Official Xbox Live Arcade Thread

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Rocky and Bullwinkle coming in two weeks.

http://www.360sync.com/2008/04/02/rocky-and-bullwinkle-coming-april-16th

rockyandbullwinkle.jpg


‘Rocky and Bullwinkle‘ will be making it’s way to the Xbox LIVE Arcade on April 16th for 800 MS Points. Word of this comes from a ZEN Studios press release detailing a Rocky and Bullwinkle themed table that is on it’s way available now for ‘Pinball FX.’ The new table will be is available for 200 MS Points and features Rocky, Bullwinkle Boris Badenov, Natasha Fatale and all the rest of the gang from Frostbite Falls. The full version of ‘Pinball FX’ is required to enjoy this new table.
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I cannot express in words how disappointed I am with Mr Driller Online. What Namco did to that game after the brilliance that was Drill Land is fucking stupid.
RBH said:
What exactly does this mean?

Final Fight on XBLA/PSN should be an automatic YES and not a fucking "maybe."
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It means Streetwise sucked hard and damaged the franchise. Capcom knows this and they want people to forget Streetwise before they move forward with a possible Final Fight Remake.
 
Shotest Shogi Hands-On Preview

http://previews.teamxbox.com/xbox-360/1917/Shotest-Shogi/p1/

o the layperson, Shotest Shogi’s gaming surface will look something like an oriental version of Scrabble, when it is really, in fact, an oriental version of Western chess. Therefore, a horse is a horse (of course, of course) is a knight in Shotest Shogi as well, but twists such as certain classes of bishops also being translated into steed-based combatants muddy the water for U.S. players. Add to the slightly different character lineup (there’s no queen for instance) the fact that the pieces themselves are non-iconic in structure, (replaced with Chinese-based Japanese lithography) and general mayhem normally ensues at first glance of the board and its pieces.

Rubicon is here to calm players’ fears about this very interesting chess variant by including a thorough tutorial section in Shotest Shogi. Full, in-game tutorials are available in beginner, intermediate and advanced flavors, but all with one goal in mind: dominance of the warrior on the other side of the table; you know, that shifty looking chap hoping to put your king in check. Visual aids such as board highlights and interactive, in-tutorial tests have been included as well, and will surely help Shogi n00bs become very comfortable with the game before throwing down in the Career mode, via Xbox Live or against one of Shotest Shogi’s sixteen CPU masterminds.
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Shotest Shogi Achievements

* Beginner – Complete all sections of the beginner tutorials – 5 GS Points
* Intermediate – Complete all sections of the intermediate tutorials – 10 GS Points
* Advanced – Complete all sections of the advanced tutorials – 15 GS Points
* Local Winner – Beat any opponent in career mode – 15 GS Points
* Shogi General – Earn a skill rating of more than 1200 – 20 GS Points
* Shogi Master – Earn a skill rating of more than 1600 – 30 GS Points
* Xbox Live Winner – Play an Xbox Live enabled game, in any mode, and defeat your opponent – 15 GS Points
* Xbox Live Winner 3 – Play an Xbox Live enabled game, in any mode, and remain unbeaten for 3 games in a row – 20 GS Points
* Xbox Live Winner 7 – Play an Xbox Live enabled game, in any mode, and remain unbeaten for 7 games in a row – 30 GS Points
* Xbox Live Player – Play to completion 25 online matches, win, lose, or draw – 10 GS Points
* Career Hero – Defeat all 16 computer opponents in career mode – 20 GS Points
* Career Loser – Lose three games in a row in career mode – 10 GS Points
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Assault Hero 2 Achievements

http://www.xbox360achievements.org/achievements.php?gameID=681

Moby Dick 10
Single Player: Destroy the Mecha Orca.

Hot-wired 10
Single Player: Capture all 3 hijackable vehicles at least once.

Pyromaniac 10
Single Player: Burn 50% of infantry in any Zone: Medium or Hard difficulty in one session.

Ice Cold 10
Single Player: Freeze 50% of infantry in any Zone: Medium or Hard difficulty in one session.

Assault Flags 10
Single Player: Collect all of the Flags scattered throughout the game.

Fearless 20
Single Player: Complete 3 sequential areas on foot: Medium or Hard difficulty in one session.

Wonder twins 20
Zone Battle: Use all 4 Co-Op attacks, kill 10 units with each: Medium or Hard in one session.

Zoned Out 20
Zone Battle: Complete 6 Zones, each with the help of a different LIVE enabled friend.

Escapist 20
Zone Battle: Defeat all spaceships in Areas 29 & 30: Medium or Hard difficulty in one session.

