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[Gowans]

briefly checked out this weeks 2 demos, rough thoughts,

For the people who played these guess there fine but they offer nothing new to the genres on XBLA and seemed pretty dull and boring to someone who hasn't played these before.

On Rush & Attack the enhanced graphic mode seemed token (and a little messy the snow effect keeps the retro feels but the explosions just break the whole style) however I'm all for the co-op additions but as someone who bought Contra this is defiantly a second rate version.

Xevious is one of the root games for vertical shooters but on play it seemed pretty dull but then again I didn't like this on my spectrum either. Again Namco do their basic additions of leader boards & achievements but nothing else really distinguishing it too much from a ROM dump, I'll defiantly be waiting for Ikaruga.

 

[Illuminati]

I'm so happy my old credit card was frozen due to stolen data, means microsoft have a dead card on their system :lol

This is just personal preference, but buying things in the marketplace or buying a live gold subscription I think is much less of a hassle doing it with the points cards then with a credit card.

 

[dk_]

What a crappy Xbox Live Arcade Wednesday. :-(

 

[hadareud]

What a crappy Xbox Live Arcade Wednesday. :-(

how quickly times have changed :lol

 

[GhaleonEB]

What a crappy Xbox Live Arcade Wednesday. :-(

Fact: 2 retro games >>> nothing

 

[dejay]

What a crappy Xbox Live Arcade Wednesday. :-(

Patience - there's plenty of good stuff coming soon. I'm assuming that because of the H3 beta they decided to release some crap in case their money earners got lost in the frenzy.

 

[maynerd]

Well, let me see here, the release date says May 2007, we already know what is coming in like two hours, next week is the Wednesday in May, the game has been confirmed as passing certification, listed on the latest Microsoft list of upcoming game releases and now has a live Xbox.com page. Looks pretty credible to me.

It says 100% free games on the page too...is the game supposed to be free?

 

[Shard]

how quickly times have changed :lol

Amazing what a steady steam of good releases can do, but this week isn't even as bad as the week of Double Dragon in my estimation.

That is the slogan of Load Inc, and it is 100% Fat Free Games.

 

[maynerd]

it is 100% Fat Free Games.

oops hhaha

 

[Hitler Stole My Potato]

What a crappy Xbox Live Arcade Wednesday. :-(

We've seen a lot worse. At least we're getting 2 early 80's retro titles instead of 1 or *gulp* nothing at all.

Just think - it's 2 less lame retro titles clogging up pipeline.

 

[dk_]

I just hope the prince arrives soon.

 

[Crab Milk Mickey]

Things I don't like...

The other day I played the trial of Catan...I liked it and realised I had 200 points on my account. The game costs 800 points. So instead of Microsoft allowing me to buy 600 points, I'm supposed to buy 1000.

Thanks for the flexibility. I never bought the game. Lost sale Microsoft.

:lol

Such a stupid, fickle reason to not a buy a game you originally wanted. As if you'd never, ever buy another XBLA-game after Catan.

 

[Shard]

:lol

Such a stupid, fickle reason to not a buy a game you originally wanted. As if you'd never, ever buy another XBLA-game after Catan.

Not to mention that Catan isn't going to vanish any time soon.

 

[RumFore]

:lol

Such a stupid, fickle reason to not a buy a game you originally wanted. As if you'd never, ever buy another XBLA-game after Catan.

How about you offer to send him the difference via paypal for the amount he loses buying extra points he doesn't need? Its just money you don't need.

 

[Vrolokus]

How about you offer to send him the difference via paypal for the amount he loses buying extra points he doesn't need? Its just money you don't need.

That makes no sense at all.

 

[Shard]

I guess some people are not familiar with the concept of letting of letting points add up or something?

 

[arne]

Things I don't like...

The other day I played the trial of Catan...I liked it and realised I had 200 points on my account. The game costs 800 points. So instead of Microsoft allowing me to buy 600 points, I'm supposed to buy 1000.

Thanks for the flexibility. I never bought the game. Lost sale Microsoft.

Another thing I don't like; I signed up for gold once with a credit card. Instead of allowing me to cancel online, I have to stuff around ringing them up if I want to cancel, otherwise they'll just bill the f*ck out of my credit card once a month, every month...till the end of time.

Fix these things please.

buy 1000, spend 800 on Catan, save the 400 left over for Prince of Persia -- assuming PoP keeps the "classic" cost range we've seen... I would imagine so. (price is TBD in the latest stuff I have, so I'm not being coy).

 

[Ghost]

They announced Exit (the psp game) for XBLA today (or yesterday maybe, i didnt see it mentioned).

 

[Shard]

They announced Exit (the psp game) for XBLA today (or yesterday maybe, i didnt see it mentioned).

I mentioned it a page back.

 

[Pastry]

Hell yes! Exit was my favorite PSP game, and the only reason I regret not having my PSP anymore. I was never able to beat it though, I got hopelessly stuck on one stage and could never find a faq that had that level covered

 

[Shard]

Friend of the thread, XBLArcade.com, has garnered some impressions of a trio of XBLA games that were featured at the GamerScoreBlog Road Fest: Toronto Edition, it should be noted that the GamerScoreBlog roadshow is showcasing four XBLA titles, but the person was unable to play Carcassonne.

http://www.xblarcade.com/node/619
Impressions of Mad Tracks, Undertow and Track and Field.

