Official Xbox Live Arcade Thread

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JustAnotherOtaku said:
Anyone managed to find Raystorm yet or has it not been put up? :(
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No luck, waiting on it to decide which game to get. Zeno Clash demo was okay, but not sure if it's right for me just yet.
 
Raystorm is up on the US marketplace now. 407 meg download. Demo is REALLY short, 1 ship, no multiplayer, shot a few enemies, see the boss.... and then "Buy game" or "back to title!"

Other 2 ships are "Unlockable under certain conditions" as it says in the help menu.

Having this on PS1 and on the Taito arcade collection... I'm a little hesitant. Looks nice & Sharp though, and there is a selection of music for the Extra mode, ZTT MIX or TANZ MIX (I assume that's arcade music, or the CD quality music from the home console releases?) No access to extra mode in the demo, so cannot check.
 
SAB CA said:
Raystorm is up on the US marketplace now. 407 meg download. Demo is REALLY short, 1 ship, no multiplayer, shot a few enemies, see the boss.... and then "Buy game" or "back to title!"
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hahaahha square enix (taito) is so terrible.
 
Yea....so, WTF is up with this lame Raystorm Demo.

If the purpose of this demo is to make me NOT buy the game, then BRAVO :)

While I do recall RS being a fun shooter, this didn't exactly make me hit the purchase button - I think I'll wait for impressions first - 15 bucks is a little steep to buy blindly like this.
 
http://www.joystiq.com/2010/05/05/charlie-murder-sells-out-to-xbox-live-arcade-in-2012/

Charlie Murder 'sells out' to Xbox Live Arcade in 2012

Charlie Murder's punk-rock adventure will now debut on Xbox Live Arcade in 2012, Ska Studios has revealed to Joystiq exclusively. Originally announced as an Xbox Live Indie Game, the beat-em-up was taken out of the indie lineup without reason following an appearance at PAX East 2010. As suspected, Charlie Murder will be pushed into the spotlight with a full XBLA release, alongside the previously scheduled end of the world in 2012.

While Ska Studios jokingly claimed development of the title had been put on hold while the game's stars could enter a rehab facility, developer James Silva revealed Charlie is getting a "complete overhaul" from its original vision. "We're going back to development for awhile so we can build tons of new content for Charlie Murder, to give gamers an XBLA-caliber, mayhem-infused, punk rock experience," Silva told Joystiq, while presumably ignoring "rules" and "not caring what you think."

Like Duke Nukem and Alan Wake before it, Charlie Murder adds to the delay curse befallen games named after their titular protagonists. At least Ska Studios is hard at work on another project in the meantime.
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charliemhead580.jpg
 
gunstarhero said:
Yea....so, WTF is up with this lame Raystorm Demo.

If the purpose of this demo is to make me NOT buy the game, then BRAVO :)

While I do recall RS being a fun shooter, this didn't exactly make me hit the purchase button - I think I'll wait for impressions first - 15 bucks is a little steep to buy blindly like this.
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RayStorm is the most boring shmup ever. Smart of Square-Enix to only give you 30 seconds to play so you won't realize this... that way they can maximize their sales while still meeting the XBLA requirement for a demo. And $15, good lord. Stay far, far away from this one.
 
Alot of people are randomly getting 400 MS points in there account. I just got it as well. No idea from, No email or anything.

I did not buy all the titles during the one promo. Toy,PD,Scrap.

Guessing its from some Dl gamerpic contest.
 
Now, now, Raystorm is NOT a bad game. I've quite enjoyed it over the years, and it has the great music (Go Zuntata go!) and epic visuals that Taito's shooters are known for. Lock on system is great, and it's not a crazy bullethell like so much of todays shooters. It's a solid, classic shooter.

This port leaves a bad impression easily, though. SEnix/Taito seems not to consider the world when making these ports. Compared to the prices of the JP releases of the Raiden collection and stuff, this is probably an OK price. But when you have gamestops with Raiden Collection adn Raiden IV all over, at the same prices, possibly offering more games in some cases, or soundtrack CDs... it gets a bit silly.

From this wiki here (http://shmup.wikia.com/wiki/RayStorm) it sounds like the 2 additional ships might have started off as paid DLC, but it sounds like they're unlockable in game now, from the "Help & Options" description in game. Maybe that's why it's 1200 points...

