Official Xbox Live Arcade Thread

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Bleh.

Seems like they are just clearing out the channel or something. We all know there's good stuff around the corner. Are they just getting this kind of stuff out of the way in order to have a string of several weeks of quality releases?
 
RadarScope1 said:
Bleh.

Seems like they are just clearing out the channel or something. We all know there's good stuff around the corner. Are they just getting this kind of stuff out of the way in order to have a string of several weeks of quality releases?
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I guess that is one way of looking at it, another way is that Microsoft hasn't really done a catering to the casual sector in awhile and a lot of the recently relesed and near releases have that type of bent to them.
 
I want my Ikaruga so bad I can taste it. Do we have any idea when it's coming down the pipe? Was that rumor of "within the next month" substantiated?
 
PepsimanVsJoe said:
Got into playing Smash TV again and I was thrilled...thrilled to reach halfway through stage 2 on a single credit. Unfortunately the leaderboards are ruled by milkers as many of the top scores look to be impossible to get through a regular playthrough.

All the same however I'd like to see it through to the end and hit the full 200/200. Is there any good strategy guides out there for this game? Hell maybe I'll go the dishonest route and milk a bunch of points(since extends can be gotten through points as well as found randomly.

Fantastic game though, probably the only arena shooter I like.
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Some of the harder achievements are glitched though (as in: they won't unlock), according to aku:jiji.
 
bumpkin said:
I want my Ikaruga so bad I can taste it. Do we have any idea when it's coming down the pipe? Was that rumor of "within the next month" substantiated?
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It can not be substantiated further at this time.
 
MicVlaD said:
Some of the harder achievements are glitched though, according to aku:jiji.
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There was an update fairly recently so maybe Midway finally got around to fixing it. Then again it appears there a number of glitches they probably patched instead(there's a way to start a game with 7 lives on the easiest difficulty and still get achievements..not to mention an invincibility code that I never bothered to try)

Hmm..maybe somebody out there can confirm.
 
The biggest contenders for release next week are Rocky and Bullwinkle and Wits and Wagers.

Speaking of Wits and Wagers:

http://www.hiddenpath.com/witswagers.htm

- Official Xbox Magazine Reviews Hidden Path Entertainment's Wits & Wagers video game in their April 2008 issue review by Paul Curthoys

Official Xbox Magazine (OXM) calls Wits & Wagers "a genius quiz-show game that ranks right up there with classics like You Don't Know Jack." One of only five Xbox LIVE Arcade games to win OXM's coveted Editor's Choice award, Wits & Wagers stands out from the crowd, and "The resulting social dynamic is absolutely a blast."

"The best part of this trivia game is that you can be a total knucklehead and still mop the floor with your smartypants friends. Wits & Wagers is far less about knowing the age of our planet or the year Braille was invented (or other numerical facts), and far more about how well you bet."

"Wits & Wagers lets up to six players connect over Live from any combo of 360s and couches (for example, three players from one house and 360, two from another, one from a third), or four players can gather around a single console. This flexibility allows Wits & Wagers to do exactly what a good party game should - let you laugh your ass off and have fun with friends. Good job XBLA, - more like this please."

The Verdict on Xbox LIVE Arcade: 9.0, Editors' Choice
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Darwinia Plus confirmed to be headed to the Xbox Live Arcade #1
From the Stick of Joy

Acknowledging the game's "leak" by the ESRB, Introversion has confirmed that Darwinia+, a combination of Darwinia and the multiplayer variant Multiwinia: Survival of the Flattest, is coming to Xbox Live this Fall. Introversion also provided reassureance that Multiwinia is coming to the PC.

No other details are given; if you have never played Darwinia, then we strongly suggest you to download the demo (available for Windows, Mac and Linux) and try it out. Here's hoping this starts a precedent and we can one day enjoy DEFCON and the upcoming Subversion on our platform of choice.
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PepsimanVsJoe said:
There was an update fairly recently so maybe Midway finally got around to fixing it. Then again it appears there a number of glitches they probably patched instead(there's a way to start a game with 7 lives on the easiest difficulty and still get achievements..not to mention an invincibility code that I never bothered to try)

Hmm..maybe somebody out there can confirm.
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They (finally) fixed the fact that you used to be able to play the full game without buying it. That's all.

