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XBLA Fans Monthly Roundup (February 2012)
12 years ago

XBLA Fans Monthly Roundup (February 2012)

We totally missed January, but the Monthly Recap is back for February! Yaaay. There’s an immense amount of news this month because for some reason February is XBLA month. There’s roughly a million game announcements and DLC as well. I suggest hitting CTRL + F and searching for the copious news about your favorite game. Or games. Or just read all the news, because that’s a good idea.

Beyond the “things that happened”, there’s also several Friday Top Fives and Most Wanted’s this month as we continue to beef up our feature repertoire. Our chief feature, A Year In Review (2011) is definitely worth checking out for some insight into the fluctuations in XBLA cost versus review scores. Lastly, amongst the five podcasts is our Music Special which showcases some of the best XBLA soundtrack tunes since its inception.

Without further ado, welcome to February all over again! Read More

Shank 2 guide
12 years ago

Shank 2 guide

Everything you need to slice your way through
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Minecraft preview: Now I get it
12 years ago

Minecraft preview: Now I get it

I told myself I would never play Minecraft as I have this incredibly easy ability to become quickly addicted to something. To put it in perspective, I’m the guy who watches entire series of TV shows straight through in a day, not just seasons. I’ll try and fail for hours at a game like Super Meat Boy or Trials HD until I can get through sections perfectly. When I started Skyrim, I had eighty hours put into the game before I even remembered to start the main quest. When I fell in love with XBLA games, I helped start this website. So it was no surprise when I finally picked up a controller to play Minecraft an hour passed by like nothing had even happened.

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The Splatters: the most fun you’ll ever have with gooey creatures
12 years ago

The Splatters: the most fun you’ll ever have with gooey creatures

Almost every game does something right; whether it’s a fantastic new engine or physics, creative and quirky design, or interesting and challenging levels in which to experience it all, but to truly leave a mark a game needs to do everything right. After playing The Splatters a few dozen times and watching those colorful blobs explode and stain the screen, this could easily be one of those games. It’s launching on April 11 and it needs to be on your radar. Coming into GDC, I wasn’t too familiar with The Splatters or its developer Spiky Snail, an Israeli company founded in 2010 by two childhood friends. Yet throughout the week I keep finding myself wanting to come back and play more.

Players take control of these blob-like creatures and attempt to destroy bombs by exploding their splatter, releasing a paint like substance and coating the bombs in the paint. The basic controls are incredibly simple, as the left analog stick points the direction and the A button launches the splatter. Holding A will result in the splatter launching with enough force to cause it to explode should it come into contact with a wall or spikes, while lightly tapping the button will allow it to move locations. Players can change direction in midair both before exploding and after exploding through this same mechanic. The beginning levels have a few stages and slowly introduce basic mechanics. Every splatter that is still alive after completing a stage will continue to the next one until the end of the level where they will add points to a players score.

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XBLAFancast Episode 52 – Maple syrup, Moose
12 years ago

XBLAFancast Episode 52 – Maple syrup, Moose

First off, apologies for the dip in audio quality this week. Some technically difficulties meant we had to use the backup for this episode.

No Andrew this week, but Todd is back and we brought Shawn back in to fill the gap. We talk a bit about last weeks release of Nexuiz, which we are somewhat baffled by in many ways. With not much else XBLA to talk about we chat some about SSX which most of us have been playing over the past week.

We recorded over the weekend, meaning we missed a lot of big news that came out on Monday. So if you’re wondering why the new segment is missing some pretty big stories there’s your reason. We round things out with some Todd Talk and don’t forget to play Small Arms for Andrews Remember The Days feature.

Please subscribe, rate and review the podcast on iTunes. We appreciate it! Check us out on twitter (@XBLAFans) where you can win codes for games, give us feedback or just ask a question. We are also now on Stitcher, so you can stream the show on your smartphone, give it a go!

Big thanks to Chris Green for the awesome theme music, be sure to check out his site BlurredEdge and why not follow him on twitter too @BlurredEdge.

[podcast]https://xblafans.com/xblafancast/XBLAFancastEp52.mp3[/podcast]

RSS | MP3 | iTunes Read More

Spring Showcase with XBLA Fans and GDC coverage on the way
12 years ago

Spring Showcase with XBLA Fans and GDC coverage on the way

The Spring Showcase happened in San Francisco recently and had a lot of great games to show for it. Not to mention a bunch of XBLA games and we have a ton of new content about each game. Look past the break to see what spring is blooming on XBLA.
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Weeknd Rant: Why I don’t want another Xbox
12 years ago

Weeknd Rant: Why I don’t want another Xbox

Microsoft’s first foray into the video game business was a risky and expensive maneuver. Despite having Halo as a stellar launch title and hardware capable of feats its competition couldn’t possibly produce, the original Xbox failed to maintain the flash and evolution of its distant brother: the Xbox 360–which is nearly celebrating its 7th anniversary on the market.

Console generations generally don’t exceed the pre-determined life expectancy predicted by its creators, but sometimes an unexpected boom of success prompts the decision makers to reconsider. Last November, Microsoft sold 1.7 million Xbox 360 consoles in the U.S., defeating Nintendo’s Wii and 3DS consoles by a large margin. Profit incites investors, potentially explaining why Microsoft has yet to formally announce a successor to its commercial darling. The last thing Microsoft wants to do is create competition for its own product.

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