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Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) News and Announcements Thread - 2012 Edition

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Is Plants vs. Zombies worth it on XBLA if I already have it on PC and iPhone?

I mean, usually I would vastly prefer a console comfy couch release, but it's such a pointer driven game.

It does work fine on a controller, but there's some craaaazy slowdown when the screen is packed.
 
New Xbox.com listing.

Worms Revolution
boxartlg.jpg


Worms™ Revolution sticks an exploding sheep under worm-on-worm conflict and blasts it squarely into the 21st century.
With 32 single player missions, 20 single player puzzles, online or local multiplayer for up to 4 players, 3 multiplayer modes, customisation, worm classes and dynamic water!
• 32 single player campaign missions and 20 puzzle missions to exercise your brain.
• Fight to the death across 4 unique environments.
• Experience local or online battles with up to 4 players. Choose from 3 different game modes: Deathmatch, Forts or Classic mode.
• 4 different classes of worm: Soldier, Scout, Scientist and Heavy.
• Customise your worms using a variety of hats, glasses, moustaches, gravestones, victory dances, soundbanks and trinkets!
• New dynamic water and physics objects
• New weapons
• Award winning writer Dean Wilkinson provides the script, which is hilariously brought to life by the accomplished Matt Berry as unseen narrator, Don Keystone, a wildlife documentary maker.

Listed release date, 10th October (which was confirmed as PSN EU release date)

screenlg4.jpg
 

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
Stuff I played recently:

Fez - 200/200 - This would be my game of the year. It's the first game in more than a decade that had me taking notes. The technical issues are unfortunate (time for a PC release to resolve them) but this is really a singular achievement. Definitely the work of an auteur as well. I'm still working out my thoughts, really.
Costume Quest - 250/250 - I played this when it first released, but did a replay of the game and the DLC recently. My mini-review of it from 2010 still holds true but I would say that this time through it felt like the fighting was more of a slog than last time. Still highly recommended, and the script is even better than I remember.
Doritos Crash Course - 200/200 - Went back and got all Gold medals in this game and then played through it online. I remain convinced that this is a great game in and of itself, notwithstanding the fact that it's free. Definitely the best arcadey obstacle course type game I've played. And because so many people have played it, the leaderboards are a joy. Unfortunately the online community are quitting jerks. :(
Kinect Fun Labs: Mars Rover - 50/50 - It's hilarious how the presentation of this game is so serious and it's about a pretty serious topic but the gameplay is so goofy, like anything with Kinect. Still, it's fun enough, none of the gestures are too painful to do, there's a good score attack appeal to it. And free, so that's good.
Beyond Good and Evil HD - 200/200 - Spectacular game, I'd never done a full playthrough before. Posted a review in the OT

Schizoid - 160/200 - It's been great fun revisiting this game. This is basically a twin-stick shooter like Geometry Wars, except you don't shoot anything, and the Ikaruga colour thing is added. You control a blue ship (an AI or a co-op partner controls an orange ship). Enemies in a given level are blue or orange. Blue ship can kill blue enemies by touching them, orange can kill orange. They do a lot of fun level design on top of this concept and the visuals are so slick. But then the cherry on top is that there's a mode where you control both ships with one controller, each with one analog stick. There's an achievement aptly named "Corpus Callosum Severed" if you beat that mode. This was one of the first XBLA games coded in XNA, too, as an interesting historical curiosity. I don't think I'll ever beat the game (I don't know anyone who wants to play it, the AI isn't smart enough to do well in the later levels, and I lack the intellectual capacity to do the one-dude-two-ships mode) but it's great to still be picking at it years and years later.

Polar Panic - 170/200 - Working my way through the Puzzle mode of this cute and sweet Sokoban clone. Remains very fun, but the later levels of the puzzle mode just get a bit too long and big for their own good--it's not that they're hard, it's that any mistake makes you restart a 2+ minute stage. I previously said "The game has 50 levels and 50 puzzle levels, each level gives you a grade, there are collectibles, etc. Very meaty. Cute story about a polar bear saving his family from comically evil trappers. Great purchase." about the game.

Tried the first few levels of Leedmes, which killed the hell out of my arms, holy crap. It's basically a Kinect Lemmings-ish clone, except you use your body to move the Lemmings across the screen, and most of the game takes place with your arms above your head. Excruciating. Do not recommend for this factor alone. Also started Castle Crashers. Can you believe I haven't played this game yet? I'm not really loving it so far, I think a lot of the appeal of the game is playing it in co-op and just getting some mayhem going. It's kinda stale playing it on my own. I can see some potential. I'm not a fan of the potty humour, which is a pity, because otherwise I love the way they draw the different animals.


I'm looking at buying all of this. Assuming I liked the games in question, is there anything here I should absolutely avoid? I have points out the wazoo so don't consider price, just quality.
 
If you like L.A. Noire, then yeah, definitely get all the cases. Pretty much more of the same but I really enjoyed them.

In other news, I went back to Gyromancer today for some reason, having not played it for about two years. I can't remember why I stopped before, I think it was getting too hard, but I was in the zone and moved on a fair bit today. Didn't take too long to pick it up again.

