Microsoft Announce Halo Reach Is Coming Out Worldwide 14th September And 15th September In Japan

Microsoft have announced that Halo Reach is coming out worldwide on 14th September, and 15th September in Japan. Microsoft have revealed that the Beta was played by over 2.7 Million people, resulting in over 13 Million online games, 16 Million hours played, all in just 2 weeks.

Press Release

The most anticipated game of the year is making its worldwide debut this September. “Halo: Reach,” the blockbuster prequel to the best-selling video game franchise and hailed as the No. 1 game series of all time,1 will leave its mark on the entertainment landscape when it launches worldwide, starting Sept. 14, 2010, and in Japan on Sept. 15.

Developed exclusively for Xbox 360 by acclaimed studio Bungie, “Halo: Reach” drops players back into the iconic universe they love so they can experience the birth of the “Halo” legend. During the past 10 years, the “Halo” franchise has inspired multiple New York Times best-selling novels, comic books, action figures, apparel and more, and it has sold more than 34 million games worldwide to date.

“‘Halo: Reach’ is the culmination of a decade of ‘Halo,’ a franchise that has become a global entertainment and pop-culture touchstone,” said Phil Spencer, corporate vice president of Microsoft Game Studios at Microsoft Corp. “Just as ‘Halo: Combat Evolved’ catalyzed the success of the original Xbox to define a decade of entertainment, ‘Halo: Reach’ will push the boundaries for what’s possible in video games and help make 2010 the biggest year in Xbox history.”

“There’s no doubt in my mind that ‘Halo: Reach’ will be one of the biggest games and hottest entertainment products of the year,” said Bob McKenzie, senior vice president of merchandising at GameStop. “Pre-orders for ‘Halo: Reach’ have been off the charts, with fans snapping up the limited and legendary editions since they were introduced just a month ago. Overall, it’s a real testament to the passion of the ‘Halo’ fan base.”

Consumers Help Make History With Record-Breaking “Halo: Reach” Beta

As a testament to the anticipation for its release, more than 2.7 million “Halo” fans helped make entertainment history this month by participating in the “Halo: Reach” multiplayer beta on Xbox LIVE, making it the largest console video game beta test on record and more than triple the size of the “Halo 3” beta. Players completed more than 13 million online games and logged over 16 million hours of online gameplay, amounting to over 1,826 years of total play time in just over a two-week period. The data and user feedback gathered from the beta will help Bungie and Microsoft further refine the game and deliver a blockbuster experience that fans have come to expect from the “Halo” franchise.

“Halo: Reach” follows the story of Noble Team, a squad of heroic Spartan soldiers as they make their final stand on planet Reach, humanity’s last line of defense between the terrifying Covenant and Earth. Representing the best-in-class multiplayer elements that have become the hallmark of the “Halo” series, “Halo: Reach” offers the most action-packed multiplayer experience yet on Xbox LIVE. The “Halo: Reach” experience is completed with an intense campaign, an unparalleled suite of features and stunning new visuals powered by groundbreaking new technology.

“Halo: Reach” represents an enormous evolution for the genre-defining “Halo” games, and is testament to Bungie’s 10 years of experience crafting amazing experiences. During the past decade, “Halo” fans have demonstrated their commitment to the franchise by logging more than 2 billion hours of gameplay on Xbox LIVE, sharing millions of pieces of user-generated content, creating original “Halo” machinima series and even holding “Halo” themed weddings.

“Halo: Reach” is available for preorder in standard, limited and legendary editions at participating retailers worldwide. The standard edition has an estimated retail price of $59.99 (U.S.), and the limited and legendary editions of the game will retail for $79.99 and $149.99 (U.S.), respectively. The limited and legendary editions of “Halo: Reach” are packed with extras that fans won’t want to miss. The centerpiece of the legendary edition is a 10-inch-tall, hand-painted and individually molded Noble Team statue crafted by the expert artisans at McFarlane Toys. As a special bonus, fans can receive a token to unlock an exclusive in-game Spartan Recon Helmet, by picking up a copy of the game on launch day at North American retail stores, and outside of North America by making a pre-order reservation at participating retailers.

