Want to add some old-fashioned flair to your rampages through Gotham City? As luck would have it, a new DLC pack for Gotham City Impostors will allow you to do just that.

Out this week is the Steamy Punk Pack for Monolith Productions‘ first person shooter, which pits players against each other fighting on the side of Batman or the Joker. The pack comes with six items: The Steampunk costume, Steampunk voice, Dino Paint Job, the Witch Doctor weapon, the Jetpack Gadget, Well Grounded Fun Fact and Stitches the Mascot.

Gotham City Imposters’ Steamy Punk Pack available now in the Xbox Live Marketplace for 400 MSP.

Gotham City Imposters gets steamy with DLC

The Xbox 360 port of Minecraft was the most popular XBLA game during the one week period beginning May 7, according to Major Nelson. Minecraft also pulled into a respectable third on the overall list of most-played 360 games last week, behind only the ludicrously popular Activision FPS duo of Call of Duty: Black Ops and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.

Originally released on the PC by Swedish developer Mojang in alpha form way back in 2009 before having the full version become available in November of last year, the world-building title was brought over to Arcade by 4J Studios with the help of its original developer and Microsoft. The port eclipsed the one million sold mark on May 14, at which point players had sunk in excess of 5.2 million hours into the game.

Source: Major Nelson

Minecraft was the most played XBLA game last week

Big news came out on the Facebook page for Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD. The game is confirmed to getting some DLC sometime after the game’s release and is grabbing from THPS 3 for choices. However, Robomodo and Tony Hawk haven’t decided on what and are looking for suggestions from the fans in order to pick the levels. After all is said and done though, The Hawkman will get the call on the levels. Hopefully Canada, Airport and Cruise Ship make the mix but what ones do you fans want? There’s some we got to be missing that you want to see. The game is due sometime in June for 1200 MSP.

Source: Facebook

First DLC for Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD coming from THPS3

Due to a busy schedule we’ve postponed Trials Tuesday until tomorrow. Sorry for those folks who are itchin’ for a few new tracks. We promise it will be worth the wait.

PSA: Trials Tuesday moved to Thursday this week

It frightens me to think how much money I’ve spent over the years on video games. True, I may not be walking down Rodeo Drive with 20 handbags full of dresses, jewelry and shoes, but I really wonder how many of us could give the traditional shopaholic a run for her money when it comes to the amount of money we’ve dropped on games, guides, consoles, and the like. Considering consoles range from the 2-500 USD when they’re released and games have always been in the 50-60 USD range. Game guides are roughly half that price, as are controllers. Other game peripherals can be as much as twice the cost of a game.

Yikes.

We buy em’ just because they’re on sale

Gamers are like garage salers. They love a great bargain, no matter what it is. We’ve all been bitten, myself especially. During that transition to digital movie rentals a few years back I spent way too much. Video rental stores were closing left and right, marking down their movie and game inventory prices. I bought games I didn’t need: Dark Void, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Bionic Commando, Destroy All Humans: Path of the Furon and many, many more. On a few occasions I even bought more than one copy so my penniless friends could play online with me. So sad. The worst part is I don’t remember any one game from those purchases standing out as great or must-have. Why? Because the great games sold long before the fire sale price drops.

I know a few, ahem, nameless individuals who will admit to doing something similar with XBLA games, too. If it’s on sale and they have a mild interest they pick it up. Some people I know have 100+ XBLA games, many of which have either never had an achievement unlocked or never been played at all. How are they ever going to catch up with their queue?

. . . even if we never going to ‘wear’ them

Man, oh man. I’ve bought so many games on the cheap just because I could. Looking back I often stop and think “Where in the world would I have found time to play all those?” Luckily I’m beginning to settle down in my purchases, but not entirely. Why just the other day I dropped cash on two retail titles simply on that little itch–you know the one. It’s that mild curiosity about a game that eventually gets you to cave in and buy it. You may or may not play it, but more than likely it’ll sit for a long time before you do.

. . . or even if they’re the ‘wrong size’

You know the kind of game that your friends recommend over and over but you have no interest in? Yeah, that one that you bought anyway because so many people were raving about it? That’s the one. You buy it simple on one (or many) recommendation(s), you take it home, you play it, and you don’t see what the fuss is about. Maybe you see it’s a quality game, but it’s just not a game that fits your play style. Too bad, now you’re stuck with it.

I’ve had a handful of experiences with that sort of situation, mostly with retail titles. But I’ve had a few ‘bad fits’ on XBLA, too. It’s like the shopaholic who sees a beautiful dress in the store window. She’s heard all her friends tell her how great she’d look in it. She sees how well made it is. She sees that it’s offered in her size. But then she gets it home and finds out that the size 6 label lied to her. It fits weird in all the wrong places, so she has a friend try it on who looks great in it. Now she’s stuck with a dress that doesn’t work for her.

It was that way for me with Bastion. I bought it on sale without trying the demo. I could totally see the quality in this game. I saw the blood, sweat, tears and love that Supergiant Games put into it. I got why people love it. But for multiple reasons it just wasn’t a game I could get into. I just never caught the vision of what it was. I just kept waiting for it to grab me, but I gave up. Now that’s 600 MSP I don’t have. I could have ‘tried the clothes on’ so to speak before buying and saved myself money.

But some indulgence is fine

But I guess in the end crying about it won’t bring back the money I’ve spent. Besides, a part of me is proud to support the industry I love. I think I’ll just stop buying the games that I consider mediocre and focus on the great ones–the ones that I know interest me, but also have a lot of great buzz around them. That way maybe I’ll keep my wallet and bank account a little more full.

Oh who am I kidding. If I see a sale, I’m caving.

Editorial: Are gamers shopaholics, too?

We got something for hedgehog lovin’ speed-freaks and something for you music lovers out there in today’s XBLA Wednesday. First up is the return of Sonic in Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II for 1200 MSP. Go across 4 new stages of zones with Tails along your way to stop Metal Sonic and Eggman. If you’ve purchased Episode I and purchasing Episode II, you’ll get a bonus episode where you play as Metal Sonic through Episode I stages.

Second up today is Jam Live Music Arcade for 800 MSP. The game lets you feel the music with your controller or Guitar Hero/Rock Band controllers and get the highest points with some great songs from Modest Mouse and Atmosphere. This game is also only available in NA marketplace currently. Whether you want to run real fast or rock out real fast, XBLA Wednesday has got something for you.

Just a reminder as well that Dragon’s Lair will also be out this Friday, May 18.

XBLA Wednesday: May 16

It has become commonplace in the video game industry for everyone with a platform for conveying opinions to announce the imminent death of one thing the moment anything that is competitive gains any real measure of popularity. Read the headlines any given week and you’re likely to hear about how a certain platform or company — or any other “thing” imaginable, for that matter — has been placed on the endangered species list by a party that is a position to directly benefit from its eventual extinction.

Nintendo says cheap smartphone games are strip mining the industry dry. Rovio counters that console makers are dead men, er, companies, walking. Some obscure developer of cheap phone games rips the Vita here. A creator of social or browser games says the traditional big-budget game development community that once scorned him is now a crumbling empire there. And round and round it goes. Where it stops, nobody knows. But it’s certainly not at the retail versus digital argument.

That’s why current Electronic Arts President and COO and former Microsoft Interactive Entertainment Business CVP Peter Moore’s words at last week’s Bank of America Merrill Lynch 2012 Global Technology Conference felt somewhat out of the ordinary. Moore was more than happy to boast of EA’s $1.2 billion in digital revenues for fiscal year ending March 2012 that buoyed the company to a record total revenue of $4.2 billion in revenues.

Of course, that still left a lot of room for disc-based sales. As Gamasutra reported, Moore sees the two distribution models playing nice together going forward in ways that will keep the money train rolling for the third-party publisher. Nevertheless, his words are sure to spark controversy as he spoke openly of how the second-largest third-party in the world will continue using AAA disc releases as a means for leveraging DLC and microtransactions.

“Once we get that [disc] installed in the tray of an Xbox or a PS3, we then look at our consumer on an [average revenue per user] basis,” Moore said. “We love what retail does for us. We love its ability to create massive launches and create excitement. GameStop probably sees three million hardcore gamers walk through their doors every day, and that’s a marketing opportunity for us.”

On top of working together, Moore also sees the continued existence of brick and mortar stores as necessary if EA is to reach the largest possible audience. Without getting specific, he mentioned that “a lot” of the industry’s consumers don’t have credit cards. He also believes many of them are afraid of storing card data online thanks to incidents such as the disastrous Anonymous attack on the PlayStation Network. This slice of the audience still wants access to all of the digital goodies, though, which allows the industry to successfully sell physical cards that can be exchanged for digital products.

“A lot of our consumers prefer to go into retail buy those Xbox Live or PlayStation Network cards,” Moore explained, “and retail gets a very strong margin on that. For retail, if they can evolve to be not just a physical media purveyor, but a digital media purveyor, it’ll play a very strong role in our business going forward.”

He also handed out free gasoline for day-one DLC detractors to pour onto their torches. “The other key thing is selling digital content on the day of launch… When we sold Mass Effect 3 back in March, we saw a 40 percent attach rate that first week to DLC at GameStop in the United States,” he said. “Not only are you selling a $60 game…you’re selling $20 DLC, so the sale becomes $80.”

There has been no shortage of outrage from gamers over the advent of DLC, especially that which resides on physical discs must be “unlocked” through purchases. Opponents of this type of content could also just not buy it, but the argument goes that they are then being cheated out of content they believe would have been included free-of-charge as a part of the game proper in eras gone by. Despite the indignant outcry, a large enough contingent of consumers are apparently ponying up for such content to convince EA to keep it coming.

Source: Gamasutra via Destructoid

Peter Moore says retail and digital will play nice together

Perry brings lots of news, so much that Todd has to jump in to tell us all about some big Awesomenauts leaks. We round things out with a big twitter topic and discussion of the Remember the days game.

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.

RSS | MP3 | iTunes

Hosted, produced & edited by:

Ross Adams (@randomlyrossy)

Co-hosted by:

Perry Jackson (@prryjcksn)

Todd Schlickbernd (@emessai)

Andrew Crews (@twixprintmatic)

Intro music:

Chris Green - Blurred Edge

News discussed:

Game Announcements: The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing, Carmageddon XBLA now a Kickstarter project, Combat Wings

Release Dates/Windows: Tony Hawk HD out in June

DLC/Etc: Awesomenauts community address with patch details and new character, Rumor: Awesomenauts DLC character info, More Iron Brigade content hinted, Microsoft cancels Inside Xbox in U.S. and Europe, $99 subscription-based Xbox confirmed, Internet Explorer 9 rumored for Kinect coming

XBLAFancast Episode 61 – Your junk’s gonna get fried

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode 2 launches for XBLA on Wednesday May 15 for 1200MSP. The conclusion to Episode 1 looks to be pretty intense with a lot of high flying action. Hopefully the Xbox 360 will have the “blast processing” power to handle it all. Don’t forget that owners of Episode 1 will also unlock the special Episode Metal with the purchase of Episode 2. Time will tell if this title corrects some of the mistakes of its predecessor but this trailer has us feeling hopeful.

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode 2 launch trailer

Joy Ride Turbo will release on May 23 for 800 MSP, according to Major Nelson. Developed by Vancouver-based Big Park Studios, the kart racer is a follow-up to 2010′s Kinect Joy Ride. Unlike the original, the forced-induction sequel is played with a traditional controller. More details on the racer can be found here.

Source: Major Nelson

Joy Ride Turbo spooling up on May 23

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:

• Castle Crashers – 600 MSP (was 1200)
• Fusion: Genesis – 400 MSP (was 800)
• Iron Brigade – 600 MSP (was 1200)
• Iron Brigade DLC: Rise of the Martian Bear – 200 MSP (was 400)
• Orcs Must Die! – 600 MSP (was 1200)
• Magic 2012 – 400 MSP (was 800)
• Magic 2012 DLC: Magic 2012 Expansion – 200 MSP (was 400)
• Trials HD – 600 MSP (was 1200)
• Trials HD DLC: Big Thrills – 200 MSP (was 400)
• Worms: Ultimate Mayhem – 600 MSP (was 1200)
• Worms: UM DLC: Single-player pack – 200 MSP (was 400)

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.

More XBLA deals with Microsoft Publisher Sale

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:

• Fruit Ninja Kinect – was 800 MSP, now 560 (30% off)
• Hole in The Wall – was 800 MSP, now 400 (50% off)
• Leedmees – was 800 MSP, now 400 (50% off)
• Double Fine Happy Action Theater – was 800 MSP, now 400 (50% off)
• Rhythm Party – was 800 MSP, now 400 (50% off)
• Haunt – was 800 MSP, now 400 (50% off)

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.

Deal of the Week: Kinect Special

It’s official: those psychotic bats and jokers are clinically insane. Gotham City Impostors will soon be receiving a new map based in Arkham Asylum, free of charge. The new map brings the battle behind the fences of the iconic asylum for the criminally insane, appearing a lot brighter and noticeably different from the version seen in Batman’s recent retail games. The map is planned to launch May 16, 2012, super criminals not included.

Source: Joystiq

Gotham City Impostors checked into Arkham Asylum

Making guides for competitive games is never easy, and never simple. As such, we’ve poured the knowledge acquired from 35 hours worth Awesomenauts, 100+ online games and the assurance of a 1500+ rating (the leaderboard position changes often, but it’s ~50). Hopefully that’s enough assurance for you that you’re in good hands. Thanks to many XBLA staffers and gamers alike who helped form this knowledge.

Since this guide is for a competitive multiplayer we must stress that things change over time and we cannot guarantee that the strategies employed at the time of writing this guide will stand the test of time as balance patches are released. However! We will update the guide in conjunction with DLC characters are notable patches which have overt effects on the function of different characters. For instance, of Yuri’s mines go from 30 base damage to 32, we’re not going to tell you that. However, if he can all of a sudden use his Time Warp without stopping, we will update that.

There is no map DLC planned for now, but there are at least two characters. They will make their way into this guide at the time of release along with all subsequent releases. For now, please enjoy what we have and do feel free to offer variants to character builds in the comments! While we feel we have chosen good builds and outlined some interesting variants where we found them, it takes a community to find some of the good stuff! So please, if you have questions or suggestions email them to us at guides@xblafans.com or tweet us @xblafans or our guide coordinator directly @emessai.

If you’re new to Awesomenauts, we highly recommend checking out the “How To” before the rest of the guide.\

We’ve added some videos with commentary from our Video Coordinator, Shawn Saris. If reading is too much work, his quick rundowns of the characters will give you a starting off point for understanding the various Awesomenauts. If you need more info after the video, read through the guide! That’s what it’s for.

How To Succeed in Awesomenauts including Tips and Tricks

Character Guides

• Froggy G - Video Rundown
• Sheriff Lonestar - Video Rundown
• Leon Chamelon - Video Rundown
• Clunk - Video Rundown
• Voltar, the Omniscient - Video Rundown
• Yuri - Video Rundown
• DLC characters to come following DLC release…

Map Strategies

Thank you for Awesomenaut-ing.

Awesomenauts Fully Awesome Guide

When the Xbox 360 launched in November of 2005, the console wars were largely viewed as a two-horse race. Nintendo’s Wii was an afterthought in the minds of most industry analysts and executives — a belief that would be proven correct in terms of relevance among the traditional gamer audience, but so very wrong on the sales front, as it marched on to over 95 million units sold worldwide as of March. Rather, both popular and informed opinion said the battle would be fought between Sony and Microsoft.

Sony had spent the past 10 years decimating Nintendo and Sega’s positions as dominant forces in the industry by appealing to an older consumer and making the PlayStation 2 the best-selling home console of all time with more than 150 million consoles sold as of the end of last year. After having replaced the name “Nintendo” with “PlayStation” as a synonym for video games, the Tokyo, Japan-based electronics empire was feeling as invincible as Superman. With Nintendo having done its damnedest to torpedo its relationships with third-party developers and the software behemoth in Washington looking like the proverbial babe in the woods when it came the console biz, Sony could see no kryptonite in sight. Of course, few outsiders did either at the time.

Had it not allowed the pride that success brought to convince it that sinking so much of its PS and PS2 profits into the foolhardy enterprise of out-muscling the Xbox 360 with the PlayStation 3, however, it might have foreseen that it was on a path to learn the same hard and humbling lesson it had itself taught Nintendo. Instead, it produced an expensively priced machine that arrived a year late to the party and quickly built a reputation, fair or not, of being notoriously difficult to develop for. Geekwire reports that when he spoke to the Northwest Entrepreneur Network last week, Robbie Bach, former president of Microsoft’s Entertainment & Devices Division, highlighted how Sony’s miscalculations and mismanaged generational shift opened the door for the 360 to become the hugely profitable success that it is today.

“When you’re doing a startup, you need friends. It’s just the way life works,” Bach said. “It turned out we were able to convince retailers and publishers like Activision, Electronic Arts and others, that it was a good thing for Microsoft to be successful, because if we were not successful, the only game in town was Sony. Being dependent on somebody else was bad for them, and so they supported us disproportionately to what they should have, mathematically.”

When Microsoft first threw its hat into the video game hardware ring with the original Xbox in 2000 — a device that was outrageously successful at losing the software giant money — the longtime software company had to start from nothing on the gaming hardware front. It was determined to establish a foothold in the industry, no matter how great the cost. And it would prove great indeed. Between 2001 and 2005, Microsoft’s Home and Entertainment Group, the internal division responsible for the Xbox, among other things, parted ways with $4 billion.

Microsoft’s estimated loss of $168 per original Xbox console sold became the butt of countless fanboy jokes. The console’s expensive components blocked its maker from making money late in the console generation when it typically becomes far cheaper for aging hardware to be produced, and plenty of investors were displeased when it appeared there was no stopping the bleeding. The firm stayed the course, insisting it was establishing credibility for the Xbox brand, credibility that it would one day leverage into profitability and living room domination.

When Sony misplayed its hand with the leap to the PS3, Microsoft pounced. “Some of the success of Xbox was due to the fact that Sony did some really not so smart things,” explained Bach. “They mismanaged their 70 percent market share. It’s a long conversation. The transition to PlayStation 3 was really, really bad. And really hard. They mismanaged their partners, they mismanaged their cost structure. They made their next platform so complicated that developers couldn’t develop for it.”

It wasn’t all smooth sailing for Microsoft from there, though. Readers might remember the humongous number of hardware failure troubles 360 owners have had to deal with. Bach said it was “the most painful thing in [his] life, but the company persevered through [it].” Another billion had to be plunked down over the past six-and-a-half years to address the obscene number of “red ring of death” failures.

Sony would eventually make a recovery and a successful charge up the home console sales charts as the older Xbox 360 and under-powered Wii seemed to fade. Microsoft, not willing to watch the advantage it had worked so hard to establish slip away without a fight, countered with motion-sensing Kinect “controller” and an even more aggressive push to bring multimedia features to its console than before. It worked. Although the gap between 360 and PS3 sales is but a few million wide, Microsoft sits happily on the far side of that gap and has now spent more than a year on top of the monthly NPD hardware charts.

Bach left Microsoft in 2010 after 22 years there. Today he is involved in a number of nonprofit enterprises. His vacated position at the Entertainment and Devices division has since been occupied by Don Mattrick. He and the rest of the team are now working behind the scenes on the 360′s successor, supposedly codenamed Durango, while their competitors over at Sony endeavor to create what is rumored to be named the PlayStation Orbis. Details are light on both fronts, but both products should follow up on a home console cycle that has been unlike any before it with one that equally differentiates itself from its predecessors.