The Game Master achievement is still broken, and will most likely never be fixed. There's some poor bastards out there who are still e-mailing Digital Eclipse and Midway about it, but last I heard, they're just getting the usual PR-speak of "we'll look into it."

(Midway hates gamers. I don't own the game, but there's supposed to be something seriously wrong with UMK3 as well, which they also refuse to fix. I don't understand what would possess a company to act this way. The negative word of mouth they're getting on Smash TV far outweighs the whopping one day salary they'd have to pay somebody to fix the achievement.)
 
The past couple of weeks have felt like the olden days of Serious Cat Wednesday. I still consider Arne to be my nemesis :lol It's like Microsoft looked at the sales for Space Giraffe and said to themselves, "I think we can do worse than that. Bliss Island, you're going in!"
 
Dunno if anyone here listens to the awesome podcast, http://onelifeleft.com/ but they had a listener phone-in, and it was a guy from Denki, developers of Denki Blocks, up in Scotland.

Denki are apparently working on party-friendly XBLA titles - one of which starts with the letter "Q".
Here's hoping it's not Quick Wit, as we're already close to saturation point on this genre.
 
aku:jiki said:
They (finally) fixed the fact that you used to be able to play the full game without buying it. That's all.

The Game Master achievement is still broken, and will most likely never be fixed. There's some poor bastards out there who are still e-mailing Digital Eclipse and Midway about it, but last I heard, they're just getting the usual PR-speak of "we'll look into it."

(Midway hates gamers. I don't own the game, but there's supposed to be something seriously wrong with UMK3 as well, which they also refuse to fix. I don't understand what would possess a company to act this way. The negative word of mouth they're getting on Smash TV far outweighs the whopping one day salary they'd have to pay somebody to fix the achievement.)
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Well son of a bitch...I guess I'll just glitch my way to 150/200 then.
 
The following achievements have been unlocked:

Rocky and Buillwinkle

http://www.xbox360achievements.org/achievements.php?gameID=671

Advanced Moosology
5
Reach difficulty level 3 in any show.

New Customer
5
Buy something from the Boxtop Shop.

Happy Ending
10
Complete any show.

Over the Hill
10
Complete any 4 shows.

Seven With One Blow
15
Complete a Rerun set that includes games from seven different shows.

This Time For Sure!
15
Complete any show without losing a life.

Hare Loss
20
Find all of Accident Rabbit's hiding places.

Cereal Lover
20
Accumulate a balance of at least 5000 Boxtops.

The Young Storyteller
20
Complete all Aesop games at difficulty level 5.

Season Finale
25
Complete all shows.

Corner the Market
25
Buy everything in the Boxtop Shop.

Secret Formula
30
The secret formula is something you'll have to concoct yourself.

http://www.xbox360achievements.org/achievements.php?gameID=676

Lost Cities

There are 12 achievements with a total of 200 points.


Pack Mule
5
Play at least one Number 10 card and win the game.

Investor
20
Play 3 investment cards in one expedition, win the round with 150 or more points, and win the game.

Adventurer
10
Win 20 single player games in Normal or Hard difficulty.

Great Adventurer
10
Win 20 times in 1vs.1 online matches.

Expedition
15
Win 20 times in 2vs.2 online matches.

Thrill Seeker
15
Win 50 single player games in Normal or Hard difficulty.

Precious Artifact
5
Score 100 points in one round and win the game in any game mode.

Treasure Hunter
25
Score 250 points in a 3-round game and win the game in single player or online.

Excavator
20
Play more than 9 cards in one expedition and win the game in single player or online.

Explorer
25
Play 5 Number 10 cards in a game round, win the round, and win the game in single player or online.

Archaeologist
25
Win 300 times in any single player or online modes.

World Traveler
25
Build 5 expeditions in 1 round, win the round with 80+ points, and win the game in any mode.
 
http://www.xblah.net/2008/03/three-red-lights-podcast-ross-erickson.html

Quick notes of the latest Three Red Lights podcast with Sierra Online (and our old nemesis) Ross Erickson.

- Sierra will be publishing an XNA game in the future, one which won an award.

- The best selling game they've released for XBLA is 3D Ultra Mini Golf, and they intend to expand on the 3D Ultra series. (Note: Personally, I think it's because it's the first game on the list)

- Lost Cities is nearing completion - might be in certification right now. The price is still up in the air - it may just be 400 points. (Note: Admittedly I forgot to add the previews some places had recently, check it out here)

- Assault Heroes 2 is also completed and hoping for release in April.

