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[sixteen-bit]

8000 MS Points is pretty much the de facto standard for new original releases.

little high, no?

isn't that like, $100

 

[gkryhewy]

800 MS Points is pretty much the de facto standard for new original releases.

Wow, the dollar is really in the toilet.

 

[MechDX]

Saturn+Dreamcast on XBLA...would be a force equal to sex and pancakes.

Capcom and Midway in particular.

Powerstone 1&2
Tech Romancer
Project Justice
Heavy Metal Geomatrix
Cannon Spike
RUSH 2049
Hydro Thunder


All with online play and touched up HD visuals please!

 

[Crab Milk Mickey]

Highest ranked player in Pac-Man CE is a glitch. Had the score within days of the game's release, the player put in his profile that it absolutely was a glitch, and there's no possible way he could have the score he has in that mode.

Kind of ridiculous that Namco, still to this day, hasn't taken the score down.

Namco.

Enough said.

Again? I thought they'd only just raised it to 250mb or something?

Originally it was 50 MB, then Microsoft raised it to 150 MB because of Castlevania, and now the size limit is 350 MB (right after Capcom announced that two of their games are bigger than the previous limit).

 

[Shard]

Major Nelson's XBLA Top 10

http://majornelson.com/archive/2008/06/18/live-activity-for-week-of-june-9th.aspx

Top Arcade Titles (Full Versions)
1 Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3
2 UNO
3 Aces of the Galaxy
4 DOOM
5 N+
6 Worms
7 Penny Arcade Episode 1
8 Street Fighter II' Hyper Fighting
9 Marble Blast Ultra
10 Sonic The Hedgehog 2

 

[Shard]

New Bionic Commando Rearmed character reveled: Gottfried Groeder

http://www.gamerbytes.com/2008/06/bionic_commando_rearmed_new_ch.php

The Bionic Commando website has updated on the mystery character they mentioned way back in March for the XBLA and PSN 'Rearmed' version. That character is Gottfried Groeder.

Groeder is the Rearmed version of the character known only as Bio-soldier in the original, who had such classic lines as “Joe is here, but you’re going to die here” and “It’s too early to feel safe. I’ll kill you here.” Now given a proper storyline and, you know, grammar, Groeder is a terrifying amalgamation of bionic and European, and just itching to make Spencer’s life a misery.

Full profile located here

http://bioniccommando.com/us/pages/NG_Key_figures/id:32#content

 

[Like the hat?]

So i just got m'self a 360. Should I get the 360 version of Symphony of the Night, or the PSN (PSX) version?

 

[LakeEarth]

Is Roogoo the first XBLA game to not hit the top 10, even in its first week?

 

[Shard]

So i just got m'self a 360. Should I get the 360 version of Symphony of the Night, or the PSN (PSX) version?

PSN PS1 version, it has access to a better D-Pad, all of the FMVs, and the option for remotye play.

 

[Shard]

Is Roogoo the first XBLA game to not hit the top 10, even in its first week?

No, not by any means, I think the last time was with Bliss Island. Hell, it happened again this week with Frogger 2.

 

[SickBoy]

It's a shame about Roogoo.... can't say I wanted to spend $10 on it, but from playing the demo, you can tell it's a good game.

 

[Gowans]

Roooooooo!!!!! Gooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Dr. Zoidberg]

Groeder is the Rearmed version of the character known only as Bio-soldier in the original, who had such classic lines as “Joe is here, but you’re going to die here” and “It’s too early to feel safe. I’ll kill you here.” Now given a proper storyline and, you know, grammar, Groeder is a terrifying amalgamation of bionic and European, and just itching to make Spencer’s life a misery.

But I loved the bad grammar. It's part of what gives the game its charm.

 

[Shard]

Schizoid Coming Out in July

http://www.gamerbytes.com/2008/06/schizoid_coming_out_next_month.php

Torpex Games have announced that their game Schizoid will be released in July 2008!

And... well that's it! It's been a long time coming, it's sort of a fl0w meets Geometry Wars kind of game, completely Coop, and might end up being a ton of fun.

 

[pilonv1]

so no one has tried Elements of Destruction yet?

 

[Shard]

First video of an XNA game called Gymanst

http://media.xbox360.ign.com/articles/882/882751/vids_1.html

Things on Wheels blog site opened

http://blogs.ign.com/ThingsOnWheels/2008/06/18/93280/

For those who have never developped video games, you would probably be surprised to see behind the scenes. Sometimes it's fun, sometimes it's frustrating, sometimes it feels like not working and sometimes it's just an office job. Then you have to get down to level design!!
As I write this, three of the guys from the level design team are drinking coffee and playing GTA4 on a 42' HDTV I'm still making payments on!

