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http://www.videogaming247.com/2008/...armed-simultaneous-on-psn-xbla-and-pc-in-may/


GDC: Bionic Commando Rearmed simultaneous on PSN, XBLA and PC in May


February 21st, 2008 @ 15:21



Capcom’s upcoming remake of the grapply NES shooter Bionic Commando should be released in May.

That’s according to a Capcom representative who spoke to videogaming247 in the publisher’s flashy hotel suite in San Francisco today.

Said representative added that it should launch on PlayStation Network, Xbox Live Arcade and PC at the same time. We can but hope.

The game’s quite close to completion then, obviously, and is looking very smart. Some bits are still being worked on - we weren’t allowed to see the hacking sections, for example - but the general 2D-with-3D-graphics gameplay of swinging around shooting people was intuitive and gratifying.

We particularly like the way that the enemies flop to their knees ragdoll-like and then tumble off the near side of 2D platforms and off the screen when they’re shot. More of this please, developer-folk.
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New Xbox.com Splash Page uncovered: Tiggerhreat Excelia

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/t/triggerheartxboxlivearcade/


Mankind's newest and best weapon is the Triggerheart, a humanoid weapons system with a human-like personality. When the Ver'mith attack, only the Triggerhearts Exelica and Crueltear have the power to destroy the enemy. In the classic vertically-scrolling Japanese arcade shooter Triggerheart Exelica, each weapon has a different combat style, but both can perform unique anchor shots. Anchor an enemy ship, capture it to use as a shield, or throw it back into the fray to cause massive damage. With five levels, three difficulty settings, and all the usual Xbox LIVE® leaderboards and achievements, Triggerheart Exelica is a fast-paced, full-featured arcade shooter masterpiece!

* Unique anchor shot element: The Triggerhearts can anchor enemies, capture them to use as a shield, or toss them back into the field of battle to cause havoc.
* V.B.A.S. (Variable Boss Attack System): The game dynamically reacts to your skill level. If you have a low score, the bosses will be slightly easier to defeat. Carry a higher score, and the bosses become more challenging.
* High-def graphics: Fully compatible with HDTVs, the graphics bring the top-down shooter genre to a new level of intensity.
* New music: New background music willl have you grooving to the rhythm as you destroy the Ver'mith
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I think this game is coming out next week, but I can't confirm that right now.
 
Found a new XBLA game, Sentient from Sensory Sweep Studios. Nothing beside a logo and 3 tiny screens so far but it appears to be a third person shooter.

feature.jpg


queen1.jpg

queen2.jpg

play1.jpg


http://sensorysweep.com/games_current.html

(these are the devs who ported Street Fighter 2 to XBLA).
 
Ah, such a pleasant reprieve from the rigors of debate, anyway, the Stick of Joy goes hands-on with Bionic Commando Rearmed.

GDC08: Arms-on with Bionic Commando Rearmed

4 Comments by Richard Mitchell Feb 22nd 2008 12:30AM
Filed under: Features, PC, Microsoft Xbox 360, GDC

The clue is right there in the title really. Bionic Commando Rearmed is Bionic Commando, only a little different. For those out there who liked the original, your purchase decision is (and should be) made already. Those who have never played the game should really take up Rearmed's opportunity to do so. That's really all anyone needs to know, but it hardly makes for interesting hands-on impressions, so perhaps some more details are in order. First, it's definitely worth noting that the game looks great, especially for a downloadable title. Character animations are solid. Particle effects follow every bullet, shotgun blast, and grenade explosion. Individual shells eject from weapons as they're fired. All in all, it's very slick.

Graphics aren't everything though, and thankfully Bionic Commando Rearmed doesn't stray from the formula that made the original work so well. That formula, for the uniformed, is as follows: run, swing, shoot, all of which is followed by more running and swinging. Swinging of course, is what Bionic Commando is all about, and Rearmed nails it perfectly. Anyone who has played the original will be right at home, and those that haven't won't have any trouble figuring it out. There are small tweaks and improvements to the system that vets will appreciate too. For example, it's now possible to launch the grappling hook horizontally in midair. It doesn't sound like much, but it opens up many more swinging possibilities.

These new possibilities are particularly interesting in light of one of Rearmed's new features, challenges. Challenges are specially designed courses that require players to clear the obstacles in the shortest amount of time possible. These scenarios are based entirely around effective and efficient swinging. Challenges are littered with hazards like spikes or bottomless pits, so missing a critical shot with the grappling hook means instant failure. Players receive a star rating and score based on the amount of time taken to complete a given challenge, which is sure to make for excellent leaderboard fodder on Xbox Live Arcade.

