Official Xbox Live Arcade Thread

Status
Not open for further replies.
Shard said:
There really isn't a reason to ever pay for Minesweeper.
Click to expand...

I might buy it if the game is completely retooled visually. It's always been a fun distraction for me in Windows.

And man does Magic the Gathering look tempting. I haven't played Magic in well over 10 years but I was thinking about how much fun it was a few days ago.
 
Willeth said:
If you know how to play you can avoid this completely after a few moves or so. It's incredibly simple but it's a type of logic I really enjoy. Not sure if I'd pay for it, though.
Click to expand...
I know how to play. I mean you can get Game Over on your first turn pretty often.
 
New Achievement List: 3 On 3 NHL Arcade

http://www.xbox360achievements.org/news-1072-Game-Added--3-on-3-NHL®-Arcade.html

Brick Wall 20
Win a game without being scored on

Super Speed 10
Score two goals with a Super Speed Powerup in one game

Laser Beam 10
Score two goals with the Super Shot Powerup in one game

Ice Man 10
Score two goals while an opponent is frozen in one game

Double Up 10
Score two goals using the Double Score Powerup in one game

Over And Out 10
Hit a player over the boards

Trickster 20
Score a goal using a trick move

Let's Play 10
Play an online game

Race To Victory 20
Win a game to at least 15 goals

Team Player 50
Play a quick ranked match with 2 guests

Score Big 20
Score at least 10 goals in one game

Juggernaut 10
Score two goals with a Big Player Powerup in one game
Click to expand...
 
Team Xbox reviews The Maw

http://reviews.teamxbox.com/xbox-360/1645/The-Maw/p1/

Kobayashi may be the eating champion of this planet, but only Mr. Maw can claim such accolades on an intergalactic scale. You can see the alien with the ravenous appetite in Twisted Pixel’s new XBLA game The Maw: An Audience Choice award winner at last year’s Penny Arcade Expo.

With cut scenes that aren’t that far off of full-priced titles, The Maw will draw you into its Pixar-like world from the get-go. You’ll be playing as Frank—a somewhat wimpy player character/alien that befriends the not-so-wimpy Maw after a brief situation on a spacecraft.

Whereas fear-filled Frank looks like the more typical alien being from trailer park abduction accounts, Maw appears a bit lower on the alien evolution totem pole. Basically, Maw is a blob with a single eye and what appear to be shark’s teeth; imagine a more menacing Monsters Inc. character, the plant from The Little Shop of Horrors, or more simply, something from the mind of Ed “Big Daddy” Roth (the Rat Fink guy, for all you non-muscle heads).



The Maw ends up becoming somewhat of a pet to Frank, but really, the blob with the voracious appetite is mainly there to create the team-up element that is so popular in today’s light-hearted action games. In The Maw’s case, said relationship is quite odd in that Frank can make Maw eat anything which poses a threat. A simple press of the X button creates an electronic leash around Maw which allows Frank to lead “alien’s best friend” around the smorgasbord that is The Maw’s levels.

What you’ll quickly learn is the Maw begins as a small organism on the food chain, but continually grows in size to the point where it can take down any of The Maw’s threats by eating them. Therein lies most of The Maw’s fun (especially seeing Maw grow to massive proportions), but Twisted Pixel added a few additional moves in order to make this one more than just Katamari Damacy with aliens. Frank can leash enemies as well, and either slam them to the turf or spin them around before launching them into the atmosphere; a function which plays into some of the mild puzzle elements of The Maw. In certain instances, Frank may want/need to toss enemies to Maw for consumption, which is also possible with the do-all electronic leash. The leash can also attach to objects too—also a means of bringing easy puzzle elements into this third-person action affair. The result is a varied move set that allows The Maw to exhibit gameplay on-par with the better titles of the Xbox Live Arcade distribution channel.

There’s a sizable amount of gameplay fun to be had in The Maw for sure (especially when Maw mimics the characteristics of the enemies that he consumes), but it’s not without its flaws. Characters don’t always interact with the environments as well as they should. This not only affects the overall look of The Maw (objects floating in air), but also the gameplay, especially when these situations arise around context-sensitive objects. There are also some hit detection issues which arise that make The Maw a bit more frustrating than a game so lighthearted and whimsical should technically be. The detection issue isn’t a deal-breaker—it just means that you’ll spend slightly more time fiddling around with the controls rather than enjoying the character team-ups or comedic value of this game’s presentation.

