I got into the current round of the Xbox 360 Preview Program and last night my Xbox 360 got the update that adds Twitter, Last.fm, and Facebook support – among other things. All three of these new additions sound really cool when you hear about them but after trying them out I’m a little underwhelmed.

I’m not a real big facebook user but I do use twitter and last.fm pretty regularly.  All three of these additions are an application you have to download and then it shows up in the Dashboard.  I don’t really see myself ever using the facebook application, but the one reason I might is because it  looks like it could be good for expanding your friends list over 100 limit. Since it has a section to show your friends gamercards who are not on your Xbox Live friends list but are facebook friends you can still invite these people to a party or game.

Twitter and last.fm I use regularly on the computer.  Both are pretty nice on the 360, but I wish I could send a twitter message from the Guide button. Right now you have to load up the Twitter application and then you can post a new status update, see the last 50, do a search or see trending topics.  Just the option to send a twit like sending messages or chats from the Guide would make it go from neat little thing I’ll use occasionally to something I wold use all the time.  Even if I had to load the application to view all the responses from my friends the option to send from the Guide at any time would be amazing.

The same is true for last.fm.  It is nice to have it there in the living room when I’m not gaming, but when I’m playing a game it would be nice to use it from the guide like you can listen to music on your hard drive.  I know that would probably cause lag issues for multiplayer games but if they let you use it in single player games it would be nice.  Then it could cut off automatically, similar to how downloads of demos cut off, when you go into a multiplayer game. Like with the Twitter app I don’t really see myself using the Last.fm app that often.

One of the other changes that the new update has is a Music Game store section.  In it you can preview and buy DLC for any of the Xbox 360’s music and rhytem games including Guitar Heroes, Rock Band 2, The Beatles: Rock Band, and Lips.  It is really nice to be able to preview the songs strait from the dashboard without even loading up the game.

The one thing that I find annoying about this update is that it makes the Dashboard more cluttered.  Hopefully they will get some good feedback from the preview and clean it up a little more.  I don’t spend a lot of time in the Dashboard, but now I’m sure I’ll be in it less because it is not as easy to find things.   Overall the update has some nice little additions and hopefully is a preview of some big things in the future.

Having completed Halo 3: ODST three times and have all of the related achievements I’ve moved on to playing a lot more Firefight.  I’ll tell you right up front I’ve really been enjoying Firefight but I do have some issues with it.  Firefight mode is similar to Horde in Gears of War 2 in that you have four players working cooperatively to defeat waves on enemies. Unlike Horde mode there is no end to Firefight.  The waves will just keep going until you all run out of lives. The game starts with 7 lives that are shared between all four of the players.  As you complete rounds you earn additional lives to add to the pool.  However, once all the lives are gone you stop respawning until more enemies spawn for the next wave.  This makes it very important on higher difficulties to be careful not to die and leave your teammates alone and without an option to respawn.

If you’re just looking to pick up the map specific achievements you can get them by playing with only 20 or 3 people on the Easy difficulty setting. It will take probably 80 to 90 minutes, but the 10 point achievement will be yours.  On the other hand you can get the same achievement on Hardcore in a little over 30 minutes if you have 4 good players who are careful to not die.

My main issues with Firefight are based how the games are run. First, people can not join in progress or leave.  Once a game starts if you leave the whole room shuts down.  Even if you are not the host or party leader.  So, if someone disconnects or lags out at 190,000 the room falls apart and you have to start all over again.  This is a really lame and annoying.  What makes it worse is that the matches tend to be very laggy.  Why does a four player co-op game that does not even have matchmaking support even have lag?  I can host a 16 person private room in Halo 3 and many other games lag free, but in Firefight everyone lags.  Including me – the host.  Who ever heard of a game where even the host lags?  Bungie clearly needed to put more time into the Firefight portion of the game.  For such a fun playing experience when it works they did a terrible job making it accessible.

Still, overall Firefight is a nice addition to ODST and if Bungie will patch some of these issues it would be nearly perfect.

Both my wife and I have been using Wii Fit for over a year now so when Wii Fit Plus released this week for $20 I decided to pick up a copy.  Monday afternoon I unwrapped it and through it in our Wii and our son proceed to play all the new games for about an hour. He was instantly a big fan of the new snowball fighting game.  I actually got a chance to start checking it out later on Monday and I was instantly impressed with how well they streamlined getting into the activities and setting up routines.

The new activities they have added are pretty decent. There are some new strength exercises and yoga poses as well as a dozen new balance and rhythm games.  Some of them are more advanced versions of existing ones while others are are completely new. Overall they are a nice addition to the game and add a good amount of variety to the existing items.  Also, some of the activities now add a 2 person mode where you take turns doing the activity to compete against another person.  My son and I have been having a blast going back and forth trying to outdo each others scores in the new snowball fight game.  It it you use your WiiMote sort of like a light gun and then lean left and right to move into and out of cover.  It actually makes me really hope that they make a Virtua Cop or Time Crisis for the Wii that supports the Balance Board because it is a lot of fun.