Source: Geekwire via GamesIndustry International

Robbie Bach partially credits Sony mistakes for Xbox’s success

More people watch Web video via their Xbox 360s than on any other non-PC device, according to newly released data from online video ad company Freewheel. According to the data, more people are streaming Internet video on their Xbox than their iPads, Androids or iPhones/iPods – 28.2 percent on Xbox, followed closely by 27.1 percent on iPad. About 19.4 percent watch on iPhone, 15.2 percent on Android devices and 10.8 percent on iPod or iPod Touch.

Now, this data isn’t without caveats, according to a report at AllThingsD: Freewheel monitors “professional content” accompanied by ads only – so services like ESPN and NBC are counted, but not YouTube or Netflix. With that in mind it’s possible there’s some discrepancy in the numbers presented and the reality, but this does seem to verify similar claims Microsoft has made before.

Data says Xbox is go-to device for Web video

If that wasn’t impressive enough Microsoft also shared a few more stats, since release Minecraft players have spent over 5.2 million hours playing online. Equally impressive, four million multiplayer sessions have been played across 2.4 million hours. If you’ve yet to be bitten by the Minecraft bug and are wondering what all the fuss is about, then you can find out in our review.

Minecraft sells over one million copies in less than a week

After a showing at PAX East, we knew the release of Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown was on the horizon of summer. Now we have a confirmed release date straight from Sega that it’ll be coming out on June 6 for 1200 MSP. But the game could end up costing you more if you want to spend more points on DLC items. There’s a customization pack for each of the 19 fighters for 400 MSP a piece but it will contain upwards of over 600 to 950 items, for just 5 bucks.

The game is the latest arcade version of Virtua Fighter 5 which sports 2 new characters with Jean Kujo and returning from Virtua Fighter 3, Taka-Arashi. There’ll be online multiplayer and training modes to make your fighter prime and ready for an upcoming battle with someone across the world. If Skullgirls wasn’t enough fighting action for you, you can try your hand at Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown this June.

Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown brawling on June 6 for 1200 MSP

Perry Jackson - Not too much XBLA but I did get to play Retro City Rampage at a Playstation event this week. It was on a Vita but it’ll be an engrossing, crazy experience on any platform.

Matt Liparota - A crazy week for me, what with an upcoming move and my girlfriend’s college graduation; in my spare time, though, I managed to dig a little more into Minecraft (Get it? Dig? Minecraft? Mine? Oh, nobody understands me). Looking forward to a bit of a lighter week coming up, hopefully with lots of gaming involved (Max Payne 3anyone?).

Nathan Bowring - Can’t talk, I’ve got a ton of obsidian to mine in Minecraft but I can’t find any diamonds!

James Heiger -  Its been a really slow week of gaming for me. I am still chipping away at Trials Evolution. I also fired up Pinball FX2 for a bit too.

Nick Santangelo - I played a little bit of Awesomenauts and a whole lot of Halo Reach. It’s nice that 343 is putting more appropriate credit rewards for completing challenges in and focusing the challenges more on matchmaking modes, which I Bungie probably should have done from the start. Still, the progress bar towards Legend moves absurdly slow, so I’ll probably still be ranked Hero when Halo 4 hits no matter how much I play the game between now and then. Anyhow, I also played someXenoblade Chronicles, but I’m making slow progress in it. The “good” news is that the retail release schedule for the next several months is a barren wasteland, so there won’t be much to distract me from it.

John Laster - Awesome. Awesome. Awesomenauts!

Ross Adams - It was a fairly regular week for games and then, Minecraft.

Ben Fisher - Still rolling along on Prototype 2.

Steve Melton - Picked up Forza Motorsport 4 for myself and Cars 2 (the video game) for my daughter and myself. Who knew that a movie-franchise game would be the perfect answer to an Xbox version of Mario Kart? Cars 2 is awesome.

Christine Mitchell - Well I wasn’t playing Fez that’s for sure, since my game save corrupted (sob!). Instead I settled for more Fable Heroes and a wee bit of Dance Central 2 while I wait for the patch.

Todd Schlickbernd -I’ve been all up in and around XBLA this past week. I’ve now got over 30 hours of Awesomenauts in and over 100 games, and proud of it. A few games a day has been tons of fun. I also played some Trials Evolution with friends over the past week and Castle Crashers as well. Lastly, I ended up playing waaay too much Minecraft. Never wanted it for PC, wasn’t going to pay for it on Xbox, then I got it for free; I’ve never had a game try so hard to get played.

Mark Seymour - Chowed down on my words and spent the last few days building sky-railways and portals into the bowels of hell in Minecraft. Also preparing myself for the almighty punch to the face that will herald Max Payne’s long-awaited return. It has been far, far too long.

No lack of choice on XBLA at the moment. What’s been tickling your fancy over the last seven days? 

What we are playing: May 13

May 7

Microsoft introduces $99 Xbox 360 “pilot program”

Tim Schafer hints at more Iron Brigade content

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD out in June

May 8

Trials Tuesday: Week of May 8

Combat Wings flying over to XBLA

May 9

Retro City Rampage to feature XBLA character cameos

XBLA Wednesday: May 9

Microsoft cancels Inside Xbox in U.S. and Europe

No splitscreen mining for SDTV owners

Carmageddon Reincarnation is now a Kickstarter project

May 10

Minecraft turns quick profit, Polytron questions MS policies

May 11

Internet Explorer 9 rumored to arrive on Kinect/a>

Ms. Splosion Man pinball tournament coming in Pinball FX 2

Awesomenauts community address includes new character and patch details

Rumor: Awesomenauts DLC character info discovered

Pinball Arcade: upcoming DLC

May 12

The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing announced for XBLA

Contest

Huge Awesomenauts vinyl record giveaway

Feature

Friday Top Five: Top Five XBLA end game songs

Podcast

XBLAFancast Episode 60: The Misadventures of Scuba Steve

Review

Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition

Weekly Roundup: May 13

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.

The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing announced for XBLA

Lots of news has been coming from FarSight Studios about upcoming updates and DLC for Pinball Arcade. First and foremost they have promised improved lighting for the tables with the next update. Though we didn’t mention it in our review this strikes us as a welcome addition. There are two upcoming DLC packs which will both launch on the same day. There is no official word on date but they are at least three weeks out. The first pack will include Medieval Madness and Bride of Pinbot. The second pack will contain Cirqus Voltaire and Funhouse. Price has not yet been announced for either of these packs but both include time tested classic pinball tables.

Perhaps most interestingly of all, FarSight has announced that they have negotiated the rights to reproduce the much acclaimed Twilight Zone pinball table. But as fortune would have it the terms are potentially too pricey to make the table financially feasible. They are looking into the possibility of using Kickstarter funds to get this project going. We would love to see this table get made so hopefully everything works out.

Source: Facebook – The Pinball Arcade

Pinball Arcade: upcoming DLC

Remember that new DLC character Ronimo Games just announced for Awesomenauts earlier today? GameFAQs member MirorB claims he’s discovered just about every element of the two DLC characters he claims are named Coco Nebulon (the girl recently announced) and Derpl Zork. He claims to have explored the .DDS files and found an unrefined picture of the characters’ sprites (below). Since then he’s posted the description, (some) base stats, move sets and an entire upgrade list of both characters. Since the first post wherein he posted a screen capture of the files he was viewing, no further evidence has been provided. However, having reviewed all of the upgrades, we believe the format is in-line with Ronimo’s build development methods.

Months ago a minor leak was captured by members on the Awesomenauts forums noting two characters, a slug and a girl with goggle, when Ronimo Games posted a screen grab to their Facebook with the DLC characters on it. We now know the girl with goggles is real, so the slug probably is as well.

Here’s the description of both characters:

Coco Nebulon

Hailing from a psyonic race on Okeanos, Coco is known as the cosmic waveblazer. Describes herself as hot & cool at the same time.
Excerpt from her spacelog: “It’s just like, dude, I was cruisin’ the galaxy, you know, in this totally tubular space-van, searching for the best cosmic waves man.”

125 Base Health, 4.2 Movement

Blaze: Temporarily, Coco’s hoverboard leaves a trail of electricity.
Ball Lightning: Shoot a ball lightning. Detonate it any time with a second press.
Attack: Channel Coco’s psycho-electric powers through her unfortunate enemies. (this is apparently a melee attack)
Jump: Hoverboard jump, with a chance to do a front-flip. Tubular!

Derpl Zork

Riding his combat walker onto the battlefield, comes Derpl Zork. The nephew of Blabl Zork, president of Zork industries, Derpl lacks his uncle’s business-smarts. In fact he lacks any kind of smarts: his IQ is even rated under the level of plankton in the official galaxial IQ test. He loves hunting cats, though.

Officially classed as:
Medium speed, medium ranged, tank.
(Clunk’s speed is classed as “slow”, take that as you will.)

180 Base Health, 3.1 Movement

Trap: Deploy traps that will ensnare enemies, locking them in place. Nuke in siege mode.
Turret Mode: Transform into a static siege mode, enabling deadly weaponry.
Attack: Mew enemies into oblivion by shooting explosive holocats. Gatling fire in siege mode.
Jump: Derpl’s walking desk has a temporary jet boost. Hold X (PS3) / A (360) to ascend!

The post includes all of the upgrades for both characters, but that’s a huge list so we’ll list both characters in the source links, and you can check them out there.

We have reached out to Ronimo Games regarding this information for confirmation.

First discovery source

Derpl Zork source

Coco Nebulon source

Rumor: Awesomenauts DLC character info discovered

A new challenger is approaching! This new Awesomenaut, for whom we have no name yet, is the first of the characters planned to help sustain the Awesomenauts’ community. Looks like she may have some sort of hoverboard, a bot she can summon, and what appears to be a ball of electricity, but we’re not sure yet.

Awesomenauts has been out just over a week now and the leaderboards are steadily populating. In fact, in our review we gave Awesomenauts a Buy It!, so if you haven’t checked it out already you should. If you have no idea what MOBA is, check out our explanation of it! For those of you who have played it, we have some fantastic news for you.

Ronimo Games has issued a community address, shedding some light on their tribulations of Awesomenauts’ release, as well as what’s coming down the pipe.

After dtp Entertainment (our publisher) filed for insolvency in the week leading up to release, we were incredibly scared that the game wouldn’t come out. Fortunately, dtp is on its way to overcome the obstacles and will continue to do business… We quickly came to an agreement that made sure the game could come out and ensured we would still be able to support the game for a long time.

Looks like Awesomenauts is secure regardless of dtp Entertainment’s condition, so all worries can be put to bed! Speaking of putting worries to bed, Ronimo is now hard at work on their first patch. Forum and Facebook users are submitting comments regarding current balance issues via a survey on the Awesomenauts Facebook page, which we recommend you check out.

Regarding the current disconnect situation, apparently the issue is tied to players with “strict” or “moderate” NATs joining the match. Combined with Awesomenauts’ strict ping requirements, those players seem to be causing rifts in matches they join. Ronimo is working on a solution for this in their upcoming patch.

Also to be included in this patch will be five new prestige icons for players who just can’t get enough!

Hopefully Ronimo will give us the down-low on this new Awesomenaut soon, but for now don’t forget to check out our awesome giveaway for a vinyl record of the Awesomenauts soundtrack!

Awesomenauts community address includes new character, patch

Pinball FX2 fans have something to keep them busy soon. There will be a tournament for the Ms. Splosion Man table from May 18 – 25. This fan favorite table is high scoring so hopefuls will need to start practicing. As always Zen Studios has promised prizes to the skilled winners which will include MSP’s and free copies of upcoming tables. Tournaments allow players to get a big boost to their wizard scores. Those looking to recover from a really bad Wolverine score would do well to pay attention to this tournament.

Source: Zen Studios

Ms. Splosion Man Pinball Tournament coming

Last week we took a look at the top five XBLA in-game songs that help establish a mood while you venture through five various games. But for this week let’s take a look at the top five XBLA end game songs that make the payoff for making your way through a campaign that much more sweet. These are the songs that mark an epic ending to a great adventure. The kind of song so good, it’s almost worth paying through the game a second time just to hear it again. But luckily we have YouTube for those of us who want listen over and over again. And with that said, let’s take a look at our list:

—————————————————————————————————————————————————

5). MC Frontalot – Final Boss (Penny Arcade Episode 1)

Penny Arcade products are known for their top of the line quality so it should be no surprise that they asked MC Frontalot to grace the game with a top notch song to play over the credits section. This game seems to be solely aimed at pleasing their core audience from every angle and “Final Boss” is the icing on the cake of a really good game. The lyrics in “Final Boss” paint a perfect picture describing what you went through in order to reach the credits screen which does a great job at capturing your attention. You’ve been there a hundred times before with many other games but for some reason, hearing the concept of the game described by MC Frontalot is very entertaining. Creating a song that can captivate a gamer to the point where they don’t want the credits to end is a rare feat. Well done MC Frontalot, well done.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————

4). Method Man – World Gone Sour: The Lost Kids (World Gone Sour)

World Gone Sour is a fairly underrated game. Very little attention was paid to this little gem that featured solid gameplay, great humor, quality voice work and one very epic game ending song. A day in the life of Method Man being totally disrupted by these conniving little candies. The great work here comes from the fact that these little Sour Patch Kids are doing their best to wreak havoc to the best of their ability but most disruptions they end up creating would be classified as minor annoyances. Whether it is setting off car alarms or cracking your eggs, these little guys are solely looking to cause trouble and the humor in this video goes great with the warped humor that is sprinkled throughout the game. “World Gone Sour” is a great payout for a surprisingly good game.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————

3). Lonny Watershed – The Splode Beneath My Splosion (Splosion Man)

Splosion Man is full of hilarious moments and Twisted Pixel probably have the best reputation on XBLA for sneaking hilarious songs in to their games. From “Donuts” in Splosion Man to “Brad’s Theme” in Comic Jumper, Twisted Pixel continues to knock it out of the park with their game music. At the top of the list of great Twisted Pixel songs has to be “The Splode Beneath My Splosion”. For a game filled with funny moments and references the whole way through, Splosion Man’s build up seemed to be over promising on what would be delivered when the dust settled. Turns out they over delivered. “The Splode Beneath My Splosion” was an absolutely classic ending to a really good game. Funny thing is that it gets better every time you watch it.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————

2). Laura Shigihara – Zombie on Your Lawn (Plants Vs. Zombies)

Is there a more adorable ending to a game other than the one that waits for you when you finish off the roof top levels in Plants Vs. Zombies? From the moment the spotlight hit’s the sunflower, you know that something special is about to happen. PopCap has a knack for making you smile and this addition to an already addicting game will likely live forever as one of your favorite moments in gaming.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————

1). Jonathan Coulton – Still Alive (Portal: Still Alive)

Forget the greatest XBLA game ending song, this is simply the greatest ending song in any game on any platform ever. The first time you complete Portal will be one of those rare gaming moments that you will never forget for as long as you live. The tone and humor of “Still Alive” perfectly matches the tone and characteristics of GLaDOS who happens to be one of the greatest game characters ever. Just when you thought you had put an end to her hilariously snarky comments, she makes her return in glorious fashion to round out the credits. “Still Alive” marks an absolutely unbelievable moment in an equally unbelievable game.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————

So there you have it, the top five greatest XBLA end game songs. Songs that all make the payout for completing these games well worth it. If you feel that a song you loved didn’t make the list, be sure to check out last weeks Top Five XBLA In-Game Songs list and see if it was included there. Otherwise, always feel free to drop some suggestions in the comments and share any songs from XBLA games that you hold near and dear. Have a great weekend everyone

Friday Top Five: Top five XBLA end game songs

With all of the new media apps available on Xbox Live nowadays, it seems the only thing missing is a web browser. According to a new rumor that may change. An unnamed source claims a modified version of Internet Explorer 9 is being tested on Xbox 360 consoles and will allow access to all parts of the Internet. The existing Bing Search will be expanded from media searches to actual web pages. As a bonus, the browser will work with both controller and Kinect, although it is reportedly better-fitted for Kinect with gestures and voice commands. There’s no word of any launch date, but if this rumor proves true we’d expect to see it at E3 next month. Xbox 360 is currently the only current-gen console without a web browser, so it will be an extremely welcome addition.

Source: The Verge

Internet Explorer 9 rumored to arrive on Kinect

We typically stay very focused on XBLA at XBLA Fans. We only cover stories directly related to the platform with the occasional hardware related post here and there. However, our sister site PSN Fans has worked out something pretty amazing: this Saturday PSN Fans will be live-streaming a game night with the developers for Wheels of Destruction and they will be giving out 50 codes for the full game on PSN between now and the end of the event. Make sure to follow them on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date as well as checking out all the details on their post. 

Let us know if you would like us to try to set up something similar at XBLA Fans. I can think of a few games that would be fun to stream but I’d love to hear what you’d like to see.

Around our Network: PSN Fans is giving away 50 copies of Wheels of Destruction.

Update: Polytron, following up on Mojang’s reporting of Minecraft figures based off of Xbox Live leaderboards, tapped Microsoft on the shoulder and questioned them as to whether or not the leaderboards are a legitimate gauge for sales numbers. As it turns out, just as the Fez developer had earlier alleged, they are not. “Hey so, Microsoft got back to us about sale[s] figures,” the studio tweeted. “Turns out the leaderboards ARE inaccurate!”

Quickly following that news was another statement by the dev elucidating that Microsoft showed no favoritism towards Mojang in terms of handing out sales data. But that doesn’t mean the studio believes the entire playing field is even. Earlier, Polytron expressed its discontent over Minecraft being granted the ability to receive free post-release content. Sticking to its guns, Polytron stated that favoritism was shown by the publisher in the way of “the free updates.”

Still, Poly, in a tweet directed at the media, called upon caps lock to underscore its belief that Microsoft’s actions were “NOT A SCANDAL.” It should also be noted that Polytron extended public congratulations to Markus Persson for having a successful launch on XBLA. Further details can be found in the primary story below.

Original Story: An hour was all it took. Within 60 minutes of Swedish developer Mojang’s XBLA port of its mega-popular PC world-building title Minecraft releasing yesterday, a profit had been turned. Studio owner Markus “Notch” Persson relayed the news over Twitter earlier today: “Well then. Saw the official sales numbers for the first 24 hours of Minecraft Xbox 360, and it’s very, very good. Profitable in an hour.”

After selling in excess of five million copies to date over on the PC, according to IGN, Minecraft managed to smash “all previous digital sales records” on the Xbox 360, Microsoft revealed in a statement that surfaced shortly after Persson’s tweet. Microsoft, who published the Arcade version of the game, said that no other release in the history of the platform had garnered as many sales as Mojang’s debut effort did in its first 24 hours of availability. The publisher declined, however, to identify just how many individual sales that record equated to.

Yet not everyone was silent on that matter. After having some public discussion over Microsoft’s policies regarding the divulging of precise sales numbers to developers with Fez developer Polytron, Persson gave a ballpark figure. “It seems it sold over 400k copies in 24 [hours],” he tweeted. The creative brain behind Minecraft apparently had to rely on leaderboard participation in order to extrapolate that number, a method which he admitted “might be off.” If his calculations are correct, that would mean the port, developed in part by 4J Studios, has already brought in more than $8 million USD in revenue.