Apart from the addition of challenges, there are new weapons and upgrades that are earned for completing levels. We saw grenades, bazookas, and a shotgun, each useful for different situations. Enemy lurking below you? Drop a grenade from above. The bionic arm sees new combat uses as well. Players can grab and toss small obstructions like barrels for example. It's particularly rewarding to watch an enemy hide behind a barrel for cover only to crush his ribs with it a few moments later. Of course, you can always cut out the middle man and opt to grab and toss an enemy instead.

There are some other additions as well, such as new, bigger boss encounters. Communications rooms make a return too. As in the original, you can choose to radio your allies or tap into the enemy network. Attempting to hack the enemy network initiated a nifty looking mini-game. Failing the game results in alerting the enemy to your presences. The Capcom rep on hand informed us that the mini-game wasn't working properly in the build we tested, which is unfortunate because it had a very interesting look to it (sort of Tron meets Marble Madness). We're interested to see how it turns out in the final version.

Overall, it looks like Bionic Commando Rearmed should be able to please both veterans and newcomers alike. New players will be able to enjoy the excellent swing mechanics, and old-school gamers will get a kick out of the new challenge levels. We're looking forward to grappling our own copy when the game releases this May.
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RunWhiteBoyRun said:
Does Sega still have the rights to Rocket Jockey? I would quickly pay for an updated version with Live support.
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Yes. The original had some great ideas, but network multiplayer in those days usually meant you had to have a LAN and other people on it. Plus, they had to patch in multiplayer like 6 months after the game was out.
 
http://gamerscoreblog.com/team/archive/2008/02/22/557642.aspx

Xbox LIVE Arcade Awards Winners

We crowned the winners of the Xbox LIVE Arcade Awards at GDC. In January, more than 26,000 people voted for their favorite Xbox LIVE Arcade games, chosen by a panel of select industry journalists. The winners for the first six categories were determined by popular vote, with the final four categories decided by sales and gameplay data, Metacritic score or staff vote.

Here are the winners for each category:

Xbox LIVE Arcade Awards – 2007 Winners


* Best Overall Arcade Game: “Bomberman Live” (Hudson Entertainment)

* Best Classic Game: “Castlevania: Symphony of the Night” (Konami Digital Entertainment)

* Best Original Game: “Pac-Man: Championship Edition” (NAMCO BANDAI Games)

* Best Family-Friendly Game: “Pac-Man: Championship Edition” (NAMCO BANDAI Games)

* Best Competitive Multiplayer Game: “Bomberman Live” (Hudson Entertainment)

* Best Cooperative Multiplayer Game: “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” (Ubisoft Entertainment)

* Best-Selling Game: “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” (Ubisoft Entertainment)

* Most-Played Game: “Worms” (Team17 Software Limited)

* Highest-Rated Game: “Castlevania: Symphony of the Night” (Konami Digital Entertainment)

* Xbox LIVE Arcade Staff Choice: “Pac-Man: Championship Edition” (NAMCO BANDAI Games)
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http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/853/853930p1.html

Castle Crashers hands-on Preview

On its surface, Castle Crashers is reminiscent of classic arcade games like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or X-Men. There are four heroes on-screen that do battle with a stream of foes in classic beat 'em up fashion. There are two buttons for attack, you can jump and string aerial combos together and double tapping the analog stick in one direction will cause you to sprint. Each color knight has its own special attack that can be done by holding down the right trigger to charge it up. We took charge with an orange guy that could spit out plumes of fire.



That alone would be fun, in most part thanks to the fact that the game can be played with four players cooperatively either online or off. Castle Crashers goes a step further by adding RPG elements to the mix. You can level up each color knight individually by gaining new experience points and buy new weapons and potions at a blacksmith between stages. As you work your way across the 20 stages in the game, you'll improve your character and gain new abilities as you become the ultimate colored knight. We got a quick look at the overworld map and saw that it looks like a basic version of what you see in games like Super Mario 3. You can travel to any unlocked levels at any time and stop by the blacksmith to spend some gold in between stages
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Rlan said:
XBLAH: What needs to be on the XBLA? #3 - Tyrian!

http://www.xblah.net/2008/02/what-needs-to-be-on-xbla-3-tyrian.html

I've also put together some lists of impressions and podcasts over the last week:

Podcast Wrapup: http://www.xblah.net/2008/02/podcast-wrapup-bionic-commando-xna.html

Impression Wrapup: http://www.xblah.net/2008/02/gdc-08-day-2-impressions-video-roundup.html
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Just checked the page and WOW, it's gonna take me a while to check all that stuff out!

Y'know I don't know much about this sort of stuff, but can you pop Google Ads on your page so you can make some revenue to offset all the time you've put into it?
 