The new Workout Routines are a welcome addition.  It makes it easy to streamline the workout process.  You no longer have to go to the menu and pick the next activity after each exercise.  Instead you can pick a pre-made plan or setup your own.  Then, the game automatically moves you from one activity to the next without having to go to the menu.  The pre-made routines let you choose what you want your workout to focus on and for how long it should last.  It saves a lot of time that was previously wasted when using WiiFit for a regular workout routine.

If you have a Wii Balance Board and Wii Fit the enhancements in Wii Fit Plus are worth the $20.  It would have been nice to have an option to download Wii Fit Plus as DLC for Wii Fit, but given everything they added I can understand why they decided to release it as a stand alone disc.  It would require quite a bit of memory to store.

I’m generally not a fan of (and not very good at) platformers, but when I saw the sweet 8-bit retro graphics in Arkedo Series – JUMP! I knew I has to check it out. The graphics are really sweet and blocky with great use of color and contrast. The goal of each level is to collect all of the bombs before they explode, and collect as many of the coins as you can. All the while avoiding enemies and obstacles. Other than moving the only thing you can do is jump and then if you collect a sword on a level you can use it to attack and kill an enemy once. For a platformer like this one of the main things they have to get right is the jump mechanic, especially when that is the name of the game, and Arkedo nailed it.  I never once died because I felt like I just barely timed a jump wrong or because I hit the lip of a platform just missing the jump’s distance.  In that respect the game is very forgiving. However, when if comes to completing the game it has no mercy because there are no saves. If you loose all your hearts you’ve got to restart the game.  Fortunately, there are extra hearts on some of the levels that you can grab as you go and the difficulty curve is very gentle. I’ve not completed the game yet but for $3 I’m looking forward to retrying it until I finally win. If you check out JUMP! let me know what you think of it or leave a rating on XBLIG Ratings.

I recently had a chance to play around in the Tiger Woods PGA TOUR Online Beta. I’m not a big golf fan but I have played a few of the Tiger Woods games in the past on the Xbox 360 and they tend to be well done.  I decided to give the beat a shot for two reasons. First, it was free. And, second, you play the whole game in your web browser. The system requirements are not to high and I was able to play without any issues on my laptop. I did have to set some of the graphics options to low, but on my three year old PC I was able to play with everything set to high.

The first thing I noticed right off the bat is how nice the interface and graphics are.  They sections to adjust your skills, buy new accessories, and see your previous game stats were all very smooth and cleanly designed.  The actual in game graphics of playing were really gorgeous looking and I would never have knows that I was playing a browser based game.

It took me a little while to remember to all the controls for moving cameras, changing clubs, and making adjustments, but the control layout is easy accessible at any time so it was not a big deal.  The only real issue I had was that it seemed like there was some lag when I tried to use the three-click method to swing the clubs.  My clicks were when I saw the line where I wanted it but many times it would not register the click until a second later.  After 18 holes I was pretty frustrated with the swinging mechanics and then I noticed a tip that mentioned using the true swing option to control the swinging. Basically, instead of clicking to set the power and swing angle you just pull back on the mouse and then slide if forward.  I was able to pretty consistently have high powered and strait hits using the true swing option.

There is a lot of depth to the game because as you play you complete goals and earn money.  This money is used to increase your stats in driving, chipping, and putting. You can add things like more power, increase chipping accuracy, and additional putting line views. In addition to just playing single matches whenever you want they also have tournaments you can compete in.  When the full game is released the online community seems like it will be really great.  There were a lot of people playing the beta every time I was on playing. I think it helps that you can login and play from any web browser. You can also save your progress part way through a course to come back and finish later. I found myself pretty regularly playing a couple holes when I was on phone calls waiting on hold or when I would get back from my lunch break 10 or 15 minutes before I needed to get back to work.  Since I could just pick up where I left off, even on a different computer, it was easy a quick and easy way to pass time when I needed to be able to stop at any moment.

The Tiger Woods PGA TOUR Online Beta has ended now, but I’m looking forward to when the game releases and I can start playing again. For a casual golf fan, like me, it is simple and friendly enough to keep you coming back, but they also have a lot of depth and options for hard core golf fans.

I picked up the Red Faction Guerrilla Smasher Pack DLC yesterday which includes 8 new maps and a new game mode, Behemoth, for Wrecking Crew. I’ll admit right up front that I do have one complaint about the Smasher Pack.  It does not add support for playing Wrecking Crew over Xbox Live. I don’t want full matchmaking support or anything. Just an option to invite friends in to play it with me.  I understand that they made it to be played in a “pass the controller along the couch” style, but playing with friends over Live would have been nice.

