Fable II Knothole Island on Sale

This week, Microsoft is bringing us yet another great deal in the Xbox Live Marketplace. This week you can get the expansion pack of Knothole Island for Fable II for only 560 Microsoft Points. This expansion pack includes several quests and hours of added fun to this hit title.

Hurry up and download this in the Xbox Live Marketplace. The deal is for this week only. You save 240 Microsoft Points which is about $2.50. Anybody already download this have anything good or bad to say about it? How about the new expansion pack? Do you think that looks any good?

China Bans Gold Farming

China’s latest set of laws are going to hurt their economy even greater in this economic depression. Their latest set of seemingly pointless laws include one to make online gold farming illegal. What this means is that you can’t sell virtual items obtained in games for anything other than the games virtual currency. This means you can’t buy or sell gold in games such as Runescape or World of Warcraft, and makes games like Entropia questionable where the entire point of the game is to make money.

It has been estimated that each year between $200 million and $1 billion a year is made through gold farming across the globe and that 85% of these gold farmers can be found in China. These laws may be meant to protect the rights of these gaming companies who clearly prohibit the selling of their virtual items. There was no mention as to whether account selling of these types of games was allowed. Loophole?

Anybody out there a gold farmer from China who is going to be affected by this? I’ve seen some pretty big gold farming sites in the past, and it’s clearly a very easy, profitable little business. If you’re not living in China, now would be your time to dive into the market. All these previous customers are going to be looking for a new place to buy their gold.

Silver Players Can Try 1 vs 100

This weekend only Xbox Live members using the free silver service will be able to try out the beta for 1 vs 100 for free. You aren’t able to experience Xbox Live very often except on the free gold weekends. Be Sure to take advantage of this oppertunity. Just log into live, download the beta, and then play it to your hearts content.

1 vs 100 is a game based off of the hit tv gameshow 1 vs 100. This is one of the first games that your Xbox Live Avatar will actually be in the game. Make sure you check out the possible clothing downloads so that you can fully prepare your avatar for public eyes.

Pokemon Gold and Silver Remakes for DS

Classic Pokemon versions Gold and Silver are being remade for the Nintendo DS. The release date has finally been announced for September 12th. The remakes are being released in Japan, no word yet as to whether the games will be released outside of Japan yet. It will probably be released just like all of the other version have been.

A game for a bit younger audience, but this is definitely a bigger launch for this fall. If you’re a fan of Pokemon this is going to excite you all. Whether the game will be exactly the same as the originals from the GameBoy Color or they will add in some new guys was unclear.

Finally, Recon Armor

Ever since the introduction of an armor that not everybody could get, it has been the most coveted item in the game. It has been begged for, it has encouraged users to spend hundreds of hours creating custom maps or game ideas, it has created those picture chain letters through sending a photo claiming you’ll get it by sending it to 25 others, and even caused a friend of my to follow and team kill a creator around all game, just to get the armor.

Finally, I see that Bungie is giving us a clear way of getting the Recon Armor. On July 7th (Bungie Day) we can play the creators of the game in some special playlists that feature 32 new map varients. How exactly you get it, they didn’t say. I’m guessing it has something to do with not only playing with one of the creators, but probably killing one.

If you want to get Recon Armor to show off in front of your friends, you’ll have 24 hours to try and unlock it. If you see a masterchief with a flaming helmet, you’re playing with a creator. Get excited, because I’m sure Recon has something to do with playing with a creator.

Popular Activision Titles to Mobile Phones

Activision and Glu Mobile announced a  partnership yesterday that will allow Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Tony Hawk: Ride, Guitar Hero 5, Blur, and Crash: Mutant Island to mobile phones. The iPhone is not among the mobile phones that will be getting the games, despite it being the obvious best fit phone to suit the games. If you own an Android, Blackberry, BREW, J2ME, or Windows Mobile phone then you will be able to purchase these games once they release.

