Official Xbox Live Arcade Thread

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Any ideas on what's coming this week? I wouldn't mind Sonic 3 actually, but that might be expecting a little too much.

One Sega game I'd love to see though would be Road Rash 1 or 2. That would be awesome 2 player over live.
 
Shard said:
Let it be known that the latest episode of On The Spot is featuring some new footage of a couple of XBLA games, Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords and Mutant Storm Empire.
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If we get both this week, I'm gonna have to stock up on clean underpants.
 
Well, that is looking highly likely, Puzzle Quest has been practically confirmed for this week barring one of those magic delays and Speedball 2 looks like it is coming soon, maybe not this week though if Microsoft is still doing the one week release thing for whatever reason.
 
Speedball II is coming our way October 17th - so next week!

LONDON, ENGLAND, 1st October, 2007 – Empire Interactive, a wholly owned subsidiary of Silverstar Holdings (NASDAQ: SSTR), today announced that the eagerly awaited, classic combat sports game Speedball II: Brutal Deluxe, will be available on the Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system from Microsoft® via Xbox LIVE® Arcade from 17th October 2007.

Regarded as a break-though title that took the sports genre to a new level, the Bitmap Brothers classic, Speedball, was first released for the Amiga in 1990 and quickly became a huge success. However it wasn’t until the release of its sequel, Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe that the title reached new gaming heights and sold over 2 million units. It is still considered by many to be one of the best games of all time. The Xbox LIVE Arcade version is a perfect conversion of Speedball II: Brutal Deluxe but with the addition of an all-new High Definition version, more teams and downloadable content, whilst still retaining all the classic elements that have made it a firm favourite amongst gamers.

Empire Interactive has recently enjoyed great success with the release of arcade classic Double Dragon, where it has become one of the most popular full games downloads on Xbox LIVE Arcade (400MP). The highly anticipated release of this legendary game should further cement Empire’s position as a leading provider of casual games in the online marketplace.

Ian Higgins, CEO Empire Interactive said, “Xbox LIVE Arcade is the ideal environment for this exciting new high definition version of Speedball. With the addition of extra content packs and downloadable content, gamers will at last have the ultimate version of the game.”

Clive Kabatznik, CEO of Silverstar Holdings commented, “Speedball 2 will undoubtedly add to our earlier successes on Xbox LIVE Arcade and further demonstrates our ability to cost effectively redeploy classic titles on all major formats and a multitude of distribution channels.”

Mike Montgomery, of developers Bitmap Brothers said, “The team are all as passionate about Speedball today as they were back in the day. The evolution of the game to Xbox LIVE Arcade will provide renewed interest and excitement for Speedball fans old and new”.

The title was recently voted one of the most wanted games for Xbox LIVE Arcade in an article by the Computer and Video Games website. At a cost of 800MP its arrival will please both hard-core fans and new generations of gamers who have yet to experience what some believe is the finest combat sports game ever made.

Xbox LIVE Arcade is the central destination for Xbox 360 gamers to find, download, try, and buy smaller games on the Xbox 360 console. Xbox LIVE Arcade offers a large catalogue of fun, broad-appeal games that can be downloaded via Xbox LIVE.

About Empire Interactive:
Empire Interactive is a leading publisher of interactive entertainment software that has been established for 18 years. Headquartered in the UK, Empire Interactive also has offices in the US, Germany, Italy, France and Spain. The company develops and publishes a varied range of titles for all current platforms in the US, Europe and Asia. Games such as Starsky & Hutch, Big Mutha Truckers, Ford Racing and FlatOut have all enjoyed success across the world. Its budget label, Xplosiv, is one of the fastest growing in Europe. Further information about Empire Interactive and its products can be found at www.empireinteractive.com

About Silverstar Holdings:
Silverstar Holdings Ltd. is a publicly traded company (NASDAQ: SSTR), focusing on acquiring controlling positions in high-growth retail-driven and fee-based electronic game businesses that stand to benefit from the economies of scale generated by the Internet and other technology-related platforms. It currently owns Empire Interactive PLC and Strategy First Inc. as well as a stake in Magnolia Broadband.

Strategy First Inc. is a leading developer and worldwide publisher of entertainment software for the PC. Magnolia Broadband is a fabless semiconductor company and innovator of radio frequency (RF) solutions for the cellular industry.

About The Bitmap Brothers:
Originally Founded in 1987, The Bitmap Brothers are considered by many to be the original 'rock stars' of computer game development: a small but highly successful development team with a history of creating unique, critically and commercially acclaimed IP across a number of popular platforms. www.bitmap-brothers.co.uk
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DiatribeEQ said:
Currently own 51 Live Arcade games.

I'm such the micro-transactions whore :(
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Damn it, people, get your hate straight!

