This Week in Xbox — 5/2

More Price Cuts, This Time in Asia

The price cut epidemic continues to spread! First it was Canada. Then came Europe. And now, it seems the infection has spread to Asia. The horror, the horror! Gamers in Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan will now be able to procure a 360 for anywhere from 5% to 17% less than previous prices. Clearly, Microsoft is hoping to repeat the success of its recent European price reductions, which doubled sales of 360s in that region.

VERDICT: Anyone else in the States starting to feel like the last kid picked for dodge ball? Anyway, we’re not entirely convinced that this’ll be enough for Microsoft to break into the Asian market. The problem’s not so much the price as it is the product and the company. But hey, can’t hurt right?

GTA IV Random News Roundup

Apparently GTA IV came out this week. Yeah, who knew, right? However, some people have been complaining that they can’t actually play the game because it freezes during the opening cut scene. Rockstar’s crack technical staff is currently working on a cure (which they claim could be ready at any moment…or in the next few days or so, you know, whatever), but there’s no word yet on what exactly causes the glitch or how people have been affected by it—though the SCEA claims the number is pretty low on the PS3 side and the failure rate on 360 is likely to be comparable.

This problem wasn’t enough to stem the tide of GTA-buyers in the UK, where the game set a record for most units sold on the day of release and is not neutered like it is in some other parts of the world (Australia and New Zealand, we feel your pain). This is, of course, good news for Take Two—whose value shockingly increased upon the game’s release—especially since GTA IV could possibly be the most expensive game ever made, with rough estimates of the production cost in the neighborhood of $100 million.

VERDICT: Enough links for you?

EA Offers Free DLC for Battlefield: Bad Company

After the community outcry over its plan to sell individual weapons as DLC in Battlefield: Bad Company, EA appears to be offering gamers an olive branch in the form of a free downloadable content pack involving the game’s “Conquest Mode.” No information beyond this basic announcement was given except for the fact that the pack will be released after the game hits stores this summer…no kidding.

VERDICT: Part of the problem with the whole “selling weapons” plan was the fact that they were intentionally leaving certain items out of the game specifically for the purpose of selling them to us later for extra money. So this begs the question: is EA just leaving stuff out again so they can bribe us with it later? Hopefully not, but even if they are, it’s nice to see that they recognize what a horrible idea that whole thing was.

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