1P Start

If one of your life dreams is to design a video game character, THQ & IGN have the contest and game for you. Click HERE for contest information. As far as contest go, this one isn’t too bad. The payout isn’t that great, but it would be nice bragging rights to win.

IGN.com is hosting a contest called the Drawn to Life character contest. This contest is exclusively for the Nintendo DS. Draw to Life is an action-adventure game by THQ that lets players draw their own hero.

Drawn to Life, which is slated for release this Fall is quite a highly-anticipated game. In Drawn to Life, players will help save a dying village from the shadow-like evil that has covered it in darkness. You can draw and customize heroes, weapons, tools, animals, plants, and almost anything in the game. Play as your creations and conquer a variety of different environments including snowy fields, tropical islands and dark forests.

There will be just one Grand Prize Winner for the Drawn to Life character contest. He or she will receive their creation as a playable character in the game, $500 Best Buy gift certificate, a character profile on the IGN Drawn to Life Web site, and THQ’s Drawn to Life video game for the Nintendo DS.

Four runners-up will be awarded the following:
# $50 Best Buy gift certificate
# Character profile on IGN
# THQ’s Drawn to Life video game for the Nintendo DS

[Via Tech Shout]

THQ, IGN, Drawn to Life, Character, Design, Contest

It seems the majority of the news this weekend is Starcraft 2 and Halo 3. And as much as I hate to overwhelm the readers with either of those, this Halo 3 news is one that may make things interesting.

It seems the 7th Columnist has dissected the source code of the Halo 3 beta and were going through every bit of information in the code until they discovered this bit of text,

“The game cannot start because all players are set to observer. Too many players for splitscreen. Only 2 players may play splitscreen coop on the same Xbox 360 console. The party size is too large to start the game. Up to 4 players may play coop on Xbox Live or System Link. Loading information from Xbox Live…”

The thing we have to keep in mind though before we get our pants wet with this news is that this is information taken from the Halo 3 BETA, meaning the information in the code may no even make it into the final code. And who knows, maybe Bungie implanted that bit of text just in case someone stumbled onto it to further the hype. It just seems weird that something like that would be left in the Halo 3 beta code.

[Via 7th Columnist]

Good morning faithful 1P Starters! It seems while all of you were sleeping in your cozy little beds, Blizzard let out the mega-ton bomb in Korea. Wait, not literally. Blizzard isn’t at war with Korea or anything. OK, this paragraph kinda went downhill really fast.

*ahem* Good morning faithful 1P Starters! Boy do we have good news for you. Blizzard announced that they are indeed working on Starcraft 2! So enjoy the teaser trailer above and come back after the break for actual in-game footage of Starcraft 2!

[Update: Put the official trailer up rather than the off-screen shot we had earlier. “Hell, it’s about time.”]

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The Bioshock Limited Edition really is an amazing thing. 2KGames wasn’t even planning on releasing a Limited Edition version of Bioshock until gamers across the internet actually united and made their voices heard through an online petition. Then 2KGames creates a contest where fans can submit possible cover art for the Limited Edition. And today, 2KGames has announced the winning submission for the contest.

The winning cover art submission may look simple at first glance. It’s really just the Bioshock logo with some rivets around it, but if you look closer at the detail of the cover art, you’ll see there is so much more there. First off, there are dry water marks randomly placed on emblem suggesting of course that it had either been underwater or splashed with water sometime in the past. Also, the light rusting in certain spots indicate that the emblem is made of metal and, as I said before, had just been beat with water over and over again in order for it to begin rusting.

Basically, what I get from all this, and what Bioshock fans have known for quite sometime, is water is a HUGE factor in the game. So either you can look at this cover art and see just the words “Bioshock” in a cool metal look, or you can accept my way of deep thinking and truly appreciate how detailed this cover art is.

Microsoft, Xbox 360, PC, Bioshock, limited edition, cover art, contest

I never thought I’d see the day. How specific of a group does the person who created this Xbox 360 mod belong to? I mean, I really don’t run into many Xbox 360 owners who happen to be modders and also have an insatiable love for Jesus Christ. And yet… here we are with this video of this mod.

Xbox 360, Microsoft, Jesus, Christ, mod

I found this pretty interesting video highlighting the differences between Halo 2 and Halo 3.

It’s pretty obvious that the game has made significant changes over it’s predecessor, and I can’t wait to see what it will look like in it’s final form. Of course, most of you on the Halo 3 beta have seen this advancement for yourselves, but I never bought a copy of Crackdown, so I just get to watch videos. Jerks.

Bungie, Halo 3

Most of you read my article about Halo 3 modders and probably read some of the retarded comments people left. I have now received information from Canada360 stating that people with modded Xbox 360s are being tracked and receiving permanent bans. So if you are playing and receive “error code 8015-190D”, say goodbye to Xbox Live permanently unless you want to purchase a new console and get a new XBL account.