While Notch had to do a bit of homework on his own to reach that 400,000 number, his earlier seemingly innocuous mentioning of receiving sales data inadvertently caused a bit of controversy in regards to Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft’s sales reporting. As mentioned, Polytron struck up a conversation with Persson and was none too pleased to hear that Mojang possibly got preferential treatment from the big boys up in Washington. How did you get those stats from MS?” Polytron inquired of Persson over Twitter. “We still dont [sic] know exactly how much Fez sold almost a month later. You get stats in 24 hours?”

In a tweet that came later, the studio that finally released Fez to critical acclaim last month after many years in development claimed that the wait for a comprehensive sales report from Microsoft typically lasts for months. “Standard [procedure] is: you find out how much you sold when you get your first check 3-4 months later,” Polytron claimed over Twitter.

Persson expressed surprise and sympathy in response to his fellow developer’s impression that Mojang was getting the first-class treatment from the publisher that it so coveted: “What? Really? I thought it was standard procedure! That sucks.”

Not done yet, Polytron tweeted at Notch once more about another perceived XBLA injustice. “You’re also getting free updates,” the developer complained, “which is something every other developer on the platform is told is simply not an option.”

The Mojang boss then replied that permission to release free updates on Xbox Live Arcade was not easily granted, and was ultimately only done with a stipulation: the developer can only release a certain amount of them. “We had to fight for that,” Persson replied, “and we got a limited number of them. Not sure why they don’t like it.” Fair points, to be sure. Still, Mojang is getting them while its competition isn’t. As a result, true or not, a perception has been created that Mojang’s wants are being catered to while other developers are being told its Microsoft’s way or the highway.

It’s far from the first time that Microsoft has come under fire for not allowing developers to distribute free content add-ons for Xbox titles. Valve’s Gabe Newell famously blasted the console holder over the matter back in 2010, calling Xbox Live “a train wreck.” At the time he identified his own assumption that Microsoft would eventually allow its development partners as many free updates as they wanted on the platform as a failure. Of course, Newell was referring to disc-based 360 releases, which are allowed a limited number of free updates — a number that fluctuates depending on the game and developer — but his point still stands.

An XBLA Fans request to Polytron for clarification on the matters of Microsoft’s sales reporting, free title updates and the developer’s apparent feeling of being slighted by the publisher have gone unanswered as of publication time.

Minecraft turns quick profit; Polytron questions MS policies [Updated]

If there is one thing that Awesomenauts has reminded us of it’s the fact that the ‘80s were awesome. In fact, even the fictional ‘80s characters of Awesomenauts seem way cool. Despite some earlier uncertainty, Awesomenauts launched on Wednesday, May 2. The title looks to try to revamp the Massive Online Battle Arena (MOBA) genre on consoles. Outside of a brief flirtation with Monday Night Combat, MOBA has largely kept to its PC roots (think major success League of Legends and one of my personal favorites, Super Monday Night Combat). If you’re unfamiliar with the genre we highly recommend checking our XBLA Primer on MOBA. If you are on the fence with buying the game, check out our review.

We were huge fans of the game at PAX East so when the opportunity came around to throw a giveaway related to the game we were ecstatic. We’ve teamed up with Ronimo and Sonic Picnic for a pretty exciting giveaway totally deserving of the ‘80s: we will be giving away EIGHT vinyl records (pictured above). On the front side, the record contains an exclusive version of the complete Awesomenauts theme song and a fitting drum & bass remix. The B side contains a mega mix of all the songs in the game.

FOUR of these records will be given away right here on the site. A FIFTH record will be through our sister site Game Music Fans. Another (SIXTH) will be through PSN Fans. We will keep you updated as those contests go live.  The Game Music Fans contest is live here.

The last TWO will be available through Twitter and Facebook respectively. We want to get the word out about this, so everyone who likes our post  about the contest on Facebook and everyone who shares the following tweet will be entered for a chance to win a copy.

Tweet this: Checkout this great giveaway for a chance to win an Awesomenauts Vinyl Record! RT for a chance to win. bit.ly/LZqvjz

In order to win one of these beauties on our site, all you need to do is comment below with which character you are looking to play as in Awesomenauts. While you’re at it, you should probably familiarize yourself with the maps and how to play as well.

The contest will run until Friday May 18th. You may enter once on each website.

Enjoy guys!

Huge Awesomenauts vinyl record giveaway!

Nearly one year ago Stainless Games announced that it was reviving the vehicular-combat Carmageddon franchise it created back in the late 1990s with the Square Enix-published Carmageddon: Reincarnation. Then nothing happened for a while. Well, not publicly it didn’t, at least.

In reality, a lot was happening behind the scenes at the Isle of Wight-based developer. After dropping “well over a third of a million dollars getting the rights back,” Stainless began prototype and design work on the revival. The hundreds of thousands the dev spent on the investment reportedly “rerepresents all of [its] profits from our other work,” but the team thinks it’s “worth it.” Yet it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t nearly enough, actually. And so the studio has announced its intentions to have the public fund the remaining $400,000 USD or more through Kickstarter. As of this writing, over $135,000 USD has already been funneled into Stainless’ coffers by nearly 4,000 individuals who want to see the Reincarnation completed and released.

“We want to spend the money doing what we do best: making video games,” says Stainless Executive Director Neil Barnden in a new promotional video that could pass as a low-budget version of a late ’90s video-game commercial.

Speaking with Joystiq, CEO Patrick Buckland added that he at first tried pitching the game, a reboot of the original titles, to a number of different developers once Stainless had reacquired the rights. Several of them reportedly told the CEO that they had “great memories of Carmageddon,” and that they viewed it as “a great brand.” Yet no concrete publishing deals were forthcoming. Publishing houses either wanted to see a completed project before they would even consider getting on board, or insisted on having Stainless hand the rights to the IP over to them. After sinking so much time and money into retaking ownership of those rights, though, the developer wasn’t about to just give them up.

No, it had been down that road once already in the wake of sequel Carmageddon II: Carpocalypse Now not living up to the sales success of the first game, which Barnden says came 40 copies shy of beating out Grim Fandango as 1997′s best seller. The rights and large sums of money were repossessed by “EVIL” publisher SCI after the second game’s poor retail performance.

“Carmageddon was one of [SCI's] biggest brands,” Buckland says, “so there was no way on God’s green earth they were going to part with that.” SCI would later buy up Eidos and gain control of the rights to several larger properties, but that didn’t mean it was about to loosen its grip on Carmageddon.

“Why sell your IP? Why do it? Better to have it just sat in a cupboard,” Buckland quipped. But the IP changed hands again back in 2009 when Eidos was gobbled up by Japanese publisher Square Enix. It was Stainless’ first real chance at getting back its baby, and the developer jumped at the opportunity. With the rights back in the creators’ hands, Stainless was free to proceed with development however it saw fit.

“We’re rebooting the brand by making Carmageddon: Reincarnation,” explains Barnden in the promotional video. “It will feature all the best bits from the original — and more. And we’ll make it shinier, HD, HiFi, WiFi, thigh-high and super-fly.

“If we meet our Kickstarter target of 400k, we’ll be able to afford the electricity to code even wackier power-ups. We’ll be able to make the blades on the cars sharper, fill the streets with pedestrians and fill the cows with even more stomachs. And if we get beyond that target, we’ll cram even more stuff into the game for you. Stuff beyond your wildest dreams, but not beyond ours.”

Barnden echoed that statement in his talk with Joystiq. “The idea is that with Carmageddon Reincarnation,” he said, “we are just going to be hi-rezzing the [excrement] out of everything. Everything can be smoother, shinier, filled with far more detailed giblets than there ever was before.”

More specifically, the studio says this reboot will stick closely to the first games but include new stuff like online multiplayer, rag-doll physics for pedestrians, power-ups based on physics and social integration on Facebook and Twitter. The classic Action Replay feature will return too, this time allowing players to upload videos to YouTube. As for the throwback stuff, expect no shortage of familiar environments, cars, drivers and power-ups. Of course, all of it is dependent on the Kickstarter fund hitting that $400,000 target over the next 28 days. Should that happen, Carmageddon: Reincarnation will see the light of day in February 2013.

Sources: Kickstarter and Joystiq

Carmegeddon: Reincarnation is now a Kickstarter project

Folks who can’t pony up the dough for an HDTV are up in arms over the lack of splitscreen  gameplay in Minecraft. It’s not broken or anything–at least that’s what they say. But SDTV players are entirely locked out of any splitscreen games, the option only available if your console is hooked up to some sort of HD output, Kotaku reports. It’s left some players on the Xbox.com forums completely clueless as to the problem, while others up in arms. It’s something that most reviews, including our own, didn’t catch–so yes, SDTV gamers are few and far between.

We’ve spoken our distaste about this recently, but this goes far beyond not being able to read text. This is locking players out of major features, players who spent money with no warning they’d be locked out. Players who are confused and mad. Take a look at just a few of the complaints below.

Hi. Just bought a £43 controller for my friend, So we could play splitscreen. I’ve plugged it in, Nothing happens. The controller works, You can hit the xbox button and it opens the menu, when I plug it in there’s no indication that the game found the controller? I’ve seen videos, It’s supposed to say Press start, Mine doesn’t. Help would be appreciated !!

Another user writes:

Just wanna meantion this to people that dont have a HDTV. This may be why some people are saying they cant get splitscreen working, the game requires a HDTV to use splitscreen. This makes no sense. I have a HDTV but i just needed to meantion this since ive seen a few people ask about splitscreen.

Microsoft, Mojang and 4J Studios have yet to comment on the issue.

Source: Kotaku

No splitscreen mining for SDTV owners

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

Microsoft cancels Inside Xbox in U.S. and now Europe

Is 1600 MSP too much for you? Residents of the United States can pick up Minecraft today for $15, the equivalent of 1200 MSP. Head on over to BestBuy.com to procure a copy. Still unsure? Check out our review to see what we thought. Thanks to Paul for the tip.

*EDIT*

Looks like either 1) Best Buy caught on to their mispricing of the game or 2) they are done with the sale. Hope you all got lucky enough to grab it on the cheap!

Minecraft on sale for $15 USD today at Best Buy *EDIT* Expired

XBLA Wednesday: May 9

Retro City Rampage looks to be fighting for the title of Most Pop Culture References in a Video Game. While we already knew about cameos like Mr. Destructoid and nods like the Ninja Turtle van and Back to the Future DeLorean, we’ve recently learned that some Xbox Live Arcade characters will be getting some love, too. ‘Splosion Man and his blushing bride will grace the screen and will playable during specific portions of the game. CommanderVideo and Super Meat Boy will also be making appearances. The best part of these recent announcements is that once you beat a given character’s minigame they’ll be unlockable for free roam play.

Retro City Rampage to feature XBLA character cameos

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.

Source: Xbox Marketplace

Combat Wings flying over to XBLA

Perry of course brings all the big news stories from the past week, then Todd uses this weeks Todd Talk to ponder bots in multiplayer games and what their roles should be.

Andrew rounds things out with Crews’ Community Corner, this weeks remember the days game is Golf: Tee It Up!. Be sure to send your thoughts to us on twitter.

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.

RSS | MP3 | iTunes

Hosted, produced & edited by:

Ross Adams (@randomlyrossy)

Co-hosted by:

Perry Jackson (@prryjcksn)

Todd Schlickbernd (@emessai)

Andrew Crews (@twixprintmatic)

Intro music:

Chris Green - Blurred Edge

Break music:

Balance Slays the Demon – Old Gods of Asgard (Alan Wake’s American Nightmare)

News discussed:

Game Announcements: Sega Vintage Collections Streets of Rage & Golden Axe info leaks, Twisted Pixel announcing new game at E3

Release Dates/Windows: Jam Live Music Arcade out May 16

DLC/Etc: Might & Delight detail renting an XBLA spot/self-publishing, Haunted Temple change name to 17-Bit, Worms Revolution will have a class system, No plans for Tribes Ascend on XBLA, Rumored $99 Xbox with subscription plan, Trials Evolution over 500,000 players, Microsoft’s E3 conference streamed over Xbox Live

XBLAFancast Episode 60 – The Misadventures of Scuba Steve

Another week, another set of great tracks. This time around we’ve upped how many we’re showcasing. Too many great creations come out each week. To download these tracks by entering Track Central, selecting Get Tracks, then pressing X to search. Enter the gamertag below to find the track. Be aware that the search is case sensitive. A big thanks to the Trials Evolution community for the borrowed videos. Hit the jump to see this week’s picks.

Track: The Dark Tower
Gamertag: Nanocrystal
Type: Trials
Difficulty: Hard

One does not simply ride into Mordor. . .

Track: EEDI
Gamertag: ABaines700
Type: Skill Game
Difficulty: Hard

Now this is more like the classic 80′s game Jupiter Lander. You have to navigate EEDI through the factory without touching anything. It’s all about precision and twitch controls, and we love it.

Track: Entropy 2
Gamertag: TheMovement81
Type: Supercross
Difficulty: Hard

There just aren’t enough Supercross tracks. And, being brutally honest here, most of the talented creators stick to Trials or Skill Game creations. So whenever we see a quality Supercross track we pass it along, be it difficult or not. Entropy 2 may be for more skilled players (at least if you want to win), but it’s still a quality addition to anyone’s playlist.

Track: Air it Out
Gamertag: Cannibal Shogun
Type: Supercross
Difficulty: Medium

Here’s yet another reason we love RedLynx. They participate in the community. Air it Out’s creator, Cannibal Shogun, is the same person that brought you the track editor tutorial series, and a member of the RedLynx team. While it’s not our favorite of RedLynx team Supercross entries, it’s still a solid track.

Track: Urskog
Gamertag: Offfspring
Type: Supercross
Difficulty: Hard

. . . And one more Supercross track, because we know you love em’. Urskog isn’t themed, but it is quite the technical course. You can easily get through it, but getting through with 0 faults and a lot of speed requires finesse.

Track: Retro Kong Trials
Gamertag: oXCuBXo
Type: Trials
Difficulty: Hard

Clever. That’s how we’d describe this track. It really does look and act like you’re riding inside the old Donkey Kong game. And for the adventurous there are actually two different endings to the track. See if you can find the second. Our only complaint? That we didn’t have a hammer attached to the front of the bike. We would have loved to smash those barrels.

Track: Tricky Commute
Gamertag: Chops037
Type: Trials
Difficulty: Medium

And for the player that doesn’t like to throw their controller in a fit of rage we bring you Tricky Commute. For all the tracks we’ve tried, this one smells the most like a RedLynx employee in disguise. We’re guessing Chops037 doesn’t work for them, but he should. He has their same creative style.

Track: SPHERE
Gamertag: HAYDN2012
Type: Skill Game
Difficulty: Hard

There are still those that mourn the delisting of Marble Blast Ultra from Xbox LIVE. For those poor souls we offer SPHERE. It’s one of many marble skill games out there, and truly one of the better ones. Those with an itch for new marble puzzles might just pick Trials Evo up for all of the great marble creations.

Track: Trials Tractor 6WD
Gamertag: Capitan Centola
Type: Skill Game
Difficulty: Medium

Come on, now. This is cool. It’s amazing what the community can do with this game. Sure, driving what’s essentially a big 6WD ATV isn’t tough, but it’s impressive and a lot of fun.

Trials Tuesday: Week of May 8

If you’re any kind of gamer, odds are you’re at least tangentially familiar with Minecraft. If you’re unfamiliar, a brief synopsis: You’re dropped in the middle of a seemingly endless world, left to fend for yourself. Just about everything in the game world can be deconstructed, reconstructed and combined to rebuild the world around you as you see fit (think of it as a world made entirely of LEGO blocks). When the sun goes down, though, the monsters come out to play – and when that happens, you’d better have some weapons or shelter to fight back (you remembered to build a sword, didn’t you?).

In a way, Minecraft is the quintessential open world game: The player is left to his or her own devices without that pesky story campaign getting in the way of the fun. When the game first released on PC in 2009, it became a sensation for its simple-yet-deep gameplay – and the fact that you could build anything from a scale replica of The Legend of Zelda‘s game world to virtual representations of human anatomy didn’t hurt either. Now, the game makes its long-awaited debut on XBLA: Does it retain the simple charm PC gamers have enjoyed for years, or is it lost in translation?

Here’s what we liked:

What, WHAT time is it?! - Ultimately, the biggest compliment one can give to Minecraft is that it’s one of “those” games – the kind you pick up to play for 10 minutes or an hour and accidentally play for six hours. Sure, you say you’ll quit after you finally gather enough items to craft that steel sword, but in the process you stumbled over that mountain range or into a cave and it couldn’t hurt to just explore a little more, right?

Old school meets new school - Minecraft’s unique graphics are about as well-known as the game’s addicting premise, and that visual style is translated seamlessly to XBLA. Minecraft’s blocky, pixely (some might say ugly – we wouldn’t) style is the perfect mix of 8-bit graphics of old and the high-def visuals of today, which both suits the game’s premise and mechanics but also lends the game a unique look that stands out from most anything else on the system, whether it be a fellow XBLA title or a full retail release.

Play your way - On its face, Minecraft’s premise is mind-numbingly simple – gather supplies, build stuff (heck, if you really want to, you can boil the game down to “explore until you get bored or die”). When you begin digging into crafting items and actually building that stuff, however, you realize the game is far deeper than initially appears. It’s to the game’s credit that you can ignore that completely if it suits you; Minecraft can be easily tailored to fit your play style.

Training wheels - Minecraft: Xbox 360 Version has one major addition not present in the PC version – a tutorial. This is a boon to new players, especially those weaned on tutorial-heavy console games. With the tutorial, newcomers can get up to speed on the basics of the game fairly quickly and stand toe-to-toe with veteran players. What’s more, it’s completely ignorable if you don’t want to futz with it, so there’s no need to plod through a bunch of stuff you already know when you want to start playing (something most tutorials can’t boast these days). It’s a smart move on Mojang’s part.

Intuitive controls - Translating a game to a console from the PC is always tricky, particularly where the controls are involved – if you don’t do it just right it can turn what might have been a passable or even great game into an unplayable mess. Luckily that isn’t the case with Minecraft, as the 360 controller setup suits the game quite nicely (for the most part – see below).

Come play with me - Minecraft’s big, empty, open worlds are great, but it can get awfully lonely to navigate and build in those spaces all by yourself. Fortunately, the game offers two ways to play with friends: Via splitscreen or Xbox Live. Exploring and building is a blast – it’s even better with a friend. One notable difference from the PC version is that player worlds aren’t persistent – meaning you can’t get into Johnny’s worlds when he’s not signed on (which is neither here nor there, just something worth noting).

It’s worth the price - It’s not an uncommon complaint these days that XBLA games cost more for the same amount of content or less. At 1600 MSP, Minecraft is most definitely on the more expensive end of that spectrum, but it’s a game that will get so much use you feel like you’re getting it for a steal.

Here’s what we didn’t like:

A time sink - There’s a dark side to Minecraft being one of “those” games – it’s a blast to explore and build, but if you’re looking to construct anything significant or unique – say, that scale model of the Leaning Tower of Pisa or the Roman Colosseum – you’re in for a big time commitment…and much of that will be spent gathering supplies (to say nothing of the trial and error involved in actually building the thing). That’s not necessarily a knock against the game seeing as how, say, it’s pretty much the whole premise; just don’t expect to erect that model of Hyrule Castle without a lot of hours under your belt.

