Yeah, Clive Barker's Undying. I think it went largely unnoticed even though it got good reviews. Very atmospheric and creepy game (for the time at least).

It was decent, but way too dark.

So no Karaoke Revolution? I don't really like the Guitar games and would hate to buy that huge bundle just for the Karaoke bit. It would also be a drag to pick it up for only 1/4 of the game because presumably a straight Karaoke game might have more extras since everything would be focused on just the vocals.

Any news about a new DDR for the 360?

Ignoring the last part, from what I understand you can use the 360 headset as your mic, so you could pick up the game only on release day and sing your heart out until the stand-alone mic is released in Feb.

True. Also, you can use any standard USB mic, you just don't get the official peripheral's tamborine shaking feature.

I agree with this. And turning up the brightness only fucks with my TV's calibration, which is spot-on, and just washes the look of the game out anyways. So while the art and graphics were fine, the way they were implemented made me not want to play it. Condemned did a much better job at presenting a dark environment.

I actually got to play this at an event. The mic is the exact same mic used in Karaoke Revolution. And the sound when you hit the top of the mic registers for the cowbell/tamborine parts.

Actually, the latest I read on that was that the Live headset wasn't high enough quality to work with the game, so it isn't going to be supported for Rock Band.

This is the only karaoke game I want:

I agree, that Bollywood game would be so much fun.

It seems like it would be easy and profitable to crank out some Karaoke game. They make bank on the DLC.

Playing the latest demo, I can say that I'm excited for a Need For Speed game for the first time in a long time. Seems like they're leaning back to just racing, instead of trying to sell me the "street culture", though there is plenty of that.

Hot Pursuit is one of my favorite racers and I would give anything for them to go back to that model, and drop all the Fast and Furious shit. The cop car AI in that game was fantastic.

Picked up the addon HD DVD player along with Heroes, 300, and Transformers.

Now I've read that the addon drive actually gives a lot of people the RROD - any truth to this possibly increasing my chances of getting the RROD?

I wasn't sure if I'd keep the addon or not, as I kind of would rather have a standalone HD DVD player anyways.

Should I just keep it boxed up, take the UPC for my 5 free DVDs, and ebay it?

I've never heard that about the add-on, but I'm not saying it isn't possible. If you want a stand-alone anyway, then of course eBay it once you take the UPC.

Then get another 5 with your stand-alone (via another address should your friends/family not object).

Yeah, probably what I'll do. How is the A2 supposed to be vs. the 360 addon?

I got my HD-DVD add-on drive at Best Buy on Saturday (the day before the Heroes deal). Do you think if I take the receipt in, they'll give me the Heroes set?

Yes, they will. You have 30 days to PM (and that includes promotions like this) or to return the product for full refund. You'll have no problem as long as you have your receipt.

I noticed the value of Heroes on half.com has dropped by about $20 if people missed out on this deal. $45 sealed which is a hell of a deal. I bet that will only last a couple weeks before they start to creep up again.

Thanks for the head up on Heroes HD. Now to sell off my SD version.

I didn't enjoy the demo too much, but admittedly I have been playing a lot of Forza, so there will be an adjustment period. Things like braking seemed to good and i was coming to a near-stop instead of slowing for the corner!

Oh yeah, that is a problem jumping from one racing game to another. I found it pretty impossible to play any driving game after Burnout 3. Everything felt so damn slow.

The demo tracks for NFS were kind of dry, but the handling felt really good to me.

I know it is not sim, but Burnout has ruined the racing genre for me. I feel like everything else is running in mud.

So is it better to list the HD-DVD drive now or wait a couple of weeks to get a better price? I'm in no hurry to sell it.

Yep. Although I did enjoy Test Drive: Unlimited. The Flatout demo seems pretty close to Burnout and ripe for a price drop purchase.

*edit - I forgot about Excite Truck. That is a damn fun game and comes close to the speed and frenzy of Burnout.

I felt the same way, I played PGR3 recently and it was a rough transition going from racing with insane speed and crazy powerslides, to doing cone challenges on confined race courses.

That's why I don't really play sim racers anymore. I loved Gran Turismo back in the day, but now those races feel a lot like work to me. Same reason why I've stopped playing most RPGs.