Audio Re-Cap of The Weekends News (oldest to newest)

Here is today's Audio Re-Cap of The Weekends news.
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Re-Cap of The Weekends News (oldest to newest)

• QTE Blog: Re-Cap of Yesterdays News (oldest to newest) http://ht.ly/17sCja

• QTE Blog: Audio Re-Cap of Yesterdays News (oldest to newest) http://ht.ly/17sDlf

• PSP: Sony has been offering game code to developers potentially offering "a 60-day shelf life" before a game gets hacked http://ht.ly/1OwjQ

• QTE Blog: THQ Have Released A Video Walk Through For All Star Karate On The Nintendo Wii http://ht.ly/17sEGs

• PS3: Killzone 3 leaked, Arctic levels, Jetpacks, 3D, Bigger scale, new weapons, shows Helghast culture/humanity + more http://ht.ly/1OwkP

• PS3: Leaked Scans of Killzone 3. it looks very far along and even more detailed than Killzone 2 http://ht.ly/1Owla

• QTE Blog: EA Have Released New Screenshots And A Trailer Showing The new Golfers, Courses, And Features In Tiger Wo... http://ht.ly/17sG6n

• PS3: Killzone 3 graphics engine co-worked on with Naughty Dog, Uncharted Devs, and Guerilla Games. http://ht.ly/1OwlW

• PS3: BT Games have listed the Playstation Move as coming out in July http://ht.ly/1OJIt

• QTE Blog: EA Have Released A New Madden NFL 11 Developer Interview And New Screenshots http://ht.ly/17taOV

• iPad: UK And Australia shipments of the iPad, both 3G and Wifi, have reportedly started http://ht.ly/1OJIY

• Its reported that Red Dead Redemption sold 300K units in just 2 days in the UK, making it the biggest launch of 2010 http://ht.ly/1OJKv

• QTE Blog: EA Announce The Canadian Hockey League Will Now Be Included In NHL 11 And Future NHL Games http://ht.ly/17tcjS

• PS3: its reported that the PS3 version of Section 8 asks users to connect to Xbox Live Marketplace http://ht.ly/1OJLO

• PS3: Sony has trademarked "Move Into the Action" in the USA, speculation is its for advertising or a Slogan http://ht.ly/1OJMt

• QTE Blog: Activision Announce Blur Has Facebook Intergration http://ht.ly/17tdLw

• Pandora: The First batch of Pandora's has come of the assembly line and are now shipping. http://ht.ly/1OJNw

• QTE Blog: Sony Online Entertainment Announce New Rides, Accessories, And Vacant Lots In Free Realms http://ht.ly/17teYe

• QTE Blog: Sony Announce Pinball Heroes Bundle 2 Is Coming To PSP's On 25th May http://ht.ly/17thdx

• QTE Blog: What Have You Played This Week? http://ht.ly/17tlcv

• QTE Blog: QTE Tweets Of The Week http://ht.ly/17tnyK

QTE Tweets Of The Week

Here are this weeks most clicked tweets from the QTE Gamers News In Brief. The breaking news over this weekend about Killzone 3 got alot of traffic, as well as news regarding Red Dead Redemption PS3 stock in the UK. the only real shock was possibly this weeks Zero punctuation, its normally popular but this week it got alot of attention.


10 QTE Blog: Codemasters Have Released New Screenshots And A Trailer For International Cricket 2010 http://ht.ly/17rgYD

9 PS3: Killzone 3 graphics engine co-worked on with Naughty Dog, Uncharted Devs, and Guerilla Games. http://ht.ly/1OwlW

8 Assassin's Creed 2 Complete Edition has appeared on several UK online retailers for around £27.99 http://ht.ly/1NiQh

7 iPad: UK And Australia shipments of the iPad, both 3G and Wifi, have reportedly started http://ht.ly/1OJIY

6 PS3: Killzone 3 leaked, Arctic levels, Jetpacks, 3D, Bigger scale, new weapons, shows Helghast culture/humanity + more http://ht.ly/1OwkP

5 Batman: Arkham Asylum action figures coming Jan 2011, have Batman, Joker with Scarface, Scarecrow and Harley Quinn http://ht.ly/1N2sy

4 iPhone: PEGI have released a app for free that tells users the ratings of games http://ht.ly/1NdC0

3 PS3: PS3 stock of Red Dead Redemption in UK has been hit by massive shortages, many sold out by end of today http://ht.ly/1O5L1

2 PS3: Leaked Scans of Killzone 3. it looks very far along and even more detailed than Killzone 2 http://ht.ly/1Owla

1 QTE Blog: New Zero Punctuation - Dead to Rights: Retribution http://ht.ly/17qFML

What Have You Played This Week?

Looking at the list it shows that I haven't played much, but it feels like I played a lot.

Football Manager 10 – PC – I stopped playing as San Marino. It was difficult, but I noticed that San Marino was no longer listed as being based in San Marino and listed as being an Italian club. One of the reasons why I started the club was to become great, make players get San Marino nationality, and make the national team good. So as this didn't work, nor changing it in the editor, I started a new game as FC Bayern.

Enchanted Arms – PS3 – This wasn't the first game in my Swapgame list...actually it was pretty far down so I was surprised when it arrived. I'm only 5 hours in so I can't say much about the story, but so far, the graphics are average and show their age but the cutscenes do look good. The story so far has been fairly typical with a few high points. Combat is simple and the tutorial has explained it clearer, its like Final Fantasy Tactics. What is strange is I can't access the XMB from in the game, but at least i'm able to save anywhere I need to.

IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey – PS3 – I finished the campaign and tried to complete the missions, but I only got around half way through them before I had enough. I also tried other levels of difficulty, but found I preferred the arcade style gameplay and not the more realistic difficulties. Overall the game was fun, the graphics are good and the arcade gameplay is enjoyable. But there are perhaps too many missions and near the end things got boring and repetitive.

ModNation Racers – Demo – PSP – For Me, Motorstorm Arctic Edge is the best racing game on the PSP so I was really interested in seeing how ModNation Racers compared. Whilst graphically its fine, for me the handling wasn't quite right in the demo. I had a couple of tracks to try out, and whilst they were different, I didn't feel like the handling was right on either of them. The Kart racing style was fun with the weapons and I can imagine the mutliplayer would be great. The Demo also had some track editor stuff, enough to make a basic track, but it didn't allow you to save it or share it. Also I found that the majority of the editor icons were to small to see, without trying each one, what they were. I spent time getting used to it and made some tracks and it does work fairly well.

what have you been playing this week? feel free to add your weeks gaming selection in the comments, or you can comment on the game i played this week.

Sony Announce Pinball Heroes Bundle 2 Is Coming To PSP's On 25th May

Sony have announced the second Bundle for Pinball Heroes is set to come out in the USA on 25th May for $9.99. This new bundle features 4 new themed tables including Wipeout HD Fury, Motorstorm, Fat Princess, And ModNation Racers. at present, you will only be able to buy the tables in the bundle and not separately, and You do not need to own any of the tables in Bundle 1 to play Bundle 2.

Screenshots


From USA Playstation Blog

Sony Online Entertainment Announce New Rides, Accessories, And Vacant Lots In Free Realms

Sony Online Entertainment have announced that new Rides, Accessories, And Vacant Lots are now available in Free Realms. The Rides, which include a Hoverboard that runs at 150% of normal walking speed, is available from the marketplace for 550 Station Cash. New Vacant Lots in Snowhill and Briarwood have been opened for Tree Houses, Obstacle Courses, Mazes, and more. two new clothing items for Wizards, and two new weapons for Warriors have been released as well as Mare and Stallion Rides.

Sony Online Entertainment reveal that Clothing and Weapons for Archers, Tiger Rides, and Treeble Pets are set to come early this summer.

Screenshots


Press Release

HOVERBOARDS! Why walk when you can ride a Hoverboard? That’s right, the Ride every kid has wanted since 1989, debuts today in the family-friendly virtual world of Free Realms™! Players will look cool cruising around Free Realms at 150 percent of their character’s normal walking speed and showing off with board trick animations. The Precursor Tech Hoverboard is currently available in a brown and blue version and a brown and orange version, each for 550 Station Cash in the Marketplace.

ALSO ARRIVING: Also available in Free Realms today are Fall Away Blocks, Fluffy and Storm Cloud Blocks and small, medium and large Bounce Pads. These new items are perfect accessories for player imagination and building on the recently introduced Vacant Lots in Snowhill and Briarwood. From tree houses and obstacle courses to mazes in the sky, Vacant Lots are empty plots of land ripe for constructing anything players can dream up.

Today’s update also includes the addition of two new clothing items and two new weapons each for the Wizard and Warrior jobs, and Mare and Stallion Rides.

WHEN: Hoverboards, Fall Away Blocks, Fluffy and Storm Cloud Blocks, new weapons and clothes for the Wizard job, new weapons and clothes for the Warrior job, and the different sized Bounce Pads are now available in the Free Realms marketplace. Clothing and weapons for the Archer job, Tiger Rides and Treeble pets are scheduled to be released early this summer.

ABOUT: Sony Online Entertainment
Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE) is a recognized worldwide leader in massively multiplayer online games, with hundreds of thousands of subscribers around the globe. SOE creates, develops and provides compelling entertainment for the personal computer, online, game console and wireless markets. Known for its blockbuster franchises and hit titles including EverQuest®, EverQuest® II, Champions of Norrath®, Untold Legends™, PlanetSide®, and Star Wars Galaxies, as well as the recent kids’ phenomenon Free Realms™, SOE continues to redefine the business of online gaming and the creation of active player communities while introducing new genres on various entertainment platforms. Headquartered in San Diego, CA, with additional development studios in Austin, TX, Seattle, WA, Denver, CO, and Tucson, AZ, SOE has an array of cutting-edge games in development across various platforms and genres for audiences of all ages.

SOE, the SOE logo, EverQuest, PlanetSide, and Legends of Norrath are registered trademarks and Untold Legends are trademarks of Sony Online Entertainment LLC in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks and trade names are properties of their respective owners. All rights reserved.