The X08 so far...

So this is an event run by XBox 360, Microsoft, or is it the other way round, lol, and runs from the 24th till the 26th of October and held at Marina Square, in Singapore, and for readers outside Singapore, it's opposite the Sun-Tech centre where GCA was held, which I got my previous interviews from, though, yes Zombie, I have not blogged the GCA event as yet, but that was a huge event with all the Key Notes and so much more!

X08 is all about the games and the fans, it's one of the largest show cases in the region, other than TGS.

OK, the area where it is held is less than 100 meters square, so it may seem small, but if you go by ratio to E3, now called E-all or E-everyone, (will check that, or you can), or against Penny Arcade Expo, known as PAX and the size of country it's held in, it was huge, lol. Though those show deal with all formates while this was all just XBox, heaven really.

So, yes, it's a push for the Holiday season of games, has sponsors and can been seen as money spent for money gain, blah, blah, blah, I say to the nay sayer's, the point of the show was for the fans and users of the XBox 360 here in Singapore, and at least 600 turned up (who signed up weeks before hand), and they all got a goodies bag, with stuff relating to the gaming media and a pair of games, true some older titles, but they still got some games to swap, share and show off, which seems like a good gift from Microsoft 360 department! And a $100 to skin their XBox 360's, now that was a sweet touch. There were thousands of others who showed up too, through out the first day, people new to the system and others fans not really sure if they were going to make it, but lots of people there, I can assure you. But not like the serious hustle and bustle of other shows outside the country, as people are very polite here, so no knocking into people etc., though I am tall, so maybe I was given a wide berth, lol.

So the first day, well first evening was for the fans, they had 30 new games, most still awaiting release, to try out, they had the band Electrico (great band) to listen to and Lara Croft from Tomb Raider, to admire, well worth it in my opinion, she was played by Alison Carroll, and there to push Tomb Raider: Underworld, not that it needed pushing, as I thought it was a great game (though no lefty controls again, lol) but I got on with it, the underwater bits seemed to be a next-gen version of Ecco the Dolphin, with a gun totting Lara Croft as the Ecco, not a dis just a similarity, lol.

There were other games there that have been released as well, but since I had played them I went for games I have not played due to my absence from my 360 and stuff I will try to buy when I get back to my beloved 360, shows like this make you miss her, yes mine is a she, even though, 360voice says not, lol, and not gone to that site in a while as I know my 360 is not happy with me, of 'where, oh where has my Suffur gone', will be the cry, lol.

So I get to the show early, and take my pictures before the crowds and look at the games being set up, find the nearest, food areas, smoking areas, toilets, escape route and which people I need to meet, know, and maybe interview.

The main guy for me is Ian Tan who set up X08 through Face Book, so I find him, I did sort of meet him very briefly at the RA3 review pre-view (talking about the SidewinderX6), but here he is showing off the new still to be finalized XBox Live Experience or NXE, and he gives me a quick run through, with the controller in my hands, I see the mini-blades (looked like them to me and and if in final you'll get me), I create an Avatar, which took less than 2 minutes, not a likeness more a just create a character type of thing, he looked like a Mo-Hawked Asterix! But I can see me spending time creating my own, and variations of it for different moods that I maybe in. (You can only save one Avatar at a time, but it may be a good idea, Microsoft, if we could save some of these in the future, hint, hint, like 4 or 5?)

There are so many options to chose from when making your Avatars, that some people will spend time creating them, and seems like a great addition to the XBox 360, that not to give it any negativity, but now said the words, will be so run of the mill, maybe natural is the right words here, but my blog, so will blog how I want, and then again how many of you have got a chance to play with it, lol. But you will do on the 19th of November 2008, 'er that's this year, lol

Rare really got this Avatar creation down, and what you get from day one will be great but I don't think the options we have when it is release will stop there, it can and will be built and added upon I'm sure.

I was a bit lost with the experience for less than 2 minutes at first, as it is so new, but after that it was so natural to use. When you look for a arcade game, you scroll across, find it, then that has 'mini-blades' to scroll across that show the download size, cost etc., then another, for a fuller description, another with pictures or in game shots, and another with video and so on, so in comparison, you had one page the old way, but the new way, you could have up to 6 mini-blades to scroll-skip through, and presented in a great way, themed per game as it were.

If you ever did get lost, you could hit B and come back, and see a small version, of the older way, and try again, so no need to panic for people scared of the 'new', the 'old' is still around for familiarity, not all of it, but enough to make you feel secure, when you get lost, lol.

Some of you are going to say it's an amalgamation of the 'other consoles', fair enough, but if it's good why not use it, it is for a better experience, all round, in my eyes, and makes the 360 better for us as players and users of this great and still growing community, was going to say system, but it has gone beyond that now. Community is the 'in' word for some, but after just one day, I met and have become friends with so many people, from this community of XBox users in Singapore, and it is going to only get bigger, better and brighter, and with Avatars and the NXE, its going to be fun and more as a way of life, for us XBox Live'rs.