They claim it's for "evaluation purposes" (but really - how long can you "evaluate" GTA 4?) Honestly, it really looks like they're just playing most of the time.

In all seriousness, these guys are knee deep in level design and believe it or not, it's tedious to design race tracks. Who am I to deny them a little decompression/evaluation time?

Not content to have a simple level design to polish, they added all kind of hurdles - you know, to make the development of the game a little harder. In addition to races, ToW features all kind of additions and obstacles within specific races: physical objects that interact with contenders, trigger to make it interesting, curved ramps, shortcuts, fancy bonuses, all these things we have to think, design, implement, tweak, test and decide if they're fun enough to keep.

So far, pretty much everything implemented has been good times. However, the way it works is that everything they create is built upon, improved and evolves every couple of days, becoming even better! So the biggest question on our minds is "where do we stop?"

Eventually, we'll get there. We have a schedule to follow and hungry fans writing us with desperate messages (by the way, the game has an address: tow@loadinc.net, feel free to write, you'll get personalized answer - if you're lucky).

Side note: Load Inc. if official Wii developer since yesterday. I know it doesn't do you any good, but it sure feels nice to know that we're trusted by industry giants happy

Aurevoir!
DenisDenis

 

[SapientWolf]

Schizoid Coming Out in July

http://www.gamerbytes.com/2008/06/schizoid_coming_out_next_month.php

Schizoid looks like hawtsauce. I wonder how they're going to do single player, though.

 

[Ash Sparrow]

Go worms on the chart

I think worms are some of the funniest acheivements to unlock, i hate insane acheivements i found the Worms to be fair.

 

[SapientWolf]

First video of an XNA game called Gymanst

http://media.xbox360.ign.com/articles/882/882751/vids_1.html

Things on Wheels blog site opened

http://blogs.ign.com/ThingsOnWheels/2008/06/18/93280/

They released Gymnast to the PC already. Great game, but huge learning curve.

 

[Sean]

I hope this recent trend of new releases not even debuting in the top 10 doesn't continue. That's two weeks in a row now, first Roogoo and now Frogger 2.

 

[Mr Killemgood]

I hope this recent trend of new releases not even debuting in the top 10 doesn't continue. That's two weeks in a row now, first Roogoo and now Frogger 2.

The trend will continue as long as XBLA developers continue to put trash on the XBLA service.

Combine mediocre games, a poor UI, and no marketing, and you get a service that can stagnate around specific games pretty quickly.

I'll give you a hint about XBLA game sales: look at the top 10 for the past.........9 months. What's the pattern? It's always "popular" games that have crazy legs - games that are marketed well to gamers that "know" the game is on the service. Those games tend to do well. But when you release something thats not well known (RooGoo) or deemed poor quality (Frogger 2), sales tend to be poor.

Now is the time I'd gladly show you some stats and figures that I compiled from a March report I did for the game company I work for...Their CEO wasn't too happy with what I showed about XBLA....It's not incredibly positive. If your smart, you can do gangbusters (N+), but you have to work around XBLA's faults, rather than it simply being a service for your company - rather than you being a service for XBLA.

 

[Shard]

Well, that being the case it is up to Pubisher X to market said game to the masses. Take Frogger 2 for example, Konami did an absolutely abysmal job in the marketing of Frogger 2. That game didn't even get confirmed until the week of release, pretty much sent to die.
Roogoo, it is a travesty that this game ended up on the ass end of the sales charts, but once again, there was no hype or buzz surrounding the title as noted, but what also sunk Roogoo was the same thing that sunk TiQal a few months back, another entry into one of the most overcrowded fields on the XBLA, the match-3 puzzler. At any rate I, for one, would like to see these stats and figures.

 

[Eggo]

The trend will continue as long as XBLA developers continue to put trash on the XBLA service.

Combine mediocre games, a poor UI, and no marketing, and you get a service that can stagnate around specific games pretty quickly.

I'll give you a hint about XBLA game sales: look at the top 10 for the past.........9 months. What's the pattern? It's always "popular" games that have crazy legs - games that are marketed well to gamers that "know" the game is on the service. Those games tend to do well. But when you release something thats not well known (RooGoo) or deemed poor quality (Frogger 2), sales tend to be poor.

