Microsoft Game Studios

Max: The Curse of Brotherhood, the 2.5D puzzle platformer from Press Play, is going to be gracing the Xbox 360 on April 9, 2014. This announcement comes via Phil …
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We’re late, and it seems that’s become somewhat of a trend for us lately. Our Game of the Year awards weren’t doled out until January, and now our look forward at the XBLA and Xbox One XBLA-type games of 2014 is just making its way to you in February. You were on your own when it came to planning out January’s releases, but now it’s time for our annual look ahead at the top downloadable games likely to arrive on an Xbox platform during the (remainder of) the year ahead. Read on to find out what you can expect out of Xbox over the next (not quite) 365.

Developer: 4J Studios, Mojang and Microsoft Studios

As was announced at Microsoft’s E3 2013 presentation, 4J Studios will be bringing its open-world block-building game to the Xbox One. The 360 edition of Minecraft was a huge success and 4J is looking to build off of that success by bringing a “bigger” world to players. The Xbox One edition promises to deliver on the power of next-gen gaming by giving players more of what they want. Maps, Adventures, multiplayer features and console specific enhancements will all be improved and larger in scale on the Xbox One than they were on the Xbox 360. Minecraft: Xbox One Edition will be released sometime in the month of March of 2014.

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Polygon‘s Brian Crecente writes that Microsoft is interested in bringing something similar 1 vs. 100 to the Xbox One. Dave McCarthy, general manager for Lifestyle Entertainment at Microsoft Studios, …
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When developer 17-Bit’s Skulls of the Shogun released in early 2013, it did so with a light, humorous script that mixed pop culture references with a near-constant string of jokes of the developer’s own creation. According to a recent interview of studio CEO Jake Kazdal by Pocket Gamer, however, the original plan was for the game to have a very different tone. The plan called for more austerity and less clowning.

That all changed when original scribe Ben Vance — who also served as the game’s programmer and designer — penned a joke-filled draft that clashed with 17-Bit’s more restrained vision of the game. Vance’s approach resonated with other members of the team, and everyone began slipping even more humor into his script during the game’s protracted development cycle.

“Since the game was in development for so long, everyone involved kept throwing in jokes and massaging the script,” Kazdal told Pocket Gamer. “And then we got a complete editing pass from localisation company, 8-4, where script doctors Mark MacDonald and Alan Averill just nailed it.

“We originally were going to have a much more stoic, serious script, but people responded so well to the goofy offbeat humor we had stubbed in we just decided to run with it. We wanted to entertain players, while reinforcing our stereotypes, and just rolled with it.”

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Max: The Curse of Brotherhood was developed by Press Play and published by Microsoft Game Studios. It was released on December 20, 2013 for $14.99. An Xbox One copy was provided for review purposes.

Max: The Curse of Brotherhood is a 2.5D puzzle platformer in which players take on the role of Max, a young boy who uses a curse on his annoying brother, Felix, and then has to rescue him when the curse turns out to be real. Players are equipped with a handy marker that can alter the environment, helping them to solve interesting puzzles in their quest to save Felix from the evil Mustachio.

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Undead Labs, the Seattle based development studio behind last year’s XBLA hit State of Decay, have announced that they’ve just signed a multi-year, multi-title agreement with Microsoft Studios. Founder …
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Any time a new game console is revealed, the spotlight is invariably turned toward the biggest and loudest AAA-caliber games that will accompany the console at launch and beyond. Last month’s release of the Xbox One was no exception. Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, Dead Rising 3, and Battlefield 4 have taken top billing in conversations about Microsoft’s new console. However, we shouldn’t forget the many great indie developers that have helped to make the Xbox Live Marketplace the veritable treasure trove it’s become.

A strong precedent

The last console generation, the Xbox 360, was home to some truly great indie games, including Cthulhu Saves the World, Escape Goat, Braid> and Limbo. These aren’t necessarily Xbox exclusives, but the fact that they call the Xbox 360 home has been an encouraging sign that Microsoft will continue courting indie game developers on the Xbox One. Even so, public opinion seems to favor Sony’s PlayStation 4 as the best console for indie developers. Given that, what can Microsoft do to win back the love of indies? It may already be on the right track.

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On Friday, Microsoft will launch its next-generation console, the Xbox One. If you’ve been paying attention to the games industry at all this year then you already knew that, and you also know all the blah, blah about TV features, the new UI, the improved Kinect camera, upgraded graphical power and the like. But if you’ve ever purchased a games console before — and since you’re reading XBLAFans, chances are fairly high that you have — then you know that none of those things really matter when you get down to it. Sure, all of that stuff might be exciting, but games are what really matters.

One of the developers that’s helping to round out the Xbox One’s launch lineup is Twisted Pixel, a former indie studio now owned by Microsoft known by XBLAFans readers for bringing several great games to the XBLA platform. Twisted Pixel’s launch title, LocoCycle, would have been an Xbox Live Arcade game had it been an Xbox 360 exclusive title; instead, it’ll arrive first on Xbox One Friday before coming to the Xbox 360 at an unspecified future date. And since there is no XBLA on Xbox One, Twisted Pixel’s goofy action game, which stars a sentient motorcycle with wheels that dish out martial arts attacks, will be sold in the Xbox One dashboard alongside of every other Xbox One game — not just those that sell for $20 or less.

XBLAFans caught up with Twisted Pixel Studio Director Mike Wilford and asked him what it was like working on a game for the Xbox One launch. “It’s been cool! We obviously love console gaming and have been making console games for a long time now, but none of us have been involved in a launch before,” Wilford tells XBLAFans via email. “It certainly has its challenges, but it’s awesome to be a part of it.”

We asked him if anything felt different about releasing a game alongside a major console launch, or if LocoCycle was a game release like any other. Although he called this release “a special occasion,” he took care to point out that, of course, Twisted Pixel takes all of its game releases seriously. “But as a kid I would always be so excited to bring home a new system and spend hours with each launch game that celebrated the dawn of a new era of gaming with untold potential. Now we get to contribute to that feeling and it’s so awesome!”

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From the weird and wacky minds that unleashed ‘Splosion Man and The Gunstringer onto the world, comes the action-racer Lococycle for the Xbox One. To celebrate the launch, developer …
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After a small tease in the Sadira reveal trailer, Killer Instinct character Orchid has received a full-fledged reveal trailer of her own.

Black Orchid, like Sadira, is named after …
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