Okay. So I’m going to be completely honest here- I haven’t scored me a copy of Turning Point: Fall of Liberty yet. IGN, and everyone else for that matter, haven given the new Nazi-killer alternate-reality shooter pitiful, well pathetic, reviews. For that reason only, I have yet to use precious bandwidth to pull down the region free version of the game that was released to the public two weeks ago. I did, however, get a chance to play the demo that was released on Xbox Live Marketplace (for free). The developers of Turning Point have based the entire game around what would happen if the Nazis invaded the United States back during World War 2.

At the beginning of the game, Winston Churchill, one real bad ass, is killed in a car accident. Things go down hill from there for the Allies (uphill if you’re Hitler), and the Nazis end up invading New York City with some bad ass zeppelins. You start out working construction up in a skyscraper, when the Nazis invade the city. You then, because you are awesome, proceed to kill scores of identical looking Stormtroopers and have to save the free world singlehandedly.

I have to admit the alternate reality take on WW2 is a pretty novel idea, and I was actually pretty excited to play the game. The game play is fun, especially when you can hold the bad guys hostage and use them as a human shield, while shooting the other bad guys. There is a multiplayer element the game, although it seems to be an afterthought on the developer’s part.

Go ahead and check out a copy of Turning Point: Fall of Liberty- at least you’ll get the chance kill some Nazis along the way. That’s always fun, right?

Links: ign
Region: Region Free
Release Name: Turning Point Fall of Liberty-Region Free-Multi-Eng Spa Ital-Xbox360
Size: 1 DL DVD, 6.2 GB

Shingo “Seabass” Takatsuka, the mastermind behind the Pro Evo soccer series, hits it big with the new 2008 edition of the Pro Evolution series for the Xbox 360. Many of us were disappointed with last year’s Pro Evo, and for many the game didn’t reach our expectations for recreating all our football dreams on a next gen console. PES 2008 brings with it the very earmarks, which stole hours of our precious time- instinctive controls and game play which makes you feel entirely unified with your team on the pitch.

PES 2008 has many marked improvements over its predecessors. Tighter on-the-ball controls enrich game play, while markedly improved AI, create a realistic footballing experience. The enhanced AI is undoubtedly result of Konami’s new TeamVision feature, which lets your AI opponents learn and adapt their tactics as the game progresses.

Finally a next gen soccer title that I don’t have to curse at while playing (FIFA..cough)!

Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 provides the arguably best soccer experience on any console to date. Graphics, game play, and sound combine together to create a unique football experience, worthy of the Xbox 360’s hardware. Finally, software developers like Konami are beginning to tap the 360’s true potential.

NOCTURNAL’s NTSC release of PES 2008 was made public yesterday, and will run on all firmware-modded USA region Xbox 360s. There is also a PAL version that has been available for the last month.

Links: ign
Region: NTSC/USA
Release Name: Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 NTSC USA XBOX360-NOCTURNAL
Size: 1 DL DVD, 6.31 GB

iMARS released a region-free version of Monolith and SEGA’s sequel, Condemned 2: Bloodshot. The game picks up where Condemned 1 left off and brings with it the same gritty, violent game play that made the first Condemned so damn addicting. This first-person melee combat takes you straight into the dark underworld as Ethan Thomas, who has hit rock bottom since leaving his job as an SCU agent. Ethan is dragged back into the Las Vegas underworld to find his missing friend, Van Horn.

Although the story is average at best, the game’s crowning feature is its addictive game play. Condemned 2 features a new and improved forensics component, which adds an additional immersive element to the game.

Although the overall story leaves something left to be desired, the game play is really fun and creepy at the same time. The iMARS release works well and doesn’t require a rarfix, and it is region free.

Links: ign
Region: All (region-free)
Release Name: Condemned.2.Bloodshot.USA.XBOX360-iMARS
Size: 1 DL DVD, 6.79 GB

The guys at llamma.com posted a really simple tutorial, which explains how to add additional storage to the 360 via a standard USB external hard drive. The 360 can read FAT32 partitions, which can be create up to 32 GB with Windows or all the way up to 2 TB with a 3rd party partition utility like Partition Magic. Although Xbox Live Marketplace items cannot be added to the 3rd party drive, this is a simple way to extend the storage capacity of your 360. I’ve been using it for my MP3 collection (instead of ripping albums one-by-one the old fashioned way). Check out llamma’s full tutorial here.

Links: llamma.com
Type: Tutorial
Title: USB Hard Drive Mod for Xbox 360
Author: TheJT

Rockstar’s much anticipated open-world teen simulator for the Xbox 360 was released this past week (March 3). Bully: Scholarship Edition polishes up the graphics and game play of its former PS2 counterpart from a year-and-a-half ago.