The game is really, really good, even better than I remember it being.
 

Noogy

Member
If you like L.A. Noire, then yeah, definitely get all the cases. Pretty much more of the same but I really enjoyed them.

In other news, I went back to Gyromancer today for some reason, having not played it for about two years. I can't remember why I stopped before, I think it was getting too hard, but I was in the zone and moved on a fair bit today. Didn't take too long to pick it up again.

The game is really, really good, even better than I remember it being.

I'll need to try Gyromancer again. I remember not digging some of the mechanics, but man did it look pretty. Some amazing effects going on.
 
I'll need to try Gyromancer again. I remember not digging some of the mechanics, but man did it look pretty. Some amazing effects going on.

I enjoy the mechanics a lot more than Puzzle Quest. Since you're playing on your own you can plan moves ahead, whereas with PQ anything you might try to set up will just get stolen by the AI instead. It makes for a lot more interesting strategy, especially when you take into account the penalties for not making a match in a turn, so there's a lot of risk/reward in every move you make. Feels a bit weird at first that you're restricted to clockwise moves, but it makes total sense when you've played for a bit.
 
I finished the story mode, and I don't recall seeing any slowdown. Are you sure this wasn't a PAL thing?

Story mode is okay, I think, I was getting it later on in survival when your screen's basically full of plants shooting and there are a hundred zombies on the screen. It kills the Xbox!
 

aku:jiki

Member
Man, what the fuck... I've been warming up to Dead Block once I realized how to properly use the other characters (which is to just leave them in a room suitable for their skills, so leave the construction worker in a room to smash stuff while you use the boy scout to search objects in other rooms), but all this freezing is bringin me down! I've gotten all golds on this third level like 10 times now, but every time there's a freeze towards the end... Sometimes it's the lucky kind where you just wait and it eventually unfreezes, but most of the time it's just reboot time. How did this shit pass certification? It happens almost every single time you play!

Edit: Oh wow, it just unfroze after like 10 minutes...
 

SAB CA

Sketchbook Picasso
Man, what the fuck... I've been warming up to Dead Block once I realized how to properly use the other characters (which is to just leave them in a room suitable for their skills, so leave the construction worker in a room to smash stuff while you use the boy scout to search objects in other rooms), but all this freezing is bringin me down! I've gotten all golds on this third level like 10 times now, but every time there's a freeze towards the end... Sometimes it's the lucky kind where you just wait and it eventually unfreezes, but most of the time it's just reboot time. How did this shit pass certification? It happens almost every single time you play!

Edit: Oh wow, it just unfroze after like 10 minutes...



Yeah, I posted about my experiences with freezes a page or so ago. It all seems to be tied to the music playing at certain times.

It's probably an error that didn't pop up on test units or something, unfortunately. It does happen way too often, but I just use the time to check the internet or soemthing...

Kinda sad the DLC didn't come with achievements... But at least it sounds like the stages were well designed.
 

legbone

Member
Man, what the fuck... I've been warming up to Dead Block once I realized how to properly use the other characters (which is to just leave them in a room suitable for their skills, so leave the construction worker in a room to smash stuff while you use the boy scout to search objects in other rooms), but all this freezing is bringin me down! I've gotten all golds on this third level like 10 times now, but every time there's a freeze towards the end... Sometimes it's the lucky kind where you just wait and it eventually unfreezes, but most of the time it's just reboot time. How did this shit pass certification? It happens almost every single time you play!

Edit: Oh wow, it just unfroze after like 10 minutes...

yep, i love this game but had to quit playing it because it always froze on me. i was hoping it would get a patch but it never did. too bad, since it's a fun quirky game with a great sense of humor. while i loved what i played of it i feel like i got ripped off due to the freezing.
 

Gaspode_T

Member
?? I already had Gorgar and Monster Bash for the past week, maybe it was up on the store accidentally when I got it??????

Gyromancer is really soooooooo close to being 10/10 level awesome...I would love to see a Dungeon Raid style Gyromancer sequel on mobile
 
So today I learned once and for all to take those Xbox.com release dates with a heavy grain of salt.

They've been showing 8/29 as the release date for Joe Danger 2 for over a month now, and today is 8/29, and the game isn't out. Not only is it not out, they haven't even announced an official release date for the game, which means it's at least a few weeks away right now.

and yes, Xbox.com is still showing the 8/29 date for the game. :/
 

pacman85

Member
So today I learned once and for all to take those Xbox.com release dates with a heavy grain of salt.

They've been showing 8/29 as the release date for Joe Danger 2 for over a month now, and today is 8/29, and the game isn't out. Not only is it not out, they haven't even announced an official release date for the game, which means it's at least a few weeks away right now.

and yes, Xbox.com is still showing the 8/29 date for the game. :/
yeah its still showing 8/29 for WWE WrestleFest as well. I couldn't care less about the wrestling game but it's still annoying that the XBox 360's official marketplace site has incorrect release dates on it.
 
