Welcome to Beyond Co-Op, a weekly piece that talks about industry stories that may or may not be related to co-op gaming.
The stories for this week:
- Xbox 360 Getting USB Storage in Spring Update?
- Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Skate 3 and Kane & Lynch 2 Dated
- Third Echelon and Sam Fisher Descend on Social Networks
- Activision Announces $15 Price on MW2 Stimulus Pack
- Just Cause 2 and Red Steel 2 Highlight Releases This Week
Xbox 360 Getting USB Storage in Spring Update?
In the “about time” category, Joystiq got a hold of a Microsoft memo detailing that USB support would be coming via the Spring Update. There are a couple caveats in that you can only use 2 USB products and it can only use a maximum of 16GB, so no connecting external hard drives to the 360 or anything. It will be nice to be able to copy maybe a game or two to a thumb drive and be able to put all your saves in one place with storage.
Source: Colony of Gamers
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Skate 3 and Kane & Lynch 2 Dated
A few release dates were unloaded this week. Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker comes out on June 8th along with a limited edition PSP pack. EA’s Skate 3 comes out on May 11th and Square Enix’s Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days will release on August 24th. Not sure what to make of the last two games. Skate 2 I don’t think sold very well even though it was even more of the greatness the original was and we all remember the whole Kane and Lynch fiasco. I wonder if Gerstmann is salivating for the release of this new game so he can give it a horrid score if it is bad on Giant Bomb.
Source: me
Third Echelon and Sam Fisher Descend on Social Networks
In a weird marketing push for the upcoming Splinter Cell: Conviction, Ubisoft has employed two social networks for advertising. Third Echelon has taken to Facebook for help in finding the rogue Sam Fisher. They sent the picture below out:
The next day we got a message from Sam Fisher below saying he was on Twitter and refuting Third Echelon’s words. His Twitter account is Real_SamFisher and the weird thing is that he has been quite active on Twitter. I mean, when you’re busy running from the government would you really be spending your time on Twitter talking about everything you do? Actually, it is quite funny and you should check out the Twitter account. Here is the picture of Sam’s message:
I know I’m looking forward to this game and a demo did come out on the 360 on Thursday, so you can see if you might like this game that is supposedly a departure from the rest of the series.
Source: me
Activision Announces $15 Price on MW2 Stimulus Pack
The internet is ablaze with hatred over Activision announcing a $15 price for the 5 map Modern Warfare 2 Stimulus Package DLC. Technically it is 3 maps with 2 maps from the previous game, but a lot of people are having a problem with the perceived higher price. The only thing that makes this really look bad is that Bad Company 2 is getting a free map pack (although granted it is just the unlocking of two play types on established maps) on the same day and general opinion is that people are liking that game’s multiplayer much more than Modern Warfare 2. This could be an uphill battle for Activision, but at least they are sticking to their guns.
Source: Colony of Gamers
Just Cause 2 and Red Steel 2 Highlight Releases
March starts to trail off a bit after the early knockout punches of Bad Company 2, Final Fantasy XIII, God of War III, Pokemon and many others. This week sees two very different games taking the forefront. First up is Just Cause 2. I never played the first game, but I heard it was good and I enjoyed the demo for the new one. I’m not sure I’ll pick it up, but it does look intriguing and the map is supposedly very large, something it probably borrowed from Ubisoft’s FarCry 2.
Then there is Red Steel 2 that will use the Wii MotionPlus to give 1:1 swordsmanship. Word is it isn’t 1:1 and that just continues the disappointment from the first game which was a launch title. Maybe early word is wrong and this game will be a lot of fun, but we shall see.
Source: me