 

[CrunchinJelly]

buy 1000, spend 800 on Catan, save the 400 left over for Prince of Persia -- assuming PoP keeps the "classic" cost range we've seen... I would imagine so. (price is TBD in the latest stuff I have, so I'm not being coy).

PoP 400pts confirmed.

:lol

 

[arne]

PoP 400pts confirmed.

:lol

(neutral) cjelly
will gladly bend over and grab ankles for Microsoft
(Today, 02:34 PM)


it's that time son.

 

[a Master Ninja]

EDIT: NM, I'm off to try the new games.

 

[maynerd]

buy 1000, spend 800 on Catan, save the 400 left over for Prince of Persia -- assuming PoP keeps the "classic" cost range we've seen... I would imagine so. (price is TBD in the latest stuff I have, so I'm not being coy).

I will refrain from bitching at MS for 1 week if POP is 400pts!

 

[DJ Sl4m]

**** the dumb shit, I want to see games like this with enhanced graphics and no slowdown:

Raiden Project 1 & 2
Mars matrix
Einhander
Don Pachi
Don Don Pachi
R-Type Delta
Aliens Vs Predator (Jag version with updated graphics & no slowdown/better framerate)
GigaWing & GigaWing 2

 

[RumFore]

That makes no sense at all.

It makes perfect sense.

 

[pilonv1]

What a crappy Xbox Live Arcade Wednesday. :-(

I agree, I much prefered it when we got patches for Poker or Uno Decks.

 

[Hitler Stole My Potato]

I agree, I much prefered it when we got patches for Poker or Uno Decks.

I sure as hell don't. This crap is on the release schedule and putting a patch or theme deck instead of a game just pushes this garbage up a week. The sooner we get it over with the better. Eventually they'll run out of shovelware from '83 and go back to giving us the good stuff.

 

[pilonv1]

I sure as hell don't.

Sarcasm, people like dk_ are spoiled easily and need to be reminded of how things used to be.

 

[a Master Ninja]

I agree, I much prefered it when we got patches for Poker or Uno Decks.

In all seriousness I'm still waiting for that patch for "Vision Camera" support. They said "Early 2007".

 

[Bearillusion]

Ikari Warriors please.

 

[ElNino]

Ikari Warriors please.

That's pretty much what Assault Heroes is... and it's pretty good as well.

 

[Hitler Stole My Potato]

Sarcasm, people like dk_ are spoiled easily and need to be reminded of how things used to be.

My sarcasm detector is seriously broke today.

 

[Bearillusion]

Not the same though.

 

[GhaleonEB]

I sure as hell don't. This crap is on the release schedule and putting a patch or theme deck instead of a game just pushes this garbage up a week. The sooner we get it over with the better. Eventually they'll run out of shovelware from '83 and go back to giving us the good stuff.

Shovelware from '84!

 

[Shard]

Review Round-Up: Gamespot on Xevious

http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/xevious/review.html?sid=6171444

 

[xabre]

buy 1000, spend 800 on Catan, save the 400 left over for Prince of Persia -- assuming PoP keeps the "classic" cost range we've seen... I would imagine so. (price is TBD in the latest stuff I have, so I'm not being coy).

How about giving me the flexability to buy the points I want to buy?

Just say I was 50 points short? Then I'd have to buy 500 just to get something. Not good enough. At least give us a 100 point option for $2 or something. Considering all the things on the marketplace worth 50 and 100 points each it's only the fair thing to do. At moment it just smacks of exploitation.

As for the guy that said I was going to buy catan anyway...sorry, no I wasn't. I played the trial, thought it was something I might like to buy and would have bought the game if Microsoft hadn't tried to rort points out of me that I didn't need. I make the decision about how much I want to spend, not Microsoft.

As for the credit card, honestly I've learnt my lesson there. Points cards are easier which is ridiculous because credit cards are supposed to be the more convenient option.

 

[Jonnyram]

Think of it like this xabre.
You're going out for a night on the town. Your wallet is empty. You drop by the ATM for some cash.

Do you:
a) Get $13.50, because that's exactly how much it costs for your three pints and taxi home
b) Get $20 because you might want another drink, or some other emergency

We're faced with this kind of financial conundrum everyday.

 

[Son of Godzilla]

Think of it like this xabre.
You're going out for a night on the town. Your wallet is empty. You drop by the ATM for some cash.

Do you:
a) Get $13.50, because that's exactly how much it costs for your three pints and taxi home
b) Get $20 because you might want another drink, or some other emergency

We're faced with this kind of financial conundrum everyday.

wtf? More like b) Get $20 because you might want another drink, or another drink, or another drink. Last I checked they don't take MS Points at the hospital.

 

[joaomgcd]

Think of it like this xabre.
You're going out for a night on the town. Your wallet is empty. You drop by the ATM for some cash.