FightyF said:
Just checked the page and WOW, it's gonna take me a while to check all that stuff out!

Y'know I don't know much about this sort of stuff, but can you pop Google Ads on your page so you can make some revenue to offset all the time you've put into it?
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Yeah I probably should see if I can. Currently my only 'pay' is some free codes FOR the XBLA games [In which I've kept a few myself and actually bought the game outright anyway - ie; "Bidding by paying"] and I'll hopefully use the ones I've gotten later on as competitions or whatever.

Right now I'm not getting a whole lot of readers, so that's a problem [and no commenters either] so I need to get more word out :)

BTW, here's a very quick rundown on some numbers for some XBLA games I can check out. This was done a month or so ago by another dude.

Code: 
N+ - 16,943
Omega 5 -  29,797
Poker Smash - 29,562
Metal Slug 3 - ~60,000
Rez HD - 20,594 (Only relevant to anyone who attempted Time Attack Once)
Commanders: Attack! - At least 8,562
Pac Man CE - 148,726
Gripshift - 11,191 [Exp Pack - 378 :( ] :(
Bomberman Live! - 333,784
Puzzle Quest - 12,383
Streets of Rage 2 - 65,111
Sonic The Hedgehog - 193,672
Sonic The Hedgehog 2 - 134,948
 
Kuroyume said:
What are those numbers?
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Sales numbers essentially - though theres obviously some +- with people using multiple accounts. These could either be gotten by checking the leaderboards using a really low score (Pac Man CE), or games which have some sort of "overall" score (Like Gripshift, SEGA Vintage)

Some are obviously off like Rez HD as there is no single player leaderboard - just anyone who has even attempted Area 1 Time Attack, which is far less than probably bought. Older games which have gotten an update at some point [Castlevania] tend to have their leaderboards restarted so you can't follow them.
 
Any word on when Pirates vs. Ninjas Dodgeball is coming out? They said some time in February, but that only leaves this coming Wednesday. I'm guessing it will be delayed till at least March.
 
Stormwatch said:
Any word on when Pirates vs. Ninjas Dodgeball is coming out? They said some time in February, but that only leaves this coming Wednesday. I'm guessing it will be delayed till at least March.
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It could be this week, it could be March.
 
Bungles, looks like I might have to pickup triggerheart at a later date unless I can lug my 360 to a mates house, going to be without the internet for a little while :(

Still, I got plenty of arcade games to polish off, the whole xbla built into the 360 is a godsend for games that could have cost £30 on a dvd last gen, amazing :D
 
Seems to be the place to ask... anyone know anything of the Shuggy development? It's one of the XNA games that was in the dream build play competition and I thought it was one of the most enjoyable platform / puzzle games I have ever played.
 
bigdaddygamebot said:
It makes my heart sad that I found this out from the Totally Rad Show before reading it here.

Stoked about the game though. I have my wife and scads of co workers addicted to PQ.

Also, Shard! Have you heard anything about the Talisman game?
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Talisman is in trouble.
 
Rlan said:
Sales numbers essentially - though theres obviously some +- with people using multiple accounts. These could either be gotten by checking the leaderboards using a really low score (Pac Man CE), or games which have some sort of "overall" score (Like Gripshift, SEGA Vintage)
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Those Sonic and Bomberman numbers are insane. I hope the publishers are happy.
 
I'd love to buy Bomberman Live but I'm afraid the online mulitplayer is a wasteland...How is the audience and the network quality (Lag etc) on it in general?
 
This question has probably been discussed to death already, but this thread is far too big to wade through so I'm going to ask it.

Why has Rare completely ignored XBLA? Is there a particular reason why they haven't put any of their retro classics like Battletoads up on the service?
 
Define "ignored"? They have Jet Pac Refulled and have supposedly got a fair few other games in the pipeline as well. As for Battletoads - I believe they don't own the IP.
 
I heard about that, but I figured it was just BS. If it does end up coming true then Banjo 1 and 2 should definitely be coming as well. I'd buy Banjo in a heartbeat, redone or not.
 
LegendofJoe said:
If it does end up coming true then Banjo 1 and 2 should definitely be coming as well. I'd buy Banjo in a heartbeat, redone or not.
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hmm I remember reading somewhere (most likely here) that Banjo 1 & 2 were certainly not coming for some reason
 
Darunia said:
hmm I remember reading somewhere (most likely here) that Banjo 1 & 2 were certainly not coming for some reason
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That's kinda odd if you ask me. They're working right now to bring the IP back-makes perfect sense to release the older games on XBLA before release to build brand recognition.
 
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