So go ahead and keep playing your mod games with Halo 3, because Bungie and Microsoft are no longer putting up with it. So right or wrong, say “bye bye” cheaters. It looks like you will be finishing the fight offline in September.

It should be no surprise to you that Heavenly Sword is a game that I and many gamers are anticipating highly. It’s got the feel of God Of War with much prettier graphics and a badass girl as the main character.

A new trailer for Heavenly Sword was released today and I am in awe by how the game looks and by the trailer itself. How can you not get antsy for this game to finally be released after watching it?

Heavenly Sword, Sony, Playstation 3, PS3, trailer

It seems hosting betas on consoles is the hot thing now in gaming. First Halo 3, then yesterday we reported Killzone 2 will have an open beta, and now, Warhawk is going to have an open beta.

And the good thing about this beta is it seems it’s open to pretty much anyone. All you have to do is simply register. And PS3 owners don’t need to purchase a mediocre GTA-clone in order to gain access into the beta. Maybe Microsoft should take some notes from Sony on how to properly have a beta without dipping into our pockets for entry.

Sorry…as you can tell I’m still a little bitter. Either way, to sign up for the Warhawk beta, simply visit the link below.

[Link: Warhawk Beta Signup Page]

Say what you will about MGS or FFXIII, I think Little Big Planet will be the first “must-have” game on the PS3. The concept is really ingenious, and I can’t wait to try it out for myself. Here’s some new footage of character customization:

Little Big Planet seems so great in ways that are hard to describe. It’s basically classic Mario platforming, mixed with 4 player co-op, mixed with like 8 pounds of cuteness. Yes, I said “cuteness”. The fact that I’m a male in my twenties says something positive about the reach this game will have. From younger children, to your mom, it seems like a game everyone can sit down and enjoy.

I’m the first one to crap on the PS3 for it’s severe lack of any worthwhile games, but maybe Little Big Planet is the spark needed to turn it all around. Here’s hoping.

PS3, Little Big Planet

• Name: Vanessa
• Age:20

The seventh submission for 1P Start’s Gamer Girl contest is ‘Diabla’. 1P Start sat down with her to ask a few questions. Check out the full interview below.

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Well, we all knew something like today would happen. How often does anything Microsoft plans go according to plan? Especially when it’s game related? So to ease all of your Halo 3 beta pains, a new Red vs. Blue video has been posted on the marketplace.

After watching it, I can’t help but laugh and feel better about today’s complete cluster F. We will get our Halo 3 beta soon people.. just sit back and enjoy this video until we all are plagued with a 20 hour download due to the Xbox Live infrastructure melting when we finally all are able to download the beta.

Halo, Red Vs. Blue, marketplace, Microsoft, Xbox 360

It seems that SEGA is following the likes of Capcom, Square-Enix, and Activision in the long line of companies who are licensing the Unreal Engine 3 for their upcoming games.

“SEGA is pleased to arm our developers with the sophisticated tools contained in Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 3,” said Simon Jeffery, President and COO, SEGA of America, Inc. “Its versatility and power will help SEGA create incredible gaming experiences.”

“Epic is extremely excited to be working with SEGA,” said Mark Rein, Vice President, Epic Games, Inc. “SEGA has a long history of innovation and leadership in our industry and we’re honored that they’ve chosen to use Unreal Engine 3.”

SEGA hasn’t announced what games exactly will use the Unreal Engine 3 at this moment, but I personally hope Condemned 2 is one of the titles to get the Unreal Engine 3 treatment.

SEGA, Unreal Engine 3, Epic Games

With all the hulla-baloo going on with the Halo 3 beta, there is actually more happening on Xbox Live today. Aegis Wing, Microsoft’s FREE Xbox Live Arcade title was released earlier this morning.

My initial impressions are pretty good, as it has plenty of old-school arcade style. There are few Live Arcade titles that feature 4-player modes, and this fits in the gap pretty nicely. It’s absolutely free for both Gold and Silver users, so check it out. Like you have anything better to do before the Halo 3 beta.

Xbox Live Arcade, Aegis Wing

OMEG BUNGIE SUX LOLZZ

Hours after it’s intended release, the Halo 3 Beta has not yet arrived. Bungie has stated that the appropriate Xbox Live authorities have been notified, and are working on the problem.

It’s understandable, I mean it’s not like they had a specific date set out months in advance to help them prepare. Oh, wait. They did.

To cool your beta yearning, Bungie has posted their “Welcome to the Beta”, which contains so much information I’m not even going to try to summarize it. Everything from map strategies to the function of saved films, check it all out HERE.

Bungie, Halo 3, Xbox 360