-shrugs-
 
I was hyped for Raystorm up until I started shooting stuff. Everything just felt "soft". Like I was shooting Q-tips at a bunch of cotton balls. Weak sound effects maybe?

I'll have to try it again tomorrow.
 
It's not just RayStorm, it's Taito.

Every game they make is shitty at the core with a 5-second attention grabber to fool you into thinking that it isn't.

Virtually every time I buy a modern Taito game, I immediately regret it within 10 minutes.

That company blows. RayStorm is just an extension of their natural suck.
 
Metalic Sand said:
Alot of people are randomly getting 400 MS points in there account. I just got it as well. No idea from, No email or anything.

I did not buy all the titles during the one promo. Toy,PD,Scrap.

Guessing its from some Dl gamerpic contest.
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I ONLY bought PD and the Game Room trial....I was wondering what was up
 
Metalic Sand said:
Alot of people are randomly getting 400 MS points in there account. I just got it as well. No idea from, No email or anything.

I did not buy all the titles during the one promo. Toy,PD,Scrap.

Guessing its from some Dl gamerpic contest.
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Heh I just checked mine didn't even notice until you said.

Going to go grab some of the new Game Room games with it.
 
RayStorm is the most boring shmup ever. Smart of Square-Enix to only give you 30 seconds to play so you won't realize this... that way they can maximize their sales while still meeting the XBLA requirement for a demo. And $15, good lord. Stay far, far away from this one.
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You know - come to think of it, when I said "I remember it being a fun shooter", I realized Iwas thinking of Radiant Silvergun.

This was called Layer Section on the Saturn, right?

Yeah... that game was very... average.
 
Huh, glad to see I'm not the only one who randomly got 400 MSP added to their account. I only bought Perfect Dark and of course Game Room.

I bought Pitfall with it and promptly rediscovered that I am crap at Pitfall :)

Anyway I just wanted to add that anyone who doesn't buy Snoopy and Raskulls is a flaming gallah. YEAH YOU HEARD ME
 
FINALLY A RELEASE DATE AND PRICE FOR THINGS ON WHEELS!!!!

Things on Wheels arrives soon on Xbox LIVE Arcade!

Things on Wheels, the crazy racing game, will arrive on Xbox LIVE Arcade May 12th, for 800 MS points! To celebrate the coming release, we are pleased to offer you some new images from this fun and ultra-fast racing game!

Drive a multitude of miniature racers with various features – light Vintage cars, powerful Muscle cars or fast sports cars – and compete in dozens of crazy races. The tracks are completely insane, loaded with shortcuts, ramps, loops and many other surprises. Count on a lot of collectable bonus items to spice up the races even more and upset the final rankings!

Play single or multiplayer on the same console, or on Xbox LIVE on intense races to reach the first place of the official rankings. Things on Wheels is THE racing game you don't want to miss on Xbox LIVE Arcade. Things on Wheels will be available May 12th 2010 on Xbox LIVE Arcade.
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Hydrophobia Not intended to see life on Xbox Live Arcade: an Interview with Dark Energy’s Rob Hewson

http://attackofthefanboy.com/news/h...e-an-interview-with-dark-energy’s-rob-hewson/

The following article is based around an email interview conducted by our team with Rob Hewson from Dark Energy Digital. For the uninitiated, Dark Energy Digital is currently developing Hydrophobia based around the Hydroengine.

Many games begin with a dream; Hydrophobia began with a PHD.

To follow the beginning of Hydrophobia’s creations on must start with Huw Lloyd, R&D of Dark Energy Digital. Described as brilliant by colleagues, Huw sought to put his PHD in Astrophysics to use, attempting to succeed where other had constantly failed: creating lifelike water in a video game.

Water presents some unique difficulties developers. Both simultaneously clear and reflective in nature, the appearance itself is hard match. But even if one could nail what it looks like, water isn’t solid object; it’s a liquid. It takes an entirely different branch of physics to properly represent movement.

And that’s where the HydroEngine comes into the story. Dr. Huw Lloyd and Dark Energy over a three year period of development created an engine they feel can accurate model water and other flowing objects for the first time. This entirely dynamic process allows for different effects each time based on the situation. The engine also interfaces with solid body engines, such as Havok, allowing for lifelike, floating debris.