The aforementioned gripes of The Maw’s quickly disappear once you factor in how solid the preponderance of the action is. But more impressive is how Twisted Pixel has given this XBLA title high-end production values in nearly ever facet of the code. The Maw is damn pretty, directed with an artistic eye and has been built off of a sizable amount of enchanting concept art. Even the audio—a boon for many casual devs trying to get by on the cheap—is spectacular in The Maw. Roll The Maw’s gameplay, visuals and audio together and you have one very tasty yumyum, not to mention one of the better original IP’s to hit Xbox Live Arcade in awhile.


Achievements

THE MAW’s Achievements are all about having fun. The puzzle elements may keep some of the higher point Achievements from being no-brainer’s, but they are all doable if you have time for a few cracks at them. The only toughie of the group is “Little planet of horrors” since this involves actually finding every single edible morsel of every level.

Here’s the individual breakdown:

All growed up – Help Maw grow for the first time – 10 GS Points

Destroyer of yums – Find and eat 200 Yums – 10 GS Points

Energize – With the Bulbous power, electrify at least 50 objects and/or creatures – 20 GS Points

Eyes of the beloofer – With the Loofer power, laser at least 125 objects an/or creatures – 20 GS Points

Time for BBQ – With the Gastro power, flame at least 150 objects and/or creatures – 20 GS Points

You’re totally MAWESOME! – Complete the entire game – 20 GS Points

Hard-headed – With the Beetull power, ram at least 50 objects and/or creatures – 20 GS Points

That’s just gross – Find and eat all the Snuffles – 10 GS Points

Little planet of horrors – get 100% eaten in each level – 20 GS Points

Tastes like snot – Find and eat 30 Gloobers – 10 GS Points

Ground and pound – With the Puff-Tor power, smash at least 50 objects and/or creatures – 20 GS Points

Six meals a day – Play during Maw’s six meal times: breakfast, Brunch, Lunch, Dunch, Dinner and Midnight Feast – 20 GS Points
Click to expand...
 
Shard said:
IGN XBLA Previews Flock!

http://xboxlive.ign.com/articles/945/945048p1.html
Click to expand...

Capcom must've sent them the password to play the debug unit since the debug code is password protected.

As for the rest, yup they are all up on Partnernet. I've been playing Dishwasher all day today going through the storyline. Magic is great and hardcore fans should be pleased with the final outcome of the game.

Hasbro and a few others just went up, so I'll be sure to play through these... actually, I'm super pumped that Hasbro is on here... g/f is going to love the games.
 
just played three of the Hasbro games and have found them overwhelmingly enjoyable. Mr. Potatohead hosts the game and gives you tips on how to play each game.

Played Boggle, Connect Four, and Scrabble for over an hour and a half. Scrabble was the most enjoyable since it took a little more skill. Connect Four will be great for quick pick-me-ups since games don't last more than 3-4 minutes. I'll play Battleship, Yahtzee, the Sorry games tomorrow.
 
A bit of sad news to report today as the GamerScore Blog has been shuttered.

http://gamerscoreblog.com/team/default.aspx

Gamerscore Blog Changes
posted Friday, January 16, 2009 5:00 PM by Bastelyon

Because of your feedback over the years and your desire to get more direct information about Xbox, we’ve created a variety of vehicles to communicate directly with you and keep you informed of everything new for Xbox. We love hearing your praise - and we learn from your criticism! We also want to make it easier for everyone to stay in touch, so we’re doing a little housekeeping. We made the decision to retire Gamerscore blog, and focus our community outreach through Xbox.com and through the Xbox dashboard.

We’d like to point you to a few of the places where you will find the things we’re working on--and more--hopefully delivered in ways you want to get them. In the interest of simplicity (and coolness), here’s a handy guide:

* If you’re on your console and want to see behind-the-scenes content, interviews and featured game videos, check out the Inside Xbox channel.
* If you’re on the PC and enjoy the informal voice of blogs, you should check out Xbox.com Voices, and Majornelson.com.
* If you’re on the PC and want the latest breaking news and press releases, hit up: xbox.com/press.
* If you want featured videos, exclusive content and interviews delivered to your email inbox, sign up for the Xbox newsletter.
* If you want featured videos, exclusive content and interviews delivered to your cell phone, visit xbox.mobi.

