There was a short news piece in GameDaily today quoting one of the senior producers working on Gears of War 2 as suggesting that developers may be reaching the "upper end" of the 360's graphical capabilities. The producer goes on to say (in essence) that the ceiling hasn't been hit, but the very fact that this comment was actually seen as a kind of news got me thinking—even if (and that's definitely an IF) the 360 is closing in on the best that it can do.... so what?

This may not be news to anyone, but I recently signed up for the XNA Creator's Club on Live. For those who may not be familiar with it, this is the program that enables players to make their own game on a PC and then upload it to Xbox Live.

The third and final day of the Penny Arcade Expo started slow, both for the wife and I, as well as for the rest of the convention-goers. Taking a look around, more people seemed willing to queue up for coffee or crepes before the show got going. The halls weren't as crowded, and the people who were there seemed to be walking slower, and perhaps sagging a bit.

Day Two at the Penny Arcade Expo started off in true PAX fashion with the sounds of Rock Band flooding the Convention Center. A group of eager musicians gave their rendition of ‘Learning to Fly' quite earnestly, with quite a few more would-be rockers waiting in the wings offstage. After a polite golf clap, the wife and I made our way to the press-only Q&A session with webcomic superstars Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik.

Although the idea may be discouraged by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik, (the super-popular webcomic's writer and artist, respectively) the fact remains that the Penny Arcade Expo, or PAX for short, is quickly becoming the de facto place to go or those in the games industry who want to be seen, now that E3 is a mere shadow of its former self and E for All seems to be a non-starter.

I’ll admit that I’m not especially familiar with the history of the Need for Speed franchise. My first experience with the series was with 2006’s NFS Most Wanted, an average arcade-inspired racing game with a single standout feature: Amazing police chases. The follow-up, NFS Carbon, added a couple of new modes: the mildly diverting "drift" and the frustrating "canyon chase". The police chases were back, but hamstrung by the fact that the city map was so labyrinthine in its construction that it was nearly impossible to get a good chase going.

According to ESRB, this game contains: Suggestive Themes

Played two demos recently, neither one convincing me to drop the cash. On 360—. From the Behemoth, the same wacky guys that brought us comes a four-player side-scrolling beat-‘em-up in the vein of just about anything that was in arcades during the 90's.

It’s as sure as death or taxes that anyone who takes up videogaming will find themselves rooting through a bargain bin or scouring pre-owned shelves sooner or later. Welcome to the twentieth installment of a semi-regular feature here at GameCritics.com—the Bargain Basement, in which we'll be covering Folklore, Clive Barker's Jeicho and Saint's Row.

Did the hype and controversy surrounding Too Human hurt your opinion of the game?:

Yes

No