Micro-transactions such as horse armor, content already on the gamedisc, bullshit like that = really bad

Micro-transactions such as entire games or added campaigns = awesome and the future of (indie) gaming

Supporting the downloadable scene is great. I'm proud to own 59 XBLA games.
 
Monday, October 08, 2007 9:01 AM by Gamerscore News
NEW to Xbox LIVE Arcade: Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords and Toyota Yaris Arrive this Wednesday!

Two brand spankin’ new titles join the Xbox LIVE Arcade library this week! “Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords™” ups the ante on traditional puzzle games by incorporating strategy and role-playing elements in a captivating world with a persistent storyline. Also, gamers will get a special treat this week as Toyota brings to life one of their newest model of cars in “Yaris,” the first dodger/shooter driving game on the platform, for free! Both games are available for download this Wednesday, October 10, 2007 at 9:00 a.m. GMT (2:00 a.m. PDT).

PuzzleQuestXBLA_screen4

“Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords” delivers classic puzzle-game action paired with an epic story of good versus evil. The Xbox LIVE Arcade version of “Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords” contains all of the content found on other platform versions, but is now optimized to take advantage of a widescreen, HD display and LIVE features like camera support, Achievements, leaderboards and Gamerscore. Additionally, the game includes some minor rebalancing and gameplay tweaks to enhance the gaming experience. Developed by Infinite Interactive Pty. Ltd., “Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords” is available for download worldwide on Xbox LIVE Arcade for 1200 Microsoft Points.

For more details on “Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords,” please visit http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/p/puzzlequestchallengexboxlivearcade/default.htm



“Yaris” is a quick, fast and easy-to-learn game that puts players behind the wheel of a customizable Toyota Yaris to destroy enemies, avoid obstacles, and finish the course before it finishes them. Players will enjoy customization options and an arsenal of weapons while they attack enemies and advance to the next level. “Yaris” features online multiplayer over Xbox LIVE, allowing gamers to challenge each other for the best time and score. Developed by Backbone Entertainment, “Yaris” is the first free brand-supported game on Xbox LIVE Arcade and is available for download in the U.S. and Canada for one full year.

For more details on “Yaris,” please visit http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/y/yarisxboxlivearcade/default.htm


Puzzle Quest Screenshots:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gamerscore/sets/72157602316569866/


Yaris Screenshots:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gamerscore/
 
Puzzle Quest will make me happy for a long while, especially if the multi-player is balanced. (that's a big IF) :P If MP sucks, the game will still be fun for at least a month in single player.
 
Yaris Review up on Angry Gamer:
Yaris is crap. And we shouldn't excuse it because it's free. Look, I like the concept of companies fronting up the cost so you can play the game for free. Advertising in games isn't a new concept (Thunderblade was doing it 20 years ago, and I'm sure even then it was an old idea) and I'm all for people trying new economic models and delivery systems. So I'm not just railing against this game out of some "naive university student protesting because he thinks it will make him look sensitive and get him laid" kind of way. If Toyota want to make games to promote their cars, awesome. Hell, I fell in love with the Mitsubishi Lancer after playing Sega Rally in the arcade.

Here's the best way to describe the gameplay - Imagine trying to play the bonus stage from Sonic 2 (running through tubes while collecting stuff) while simultaneously playing Panzer Dragoon. Unlike french fries and ice cream, it's not a weird combination that somehow makes sense once you try it. It's just annoying and stupid. There's no sensation of speed and the different cars don't make a lick of difference and having to drive and shoot and collect is just ugh too much work.

Yeah yeah, it's free. Good for it. Sex with Lindsay Lohan is free nowdays, but it doesn't make it a good idea.

Overall: No / 10
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http://www.xblarcade.com/node/1277

New Band of Bugs DLC is on the way tomorrow.

The new campaign is called Ninja Sticks of Fury.
* A full new campaign, with new characters, environments, and scripted event-filled levels.
* There's even more content for the map editor!
* The new pack includes a new achievement, and the levels in the Ninja Sticks campaign count toward the Gold Star achievement.
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Trailer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrUsCf4vfV0&eurl=http://www.xblarcade.com/node/1277
 
New interview with XBLA's David Edery
http://www.developmag.com/interviews/84/LIve-stock-Part-1
http://www.developmag.com/interviews/85/LIve-stock-Part-2

Here's a few of the more interesting bits:

