Filed under: Fan stuff

Preview premium NXE themes before you buy

by Dustin Burg { 1 year ago }

Like a Phoenix rising from the ashes of the long defunct Dashboard Themes website, comes a new site that has the simple goal of giving XBLM consumers a chance to preview premium dashboard themes. NXE Themes has screenshots of the entire catalog of premium dash skins, including all free and paid content. It's quite the nice community service NXE Themes is offering, seeing that a premium download can cost upwards of 250 Microsoft points.

The only negative we can find with the site is the amount of bandwidth that is required. Dial-up users stay far, far away.

[Thanks, NBA Kirkland]

Video: Play body part poker with Afro Samurai

by Xav de Matos { 1 year ago }

If you're anything like us, your enjoyment of anything Afro Samurai instantly begins with the mention of Samuel L. Jackson. Let's face it people, SLJ is all kinds of awesome and his voice work in Afro Samurai is top notch. Watch this slow motion in game footage which stars the vocal work of Jackson as Afro screaming to hit a solid hand, as it were, in body part poker. Afro Samurai lands on the Xbox 360 this week with music from The RZA and Ron Perlman reprising his role as Justice. Jump in for another video of in game footage.

Continued →

Sing-A-Long: Gold Bars, they'll make you rich

by Xav de Matos { 1 year ago }

Bryan Simon. You know him and love his Halo 3 themed songs. His latest track "Gold Bars Make You Rich" attempts to start a revolution within the Halo 3 pre-game lobby. Simon asks anytime you spot someone with gold bars, all the way from Master Sergeant to Brigadier General, you should yell out, "Gold bars make you rich!" We'll bite and make sure we do it. Actually, we'll take it a step further and just blast this song in our headset every time we play Halo 3 online. That's what the kids do nowadays, isn't it?

[Thanks, Vanna P.]

Street Fighter: Ken statue is limited to 300 units

by Xav de Matos { 1 year ago }

Make space on your gaming shrine because this limited edition Ken statue is big; 19.5" inches on its base, big. Getting this Ken statue to hover over your gaming library comes at quite a price, though. Sporting a $250 price-tag, this statue is limited to a run of 300 figures. In preparation of Street Fighter IV's release, this figure will be made available in the USA through SideshowCollectibles.com beginning January 29th and in specialty retail stores. Figures begin shipping in June. Collectors may want to hold out because Sideshow Collectibles will release its own variant of the figure limited to 150 units. No price has been revealed but we expect it to be similar if not even more. Start saving those pennies, SF fans.

Gallery: Street Fighter: Limited Edition Ken Statue

Heads up: Xbox 360 Fancast 101 lands tomorrow

by Richard Mitchell { 1 year ago }

Sorry to break it to you, fanboys, but the Xbox 360 Fancast is going to be a little late this week. You may have heard that the Joystiq network is undergoing some pretty significant changes this week, so we decided to delay the Fancast so we could talk about those changes in more detail. Keep an eye out for the Fancast post tomorrow, as the changes might affect the podcast subscriptions of some listeners. We're going to do our best to make sure that the current RSS feed will transfer automatically for as many listeners as possible, but you may need to subscribe to a new feed. We'll be sure to give the info you need in the Fancast post tomorrow.

And just because we love you so much, you can check out our new Fancast logo above, created by one Terrence Stasse. Enjoy.

Prepare for CARnage: Burnout Paradise Ultimate Box trailer

by Xav de Matos { 1 year ago }

If you are one of the unfortunate many who have yet to check out Burnout Paradise, Criterion Games hopes to capture your attention when they re-package the game with all of its current downloadable content in one neat package. Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box is set to hit stores next month across the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC and includes hundreds of hours of on and offline content. Still on the fence about picking up our user voted Best Driving Game of 2008? Check out this new trailer that showcases some of the beautiful insanity you'll witness if you decide to hop into the drivers seat.

Ed Note: We should clarify that Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box will only be available in Europe. Burnout Paradise can be purchased for dirt cheap on the Xbox 360 in North America and all of the extra content is available for free now over Xbox Live.

Two teams enter, one team leaves: Superbowl XLIII simulated

by Xav de Matos { 1 year ago }

Hey, sports fans. We don't need us to remind you that this Sunday is the Superbowl. You're excited enough to have it circled on your Vince Lombardi calendar. On February 1st, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona Cardinals will both enter the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, as contenders but only one will exit as champion. Kind of like, Beyond Thunderdome. With blood boiling from anticipation, EA Sports has compiled footage from a simulation they ran using Madden NFL 09 to guesstimate the Superbowl XLIII champion. Who will come out victorious? Who will be crowned next? Because in the end, there can be only one. Unfortunately, the video doesn't show us which team that is.

Watch 'chick-flick,' see new Prince of Persia movie poster

by Xav de Matos { 1 year ago }

That wacky Jerry Bruckheimer is at it again! MTV Movies Blog is reporting that Bruckheimer will debut a new Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time movie poster within his upcoming film, Confessions of a Shopaholic. In a scene half-way through Shopaholic, the new Prince of Persia poster - not the supposedly leaked version you see here - will be on display in the background in Times Square.

