Xbox Live Marketplace and Live Arcade discussion Part III

[ExtremeGamer]

Re: Xbox Live Marketplace and Live Arcade discussion Part III

I'd love the ESPN ticker for what it's worth. LOL

[Flawless]

Re: Xbox Live Marketplace and Live Arcade discussion Part III

Apart of the Summer of Arcade. From Twisted Pixel (The Maw)

This 2.5D side-scrolling game features a military experiment gone wrong, resulting in a molten man who can ’splode at will!

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[ExtremeGamer]

Re: Xbox Live Marketplace and Live Arcade discussion Part III

Looks great, loved The Maw, so this one will be a must buy.

[Jistic]

Re: Xbox Live Marketplace and Live Arcade discussion Part III

My kid will love that game.

[Pared]

Re: Xbox Live Marketplace and Live Arcade discussion Part III

I'd love the ESPN ticker for what it's worth. LOL

Ha, actually so would I...

[allBthere]

Re: Xbox Live Marketplace and Live Arcade discussion Part III

I'm kind of suprised no one has mentioned or bought/reviewed Kodu yet.

[goh]

Re: Xbox Live Marketplace and Live Arcade discussion Part III

MS' offical comment on the ads is they're there to "enchance" things.

Following the revelation yesterday that the company would later this year be placing advertisements on Xbox Live, Microsoft have moved to assure users that the ads will "enhance, not interfere" with their experience.

Posting on his blog, Microsoft's Larry Hryb has said:

I need to let you know that you don't need to worry about a huge influx of ads across the dashboard. One of our core principles is to enhance, not interfere with the gaming experience, and we work directly with our partners to only deliver experiences that are relevant to the LIVE community. Silverlight will help make those ads a more organic part of the dashboard, like we've done with some of the NXE slots in the past. No one on the team wants to turn the dashboard into something that looks like like Shibuya Crossing. That's just not good for anyone.

Which puts to rest fears that the service will look slightly whorish, but then, it doesn't address the more fundamental question of "where, then, is my $50 a year going"?

http://kotaku.com/5305928/microsoft-...advertisements

[Jistic]

Re: Xbox Live Marketplace and Live Arcade discussion Part III

People pay more than $50 a month for DirecTV and see a ****load of commercials. I don't see the big deal with commercials on Live.

[bkfount]

Re: Xbox Live Marketplace and Live Arcade discussion Part III

http://kotaku.com/5305928/microsoft-...advertisements

Which puts to rest fears that the service will look slightly whorish, but then, it doesn't address the more fundamental question of "where, then, is my $50 a year going"?

I still don't get this gripe at all. It's like taking crazy pills.

[Flawless]

Re: Xbox Live Marketplace and Live Arcade discussion Part III

Deal of the Week: N+

Xbox LIVE Gold Members can now grab the Arcade game N+ for only 400 points. Normally 800 points, this Deal of the Week will be available until Monday, July 13th.

[Flawless]

Re: Xbox Live Marketplace and Live Arcade discussion Part III

Monkey Island Remake Arrives Next Week

LucasArts' downloadable remake of old-school adventure classic The Secret of Monkey Island will arrive on PC and Xbox 360 come Wednesday, July 15, it announced today.

The PC release will be available through Steam and other online distribution channels, whereas the Xbox 360 edition will be sold through the online Xbox Live Marketplace. The studio did not name a price for the remake, which also packs the original graphics.

The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition represents one aspect of the franchise's revival, with LucasArts having partnered with Telltale to produce new Monkey Islands in episodic form. The first of those, Tales of Monkey Island - Chapter 1: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal, arrives on PC tomorrow and via WiiWare in the coming weeks.

So much awesome is coming down the pipe. This week it's 1943, next week Monkey Island, then the Summer of Arcade in late July-August - with Shadow Complex, Marvel vs. Capcom 2, TMNT Re-Shelled, Trials HD, and 'Splosion Man.

[Pared]

Re: Xbox Live Marketplace and Live Arcade discussion Part III

Damn it, give me a date on Shadow Complex already. It's the only thing I'm looking forward to at this point off XBLA!

