Titanfail 360: Microsoft's Silence Causes Concern

The latest must-have game is a somewhat questionable purchase on a last-gen system.

With Respawn's Titanfall on Xbox One already out and kicking, it's within two weeks now and we've still  not seen any footage of Titanfall on the Xbox 360. In an industry that loves to tease or build up hype by showing off footage or even screens months-if not years- in advance from the game releasing, is this a sign of caution or a sign of greedy marketing? Microsoft assures us that the Xbox 360 version of the game will be good. When does it become a common courtesy to consumers and not a legal action in hindsight? Do publishers, developers and hardware manufacturers have the right to not show any footage of a game?

Other than having the information that Bluepoint will be handling the Xbox 360 version of Titanfall, very little information is known. This is oddly suspicious as in either that version pales in comparison, there's not a whole lot of difference between the Xbox One and Xbox 360 versions or rather they would like to show you the "next-gen" version of the game to sell Xbox One consoles as a marketing strategy. I'm thinking the latter since Microsoft pulled this marketing move previously with Halo: Spartan Assault and to tell you the truth as a Halo fan, that game isn't anything special. That game didn't come out onto Xbox 360 until a week after the Xbox One version launched. Considering that the Xbox 360 player base is vastly larger than the Xbox One player base, I think people have the right to know what's going on with the Xbox 360 version of Titanfall.

Strangely enough, this also applies to the Xbox 360.

Now I have a lot of faith with developer Bluepoint, as their previous ports were good - porting over HD collections of such classics as the Metal Gear, God of War and Ico & The Shadow of Colossus Collection - but no screens, no video, not even a press release of the Xbox 360 version has me wondering can they do this? Can companies hold off information of a product, a product that many people have probably already paid or set aside pre-orders for, and still follow acceptable business acts? What happens if the game launches and it's in serious disarray? Will we have another Batlefield 4 case on our hands? Time will tell, and that time is closing ever but so very slowly. I can't wait til the 25th and I can get my hands on my Xbox 360 copy of Titanfall - and hopefully this blackout of Titanfall on Xbox 360 is just a marketing move by Microsoft and not hiding an unplayable game.

Weekend Gaming, ready set GO!

It's Friday and all that means is start the weekend, what game or games are you playing this weekend?! For me I'm going to continue to blaze through the tricky streets and cliff adjacent tracks in Codemaster's GRiD 2. There's so many things that can go wrong while racing; an opponent runs into you, you oversteer right into a cliff face, you mess up that last corner before the finish line, mess up a corner on a perfect lap, etc etc. Good thing there's flashback, a feature that Codemaster's introduced into the racing genre with the first GRiD five years ago. Yeah, it's kind of a staple in the racing genre now as other competing games allow you to undo that horrific crash which has probably lessened many frustrated gamers out there - I know it's helped me out. I might pick up and play some Halo 4 matches as it seems 343 Studios has tweaked the weapons to feel a bit more competitive. It's nice that that community is still staying strong. Yes community, flashbacks, weekend, I'm getting at E3 and you'll soon see why.

Well or you could drive too close to a cliff.

It's the weekend yet all I can think about is next week. It's funny, it seems the days before E3 always go slower while E3 rushes by in one quicker than normal week. On Monday we're going to see keynote events from Microsoft which will show off their Xbox One intended games, Sony which will show the games - oh man I can't wait to see some Destiny gameplay - and more importantly their system, and the next day Nintendo will have their Nintendo Direct - the first year Nintendo will not actually have a press event - which people will be able to download on Nintendo products. You wonder if after all three go ahead and show their stuff - don't forget EA & Ubisoft will show as well - if anyone company would be willing to use a flashback to undo what they just did. I'm predicting this will be Microsoft as they've just revealed some astounding limitations that their Xbox One will have in regards to its consumer (the paying one too).

Of course the second to best thing about E3 is the gaming community that follows after it. The discussions while it's taking place, the viral videos many will link, and of course the aftermath where everyone talks about who won E3. We have a competitive nature towards everything, it's not just racing. Someone has to win it, someone has to be the one to cross the finish line before everyone else. It's always fun to see who's going to bring the goods at these things. I'm hoping we'll see some real innovation here, this year it's all about the consoles entering the market. Not only will there be the Xbox One, Sony PS4 but also the Ouya, possibility of a Steambox reveal and we just learned Mad Catz wants in on the console market with the project M.O.J.O.. That's a bit severe in my mind, this happened last time when the Sega Saturn tried to join the mix with the N64 and PS1 and it didn't go well for an overcrowded market.