Do you:
a) Get $13.50, because that's exactly how much it costs for your three pints and taxi home
b) Get $20 because you might want another drink, or some other emergency

We're faced with this kind of financial conundrum everyday.

Can you even get $13.50 at an ATM? Around here we can only get like a multiple of €5. What if I only want €2.50? Those bastards...

 

[a Master Ninja]

How about giving me the flexability to buy the points I want to buy?

Just say I was 50 points short? Then I'd have to buy 500 just to get something. Not good enough. At least give us a 100 point option for $2 or something. Considering all the things on the marketplace worth 50 and 100 points each it's only the fair thing to do. At moment it just smacks of exploitation.

I agree that more flexability is good, but just like stores that sell gift cards, I'm sure Microsoft makes a pretty penny off of points that never get spent. Nintendo is still worse, though. You have to purchase at least $10 worth of points at a time.

 

[dejay]

I believe there are costs associated with processing credit card payments - why should MS incur those for millions of low value transactions?

 

[Rlan]

A game entitled "GEON" has popped up on the OFLC, apparently by Eidos. Googling the name, absolutely nothing comes up whatsoever, and it's far too early for a fully fledged game to get rated, AND it's not on the ESRB or PEGI pages, so maybe it's a new original XBLA game?

http://www.oflc.gov.au/special.html...Y=1970&sDateToM=3&sDateToY=2010&record=220827

 

[Synth_floyd]

I believe there are costs associated with processing credit card payments - why should MS incur those for millions of low value transactions?

They do it for that reason, and for the fact that they know people will have to top off their points when they don't have enough to buy something and they know that some people will leave their points unspent which is just giving MS free cash.

As long as you're conscious about what you buy using the points the system really isn't all that inconvenient.

 

[AstroLad]

They do it for that reason, and for the fact that they know people will have to top off their points when they don't have enough to buy something and they know that some people will leave their points unspent which is just giving MS free cash.

As long as you're conscious about what you buy using the points the system really isn't all that inconvenient.

Everyone makes this argument for, e.g., EBGames pre-orders, that they're making all this money from the interest or getting an interest-free loan (a better argument, but actually one I've never seen made), but in the grand scheme I doubt that's much of a consideration at all. The benefits are not that great and the inputs fluctuate too much for it to be part of any grand strategy. I'm sure they have several reasons behind it, but the most obvious ones to me are the marketing-related reasons. That is, if you leave someone with 200 points, they're more likely to add on another 200 and buy more games than someone who just paid for each game in full. Look, I think the system is stupid too. It makes me feel like a kid at Chucky Cheese who has 300 too many tickets for the pencil set and the hot wheels car but 500 too few for the tape player. It's an insult to the consumer more than anything, but it hasn't bothered me too much recently since XBLA really has been on a roll and looks to be on a roll for the foreseeable future.

 

[aku:jiki]

Oh my. I just played an as far as I know yet unannounced title that is ****ing awesome. I don't want arne to stab me in my face while I sleep so I won't give it away, but lets just say that if you're yearning for a hardcore oldschool experience with next-gen sensibilites (ie a billion lighting and particle effects on screen at once) you'll be going nuts when this game drops.

And it's made in Japan, so it isn't some half-assed "Hey, I played one of them thar shooters on Dreamcast once, let's make one of those!"-type thing like Aegis Wing was.

PoP just got dethroned as the most awesomely awesomest upcoming XBLA game for sure.

Spoiler

No, it's not Ikaruga and it's not by Treasure. Calm down.

 

[nextgeneration]

Oh my. I just played an as far as I know yet unannounced title that is ****ing awesome. I don't want arne to stab me in my face while I sleep so I won't give it away, but lets just say that if you're yearning for a hardcore oldschool experience with next-gen sensibilites (ie a billion lighting and particle effects on screen at once) you'll be going nuts when this game drops.

And it's made in Japan, so it isn't some half-assed "Hey, I played one of them thar shooters on Dreamcast once, let's make one of those!"-type thing like Aegis Wing was.

PoP just got dethroned as the most awesomely awesomest upcoming XBLA game for sure.

Spoiler

No, it's not Ikaruga and it's not by Treasure. Calm down.

Oh, man, you have me super excited now! I know that you can't tell us the game, but can you tell us if it's as good as Geometry Wars?

 

[QVT]

QVT likes hardcore games with millions of lighting effects.

This just constantly reminds me how stupid the whole "hiding things" part of gaming is. So the 20 thousand hardcore gamers on the net know ahead of time, the main audience wont know until its on their TV in easy to eat packets. They should be more open with development, at least in terms of "hey we're making a game" instead of shhhhhh until we've got gameplay(I'm looking at you, starcraft 2)

 

[Shard]

http://www.gamingtalkhq.com/gamingtalkhq-home/mad-tracks-to-race-onto-xbla-next-week.html
http://www.xboxic.com/news/2947

Well, to add to the mounting evidence of Mad Tracks coming next week Xboxic and GamingTalkHQ have communicated with various inside sourced including Denis Bourdain of Load Inc whom whole not outright confirming the speculation, has hinted about it with all the subtly of an anvil. Basically, if the game doesn't come out next week, it is most likely the result of spiteful executive meddling.