So that was the start of the day, then after a look round, (truth be told I was there before 10AM and did a scout about, where what game was where, took some pictures, a lot of pictures, so check out the Burnoutaholic's Flickr account and scroll through, you'll find something there for your interest, I'm sure, some good shots of Lara Croft in the flesh too).

I spied Midnight Club: LA, and gave that a go for ½ an hour or maybe more, and I must say I had a lot of fun, 'and some might say' to quote a British Band, that is is very similar to the older versions of the game, like MC2 or MC3, but with minimal loading, a larger open area, and corners you hand brake into, which is great by the way, it gives a better flow for the racing.

There are lots of short cuts, you can see the check points, the use of smoke canisters, colour coordinated, red for finish, green for start, yellow for check points through the race.

There are day and night cycles and a choice in between. Bikes, lots of cars most if not all licensed, though I did not earn any or buy any, was trying out the handling of the VW Sirocco, which you get from the start, or it was when I started to play it. I gave it a Black paint job, with dark windows, and upgraded it automatically, as I just wanted to race through some events, but most of the cars are customizable.

I won most of the races I did, but the AI is about, trying to make you 'crash', though I did not not always win due to not knowing the track or hitting a car or wall, so the other racers tear past. Now is there a 'rubber band effect'?, it's in there per say as I did have some bad crashes, and I caught up to win, but I think the AI crash more if you are behind, as I did have to go through some carnage to get the win.

Now I put 'crash' in quotations, you do crash, but not like Burnout where the car has crumple zones, has lots of bits flying off etc, you sort of go into slow-mo, spin out and have to fight for control and it does slow you down to an almost stop, and some stuff sort of gets wrecked, glass shattered, spoiler missing etc and you can flip the car depending on the crash/accident. But it looks OK, compared to Burnout, which is the king of crashing physics.

You have a damage bar in your Speedo HUD, where your, speed, nitro, nitro build up when you slip stream behind cars, and your pick-ups are held, this is on the right of the screen, and on the left is your mini map, which zooms in and out, depending on distance from check points, land marks, and key locations, like the garage. You can jump to events or drive them, and there is loading, well at the show, but it was so small it did not bother me, so if they improve on that, far enough, but I was happy with what loading there was in the game, end of. Also has an identifier for 'heat' from the cops, if you do bad things like hit to many cars, and pedestrians. And they showed up on the map, similar the GTA4. You could also have an overlaid map on screen as you race too, which for some maybe helpful.

The graffics were great, the city looked real, there was traffic, pedestrians that got out of the way, but if you hit one hard enough they just disappeared, lots of stuff to run over and destroy like bus stops and other side of the road 'junk'.

You can change a lot of options, traffic density, lighting, etc., but was not sure about weather, or if there was any, was too busy having fun with the game.

Anyway was a good fun to play through, I did 12 race/events, and played with the arcade mode, and since it must be out for you guys, I'll stop talking about it. Buy it or rent it, I think it is worth the play, plus 16 players on-line too.

I tried out Baja, and did not like it, nothing super wrong with, but just found it to serious a game with arcade like desert graffics, and was not sure it was fun flying in the air off the track every time I hit a bump, but since it's out maybe you have given it more of a chance, I only gave it 10 minutes, which I would have rather spent on MC:LA.

I had quick go on Far Cry 2 again as this was the completed game version, and one I will be buying, though could only try the single player, but it looked smooth, and was fun, though I do understand some people saying it can be a bit too much wondering around looking for events/hunting to kill stuff, but very good open world feel, I thought.

I have already played Fracture at the Tiger's, and this did not have lefty control so not my game sorry to say, but did play it at the show, to build up large hills just for fun, lol.

I tried Mirror's Edge again, this time with Lefty Controls, yeah, but I just seemed to not get my jumps and tricks right, but then again, it was scrunched up to the Rock Band stand, but will pick it up to play at home, and give it another go.

NBA 2K9 was it's usual best, I don't play sports games, though at the shows I do try them out and found this to be fun and competitive, and so more advanced than their other previous iterations.

Now I am not keen on Naruto games or the TV show, no, not saying its bad or good, just not my drink of choice, but did stand over people shoulders as they Played Naruto: The Broken Bond, and I must say, people were enjoying it, and for what it has a very full and fun game, from what I saw.

WWE Smackdown vs RAW 2009 or was it 2008, I'm sure it was 2009, for some reason, and the documentation I got in my press pack is wrong? I think is already out for everyone else outside of Asia, but looked really good visually, again not my type of game, but I know has a very large fan base, and people playing that too did not seem disappointed.

Sorry people I am going through a list, via my Press pack, so I don't lose myself in what I am writing. And of course some stuff is not in the pack too, and must remember them more, if you get me, lol.