I want to hold your hand - Similarly, the tutorial is a bit of a double-edged sword. It’s great that the game’s a little more forthcoming with helpful information and hints than the PC version, but that utter lack of information was part of what made Minecraft so appealing for many people. These days, you can’t play any FPS without the game spending three levels teaching you how to shoot, but Minecraft dropped you in the world and said in so many words, “Well? Figure it out.” That’s frustrating, sure…but it made even the smallest discoveries seem that much more significant because you figured it out yourself (or, at worst, turned to a robust online community for help). That sense of accomplishment is still present here, but it’s diminished somewhat by the fact that the game gives you recipes for all those rare items.

Inventory management - Navigating Minecraft’s inventory can be a bit of a pain, especially now that it’s mapped to a controller and (presumably) displayed on a TV a few feet away from you instead of on a keyboard and computer monitor right in front of your face. It’s easy to get items with similar-looking icons confused, and the menu cursor isn’t the most responsive ever created. It could be a lot worse, but it could be a lot better, too.

Creeper crawlies - There’s nothing worse than scrambling to get a nice little house built before nightfall, only to have a Creeper sneak up on you and blow you and your thatched-roof cottage to that big, blocky place in the sky before you even realize its there.

Here’s what it comes down to — if you’ve played Minecraft, you know (almost) exactly what you’re getting into with the 360 version. There’s nothing here to convince vehement Minecraft haters to love the game and nothing to convince diehard players to walk away forever. Though the game loses a bit of the PC version’s charm in terms of forcing the player to fend completely for themselves (which is good or bad depending on your point of view), it’s far from a deal breaker and the inherent creativity and originality of the game remains largely intact.

If you haven’t played it and are wondering what the fuss is about, this is a perfect opportunity to give it a shot and see what you think. Minecraft isn’t for everyone, but there’s enough going on that a lot of different kinds of player will be satisfied. And with the sheer amount of content offered and the playtime promised, it’s more than worth the price of admission.

Score: Buy It

Minecraft: Xbox 360 Version review (XBLA)

We have confirmation that the classic skate boarding game Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD will be releasing this June. Fans have been clamoring for a remake of this title for some time and so have we. It looks like the wait is almost over. For those who can’t wait take a look at coverage of the new game contrasted with the old.

Source: Twitter @Tonyhawk

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD out in June

The folks over at FrontTowardsGamer.Com recently spoke with Tim Schafer of Double Fine Productions and published the conversation as part of their podcast. In the interview around the 1 hour and 18 minute mark, Tim mentions that more Iron Brigade content is on the way and that listeners should “stay tuned”. What could this new content be? Could it be something as major as new campaign content, or new survival mode maps? Could it possibly even be snazzy new salutes? We’re not sure what Tim and the gang are working on, but we’re excited that more Iron Brigade may be on the way.

Originally released under the name Trenched last summer, a lawsuit forced Microsoft and Double Fine to change the name of their action packed, mech centric, tower defense title to Iron Brigade. Since the name change, an expansion, Rise of the Martian Bear was released, adding several more hours of single-player campaign content as well as an all new survival mode. If you haven’t yet added the game to your collection, maybe you should take note that Iron Brigade was the recipient of our very own Game of the Year award in 2011.

Source: Front Towards Gamer

Tim Schafer hints at more new Iron Brigade content

Microsoft today launched a “pilot program” at its chain of 16 stores in the United States that will “test a new pricing model for the Xbox 360.” The console maker will exclusively carry the 4GB version of the Xbox 360 complete with a Kinect sensor for $99 up front at Microsoft stores. Buyers will be required to enter into a two-year Xbox Live Gold membership contract at a monthly cost of $15. Since this is a pilot program, the offer on the Microsoft store website notes that it may be terminated at any point in time.

It was rumored last week that the bundle’s XBLG membership would include “some additional streaming content from cable providers or sports package providers,” but Microsoft has apparently informed Joystiq that it will not be so. The membership is apparently just standard one.

All told, the purchase will cost gamers $459 after the two-year contract is over and done with. Normally an Xbox 360 with Kinect and two 12-month subscription cards would carry an MSRP of about $100 less, which makes the pricing structure seem a bit baffling. Of course, it does offer those consumers who cannot put together three bills up front for an Xbox a chance to own one without leaning on their credit cards.

Sources: Microsoft and Joystiq

Microsoft introduces $99 Xbox 360 ‘pilot program’

The next table to be made available for Pinball Arcade will be Funhouse. It will be released as a pack with Cirqus Voltaire in an upcoming two pack some time in May. Pinball Arcade painstakingly recreates classic pinball tables and Funhouse is one of the all time favorites. The wisecracking Rudy will be your companion as you try to conquer all of the table’s challenges. There is no word yet on the price for this two pack. But considering the Ring Master in Cirqus Voltaire and Rudy in Funhouse this pack’s theme seems to be silly antagonists.

Source: Facebook – The Pinball Arcade

Funhouse coming soon to Pinball Arcade

James Heiger - I played through The Walking Dead Episode 1 in one sitting and loved every minute of it. Will probably play through it again before the next episode drops. I have continued to improve my times in Trials Evolution. Should be able to achieve all golds at least up to Hard. The Gigatrack could be a problem though.

Nick Santangelo - I sunk several hours into Awesomenauts this week. It’s a lot fun even though I’ve been losing most matches. I also started in on Xenoblade Chronicles, which brought the revelation that my Wii is dying — getting it started takes about 20 minutes of tinkering. I have no desire to buy a new one at this late hour, so hopefully it holds up a bit longer.

Nathan Bowring - I’ve been continuing my trek through Skyrim, besting my own times and finding squirrels in Trials Evolution, and began playing Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary for the first time. Also, was blown away by The Walking Dead.

Christine Mitchell - It was a busy week in the real world for me but managed to get some Fable Heroes in and some Left 4 Dead 2 in over the weekend.

Perry Jackson - The Perfect Strangers game, over and over and over. Also Awesomenauts.

John Laster - Done with school for the summer, which means I will finally have time to play games again. I started things off with a couple marathon sessions of Minecraft. I can’t wait for all of you to have it so that we can build things together. Also, Awesomenauts is amazing. You all should definitely check it out. I love the music. Fantastic!

Mark Seymour - I hooked the PS2 up for some honorary rounds of Flame Tag on Aztec after reading an insightful but utterly dismal account of Free Radical’s final days. They don’t make first person shooters like that anymore, regrettably.

Et vous? Has Arcade Next topped House Party thus far? Who’s going to be joining John in the fathomless mines this Wednesday? Did anybody buy Fable Heroes? Let us know.

What we are playing: May 6

April 30

Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet and Toy Soliders marked to 800 MSP

Jam Live Music Arcade mixing on May 16

Sega Vintage Collections: Streets of Rage and Golden Axe info leak on Marketplace

First Deadlight dev diary explains the game’s “bleak” setting

More TV-like ads coming to Xbox Live

May 1

Trials Tuesday: Week of May 1

Awesomenauts release trailer drops with an extra guitar riff

Fable Heroes – Developer Diary

May 2

XBLA Wednesday: May 2

Might & Delight go through the process of self-publishing on XBLA

Microsoft’s new music service codenamed “Woodstock”

Microsoft might release $99 Xbox with forced subscription plan

Cirqus Voltaire trailer for The Pinball Arcade

May 3

Trials Thursday: Still the week of May 1

Worms Revolution will have a class system

Hi-Rez Studios has no plans for a Tribes: Ascend console port

May 4

Haunted Temple Studios changes name to 17-Bit

The Avengers assemble on Pinball FX2

Twisted Pixel announcing a new game at E3 that you could win!

Xbox Durango rumored to have entered production

New Hell Yeah! gameplay trailer brings the pain

Microsoft’s E3 conference to be streamed on Xbox Live

May 6

Trials Evolution hits another sales milestone

Editorial

Okay, so maybe HDTVs do make you a better gamer

Features

Hopping down the bunny trail with Camille Guermonprez

Downloadable games growing beyond their bytes

Friday Top Five: Top Five XBLA in-game songs

PAX East

Catching up with Vessel

Podcast

XBLAFancast Episode 59: All Four Trumpers

Reviews

The Walking Dead: Episode 1

Fable Heroes

Toy Soldiers Cold War: Napalm and Evil Empire DLC

Awesomenauts

Weekly Roundup: May 6

One of our favorite games this year, Trials Evolution has hit yet another major sales milestone. There are now over 500,000 players on the global leaderboards. This physics based dirt bike challenge has really struck a chord with XBLA gamers. Lots of great content is already pouring out for the game and RedLynx has promised more tracks to come as well. It looks like Trials is here to stay.

Source: Twitter @Lifelower

Trials Evolution hits another sales milestone

In the year 2012, the Multiplayer Online Battle Arena genre began to proliferate, and gamers the world over wondered how it would evolve. From the pitch black void of space came Awesomenauts, a game which dared to bring MOBA to the 2D realm. Six mercenary heroes, ranging from an ex-rapper frog to a jetpack-laden monkey, are hired to work for red or blue (sometimes appearing on both teams at once, somehow) and destroy the enemy team’s solar drill. Solar is the form of currency in the future, so having a device which literally mines money is kind of a big deal.

Awesomenauts is a 2D MOBA and it makes no effort to hide that fact. Each player in this three versus three game picks one of the six heroes, each complete with unique abilities and play styles. Both teams have droids that run at the enemy base and attack each other in an effort to destroy the towers and solar drill. Kill them for cash, use your money to buy character upgrades and side-grades, push the enemy base and secure victory for your team.

Here’s what we liked:

Pick up and play – Awesomenauts is a game of depth, but foremost a game that’s quick to pick up. Each character has an attack, a jump, and two skills; that’s not much to digest. With the character so easy to understand, actually learning the game is as simple as the back and forth of combat. As enemies approach your tower, it shoots them, same for theirs when you advance. Every time an enemy dies, gold and silver cubes drop from monsters and add to a money value at the bottom of the screen. Every element of the game is clear, there’s no clutter.

Dodge and counter – Each hero in Awesomenauts is a little different, but they all have a very perceptible presence on the battlefield. When Clunk comes lumbering into battle, exploding and snaring as he pleases, enemies keep their distance, taking potshots and implementing a hit-and-run combat style. As Leon lurks in the shadows, Yuri places bombs all around him to keep the cheese-loving assassin at bay. Battle is frenetic, dodging shots, escaping deadly ambushes and turning the tables on an unsuspecting enemy forms the quality of second-to-second gameplay that the best competitive games are made of.

Respond and adapt – A constant assessment of the enemy’s ability to win versus your own isn’t just a passive observation. In Awesomenauts you don’t have to sit back and watch the enemy team steam roll you, there’s almost always something to be done with a competent build. The loadout system allows for players to bring different upgrades into the game, during which they can pick and choose based on what they need. If Yuri’s team is dying, he can build support, but if they need to push more, he can focus on his bombs and laser power. This versatility not only makes playing the one character varied from match to match, it makes for excellent on-the-fly strategic decisions.

Strategize and dominate - Awesomenauts only has one mode, so it’s always three versus three, but the maps are completely random. Of the three available maps, the early and late game strategies that work best are vastly different. Almost any combination of three heroes can be built to work together, but the enemy team must also be taken into account. The goal of the team at the beginning of the match almost always shifts mid-game as the enemy pushes harder than expected, or is being way more defensive. Building and moving your characters around the battlefield requires an active role in strategizing. In Awesomenauts, the brain gets to have fun too, not just the thumbs.

Bold and crisp – While playing this game where an onlooker told me this specifically “It’s amazing how good 2D games look these days, everything is just so damn crisp!” Awesomenauts features some of the cleanest, most attention-grabbing hand-drawn visuals in a 2D game to date (up there with Skullgirls). This is due in part to Ronimo’s decision to forgo the traditional dark fantasy theme of many MOBA games in favor of an 80s cartoon style and presentation. The theme is palpable, even without a nostalgic love of 80s cartoons.

Here’s what we didn’t like:

Disconnect and derail – Since this game is entirely devoted to being a competitive multiplayer experience, everyone has to smash into each other via the internet. Unfortunately, while the drop-in drop-out multiplayer is seamless, and finding matches is painless thanks to the bot system, players will sporadically disconnect from each other for absolutely no reason. In rare occasions players will be booted to the main menu and lose their progress in the match they were in. This doesn’t happen to everyone (it’s never happened to me personally) but it’s worth noting.

Bots and AI – The bots, while generally a welcome feature of the game, are a bit predictable after hours of play. Each bot builds the exact same way in the exact same order every time, and Yuri and Voltar bots don’t seem to exist. The bots also don’t use the teleport back to base function, so it takes a slow character like Clunk forever to return to the shop. This results in Clunk-bot often being under leveled. On the contrary, Froggy G and Lonestar are excellent bots. Bots are nice, but long-term they’re no substitute for humans.

Awesomenauts does exactly one thing well, but that one thing is so incredibly rarely achieved: it’s a fun competitive party game. Learning the game is quick and simple, but mastering it will take hours and hours. There isn’t a ridiculous amount of content, but there’s so much to do with it that there’s still room for people to hate things others love and be perfectly justified in their preferences. Three player splitscreen, an amazing soundtrack and visual presentation solidify Awesomenauts‘ role as a fun-petitive game.

Sure, sometimes you’ll get mad, and sometimes you’ll be frustrated because your team mates are throwing the game, but matches only last from 20 to 30 minutes so reprisal is always around the corner. Unlike many MOBA games, Awesmoenauts is full of action and team fights from the word go. The early, mid and late game tactics and combat are equally fun. We’ve discussed some of what makes Awesomenauts amazing, but what really ensures you’ll play more than you should is the subtle suggestion after each game: “Press (A) to play another match.”

Score: Buy It!!!

Awesomenauts review (XBLA)

Major Nelson announced on his blog that Microsoft’s E3 press briefing, titled Xbox: Entertainment Evolved, can be seen live on Xbox Live for the first time ever. It will air Monday, June 4 at 12:30p ET/9:30a PT, both on Xbox Live and Spike TV. We don’t know what to expect this year, besides a new music service and the lack of a new console, but Microsoft will likely cram a lot into their 90-minute slot. Our hopes our high that this year’s conference gives some attention to XBLA, which was sadly missing from last year’s showing. Be sure to catch the conference live, and check back here during E3 for all the breaking XBLA news straight from the show floor.

Microsoft’s E3 conference to be streamed on Xbox Live

Sega has released a new trailer for Arkedo’s upcoming violence filled platformer Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit which contains our first official look at the game in motion. Also revealed for the first time are the photographs of the rabbit prince of hell himself with his rubber ducky that are the center of the scandal that sets off the events of the game. Who ever thought that a path of violence and destruction would come from the sight of a rubber ducky? Well, it definitely has, and this trailer is proof. Check out the prince of hell wreaking havoc and pursuing his revenge one kill at a time by clicking play on the video above. Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit is scheduled to hit Xbox Live Arcade this summer.

New Hell Yeah! gameplay trailer brings the pain

If an IGN source is to believed, then production has officially begun on Microsoft’s next-generation video-game console. The insider reports that Flextronics International, manufacturer of the both the original Xbox and the Xbox 360, just recently fired up the production line for the console believed to be codenamed Durango at its Austin, TX plant. Flextronics declined IGN’s requests for comment on the story.

Before reaching this stage in the process, Singapore-based Flextronics is said to have formed an internal division solely concerned with testing the Xbox 360′s successor. IGN claims that said division, operating autonomously from the rest of the company, focused its efforts on “comprehensive marketing, software, and hardware tests” of the device it is said to be producing. With those efforts behind them, the time to build is now.

Microsoft, which, like its competitors at Sony and Nintendo, has historically only been willing to offer a “no comment” in regards to rumors of this nature, attempted to divert attention away from the next-generation scuttlebutt. the firm issued a response that discussed its current gaming hardware and ever-forward-facing gaze:

Xbox 360 has found new ways to extend its lifecycle like introducing the world to controller-free experiences with Kinect and re-inventing the console with a new dashboard and new entertainment content partnerships. We are always thinking about what is next for our platform and how to continue to defy the lifecycle convention. Beyond that we do not comment on rumors or speculation.

There is no question that Microsoft will eventually release a successor to the 360 in some form or another, and it’s plenty plausible that it will turn (or already has turned to) its current manufacturing partner to assemble the thing. But with Microsoft having issued a no-nonsense statement back in March that Durango will not be released in calender year 2012 or even unveiled at next month’s E3 convention in Los Angeles, May of 2012 sounds like an incredibly premature start date for manufacturing work, especially considering that the machine’s final specs will likely still be in flux for another year or more.

However, powerful gaming hardware is of little interest to consumers without compelling software, and quality software takes time to produce. Following that line of thinking, IGN posits that it’s studio development kits that are being slapped together down in Austin. Developers typically need even more time to create games for a new console, since its architecture is foreign to them. If Microsoft does indeed plan to launch during holiday 2013, then spring of 2012 might not be the worst time to start sending kits out to preferred development partners.

Source: IGN

Xbox Durango rumored to have entered production

Vessel is already out on Steam, so we didn’t want to bore you with a giant preview. We did, however, stop by the booth at PAX East to chat with  head John Krajewski, who confirmed that the physics-based puzzle platformer is still safely on its way to XBLA. As a quick recap for those of you who aren’t familiar with Vessel, you play the part of a genius scientist whose liquid-based automatons have gone a little mad, and it’s up to you to stop them. To help you on your way you’ll have to use the predictability of the automatons and a sweet liquid-sucking-and-blowing backpack to make your way through the world.

John didn’t need to say much, he mostly stepped back and let the demo speak for itself. One area Vessel shines in is the difficulty department. The puzzles increased in difficulty over the course of the demo, and while some of them took a while to figure out, it wasn’t in a frustrating way — in fact, it left us with a sense of accomplishment that some games struggle to achieve. Almost overshadowing the puzzles are the amazingly beautiful backgrounds and sounds. While much of the demo took place in steampunk-y factories, there are also outdoor areas that looked just as good. If that wasn’t enough, Strange Loop tagged Jon Hopkins – former producer and contributor to Imogen Heap, Coldplay, and Brian Eno – to create the incredible soundtrack.

So, will Vessel work on XBLA? The success of other puzzle platformers Braid and Limbo and the Steam release’s solid reception suggest that it should. Vessel delivers up solid puzzles without indulging in the hand-holding present in many of today’s games, then shores it up with a backbone of amazing art and a wonderful soundtrack. If you like the games mentioned above, this one should definitely be on your radar.

PAX East: Catching up with Vessel

2011 was a big year for Twisted Pixel, releasing the pseudo-sequel Ms. Splosion Man and the Kinect-enabled Gunstringer. They haven’t announced much for what they’re doing in 2012 beyond porting the sequel to iOS but we have a new update. No word yet if the title will be retail or downloadable but if you’re still playing Ms. Splosion Man, you might have a chance of winning the game. It’s a challenge map called “Splokour”, inspired by parkour. You’ll have to guide Ms. Splosion Man throughout a level without touching the ground with the top 5 highest scores winning a plushie and their new game. They’ll be announcing the game during Microsoft’s E3 press conference set for June 4 and XBLA Fans will be there.

Source: Game Informer

Twisted Pixel announcing a new game at E3 that you could win!

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.