We had a blast being part of Gamerscore blog, and we want to thank you for your support, but as you can see from the list above, there is no shortage of methods to snag the latest word from all of us at Xbox. And we’re ecstatic that we will continue contributing to these outlets going forward. We’ll see you there!
Click to expand...
 
That's awesome. Maybe Major Nelson will be able to clue us in on XBLA releases in his twitter whenever he's not updating us on every mundane thing he does in his life.
 
Gamerscoreblog has really been nothing more than a place to chuck PR releases for quite a few months now, and it's been pretty awful at that too.

Microsoft PR in general has been pretty crap since they went from their e-mail service to their current one. They'd even put the latest XBLA screenshots in their FTP! Now we're lucky if they even announce the game each week.

GSB never got nearly as popular as Major Nelson did. MN gets replies about anything, GSB was lucky to get one or two.

What Microsoft REALLY needs is something like the PlayStation blog - where smaller developers are able to get in touch with Sony and guest post on the blog. Games like SuperSonic Battle Cars, Magic Ball and Mahjong have probably done a lot better on PSN than they ever would on XBLA because nobody would have known about it at all.
 
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/gridrunner-shapes-up-for-april

Gridrunner+++ shapes up for April News

News by Rob Purchese

Today 15:37

Game developer Jeff Minter has said Gridrunner+++ will be ready for Xbox Live Arcade release by the end of April.

The exact date and price are yet to be revealed, but Minter is unlikely to stick with the Space Giraffe price of 400 Microsoft Points (GBP 3.40 / EUR 4.80) as he believes this made the game look cheap.

Gridrunner+++ is not the final name, either; it's a way of showing that this as the third iteration since 1982.

Lots has changed since then, such as Michael Jackson, so Gridrunner returns to life with "beautiful abstract visuals" and challenging but approachable gameplay, according to Minter.

As you might expect, though, players control a spaceship and blast away at approaching baddies, and also pick up "sheepies" for power-ups along the way.
Click to expand...
 
Kuroyume said:
That's awesome. Maybe Major Nelson will be able to clue us in on XBLA releases in his twitter whenever he's not updating us on every mundane thing he does in his life.
Click to expand...

Wondering why my Belkin USB hub won't work with one of my computers.

FASCINATING
 
Its seems like its been a while but I'm really looking forward to The Maw tomorrow.

Up for some solid platform action fun, no thread? (damn three letter words)
 
Rlan said:
What Microsoft REALLY needs is something like the PlayStation blog - where smaller developers are able to get in touch with Sony and guest post on the blog. Games like SuperSonic Battle Cars, Magic Ball and Mahjong have probably done a lot better on PSN than they ever would on XBLA because nobody would have known about it at all.
Click to expand...

Agreed, I preffer PlayStation blog way over anything MS offers as a console news source (xbox.com, MajorNelson, Gamerscoreblog)
 
Jirotrom said:
anyone play the Streetfighter 2 UNO pack?
Click to expand...
Yeah, it's awful. The hadoken card is busted, it seems like you're supposed to be able to counter it outright if you have a skip or reverse card already in your hand (the card pops out like it's able to be played), but no "play card" option actually appears and you're forced to draw from the deck until you get a new counter card.

I played a single match that lasted 30+ minutes because every time anyone's hand got low, the hadoken card would be played against them and they ended back up at a dozen or so cards. At various points in the game, some peoples' hands consisted of 30+ cards, no joke. It only ended because one guy got both the hadoken cards and held them out of play until his last two turns. His final take on that single match, because so many cards were in players' hands, was like 650 points. (For the unitiated, a standard Uno game takes 250 points to win and it usually takes 2 or 3 matches for someone to amass that total)
 
Shig said:
Yeah, it's awful. The hadoken card is busted, it seems like you're supposed to be able to counter it outright if you have a skip or reverse card already in your hand (the card pops out like it's able to be played), but no "play card" option actually appears and you're forced to draw from the deck until you get a new counter card.

I played a single match that lasted 30+ minutes because every time anyone's hand got low, the hadoken card would be played against them and they ended back up at a dozen or so cards. At various points in the game, some peoples' hands consisted of 30+ cards, no joke. It only ended because one guy got both the hadoken cards and held them out of play until his last two turns. His final take on that single match, because so many cards were in players' hands, was like 650 points. (For the unitiated, a standard Uno game takes 250 points to win and it usually takes 2 or 3 matches for someone to amass that total)
Click to expand...
Thanks for the impressions. Since the deck is almost the cost of the game, I've skipped it thus far.
 
