turn their hero's slingshot on the first enemy they see.
According to the developers, Knights also "promotes good morals and values" and "serves as a warning to those who are not yet saved, that life will be difficult after the rapture."