The Avengers assemble on Pinball FX2

You might know Haunted Temple Studios as the developer of the upcoming action-strategy game Skulls of the Shogun, but you won’t see that name attached when the game is released. The developer has announced a name change to something more short and succinct with 17-Bit, complete with the above retro logo. The change comes with the studio’s commitment to preserving classic gameplay ethics with modern technology to enhance them for the modern era. Jake Kazdal, CEO and Creative Director summed it up best with this quote:

“It’s 16-bit, plus a bit more, when we test-drove the 17-BIT name and logo at PAX East, people instantly got it. It reached the point where people kept stopping us on the show floor and asking where they could get our t-shirts. The new name sums up our goal perfectly — taking your best memories of the 16-bit era, and making new experiences that look as good and play as well as you remember.”

The logo was also created by Seattle/Toronto artist Cory Schmitz. If you want to learn more about Skulls of the Shogun, we have an excellent preview Nick Santangelo wrote from PAX East. The game currently has no release date or price point.

Haunted Temple Studios changes name to 17-Bit

You know those songs you come across in a game sometimes that are so good that you find a safe spot, put the controller down and just listen to the music? Those moments where you completely forget what you are doing while you are mesmerized by the melody? Well that’s what this list is dedicated to. Those moments in gaming where the music captures your attention and your imagination. Moments of music so good, you wish the level would never end. Music so captivating that you hum these songs to yourself for days, weeks, months or years later. These are the top five in-game songs in XBLA.

5). SonicPicnic – Rocket Riot Theme (Rocket Riot)

Not too many people know of the hidden gem that is Rocket Riot on XBLA. And within the gem that is the game is another gem that is the theme song, very meta. If you have played this game, then there is no doubt that you have walked around singing “Rocket Riot, Rocket Riot!” to yourself before. The flow of this song greeting you at the start menu does a great job of hinting to the upcoming insane pace the game is waiting to unleash. With a rotating soundtrack in place, it is an absolute joy every time this song makes it way to the front of the games musical rotation.

4). Shira Kammen – Downstream (Braid)

Shira Kammen in a multi instrumentalists just oozing with talent. Her work on Braid is a masterpiece and the initial song “Downstream” echoes the relaxing pace and style of Braid perfectly. Sometimes it’s easier to sit and truly think of a solution to a puzzle when you have music like “Downstream” playing in the background. Braid is an incredibly artistic experience from every angle including the soundtrack. Shira Kammen composes great pieces and her work on Braid is simply beautiful.

3). Anamaguchi – Another Winter (Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: The Game)

If you’re a fan of the sounds of the 8-bit era, then you surely you’ve heard of chip tune powerhouse Anamanaguchi. They’re well known for composing the soundtrack for Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: The Game among many other things. And as Scott Pilgrim opens up, the first song you’ll hear is “Another Winter” which sets a perfect mood. The game is fast paced, non-stop action and soundtrack matches that theme and them some. The Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: The Game soundtrack actually debuted at #3 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart. Now that’s power!

2). Diasterpiece – Adventure (Fez)

By now, we all know how amazing Fez is and most players are probably just as impressed by the game’s soundtrack as they are the game itself. From the moment you start Fez and take control of Gomez, “Adventure” let’s you know that you are about to embark on one of the most unique explorations you have ever experienced in a game. “Adventure” is full of wonder that will surely grab your sole focus and help you forget everything else around you. From start to finish, Fez is nothing short of incredible and the soundtrack is just as impressive.

1). Darren Korb & Ashley Barrett – Build the Wall (Bastion)

If you’ve played Bastion, then you know this song. This is most likely the most popular song from an XBLA title ever and justifiably so. The moment you first discover the area in Bastion where this song slowly fades in is one of those moments you’ll never forget. Then if you are lucky enough to find the gramophone in Bastion, you can sit and listen to it all day long. Everything in Bastion is amazing from the art style to the narrator to the music. Listen for yourself. And then go here to buy the soundtrack, you know you’re going to want to

For those that are now crying foul that your favorite song wasn’t included you can all rest assured that your selections might make it in to next Friday’s Top Five list which will be the Top Five XBLA End Game Songs. These are in-game songs that help paint a picture or set the mood. Next week will focus on those songs that play during the credits that are just as unforgettable. So be sure to check back next week and also be sure to share your feelings about this list in the comments below.

Friday Top Five: Top five XBLA in-game songs

It appears that Tribes: Ascend‘s chances of getting ported over to consoles are all but dead. Speaking in an interview with Gamasutra, Todd Harris, CEO of Hi-Rez Studios, stated that the developer is not currently planning on bringing the free-to-play FPS to either XBLA or PSN. Though no official announcement of a console version(s) had ever been made, Harris stated last year that “an eventual XBLA version, and even [a] PSN version, is not out of the question.”

Yesterday, however, the CEO sang a somewhat different song. “We do not have any plans for Tribes on console at this time,” he said. “…The way it went is that we wanted to do the free-to-play model, and there wasn’t a clear path to that on consoles early on. Based on that, we optimized the game around the strengths of the PC, and specifically a keyboard and mouse control.”

While a console port of Tribes: Ascend is now almost certainly not going to happen, Harris isn’t ready to completely rule out bringing console gamers freemium games developed by his team at some future date. “We’re still interested in free-to-play on consoles,” he explained, “but at this point, we have nothing specific to Tribes on console. I do expect the consoles will see more and more free-to-play, certainly the new generation, and possibly the existing generation as well.”

The likelihood that the shooter would make it over to home consoles seemed dubious at best from the moment Hi-Rez revealed that Ascend would go the freemium route. Microsoft currently does not permit such games to be released on the Xbox 360, but many gamers and developers are holding out hope that the console maker will eventually throw open its tightly sealed doors and allow freemium games to come on through.

For its part, the publisher’s Global Marketing Manager for XBLA, Michael Wolf, said in February that he was unable to confirm whether or not the Xbox will ever be home to free-to-play software. However, he did say that “we will if we have content that makes sense for that.” And while there is no telling at this point whether or not there is any correlation between the two, the news that the firm has a plan in place to further increase its 360 revenue stream slipped out last month.

Source: Gamasutra

Hi-Rez Studios has no plans for a Tribes: Ascend console port

Team17 will deliver plenty of new features to the Worms franchise in Worms Revolution, such as the new engine and environments, but today we see new additions to gameplay. The latest installment of the wacky turn-based series will be the first Worms game to feature a class system.

Their are four brand new classes: soldier, scientist, scout, and heavy. Each class will have 4 different variants, for a total of 16 unlockable worms. The soldier class will be most familiar to fans of the franchise; it is not specialized, but can fight and get around well enough. The scientist is the support class; he is weak and slow, but can build the strongest items and heals the team on his turn. The scout is also weak, but extremely light and agile. He’ll fly farther if hit, but will also take less fall damage than the heavier classes. Then there’s the heavy, the biggest and most powerful worm available. He may not be very agile, even with a jetpack or ninja rope, but is almost immovable when hit by an enemy attack.

Players can mix and match classes on their team, so they can have a diverse team, or a team comprised of only one class. Click the link below to see screenshots of the classes, and start thinking about your team strategies. Worms Revolutions will release third quarter 2012.

Worms Revolution will have class system

We’ve got to clear out the queue. We have tons of great tracks waiting in the wings to showcase, so we’re periodically going to run Trials Tuesday on Thursdays as well. So here you have it, five more tracks to dig your tires into: three trials, two skill games. As always you can find these tracks by entering Track Central, selecting Get Tracks, then pressing X to search. Enter the gamertag below to find the track. Be aware that the search is case sensitive.

Track: U23 Retro Space
Gamertag: Urkizo23
Type: Skill game
Difficulty: Medium

For some reason we’re reminded of Jupiter Lander, a classic Commodore 64 game. For you younglings, the Commodore 64 was pre-NES. Anyway, we’ve got a great little navigate-the-maze skill game here, themed around space and a shuttle. Not much else to say but that it’s fun.

Track: City Nights
Gamertag: ooO KIRKY Ooo
Type: Trials
Difficulty: Extreme

Inspired by the track Liverpool by Shanky LFC for Trials HD, this course has a taste of a roaring 20′s dream sequence. We can almost picture the black and white film this came from. It’s an Extreme track, but it’s on the easier side of Extreme, so casual players should have fun here, too.

Track: Clean Sweep
Gamertag: Jarr3tt88
Type: Skill game
Difficulty: Hard

Ah, Minesweeper. It got us through so many typing and word processing courses in school, and now it’s back with a twist. Jarr3tt88 brings us a version using the sphere instead of a mouse. Sure, once you’ve memorized it there’s nothing more to do, but you’ll have fun until then.

Track: Terminator 2
Gamertag: suttonleo2
Type: Trials
Difficulty: Medium

Themed tracks are just inherently good in the Trials games. Who knows why exactly, but every themed course we’ve played always has spit and polish on it. Terminator 2 by suttonleo2 is no exception. It’s gorgeous.

Track: Fear Augue
Gamertag: HanfRay
Type: Trials
Difficulty: Hard

Fear Auge is a slick little course. It’s equal parts creepy and smooth. Once you’ve mastered the layout it’s very easy to breeze through the course quickly and take time to focus on the scene playing out in the background.

Trials Tuesday Thursday: Still the week of May 1

When Xbox Live Arcade launched in 2004 on Microsoft’s debut console, six titles well-known for their arcade roots appeared on the service at a fraction of retail cost. After Xbox Live Arcade re-launched on Xbox 360, the “Arcade” titles being released had a meager size limit of 50MB and retained the trend of being quick, shallow experiences. Today, some downloadable titles earn more critical attention than major blockbusters and may even reach Microsoft’s mandated size limit of 2GB.

“Now is an excellent time for high-quality, original, specific, relatively low-priced games, and I think this will continue for the foreseeable future,” said Greg Kasavin, writer and designer at SuperGiant Games. “Though it’s very difficult to make games, it’s never been easier due to the digital platforms and free tools out there these days.”

Kasavin is the writer and creative director of Bastion, an independent, downloadable title released in 2011 that earned more than 100 industry awards and sold more than 500,000 digital copies. It was SuperGiant Games’ first release since being founded in 2009.

Bastion’s success, while in some part due to a well-constructed combat system, found more consistent praise from its narrative prowess. Unlike the simplistic games first pushed onto the downloadable market, Bastion outshined full-retail titles without resorting to arcade nostalgia.

“You don’t just want to complete that challenging mission or get that elusive piece of gear for its own sake; you also want to hear what the narrator has to say about it when you do,” said Matt Miller, associate editor at Game Informer.

It’s difficult to isolate an exact instance when downloadable titles grew in both respect and scope, as multiple games at different times have found success both on Xbox Live and other popular, downloadable marketplaces. While smaller games have been on an upward trend for years, certain periods have had a greater impact than others.

“I’d pin down 2008 as the year in which they really seemed to break through,” said Kasavin. “During the course of that year we got Braid and Castle Crashers and later Plants vs. Zombies, and it was these three games in particular that gave me the courage to want to go work at a smaller studio.”

Ambitious titles like Braid and Limbo helped legitimize smaller games without multi-million dollar development and marketing budgets. Entire conventions devoted to the celebration of fresh, original ideas coming from independent studios have sprung up and flourished through the success of digital experiences. Many events were taking place before the downloadable boom of 2008, but attendance of some shows has since rivaled that of major industry gatherings like the Electronic Entertainment Expo – widely considered to be the ultimate expo in the video game industry.

The Penny Arcade Expo, described as a celebration of gaming culture, has succeeded over the past eight years through its acceptance and attention to games of all sizes. The initial 2004 Seattle convention attracted 3,300 people, while 2011’s show held over 70,000 developers, publishers and members of the press. A second convention, held in Boston due to the demand of eastern developers and fans, has reached similar numbers since its 2010 debut.

“We’re trying to promote and create, or reinforce maybe, the idea that we have a scene,” said co-founder Jerry Holkins in an interview with Game Critics. “We actually have our own context and culture that is worthy of celebration. I guess that’s the idea behind PAX.”

Even with the greater focus on downloadable titles developed both independently and within more well-established companies, attracting enough pairs of eyes to break into the industry is no easy task. Venues like Mircosoft XNA allow passionate developers to release their work at a meager price, but visibility is limited compared to the now popular Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network.

Ian Stocker, founder of MagicalTimeBean and creator of both Soulcaster and Escape Goat, has been working within the XNA service in hopes to find a wide audience for his games.

“There is plenty of room for niche games and their distribution options improve every year,” said Stocker. “In terms of it becoming comfortable, this would happen after months and probably years of hard work.”

Distribution options are seeing consistent improvements, but calling independent game development a comfortable career wouldn’t exactly be accurate.

“Even today I would hesitate to call it viable,” said Stocker. “It takes an incredible amount of work and a good amount of luck to become a successful indie developer, and it’s only gotten easier in the last four years.”

How to market an independent title is still a learning process, but with such a strong sense of community, many studios have taken to social media and face-to-face interaction instead of costly commercials.

“You always want to be innovative and ahead of the game with marketing in general,” said Erik Johnson, a content designer at Arcen Games. “That said, there’s a lot of standard work you can and should do, such as setting up social networks and other landings for fans of your games or products to stop by and chat with you or others about your efforts.”

Success is never guaranteed, but for a five-man team like Arcen Games, the risks that come along with smaller, independent development are worthwhile.

“I think a larger team would just create the hierarchy that I endured at my last real job,” said Johnson. “Small teams you can create and see out passion projects as the group sees fit.”

The goal is still a high level of visibility, whether it’s among publishers or paying customers. Yet, the recent success of Kickstarter has put a new spin on the way games are both paid for and advertised. Instead of catering to the wants and needs of profit-focused organizations, developers can now pitch games on the Kickstarter website to the general public to see if they are willing to financially back the development.

Double Fine, a development studio founded by Tim Schafer, had the first true success on the website. Asking for $400,000 for the “Double Fine Adventure,” the studio crossed the $1 million mark in just under 24 hours.

“I think it’s a great way for a lot of projects, games or not games, to be made whenever the ‘gatekeepers’ — the big companies that decide what gets made and what doesn’t get made — are not serving certain segments of the fan base,” Schafer said in a recent interview with Venture Beat. “Enough of those fans can use the Internet to coordinate and kind of pool their resources.”

Whether through fan demand or the power of the publisher, the presence and growth of downloadable games has reached a new high as the current console generation is coming to a close. With a new wave of systems coming around the corner from Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony, any technological barriers holding these games back are sure to be lifted.

“I think downloadable games will become the standard,” said Kasavin. “Terms like ‘downloadable game’ and ‘independent game’ and ‘indie game’ will become less and less meaningful to a certain extent as all games inevitably become downloadable.”

Downloadable games growing beyond their bytes

Toy Soldiers: Cold War is a great game. We loved it when it first released and since its August 2011 release, the possibility of DLC has been a roller coaster ride to say the least. Now the Napalm and Evil Empire additions have finally released and unfortunately it might not have been worth the wait. A few fun additions were made but a severe lack of content makes these addons a bit of a let down.

Here’s what we liked:

More of the same – The Napalm and Evil Empire additions don’t try to reinvent the wheel and it’s much appreciated. Each campaign contains three new levels with the same Toy Soldiers formula you have come to love with a few new additions. Golden collectibles, awesome vehicles, destructible environments and tons of enemy waves make you feel right at home from the very start of each campaign. Each level may be a bit more difficult than you remember but at only three levels per add-on, the option to slowly ramp up in difficulty is obviously not an option. So bring your A-game, you’re going to need it.

New side of the battle - The Evil Empire campaign will put you on the other side of the battle. You will now be controlling the Soviet Army with the Americans coming right at you. For the most part, nothing really changes as far as how the game plays but a few things like “Ivan” instead of “Commando” or the control of some of the weapons might stand out at first. This really doesn’t hold you back but instead just adds a new look and feel to something that may have become stagnant for some players.

New weapons – By far the coolest additions included in these addons are the Orbital Laser barrage and the Lazer Tank vehicle. Both could be considered game breakers but they just feel damn powerful and fun to use that you‘ll tend not to care how easy they make it to win. The Orbital Laser is a death strike from above that the player can control and it will last for an unbelievable amount of time. This thing can clear a tank in a second or two and a wave of 40+ soldiers in another second. Then you have beast that is known as the Lazer Tank. This vehicle can take a ton of damage while dealing out even more. The downside would be the fact that the laser is the only weapon on the tank but it reloads very quickly and each hit that lands does more damage over time making this the most powerful weapon we have seen in a Toy Soldiers game to date. Both are extremely powerful and capable of creating huge momentum shifts.

Here’s what we didn’t like:

Where’s the beef? – The Napalm and Evil Empire campaigns are incredibly short. Each add-on will only take about one hour to run through. The collectibles are all fairly easy to find and the only replay ability would be left in your desire to earn platinum medals or complete the decoration challenges which really don’t add any value to the game other than offer challenges that force you to rethink the way you approach each level. If both of these packs were combined in the same add-on for a total price of 400 MSP, this would be a easier pill to swallow. But as it stands right now, there is not much bang for your buck here.

Useless additions – The content that is included in each add-on is content that most players would find fairly useless. Does anyone ever play this game online to the point where new multiplayer maps were necessary? Does anyone really play survival mode? And even though the mini-games are generally fun for the first five attempts or so, the enjoyment wears off very quickly as it does with any mini-game that usually lasts about one minute per play. As opposed to these additions, a few extra campaign missions added to each add-on would have likely been a much more welcomed addition. The mini-games, survival maps and multiplayer maps are things you might check out once or twice but then quickly forget about once you start the new campaigns.

Since this is an add-on to an already existing game, the option to give these addons a “Try It” is not available. To be honest, a score of a “Try It” would be the score these addons would have received if that was an option. But considering the amount of content that’s actually useful and fun, it’s just not worth the price in most instances. If there’s ever a price cut and these go on sale for around 160-200 MSP each, then be sure to pick them up. If you happen to be a hard core Toy Soldiers fan, then be sure to pick these up as they do stay true to the core game you have come to love. But if you are an average gamer without any strong feelings about the franchise then you really don’t need to check out these addons. The content simply does not match the price.

Score: Skip It

Toy Soldiers: Cold War Napalm and Evil Empire review (XBLA DLC)

Whine, whine, whine. That’s all my friends do when they come over to my house to game. I hear stuff like “I can’t see anything!” or “I could actually win a match if we were on my TV.” Whatever, I thought. I still kick their trash when we’re playing online, so why would an HDTV matter? (By the way, that’s not my TV) Then I started playing the first Mass Effect. Having conversations with NPCs was nigh impossible. I had to sit just a few feet from the TV, and that’s saying something because I have great vision. The text was just too small. I couldn’t read HUD values, bios, or pretty much any other text, either. Still, I dismissed it and played through.

I’m a tightwad when it comes to money. When you have a wife and two kids, a mortgage, bills, etc. you will be too. My philosophy has been not to replace a TV if it ain’t broken. To my chagrin both of my TVs are stubbornly resilient. I’ve had ‘offers’ from two brothers-in-law and several friends to sabotage a TV just so I can pick up something that’s HD. Still I resist. Why should I spend money on something I don’t need? Or do I?

That gaming edge

I’m starting to see the real draw. With the release of Trials Evolution my competitive nature has been kicked into overdrive. The accursed little gamertag of staffers Perry Jackson and Ross Adams constantly tease me while riding. They always seem to finish just moments before me. There are moments where I think to myself, “How are they getting through here unscathed? I can’t even see what I’m doing!” Those are my A-Ha moments–those times where I realize maybe they can see. Maybe it’s just my seven year old TV that’s the problem.