Smoothie Heroes 20
Co-op Campaign: Kill 100 infantry, one player freezes & the other shatters, on Hard in one session.

Underground Hunters 20
Co-Op Campaign: Finish all underground areas with the help of a friend: Medium or Hard difficulty.

Heroes Campaign 30
Co-Op Campaign: Complete all areas on Hard difficulty with the help of a friend.
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Plunder Q&A


http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=18102

Texas-based indie game developer Certain Affinity has an interesting split of projects, having been formed by Bungie veterans and having first worked on add-on map packs for Halo 2.

However, the firm now has two projects in progress, since it's working with Valve and creator Turtle Rock to develop the Xbox 360 version of the upcoming zombie action title Left 4 Dead.

At the same time, Certain Affinity is preparing to release their first original title, hex-based strategy game Plunder, to be published by Capcom for digital download later this year.

In this in-depth interview, Gamasutra spoke to Certain Affinity president and Bungie vet Max Hoberman about some intriguing industry-related issues centered around both Left 4 Dead and Plunder.

Topics include the advantages of developing from scratch as opposed to using middleware, working with Valve and Capcom, and the 'messy' politics of doing cross-platform play across PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360.

Tell me about Certain Affinity. How did you get started?

Max Hoberman: I’m originally from Austin, Texas, and I moved up to Chicago and then out to Seattle. I went to work for Bungie and I was there for about ten years. I moved back, finally, to Austin. I missed the sun.

When I went back, I was working for Bungie remotely, but there’s only so much you can do remotely in the game development business. It’s very much collaborative, especially since I worked in multiplayer as the multiplayer online lead at Bungie. It’s just an extremely collaborative business.

I wanted to go on and do bigger and better things. I met a really good group of guys and we ended up founding Certain Affinity. Austin has a lot of people with a lot of experience – some of my guys are old Origin guys, going back to the late eighties. Our lead programmer started in ’87, and was the lead programmer on some Wing Commander games. So we put together a really good initial group, and since then we’ve about tripled in size.

To what?

MH: We’re eighteen people right now, and we’re interviewing and have a number of people we’re probably going to make offers to soon, so we’ll probably go up to twenty-two or twenty-three in the near future. Yeah, we’ve got a really good group of guys, and since Halo 3 wrapped up, I’ve managed to get a couple of good friends from Bungie who moved down to Austin and are now working with us – good team.

Is the company going to be very multiplayer focused, coming from your background?

MH: It’s kind of weird. It’s kind of unavoidable for us – the common thread running through us at the company is that we all love multiplayer. I say 'multiplayer,' and then I kind of catch myself, because it’s actually cooperative multiplayer play that we like.

Multiplayer in a free-for-all setting, I don’t think it has the same kind of appeal as team-based cooperative multiplayer, whether it’s a cooperative single-player experience against the computer or against other people. It’s cooperative, team-based games that are really fun, and that’s a thread that I see going through everything we’re doing. We’re doing the Xbox 360 version of Left 4 Dead for Valve, which is this cooperative zombie FPS, and it’s definitely a common thread for the company.

Are you doing the Xbox 360 version or the multiplayer stuff?

MH: We’re responsible for every aspect of the Xbox version, and the game is also in development so we’ve helped them out a lot with the PC version. It’s not exactly a port, it’s simultaneous development on the Xbox version and there’s a lot of back and forth with those guys. But yeah, we’re responsible for everything from the control scheme to the matchmaking, and doing some pretty cool, pretty ambitious things. I can’t talk about that too much without Valve here, but we’re doing some pretty cool stuff.

Regarding Plunder, it’s hex-based, and there haven’t been a lot of hex-based games for a long time. A couple of Japanese RPGs have filled the gap since the eighties—

MH: --Was there a gap? I wasn’t aware there was a gap?

I haven’t seen a whole lot.

MH: Yeah, I know what you mean. I actually wrote up the design doc for the very first draft and it’s changed a lot, but the very first design doc for Plunder I wrote up a couple of years back, and at the time I was playing Settlers of Catan. I was just incredibly impressed with that game. Everybody I’ve brought in to play that game has enjoyed it, whether it’s my friends, parents, wife, my siblings, everyone. I just wanted to make a game that had that same accessibility.

You know, one thing I hated about it, because I’m impatient, is that it’s turn-based, so I thought I’d start with some of that, take away the turn-based, turn it into a real-time strategy and see where that leads, and we ended up with a really interesting game. It’s hex-based, but it doesn’t feel hex-based.

Some of the early shots I saw of the Live Arcade version of Catan, where you can play in a 3D environment got me thinking, "Oh, wow, you can do 3D in a hex-based game really well," and I think we have.