However, for the $5 (400 Points) price you do get a lot of value. The eight new maps have a lot of variety with some being Marauder themed, some EDF, and others Red Faction.  They also have a wide variety of map sizes. Some are small with just a couple very tall buildings, but others are so large that even with thermoberic rockets I could not completely level all of the buildings in the time limit.

The new Behemoth mode allows you to play on any of the Wrecking Crew maps using a Walker.  They have all three Walker types (Combat, Heavy, and Light) from the single player campaign. You can choose either a specific Walker or set it to random.  when you set it to Random they added a nice option that if they Walker type that randomly comes up is not one you want you can hit Y and veto it.  It will then choose one of the other two Walker types.  You can veto as many times as you want until you get the Walker type you want for that map.  Since there are only three walker types is makes it easy to try all three Walkers on any given map without going back out to the menu to change Walker types.

Before I actually played the Behemoth mode I thought it would be the most fun to play with the Combat Walker because it has unlimited rocket ammo and it never overheats. So, you can just unload nonstop until the time limit is up.  While the Combat Walker is fun I actually found I could get much higher scores by using the Light Walker.  The Heavy Walker is so large that it pretty much destroys everything before it gets a chance to fall and give you that bonus damage score.  The Combat Walker’s explosions do not have much splash damage so it takes a lot of precise hits to take a building down.  With the Light Walker it is small enough to not completely destroy a building in one hit.  Plus, it moves much quicker than the the other two Walkers and has a jet pack to get you around the map.  Because of this you can quickly hit a building with the Light Walker a couple times and quickly move to the next one while gravity finishes off what you started. This leads to more buildings getting knocked down and a lot more bonus points. I was easily getting twice as many points with the light walker on the maps that have mostly buildings on them.

So, the final verdict, is it worth buying?  If you like Wrecking Crew mode then I would say that the Smasher Pack is well worth buying.  Even if you just play through all of the maps 2 or 3 times it will take you a few hours.  For $5 you’re getting more entertainment time than a typical movie ticket that cost twice as much. If you did not like Wrecking Crew then you may want to hold off but the Walkers are a lot of fun to use.

I’ve been playing Halo 3: ODST for almost a week now and thoroughly enjoying it.  I have not even touched the second disc that comes with it which is Halo 3 multiplayer with all 24 DLC multiplayer maps included.  I’ve played a lot of Firefight as well as the Campaign, but I’m going to wait on covering Firefight until I can spend more time on each of the maps.  The campaign is not overly long at around 7 hours but I am already on my second play through to work on some of the achievement, and I’ll probably play through it a third, and possible fourth, time with some friends in co-op. A lot of the achievements are easy to get the first time through the campaign, but there are a few that will require a second play through because they are mutually exclusive.  Also, you will want to have three good friends to play co-op with to get some of the Legendary and Firefight achievements.  If you are only wanting to play alone you will not be able to get one of the achievements because it requires 4 people and the Firefight ones will be difficult.

The game definitely feels like Halo even though you do not play as Master Chief.  You have all the same weapons and vehicles available, but just no shields to keep you safe all the time. You have familiar enemies as well.  There are no Elite in the game, but there are plenty of Brutes, Jackles, and Grunts to make up for it.  The campaign splits into two distinct types of game play.  Part of the time you are exploring New Mombasa as the Rookie trying to find your squad mates.  Most of the exploration occurs at night, until the last couple missions, by yourself.  You have to use your new Visor to help spot enemies, extra weapons, and health packs. As you explore you will find clues about your squad mates that you got separated from.  These clues trigger missions where you play as the squad mates to learn what happened to them. These specific missions feel a lot more like the Halo campaigns I remember because it is in day time and you’re using warthogs, scorpions, lasers, rockets, and snipers to complete set objectives. The side missions were a lot of fun because each one was different and you never do the same thing twice.  Each squad mate has a specific role and it is fun to be pushed into trying different things you may not normally in campaign mode.  I found these two contrasting types of game play to be very enjoyable.  No one specific section was too long and it keeps the pace of the story moving along at a very nice pace.

The story of the campaign was really enjoyable, and the characters were really well done.  They got professional actors to do the voices and it shows because that pat is very well done. I also really enjoyed the side story that you get to hear bit by bit as you find hidden audio files around the city.  There are 30 of them in all and after about the 5th I found myself wanting to find the rest of them as quick as possible to hear the rest of that story. If you have played Halo campaigns before and you should consider starting on the Heroic or Legendary difficulty because Normal is not that challenging. However, if you just want to get the story then playing through on Easy or Normal is the way to go.

