In a tweet to his followers, Major Nelson (Microsoft’s Defacto Xbox Community Manager) announced changes to the pricing model for Gold Xbox Live subscriptions in the United States, Mexico, United Kingdom, and Canada. Oddly enough the cost of online play and other gold exclusive content has now been raised in all four territories. A full [...]
Those of you who have had a chance to play Worms 2: Armageddon on Xbox LIVE Arcade will feel right at home…
Thanks to that energetic pixie of a man, Major Nelson, we now know that Xbox LIVE Gold members can save 50 % on Game Add-ons for Borderlands. Secret Armory, The Underdome and Zombie Island are each 400 Microsoft Points this week only, so get ‘em while they’re hot. Sharing: It’s Win/Win
Love them, hate them, or be completely indifferent toward them, but in every case Achievements have become a permanent fixture in modern gaming since the launch of the Xbox 360. And in a new Xbox Engineering Blog post, Xbox Live and platform architect Vince Curley gives a detailed explanation of how the Achievements system works, as well as divulges some surprising facts behind their creation — including that the now-infamous “Achievement unlocked” toast and sound effect was a last-minute addition that almost never existed.
Curley explains that although a key aspect of Xbox Live is the consistency you see across all games, they still wanted to give game developers leeway in making their own unique presentations, which is why the Achievement “toast” almost never came to be. “Some people argued that gamers wouldn’t want the toast popping up in the heat of battle and that game designers would want to use their own visual style to present achievements,” Curley writes. “Others argued for consistency and for reducing the work required of game developers. In the end we added the notification popup and its happy beep, which turned out to be the right decision, but for a long time it was anything but obvious.”
Curley also recalls how the Achievement system was not “well understood” by developers early on, partly because Microsoft failed to give enough early guidance. “Because of this, early implementations of achievements were inconsistent and not as good as they could have been,” Curley writes. “Some games did the minimum required: 5 achievements which were tossed out for basically just starting the game. Some games made the achievements way too hard or too easy. Our developer support team has done an amazing job of providing guidance, including creating a 21-page, 8,000 word whitepaper on best practices for achievements.”
Money Money Money Money… MONEY
In case the oppressive heat sweeping across large swaths of the country didn’t clue you in, summer is here, and that means it’s time once again for Microsoft’s “Summer of Arcade” promotion — a block of new high-profile Xbox Live Arcade titles all releasing within weeks of each other. This year the titles include Limbo, Hydro Thunder: Hurricane, Castlevania: Harmony of Despair, Monday Night Combat, and Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, and Microsoft has issued release dates for each one.
First will be Limbo, a 2D sidescrolling puzzle game with stark black-and-white graphics, on July 21. Then Hydro Thunder: Hurricane — a sequel to the classic arcade rocket-boat racing game — on July 28. Then comes perhaps the most exciting of the block, Harmony of Despair — a new multiplayer 2D Castlevania game from series mastermind Koji Igarashi — on August 4. Then Monday Night Combat, a third-person multiplayer shooter from Uber Entertainment, on August 11. And lastly, there’s the Tomb Raider spin-off Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light on August 18.
As with past Summer of Arcade promotions, there are also a couple of deals to go with all the releases: If you buy at least three of the titles, you’ll get 400 Microsoft Points back ($5.00), and if you buy all five, you’ll get 1200 points back ($15.00).
One of Ubisoft’s smaller but more delightful announcements at E3 last month was Rayman Origins, a return of their original mascot in a gorgeous new 2D episodic platformer. And now we know a little bit more about the game thanks to an FAQ Ubisoft released just prior to the holiday weekend kicking off.
According to the FAQ, the first episode of Rayman Origins will be released over Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Network this Christmas, with the rest of the episodes (how many in total hasn’t been announced) naturally following in 2011. Interestingly, although the game was only listed for the 360 and PS3 when it was revealed at E3, the FAQ also states that versions for the Wii, 3DS, PC, and iPad are all “to be considered.”
Rayman Origins is being created on Ubisoft’s UBIart Framework, a collection of tools designed to make it easier for small teams to make games. Rayman Origins itself is being made by a team of only five people, including original Rayman creator Michel Ancel. The FAQ also reveals the UBIart Framework will go open-source in 2011.
At the Ubisoft press conference today, CEO Yves Guillemot announced Project Dust (temporary title), a new game planned for release through Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Network next year. Despite being a digital release, though, it featured surprisingly large, lush, 3D environments.
As for what kind of game it actually is, we’re not quite sure — the trailer showed off a variety of somewhat stylized locations, with shots of tribal-like people performing some sort of ritual cut in between the shots of the landscapes (which included unusually shaped oceans, grassy hills and waterfalls, and spewing volcanoes). The trailer ended on an apocalyptic note, with the world seemingly falling to waste from within as if a small sink hole quickly escalated to consume the entire land.
No other details were given on the game, but if we’d have to wager a guess, it looked a bit like a strategy or simulation — but honestly, we have no clue. For now, see the trailer for yourself above and give it your best guess.
If the current crop of consoles has taught me anything, it’s that game developers have a real knack for transmuting my childhood memories into a revenue stream. New Super Mario Bros. Wii, for example, struck the nostalgia center of my brain like a laser-guided missile. Nintendo can call it “New” all they like — that game ostensibly boils down to four-player Super Mario Bros. 3, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. So when I heard that a multiplayer, high-def remake of Earthworm Jim was on the way, I thought, “Sure, I’ll bite.”
This latest, juiced-up classic to hit Xbox Live Arcade brings with it just about everything that was so great about the original Earthworm Jim: varied run-and-gun platforming, surreal environments, and absurd boss battles against walking non sequiturs (like Bob the Killer Goldfish and Queen Pulsating, Bloated, Festering, Sweaty, Pus-filled, Malformed, Slug-for-a-Butt). To top it all off, everything sports a fresh coat of fancy, high resolution paint, so the game looks good.
Square Enix has announced Necromachina, a four player co-op action game for Xbox Live Arcade.
Starring an “elite unit of specially trained ninja known as Moondivers,” the game — which was previewed in this week’s Famitsu prior to its official announcement today — is being developed by Japanese studio Feelplus as an Xbox Live Arcade exclusive. It is being directed by Kouishi Yotsui, of Strider fame.