Stuff I played recently:
Schizoid - 160/200 - It's been great fun revisiting this game. This is basically a twin-stick shooter like Geometry Wars, except you don't shoot anything, and the Ikaruga colour thing is added. You control a blue ship (an AI or a co-op partner controls an orange ship). Enemies in a given level are blue or orange. Blue ship can kill blue enemies by touching them, orange can kill orange. They do a lot of fun level design on top of this concept and the visuals are so slick. But then the cherry on top is that there's a mode where you control both ships with one controller, each with one analog stick. There's an achievement aptly named "Corpus Callosum Severed" if you beat that mode. This was one of the first XBLA games coded in XNA, too, as an interesting historical curiosity. I don't think I'll ever beat the game (I don't know anyone who wants to play it, the AI isn't smart enough to do well in the later levels, and I lack the intellectual capacity to do the one-dude-two-ships mode) but it's great to still be picking at it years and years later.

Send me a message if you want to play some Schizoid. Gamertag same as Neogaf name.
 

aku:jiki

Member
Yeah, I posted about my experiences with freezes a page or so ago. It all seems to be tied to the music playing at certain times.

It's probably an error that didn't pop up on test units or something, unfortunately. It does happen way too often, but I just use the time to check the internet or soemthing...

Kinda sad the DLC didn't come with achievements... But at least it sounds like the stages were well designed.
I've noticed now that most freezes unfreeze eventually, and it does seem to have to do with the music. A while after the song stops, it'll wake back up.

I found another type of freeze, though... It just keeps looping the song and it won't unfreeze. God damn it, I just golded the most annoying level! Never seen a game that tries so damn hard to kill all the fun. Would've been done with the game by now, and had a positive impression of it, if it had actually worked.

Digital Reality isn't really making a strong first impression on XBLA with this kind of shit. They promise patches but they never make them and their games always have some oversight or glitch like this. Turbo controllers in Sine Mora (they make the game 10 times easier), the absurd time trial times in Bang Bang Racing, this shitty freezing in Dead Block and SkyDrift being generally half-assed (let's fly this track! now let's fly it in reverse! now let's fly it in reverse with speed rings! now let's fly it in reverse with no power-ups! now let's...).

Edit: Wow, I left it on for like 30 minutes and it finally unfroze! Fuck yeah, don't have to do that crappy level again!
 

clear31

Member
The achievements for Fire Pro Wrestling have been revealed, I guess this game is finally coming out. It looked corny with the use of avatars but if the gameplay is good, I could see myself picking it up
 

bjork

Member
The achievements for Fire Pro Wrestling have been revealed, I guess this game is finally coming out. It looked corny with the use of avatars but if the gameplay is good, I could see myself picking it up

Releases lists don't necessarily mean that, though. There's a list for RBI Baseball that turned up at least 2 years ago, and that never hit.
 

Adam J.

Member
All the XBLA games I'm interesting in buying are always piled up within weeks of each other. Kind of awesome but also very annoying, considering the frequent dry-spells they have. Next month will be great--Joe Danger 2, Mark of the Ninja, and Hell Yeah for me!
 
MS could probably have another winter promotion at this rate.
The last winter promotion had three top-shelf games and they also had that really cool cross-over aspect to them (where owning more than one unlocked cameo bonuses in the other games). I would approve of them repeating that.
 

TxdoHawk

Member
The achievements for Fire Pro Wrestling have been revealed, I guess this game is finally coming out. It looked corny with the use of avatars but if the gameplay is good, I could see myself picking it up

I have been waiting way, way too long, it's about time!
 
September I can handle. Is there any reason they moved away from PSN?

I suspect Microsoft was impressed with Joe Danger, and didn't want it to stay a PS3 exclusive. So they offered Hello Games a sweetheart deal, and in turn Joe Danger 2 would be 360 exclusive for a set period of time.

Of course I'm just speculating, but it's hard to imagine another reason
 
I suspect Microsoft was impressed with Joe Danger, and didn't want it to stay a PS3 exclusive. So they offered Hello Games a sweetheart deal, and in turn Joe Danger 2 would be 360 exclusive for a set period of time.

Of course I'm just speculating, but it's hard to imagine another reason

Yeah I assumed it was something like that, was more wondering if there was an "official" statement or anything.
 

CrunchinJelly

formerly cjelly
The last winter promotion had three top-shelf games and they also had that really cool cross-over aspect to them (where owning more than one unlocked cameo bonuses in the other games). I would approve of them repeating that.
Yeah that was awesome how they are linked together like that.
 

Vert boil

Member
Released today,

Fruit Ninja Kinect
--8-bit Cartridge - 160msp

-----

Few other bits of media from the last few days.

Pid preview quicklook from Giant Bomb
.

The Cave screenshots for PAX.

There was also a patch for Joy Ride Turbo released earlier this week.
Joy Ride Turbo's title update is now LIVE! Launch the game to download the update along with the following improvements:

-New Online Lobbies: Play online with guests, friends, and random opponents in PUBLIC RACE and PUBLIC PARK. Race your way to the top of the leaderboards in RANKED RACE.

-Much Smoother Online Experience: Faster & more accurate matchmaking, reduced lag online

-Fixed achievement bugs

-Item tuning tweaks

See you online!
-The Joy Ride Turbo Dev Team
 
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