When you’re playing the game, it doesn’t feel hex-based. I think what actually happens is that you actually forget you’re playing on hexes. You think you’re in this little 3D world. Hexes are a beautiful interface for the map editor, for example. You’re laying out hexes, and that sort of thing and interface for controlling your ship and all of that.
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Hmm.. I enjoyed that interview but it sort of stops abruptly. :)

Edit: NM, I'm an idiot. There's more at the link. I thought that was an odd place to stop. :)
 
Microsoft should really add a requirement for multiplayer XBLA games to actually have some proper netcode.

How many broken XBLA online games do we have now? Mr Driller, Doom, Lumines Live, SWOS, Speedball 2, Metal Slug 3, and probably a lot more.

The general rule seems to be that if a game is an emulation or port, then you can pretty much assume online multiplayer is unplayable.
 
Just watched the Happy Tree Friends footage. It looks pretty good. I'm in the mood for a Lemmings style game too.
 
Sectus said:
Microsoft should really add a requirement for multiplayer XBLA games to actually have some proper netcode.

How many broken XBLA online games do we have now? Mr Driller, Doom, Lumines Live, SWOS, Speedball 2, Metal Slug 3, and probably a lot more.

The general rule seems to be that if a game is an emulation or port, then you can pretty much assume online multiplayer is unplayable.
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Pretty much all of them.

The only XBLA game (that I tried out) with real-time gameplay which had a good netcode when people from different countries were in the room, was Undertow. With every other game I played, I needed to invite someone that lived relatively close to me to have as little lag as possible, and even then it was kind of noticeable most of the time.

Lag is a non-issue with games like Worms though, fortunately.
 
DCX said:
Downloading now!! I wish they had the license to Attack from Mars! I LOVED that game along with the Star Wars: Episode One pinball games!
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I emailed the main guy at ZEN Studios about licensing Attack From Mars! or big name games... and he replied back and replies back to all emails...

He said that the licensing cost was so high that they could not afford it... he told me to think of a high number and add a ton of 0's to the end...

Oh well...
 
BojTrek said:
I emailed the main guy at ZEN Studios about licensing Attack From Mars! or big name games... and he replied back and replies back to all emails...

He said that the licensing cost was so high that they could not afford it... he told me to think of a high number and add a ton of 0's to the end...

Oh well...
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Grrrr, I hate licensing BS. I wish the two companies could just get together and say "we know you value your brand highly, but this is how much we're going to make--it's a tidy sum and quality product and you can get x% of it." It's not as if any of these brands would be harmed by competent games featuring them--quite the opposite. But instead they just sit dead in high-priced-unused-license-land.


It's a real shame, because you know they'll probably never be used as the brands lapse into obscurity and the demands remain "ZOMG billion dollars upfront."
 
AstroLad said:
Grrrr, I hate licensing BS. I wish the two companies could just get together and say "we know you value your brand highly, but this is how much we're going to make--it's a tidy sum and quality product and you can get x% of it." It's not as if any of these brands would be harmed by competent games featuring them--quite the opposite. But instead they just sit dead in high-priced-unused-license-land.


It's a real shame, because you know they'll probably never be used as the brands lapse into obscurity and the demands remain "ZOMG billion dollars upfront."
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Yeah, TMNT Arcade was one of the top titles on XBLA last year, yet somehow no lessons were learned. Konami and Ubisoft put aside their differences and were rewarded very handsomely because of it. Pay attention, publishers.
 
Gametap Previews Penny-Arcade Adventures.

http://www.gametap.com/read/article/5330

Let me rewind a bit. The Penny Arcade adventure, at the moment, is an episodic adventure-RPG starring the infamous Gabe and Tycho--except in 1922 instead of the modern day. They're the two principals of the Startling Developments detective agency, and they're investigating the giant fruit-f---er (a Penny Arcade term) robot rampaging through New Arcadia. You play a normal everyday Joe or Jane whose house is destroyed in the rampage, and join up with the duo to investigate these robotic shenanigans. I'm not going to talk about any plot elements, or even mention any of the numerous jokes, beyond that.

Character generation is simply a matter of choosing from pre-set options for body, face, and clothes. While you can't re-create Val Kilmer (like in Mass Effect), one nice effect of this pre-fab system is that, whatever the result, your character is drawn perfectly for the numerous dialogue interactions and 2D comic-strip panel cutscenes. Normally, you're a 3D cel-shaded character, but whenever you're in a conversation tree or key cinematic moment, you look like a natural denizen of Penny Arcade's cartoony universe. It's already a seamless integration of the Penny Arcade art style.

