“There are those who said this day would never come… What are they to say now?”

Its true, this is the last 24 hours to play Halo 2 on Xbox Live before Microsoft shuts down multiplayer servers. Tonight, Bungie studios is going to be tracking all players who log on to play the game in Matchmaking and will supposedly be adding a reward to those players who also move on to play the next game in the series, Halo: Reach. If you want to participate, make sure you’ve downloaded or installed all the maps and updates (available free right now) and simply log in.

In your walk down memory lane, you may want to check out “Better Than Halo: The Making of Halo 2” from Eurogamer, which looks at the complete development with candid interviews from the developers.

Some Powet players will surely be online tonight, check the Halo Appreciation Mega Thread on the forums.

Gears of War 3 is one of the worst kept secrets in development, and but even though we all knew it was happening, no one got to see it until now.
After the harrowing escape at the climax of Gears 2, Delta Squad seems to be in even WORSE shape than at the start of the last 2 games. Dom looks like he’s practically given up at this point (or at least, given up shaving). Luckily Marcus, Baird, and Cole are close behind, and Anya has joined the fight on the ground now too. Designer Cliff Bleszinski was on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon for the debut, which you can watch here.

Out side of this interview, Cliff confirmed that there will be 4 player co-op for the campaign this round, and that the Lambent will emerge as a third faction fighting both Locust and Human soldiers.

Updated: The content has been restored!
It appears that last month, Activision closed down Luxoflux Studios. Luxoflux were the developers of the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Game. As of the writing of this article, it appears that the downloadable content has been removed from the XBox Live Marketplace without notice and can no longer be purchased. I cannot verify if this is also the case on the Playstation Network.

The DLC was first made available August 27, 2009. That means it was available for less than 8 months before being pulled. The content featured 11 new playable characters, 3 new maps, a new expert difficulty level and all new achievements. We posted a trailer of the DLC here.

As a fan who only recently got an XBox 360 with this as his first game, you can imagine my disappointment that I now cannot have the chance to play this new content that I am more than willing to spend money on. Hopefully Activision can find a way to put the pack back up for a limited time for those who had not gotten it yet. [Read the rest of this entry…]

Xbox General Manager Mark Whitten announced via open letter to the community about some changes to the terms of use. Since the introduction of profiles for gamers using the service, certain words have been banned and anyone engaging in online play would not be permitted to identify their sexual orientation

Specifics have been added to the Code Of Conduct:
You may use the following terms to express your relationship orientation in your profile or Gamertag:

Other terms regarding relationship orientation are not allowed. In addition you may not use these terms or any other terms regarding relationship orientation to insult, harass, or any other pejorative use against other users.

Previously any gamer who identified themselves as straight or gay in their profiles would be in violation of terms of use and would be either forced to remove such terms or would be banned from the service.

Xbox Policy Manager Stephen Toulouse updated his twitter with “Special thanks to GLAAD and Microsoft’s LGBT community for guidance on the terms. If you try typing in any of the the approved terms into your profile, you should find they are not blocked. Let me know if you have problems”

So now you can be “out” and serve in Call of Duty or Battlefield Bad Company, unlike the real US Military. Here’s hoping the real world catches up with the video game world soon.

What do you think about the policy change? Leave a comment!

They say there are only two things for sure in life: death and taxes. In the US, Tax day is April 15 and for original Xbox games, death comes the same day.

Microsoft has announced they’ll be shutting down online gameplay servers for all original Xbox games, including ones that are compatible with XBox 360. Star Wars Battlefront, Counter Strike, Splinter Cell Chaos Theory, Conker Live & Reloaded, and Halo 2 will no longer have online gameplay available.

Marc Whitten from the Xbox Live team posted an open letter to the community this morning detailing the closure and vague promises that shifting resources will allow new features in the future.

Those who don’t want to give up the original Xbox games or its community should check out XboxConnect, which has run unofficial servers for years.

Until that day comes, Powet will likely plan at least one last outing for Halo 2 so keep an eye out for a future game night.

The best way to describe Epic/Chair Entertainment’s Xbox Live offering is an old school gaming experience with a new school style. Although Shadow Complex contains 3D graphics powered by Unreal 3, its gameplay is reminiscent of old school 2d games such as Metroid. The game’s plot, penned by comic book writer Peter David (The Incredible Hulk, X-Factor), is a side story to the Orson Scott Card novel Empire. You play as Jason Flemming, an everyday guy who was doing some rock climbing with his girlfriend Claire. When Claire is captured by members of a terrorist organization (which has already assassinated the vice president by the way), it’s up to you to rescue her.
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Does LOST’s handling of time travel make Flashforward fall flat? Can anything top it ever again? Logan lets us know his thoughts on Brutal Legend, Bioware announces the street date for Mass Effect 2, and — try as they might — Mattel can’t seem to get anything right.

(Are you excited for Flashforward? Mass Effect 2? The end of the Pontiac line? Leave your thoughts in a comment below!)

Show notes after the jump!

Audio Netcast Details
Subscribe to the Powetcast on iTunes
Direct Link: Powetcast Episode 21: Back in Time

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During the early days of the Xbox 360, there weren’t a lot of launch-window titles that made people want to run out and buy the system. Dead or Alive 4 and Condemned were nice, but other than those two and a few others, the Xbox 360’s post-launch library was pretty weak. Thankfully, Microsoft’s Xbox Live downloadable games service, introduced during the previous Xbox life cycle (albeit to little fanfare) was kicking into high gear this generation, starting with its integration into the console itself (rather than having to buy a separate disc). Over time, players would be treated to a slew of classic re-releases, newer titles, and independently developed games. One of the first games available on the service, Geometry Wars, took old school style gameplay and touched it up with some nice graphical effects. It was in the tradition of Space Invaders, where one played simply to earn a high score. It was incredibly addictive as well. So addictive, that many Xbox 360 owners played this game more than any game that was released via retail during the first 4 months after the Xbox 360’s release. Now, Bizzare Creations has created a sequel which adds new game modes while keeping the previous game’s gameplay intact.
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