- Several other games in the pipeline for 2nd half '08, not announcing till later (Though we already know of a couple)

- They have been thinking of bringing back classic franchises such as the Sierra point and clicks, though it sounds like outside of XBLA - in a similar fashion to the new Sam & Max series.

- Loves Boogie Bunnies!!

- Expansions tend to sell to less than 50% of the original owners.
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Full Podcast Episode here.

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/861/861200p1.html
 
Sean said:
Poker Smash patched!

http://www.xblarcade.com/node/1822
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Yeah, it's in the Poker Smash thread too, but deserves to be everywhere, because the game is great and if you've held out due to the crashing there seems to be no reason now.

As for the rest of XBLA, kinda slow right now for me... I'm sitting on some points, guess I'll just wait for some Rock Band DLC that's up my alley, or a game that beats EA to it :)
 
New Chessmaster LIVE! DLC

Title: Chessmaster Live

Content: Egypt Chess Set
Price: 80 Microsoft Points
Availability: Not available in Japan or Korea
Dash Text: [ESRB: E (Everyone)] Download this brand new 3D chess set and have more fun playing chess! There are no refunds for this item. For more information, see www.xbox.com/live/accounts.
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IGN XBOX 360 goes hands-on with....Battlezone.

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/862/862351p1.html

The original Battlezone could probably best be described as having a horrific framerate and a world painted entirely black and green, wireframe environmental models included. The new Battlezone retains the classic look and feel in the appropriately named "Classic Mode." Unsurprisingly the classic edition is totally untouched in making the port to Xbox 360, clunky framerates and all. There's the Throttle Monkey option for both the classic and evolved mode. Basically this just cranks up the speed and difficulty of the game to the max.


The "Evolved Mode" follows the standard that other Atari classics have set in that the gameplay is totally unchanged only with re-skinned visuals. The art style is a little questionable with odd looking tanks and environmental pieces but it suffices. Luckily the framerate hitches have been removed for the evolved mode, but as we said the gameplay mirrors the original with fast, average and heavy tanks being randomly distributed on respawns as well as the missile which is still difficult to control when you happen to get it.

Multiplayer is the real fun of Battlezone on XBLA. Scouring the map in search of AI controlled tanks can be a little monotonous with relatively little strategy involved, but when you link up with a friend things get a little more intense, not to mention more fun. It's a bit of a disappointment that there's no splitscreen support for multiplayer, only on Xbox Live. It's always more fun to be able to reach out and hit your buddy than to talk smack online, but you'll just have to take what you can get.
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What a strange title to go hands-on with.
 
IGN XBOX 360 Reviews TiQal

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/862/862114p1.html

7.0 Presentation
The Mayan theme does its job. The story is easily ignored, but does it really matter in a puzzle game?

6.0 Graphics
Simple in every way, but it gets the job done.

5.0 Sound
About the quality and diversity of your average casual PC game.

6.5 Gameplay
Falling blocks are always easy to get into and enjoy, but this one is fairly derivative.

6.0 Lasting Appeal
TiQal can keep you engaged for a while, but there are better alternatives you’ll gravitate back to.
6.5
Passable OVERALL
(out of 10 / not an average)
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Eurogamer reviews TiQal

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=128476

I really wish that TiQal had been released twenty years ago. For one thing, it would mean that all subsequent block-dropping, colour-matching puzzle games would have to be described as "TiQalish", but mostly because at least then there would be something interesting or original to say about this utterly generic effort.

TiQal is the debut offering from the unfortunately named Slapdash Games, a company set up by former employees of MumboJumbo, the home of casual smash hit Luxor. Of course, Luxor bore more than a passing similarity to PopCap's Zuma, and it's clear from this effort that we're not going to be dazzled with originality any time soon. TiQal is about as predictable as casual games get, a Frankenstein gameplay carcass stitched together from elements openly swiped from previous titles.

