11 years ago
XBLA Fans’ most anticipated 2013 XBLA games: Part I
Here we are once again at the start of what’s sure to be another fantastic year of XBLA releases. Each day this week XBLA Fans will be rolling out a list of eight of our most anticipated Xbox Live Arcade releases of 2013. While we can’t possibly cover every single XBLA game planned for this year, we’ll be giving you a varied list of 40 of the most promising titles we expect to release on XBLA in 2013. Once it’s all done, be sure to check back in next Monday when each staff member makes his/her picks for the game he/she is most looking forward to.
Alien Fear
Developer: City Interactive
Alien Fear is an Unreal Engine 3-powered sci-fi first person shooter headed to XBLA, presumably at some point in 2013. Though we’re assuming that the above image is a target screen rather than an actual in-game image, developer City Interactive is promising that the use of Epic Games’ ubiquitous engine is allowing them to create an Xbox Live Arcade title that boasts “visually stunning, large-scale environments with impressive long-range vistas and expressionistic lighting.” The co-op shooter has yet to be shown in action, but XBLAFans is looking forward to finding out if the game lives up to the promise shown in the above image whenever we get our first real look at it.
11 years ago
Weekly Roundup: January 13 – Shoguns, Skullgirls and Special Forces
Weekly Roundup compiles all the biggest news stories, reviews and features from the week into one handy post on the weekends.
It was a busy week for two of 2012’s biggest XBLA games: The Walking Dead and Minecraft. Minecraft saw its The End content delayed out of its next title update to some unknown future point. Meanwhile, we learned that The Walking Dead has sold a lot of episodes, that it may allow players to carry over saves to the next season and that gamers who bought a faulty Xbox 360 retail version of season one will be given a free XBLA copy. If you’re still looking for more XBLA coverage, be sure to keep an eye on the site every weeknight this week as we detail the biggest games coming to Xbox Live Arcade in 2013. What games are you looking forward to this year? Let us know in the comments below.
Here’s our week in review:
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11 years ago
Sticks and stones couldn’t break Skullgirls’ bones
The story of Skullgirls‘ development, release and post-release support just may have more twists to it than its top-heavy characters have curves on their pixelated bodies. It started with two men, each with a skill, a passion and an idea. In 2009, longtime fighting game fan and tournament player Mike “Mike Z” Zaimont began programming a fighting game of his own. Elsewhere, unbeknownst to Zaimont at the time, artist Alex “o_8” Ahad was drawing a new fighting game universe of his own into existence, complete with characters to populate it. Eventually the two were introduced and merged their pet projects together at Reverge Labs into the game that released on XBLA and PSN in April of last year as Skullgirls.
Critics generally gave the game a favorable reception, with its combined XBLA and PSN score averaging 80% on Metacritic. Gamers gave it a fairly warm reception, too. The developer was excited when Skullgirls sold 50,000 copies in its first 10 days on the market. Although the development team informed XBLAFans on Thursday that Skullgirls has failed to turn a profit to date, we were also informed that the game has performed well enough that publisher Autumn Games is interested in green-lighting a sequel if it can successfully dodge the sticks and stones City National Bank has thrown its way.
With a PC version, DLC characters and multiple sequels in the plans, things were looking up for Zaimont, Ahad and the rest of the crew at Reverge. Then everything went quiet. Months went by without a single update on the port, downloadable content or the sequel. It was eventually revealed that the Skullgirls team had been let go by Reverge Labs in June of 2012 after developer and publisher allowed their contract to expire without agreeing upon a new one. More sticks. More stones.
Whether it was the entire team that was let go or some fraction of it has been a matter that was up for some debate. Reverge blogged that it was some of the team, while the displaced developers once said it was “the entire” team. When questioned repeatedly by XBLAFans over the past couple of months, neither of those factions nor Autumn has been willing to go on record to clear the air. The one thing that has been abundantly clear, though, is that the contract expiration effectively brought about a game over screen for future Skullgirls content and its would-be creators.
Or did it?
11 years ago
Every 360 controller ever produced by Microsoft, and where to find them *UPDATED*
Oh man, we love us some 360 controllers. They fit any size hands, unlike the Sony controllers, and despite the less-than-stellar stock d-pad they’re a dream to use. But it’s not just about functionality, it’s about collectability. And with 33 official Microsoft controllers to hunt down there’s no shortage of game for the hunter.
But some controllers may only interest you from an aesthetic standpoint, and so in addition to a rarity rating for each controller we’ve also listed an availability level for replacement parts should you want to transform your existing controllers. So instead of buying an all new controller you can give that nasty, sticky-buttoned gamepad new life and a wicked shell. When searching for custom shell parts remember to stick with vendors that have high reputability or high eBay ratings. There are a lot of cheap knockoffs that look the same in a picture but fit poorly. As per our recent review, we recommend Quickdrawmods if you’re looking for shells that have a Low or above availability rating. Past that go for eBay sellers with high ratings (both in percentage and number of ratings). Also be sure to pick up a Torx T8 security bit screwdriver from whoever you buy your first shell from. It’s invaluable, and they’re usually dirt cheap.