I enjoy the Halo universe (yes, I’ve read all the books) even though I don’t like Halo 3 multiplayer that well.  So, for me the campaign portions of ODST were great.  It was fun to play in that universe again and to get a story that was not about Master Chief.  If you’re not interested in playing the multiplayer you should at least rent ODST and play through the campaign.

With almost 200 games available on Xbox Live’s Indie Game for $1 it can be hard to find ones that are worth playing.  The new rating system helps but there are still a lot of games there with 4 stars and higher.  So, I put together a guide to six of the best Xbox Live Indie Games available for $1. Hit the link below for all the details.

Top 6 Xbox Live Indie Games for $1

I took a little time away from ODST yesterday to check out the Forza 3 and Brutal Legends demos that went up Xbox Live Marketplace.   I’m not really a fan of simulation racing games because I suck at them, but I decided to check out Forza 3 anyway because the trailers look amazing.  About 10 seconds in I realized that Forza 3 might be one of the best looking games I’ve ever seen.  Unfortunately I still sucked at it, but at least while I was looking everything was nice to look at.  I started with the slowest Class D car, the Mini Cooper, on Easy with all the assists turned on.  I still barely managed to come in second.  I just can’t control the cars well with my controller. I’m not sure why that is but I just never got the hang of it. I think I would do a lot better with the wheel controller, but I’m not going to spend the money on it to find out I as wrong about that.  If it were not for the auto-braking assist I would probably not have even finished the race.  At least with that assist on I can keep the trigger for gas down all the time and just worry about steering.  I also really like the Rewind Button that lets you back up when you mess up or crash.  Apparently they don’t want you to ever touch another car because any time I would rub another car a little it would show the hint that I could rewind.  I don’t plan to buy or rent Forza 3 because I don’t think it really qualifies as racing when all you do is steer with all the assists turned on.  I can definitely see the appeal after trying some of the faster cars, but racing games are just not my thing.  If you’re even remotely interested in Forza 3 give the demo a shot. It looks amazing and really promising for people who like to race.

After giving up on winning a race I switched over to the 2GB Brutal Legend demo.  I’m going to try not to spoil the demo because it was really funny.  The demo starts with a fairly long cut scene showing how you got to the main location for the game and gives some background on who you are.  If you are into Metal and Rock music it is really worth checking out the demo.  It is a little bit cheesy, but in a good way.  I had a lot of fun playing through the demo and while the controls seem pretty simple it ran smoothly most of the time.  The one thing that got a bit old and annoying was that any time the game would pause for a cut scene or a little tutorial on how to do something new there was a good second pause while it loaded and then another pause when it goes back to the gameplay.  Visually the game has a fun cartoon art style that works really well and the music in the game is well done. I’m interested to see how the multiplayer portions of Brutal Legend pan out because the single player seems great from the demo.  The multiplayer is said to have some RTS elements but I’m no sure how that would work.  Guess I’ll have to wait and see.

Fishing Girl released on Xbox Live’s Indie Games section last night, and I knew when I saw the screenshots I’d have to check it out. The game’s description is deceptively simple: “A game a about a girl, a boy, and an ocean full of fish. Fishing Girl is an arcade fishing game with over 10 different fish to catch and 8 rod and lure upgrades.”

You start with a small lure and short fishing pole. As you catch fish, you make money to buy bigger lure and better poles. Each game does have a 10 minute time limit but I never felt rushed.  Plus, the timer can be turned off and you can play indefinitely.  You objective is to make enough money to buy the biggest fishing pole and cast all the way across the ocean to the island that the boy is on.  You then reel in the island and live happily ever after.

While Xbox Live Indie Games do not have achievements Fishing Girl does have Badges you unlock as you play.  You get them for hitting certain distances when you cast the lure, catching every type fish, and earning certain amounts of money.  While there was no Gamerscore for getting them I played for a couple hours trying to unlock all the badges.  I have a few more to go and I’m looking forward to playing some more to get them.

The art style and simple controls makes for a very mellow and relaxed playing experience.  Actually, the controls are so simple that you only use two buttons.   ‘A ‘casts your line out and reels it back in.  Once you buy additional lures you can change the one you are using by pressing ‘B’. There are no real major obstacles in the game other than your ability to control the rod and reel.  Fortunately, the simple ‘A’ button controls work really well.  There are a few sharks in the ocean that will try to eat your larger catches if they get close, but they can generally be avoided pretty easily.  Also, if your lure is too small for the fish eating it the line will break, but you get the lure back, without having to buy it again, once the line is reeled in.

Priced at just $1 (80 Microsoft Points) it is games like this that Xbox Live Indie Games was made for. With great graphics, simple controls, and a relaxed playing style there is nothing I can think of that they could add to make Fishing Girl any better.