Oh, TMNT as well.

[Flawless]

Re: Xbox Live Marketplace and Live Arcade discussion Part III

New Trials HD trailer:

http://www.eurogamer.net/videos/exclusive-emotional-trials-hd-trailer

[Flawless]

Re: Xbox Live Marketplace and Live Arcade discussion Part III

Shadow Complex Impressions: Metroidvania Made Unreal

Now he's got one close to completion, a spiritual successor to Super Metroid that runs on Unreal graphics technology. He describes it as a game of exploration punctuated by combat. It's a mostly side-scrolling game of military bases, robots, forests and caves, rich in earth tones and energized by explosions and energy blasts. , 120 power-ups — many of them hidden — and a bunch of core power upgrades. A flashlight reveals which boulders can be obliterated only once the hero has missiles, which hatches need a different gadget. A distant corner can only be grabbed once the player's earned a grappling hook.

The game has a "Jason Bailey" Achievement for speed-runners who clear the adventure in two hours — 10 hours fewer than Chair's testers are clearing it their first time through. And, get this Metroid sequence-breakers, it's got an Achievement called Insurgent that rewards players who can figure out how to clear the game while only obtaining 4% of Shadow Complex's items.

And the most Metoidvania thing of all... the map. It's drawn over grid squares. Seven-hundred eighty squares, not counting the skyline. Mustard's team of Metroid-lovers counted squares on the Super Metroid map. That total? Two-hundred fifty five.

Mustard was showing Kotaku some exciting stuff. This included stuff his publicist (who is also his wife and was seated nearby) hadn't seen yet. He couldn't resist. He wanted to show the dark caverns of the game to demonstrate what real 3D lighting effects can do for the dark exploration of a Metroid-style game. He wanted to show battles with medium-sized mechs and screen-tall mechs who are far taller than the height of his hero's generous jumping height. He wanted to show the hidden power-ups he knows how to find, the secret crannies where an extra grenade-capacity icon is sitting.

He showed that his game's got an ability for its hero to run, momentum-based at super-speed... dashing across water, up walls, on ceilings. His hero shoots a foam gun that generates cover, gums joints of enemy mechs or provides the materials that will make, on impact, a missile detonate in a bigger explosion.

The gameplay is a throwback. The graphics are a throw forward. This is modern material: Shadow Complex is one of the rare 2D side-scrollers that takes advantage of being rendered in a 3D graphics engine. It's a The 3D-ness is shown off when Mustard has the game's hero Jason Fleming, man a turret and the sideways perspective switches to what could be a behind-the-back turret-shooting view from a Gears of War game. There's no parallax faking depth effects in these graphics. They're real 3D.

When displayed in the manner of a 2D adventure, as they are in most of the game, the graphics have a depth not seen in this kind of game. The catwalks in the background. That guy shooting from back near the waterfall. They're back there and they can be shot, they can ragdoll over a balcony or fall into the front plane of action.

Players will earn experience points for their hero in this game, leveling up some of his core abilities and granting, every 10 levels, a special power-up. More XP is earned for defeating enemies in creative ways. But Mustard said that players won't earn all their levels the first time through. The game's designed for an increasingly empowered playthrough each time players re-visit it.

In addition, a Proving Grounds set of 21 unlocked challenges which present puzzles harder than many found in the main game are available from the start. Imagine having to grapple-hook and grenade-toss one's way around a hanging vertical wall suspended over a pit of fire. Or imagine a microcosm of a Metroidvania game with hidden power-ups that's just a few rooms large.

Chair Entertainment, parent company Epic Games and publisher Microsoft have not announced a price yet for all this content. An announcement about the full Summer of Arcade is expected soon.

And no, Mustard told Kotaku, he didn't show us everything. Like a good Metroidvania, there will hopefully be plenty more to Shadow Complex to make it worth our time to revisit later.

[CaptainZombie]

Re: Xbox Live Marketplace and Live Arcade discussion Part III

Shadow Complex Impressions: Metroidvania Made Unreal

This game looks amazing.