Development time:
once a concept is approved, it generally takes about nine months to get the game on the service. We’ve had games completed in as little as six months, and some that have taken over a year to complete.
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Team size and budgets:
XBLA games tend to have anywhere from three to nine-man development teams, with development budgets ranging from as low as $100k for the simplest of ports to $900k for the most ambitious of projects. I’d say that average development budgets are somewhere around $450k.
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Size limits:
Anyone who thinks you need 5GB to make a good game hasn’t played with a Nintendo DS recently. And anyone who thinks you can’t make a beautiful game in under 150MB hasn’t seen RoboBlitz or Undertow – both XBLA games that clock in around 50MB.
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Competition:
The Wii is a great platform. However, XBLA has a big advantage vis-à-vis its association with Live; Nintendo is still working to flesh out the Wii’s online service. Furthermore, neither Nintendo nor Sony have an answer to XNA Game Studio and the Creators Club. Microsoft has put tremendous effort into creating a platform that makes life easier for hobbyists and professional developers, and I expect that effort to pay off handsomely in the near future. In fact, if you’ve seen the results of the Dream Build Play contest, I think you’ll agree that our bet on XNA is already starting to pay off.
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Number of games released each week:
Xbox Live Arcade Wednesdays has been very successful for us, so we will certainly continue to bring one or two titles online each week. In general, you won’t see more than two titles a week anytime soon.
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Balance between retro/original titles:
Many recently-released retro titles are selling very well - and we get more requests for retro all the time – so you can expect retro to remain a healthy percentage of the portfolio. That said, we absolutely want a good balance of content – retro and original, action and non-action, single player and multiplayer. XBLA is and will remain a service that offers something for everyone.

I also want to emphasise that in many ways, XBLA is the perfect environment in which to experiment with innovative gameplay and original IP. Obviously, the lower costs of development and distribution help, but in addition, it’s worth noting that, as of today, every game we have ever launched has ultimately been downloaded by hundreds of thousands of people at minimum. With that kind of exposure, so many creative opportunities open up to developers.
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PhlivoSong said:
If I remember correctly, at TGS they said this game would be out in October. If Everyday Shooter AND this come out in the same month I might die. Every Extend Extra is one of my favorite games of all time that I can always pick up and play.
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If it does come out in October, it's probably Japan only. I think it's 2008 for US. Which sucks cause I really want this game NOW.
 
Guybrush Threepwood said:
You know what games would be perfect for the Xbox Live Arcade?

Power Stone 1 and Power Stone 2. Especially the latter.

*Thinks of Xbox Live Power Stone battles*

*Drools*
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I liked part 2 but if I remember correctly they took out the downwards jumpkick from that version. It made the combat feel a bit strange after playing the first one so much. I did like the changing level design though. But yeah, these two games really should be on Live in the future (probably the far, far future).
 
AngryGamer said:
Yeah yeah, it's free. Good for it. Sex with Lindsay Lohan is free nowdays, but it doesn't make it a good idea.
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Good idea, bad idea. I would still have angry, hair-pulling sex with Lindsay Lohan, just like I plan to have an angry, hair-pulling play session with Yaris. Oh yes, I will...
 
aku:jiki said:
Damn it, people, get your hate straight!

Micro-transactions such as horse armor, content already on the gamedisc, bullshit like that = really bad

Micro-transactions such as entire games or added campaigns = awesome and the future of (indie) gaming

Supporting the downloadable scene is great. I'm proud to own 59 XBLA games.
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But do you have all the other DLC for those 59 games? I've got everything available for my 51 games in terms of addtional DLC (Themes, Gamer Pics, extra game content, ect).
 
DiatribeEQ said:
But do you have all the other DLC for those 59 games? I've got everything available for my 51 games in terms of addtional DLC (Themes, Gamer Pics, extra game content, ect).
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Then I take back my previous post. You are a sucker. :lol
 
Achivement overload

http://www.xblarcade.com/node/1279

Word Puzzle

Ace Beginner
5
Get "5 Combos" in Arcade mode

Combo Expert
20
Get "30 Combos" in Arcade mode

Combo Master
30
Get "50 Combos" in Arcade mode

Ticker Beater
10
Successfully disarms a bomb within 5 seconds in Survival mode

Survival Expert
10
Disarming 6 bombs continuously without missing any of Word Bombs in Survival mode

Survival Master
20
Disarming all the bombs & pass all the stages in Survival mode

Champion
30
Score 4000 points in Survival mode

Quick Draw
10
Receives first victory in local 2-player battle

First Draw
5
First time completed in Xbox LIVE Ranking battles

Peak Performer
10
Score 1000 points in Free Play mode

3 Time Champ
20
3 wins in a row in Xbox LIVE Ranking battles

5 Time Champ
30
5 wins in a row in Xbox LIVE Ranking battles

Every Extend Extra Extreme

Yellow Wizard
10
Survive 30 minutes on any stage in E4, The Game Unlimited mode.

Hide And Seek
15
Stay alive for 60 seconds without a shield in E4, The Game Unlimited mode.

Quicken'ist
20
Collect 50 Quicken in E4, The Game Time Limited mode.

Blue Wizard
20
Earn 15 Trillion points on any stage of E4, The Game Unlimited mode.