You move a "dropper" across the top of the screen, and deposit shapes onto the ascending wall below. Right away, and rather blatantly, the game invites comparisons to Tetris, even using many of the same block shapes. However, rather than trying to create complete horizontal lines, your aim here is to form square or oblong blocks of the same colour. These then shimmer, and you have a few seconds to add more to the block for a larger score before it shatters. The aim isn't to clear the screen but to fill the score-meter at the bottom, as in...well, as in Luxor. That's variety, I guess.
The problem isn't that TiQal is a casual game, but that it's a lazy casual game. A game so mired in existing formula that it has nothing to offer beyond bland distraction. It's almost as if the folk at Slapdash were afraid to attempt anything that players might not recognise from previous games - not the best way to distinguish your new venture from the old.

For some, of course, this will be enough. Maybe you've just given up smoking, for instance, and just need something to do with your craving fingers. It's phenomenally easy to grasp - you can figure out how to play just from the screenshots - and the flatlined learning curve over 120 levels means that few players will get lost along the way. For those who still value their cognitive functions, however, TiQal has little to offer. It makes all the right noises to fit into its niche, but does so in such a flavourless and anonymous manner that there's no compelling reason to spend another 800 Points, especially when so many similar yet superior titles are already available on Live Arcade.
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5/10
 
Yah, TiQal does kind of give off a "not so fresh" feeling, but I've played all my other XBLA puzzle games to death. After drinking a pot of coffee this morning, 120 levels of non-Boogie Bunnies puzzle action sounded really appealing, so I bought it. I do like it so far. It is fun to try and stack up as many pieces as you can, and every level I've played so far has had a different background. I like it better than Luxor 2 which I bought when it launched (whoops). I just hope this is the last time we see the Mayan/Egyptian/Ancinet Runis theme in a puzzle game... meh.
 
cjelly said:
I hope you either made a new thread or bumped the official thread.

There were a lot of folks on here waiting to hear when the freezes had been fixed so this'll be music to their ears.
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He didn't have to, Drew Card of Void Star informed us in the Poker Smash thread.
 
http://www.360sync.com/2008/03/27/darwinia-and-multiwinia-coming-to-xbla-this-fall

First screenshots of Darwinia Plus

image13.jpg


image17.jpg


image16.jpg


image7.jpg


image20.jpg
 
I wonder if the "Secret Formula" achievement for Rocky and Bullwinkle ended up the way I designed it. If so, what you have to do to unlock it is unique for each player.
 
LIVE Activity for week of 3/17

Top Arcade Titles (Full Versions)
1 Brain Challenge
2 DOOM
3 N+ (-2)
4 Assault Heroes
5 UNO (-1)
6 Worms (-1)
7 TMNT 1989 Arcade (-1)
8 Bomberman LIVE (-1)
9 Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (+1)
10 Marble Blast Ultra


Kinda interesting that Marble Blast got back on the charts. Probably because people were checking out Doom and Assault Heroes in XBLA HIts and that was in the same section.
 
Oh boy, I can see the cheapos getting into a tizzy over this news.

Penny Arcade Adventures priced at $20, specs released

17 Comments by James Ransom-Wiley Mar 27th 2008 4:15PM
Filed under: Mac, PC, Microsoft Xbox 360
penny arcade adventures
Hothead Games today punched its rambling epic, Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness: Episode One (phew!), with a $19.95 price tag. That's just over 30 cents a letter (colons not included), assuming cost is derived, as it is for all episodic games, by the title's length. Currently, that price applies to all versions of the game, which include PC, Mac, Linux and Xbox Live Arcade editions. 1600 Microsoft Points ($20) would be new territory for digital distribution on Xbox 360, but clearly, Hothead and its two stars have made it a point to be living on the edge.
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Shard said:
Oh boy, I can see the cheapos getting into a tizzy over this news.
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I would have paid 1600 (though not a point more) for Puzzle Quest, and felt the value was there... so it's possible to have titles scaled to XBLA that are worth it.

Remains to be seen whether the PA game really cuts the mustard though...
 
So GAF i've got these 800 points, right?

I want to go for a 2x1 so what should i buy for 400+400 Points?

-Sonic 2 [i already have it on the Gamecube though]
-DooM [i already have it on the GBA though]
-Assault Heroes
-UNO
-TMNT 1989 Arcade
 
Shard said:
Oh boy, I can see the cheapos getting into a tizzy over this news.
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I'm all for it. I would have paid $20 for Puzzle Quest.

Whether it sells or not at that price, is entirely dependant on the quality of the title.
 
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