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Another year, another E3, and another Microsoft Press Conference come and gone. After starting off with a lot of chest thumping (what else is new?) about how the Xbox 360 is the be-all-and-end-all platform for the casual and the hardcore gamer alike and a whole bunch of stats about how Resident Evil 5, Fable 2 and Gears of War 2 will represent more than half a billion in sales for the platform , we finally got to see a hands-on of BethSoft’s eagerly anticipated post-apocalyptic RPG, Fallout 3.
After demoing the game, which involved half of a mock trailer for the game (the other half will hit Xbox LIVE Marketplace as part of the E3 2008: Bringing it Home downloads later), an Eyebot (singing patriotically, of course) roving the ravaged Washington DC landscape and some time spent with the PipBoy 3000 before kicking lots of ass with the VATS system, the sniper and laser rifles, regular and EMP grenades and turning an enemy chopper and its hapless cargo into superheated vapor with the Fatman, Todd professed his love for the Xbox LIVE Marketplace by announcing that players can extend their 100-hours+ gameplay time with a slew of DLC which will be available exclusively for the Xbox 360 and the Games for Windows platforms.
Oh, joy, now I can pay 150 MS Points on the Xbox 360 and $4.99 on the PC so I can get some sort of horse armor, or better yet, a scratch-guard for my PipBoy! Hit the jump to check out the E3 Microsoft Presser demo and the “Perfect Life” trailer.
Well, what more can we say? We’ve confirmed with local distributor e-Xpress Interactive a couple of days back that Soulcalibur IV will indeed not make it to Indian shores, thanks to the fact that it’s an Ubisoft game. Since Ubisoft doesn’t believe in offering any sort of sales concession when it comes to Indian markets, and e-Xpress, like anyone else, wouldn’t want non-existent profit margins, Indian gamers eager for Soulcalibur IV will now have to look at Play-Asia (as usual) for their imports.
Speaking to us about the situation, e-Xpress has clarified that rather than haggle with Ubi and import the games for “an obscenely high price”, they’ve elected to not import the game in all likelihood. But the real terrifying part of the conversation came when Fallout 3 came into the picture. In a press release issued last month, Ubisoft had claimed that it would be distributing Fallout 3 in some PAL territory countries in Europe including Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Which indirectly means that if India’s import were to happen via Ubi, there’s no chance of Fallout 3 ever being officially released for the consoles here.
Now it’s not everyday Microsoft gets really generous with you, but we’ve been pretty darn happy that we’ve been swindling quite a bit of stuff from them over the last year. Sure, we had to give them all to our dear readers (who we’re required by law not to slander, torture, maim or kill.. unfortunately) but still, at least some of us got to go to cool parties, eat lots of free food and get hammered on free booze while they checked out boobs. And oh yes, games too.
Having worked our asses for over a year on the site without seeing a single penny tossed our way (come on, folks, be generous, nominate us in your wills, please?), and having lots of bad shit happen to me over the last couple of months, including getting disconnected from the Internet, getting my DVD player broken, an RRoD’ed Xbox 360 and my Dad checking out of the mortal realm last month, I am finally very pleased to announce that I have been awarded the Xbox India MVP 2008 award, which I guess makes me the second person in the country to win one, after GamingIndians’ Ogden Wernstrom, I mean, Sameer Desai, won the first one last quarter.
For all those curious (read: jealous) folks who’re interested in knowing what goodies I get, here’s a little list:
Ask any Xbox 360 fanboy what he wants for Christmas and you’ll get just one answer - whether they’re over 18 or not - Gears of War 2. As if all the dirt, the satisfyingly sickening gore and all the endless multiplayer whoring and grenade tagging wasn’t enough, we’re now just months away from becoming “I-eat-nails-and-horse-steroids-for-breakfast” macho men who seem to be stuck at that age where boys discover the F-word and a propensity for random violence.
Even as Gears of War 2, Killzone 2, Resistance 2 and a hundred other shooters jostle for attention come E3 2008, Microsoft has released a whole truckload of painfully-blinding HDR-overload screenshots for fans of the game to drool over and get their testosterone levels high enough to dry hump the Xbox 360 until it RRoDs. And since we’re huge fans of the game ourselves (no matter how funny we find the characters and the story) we feel obliged to share our high-res screenshot and concept art booty with all you folks.
And for all you multiplayer fans who blew me into little chunks every time I signed on, have fun with the all new MP screenshots, as well as the Before / After screens of Gridlock. Me, I’ll just go pin up that luscious Maria Santiago screenshot above my bed. ROWR!
CAMPAIGN / CONCEPT ART SCREENSHOTS
MULTIPLAYER / GEARS 1 vs. 2 COMPARISONS
What started of as a leaked scan of a K-mart ad followed by another similar report, the rumor of the Xbox 360 Pro model seeing a price drop to 299.99$ seems to be gaining more ground by the minute.
Our contact in Redington has passed on this little piece of information that mentioned, among other things, that the Xbox 360 Pro model will be seeing a price cut in India that will take it price down to INR 12,000 which seems to gel well with the 299.99$ price-point mentioned in the other reports. The move apparently is to provide a stiff competition to Sony’s PS2 market that is still showing strong growth in India. With the price cut, Microsoft hopes to entice potential buyers away from PS2 towards Xbox 360.
The source in Redington also mentioned the fact that Microsoft will be coming up with a 20Gb and a 60Gb version of the console, besides a host of new accessories. Could they be the new Wii-like controller and LIPS that we have been hearing so much about? Our best bet will be E3 2008 announcement by Microsoft that will either confirm the price-cut and the accessories or kill the rumor for good.
Redington-India has been the sole distributor of Xbox 360 in India from Day 1, besides being responsible for the distribution of Microsoft first-party and EA titles.
Editor’s Note: Microsoft India has rubbished all reports of a potential price cut being on the cards.
For all the Battlefield fans out here in India, the wait for Battlefield: Bad Company just became so much easier. A little email in our mail box alerted us to the fact that Redington and Milestone Interactive are accepting pre-orders for the Xbox 360 and the PS3 version of the game in India. This is good news for all those who want to get the game on Day 1, besides getting to unlock the bonus sniper gun, which is available in-game only if you pre-order.
Hit the jump to find out how to pre-order a copy for yourself.
For all those who were worried about the Xbox 360 camp closing shop and moving on to greener pastures, stop panicking and running around circles like you just saw a totally harmless garden snake. After news broke that Microsoft was winding down operations across a number of cities, thanks to abysmal sales, rampant piracy, horrid customer service and solar flares, we figured that the best thing to do would be to contact Microsoft themselves to get the real story. I mean, they’re not going to lie to us, right?
When we contacted the Microsoft execs about the news and yakked on for the better part of an hour, they categorically denied that the division is in any trouble and that the console itself is performing on par with expectations. In fact, Ashimm Das Mathur, who was reported to be “abandoning ship” after the previous country manager, Mohit Anand, left the company recently, has himself set the issue straight at the GamingIndians forums, saying:
All I can say is that this is all rubbish.
Microsoft is completely committed to the market and Xbox 360 is doing exceptionally well in the country.
We’re not sure where these rumors started, but with Alan Bowman being in the country right now for his usual management review, someone may have put two and two together and ended up with five million. We’ve also been told that the PR team is putting together an official statement from the Microsoft India Entertainment & Devices Division and senior MS honchos including Robbie Bach and Alan Bowman, so please wait for it before you start firing your rumor engines.
In the meantime, all the Fox Mulders are more than welcome to start huddling together in dark corners and speak in hushed tones about the Great Microsoft Conspiracy. The rest of us will just continue waiting for Ninja Gaiden II.