Connoisseur
20
Earn 125 points in ratings.

Power Player
15
Achieve 10 consecutive Beat Bonuses in E4, The Game Time Limited mode.

Silver Shooter
10
Clear Stage 25 on the R4, The Revenge mode.

Gold Shooter
20
Clear Stage 100 on the R4, The Revenge mode.

Chain Master
10
Create more than 1000 chain reactions in E4, The Game Unlimited mode.

Chain Wizard
20
Create more than 2000 chain reactions in E4, The Game Unlimited mode.

Master of Extreme
30
Achieve 5 consecutive Beat Bonuses while on a x100 score multiplier in E4, The Game Unlimited.

Big Head
10
20 wins in H4, Versus Live.

Mutant Storm Empire

Empire Level 1
5
Complete Level 1 on any difficulty.

Empire World 1
10
Complete World 1 on any difficulty.

Empire World 2
10
Complete World 2 on any difficulty.

Empire World 3
15
Complete World 3 on any difficulty.

Empire World 4
20
Complete World 4 on any difficulty.

Beastie Combo
5
Get a Beastie Combo by shooting a certain amount of only 1 type of beastie.

All Beastie Combos
30
Get all the Beastie Combos by shooting a certain amount of each of the special beasties.

2x Multiplier
5
Get the multiplier to x2 in Single Player.

10x Multiplier
25
Get the multiplier to x10 in Single Player.

Millionaire Twins
20
Both players get a million points each in Multiplayer.

10x Multiplier Twins
20
Both players get their multiplier to x10 in Multiplayer.

Black Belt Grandmaster
35
Complete all 16 levels on Black Belt in Single Player.
 
Man . . . since so many really great shrink-wrap games have been coming in the last few months (Bioshock, NHL, Halo 3, etc.), I haven't touched XBLA in a while. I wonder if that has been true for others and whether XBLA has suffered.
 
speculawyer said:
Man . . . since so many really great shrink-wrap games have been coming in the last few months (Bioshock, NHL, Halo 3, etc.), I haven't touched XBLA in a while. I wonder if that has been true for others and whether XBLA has suffered.
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I haven't picked up Bioshock yet, but when I have only a small amount of time to play a game, it's usually a game in my NHL season or a match online in Halo 3. Your analysis rings true for me as I'm having less and less arcade sessions as a result.
 
speculawyer said:
Man . . . since so many really great shrink-wrap games have been coming in the last few months (Bioshock, NHL, Halo 3, etc.), I haven't touched XBLA in a while. I wonder if that has been true for others and whether XBLA has suffered.
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I am in the same boat, and I imagine it is causing a lot of the Live Arcade games to be downloaded less then they normally would. I have been looking forward to Puzzle Quest for forever, and I still am on the first disk of Blue Dragon, PGR 4 has been in my system for a total of 5 minutes to check out Geometry Wars, and I have barely scratched the surface of Halo 3 online. Meanwhile I have not had time to even finish Sonic 2 and Streets of Rage, or get into Tetris. Puzzle Quest is just going to have to wait until probably February at the earliest. Then there is Mutant Storm, Every Extend, aaaaaah I don't even want to think about it.
 
ugh this game pisses me off. i've died 8 times to a RAT because it keeps getting these ridiculously random chains of 4. it gets like 4 in a row every turn
 
Sigh. Yaris.
'Free' is not justification enough for this game. I fully agree with the angry gamer score of no/10.

Looks like shit, plays like shit, and my gamerscore list is crying now because I forgot to play it under my alt profile. :(
 
XBLA games tend to have anywhere from three to nine-man development teams, with development budgets ranging from as low as $100k for the simplest of ports to $900k for the most ambitious of projects. I’d say that average development budgets are somewhere around $450k.
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I'm suprised that it cost $100k to port Dig Dug.
 
speculawyer said:
Man . . . since so many really great shrink-wrap games have been coming in the last few months (Bioshock, NHL, Halo 3, etc.), I haven't touched XBLA in a while. I wonder if that has been true for others and whether XBLA has suffered.
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Yeah, that's been true for me. But I won't forget the good times we had and I know XBLA will be there waiting for me in the next drought.
 
LakeEarth said:
I'm suprised that it cost $100k to port Dig Dug.
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They did have to create achievements, a title screen, and a credits screen to give props to the creator of the achievements and title screen.
 
AstroLad said:
Yeah, that's been true for me. But I won't forget the good times we had and I know XBLA will be there waiting for me in the next drought.
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Me too. I was a regular consumer for a good long while, now I barely play the demos. Although I'm buying Puzzle Quest ASAP.
 
Already have Puzzle Quest DS, but it was worth double dipping and buying the XBLA version as well. You can easily lose a couple of hours with this game :P
 
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