Now is the time I'd gladly show you some stats and figures that I compiled from a March report I did for the game company I work for...Their CEO wasn't too happy with what I showed about XBLA....It's not incredibly positive. If your smart, you can do gangbusters (N+), but you have to work around XBLA's faults, rather than it simply being a service for your company - rather than you being a service for XBLA.

What is with the "I have a secret and am not telling" post? Isn't that banworthy?

 

[Ash Sparrow]

I think they need to take a break on these puzzle games for a bit there's enough space shooters aswell.

 

[Mr Killemgood]

I'd rather take a ban than post something that's now bought & paid for by a company

But at any rate, the rate of titles shipped to LTD sales on XBLA has remained very similar...Each game sells (roughly) the same amount of units they did 1 year ago. The total number of titles sold on a given week goes up due to a higher number of titles on the service, and not just a general expansion of new users on XBLA.

 

[Mr Killemgood]

Well, that being the case it is up to Pubisher X to market said game to the masses. Take Frogger 2 for example, Konami did an absolutely abysmal job in the marketing of Frogger 2. That game didn't even get confirmed until the week of release, pretty much sent to die.
Roogoo, it is a travesty that this game ended up on the ass end of the sales charts, but once again, there was no hype or buzz surrounding the title as noted, but what also sunk Roogoo was the same thing that sunk TiQal a few months back, another entry into one of the most overcrowded fields on the XBLA, the match-3 puzzler. At any rate I, for one, would like to see these stats and figures.

And when did the puzzle genre start taking at hit on XBLA?

Answer: Poker Smash (and to a longer-ago realm, Puzzle Quest). Both games were marketed effectively, and have done great on the serivce. Both have squashed new puzzlers out because they're now XBLA's gold standard for WOM for puzzle games.

 

[Shard]

I am aware of that actually, the sad thing is Roogoo is something special, the word of mouth just ended up coming too late to do any good.

 

[Rlan]

The trend will continue as long as XBLA developers continue to put trash on the XBLA service.

Combine mediocre games, a poor UI, and no marketing, and you get a service that can stagnate around specific games pretty quickly.

I'll give you a hint about XBLA game sales: look at the top 10 for the past.........9 months. What's the pattern? It's always "popular" games that have crazy legs - games that are marketed well to gamers that "know" the game is on the service. Those games tend to do well. But when you release something thats not well known (RooGoo) or deemed poor quality (Frogger 2), sales tend to be poor.

Now is the time I'd gladly show you some stats and figures that I compiled from a March report I did for the game company I work for...Their CEO wasn't too happy with what I showed about XBLA....It's not incredibly positive. If your smart, you can do gangbusters (N+), but you have to work around XBLA's faults, rather than it simply being a service for your company - rather than you being a service for XBLA.

Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie

But yes, you're absolutely correct. Companies like Sierra, who release a huge amount of games on the platform, are also ONLY getting the word out on Team Xbox. Gamespot, IGN.. ANYONE, they barely put up any news whatsoever.

What I believe some of these companies need to do is realise that they DO need a website of some sort. Like Vigilante 8 Arcade or Go Go Break Steady, because they look great. The Developer / Producer themselves need to take some of their own time and put out new images every few weeks, or get a new preview out there. Capcom with Bionic Commando, Commando 3 and 1942 have been great thus far. Plunder is finally seeing some light, popping up on several sites.

Frogger 2 was on Partnernet for, like, 4 months, and they NEVER got anyone to do a single preview? That's really poor.

Even Ticket To Ride, who assume that a lot of people will want this game, has had zero acknowledgment. They have a single trailer on XBLA (which was never mentioned being put up on Major Nelson or GamerScoreBlog) which shows practically nothing about it, there was a single preview on Team Xbox, and it looks like it'll come out next week or the week after. Huh? Right now you'll sell to the people who know what the fuck it is and that is IT. Coupled with the lower amount of money you'll make with the new Xbox percentage scheme and you're not doing yourselves any favours.

Incidentily, the TiQal guys site - http://www.slapdashgames.com, is now down. Where'd it go? Do they even exist still?

Right now games are dying out near the 20,000 mark when the xbox 360 numbers continue to get bigger and bigger. It's not right.

Even the PSN isn't clear of it. The NovaStrike game that got released a few weeks back? It has two reviews, one from IGN and another from some smaller site. Way to get the word out.