So far I have not seen, Damnation, Darksiders: Wrath of War, Destroy All Humans! Path of the Furon, Golden Axe: Beast Rider, Rise of the Argonauts and Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts, which were on the list.

I played Quantum of Solace, the new James Bond Title and linked to the film of the same name, which has lefty controls, yeah, and really like this game, though at first it was really really fast, and to stay alive you do need to use the duck and cover buttons to shoot around corners and over boxes, as well as dash to get back into cover, I did not play this game enough, as it was squeezed in next to the GH: World Tour stand, so not much room to feel comfortable, but I did finish the level I was playing, as it was left off from someone else playing, at the start of a Market place shoot out, but after two deaths, started to get the hang of ducking and covering, lol. It was sort of a cross between, Rainbow Vegas, COD 4 and Golden Eye N64, which in my book is a winner.

I tried out the drums on Guitar Hero: World Tour, and it is different, I still can't get it right, on either music game, but there is a difference between to two games, Rock Band the other, for people who can't work it out, lol. And since Rock Band got so late here in Asia, not sure when Rock Band 2 will get here! I think Guitar Hero is going to be the winner for the Asian and the Pan Pacific Region.

I then tried out Red Faction Guerrilla, and this game looked great over peoples shoulders, when I tried, I looked for the Lefty Controls option and there was none, no! But from what I saw it is all about destruction, you have various weapons, though a big sledge hammer seemed to be favourite and magnetic remote mines to destroy and blow up buildings and pipe works, there were vehicles, to use, to destroy buildings. It seemed very much like Blast Corps., game play, made by Rare for the N64, but story is you are based on Mars and you have to bring down the Earth Defence Force, it is based 50 years after the last game and the fight is still on, but with the very destructible environment, multi player is going to be fun as there is no real place to hide, and this game will support 16 players, but as it is not finished and it is still being tested for latency, so the final figure maybe different. But looked good, some strong visual reminders of Arnie's film Total Recall, though the air is breathable, lol.

I did ask Paul (sorry Paul, I forgot to write down your last name) from THQ, the man behind Red Faction Guerrilla at the show (I did a search and some spell it with two 'r''s and some with just one 'r' and could not find the official site, as I write this, strange THQ or otherwise) and asked about why there was no lefty controls and he said he would look into it, as he never thought of it being a righty and said he would mail me back, which is nice. When I was first looking at the game, Lyndall Dakic, was my aid to camp, she was a great help and talked well for the game, though knew the story, not the making details.

So stopped for a late lunch, (I did have an early one at Carl Jr's, when there was a lull in the interviews and games) and met some people, who are fans of the XBox 360, and one of them is up for the running for an XBox Live Xpert, sort of the Singapore Community leader.

The present one is Sheylara, and she will still be the community leader, but the competition taken from XBox Live Buddies, had to send videos in to gain votes, that were held live at the X08 event.

Abdul was the guy, man, the dude, I met with his friends and partner and I voted for him, as he was a cool dude, enough to talk to a complete stranger like me, and his friends too. He was part of four finalists, where they all had to get on stage, talk about themselves for a minute to gain the crowds votes, and then have a game of Street Fighter IV to prove they are versatile with games, since none of them have played it before. They were restricted to what characters they could use, and then they had to beat the computer with-in the usual 3 rounds. They then had a vote from the crowd, with voting slips, that were put in the goody bags, see you could only vote if you registered on-line, and had a valid Gold gamer tag.

So the count came in and Merdeka won, by two votes, was a close thing, see the pictures, to see the contestants. I do need to get the names of the rest, but since I just met these great people don't know them well enough to remember name, though I do remember Syrius Virus ( think it was with a 'y', lol), as he made a big banner for Abdul, to try and gain him more votes, I held up the other end because I was so tall, and ended up restricting everyone's view of the stage, lol. Oh, I still got my voting slip minus Abdul's, so the female Sueanne Teo, the other two males, Eugene and Azhar, which is Merdeka, I think?

Right I'm done'ish sure I forgot someone, something, but will pick it up in the comments, I'm sure.

But thank you to all at the show from the hosts and the people and friends I have now met, not sure for how long, lol, but they do get me, and my Suffurisms, lol.

I did a quick walk of the floor for  this morning, the second day, if you must know and was going to enter the Burnout Paradise Races for later in the evening, but just stayed for an hour and got the bus back home, and no pictures forgot to charge my phone, d'oh so no crowd shots. But a lot of people there and Street Fighter 4 was playable, a lot smoother game, I think due to the controller of the XBox 360 and very pretty in HD. Tom Clancy's End War and Call of Duty: World at War was going on in the mature tent, but a lot of people playing so I skipped it. I am still thinking of going back for the evening show, and that Paradise race competition but I called the people, well one of them, lol, I met last night to see if they/he were/was going , it's more fun to have an audience, but since I am still very tired, and he was not really bothered, lol. Have decided to stay in and try and finish my write up. So maybe tomorrow.