Mass Effect 2: Lair of the Shadow Broker Preview Liara makes her triumphant return as a squad member.
It's not a secret that I'm a huge fan of Mass Effect 2. Although I didn't have a hand in voting it as the best Xbox 360 game to date, I certainly agree with the decision. That said, the downloadable content thus far has been self-contained, with seemingly little impact on the overarching storyline, which I found a little disappointing. Still, there have been some really great pieces. Kasumi's Stolen Memory and Overlord stand out as my favorites, but I have a feeling they'll both be usurped by the next bit of content: Lair of the Shadow Broker.
The first true bridging downloadable content BioWare has produced, Lair of the Shadow Broker will be playable at any point in your game after you travel to Illium. Because your decisions here will actually affect certain storylines in Mass Effect 3, and more importantly, you can finally resume your romantic relationship with Liara (if you successfully wooed her in the first game), this promises to be the best DLC for Mass Effect 2 to date. Lair of the Shadow Broker also houses more cut scenes and dialogue sequences than in any of the previous DLC offerings and will play out over a few hours. Yesterday I had the privilege of getting my hands on it for about 30 minutes, and that time left me wanting more.
New Xbox 360 Controller Revealed Improved d-pad coming this fall.
Coming this fall, Microsoft will release a new, re-designed Xbox 360 wireless controller that features a transforming d-pad and different colored buttons.
Acknowledging the trouble many players have had with the current d-pad, Microsoft's engineers have upgraded the controller's d-pad to go "from a plus to a disc with the twist of the wrist," according to Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb, director of programming for Xbox Live.
The new d-pad provides "ultimate accuracy and control for both directional as well as sweeping movements."
Xbox Live Gets a Price Hike Your online gaming on Xbox is about to get more expensive.
Microsoft has announced that as of November 1, 2010, the price for Xbox Live Gold will go up in Canada, the US, United Kingdom and Mexico. The annual fee will go up by $10 in the United States, with one and three month subscriptions also going up in price.
Starting November 1, a one month subscription in the US will cost $9.99 and a three month subscription will carry a price tag of $24.99. These are increases of $2 and $5 respectively. In the UK, a one month subscription will go up by 1 GBP to 5.99. Canadian and Mexican one month subscriptions will go up by $1 CAD and 100 Pesos each to $9.99 and 599 Pesos. All other subscription packages will have the same prices.
In a posting, Microsoft spokesperson Larry "Major Nelson" Hyrb explained the hike:
"Since launching Xbox LIVE in 2002 we have continually added more content and entertainment experiences for our members, while keeping the price the same. We're confident that when the new pricing takes effect, an Xbox LIVE Gold membership will continue to offer the best value in the industry.