According to Rob Hewson, “HydroEngine is the only true fluid dynamics engine in the games industry, period. So it was more a case of Huw’s team presenting the company with this revolutionary technology which no other developer has and saying, here you go… make a game with this. As you can imagine the rest of the team were blown away, [it] took a while for us to get our head around what we were seeing but then the ideas started pouring in.”

And that’s when the story of Hydrophobia truly begins to flow.

More than a mere Tech-Demo

When you have something revolutionary, such as the HydroEngine, it needs to be showcased. However, the team at Dark Energy Digital was not content producing just a mere tech demo. And that’s where the idea for Hydrophobia was born.

As Rob Hewson put it: “HydroEngine came first. Our R&D Director Huw Lloyd, who has a PhD in Astro Physics, believed he could succeed where others have failed and create a true fluid dynamics engine for games. He was absolutely right, and the initial demos really fired the imagination of the rest of the team. The concept for Hydrophobia developed afterwards, we wanted a game which would showcase this incredible technology but were not willing to do a mere tech demo – we wanted to use the opportunity to really push boundaries and create something memorable.”

Hydrophobia obviously places a large emphasis on water, as players will take on the role of Kate Wilson, a systems engineer, on board the Queen of the World, a city sized luxury ocean vessel. Simply caught in the wrong place at the wrong time Kate will face her demons as see fights to survive a bombing of the Queen by Neo-Malthusians.

They sought to create dynamic combat that would never feel the same twice. Featuring what the team has dubbed “Flow Combat,” players will be presented with a unique experience the likes of which have not seen before. Or At least, that’s how Rob Hewson describes it.

“Take the old gaming cliché of oil barrels, in Hydrophobia when you shoot one it blows a hole in the wall through which water pours, carrying oil fires into you [sic] enemies and setting them on fire. Perhaps you prefer to hack into the CCTV network and remotely open a door behind and enemy to sweep them off their feet and send them downstream towards you before you finish the job. Maybe you will flood a room and then shoot down some electricity cables to fry you [sic] enemy or just blow the crap out of everything until the entire environment flood and you end up in bullet time style underwater combat. It’s dynamic, it’s emergent and it’s never the same twice.”

Not intended to see life on Xbox Live Arcade

Believe it or not, Hydrophobia was never intended to see life on Xbox Live Arcade. However, the platform became increasing convenient for the team as time passed. Rob Hewson explained it to us like this.

“In truth, Hydrophobia was originally conceived as a retail title, it’s been designed from the ground up as an AAA action adventure. However we are a relatively small team and didn’t have an endless budget and we soon realised that conventional editors would not provide what we needed. So we built our own game engine and editor from the ground up using bespoke procedural technology to make the process of making games much faster and more efficient. This meant instant updates from editor to game world, allowing us to build and play seamlessly. It meant a centralised server concept so everybody in the company always had the latest game state and could work in the same areas at the same time. A side effect of all this procedural technology was a massive reduction in filesize footprint, and XBLA had evolved as a platform so we thought hang on – we can do this as a download title without sacrificing scope or quality.”

The World behind Hydrophobia

When it comes to plot details, no developer wants to tip their cards too early. Such was case with Hydrophobia developer Rob Hewson. He did however share with us the detailed back story that has gone into Hydrophobia and believe it or not, it’s based around an economist…

“The game is set in the near future when the world has become massively overpopulated and there are not enough resources to go around (in line with real life UN projections). This results in conflict and famine around the world, and in this climate two opposing political viewpoints have emerged, Progressive and Malthusian.

The Queen of the World is a colossal super ship built by the Five Founding Fathers, mega corporations at the Progressive end of the spectrum who want to research scientific and technological solutions to increase resources and feed the world.

The city sized ship is also a haven to the wealthy elite who live in exile from the world’s problems. Malthusians meanwhile follow the theories of Thomas Malthus, who wrote in 1798 that population will allows expand beyond the capacity of resources, so increases resources just makes the problem worse in the long run. They want to control the population, but at the extreme end of that spectrum you have the Neo Malthusians, fanatics who want to bring about global genocide and return the population to sustainable ½ billion worthy souls following the gospel of Malthus.”

