XboxSold.com BLOG

I didn’t ever really expect to be playing Duke Nukem Forever. But in my dreams, when I did, I was just shooting, kicking ass, and complaining about how I was all out of bubblegum. Gearbox has other ideas.

In the opening moments of the Duke Nukem Forever demo, playable to the public at PAX this weekend, Duke Nukem takes a leak. What’s more, you press a button in order to make him pee. But the level of interactivity with Duke and his world doesn’t stop there. As Duke you’ll also be able to play basketball, pump iron, read “adult magazines,” and even draw nasty messages on white boards. Oh, and drool over half-naked women… how very Duke Nukem of you.

Yeah, all of that shooting and kicking ass I’d dreamed about, it seems we’ll get it in 2011 when the game ships for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. We’ll be able to do it all over, too, from the Vegas Strip to the Hoover Dam.

I had come to accept that Duke Nukem Forever would have to live only in my dreams. But learning that it’s a game where I can both play basketball and take a leak (eat that NBA Elite 11!), well, it can’t come soon enough. 

Hey everyone, Ninja Theory’s Enslaved: Odyssey to the West has gone gold. That’s right, it’s done, which means it’ll be good to go for its previously announced October 5 release.

Enslaved is Ninja Theory’s multi-platform (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3) follow-up to the PS3-exclusive Heavenly Sword. Our gamescom team loved it. Like, would not stop talking about it “loved it.” I’m playing it now, and I’m not allowed to say anything until next week. But, I completely and totally… wait, nevermind. I’ll save it for my preview next week; embargoes and such.

Now that Enslaved is done, Ninja Theory can really get to cracking on Devil May Cry 5, right? Right?

Trying to create noise from the deafening silence following the announcement of Bloody Good Time, Ubisoft has revealed Outland, an upcoming platformer adventure inspired by games like Prince of Persia… and Ikaruga.

Here’s the official line on this one: “Outland puts players in the middle of a world of balance and chaos where their efforts allow them to bridge the ancient divide, or doom the world to destruction. Each player’s adventure will take them between light and darkness and force them to adapt to an ever-changing world. This light versus dark core gameplay is inspired by the arcade classic Ikaruga.”

So it’s a platformer, but it’s like Ikaruga. I think that’s qualifies as “awesome,” and it looks wonderful, too. The title is being developed by Super Stardust HD studio, Housemarque, and will be available for Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network in early 2011.

If you’re in Seattle for PAX, you can stop by Ubisoft’s booth and check it out.

Military personnel looking to pick up Medal of Honor this October will have to do so off-site. The Army and Air Force Exchange Services has announced that the game will not be stocked in any on-base GameStop or other post exchange in U.S. military bases worldwide. The reason is because of the inclusion of Taliban fighters in the game’s multiplayer, naturally.

The commanding general of the Army and Air Force Exchange Services explained that this is done out of respect for the men and women who have fought against Taliban insurgents. I don’t particularly oppose the move, especially since there are still other means for soldiers to purchase the game. Nonetheless, I find it curious that the top brass would think soldiers who live day in and day out through so much would be unable to handle some this. Kind of selling them short, don’t you think?

Video Game Pulled Globally From Military Stores Over Taliban Inclusion [Kotaku]

Seven45 Studios has revealed the full soundtrack for its upcoming music title, Power Gig: Rise of the Six String, and I hope you like Eric Clapton, Dave Matthews Band, and Kid Rock.

Those particular artists have exclusively licensed their music for use in Power Gig, and Seven45 studios is taking advantage of the agreements by putting multiple songs from the artists on the disc. Clapton fans can play along with “Layla,” “Lay Down Sally,” and “Let It Rain.” Dave Matthews scores “Tripping Billies,” “Why I Am,” and “Funny the Way It Is.” Kid Rock (who, according to a Seven45 rep during a pre-E3 event, “no one is more authentic than”) gets “Rock N’ Roll Jesus,” “Son of Detroit,” and “All Summer Long” on the disc.

The disc will feature 70 tracks, and they are admittedly pretty diverse, with bands ranging from Queens of the Stone Age to Black Sabbath, The Black Keys to A Perfect Circle. John Mayer also makes his debut in a music game, and he gets a few tracks on the disc, too. Seven45 also promises more tracks to come, with downloadable content already being planned.

How do you think Power Gig’s selections compare to the Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock and Rock Band 3 tracks?