 

[Sean]

You guys don't find it odd that FROGGER did not chart at all? Say what you want about the quality or lack of marketing, but something like that should sell on name brand alone. The first game did great on the service...

I would not be surprised if we start going back to just one game release per week if this continues.

 

[SapientWolf]

The trend will continue as long as XBLA developers continue to put trash on the XBLA service.

Combine mediocre games, a poor UI, and no marketing, and you get a service that can stagnate around specific games pretty quickly.

I'll give you a hint about XBLA game sales: look at the top 10 for the past.........9 months. What's the pattern? It's always "popular" games that have crazy legs - games that are marketed well to gamers that "know" the game is on the service. Those games tend to do well. But when you release something thats not well known (RooGoo) or deemed poor quality (Frogger 2), sales tend to be poor.

Now is the time I'd gladly show you some stats and figures that I compiled from a March report I did for the game company I work for...Their CEO wasn't too happy with what I showed about XBLA....It's not incredibly positive. If your smart, you can do gangbusters (N+), but you have to work around XBLA's faults, rather than it simply being a service for your company - rather than you being a service for XBLA.

By 'work around XBLA's faults' you mean, "Release a fun game with multiplayer" right? Because that seems to be a trend among XBLA games with really long legs.

 

[Shard]

I understand the brand name has power but I would have been a lot more surprised if Konami had done, well, anything to market this game.

 

[Aaron]

You guys don't find it odd that FROGGER did not chart at all? Say what you want about the quality or lack of marketing, but something like that should sell on name brand alone. The first game did great on the service...

I would not be surprised if we start going back to just one game release per week if this continues.

Crap game with crap demo gets crap sales. News at 11. Lack of any marketing push, lack of buzz, plus being garbage kills sales potential. I agree though that decent multi with a casual target will result in super long legs.

 

[Brashnir]

I understand the brand name has power but I would have been a lot more surprised if Konami had done, well, anything to market this game.

maybe they just wanted Jeff Minter to feel better by having Frogger 2 sell less than Space Giraffe.

 

[rohlfinator]

You guys don't find it odd that FROGGER did not chart at all? Say what you want about the quality or lack of marketing, but something like that should sell on name brand alone. The first game did great on the service...

I would not be surprised if we start going back to just one game release per week if this continues.

The first game was also 400 points with a lot of nostalgia going for it (and I think it was given away free to a lot of people as well). Frogger 2 looks, sounds, and plays like a cheap Flash game, so I'm not too surprised to see people avoiding it.

I'd much rather see quality games like N+ hold their legs than have mediocrity like Frogger 2 displacing them in the top ten.

I do agree that XBLA is in need of a redesign, hopefully something that could help get the word out about some of the better games without being too intrusive with its advertising.

 

[Gowans]

I think the lack of a release schedule is also a major factor blocking talk about releases.

Really surprised MS have never released a upcoming releases list again since that one and only time.

 

[SapientWolf]

I think the lack of a release schedule is also a major factor blocking talk about releases.

Really surprised MS have never released a upcoming releases list again since that one and only time.

The way the cert process has been going, you would probably have to be psychic to see ahead more than a month. But it's also obvious that they don't want people to stockpile points for marquee titles like Bionic Commando and Castle Crashers when they could be making money off of smaller releases.

 

[Jonnyram]

I checked out the trailer to Ticket To Ride last night.
What the fuck is that game supposed to be about? Drawing dotted lines across a map? WHAT!?

 

[aku:jiki]

I think the lack of a release schedule is also a major factor blocking talk about releases.

Really surprised MS have never released a upcoming releases list again since that one and only time.

I think that's the key to this whole discussion. For example, nobody previewed Frogger 2 because we had no idea when it was supposed to be released, and it was thrown up on PartnerNet in several stages of development. We couldn't possibly figure out when it was finished or when it was close to release so we could do a timely preview. We have an XBLA section, but we have to wing it each month because we don't get to know any worthwhile info before anybody else does.

The most industry promotion I've seen for XBLA is game-specific codes being sent out...like 3 months after release. Sierra gave us a code for Arkadian Warriors in like january and the game dropped the previous november or something. Once, MS sent us a code for Time Pilot something like 14 months after release. What the fuck are we supposed to do with that?

Then again, that might be a european problem since there is no euro XBLA team as far as I know.

 

[Shard]

I think the lack of a release schedule is also a major factor blocking talk about releases.

Really surprised MS have never released a upcoming releases list again since that one and only time.