She just wants to survive

It seems now in days, any time a game features a female protagonist; developers must brace themselves for the question of why they choose the route they did. Rob Hewson felt his team succeeded in creating a real, human being.



“We wanted to get away from the ‘beautiful but deadly’ stereotype which seems to dominate female game characters. Kate takes a lot of inspiration from Ripley in the first Alien movie for example. She is not an all action heroine, she doesn’t want to save the day; she just wants to survive. She is flawed and vulnerable, but ultimately she will have to face her demons and grow as a character as she realises that surviving means taking a stand and fighting.”

Cryptic Thanks

We’d like to offer a big thanks to the entire team at Dark Energy Digital, specifically Rob Hewson for taking the time to chat with us about Hydrophobia. When asked Rob if there was any last thing he’d like to share with our readers he gave us the following message which we have yet to be able to decipher. Maybe you will have better luck.

“We love to hear from players who want to discuss the game and technology with us, so anybody who finds there [sic] way to through the security protocols at www.queenatsea.com can get in touch with us directly”
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Games Distillery Reveals New Details of "AQUA – Naval Warfare"
Basic player ships, ship upgrades, support squadrons.


May 6, 2010 - Frankfurt, Germany - Today, the Slovak development studio Games Distillery reveals new details of its upcoming naval shooter "AQUA – Naval Warfare". The game will be released by Microsoft Game Studios for Xbox LIVE Arcade in summer this year.

Basic player ships
In AQUA, the player will be steering what at the first glance may appear as just a small ship, but in truth, this small ship bears a formidable arsenal of weapons like guns, torpedoes, flamers and mines, all ready to wreak havoc in the enemy lines at his command. As the story progresses the player will get access to three basic ship types each supporting different weapon types and ship characteristics:

VIXEN CLASS CRUISER
The Vixen class cruiser is a real all-rounder – designed for independent combat operations, it combines good speed and maneuverability with a wide choice of weapons and no serious weaknesses – rapid-firing gatlings, volley shotguns and armor-piercing cannons can all be equipped to this ship. Standard torpedoes and mines round up the offensive selection. In the hands of a skilled and resolute commander, the cruiser can take up most of the challenges the enemy can offer. The Cruiser can summon volleys of high-explosive "Angelstrike" rockets to destroy any enemies around it.

SEAFURY CLASS GUNSHIP
The Seafury gunship is a heavy-weapon platform – designed to breach enemy formations and unleash devastating hailstorms of heavy ordnance. The ship can be equipped with a large variety of guns to deliver a massive punch in battle – heavy gatlings, double-shot Bismarck cannon and even the Prototype pulse-modulating Dominator cannon. As barter for all this tremendous firepower and variety, the Seafury has limited torpedo and mine capabilities and is less maneuverable than other ships. A good captain would however never let the enemy discover these drawbacks – anyone trying will be touching the sea bottom before he can spot any weakness. The Gunship can call the secret "Angelcraft" prototype airplane to support it in battle.

BULLIT CLASS SPEEDBOAT
The Bullit Speedboat is a new design recently introduced to the Emperean Navy. Some more traditional-thinking admirals may discard this ship as hardly more than an extravagant toy, since it trades off classical firepower for speed, maneuverability and more experimental weapons – the Speedboat is equipped with multiple types of torpedoes and mines – guided torpedoes, volley torpedoes and even the notorious Anaconda rapid-fire torpedo. This set of abilities allows the Bullit to dodge almost everything the enemy can throw at it, while outmaneuvering the target and obliterating it from distance with its sophisticated weapon systems. The Speedboat can utilize the "Angelstorm" impulse device to disable and stun enemies around it, making them easy prey even for its weaker board guns.

Warshop & Upgrades
Each ship can equip various weapons and upgrades. The player will be able to enter special "Warshops" in the game levels to choose a ship type for the next operation and equip it with the right setup of guns and tweaks. Various upgrades can be equipped here, increasing either the general ship abilities, the performance of the guns or adding abilities to the player's squad. Each ship has 3 weapon and 3 upgrade slots which the player can fill with his own selection of items, providing huge variety and room for replay and experimentation. Some upgrades and weapons can be found hidden in the game levels way before they become available in regular Warshops, so keep that lookout station on the topmast manned in all situations!