Does it apply across the board, though? Surely being able to see a few fine details can’t up your edge. I’ve had game nights where I play on and SDTV while others use HDTVs and I don’t feel like I get taken. Sure, I look over and I see that the colors are more vibrant and the details more sharp, but surely that can’t improve my skill, can it? All my skills is in my brain and my hands, right? Right?

Disregard for the cavemen

Bitmob’s Alex R. Cronk-Young understands my plight. Take a look at his snapshot from Lost Planet 2. That’s what I get to deal with on about 10% of my games. It’s something I’ve complained about–a lot. But the image above doesn’t really do the issue justice. Yes, it’s blurry, but there are a lot of things that need to be displayed. It’s when games leave lots of blank real estate and have this microscopic text tucked into corners that I get mad. Nexuiz was almost unplayable because of it. Rush’n Attack: Ex-Patriot‘s bullet trails were nigh invisible.

Don’t we deserve some readability? Here’s three great, yet polar, examples: Bioware dealt with players up in arms about the unreadable text in Mass Effect 2. Their response? They said it was only a problem with “a small portion of SDTV owners”.  Now we understand that patching it would be a nightmare, but why wasn’t this taken into account in the first place? Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts had the same problem. Rare initially shrugged it off, but later addressed the problem with a patch. Vanquish, on the other hand supported SDTV out of the gate. Simply put they enlarged the text if the player was using a SDTV. Bravo. What an utterly brilliant-yet-simple fix. Take note, developers.

I can’t just drop the cash

I can hear all the bachelors with money (more likely credit) to spare now: “Why not just suck it up and buy and HDTV?” I’d love to, but I have to reasons not to at the moment. The first is that I want a TV that is as tall as my SDTV is. At 31″ diagonal measurement (the standard for TVs) that means I have to buy roughly a 40″ TV or bigger to match. Then there’s the issue of resolution, refresh rate, and projection format (Plasma, LCD, or LED). The better the features, the more green stuff I need to pay for it. I don’t want to get a sub-par HDTV that I’ll have to replace, but the good ones are too expensive.

Pay on credit, you say? No thanks, I did the credit thing in my 20′s and figured out real quick that I didn’t want to be under anyone’s thumb. My only debt is my mortgage, and I’ll keep it that way. As the ‘old man’ on staff I’d suggest you all do the same. But then again some of you are probably better at managing money than I was at the time.

Suggestions?

I get that I’ll have to submit at some point. Soon nobody will care about folks like me, nor about the teenager who plays his 360 on the old TV in his bedroom. They’ll tell us to suck it up. But how do I choose? I know I should get 1080p, but that’s about all I know. I hear all sorts of conflicting reports on which type of TV is best. I hear one isn’t good in bright light, another isn’t good from side angles, and even that lower refresh rates ruin everything? How am I supposed to sort through this mess? Leave any suggestions and advice below.

Editorial: Okay, so maybe HDTVs do make you a better gamer

A new trailer has emerged for the upcoming DLC release of pinball table Cirqus Voltaire  for Pinball Arcade. It is one of the highest rated pinball tables of all time so we are very excited to see it coming to XBLA. Pinball Arcade exclusively recreates classic tables in video game form for your enjoyment. Cirqus Voltaire is known as a technical and challenging table that is still accessible for beginners. Just beware of the ringmaster’s insults!

Source:  The Pinball Arcade – Facebook

Cirqus Voltaire trailer – Pinball Arcade

Microsoft will release a $99 version of its 4GB Xbox 360 video-game console complete with a forced $15 monthly subscription fee as soon as next week, reports The Verge and Xbox Kinect Fans. The Verge’s sources claim the monthly charges will grant buyers access to an Xbox Live Gold membership for a couple years and could potentially net them “some additional streaming content from cable providers or sports package providers.” Consoles sold as part of the bundle will also be covered under an included warranty.

Those who wish to break free of the subscription prior to the expiration of the 2-year agreement will face penalty fees, not unlike mobile phone users who desire to prematurely free themselves of service contracts.

Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft has worked tirelessly since the launch of the Xbox 360 in November of 2005 to make the platform the main hub for all of its users’ home entertainment needs; this latest rumor is being viewed as the next stage of the company’s long campaign to occupy consumers’ living rooms. In March, it was revealed that 360 owners had finally transitioned to using the machine more for “other types of entertainment” than online gaming.

The new SKU will supposedly be Microsoft’s way of fighting off competition from Apple TV, PlayStation 3 and Roku. Its budget pricing and Kinect sensor could also make the package a potential threat to Nintendo’s forthcoming Wii U console, which will hit the market at some point during holiday 2012.

Source: The Verge

Microsoft might release $99 Xbox with forced subscription plan

Microsoft will soon be replacing Zune as their music service. Their new service, codenamed Woodstock, will be showcased at E3 2012. This new service will allow play across multiple platforms, including Xbox Live, Windows 8, iOS, and Android. The service will not require any extra browser plug-ins, but will have deep Facebook integration. Another feature being tested allows users to “scan and match” their existing music library, allowing it all to be accessed anywhere through the service. Woodstock is not expected to launch until later this year, alongside the launch of Windows 8. Expect to hear much more information once E3 rolls around. Let’s just hope the music selection isn’t limited to 60′s rock ‘n’ roll.

Source: The Verge

Microsoft’s new music service codenamed “Woodstock”

Things have been quiet with Might & Delight recently while they’re still at work on their first game, Pid. The developer, made up of ex-GRIN employees, had no publisher for the game but they didn’t want to go that route. They ultimately decided they wanted to self-publish which while rare does occasionally happen on Xbox Live Arcade Telltale Games’ Walking Dead being a recent example. Usually a publisher is needed unless the company in question is also a publisher of course. However there’s a loophole of sorts which Might & Delight has taken advantage of and we’ve detailed below.

In an interview with Ben Kuchera from The Penny Arcade Report, Adam Boyes of Might & Delight explained that you can self-publish on Steam or PSN but with XBLA, it’s possible to rent a slot from a publisher. A publisher is given a set number of slots by Microsoft to fill them up with whatever they want. They can either publish their own games or take one of the slots and rent it out for a slice of the developer’s profits. So the publisher has no ties with the developer beyond renting out one of their spaces for someone else’s game they want to self-publish. Boyes explains in this quote:

“There’s this new culture of self-publishers who don’t have slots, they just rent slots from other publishers, [Developers] publish games, but they don’t have the ability to publish themselves, because they’re not approved XBLA publishers.”

The cut given to publishers is said to be less than what Steam takes however, that’s on top of a percentage owed to Microsoft for having the game on XBLA. Through that, the publisher gets pure profit unless the game performs under what they expected and can’t justify the losses. It’s sort of a looking-glass into how XBLA limits the number of games published on the platform and the value of having it published on XBLA through other publishers slots to fill.

Might & Delight were against the idea of having a publisher, so renting an XBLA spot was the only way to achieve a multi-platform release on XBLA, PSN and Steam. Boyes goes on further about renting an XBLA spot:

“Sure, you give up a little bit, but unfortunately that’s Microsoft’s way of operating. They want to only be able to award slots to their close, dear partners I guess. I don’t get it.”

It’s quite interesting to hear about the process of renting an XBLA spot in order to self-publish a game on the platform. Microsoft hasn’t commented on this issue before but either way, at least Pid is getting a release sometime this year at an undisclosed price, we all really want to play so the sooner, the better.

Source: The Penny Arcade Report

Might & Delight go through the process of self-publishing on XBLA

Do you want to be whisked back into the world of Albion or would you want to be in the year 3587 as a jive-talking toad or a cowboy? XBLA Wednesday has both ends of the spectrum today. First up, the third game following in the Arcade Next promotion, Fable Heroes brings the world of Albion into a 4-player co-op hack and slash resembling Gauntlet. Players will fight over a wide array of levels and can choose between classic characters in the Fable series. Our review went up today and the game will set you back 800 MSP.

Another game for 800 MSP that came out today was the long-awaited (almost delayed) release of Awesomenauts. With a heavy 80′s aesthetic in presentation, Awesomenauts brings the MOBA style action into a 2D world with tearing down defenses and using your drones to farm against turrets in order to win battles. If you’re unsure what MOBA entails, we have a great XBLA Primer on the subject and we also have a guide in the works for Awesomenauts. Whether it’s killing defenses in the future or slashing monsters in a fantasy world, XBLA Wednesday has got you covered.

XBLA Wednesday: May 2

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.

The gameplay sees up to four players, online or offline, taking on the role of one of 12 cute hero dolls. The merry band are then challenged with hacking and slashing their way through hordes of familiar critters throughout the towns of Albion. Collecting oversized coins along the way that can either be spent on upgrades or transferred over to the upcoming Fable: The Journey. Each level has a crossroads where one path will lead to a fun mini game but the other leads to a dreaded boss. At the end of each round it’s time to count up the cash and name the winner, and after a bit of gloating we’re whisked off to the ability board where coins translate to rolls of the dice. Land on the right square to level up you character and add new abilities or get a fancy new weapon. Land on the wrong one and curse the bad luck sign you were born under.

Here’s what we liked:

It’s Fable – You might wonder what a cutesy board game, hack n slash has to do with the classic Fable series, but rest assured fans will have fun spotting all the references from the existing Fable universe. Players face the likes Hobbes and Hollowmen in Bowerstone and beyond and can still have fun kicking a few chickens along the way. Each location now has bright, cartoony sheen and a gorgeously vivid color palate, but all are instantly recognizable as the charming locations we’ve grown to love. Even the score has a quaint Fable feel to it. The presentation is as highly polished as we would expect from a Lionhead game, and the graphics are impressive right down to the board game style world map, with it’s miniature representations of each location’s landmarks. There’s also some of that cheeky Fable humor still showing through, but it’s strictly child friendly this time. No diseases to catch here.

Not dead yet – The most interesting game mechanic of Fable Heroes is that when a character dies, rather than dropping out of the game as is the norm, they are able to continue on playing as a ghost. Ghost players are able to attack, loot chests and even collect hearts that will bring them back to life, but are not able collect any coins. While some hardcore gamers may scoff, this ability is a real game changer. Firstly here is a game we can allow our non-gamer friends to join us on and we are no longer punished for their lack of ability. When someone dies, they can still help out and we are not left struggling to revive them in some way or forced to battle through the rest of the level alone with limited resources. Similarly the unfortunate ones are not left sitting twiddling their thumbs looking glum while you show off your mad “skillz”.

This also adds a new layer to the game because as previously stated, there is still some punishment for dying in that you cannot win the game or buy new abilities without being alive to pick up coins. Now here is the dilemma, do you let your friend collect life giving hearts, or do you snatch them up beforehand keeping those coins all to yourself?

Bots are back in town – There are too many games these days that are designed for cooperative play but do not account for players who may not have a gold account or have other people in their household available to play offline with, as and when they please. Fable Heroes however is a game that is designed for four players, and will always have four players, thanks to the included AI. Whilst the AI in the game does not offer up much competition other than during the racing type events, it’s better than trying to struggle through on your lonesome ownsome (sniff). Even better though is that the bots are able to bank their gold at the end of each level allowing you to purchase upgrades for these characters on the abilities board. In essence, playing through with one character actually allows you to level up all four at the same time. You can even switch which characters you and the AI will use between levels.

Here’s what we didn’t like:

Over already? – Fable Heroes is pretty short. Clocking in at around two hours including a tea break for the first playthrough was a little surprising. Granted each level has two different endings so you need to play each level twice to actually complete the game. Also on your first playthrough you will unlock Dark Albion. This is essentially the same as regular Albion but–well, a bit darker and with a slight increase in difficulty. Again Dark Albion will require two playthroughs for you to see all levels. However despite this being potentially an eight hour game, the differences between dark and regular was so small it left you feeling disappointed. The game is obviously designed for multiple replays, with so many characters to unlock and upgrade, but there is risk you’ll tire of the same scenery long before. There is however an extra level in the game called The Cloud which was locked at the time of review and will be unlocked through community involvement, but how much this will add to the game is not yet known.

Brawler Lite – The Fable franchise has never been known for it’s complexity, however Fable Heroes ranks as a solid “easy peasy” on the difficulty scale. On Normal it’s pretty hard to die unless you play as the fairly useless Reaver, so the Hard difficulty may be the more suitable mode for most. Here each player only has 3 hearts of health and at least one player must be alive to continue. If you’ve not reached school age yet or you really can’t handle losing, then you might like to try the “everyone’s a winner” casual level, where gold is shared equally regardless of how badly you do.

The actual brawler action is fairly basic too and the controls can be frustratingly slow at times at least until your character’s attack abilities are leveled up. The heavy Y attack or “Flourish” is often too slow to be useful and simply bashing the X button at regular intervals seems to be the best way forward. It’s also quite easy to lose your character in the crowded screen. Hit the LT button to have your name appear above your head and find yourself again, but more often than not you see you’ve actually been aimlessly attacking a fence post instead of the onscreen enemies, but still winning regardless.

Fable Heroes has been marketed as a four player co-op brawler, and comparisons to the likes of Castle Crashers or even the old school Gauntlet have already been made. However underneath the button bashing action actually lies the beating heart of a classic board game dying to pop out. Not just because of the world map and ability boards where you do actually roll a dice to see what you can upgrade, but because the whole thing feels like it was designed for rainy day family fun. If you’re after a deep hack n slash experience, then this isn’t it, but if you like messy, chaotic, leave your brain at the door fun then take a look at Fable Heroes. It’s like Hungry Hippos for the console generation, except you can spend your marbles on upgrades.

Score: Buy It

Fable Heroes review (XBLA)

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.

Deal of the Week: Cave Developer Special plus more

Another developer diary from Lionhead Studios for Fable Heroes has been released just in time for its May 2 release. It is a four player hack and slash fantasy game. By the developer’s own description it is Gauntlet and Fable mixed together. There were a few interesting tidbits in there including an allusion to recurring characters from the Fable universe being present in the game. Also interesting was the knowledge that Fable Heroes will interact with the upcoming Fable: The Journey. Enjoy the video and enjoy the game releasing on Tuesday, May 2.

Fable Heroes – Developer Diary

The family is about to sit down for dinner and we’ve just wished each other Happy Easter — over the phone. Instead of sitting down at the dining room table with the rest of the family, I’m hours away in Boston for PAX East. A little white bunny is on a screen in front of me, but he’s not that bunny. No, this little rabbit hops down an entirely different trail than Peter Cottontail. The rabbit in question on the show floor, Ash, is the star of Arkedo Studio’s Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit and the Prince of Hell. The independent French studio has previously developed handheld, mobile and XBLIG games; so most Xbox gamers aren’t terribly familiar with it. Well, that’s all going to change this summer when Arkedo releases what studio co-founder Camille Guermonprez would later describe to me as “a [fluffing] video game.”

Easter Sunday was the final day of the 2012 convention hosted by Penny Arcade, and an appointment with Guermonprez to discuss Hell Yeah! was the last one on the XBLA Fans schedule for the weekend. I had passed by the game’s booth many times over the weekend and caught glimpses of what appeared to be a wonderfully insane and gorgeous action title that proudly channels early ’90s Genesis and SNES side-scrollers. Several other members of the team had gotten their hands on it during the first two days of the con and word was that this was not a demo to be missed.

But my schedule was jam-packed with appointments to play other promising games and talk to other developers all weekend. Hell Yeah! would have to wait. When XBLA Fans EiC John Laster, reporter Nick DePetris, photographer Scratch Pratt and I finally arrive to speak with Guermonprez, though, it turns out that we are doomed to wait just a little longer. Guermonprez, surely having spent even more time on his feet and in interviews than I had during the weekend, had given in to exhaustion and headed to lunch. And so we waited.

“This is…this is calm,” Guermonprez would later say of the frenzied action we witnessed in his game’s PAX demo. “This is laid back. This is exactly the trial that you’re gonna get on XBLA. For instance, this is the tutorial, and then we go a little bit ‘wow.’” Continuing, he added that things will “be a little bit crazy,” in later levels. If rolling around flaming, smoke-filled regions of Hell inside a large circular saw that can turns enemies into a mess of blood and meat is your definition of calm, then, yes, what we witnessed during this stretch of gameplay was quite tame. Suffice to say, we departed the Boston Convention Center later that day eager to discover what other fantastic absurdities had been thrown into the game during its recently concluded development cycle.

I’m getting ahead of myself. As mentioned, our little group was made to wait, and so we did. This made for a brief stretch of calm — the traditional definition of the word, not Guermonprez’s. Sitting on the floor watching thousands of convention-goers wandering between booths and panels was a nice change of pace. Our foursome reminisced about some of the unique experiences that set PAX apart from other cons. We exchanged stories about some of the more impressive cos-players; the most (and least) interesting developers we had spoken to; and the melding of tabletop, card, PC, console and board game players. Penny Arcade Expo opens its doors to seemingly every sect of gamer imaginable. It is unique and wonderful in that aspect.

Around the time my wandering mind was recalling several dozen angry sets of eyes doing their best to burn a hole in the back of my head after another presenter had moved me to the front of a very long line (sorry, guys), I snapped back into the present and realized that DePetris, sneaky little devil that he is, had grown tired of waiting and wandered over to play Hell Yeah! Watching him enjoying the game makes me desire even further to get my own hands on the controller. Yet before my turn arrives, Guermonprez is standing behind us with a big smile painted on his face. Looking at us through a most curious set of glasses (rectangular lenses inside of circular frames, one side white, the other black) he shows no signs of weariness from the convention. It’s clear he’s eager to spill his guts about his game, and so he does, with little prodding from the two of us.

Arkedo had decided years ago that Hell Yeah! would be something starkly different than the largely tamer titles it was becoming known for. “We were promising each other,” begins Guermonprez, “‘OK, next game we gotta go like: OK we gotta kill monster[s], and there’s gotta be blood everywhere — oh yeah! — and it’s gotta be ridiculous — oh yeah!’ You know? And the more serious our current project was, the more we wanted to lash out.” I don’t know if he hit the 5-hour Energy booth in the lobby during lunch or if he’s like this all the time, but his excitement is palpable. It’s wonderful seeing how enthusiastic he is, and it’s immediately clear that this will be an interview to remember.

Rolling right on ahead without a word from his interviewers, he says that “we thought maybe other people would be having a bad day or just having a day that was sucking generally, so [let's make] a silly game for cheap and have fun with it. That’s public service! It’s public service.”

The team had a vision, but it didn’t exactly have the means to fulfill it on its own. That’s where Arkedo hoped Sega, which the designer would go on to describe as “awesome,” would step in. While it wasn’t exactly love at first sight, the publisher would eventually get on board and allow Arkedo to do its thing. It seems fitting that Sega became Arkedo’s publishing partner. After all, it’s the company that manufactured the Genesis, one of the two platforms that dominated the era from which the Hell Yeah! team has clearly drawn inspiration.

“I mean they didn’t give a phone call for a year and a half,” the studio head says of Sega’s willingness to leave his team to its own devices once a publishing agreement was reached. “I mean, we came and we showed the game and they [said], ‘OK, we want it to be exactly like that and we don’t want to add stuff. Be crazy. Do your stuff.’ Because we had been talking to them for the last six years — every year I was coming and saying, ‘OK, this is my game this year. You will probably not buy it, but I’m going to show you anyway.’ And Sega says, ‘You’re right.’” A purposeful sigh escapes his lips, and he gives us a look of exasperation as he recalls his early fruitless attempts to woo the publisher. Immediately the man with the peculiar eyewear regains his cheery demeanor and explains that the situation “changed last year.” Sega was finally convinced, and so the world will get Arkedo’s first XBLA/PSN release this summer.