So without further ado we present the 32 Microsoft produced 360 controllers: row by row, left to right.
UPDATE: Added a missing controller to bottom right of the above, along with a description below.
11 years ago
Zombie Driver HD in-depth interview
XBLA Fans recently had the opportunity to chat with Pawel Lekki, COO at Exor Studios. Exor’s Zombie Driver HD released on XBLA this past October, and Lekki was more than willing to talk about the title as well as his background in game development.
Pawel, please tell us a few things about yourself outside of the world of gaming.
I think there isn’t much outside the world of gaming because I spend most of my day at work to be honest. But if I’m not working I enjoy travelling by car around Europe. Moving around in your own vehicle gives a lot of freedom, and I annually make road trips with a few friends. Our record braking trip so far was visiting 11 countries in 7 days with a total of 5000km on the road.
How did you get into game development?
The first gaming-related thing I did [actually involved] classic role playing games. I was a game master for 5 years, and together with our team we created our own version of one of the popular RPG systems. I guess you could say we started modding with pen and paper.
When it comes to traditional computer game development, I started by making levels for various games with my brother. The first game for which we made our own maps was Age of Empires, then StarCraft, and later we moved on to first person shooters like Unreal Tournament, Quake 3 and Half-Life. The first Make Something Unreal contest actually played an important role in our journey because it made us go public and share our works on the internet. After that we started working on mods for Half-Life and informally started Exor as a modding group. Our first public mod was ‘D.I.P.R.I.P.’ for Half-Life 2 and because of our work on it we were all hired by a Finnish mobile game development company called Gamelion. That was the beginning of my professional game development career which started 7 years ago.
Guardians of Middle Earth – XBLA Fans Guide
Be a pro at defending The Shire
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11 years ago
XBLA Fans 2012 Game of the Year awards
Another year is in the books, and, as expected, XBLA has continued to grow and reach milestones that one would not have imagined possible seven years ago when the first few XBLA games released. In 2012, XBLA games set many records only to break those same records again and again in the ensuing weeks. From Fez to Trials Evolution to Minecraft, the downloads just kept queuing up all over the world. The success of XBLA in 2012 was impressive to say the least.
That meant that we had quite the task in front of us when coming together as a staff to try to decide which game to pick for each Game of the Year category below. The nominee list for each category offered so many great choices, but at the end of the day, only one game could win each award and as a staff of passionate XBLA gamers, we think we did a pretty good job of presenting the highlights of Xbox Live Arcade in 2012. Hope you like what we picked, but if not, let us know in the comments what you would have voted for. Without further delay, here are the 2012 XBLA Fans Game of the Year awards as chosen by the XBLA Fans staff.
11 years ago
Contest: The 12 Days of XBLA (Day 12)
On the last day of The 12 Days of XBLA, we are giving away the most successful XBLA game ever. That’s right, it’s Minecraft day. And as an added bonus, we have a few extra games to give away to the daily winner of this post. The winner will also receive a copy of Black Knight Sword, Pool Nation and The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile! That makes this particular contest worth $55!
All you need to do to enter today’s contest is share your favorite Minecraft creation below. Anything is acceptable. You could link to a photo you have uploaded of your world, describe an awesome moment you had like your first creeper encounter or even link to/describe somebody else’s creation you saw online that took you aback with its excellence. Anything goes here. It’s the last day. Let’s just share Minecraft stories, shall we? We hope you enjoyed the past 12 days. We sure did :)
The winner of yesterday’s contest is: Marco Cremona (@XdarKillerX94) – You have won a copy of Fable Heroes. We will be in touch with you today on Twitter!
And the winner of this (Day 12) contest is: xMALOx (@xGATOxMALOx) – You have won a copy of Minecraft, Black Knight Sword, Pool Nation & The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile. We will be in contact with you today on Twitter!
11 years ago
Contest: The 12 Days of XBLA (Day 11)
As we near the end of the 12 Days of XBLA promotion, we have one last Photoshop contest for you. The above image is a screenshot from an 2012 XBLA game after a few Photoshop filters were applied. All you need to do to enter today’s contest is name the game the screenshot is from in the comments section below. Good luck!
The winner of yesterday’s contest is: Slim (@DarkSlimy) – You have won a a Pinball FX2 Avengers Chronicles and Zen Classics pack. We will be in contact with you today on Twitter!
11 years ago
Contest: The 12 Days of XBLA (Day 10)
Today we will be giving out an Avengers Chronicles and a Zen Classics pack for Pinball FX2. That’s 8 total tables! All you need to do to enter today is post your dream pinball table in the comments section below. I know I personally want to see some sort of South Park table added. And to be honest, Saved by the Bell would be pretty cool too. What would you like to see added to Pinball FX2? Let us know below and you are entered in today’s contest. Good luck!
The winner of yesterday’s contest is: El Ross Maszczak (@el_Ross_M) – You have won a copy of Sine Mora. We will be in contact with you today on Twitter!