How exactly are gamers supposed to play a game like Call of Duty on a mobile phone? Even with a touch screen it wouldn’t be very realistic to just point to shoot. A game like Guitar Hero 5 would be a better match with some sort of bluetooth DS type handheld buttons.

If you are an iPhone owner, don’t rule out these games coming for sure. Activision has expressed great interest in developing games for the iPhone already. Glu Mobile is only creating for these limited phones, but another company could receive the rights to create and publish versions for the iPhone as well. Expect these versions to launch around a month after the console versions of these games come out.

Project Lazarus to End Game Piracy and Shoplifting

The Entertainment Merchant Assosciation or EMA think they may have the solution to prevent the piracy and shoplifting of video games. The new system, if implemented, could change the way you purchase games. Games would no longer be kept behind glass walls needing to be unlocked and those annoying plastic locks wouldn’t be necessary either.

The proposed system would make a disc sitting on the shelves essentially worthless. When brought to the cashier the game would be activated after purchased. The activation would occur automatically requiring no physical codes or extra steps within the check out process.

The system is nowhere near flawless though. Just like software for the computer, there would be a way to jailbreak this process. If any online game verification is required, that would pose a problem for gamers who don’t play online. Would it change the way we buy and sell used games at all? With gaming companies slowly moving towards digital distribution of games anyways, will this even make a difference? By 2014, GameStop believes that the gaming industry will be at least 25% digitally distributed and from then on it will continue to grow.

While the concept may have benefitted us had it been launched 5 years ago, it’s a little too late. Project Lazarus will be completed, but the extent of its use will be severely limited. There is no estimate as to the projects completion, but it’s they are searching for a cost effective way of making this work on a large scale. Expect this to be around by 2011.

New Free Avatar Clothing

It’s summer time and Microsoft is giving us the oppertunity to dress our avatars to display the change in seasons. This is one of the first free sets of avatar clothing. The others were a small amount of points, but probably not very popular as the clothing really has no importance. These are the items that are added to the wardrobe.

Male

• Rashguard
• White Vest
• Swim Shorts
• Surfer Shorts

Female

• Flower Vest
• Surfer Hot Pants
• Surfer Shorts
• Surfer Skirt
• Surfer Dress

So head on over to the Xbox Live Marketplace and download the avatar clothing set. I’m going to pass as I don’t care to have my avatar dressed up in flowered swim shorts and a vest. Why not implement a system like in games such as Animal Crossing where we can design a small pallet and have it put on a shirt? Let users create clothing.

Amazon Trade In Service Most Desired

Amazons video game trade in service that was trying to take a stab at the income posted by GameStop in the used game buying and selling business. There is only one flaw with a company like Amazon doing this as compared to GameStop. Amazon just as easily lets users list their games with Amazon’s inventory (meaning right below or next to it). GameStop doesn’t allow for sale by customer shelves where you can list your price and get the money you deserve.

The most desired game according to Amazon’s trade in service is the SNES systems Earthbound game. This game is fetching the highest trade in price, currently getting you $30 Amazon trade in credit. This may seem like a good deal, but first check the going rate in the actual auction area. Sellers and buyers are trading it for $95 cash. Let this be a lesson, check the auctions before agreeing to the trade in credit.

Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix

Yet another one of Microsoft’s Xbox Live Marketplace bargains is coming this weekend. This time you are going to be able to download the hit game Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix for a discount. If you take advantage of this deal and download the game you will get it for 800 Microsoft Points instead of the usual price of  1,200 Microsoft Points. In order to be eligible for the discount you must have an Xbox Live Gold account though. 800 Microsoft Points is the equivelant of $10; however, you can only buy cards in the stores at 1,600 microsoft points.

Anybody actually own this game already have a review of it? I have enough Microsoft Points on my account already, but I’m not sure if I want to put it towards this game or just wait for Halo ODST or more Call of Duty map packs. I’ve never played a Street Fighter title, but I’m interested in the game from the gameplay I’ve seen.