You play as 15-year old Jimmy Hopkins, a delinquent who has been kicked out of seven other schools. Jimmy’s father sends him to a corrupt boarding school in Bullworth. Throughout the game, you must fight your way through teenage cliques and delinquency officials.

Don’t expect the same blood and guts you get in the Grand Theft Auto series, but you can look forward to beating up bullies and exploring the local city, while skipping class.

NAGGERS released a USA-only version of the game to the public today.

Links: ign
Region: USA
Release Name: Bully Scholarship Edition-PROPER-USA-XBOX360-NAGGERS
Size: 1 DL DVD, 6.55 GB

Textbook really gives us the most exhaustive guide for flashing your 360’s firmware, so that it can play backup (i.e. burned) games. His new “2008 Edition” release includes a separate tutorial for the newer, quieter BenQ VAD6038 drives, which were shipped with newer systems beginning in November ‘06.

The most difficult part of the whole “flashing” process for many people has to do with their SATA card’s compatibility. Textbook lists a known compatibility chart for several different chipsets. He does; however, recommend using a VIA VT6420 PCI SATA card if you don’t have a compatible chipset. The VIA card will run you about $20 at most places.

If you’re thinking about flashing your 360 with a hacked firmware, download a free copy of Textbook’s guide here.

The image above from xbox-scene.com is useful to determine which drive you have. If you don’t have the quieter BenQ, try and take your 360 back to the store for a new one (if you still can).

Links: 360mods.net
Type: Tutorial
Title: Textbooks Xbox 360 Firmware Flashing Tutorial 2008 Edition
Author: Textbook
Size: 12.35 MB
Download: 360mods.net

Our friends at Criterion Labs have brought us the latest installment of the Burnout series with Burnout Paradise. The game is set in the open world of Paradise City, and you must explore the city and win races and challenges to progress in the game to unlock new cars. The game’s graphics are absolutely stellar and the game play is relentlessly intoxicating. The detail of the city is impressive, and the car wrecks are one of kind (I spent the first hour of game play just trying to create the most impressive wreck).

Burnout Paradise includes five event types in the game:

• Race: First one to arrive to the finish line wins.
• Road Rage: Take down a certain number of other cars within a time limit (my personal favorite).
• Marked Man: Make it to the finish line in one piece with everybody trying to get you.
• Stunt Man: Reach a score goal by jumping, flipping, spinning, etc.
• Burning Route: Each car in the game has a specific race. It’s only you, your trusty car, and the clock in these.

I never knew crashing cars could be so much…fun.

I wasn’t kidding when I said the game was big. It gets annoying at first when you have to keep switching between the map and the game just so you don’t miss a crucial turn during a race.

Burnout Paradise has by far set the standard for the racing genre on the 360, and it really shows off the console’s technical power. NOCTURNAL’s release of Burnout Paradise works as is on all (firmware modded) NTSC consoles.

Links: ign
Region: NTSC
Release Name: Burnout Paradise NTSC USA-NOCTURNAL
Size: 1 DL DVD, 6.31 GB

iBurn360 is an uber-simplistic program for Mac OS X, whose sole purpose in life is to burn Xbox 360 backups with your Mac’s SuperDrive (or other 3rd party Dual Layer DVD burner). The program’s creator, idog, notes that iBurn360 does only one thing: “Burn backups of your precious XBOX360 original game media”. iBurn360 is essentially a GUI front-end that implements Terminal commands behind-the-scenes, which are already built in to Mac OS X. The program automatically applies all necessary patching to the 360’s .iso file and sets the layer break at the necessary setting. The author notes the program is in its early stages and is being developed with the folks at xbox-scene.com. For all you Mac users out there, you can download a free copy of iBurn360 here.

Name: iBurn360 0.19
Size: 113 KB
Download: appleguru.org

Enough can’t be said about BioWare’s hit RPG for the 360, Mass Effect. The Edmonton-based developer earned its stripes back in 2003 with Knights of the Old Republic, based in the Star Wars galaxy. They decided to leave the Star Wars universe and create their own space opera- Mass Effect, the first title in a new trilogy, implements extensive free-roam game play coupled with a revamped live action squad-based combat system.

You control the actions of Commander Shepherd, an elite galactic Spectre, as you interact with with the universe’s complex alien races. Explore numerous planets and systems within the Mass Effect universe to defeat evil and save the human race.

As Commander Shepherd, you are the ultimate bad ass of the galaxy- you can choose throughout the story to good or a renegade.

Facial models and animations are simply amazing.

Mass Effect’s combat engine takes around an hour for you to get acclimated. Be prepared to save incessantly, while you’re still a noob.

PROTOCOL’s Mass Effect NTSC release for the 360 runs smoothly and flawlessly. Be aware; however, that you will need to get a rarfix for this torrent to get it to work.

Links: ign
Release Name: Mass_Effect_XBOX360-PROTOCOL
Size: 1 DL DVD, 5.86 GB