MasterofDVD

Finally a good disc.

Playable Demos:
Voodoo Vince
Dino Crisis 3
ESPN NHL Hockey
metal Arms
MM 3
Outlaw Volleyball

The Voodoo Vince demo is great. I kind of thought this game might be good but I wish the demo was longer. Very cool game. Worth 50.00 cool? We'll see about that.

I'm going to try a few of the other demos after work.

The other cool part is the downloadable content. And I don't mean the same stuff as you can get off LIVE. They included a map for TimeSplitters 2 and some other cool things.

I'd write the rest of the stuff if I didn't have to go to work now. And now I wish I didn't have to go.

Jeremy517

In classic OXM fashion, 8 out of the 11 games they reviewed got 8.5 or higher

Groucho

What's the scoop on Vice City that they mentioned last month?

Groucho

Okay, after the HUGE deal they made about it last month, here's all there is...a small blurb in the "Rumor Mole" section:

"I've heard from several people that Grand Theft Auto 3 and Vice City is still coming to Xbox this year, but the news has been delayed due to the contract with a super uptight Sony..."

Josh H

Looks like that was a bogus rumor. "Super uptight Sony."

What a load of fanboy crap. That's why I'd never pay for this magazine. What do they expect sony to do? Say "well we paid you millions to have GTA games exclusive, but what the hell, go ahead and put them on the X-box."

Adam Tyner

...or $40, since Voodoo Vince apparently has a slimmer-than-usual MSRP.

MasterofDVD

Really? Hmmmmm
Guess it might be worth that.

I'm glad I got sent home early. It's nice being your own boss and the highest paid person in your department. I don't feel at all bad about cutting myself early to play video games.

MasterofDVD

If anyone finds the hidden Easter Egg on this disc let me know.

You are supposed to hold the L Trigger while pressing a sequence of buttons. I've figured out about 6 of the buttons and I just can't seem to get the hidden video.

DeanoBKN

"What a load of fanboy crap. That's why I'd never pay for this magazine. What do they expect sony to do? Say "well we paid you millions to have GTA games exclusive, but what the hell, go ahead and put them on the X-box."

Exactly. It also seems that every issue, they mention Halo at least 2-3 times a page. I mean, I know it's a good game and all, but get over it already. Even their mailbag section is mostly all Halo-related.

As for the GTA rumors...what a scam to sell magazines. I bet they had "GTA news inside!!!" on the front cover to.

Dean

Decker

Are there really that many gamers desperate to play GTA 3 who own neither a PS2 or a home computer?

MasterofDVD

If GTA3 and GTA:VC came out on 1 disc with better graphics, customizable soutrandtracks and any other upgrades I'd certainly be interested.

And I already own them both for the PS2.

DJ_Longfellow

How was this game??? I may look for a decent hockey game, and I thought NHL 2K3 was NOT that great.
Also, Microsoft's efforts this year actually look decent.
AND...if the new NHL HITZ goes online, that would be GREAT!

Groucho

ESPN NHL Hockey = NHL 2K4

DJ_Longfellow

Yes, I realize this, I was wondering how the DEMO was???? Is it improved over last years or not????

effigy

Madden 2004 has EA game previews, and NHL 2004 looked totoally awesome and it'll have online play. I'm thinking about getting that.

Captain Harlock

You know, if I was Sony I'd be "super uptight" about that too. I'd be saying "Hey, we paid you for exclusivity. You've been well compensated for it. Now what's this I hear, you want to release GTA on the XBox BEFORE the deal is up??".

I saw the "coming next issue" part of the September issue. It made it seem like it was going to be the huge "stop the presses" cover story. That a huge announcement was going to come down. But it's now still just "rumors"?

Come on.

xlpanda

I dont own the ps2 and my computer is not juiced up for gaming so I would be interested in playing GTA 3 or vice city on xbox. But if rockstar doesnt get the okay and xbox never gets those games, no biggie for me. There are other games I enjoy and there will be more later.

I'm pretty sure I'm in a small majority because I dont have that much time to play and I dont own all 3 consoles. I would like to own all three, especially the ps2 but right now xbox is all got and I'm fine with that.

On a side note, any dvdtalkers playing ghost recon: island thunder? I was a big fan of the original ghost recon and just recently picked this up. It's sad to feel like a noob all over again on these new maps but it's sooooo much fun.

Gromit

Whew. It's not just me. I started 'Island Thunder' on 'veteran' mode and quickly got my ass kicked. I'm doing better on 'recruit' but I was starting to get paranoid that I just sucked. OK, I'm willing to accept that I just suck...

Save Ferris

Where are you guys getting this magazine this early????

Everyone just has the Sept. issue!

Spiderbite

Well, I guess you guys got your answers regarding the previous posts about GTA.

I finally got around to boiling my demo disc & checked it out tonight. My impressions of the demos:

Voodoo Vince - This was great. Very cool platformer (and I am not a platform fan) which I really enjoyed. The graphics look awesome on my 65" HD. I look forward to seeing more about this soon.

Dino Crisis 3 - What the hell were they thinking with the controls. God they are terrible. I had hoped these kind of controls died with the last Metal Gear game. The graphics were really nice as was the sound...but who cares when the controls are this bad. No thanks.

ESPN NHL Hockey - Not a fan of sports games or Hockey so I took a pass. Graphics looked decent.

Metal Arms - Had a ball with this one. Great graphics, good controls & it even has some humor. I have not even heard of this game but I definitely will check it out when it is released. Very Good.

Midtown Madness 3 & Outlaw Volleyball - Already own both of them. MM3 is great on LIVE & OV is great on LIVE & single player.

What are some of your impressions of the demos? Looks like this thread lost it's way earlier.

Trigger

I haven't had to boil my discs lately

Voodoo Vince is very cool, but it plays alot like Blinx (and some people didn't like that one, although I did). I might buy it used.

Dino Crisis 3 - It's not so much the controls (which I found to be pretty good), it's the camera. Sucky camera - all they had to do was give me control of the camera with the right stick and it would've been an awesome game. Stupid Capcom - most of their games are plagued with either bad camera or bad controls. Bleh

ESPN - I passed as well - bleh to sports games.

Metal Arms - Great looking game - good controls - I found it a little on the difficult side right off the bat, so I put it off for another day since my patience level was at a low.

Midtown Madness 3 - ZzzzZZZZz... snore. I might pick it up for cheap (or free if my friend can hook me up) just for the LIVE fun, but otherwise, the demo was boring.

Outlaw Volleyball - Played single and multiplayer - it's not as fun as Outlaw Golf, but it's cool. I'll buy this one.

GatorDeb

Voodoo Vince was AWESOME. First time I play through to the end of a game. I'll pick it up for $15 for sure.

xmiyux

What in the world do you guys mean by "boiling" your discs?

Josh H

I've never done it, but sometimes demo discs won't play (due to some problem with the discs being crappy I believe) and literally boiling the discs in a pot of water somehow fixes the problem. From what I've read, people simply tie some string or fishing line to the disc and put it in the water and pull it out after a few minutes.

Save Ferris

ive heard you do it for 30 seconds. Anyway yea the disks are glued in layers. I wouldnt do this with a $50 game.

edit -- ive never had to do it.