Trials: Evolution will be the next game to feature avatar awards. To see more XBLA-based Avatar awards, check out this link. If you want the latest Avatar Award related news as it hits the scene, be sure to follow @AvatarAwards360 on Twitter.
Upcoming games: **Awards are the same for male and female unless specified
Trials: Evolution – Trials and Tribulations T-Shirt, Squeaky The Squirrel pet
Really, this story trailer speaks for itself. Look at it! Watch it! It’s so cool!
Alright yeah there’s more to this story. Many have been expected Umbrella to be the eighth character in Skullgirls, but this trailer hints at Umbrella being a recurring story character rather than being playable (at least initially). If she is indeed Parasoul’s younger sister and Parasoul is the previous Skullgirl, that would make Umbrella pretty important as well. Now there’s no confirmation here, all speculation indeed, but the silhouetted figure at the end of the trailer is more likely the eighth character. Hopefully she’s not some overpowered v-13 (Blazblue) character or something to that extent. Either way, the story mode format seems to follow a traditional fighting style fight-by-fight mechanic with dialogue-based character interaction between fights. Who knows if it’s voiced over, would be nice though.
Source: PlayStation Blog
If you follow the industry closely, you’ve been hearing a lot of rumors about things going on over at THQ as of late. Today however, we’re able to bring you something concrete; THQ is teaming up Seamus Blackley’s new development studio Innovative Leisure to bring a slate of new games to the market that will be be released on various digital download platforms. Blackley, known as the “father” of the original Xbox is joined by names such as Ed Logg, creator of Asteroids, Centipede, and Gauntlet, Van Burnham, Rich Adam, Tim Skelly, Owen Rubin, and Ed Rotberg who are collectively known as creators of arcade classics during gaming’s infancy. While we don’t know much about whats in development over at Innovative Leisure, our hopes are high that some of their efforts will appear on Xbox Live Arcade.
Source: VG247
Rayman 3 HD will set gamers back 800 MSP when it launches next month, Ubisoft told Game Informer earlier today. As was revealed a few days ago via a launch trailer, the game will be available starting March 21. Ubi’s remake of their 2003 platformer will run at an upgraded resolution of 720p.
Sources: Game Informer and @jimreilly
IGN have published a new video from the development team behind Alan Wake’s American Nightmare. In the first of series of developer diaries, the team chat about what we can expect from Remedy’s latest title. The game is said to be a stand alone story in which Alan Wake will face his evil double, Mr Scratch. They also compare new gameplay to Tarantino’s From Dusk till Dawn, with hectic combat and leaderboards in comparison to the Stephen King suspense of the original retail game. Story is still a big part of the game however and the developers hope that it will redefine XBLA by raising the bar on quality.
Alan Wake’s American Nightmare releases on XBLA February 22 and Remedy are promising a “hefty” amount of content for the 1200 MSP price tag.
Source: IGN
Harvest Moon creator Yasuhiro Wada has had an interesting couple of years. Since leaving his longtime employer at Marvelous in 2010, Wada joined Grasshopper Manufacture. After a short stint by Suda 51′s side, Wada left Grasshopper and has now formed a new development studio called Toybox Inc. While we know little about what Mr. Wada and Toybox will be working on, new small scale studios are popping up everyday that are dedicated to working on downloadable titles. We only hope that we get to see some of Toybox’ efforts on Xbox Live Arcade!
Source: Siliconera
IGN has put together a great video feature that gives us a tour of de_dust in Counter-Strike over the years since its debut. Starting in 1.6, graduating to Source and then moving on to the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive beta, the clip details just what has changed on dust for this new entry. The game is currently undergoing beta testing on PC, which is where this new footage is taken from. If you’re serious about competing, start studying the new layout and planning your tactics immediately! Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is set to shoot up XBLA this spring.
Source: IGN
In our recent interview with Shank 2‘s Jamie Cheng, he pointed out that Karina isn’t just the character icon next to Shank’s in the Survival multiplayer. Roughly half the character skins unlockable in Survival Multiplayer, of which there are a total of 16, are Karina characters and the other half are Shank. Shank-alikes play like Shank with his weaponry but have different stats, same with Karina’s. In fact, some of Karina’s weaponry won’t even be usable in the single player at all (since you don’t play as Karina), so the only way to experience it is to play as Karina. This is pretty awesome news, hopefully it will encourage people to play the multiplayer and try out Karina’s gameplay.
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Sega seems to have found a gold mine in republishing games from their golden days. The Xbox 360 has seen several classic titles come to Xbox Live Arcade. Several Sonic games from the Genesis console, Crazy Taxi, Daytona USA, Space Channel 5: Part 2 and so many more have seen great success. It comes as no surprise that the folks at Sega are looking to bring more fan favorites to XBLA. Producer Yosuke Okunari alluded to new titles in response to a fan tweet. The fan requested that the Japanese hit Spikeout be brought to XBLA. Okunari responded with a general ‘no comment’ on Spikeout, but mentioned that more XBLA titles would be released in 2012, including one that fans will consider “unexpected”. Thanks to @lifelower for the tip.
Source: Twitter
Budget-conscious gamers curious to discover what all the Xbox Live Gold fuss is about can find out by taking it for a free test drive now through Sunday. Any Xbox 360 owner with an internet connect can preview the subscription service through this weekend at no cost.
The promotion is meant to tie into Electronic Arts’ Madden Bowl XVIII, with coverage of said tournament beginning tonight at 9 pm EST on ESPN. Celebrities and NFL players will gather together to compete in 3-on-3 matches in Madden NFL 12 in one of the astromical number of events designed to get fans hyped up for Super Bowl XLVI. The game itself will be played out between the New England Patriots and New York Giants this Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
Source: Microsoft
