Microsoft recently dropped details on what they have planned for the Xbox Live service for the rest of September, from Halo: Reach festivities to many XBLA games. Though August gets a lot of attention with its Summer of Arcade promotion, Xbox 360 owners will not be disappointed with what’s in store for the rest of September.
Halo: Reach festivities, new games, and price cuts
The big event for Xbox 360 owners this month is the launch of Bungie’s Halo: Reach. Not only has the Halo franchise been the most successful system exclusive for Microsoft since the original Xbox, there’s a lot of buzz around Reach because this will be the last iteration developed by Bungie themselves. Once owned by Microsoft, Bungie regained its independence shortly before the launch of Halo 3. While Microsoft owns the Halo intellectual property, Bungie recently signed a 10-year deal to exclusively develop for publisher Activision.
Any Halo game is big news, but being Bungie’s ‘swan song’ makes Reach very big. The week following the September 14th launch has been dubbed “Invasion Week” by Microsoft. This involves numerous Halo items: "including new gear, exciting content, spectacular prizes and a chance to play with the creators of the game." Also, anyone who signs into Reach’s online component will be able to download a free premium system theme to celebrate the “Invasion” week.
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Xbox 360 games
Xbox 360 price drop
Even players who normally stick to single-player experiences can enjoy a taste of Reach’s multiplayer (or any other online game) because the weekend after the game’s launch will allow Xbox Live Silver members to temporarily upgrade to Gold for free. Anyone who’s debating about springing for Gold can check it out for free from the 17th to the 20th.
Beyond Bungie’s last Microsoft-published game, there’s a number of other things going on. One XBLA game I’m personally excited about is Hothead Games’ DeathSpank 2: Thongs of Virtue, schedule to be available September 21st. The title is a bit weird for those who didn’t play the first game, but fans of the series can enjoy the same Fable-esque face-button combat combined with incredibly well-done humor. Part parody, part traditional action-RPG, this is a game worth taking a look at that’s exclusive to XBLA.
A number of other items and games will be receiving discounts. These include avatar outfits and DLC for Resident Evil 5, Bust-a-Move Live, Puzzle Chronicles and Tower Bloxx Deluxe.
Another game worth taking a look at is releasing at the end of the month: Hydrophobia. Set as a action-horror type of game, this has been on my radar screen since it first appeared at E3 earlier this year. Releasing September 29th, players can expect a very atmospheric type of game as well as what the official website bills: “Dark Energy's revolutionary HydroEngine - the world's first true fluid dynamics engine for games. This jaw dropping technology models flowing water which behaves completely realistically, resulting in the most dynamic and dramatic gameplay you've ever seen.” Water has historically been difficult for graphics engines to model realistically—so some people will be interested in at least checking out the demo to see just how ‘realistic’ the graphics are.
Any platform as robust as XBLA has a lot of other smaller things going on, but these are the big events worth putting on the calendar for gamers who own Microsoft’s HD console.
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