Squadron commands
When one ship is simply not enough to handle all aspects and challenges of naval war, it is time to look for some persuasive means of support. In AQUA, this comes in the form of a small squadron of allied ships. The player can pick a squad of four support ships in specialized "Squadshops" and lead them in tactical operations. While still concentrating on controlling his own ship, the squad can be commanded through a simple interface of context-sensitive orders. Four types of squad-ships become available during the campaign, each specialized in a different field of combat operations:

Fighter Squad - Compensating the lack of special new technology with good old firepower and solid armor, Fighter squads are fairly proficient in most combat situations. Sieger Squad - Equipped with ballistic artillery cannons, Sieger squads cause massive damage to structures and can be an unwelcome surprise to all unarmored enemies. Healer Squad - Utilizing advanced mass-energy transformator technologies, Healer squads can significantly prolong the lifetime of allied vessels in action. Sonar Squad - This technologically advanced squad has the ability to detect and attack hidden submarines. The sonar rays also jam all enemy homing missiles within range.

About "AQUA – Naval Warfare":
"AQUA – Naval Warfare" is a stylish arcade-action shooter with numerous tactical elements, driven by an entertaining story with beautiful hand-drawn comic sequences. "AQUA – Naval Warfare" will be released in summer 2010 by Microsoft Game Studios on Xbox LIVE Arcade for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system. "AQUA – Naval Warfare is funded and co-produced by fiftyeight Productions.

www.aqua-the-game.com
 
Still think Joyride was delayed to (re)make it Natal compatible, will shall see at E3.
Modnations influence is a good point although one is a free game and other full retail title, reckon they have added a lot more to Joyride in its time away.
 
I still want to know when we are gonna get Clash of Heroes. Looking more and more like it could either be a Summer of Arcade game or it's just not even close to being done yet.
 
cjelly said:
FINALLY A RELEASE DATE AND PRICE FOR THINGS ON WHEELS!!!!
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I'm definitely interested in playing this. It's hard to imagine how this will differ from all of the other RC/pocket racing games, but I'm a sucker for them.
 
Jonnyram said:
Metal Slug XX is coming out on May 19th for 1200 pts.
WTF is with everything being 1200 pts now!?
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Seems so, but we've had games much cheaper like Afterburner and Perfect dark recently. They are discounting the 1200 point games for one week/day specials fairly often if you wait. I've had Shadow Complex, MvC2 and Virtual On for a 3rd off normal price recently.
 
Jonnyram said:
Metal Slug XX is coming out on May 19th for 1200 pts.
WTF is with everything being 1200 pts now!?
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Price Points are and always have been determined by the individual publisher.
 
To anyone who bought either Zeno Clash or RayStorm HD -- Could you please check the Leaderboards and tell me what the total amount of players are? I'm currently unable to test either as Need US account to buy Raystorm, and 1.5GB is hard to download on 56k :(
 
Rlan said:
To anyone who bought either Zeno Clash or RayStorm HD -- Could you please check the Leaderboards and tell me what the total amount of players are? I'm currently unable to test either as Need US account to buy Raystorm, and 1.5GB is hard to download on 56k :(
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RayStorm is tricky. There are only 740 unique tags on the Arcade Overall leaderboard, but the regular arcade mode doesn't put your scores onto that, you need to play the specific Ranking Mode for posting scores online.

740 is an odd number and at first I thought it was some arbitrary termination to the rankings list, but the last three or four scores are literally 0 points, so it very well could be the bottom.

There may be more though, since at certain points in the list it just wouldn't show gamertags or scores for certain ranks. For example my list refuses to show scores 660 through 680, but 690 to 740 show fine. Bug maybe?

Can't help on Zeno Clash, sorry.
 
Rlan said:
To anyone who bought either Zeno Clash or RayStorm HD -- Could you please check the Leaderboards and tell me what the total amount of players are? I'm currently unable to test either as Need US account to buy Raystorm, and 1.5GB is hard to download on 56k :(
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Stop doing your shitty charts please, they're insults to your intelligence.
 
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