Now that the Arcade Next promotion is over, and Minecraft and Trials Evolution are breaking records all over the place, Microsoft seem to celebrating with a huge sale. If Deal of the Week this week looked a bit too energetic for your tastes, what with all that Kinect madness, then you might want to check out these bad boys:
The offers are part of a Microsoft Publisher sale which also includes addons and other extras for many retail games. For the full run down click the link here. The sale is expected to run from today until May 21 and is open to all.
This week’s Deal of the Week comes with a Kinect flavour. From 15-May to 21-May, you can chop, dance, balance or strike a pose till your hearts content with deals on the following top Kinect XBLA games:
As always Deal of the Week is for Gold Members only and please also be aware that all these games require a Kinect to play.
Hungarian based production company NeocoreGames, famed for tactical RPG King Arthur, have announced that they are currently developing a new action RPG for PC and XBLA, The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing. The game, which is said to be loosely based on Bram Stoker’s classic novel Dracula, will follow the son of the famed hunter, known in-game as Van Helsing, to the dismal land of Borgovia where former supernatural foes have enlisted his help to defeat a new scourge terrorizing the ravaged Eastern European city. Viktor Juhász, lead writer at NeocoreGames said of the project:
“Being located in Eastern Europe and having experience developing RPGs, Van Helsing is a natural fit for us; it’s a project where we can demonstrate our expertise in both domains and create something novel that RPG fans can appreciate”
The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing is slated for a late Q4 2012 release and we’ve got some concept art for you to enjoy after the jump.
Last week Microsoft announced that it would be discontinuing production of Inside Xbox in the U.S. and as a result this content would also no longer be available in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The announcement effectively puts an end to shows like Major’s Minute, Featured Videos and Insider Moves packaged under the Inside Xbox brand. Following on from that news, Microsoft has today revealed that this decision has now been extended to Inside Xbox content produced in Europe which produce shows such as Sent U A Message:
“We want to express our sincere appreciation to all of our viewers and fans of Inside Xbox, and remain committed to providing our members with access to high-quality news and information via the console, social media channels and Xbox.com. We will be leveraging third-party news and video content available through a variety of existing and future partners, and supplementing this content with select first-party offerings.”
Disappointed fans of the shows have started a petition to halt the termination, but the move is likely to be too late with European Inside Xbox‘s Dan Maher aka MrPointyHead tweeting:
“So, to be clear and succinct: Inside Xbox is no more, as are our jobs. Your support during the last four years has meant the world to us.”
What do readers here think about the move? Which shows will you miss or be glad to see the back of? Let us know in the comments below.
Source: Major Nelson via Eurogamer
A marketplace listing has been spotted for an arcade version of wartime flying series Combat Wings. However it’s unclear whether the game will be a spin-off to the initially planned retail game Combat Wings: The Great Battles of World War II, or a downloadable replacement. Though both marketplace listing remain despite Combat Wings: GBWWII missing it’s scheduled release date of March. Both games are being developed and published by City Interactive who recently posted on their Facebook wall that Combat Wings has not been cancelled and will be going digital, but it remains to be seen how many games fans can expect.
From the game’s description players can expect to be piloting a wide range of aircraft and engaging in aerial dog fights and dangerous fighter missions across the major theaters of war during WWII. The game is said to feature realistic aircraft and cutting-edge flight dynamics with but with arcade accessibility and offline multiplayer action for up to 2 people. The marketplace listing also shows the game’s release date as June 15 but don’t put it in your diary just yet, it’s likely to just be a placeholder at this time. Many thanks to @lifelower for this tip.
Zen Studios have released a new trailer for the next Pinball FX2 table heading to XBLA. The Avengers table is based on the recently released Avengers Assemble movie which sees Nick Fury commanding the team of Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye against Loki’s invasion on Earth. The table will release as part of a new four-table pack called Marvel Pinball: Avengers Chronicles which also includes tables World War Hulk, Fear Itself and The Infinity Gauntlet. Marvel fans will be happy to hear that the new table was developed with digital assets taken direct from the movie and is said to feature custom balls for each Avenger.
Fable Heroes was developed by Lionhead Studios and published by Microsoft Studios. It was released May 2, 2012 for 800 MSP. A copy was provided for review purposes.
Action-RPG series Fable first landed on the original Xbox back in 2004. It’s had two sequels released since then for the Xbox 360 with another two on the way including the Kinect exclusive, Fable: The Journey. Lionhead have already proved to be fans of the spin-off genre with Fable Pub Games released for XBLA in conjunction with Fable II and the Kingmaker mobile phone game for Fable III. However while those have proved to have been little more than amusing ways to earn money for the main retail game, Fable Heroes looks a little more promising.
A number of XBLA games have gone on sale this week that you may not be aware of. It slipped by us yesterday, but Deal of the Week this week actually features 3 XBLA games from Japanese developers CAVE and sees 50% off their regular price. NIN2-JUMP is reduced to 200 MSP, Guwange to 400 MSP and Virtual-On OT is now 600 MSP from May 1 to May 7. Another discount to take note of is that the highly enjoyable Kinect release Haunt, has been reduced by 50% from 800 MSP down to 400 MSP. This one is not listed as a Deal of the Week but it is still a gold exclusive sale.
Finally, Hasbro Family Game Night has had each of it’s add-on games, including family favourites such as Battleships, Boggle and Connect 4 reduced by 50%. This discount is available to everyone and it’s not clear whether it’s a permanent reduction or just a temporary sale. However before you drop any points on this, bear in mind that EA recently switched off the online servers for Family Game Night, so gameplay is strictly an offline affair now.
Microsoft have announced that Joy Ride Turbo will be heading to XBLA. The new game is from the developers of Kinect Joy Ride, Big Park Studios and it’s launch is said to be “just weeks away”. Fans of the genre may also be pleased to hear that the game has gone back to it’s original design roots, for the karting action will be controller-based rather than the Kinect controls of it’s predecessor. According to Microsoft, Joy Ride Turbo is said to feature the following:
• Race your friends in local 4-player split-screen or compete with up to 8 on Xbox LIVE.
• Knock out your competitors and take the race lead with rockets, mines, dynamite drops and more.
• Explore the new Stunt Park to gather all of the collectibles and showoff your skills.
• Find and collect car parts to unlock vehicles, each with unique speed and handling characteristics, giving you an edge in your next race.
• Achieve racing leaderboard fame in 3 modes of play: Battle Race, Pro Race & Time Trial.
Joy Ride had been originally announced back in 2009 at E3 to be a free to play XBLA game, however many gamers were disappointed when it was re-designed and released as a Kinect only retail game, Kinect Joy Ride. There is no word on how this new version will be priced but PlayXBLA have published some brand new screenshots to enjoy while we wait for more information.
It was announced a month ago that Don Bluth’s Dragon’s Lair would be heading to XBLA, but the game now has an official release date of May 18. The arcade classic has been around since 1983 and has already appeared on over 60 other platforms, however publisher Microsoft Studios may be hoping that the new Kinect controls that are included for the XBLA version, will give the game a fresh new slant. If you think that sounds too energetic, then rest assured gamers can still play the game from the safety of their couch using the regular Xbox 360 controller. Check out the game’s debut trailer here.
Source: PlayXBLA