The combat system is a straightforward turn-based endeavor. Each of your party members has three icons enclosed within individual circles--one for item use, another for a basic attack, and the last for any special attacks. You wait for the circle to fill up around the icon, and then can click on it to perform an action; the order the circles fill the icons in is item, then attack, and finally special attack. While you're waiting for the circles to fill up, the enemies can take a chance to smack you as well; your defense for these instances is proper use of the block button (spacebar for the PC) to either absorb, or at least mitigate, the incoming damage. Each special attack uses a specific minigame: yours is a spinning arrow inside a circle, hitting space at specific parts of the circle as the arrow does a 360-degree rotation adds bonus damage. Gabe's special attack is a two-part affair where you rapidly hit the spacebar to fill a meter. Once filled, you watch a bar descend that same meter, and hit the spacebar when that bar lines up with a colored area on the meter to determine Gabe's bonus damage.


Ann does more than talk sass with her uncle.

Thus far, my party consists of myself, Gabe and Tycho, with a random cat found on the street named T. Kemper, and Tycho's niece, Ann-Claire as supporting members. The last two are somewhat like summons in a Final Fantasy game; not independent, controllable party members, but special attacks that can be used on occasion. T. Kemper just licks himself (it does a whopping one point of damage, but also supposedly slows down the enemy to give you extra time to wait for your circles to fill), while Ann-Claire will fire away with her flamethrower.
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Ugh after the Driller online lag shitfest, I'm scared for Igaruga :( For the love of Allah I hope they don't fuck it up.. Online co-cop has the potential to be sooo good.
 
I feel sorry but at the same time upset with the guys who dropped $10/800pts on Mr. Driller's totally subpar XBLA outing. Not only because you paid for and are now stuck with a crappy BROKEN product which likely WILL NOT be fixed but in the long run unfortunately also supported the fact that broken poorly done port overs like this can be acceptable to the companies that put them out.

Isn't the fact that Mr. Driller ONLINE is UNplayable online give you the right to ask for a refund based on false advertising?

Why these developers can't get the damned online netcode to work properly in these XBLA titles is beyond my comprehension.
 
Gowans007 said:
I'll ask for a refund today on Mr. Driller and post how it goes.
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Content: Mr.DRILLER Online
Price: 800 Microsoft Points
Availability: All Xbox LIVE regions
Dash Text: [ESRB: E (EVERYONE) MILD FANTASY VIOLENCE] Single Player, Xbox LIVE Multiplayer 2-8, Local Multiplayer 2, HD (High Definition). The popular Mr. Driller series makes its debut on Xbox LIVE Arcade! Featuring an addictive single player mode, Online VS. play, simple controls and deep gameplay. For players of all ages and skill levels. This game requires the Xbox 360 hard drive or the 512MB Memory Unit for storage. There are no refunds for this item. For more information, see www.xbox.com/live/accounts.
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Good luck, sir.
 
Remy said:
Good luck, sir.
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It all depends on how far you go and how much you bitch.

They can say they offer no refunds all they want till they are blue in the face but this is a defective product.
 
Speaking of broken Mr. Driller, I would have spent countless online hours on Lumines Live! were it not for the broken online play. There is simply no excuse for the poor performance of these Arcade games' netcode.
 
soldat7 said:
Speaking of broken Mr. Driller, I would have spent countless online hours on Lumines Live! were it not for the broken online play. There is simply no excuse for the poor performance of these Arcade games' netcode.
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Especially given that these aren't low brow indie companies creating them either.
 
BojTrek said:
I emailed the main guy at ZEN Studios about licensing Attack From Mars! or big name games... and he replied back and replies back to all emails...

He said that the licensing cost was so high that they could not afford it... he told me to think of a high number and add a ton of 0's to the end...

Oh well...
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I wonder how much it would cost for them to make a brand new Halo themed one. You'd think that MS wouldn't ask for much just to help XBLA game sales and to push the service even more. I'm sure there's tons of Halo players who haven't touched XBLA...
 
Do we know what Ninja Bee are up to atm for XBLA?

Been playing Outpost Kaloki X and Cloning Clyde a bit recently, damn good games, I want sequels!
 
steverulez said:
Do we know what Ninja Bee are up to atm for XBLA?

Been playing Outpost Kaloki X and Cloning Clyde a bit recently, damn good games, I want sequels!
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NinjaBee's currently KNOWN project is the Advergame "Doritos Dash of Destruction" for XBLA. Which apparently has little to do with Doritos, so it may actually be good, unlike Yaris (which was Backbone).

DDGamePlay442x332.jpg
 
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