Shard said:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/gridrunner-shapes-up-for-april
Click to expand...
The official press release doesn't say anything about a XBLA release, though:
This library will be extended further and deployed to maximum effect in our upcoming release "Gridrunner+++" (working title; the final title will likely involve less plusses). This game has already been mentioned in EDGE Magazine's "Most Wanted" section, and is a fast-paced extrapolation of the oldschool single-screen shooter, brought brilliantly into the 21st century with beautiful abstract visuals and intense, challenging but fair gameplay accessible on a variety of levels from novice to twitch-shooter expert.
Gridrunner+++ will be released at the end of April.
Click to expand...
No mention of Xbox Live Arcade.
 
The fact that Shard didnt make this thread makes me doubt every thing in it.

*curls up in the corner in a cold sweat*


Is there a XBLA release this week?
 
WHERE THE FUCK IS THE MAW?!?

Edit: Not on AU marketplace, it seems. Is on the US one fine.

Edit #2: That was just a review I saw of it on Live. Not the actual game.
 
Jonnyram said:
XBLA games are not supposed to be up for another 15 mins, I think. Usually 9am GMT, no?
Click to expand...
Did this change recently? In Aus., it used to be 7pm AEST on the dot, now it's another 2 hours later. Not to mention the extended time it takes to download whatever was released.
 
Major Nelson update: Funtime Mahjong is actually the next week game:

It turns out I was given incorrect information. But you get a preview out of it! This is the Arcade title that will be available next week.
Click to expand...

I guess no one missed the game, no one was looking for it.

Aside from Meteos expansion, another one for Smarter than a 5th Grader was also released.
 
Final Fantasy Crystal Defenders R1 confrimed for the XBLA (along with WiiWare and PSN)

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/crystal-defenders-for-wii-xbla-psn

News by Tom Bramwell

Today 10:04

Square Enix plans to release WiiWare, Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network versions of mobile title Crystal Defenders.

According to Famitsu (thanks IGN), Crystal Defenders R1 will be released for WiiWare in Japan on 27th January for 1000 Wii Points (GBP 7 / EUR 10 approx).

There's no word on pricing or availability of the XBLA and PSN versions though, and IGN's read on the Famitsu piece suggests they will be embellished ports of the mobile original, while the WiiWare version - which includes some form of Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection support - may be more substantial.

Crystal Defenders was originally released on mobiles last January and came out on the iPhone just before Christmas. It's a tower defence-style game where players position units from the Final Fantasy Tactics series to take out enemies who march along a winding path from one side of the screen to the other.

We've asked Square Enix if it can shed some more light on game features and European release plans, so we'll let you know.
Click to expand...
 
Fubtown Majhong confirmed to be the XBLA title of next week.

http://majornelson.com/archive/2009/01/21/arcade-funtown-mahjong.aspx

Content: FunTown Mahjong
Price: 800 Microsoft Points
Availability: Not available in Korea
Dash Text: Unlock the full version of FunTown Mahjong to play even more of this traditional Chinese tile game! The full version includes the ability to compete against your friends on Xbox LIVE or against AI opponents. You can also earn achievements, aim for the top of the leaderboards, and enjoy tons of exciting Mahjong variations! 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.



Edit: It turns out I was given incorrect information. But you get a preview out of it! This is the Arcade title that will be available next week.
Click to expand...
 
Square-Enix on the XBLA : Yosumin & Crystal Defenders. Microsoft Japan said there are more coming from them, from famous series and original games.

ME0001057416_2.jpg


ME0001057419_2.jpg
 
Well, we knew about both of those games, but it is nice to have official pics. Now get to work on Secret of Mana Live Square Enix.
 
Kuroyume said:
How does it look? Ugly like MLB Stickball or something more stylized?
Click to expand...

Well let me fire up both and I'll let you know by the end of the night since I never downloaded MLB Stickball.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Xbox @ Gamescom Live Broadcast | Day 1
19
309
FoxMcChief replied
Living Hell - Official Gameplay Trailer
12
292
Walliwallipaloo replied
Tormented Souls 2 Demo Live on PC/Xbox/PS
24
409
Yoshichan replied
ARC Raiders pre-orders are officially live...
2
93
680
Men_in_Boxes replied
Updates on the Xbox Ally, Play Anywhere, Game Pass, and More | Official Xbox Podcast
2 3 4
170
2K
PropellerEar replied
Top Bottom