From the look of what’s happening in the game’s intro, Sega’s hands-off approach has resulted in a game that is precisely what its developer envisioned it would be. “We really try not to be rude, you know?” says Guermonprez of the action game’s style. “Irreverent, but not rude. It’s a fine balance. Hopefully we managed to have it.” None who were present would have accused what was happening on the screen as serious or respectful, that’s for sure.

But nothing could have prepared me for the explanation of the game’s plot. “We wanted to have — you know what’s awesome with the Pixar movies?” he muses. “It’s like when you see the same scene, the dad and the parents are laughing at something completely different [than] what the children are laughing at at the same scene. You have two completely levels of — the rubber ducky! [Ash is] wanking in the Fleshlight! Period. OK? But my daughter plays it and says, ‘Oh it’s cute! And yeah, yeah he’s supposed to be bad, and yeah, don’t play with rubber ducks.’ And yes, yes, yes [she's] right. Always have two levels of stuff.” DePetris, Pratt and I are laughing along with him at this point. It can’t be helped. The guy has just made a connection between Pixar and a, uh, personal stimulus apparatus. Yeah, let’s go with that.

The gross-outs don’t stop there. “Madame Fontaine is really gross,” says Guermonprez,” but it’s a flowing fountain of blood, OK? OK. It’s OK.” He himself is convinced that this direction works and works well, and I get the sense he doesn’t give a damn whether or not some might feel offended by such elements. “We try to always make another level of stuff. When you think about it it’s really gross, but I mean, hey you thought about it. It’s your problem, not mine.” He laughs at this, but he’s also laughing at something over our heads. Madame Fontaine is a French joke, we’re told, and that’s all the background info we’re given before Guermonprez blazes onward without any need for us to ask anything of him.

“It’s going to be a little bit crazy,” says Guermonprez of the parts of the game not beign shown at PAX. “The thing is, [the demo level] is in Hell. The next one is like a blue sky. The next one is in space. The next one is — it’s a video game, for [fluff's] sake!” Now he really starts to hit his stride. F-bombs — not-so-cleverly edited here as bunny-friendly “fluff” — are dropped freely as Guermonprez’s unbridled enthusiasm for the project comes beaming out of him.

“So you have a red world, a blue world — I mean you have some ride session, some silly stuff… We have designed the game — we want the player to have certain feelings at certain times. Even though it’s a Metroidvania [type of game] and there’s loads of backtracking, we kind of basically know where you are in the story, and it allows us to say ‘OK, we want here you [sic] to feel frustrated.’

“For instance, when you start the game, you’re just gonna want to go Mario on any kind of bug, and no you can’t! You’re just a small little rabbit; you’re useless, and it’s like, ‘What the [fluff]?!’ And the single thorn hurts you [and you're] like, ‘For [fluff's] sake! I’m the Prince of Hell, and a thorn is hurting me?!’ But we do that because we want you to be so happy when you get to later and you’re like, ‘OK, you and you — you hurt me.’ OK? You know that’s the kind of general feeling we want to do — building up some kind of tension and then releasing it. We want you to feel lost one day; we want you to say, ‘What the [fluff] is this world?! This is a world-of-[fluff] world!’ I mean, this is really fun. With the song that goes with it, we really had some fun [laughs] doing that.”

More craziness than my brain can process is happening on-screen as he says this. Blood is splattering all over the game’s camera as enemies are torn to shreds by Ash’s wheel of death. Guermonprez seems amused by what his team has accomplished and it’s not clear what exactly the “this” he mentions above is in reference to. But I fancy he’s speaking of the journey, so to speak, his team has taken over the years to get to this point.

His tone calms a bit now, and he looks at the screen like a proud father seeing his rambunctious little hell-raiser of a boy reaching young adulthood. He’s a wild one, and the old folks next door might complain about his loud music, acts of violence and foul language; but he is Camille’s boy, and he loves him. He’s probably not alone in that feeling. Guermonprez didn’t raise him alone, though. It takes a village, as they say. But he has brought his boy and his toy of choice (the saw-wheel) to show and tell by his lonesome today, so he speaks for the rest of the family. “We’ve been far. We’ve been quite far. I’m not sure where we’ve been, but that was quite fun. That was really fun to do. I mean that was really fun to do,” he reflects.

He now appears to be thinking back fondly on some memory. Perhaps a certain milestone in development? A challenge that had to be overcome? Or maybe something lighter, perhaps a funny joke shared among team members? I don’t know. I can’t see into his mind to read his memories, much as I desire to do so, as his every word fascinates me. I’m not alone in feeling that, either: DePetris is hanging on every word too. Before we get a chance to inquire about his reflections, Guermonprez quickly — and I mean quickly — snaps back into the present and his enthusiasm and swearing return. “It’s a bloody video game! That’s what you live for. I mean, it’s really like…” He doesn’t bother finishing the thought, and he doesn’t have to.

The man whose business cards read “Final Boss” has labored tirelessly for years to get Hell Yeah! to this point. Seeing the smiles on players’ faces confirms his suspicions that it was well worth the effort. Now Guermonprez lays out his 2012 launch strategy: “Yeah, my pitch to Sega was: 2012 will probably suck up big time for everyone. People [will want] a cheap way to have fun. Period. And that’s Hell Yeah! Go. And thank god 2012 sucks! Yay!”

Lately, many games have either required audiences to invest huge amounts of time into play sessions in order to experience rich rewards or gone in the exact opposite direction and offered immediate gratification. Wrath of the Dead Rabbit will be at its best when players discover a happy medium between the two, explains the final boss. Gamers can pop in and out quickly if they so choose, “but we wanted to have some kind of a story. You have many different environments [and] vehicles — stuff that happens. You might want to have more like 30-minutes sessions to have fun and in order to go from one boss to another. We have bosses! Five big ones and a hundred little monsters, some of which you saw, and a few of them are mini-bosses.

“It saves after each stage, but you can also see Madame Fontaine — you know, the floating girl and the bloodbath. It’s a very good french joke by the way, just so you know.” In addition to the health-giving madame, there will also be designated save points. We’re told that it’s possible to save after every time the player does “cool stuff.” Sounds good to us.

Guermonprez goes on to explain that the team went out of its way to avoid situations in which players would have to revert to previous save files. All but the most masochistic of gamers can likely attest to what a major aggravation such occurrences can be. When playing, you won’t have to think about saves the way you would in some games. If you “[fluff] up, you just stopped two minutes ago and it’s good,” explains Guermonprez. “It’s not a skills game, even though it gets a little more trickier afterwards.”

Rather, we’re told that it’s “a game about having fun and a little bit of, you know, Warioware-esque feel to the mini-games. I mean, we love Warioware. It’s the best thing Nintendo does to explain to the whole other studios what to do with the new console. I mean each time Nintendo has a new console, they come with a new Warioware game. ‘These are the 257 game ideas you can make. Just pick one and make a whole game.’ It’s amazing. And we tried to make the same kind of silliness, because when you only have three seconds, you must have two seconds to understand the game and one second to do it. And we love that. We love that.” Judging by the many millions of copies of Warioware games that Nintendo has sold, I’d say there are a great many other individuals who share that feeling with him.

DePetris actually manages to get a question in now. He asks what other power-ups/vehicles we can expect aside from the wheel and gun in the demo. We’re informed that the specifics are a “surprise,” but there are other vehicles in addition to plenty of time spent on foot and in the wheel. The death-dealing means of conveyance will get upgrades after bosses are bested, in typical video-game fashion. Since this is a Metroidvania game, Arkedo also incorporated plenty of hidden goodies that can be seen early in the game but must be returned to later when players are better equipped in order to be ascertained. “We are Arkedo; we love putting Easter eggs everywhere and stupid jokes everywhere.”

It now seems he’s racking his brain for something (perhaps an example?), but whatever thought was there escapes him. “And what did I say? I forgot! That was crap, I guess.” Everyone laughs and both interviewers and designer silently realize this loss of words is the final symptom of convention-itis.

Before Guermonprez can be rid of us, though, I just have to ask his thoughts on the convention. He speaks slowly and deliberately now, informing us that it’s his first time at PAX and it’s “awesome.” The man with the harlequin specs has been in the industry for some 15 years, but being based in France had previously prevented him from making an appearance at a Penny Arcade Expo. Suddenly, the passion, volume and obscenities return. “For [fluff's] sake, this is exactly why I’m doing games! I mean, I spend my time in professional stuff, and it’s quite hard; it’s a hard business. And you may have tendencies even when you are indie — you know it’s quite difficult to be indie — you may have tendencies to forget what you are fighting for. And when you come back here — OK, I’m cooped up for five years now — even if I have bad things coming out, I know exactly why I’m doing that: it’s for the smiles, and I love that. It’s great; we finished the game four days ago and now we are here and just looking at the smiles. How cool can it be?”

I ask if it’s rewarding. Guermonprez says it is so, and that he loves it here. “I mean, babies are here and enjoying themselves.” Now he looks around at nothing and everything at once and waves his arms about to imply we should do the same in order to take in just how diverse the crowd is.

It’s true; there are so many different types of people here, and that fact has not been lost on me. It has been evident since I walked through the doors to the Boston Convention Center the previous Friday morning, but it’s great to see that it’s not lost on Guermonprez. He has been putting on no PR song and dance. He is genuinely excited to be here on the show floor, surrounded by gamers from all walks of life.

“And it’s great,” the Arkedo co-founder continues. “It’s great. I really love it. It’s a great ambiance and everyone is just here to have fun and very respectful and the costumes are…” He is momentarily unsure how to put his cos-playing thoughts into words. It’s plain to see that he is impressed, but he has been answering questions from gamers, journalists and his fellows in the industry all weekend. The excitement and cheerfulness has not left his voice, but this con, great as it has been, has taken its toll.

I’m in a position to sympathize. DePetris, Laster, and Pratt have the same weary look in their eyes that mine must surely bear at this point. Yet I’m thrilled we mustered up the energy to speak with Camille Guermonprez before stumbling out the doors a few hours later, and even more elated that he still had enough life in him to be such a wonderful interview in the waning hours of the show. I’ve talked to many interesting and intelligent developers throughout the weekend, but Guermonprez has topped them all. His passion and candor blew the four of us away.

Now he has regained the power of speech. “I mean, I used to laugh a bit about that, [but] I saw them and was like, ‘That’s awesome. They are having great fun.’ And, yeah, cool, really cool. I want to be back. I’m gonna be back every year now. It’s done.” I’m half-expecting one last profanity to come out, perhaps again as an adjective for Hell Yeah! It doesn’t come. There is only a smile and a final laugh before we shake and go our separate ways.

At some later point during the trip home, it occurs to me that I never actually played Arkedo’s game. I am fool, but an enlightened one. And this fool can’t [fluffing] wait to unleash dead-bunny-rabbit revenge.

Hopping down the bunny trail with Camille Guermonprez

Perry of course brings all the big news stories, followed by Todd Talk and a twitter topic. You still have another week to play the Remember The Days game, which is Heavy Weapon, and send your thoughts to us on twitter.

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.

RSS | MP3 | iTunes

Hosted, produced & edited by:

Ross Adams (@randomlyrossy)

Co-hosted by:

Perry Jackson (@prryjcksn)

Todd Schlickbernd (@emessai)

Guest:

Josiah Renaudin (@josiahrenaudin)

Intro music:

Chris Green - Blurred Edge

Break music:

Disasterpeace – Adventure (Fez)

News discussed:

Game Announcements: Planets at War announced, Joy Ride Turbo

Release Dates/Windows: Dragon’s Lair out on May 18

DLC/Etc: New Supercross Tracks for Trials Evolution, Microsoft hiring Skype for Xbox Engineer, Rodeo Pirate Pack now available in Gotham City Impostors, Dungeon Defenders DLC and Patch out now, Skullgirls hits 50k sales, updates soon

XBLAFancast Episode 59 – All four trumpers

Just a few days ago we were all sent spiraling away from our computer screens, cringing at the news of DTP’s insolvency announcement. Luckily, one way or another, Awesomenauts has pulled through and is loading into its drop pod at this very moment! Months ago, when the game was announced, we were all taken in by Awesomenauts‘ 80s sense of style and catchy theme song. With this latest trailer, that theme is back with 200% more guitar riff! Surely that guitar riff is Ronimo’s way of assuring us everything is not only fine, it’s awesome!

Speaking of awesome, check out our impressions of the game from PAX East if you’re not sure what it is still (by some amazing chance). If you know what it is but aren’t sure how to approach it, or how to play it, check out our XBLA Primer on MOBA for a rundown of the genre to which Awesomenauts belongs and some of its trademark features.

Awesomenauts Release Trailer drops with an extra guitar riff

”Trials Evolution” is about to celebrate two weeks since its release, and as expected the really great tracks are starting to surface. There were so many that we’ve upped our showcase this week to five tracks: three trials tracks, one supercross, and a skill game. As always you can find these tracks by entering Track Central, selecting Get Tracks, then pressing X to search. Enter the gamertag below to find the track. Be aware that the search is case sensitive.

Track: Track Split
Gamertag: Jam 51
Type: Supercross
Difficulty: Medium

We have no idea how Jam 51 was able to split the four driving lines, but it’s awesome. It’s great hearing your friends freak out the first time you part ways. The track itself is great fun as well, if not a bit slow in places. Be warned, playing the track solo will lock up your Xbox in single player, but there are no issues when playing local or Xbox LIVE multiplayer.

Track: Scandinavian Summer
Gamertag: qbicfeet
Type: Trials
Difficulty: Easy

Snow, snow, snow! What a cool idea. *rimshot* It’s not overly complex, but Scandinavian Summer by qbicfeet sure is pretty. Hopefully more folks’ll roll with this theme. Being able to play the skiing skill game in actual snow would be too much fun. We’re sure some crazy editor will actually put in ski lifts, a lodge, and more some day.

Track: Brass Tacks
Gamertag: Murdoc Loch
Type: Trials
Difficulty: Hard

Murdoc Loch is one of our favorite Trials HD creators, and frankly we expect to see big things from him in the future. His first Trials Evolution entry is an impressive ride through a Black Mesa-esque facility, complete with crazy ending.

Track: Top Step
Gamertag: Capitan Centola
Type: Skill game
Difficulty: Hard

Apologies ahead of time for the video quality. We planned to re-record this one but forgot to sen the track/gamertag to our resident video guru.

Anyway, Top Step is a clever little skill game. The objective is to make it onto the platform and touch the target. With each successful touch the rider resets and the platform raises slightly. Players are given three attempts to complete a given height, and those attempts reset should players succeed.

Track: Kinya Aikawa
Gamertag: akaishism
Type: Trials
Difficulty: Hard

Kinya Aikawa is as fun as it is odd. In the background are these little, well, creatures that resemble Sour Patch Kids with suction cups. Add in the dark theme and there’s an exciting amount of tension as you race to the finish.

Trials Tuesday: Week of May 1

Need more ads in your Xbox media apps? Well, you’re getting them whether you like it or not – Microsoft has expanded its lineup in advertising partners on Xbox Live, the company announced last week (as reported by Gamasutra). Since December, many media apps on Xbox Live have featured 15- to 30-second video ad spots, including UFC, Crackle and TMZ. With the expansion, new apps will soon feature the ads, including ESPN, Last.fm, GameSpot and others.

The ads first appeared as part of Microsoft’s most recent major Xbox dashboard update, a primary goal of which was to put media at the forefront and initiating the Xbox’s transformation from gaming console to all-purpose entertainment hub. This seems to be paying off for the electronics giant, as Microsoft reports that usage of entertainment apps on the platform has nearly doubled and Gold subscribers in the United States alone spend an average of 84 hours a month on the service.

More TV-like ads coming to Xbox Live apps

Zombie games: They’re nothing new; some may even argue they’re overdone. We even have our fair share on XBLA already. The vast majority of games featuring zombies use the shambling undead as cannon fodder, the thing players need to mow down with a machine gun to progress.

With The Walking Dead, Telltale Games looks to do something a little different. Much like the comic series it’s based on, this isn’t about killing all zombies in your way, it’s a story about people. What do we do when society collapses and the dead come back to life? It’s a question that’s been the crux of some of the best zombie movies, but one that often falls by the wayside when it comes to games.

So if you’re expecting a game where you must survive the zombie apocalypse by aiming down the sights of your pistol and getting some headshots, you’ll have to look elsewhere. The Walking Dead is a fairly traditional point and click adventure game; while you do have direct control over the main character most of your interaction with the world will be through an onscreen cursor or making dialogue choices.

Here’s what we liked:

Characters you believe in – During the roughly 2-3 hour experience that makes up this first episode you play as Lee, an apparently convicted felon who was on his way to jail when the world started going to hell. During the course of the episode you’ll learn more about his past, but we’ll have to wait for more episodes to find out the whole truth. Whether he’s guilty or not, Lee seems to be a good guy, though you can of course turn him into a bit of a jerk if you want. As the story progresses Lee meets more and more survivors, from a possibly orphaned little girl to an already-established group who have taken refuge in a drugstore. Every character you meet is well-defined, and aside from a few inconsistencies (more on that later), behave in a completely believable way. It makes it easy to get lost in the situation and feel real tension when you are posed with a moral dilemma, or even just having a regular conversation.

Lee & Clementine – Very soon after the game’s opening, Lee meets Clementine. She has been hiding in her treehouse since things went bad; her parents are out of town (and could be dead) and her babysitter has succumbed to the zombie outbreak. Lee takes it upon himself to look after her, though they often seem to be looking after each other. The relationship dynamic between Lee and Clem is by far the most impressive part of The Walking Dead. Wonderfully acted, written and entirely believable, it is a joy to experience. Children in video games are so rarely anything more than an annoyance; not only is Clementime not annoying, she’s charming, tough and arguably smarter than some of the adults you meet. Telltale have managed to make something really special here and should be commended for it.

The zombie apocalypse ain’t fun – Don’t let the unique comic book illustration-esque art style fool you, The Walking Dead is just as nasty and brutal as its comic and television counterparts. People will swear loudly in your face and tell you exactly what they’re thinking and when you kill zombies you won’t feel good about it. Unlike other zombie games, your kill count in Walking Dead won’t reach double digits in a hurry. There are a few big kills throughout the first episode and they are bound to make you uncomfortable. Telltale do a great job of making you smash that hammer into a zombie’s skull just a few too many times. Lingering on your handiwork just a little longer than you’d like, it adds a lot to the already pretty intense action sequences.

Here’s what we didn’t like:

Technical issues – With all their episodic games Telltale have been working with variations of the same game engine, and unfortunately it isn’t especially robust. Transitions between actions are often occompanied with a brief pause which often breaks the flow of some of the more action-focused moments. We also experienced some noticable dips in framerate during some of the more open areas of the game, though fortunately it never impacted any conversation or action moments so it can be easily forgiven.