Yea, Microsoft got burned badly when they tried to do the release list thing back in 2006. The fact of the matter is that XBLA games are very notorious for slipping through release dates, it is still happening to this day, just take a look at Bionic COmmando Rearmed and Vigilante 8 Arcade.

Anyway, Team Xbox has a might big preview of the upcoming XBLA game, Rocket Riot.

http://previews.teamxbox.com/xbox-360/2010/Rocket-Riot/p1/

 

[Mr Killemgood]

By 'work around XBLA's faults' you mean, "Release a fun game with multiplayer" right? Because that seems to be a trend among XBLA games with really long legs.

Somewhat. It's more of "develop a game that will get talked about post-launch"

Again, great example in N+ as it's the only game older than a month still charting in the top-10 reliabily. It's doing well (nearing 150,000 units) because:

1) It got hype pre-launch due to the pedigree of the title, and the fact it had a great marketng demo in the flash version N
2) It's been well known in the public and media, and got great reviews and reccomendations
3) Since it's a fun game, WOM is helping drive continued sales of the title.

When you look at the rest of the top-10, you find on any given week, titles that people "know" of - games that random joe-first-time-on-XBLA is going to know, like Doom, Street Fighter, Bomberman, Uno, ect. They know what they're buying. But with startup and newer IPs, they might not know what's new, and that can cause lowered conversion rates.

 

[bryehn]

so no one has tried Elements of Destruction yet?

I bought it. I find it pretty fun. It's like a god game and an RTS at the same time. There's a ton going on sometimes, like when you're earthquaking 10 houses at once...and the framerate actually hold up. I was really surprised at this one. Levels each have a few goals and a score goal. Getting gold can be tough in the 5 minute time limit. There's multiplayer and a free-for-all mode too.

I'm stuck on the second boss though :\

 

[pr0cs]

I checked out the trailer to Ticket To Ride last night.
What the fuck is that game supposed to be about? Drawing dotted lines across a map? WHAT!?

It's based off the board game:
http://www.daysofwonder.com/tickettoride/en/content/overview/?game=us

Friends of mine love the boardgame so it will be interesting to see how it's translated to the 360.

so no one has tried Elements of Destruction yet?

I didn't really like it. The premise is good but the demo was kind of boring. I'm surprised that the demo was 100+mb too because the graphics didn't look "all that". Certainly not better than a game like Assault Heroes.

I can see how some people would like it though, perhaps further in the game with more powers the game is better.

 

[Beavertown]

EOD is pretty fun for some mindless destruction.. makes me wish for a Blast Corps sequel though.. man that game was fun..lol

And Sealife Safari is strangely hypnotic and relaxing.. can't believe I bought it.. kinda makes me want to pull out my old Everblue 2 game for PS2 again.

 

[Dark Octave]

This week was a bust. Next week we have Happy Tree Friends to look forward to. God! Fast forward this shit already!

 

[rohlfinator]

Anyway, Team Xbox has a might big preview of the upcoming XBLA game, Rocket Riot.

http://previews.teamxbox.com/xbox-360/2010/Rocket-Riot/p1/

Wow, that's looking really sweet. It seems like just the type of game that works really well on XBLA.

 

[CrunchinJelly]

This week was a bust. Next week we have Happy Tree Friends to look forward to. God! Fast forward this shit already!

Well, this weeks Xbox UK Newsletter has Ticket To Ride as 'Out Now', so that may also be out next week. It's worth noting that the newsletter has been wrong in the past.

 

[Gowans]

Wow, that's looking really sweet. It seems like just the type of game that works really well on XBLA.

yeah I've heard good things, nice to see a big full preview for a game too


Will be over the moon if Ticket to Ride is next wed, love my board games.

Whats the count down on BC:R? sure I heard its passed cer and ready to go somewhere.

 

[FightyF]

When you look at the rest of the top-10, you find on any given week, titles that people "know" of - games that random joe-first-time-on-XBLA is going to know, like Doom, Street Fighter, Bomberman, Uno, ect. They know what they're buying. But with startup and newer IPs, they might not know what's new, and that can cause lowered conversion rates.

I suppose this is where demos should step in...are people not downloading XBLA demos anymore?

 

[Calamachino]

XBLA needs more 4 player local multiplayer games.

Sure, Worms, Bomberman, and N+ are pretty awesome, but I want MORE!!!

Can anyone recommended any good 4 player games I may have missed?

 

[Kafel]

I've discovered Commando 3 with 2 other players this week and it was great.