According to the report, the new poster will feature star Jake Gyllenhaal in full-costume as Prince Dastan (remember, they named him for the film, for some reason). We're happy that we're getting a look at the new poster and all ... but Jerry, you really need to fire your market research team. Something tells me that this fan service is being wasted on the wrong demographic.

'13 Days of Gears' sweepstakes shells out $25K in prizes

by Xav de Matos { 1 year ago }

We thought Epic and Microsoft would use a patch to entice players to play Gears of War 2, turns out the plan is to use $25,000 in prizes! For 13 days in February, Microsoft is giving away $25,000 in prizes to random Gears of War 2 players, in celebration of the upcoming movie, Friday the 13th. Prizes include HDTVs, signed Gears of War 2 posters from the development team and Locust busts.

To enter, you need to register here by January 31, then play one match in the daily designated gametype, from February 1 to February 13. The pairing of Gears of War 2 and Friday the 13th may seem random but we hope this means someone will finally turn all that Marcus Fenix vs. Jason fan fiction into a flick, one day. Chainsaw vs. Blade. Space Du-rag vs. Hockey Mask. Believe.

Prizes and gameplay dates after the jump. Contest is open to US residents only.

Continued →

Pwn Boon: Midway invites gamers to take on MK vs. DC devs over Live

by Xav de Matos { 1 year ago }

Looking for a little healthy competition? Midway devs are inviting gamers to throw down for a few friendly rounds of Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe between 8PM - 11PM (EST) today, January 23. Developers of MK vs. DC will be on hand, including series co-creator Ed Boon, for the exclusive event, taking place over Xbox Live. To join, players should look for select Xbox Live Gamertags making the rounds in ranked matches later today. Interested to test your might? Jump in for a full list of developers taking part in the event as well as all of the Midway Gamertags to look out for.

Continued →

Fan made Sonic Xbox paintjob looks angry, bathroom ready

by Xav de Matos { 1 year ago }

Not too long ago we featured a Domo Kun themed Xbox 360, painted to showoff the mascot of Japan's NHK television station. Today, deviantART user ricepuppet has sent us an image of his latest work.

Featuring the blue blur himself from the Dreamcast era, this Xbox 360 stars Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog as he attempts to intimidate gamers with his angry (possibly, constipated) gaze. Do not attempt to run, Sonic can smell fear.

Obama aide: White House tech is 'like going from an Xbox to an Atari.'

by Richard Mitchell { 1 year ago }

After running what can only be considered a very technology dependent campaign, it looks like the Obama White House is running into some problems. According to the Washington Post (via MSNBC), the technology at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is all hopelessly out of date or heavily restricted for security reasons. Staff members were greeted by six-year-old Microsoft programs and weren't allowed to use Facebook or outside email addresses. According to one aide, transitioning from the campaign into the White House has been "kind of like going from an Xbox to an Atari."

We have a humble suggestion and solution to this problem: Get Obama an Xbox and an Xbox Live account. He could communicate with important officials from around the world and reduce some of that presidential stress. After all, it's not like the president has time to deal with friend codes.

[Thanks, Mark T. Original image: jurvetson]

Entertainment Earth shows off exclusive pale-yellow EVA figure

by Xav de Matos { 1 year ago }

Attention collectors: Entertainment Earth has netted the exclusive rights to release this special edition Halo 3 pale-yellow EVA (Extra Vehicular Activity) figure. The $15 figure comes complete with needler and flare and ships sometime in April. For those looking to add this to their collection, EE recommends you pre-order soon because the product will be limited. But they always say things are extremely limited... don't they?

[via THEBBPS]

How to make your ugly Halo 3 screenshots prettier

by Dustin Burg { 1 year ago }

Suffer from a persistent case of "Ugly Halo 3 Screenshot Taking Syndrome?" Find that your friends routinely refer to your Halo 3 screenshots as dull, lifeless, drag and vile pieces of work? We say, why suffer the constant humiliation that results from your ugly Halo screenshots when there's a cure. Bungie.net has a tutorial remedy and for a nominal fee that's a quick click towards the jump, you'll be creating Halo 3 screenshot masterpieces in no time at all. Guaranteed!*

*This guarantee only applies to those who are literate, can follow instructions and have enough artistic skill to glue macaroni to cardboard.

Aperture approved! Check out this amazing fan-made Portal gun

by Xav de Matos { 1 year ago }

Flickr user emilyskeith has uploaded a set of images that show off an amazing fan-made Portal Gun (or Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device) that her boyfriend made to go along with an Aperture Science test subject cosplay outfit she is developing. Featuring blue and orange LEDs, the classic three prong design and even a splash of blood to showoff a nasty turret bullet graze, this is one of the coolest things we've ever seen. And now we feel like playing Portal again! Thanks, Emily ... we're trying to work here!