Writing inconsistencies – The writing is no doubt the best part of Episode I, but it is not without its issues. There are several prominent moments where characters act or speak in a way which doesn’t make much sense and is wholly in service of gameplay. Perhaps the most infuriating example of this is when one character is made to look incredibly moronic just to give players a “puzzle” to solve. Carley is a reporter and a crack shot with the pistol she always carries, but she apparently doesn’t know what a battery looks like or how to use them. She asks Lee to help her fix a radio, only for him to discover it doesn’t have any a batteries. No one is thinking straight these days so it’s easy to overlook. Lee gets the batteries and hands them to Carley. When he comes back later the darn radio still isn’t working, so he takes another look. Turns out Carley put the batteries in backwards. The puzzle aspect isn’t challenging or fun and the whole sequence does nothing but make Carley look incredibly stupid. It sadly isn’t the only example of this sort of puzzle before dialogue issue; we really hope this aspect of the game is handled better in later episodes.

A game in which the gameplay consists mostly of conversation and decision-making may not be for everyone. That said, The Walking Dead is fantastic, with a well-told story with believable characters and surprisingly intense and grisly action scenes. Even if you are unsure, we highly recommend you at least try it out. However if the idea of a zombie game that’s about more than headshots sounds good to you then there’s no doubt you need to play The Walking Dead.

Score: Buy it!

The Walking Dead: Episode 1 review (XBLA)

Spanish developer Tequila Works has released the first developer diary for its debut effort, Deadlight. In the diary, CEO & Creative Director Raúl Rubio is joined by Narrative Director Antonio Rojano to explain why the decision was made to set the game in the Pacific Northwest during the 1980s. “Tequila kept two key concepts in mind,” says Rojano of how the team approached development of this summer’s run-for-your-life zombie game. “One that it was to be a game about zombies and two, that it had to take place in the [1980s].”

Despite the development studio being based in Madrid, the team settled on the United States as the home for player-character Randall Wayne’s adventures because the locales there were home to many of the books, comics, games and movies from which the team drew inspiration and are therefore easily recognizable to audiences around the globe thanks to being heavily featured in media.

XBLA Fans previously caught up with Rubio at PAX East, at which time he also touched upon some of the reasoning behind Deadlight‘s setting and a few of its sources of inspiration. The developer diary does a nice job of expanding on those points and offers some brief behind-the-scenes glimpses of Tequila’s level design work.

First Deadlight dev diary explains the game’s ‘bleak’ setting

Update: According to Jasper Koning of Ronimo Games, Awesomenauts will be releasing as planned. Expect our guide and review to be up in the following week.

We hate being the bearer of bad news but something came this way regarding Awesomenauts release on May 2. dtp entertainment who’s publishing the title by Ronimo Games unfortunately filed for insolvency on Friday, possibly compromising the game’s launch. Ronimo Games’ Jasper Koning spoke on the matter, saying “At the moment we’re unsure what this means for [Awesomenauts]“. Jasper and the rest of the team at Ronimo Games’ are working hard to resolve the problem for the game’s release. We’ll keep you up to date on when this problem for Awesomenauts is resolved.

Update: Awesomenauts to release as planned; publisher files for insolvency

Sega has recently been porting their classic games with Sega Ages and they may have put up more info on the dashboard that they quickly took down. Both new collections are based on the classic Streets of Rage and Golden Axe games, anthologizing the Genesis trilogies on XBLA. All of the titles will feature achievements, leaderboards and offline/online co-op. Unsure of when these collections will release but since they’re ports, shouldn’t take too long. You can catch some box-art after the break and stay tuned for more information on these classic collections. Thanks to @lifelower for the tip.

Sega Vintage Collections: Streets of Rage and Golden Axe info leak on Marketplace

Frima Studios is bringing out a new music game called Jam Live Music Arcade and we’ve got a release date of May 16, siding in with Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2. The game brings out the music where you’ll control all the elements of a song in the mix. You’ll even be able to play with Guitar Hero/Rock Band peripherals if you want (even with Rock Band Blitz on the way). It’s got a multitude of artists from indie-rock acts like Modest Mouse to hip-hop like Atmosphere. Get your jam on when this hits May 16.

Source: Twitter

Jam Live Music Arcade mixing on May 16

If you’re looking for a couple of solid 800 MSP titles, we got some great reduced ones currently. Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet, which we really liked, is 800 down from 1200 as well as the original Toy Soldiers. If you need some points, Amazon has always got them for a great price. Be sure to check out both games as they’re highly recommended by us here at XBLA Fans.

Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet and Toy Soldiers marked to 800

Perry Jackson - After my not-so-great Bloodforge review, I jumped into The Walking Dead Episode 1 on Friday which was great. Never has a game stressed me out on the choices I made. But this weekend will mostly be the Hybrid beta which is an interesting shooter from 5th Cell.

Matt Liparota - A bit of Fez early on, but my system has mostly been used for Netflix and Hulu for the last few days. It”s been a “Veg out in front of the TV and space out” kinda week. I’m still in a lull between big console releases, too – so I’m looking forward to diving into my backlog in the next few days.

Christine Mitchell - I started the week with Fez but then my review code come through for Fable Heroes so I’ve been mostly playing that now. Find out what I thought early next week. I also demoed The Walking Dead Episode 1 and I think that’ll be my next purchase but I’m not sure whether to buy now or wait for the full thing to come out?

James Heiger - Lots of Trials … what else??

Mark Seymour - Nada. I’ve been making my own videogame, it’s AAAA.

A bit hushed in the XBLA Fans corner this week, so how about you? Thoughts on Bloodforge? Still infatuated with Trials Evolution? Finished with Fez? How about The Walking Dead? I hear it’s good. And what about the belated Toy Soldiers: Cold War DLC, was it worth the wait? Tell me it was, please.

What we are playing: April 29

April 23

Hybrid confirmed for 1200 MSP

Take a peek at the maps of Awesomeanauts

RedLynx release new SuperCross tracks for Trials Evolution

Strategic space combat comes to XBLA with Planets at War

Inside Xbox gives us a look at Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

New video showing off concept art for the upcoming Trine 2 DLC

Cirqus Voltaire and Funhouse coming to The Pinball Arcade

April 24

Deal of the Week: April 24 – 30

Toy Soldiers: Cold War DLC launches tomorrow

Trials Tuesday: Week of April 24

Microsoft hiring Skype for Xbox engineer

The Walking Dead episode 1 story trailer

Rodeo Pirate Pack coming for Gotham City Impostors

April 25

XBLA Wednesday: April 25

The Walking Dead set to release on XBLA this Friday April 27

Trials Evolution’s numbers keep reaching to the sky

Hybrid beta starts Friday April 27

Real Steel update brings new parts, moves to robo-brawler

April 26

Dungeon Defenders gets patch, DLC on XBLA

Choice matters in The Walking Dead

Details about the Hybrid beta

April 27

Skullgirls hits 50k in sales, update coming

The Walking Dead won’t rise in Australia/New Zealand

Learn how to play Awesomeanauts with this new trailer

Trials Evolution receives server-side fix

April 28

Dragon’s Lair Kinects with XBLA May 18

Joy Ride Turbo announced for XBLA

Reviews

Bloodforge

Racedrome Offroad (XBLIG)

PAX East

Kickin’ it old school with Double Dragon Neon

XBLA Primer

What is MOBA?

Podcast

Episode 58: Too Fast, Too Furious

XBLA’s Most Wanted

Trials Evolution Nitro Pack

Weekly Roundup: April 29

The world has been bitten by the Trials Evolution bug. Over 100,000 players saddled up in the first day, and close to 350,000 after just one week. It shattered sales records on Xbox Live Arcade. DLC has been promised. Though we’re more than satisfied with the game’s default content and the endless supply available via Track Central we’re still itching for more. But what are they going to put in? We’ve got some ideas, and even a name: the Nitro Pack, inspired from RedLynx’s own Monster Trucks Nitro.

What should be included:

Monster Trucks Nitro content – It’s the namesake of our idea, so it goes without saying that we want some stuff dumped in from Monster Trucks Nitro. We’d love to see truck monster truck wheels, the school bus body, and maybe 1-2 other truck chassis. It’d be great to have the chance to use bits and pieces to have ourselves a custom monster truck/car/bus.

Prefabrications – The example items found in the Pro Editor are a godsend. They show players how some of the more intricate pieces fit together to make something exciting. We’d like to see more of that, but also more raw parts. Don’t misunderstand: the palette players are given is huge. But we want some extras. How about a fighter jet prefab taken from the FPS Target Range minigame? Why not add in the red Chevy Impala body from Trials HD? Oh, and a playable ATV would be cool, too. Like the skiing skill game the bike could simply be hidden, replaced with the ATV. We’re looking at the most powerful in-game editor ever released on a console, and for that we’re grateful. It’s just that our imaginations continue to soar, and we want more. RedLynx, please don’t forget some new parts with the updates.

Tracks and skill games – Obvious? Sure, but needed. We’ve got some ideas for skill games, but what we really want are supercross tracks, and lots of em’. Imaginative ones. The community has been churning out some strong courses, but many of the popular courses are your garden variety motorcross redux. We’d love to see some tracks with imagination. Oh, and throw a few trials tracks in there too for good measure.

Why it would succeed:

Come on, now. We know this is a money maker. For starters Trials Evo has already shattered sales records, which means folks will want more. Monster Trucks Nitro was published by Miniclip, so there might be issue using the exact assets, but new, similar assets would be amazing. This could easily bring 560 MSP with the right amount of content, but we’d settle for 400 MSP if some of our wishlist had to be pulled. We’re hoping beyond hope for some new editor items along with the skill games, trials tracks and supercross. That’s going to be the selling point this time around.

P.S. – Please bring back the Delivery skill game from Trials HD

XBLA’s Most Wanted: Trials Evolution Nitro Pack

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.

Source: PlayXBLA

Joy Ride Turbo announced for XBLA

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

Dragon’s Lair Kinects with XBLA May 18

When browsing the Highest Rated categories in Trials Evolution‘s Track Central users would often find sub-par tracks amidst truly great ones, often with great tracks getting bumped from the top of the list. That all changed this morning when RedLynx and Microsoft implemented a server-side update to patch things up.

Previously players could have their track rated five stars, but only with one rating, which we would assume is the creator’s friend or another LIVE account on the same machine. It got rated once (and only once) five stars, and often other users couldn’t even finish the track to downvote it. This morning’s update now sorts highest rated tracks by two criteria: the number of stars it’s received and the number of votes. This means that a single-vote five star track will never again steal the spot of a 1,000 vote five star track.

Source: RedLynx

Trials Evolution receives server-side fix for Track Central

Awesomenauts comes out next week on May 2 and we here at XBLA Fans couldn’t be more stoked. Ronimo Games has posted a new trailer for the game that details what exactly you’ll be doing. Sheriff Lonestar gets the skinny on who to destroy as part of the red team, he must take out the blue turrets from the blue team. But he must also avoid other mercenaries and bots that will come after turrets from the red team. This game is shaping up to be a great 2D MOBA-fest and if you’re wondering what all that hullaballoo with the word MOBA is, we’ve got a great XBLA Primer on the subject and don’t forget to look back at our PAX East preview. Awesomenauts will be out Wednesday, May 2 for 800 MSP.

Learn how to play Awesomenauts with this new trailer

Australian fans of The Walking Dead are in for a bit of a disappointment today. The game based on the series of graphic novels will not be releasing in either Australia or New Zealand. It is unclear if the OFLC rejected the game or if developer Telltale Games saw the writing on the wall and didn’t attempt to release it in that territory at all. The Walking Dead received a Mature rating in America so there is no doubt that it contains some intense zombie related scenarios. There is a long history of Australia refusing to release games featuring “mature content”. XBLA has run afoul of this before with Wolfenstein 3D and others. Ultimately this is a shame for both gamers and the developers of what is looking to be a solid game. Stay tuned for our review very soon.

Source: Ausgamers

The Walking Dead won’t rise in Australia/New Zealand

Fighting game darling Skullgirls hit a major sales milestone in only 10 days on the market. Across all platforms the game has sold over 50,000 copies. That is great news because it has given Reverge Labs both the incentive and the resources to update an already stellar package. First on the list is likely adding a much requested in game move list. After that no one knows but character balancing would seem a likely next step. Regardless, we at XBLAFans are pleased to see such a deserving game find success.

Source: Joystiq

Skullgirls hits 50K in sales, update coming

[UPDATE]: Beta is now live for download, however, the servers will not go up until 2 PM EST (11 AM PST).

With the much-anticipated Hybrid beta finally on its way, we’ve been searching for some additional info on the beta itself. After following up with 5th Cell, they’ve kindly informed us on what’ll be in the beta. Here’s the breakdown:

• There will be 3 maps and 3 modes in the beta. In the finished version there are 10 maps and 7 modes.
• The level cap is 50, but surpassing level 25 is “highly unlikely” within the beta.
• There are a lot of weapons to unlock, but it’s possible to see them all if you play enough.
• The territory metagame pitting Paladin versus Variant will be live in the game. Players will be forced to pick a faction and will not be able to change in beta. Players of opposite factions cannot be played with on the same team, even if they’re on your friends list. In the full version there are ways to change your faction, so we’re told.
• Nothing will be added to the beta after it goes live. It will be two and a half weeks long.
• Players are heavily encouraged to report bugs and impressions to the Hybrid forums.
• Also, the beta is US only unfortunately. By changing your account’s region to USA you should be able to circumvent this, however.

So there you have it guys, everything you need to know about the Hybrid beta. Looks like there’s a good portion of the game being shown off here with plenty of time to dive into it. Two and a half weeks puts the end of it squarely in the middle of May, around the 16th. Check out the beta trailer if you’re not sure if you’re interested or know what it is, but suffice to say it’s no typical third person shooter. Last but not least, we have 30 codes to give away tomorrow! We’ll let you know how  when the time comes.

For those of you who want to play with or against us here at XBLA Fans, we’ll be a part of the Variant faction.

As a reminder, we want to reiterate that you CANNOT CHANGE YOUR FACTION once you pick one in the beta. You also CANNOT ALLY WITH FRIENDS/MEMBERS OF THE OTHER FACTION, so if you want to play with your friends make sure they’re the same faction as you. There are unfortunately no private matches in the beta, so take heed of this now.

Update: Details about the Upcoming Hybrid Beta

It’s the zombie apocalypse. Your small band of survivors is under siege and two of your compatriots are in immediate danger. You only have time to save one. Who do you choose? This is the thrust of the new “Choices Matter” trailer for Telltale Games‘ The Walking Dead game, which hits XBLA Friday. The video’s game footage is intercut with commentary by  episode three designer Harrison Pink, who explains some of the role player choice will have in the first episode – and the entire “season” of games – when it releases.

The choices the player makes, Pink says, will affect the way your entire experience plays out – who you side with in arguments, who you save in dire situations, and even how much of your character’s background you choose to reveal. Many of these choices will reverberate throughout the rest of the episode and into the chapters that follow, changing certain aspects of the story. This kind of player agency is relatively unique in adventure games, a genre whose games tend to follow a set story path dependent on the player using the correct item in the correct sequence.

The Walking Dead puts players in the shoes of Lee Everett, a convicted murderer who was on his way to prison when the apocalypse hit. This week’s release is the first of five planned episodes. The game follows a separate path than that of Robert Kirkman’s Image Comics series, though some existing characters are confirmed to appear in the series. The Walking Dead: Episode I releases on XBLA tomorrow for 400 MSP

Choice matters in The Walking Dead

Developer Trendy Entertainment today released the first console patch for Dungeon Defenders alongside the DLC pack Quest for the Lost Eternia Shards Part II: Moraggo Desert Town on XBLA. The downloadable content comes with three new missions, a boss named “Genie King” and a number of smaller elements. Moraggo Desert Town was originally scheduled to hit Xbox Live Arcade on April 11 before slipping to today. The PC version became available back in March, with the PSN edition following suit on April 10.

While there are plans to eventually make all four volumes of the Eternia Shards DLC available to console gamers, Trendy is keeping quiet about the details for the time being. That being said, it sounds like gamers won’t have to wait much longer for news on the matter. “No word at the moment about the third Shards DLC for 360,” Trendy tweeted this morning. “We’ll have more details soon.”

The patch has one XBLA-exclusive feature: it fixes the “tavern unlock glitch.” An exhaustive list of everything the console patch does and does not address can be found on Trendy’s forums. As is the norm for patches, a multitude of balancing fixes have been released as part of the download. The hero, mana and level caps are also all raised. Other updates include bandwidth, DLC, scaling and bug fixes.

Sources: Trendy Entertainment 1 and Trendy Entertainment 2

Dungeon Defenders gets patch, DLC on XBLA

Released near the end of last year, Yuke’s Real Steel – based on the movie of the same name – offered a chance to practice the sweet science Rock-Em Sock-Em Robots style (read our review if you haven’t already). Among the games features was the ability to customize your own robots with new parts and pieces. Now, an update released April 18 offers new parts with which to assemble robots, as well as new moves, according to a press release from Yule. The update is free. If you’ve yet to play the game, Real Steel is available now on XBLA for 800 MSP.

Real Steel update brings new parts, moves to robo-brawler

Update: According to a post from a dev on the 5th Cell Hybrid forums, the beta will be lasting about two and a half weeks. That means mid-way through May.

As if this Friday wasn’t enough with The Walking Dead coming out, we got a beta also on its way for 5th Cell’s Hybrid. If you signed up on their website for the beta, you should be getting a code in your email. It will go live on Friday at 11 AM PDT and you must have an Xbox Live Gold account to access it with your console’s region set to North America. No details on when it’ll end have been stated but if you got a code, prepare for some aerial combat with its unique control scheme. It’s looking to release this summer for 1200 MSP.

Hybrid beta starts Friday April 27

Wow, what a week we have had around here with Trials Evolution, from ground breaking gameplay to record breaking sales. We brought you the incredible news about Trials Evo selling over 100,000 units on day one, though it seems now it has moved that impressive number up to almost 350,000. This massive number comes from Roger Carpenter, lead XBLA producer for Microsoft Studios Europe, who tweeted that there were 346,404 people on the leaderboards.

If you’re one of the few who has been holding out and still not sure after seeing these numbers, then read our review where it receives a strong Buy It. If you have already picked it up, then don’t forget about Trials Tuesday, a weekly feature where we will be bringing you the best tracks we find. The first one is already up bringing you three must have tracks this week, which you can find here.

Source: Twitter

Trials Evolution’s numbers keep reaching to the sky

The Walking Dead Episode 1 finally gets an official release date for XBLA. Xbox Live’s Major Nelson broke the news in a tweet stating that the first episode, also known as A New Day, will hit XBLA this Friday April 27 for 400 MSP. The release date has been somewhat of a mystery for Xbox gamers following releases for PC, MAC and PSN earlier this week. Subsequent episodes are expected to release monthly as DLC add-ons.

Achievement hunters may also want to take note that it was recently spotted by Xbox360Achievements that Episode 1 will come with 100 Gamerscore points available. If this trend continues we may see the complete series with a maximum of 500 GS in total.

Source: Twitter, Xbox360Achievements

The Walking Dead set to release on XBLA this Friday April 27

Do you feel like shouting while you stab or underwater action? XBLA Wednesday has got you covered on all those fronts this week. First up, The second title in the Arcade Next promotion comes with Bloodforge. You play as Crom as he gets vengeance on the gods that killed his wife. It’s availible for 1200 MSP and here’s our review. Secondly, Deep Black: Episode 1 is about underwater action with biological weapons, pretty standard action game stuff. That’ll set you back 800 MSP.

We also have the long-awaited Toy Soldiers: Cold War DLC campaigns with Evil Empire and Napalm. Whether it’s militaristic, futuristic, or ancient battles, XBLA Wednesday has got something for you.

XBLA Wednesday: April 25