Xbox LIVE Marketplace Updates | July and August 2011 | Summer of Arcade

OnPoint said:
ITSP has been a real treat so far -- anyone else end up buying it early?
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I'm still in the "try the demo" zone on it. I'd love impressions and screens if you have a capture card.

(I have no idea why I'm so stingy, I have 15,000 MS points ahahah)
 
BigJiantRobut said:
So what is the Summer of Arcade, exactly? Is there a sale? Is there an event?
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It's marketing unfairly given to a handful of games each summer. It's really the type of thing Microsoft should be doing more often to promote the platform and give more games some exposure. And as far as any 'deal' is concerned, we're all suckers since you have to spend money to save money.
 
soldat7 said:
It's marketing unfairly given to a handful of games each summer. It's really the type of thing Microsoft should be doing more often to promote the platform and give more games some exposure.
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Don't they do it 3 times a year?
XBLA is as chock o'block these days as it is, they can only promote so much without watering everything down. It's unfortunate, but..
 
I currently have 2470 points. Is there any combination of DLC etc I could buy to get back to an even amount? It will irk me to have like 10 points just rotting there. I'm thinking about getting Traitor's Keep, since I havent started Fable 3 yet.
 
Zeouterlimits said:
Don't they do it 3 times a year?
XBLA is as chock o'block these days as it is, they can only promote so much without watering everything down. It's unfortunate, but..
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I don't know, I look at Steam and I look at XBLA, and Microsoft could be doing so much more.
 
Stumpokapow said:
I'm still in the "try the demo" zone on it. I'd love impressions and screens if you have a capture card.

(I have no idea why I'm so stingy, I have 15,000 MS points ahahah)
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MS make gifting of MS Points possible. Just sayin'.
 
Microsoft isn't on par with Steam but I think they should be given credit for where they've gone over the last year. Deal of the Week has gone from useless to actually pretty good most of the time. Plus they've had a decent number of random sales as well.
 
I like Microsoft's sales most of the time. I wish they'd make a bigger effort to coincide with holidays and vactions, though. And they should really start offering some DEEP discounts (like at 8- pts or so) of some of the Arcade and content back-catalog.

I do kinda hate it, however, when they put up sales on similiar content, during the same week a new, similiar arcade game is coming out. It forces "either/or" situations, when I'd prefer to be able to get it all.

I always wished they'd do occassional "early adopters" sales, though. Such as bundles of the weeks releases, available that week only, for a discount, or offering a new game for 25% off if you buy it the first day, or something. Or similiar to what they did in gameroom, with mascots, offer free avatar item downloads with first week purchase of the game.

As big as the marketplace is now, there's just so many little things they COULD do, in order to drive sales. But at least they DO seem to be getting better at it! The monthly permanent price-drops they've been offering throughout this year are a good start, but I wonder why they're so hard to find (only through a dashboard ad?) Why isn't there a section for these under the "Games" or "Arcade" download tabs?

Oh, and the XBL Rewards and Bing Rewards programs are pretty nice together. I've gotten a decent amount of kick-back, and 400 pts from searches on bing occur about monthly. so about $60 of XBLA points a year for using some search engine really isn't all that bad...
 
Crimson alliance looks pretty fun (buy all 5 summer of arcade games and get it free).

I'm not going to buy all 5 summer of arcade games but I'll buy Crimson Alliance. I don't see when it comes out though. Can't find it on the store. Any ideas?

edit: ahh.. saw in another thread. Sept. Oh well. Plenty of other things to play in the interim.
 
OnPoint said:
ITSP has been a real treat so far -- anyone else end up buying it early?
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I have it, though I haven't gotten around to playing it yet.

I need to write a review of Bastion before I dip into any of the other SoA games.
 
Stumpokapow said:
I'm still in the "try the demo" zone on it. I'd love impressions and screens if you have a capture card.

(I have no idea why I'm so stingy, I have 15,000 MS points ahahah)
Click to expand...

Edit: Full review: http://www.extraguy.com/2011/07/insanely-twisted-shadow-planet-review-surrender-to-the-darkness/

I wish I had a capture card... I really need to invest in one.

As for impressions, I'm about 70% into the game, so I've seen a great deal of what it has to offer so far. I'll be finishing it tonight.

So far I'd say it's worth a buy if you're a fan of Metroidvania type games. What's nice about it is that it isn't using a platforming base (don't get me wrong, I love a good platformer), so the style of progression doesn't feel quite as overused as it does in the more recent Castlevanias. The basic mechanic of floating around due to, you know, being a spaceship, gives the game a fairly unique feel in that regard.

The environments are, of course, alien and hostile by nature. Not knowing what's coming up around a curve or what you'll find by going down a tunnel is great -- there's tension in the mystery.

There are a bunch of upgrades and weapons to find. The game is constantly tossing new mechanics into the mix, and even 70% in they're introducing new ways to use weapons you've had for some time. The grabby arm is something I hope we see more games steal. There's just so much that can be done with it.

I have any complaint about the game so far it's that switching between weapons in the heat of battle can be a pain in the ass. You hold the right bumper to select them in a scroll wheel, but the game doesn't stop when you do this. You're free to move around while selecting an item, which can be a bitch during a boss battle. This is alleviated somewhat through the use of assignable hotkeys, though you can only assign four items since there are only four face buttons. It is, however, a minor complaint, especially if someone actively tailors their hotkeys to each situation.

Some may not like that it doesn't hold your hand if you choose to forgo use of the scanning tool. The map also does point you in the right direction, but I haven't checked yet if you can turn that off or not.
 
BruiserBear said:
Am I crazy or is this the weakest Summer of Arcade so far?
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Uhm, well if the games don't appeal to you then for you that might make sense.
I think it's a great one.

There's always about 2 titles I don't care about in SoA. This time it's FNK & Toy Soldiers. The other 3 seem fantastic, right up my alley.
 
BruiserBear said:
Am I crazy or is this the weakest Summer of Arcade so far?
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Personally, my interest lies directly in Bastion and ITSP. But honestly, they all look at least solid if they're your cup of tea.
 
No DoTW details yet? Doesn't it usually get announced today? I can only say the "cycle" thing I jokingly posted about before seems to be coming true
 
Ah, here it is...the Xbox Originals should be discounted to 400 points IMO and then a lot of them would be worth getting, it seems like they put these on sale when they don't really have anything else to put on sale...

http://majornelson.com/2011/08/09/coming-soon-to-the-xbox-live-markeplace/

Deal of the Week Discount Dates Price Microsoft Points
Festive Fiesta with Rock Band
Metallica Pack 01 Aug. 9 – 15 320 (27% off)
Blink 182 Pack 02 Aug. 9 – 15 320 (27% off)
Lady Gaga Pack 01 Aug. 9 – 15 400 (29% off)
Bon Jovi’s Greatest Hits Rock Band Edition Aug. 9 – 15 1200 (25% off)
Queen Pack 01 Aug. 9 – 15 960 (25% off)

Originals
Fable Aug. 16 – 22 800 (33% off)
Black Aug. 16 – 22 800 (33% off)
Crash Bandicoot: Wrath of Cortex Aug. 16 – 22 800 (33% off)
Legend of Spyro: The New Beginning Aug. 16 – 22 800 (33% off)
 
Fruit Ninja is now officially the best thing on Kinect. Though I'll probably just get it with Gunstringer instead of right now...
 
Gaspode_T said:
No DoTW details yet? Doesn't it usually get announced today? I can only say the "cycle" thing I jokingly posted about before seems to be coming true
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Yeah, you hit the nail on the head.
 
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