• Eric Clapton – Layla
• Eric Clapton – Lay Down Sally
• Eric Clapton – Let It Rain
• Dave Matthews Band – Funny The Way It Is
• Dave Matthews Band – Tripping Billies
• Dave Matthews Band – Why I Am
• Kid Rock – All Summer Long
• Kid Rock – Rock ‘N’ Roll Jesus
• Kid Rock – Son of Detroit
• John Mayer – No Such Thing
• Jane’s Addiction – Been Caught Stealing
• No Doubt – Platinum Blonde Life   
• Ozzy Osbourne – A.V.H.
• Queens of the Stone Age – You Think I Ain’t Worth a Dollar, But I Feel Like a Millionaire
• Smashing Pumpkins – Cherub Rock
• Disturbed – The Night        
• Rage Against the Machine – Bombtrack
• Stevie Ray Vaughan – Couldn’t Stand The Weather
• Black Sabbath – The Devil Cried
• Stone Temple Pilots – Plush
• Living Colour – Cult of Personality
• John Mayer – Who Do You Think I Was
• Snow Patrol – Hands Open
• Three Days Grace – Break
• Paramore – Ignorance
• Silversun Pickups – Substitution
• The Offspring – You’re Gonna Go Far Kid
• The Black Label Society – Retribution
• Breaking Benjamin – Breath
• The Tragically Hip – New Orleans Is Sinking
• The Used – Blood on My Hands
• Mastodon – Crack the Skye
• A Perfect Circle – The Hollow
• Buckcherry – Tired of You   
• Firewind – Head Up High
• The Black Keys – Strange Times
• Flyleaf – Again
• Godsmack – Awake
• Incubus – Wish You Were Here
• Jet – She’s A Genius
• The Hives – Tick Tick Boom
• John Mayer – Crossroads
• Bad Religion – I Want to Conquer the World
• Korn – Hold On
• The Academy Is… – His Girl Friday
• Lacuna Coil – Spellbound
• MuteMath – Chaos
• New Found Glory – Listen to Your Friends
• P.O.D. – Alive
• Puddle of Mudd – Blurry
• Rise Against – Paper Wings
• Sick Puppies – You’re Going Down
• The Donnas – Fall Behind Me
• The Get Up Kids – Martyr Me
• Idlewild – Reader and Writers
• Surfer Blood – Swim
• Channels – Chivaree
• Superdrag – Aspartame
• Envy on the Coast – Headfirst in the River
• Damiera – Silvertongue
• A Cursive Memory – Everything
• The Hounds Below – She’s Alchemy
• A Love Like PI – Innocent Man
• The Willowz – I Know
• I See Stars – Comfortably Confused
• The Paris Riots – Hotel of Infidels
• School Boy Humor – Camera Shy
• So Many Dynamos – Artifacts of Sound
• Taxpayer – When You When Young
• The Fatal Flaw – Don’t Start Believing

Criterion’s Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit looks gorgeous and super fast. That was expected. It’s the amount of trash-talking that you’re going to end up doing with your friends that’s going to take you by surprise.

The developer has create a unique game hub which it’s calling “Autolog.” This hub not only keeps track of what you’re doing, but what your friends are doing, and how they’re progressing. The game is designed to constantly keep you up to date on player progress — game progression, records being set — and then shove it in your face. The idea is to get you to keep playing, the incentive to always be number one among your friends.

The idea is rather brilliant, and it looks like it’s really well-implemented in Hot Pursuit, but it’s not a new one. I always think of Bizarre’s Geometry Wars as the gold standard for how leaderboards and score-keeping should be done — it’s a game that (unless you look for it) doesn’t shove world leaderboards in your face, instead presenting the scores of people you care about: those on your friends list. It’s making these rivalries and high score goals immediate, tangible, and unavoidable that always kept me wanting to play “just one more game.”

If Hot Pursuit can do for racing what Geometry Wars did for me, I’m expecting some long, long nights ahead of me when the game ships in November. Cue “Eye of the Tiger.”

Telltale Games has announced what it’s calling “the Citizen Kane of poker games,” and it might be right — Poker Night at The Inventory sounds like the best thing ever.

The game will star Penny Arcade’s Tycho, Max of Sam & Max, they Heavy from Team Fortress, and Homestar Runner’s Strong Bad. They’re going to — get this — play poker. The game features fully-voiced characters, and will used Telltale’s dynamic dialogue system as the character trash talk each other, tell stories, and react to the game in progress.

Poker Night at The Inventory will be available on Steam this fall for both PC and Mac, and will cost $4.99.

PAX Prime 10 is less than two hours away, and the show floor is filled to the brim with doodads and whatchits for your sick, sick pleasure. To get you further pumped, the Piki: Geek blog has posted two sets of photos of exhibitor hall booths in various stages of construction. For some of us (i.e. me), this will be the closest we get to living the dream. For the rest of you, enjoy the show, bastards.

Next year, developer Just Add Water will be bringing an updated port of Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath to the PlayStation Network.

The quirky first- and third-person shooter was originally released in 2005, and had players taking the role of the bounty hunter known as the Stranger. The game had a quirky feel that you’d expect from an Oddworld game, with players using “live” ammo (read: animals and bugs) to take out enemies.

The updated version of the game will boast updated visuals at 720p, along with updated graphical bells and whistles that you’d expect from a current-gen game. The title’s dialogue is also being remastered, and Just Add Water is shoving PlayStation Move support into the thing for good measure.

The Stranger’s Wrath remake is slated for an Easter release, with even more “bonus material still to be revealed.”