When we started XBLA’s Most Wanted back in February of 2011 we did so more for fun. It was, in our minds, a pipe dream to actually think some of these games would be hitting Xbox Live Arcade. Yet over the past year we’ve seen both announcements and releases that directly correlate with some of the games on our most wanted list. Now to be fair we realize that we’re just one site, but at the same time we know that developers and publishers look out on the web for what the fans want. We like to think we’re a little part of that. Here are some examples that make us think XBLA’s Most Wanted is successful:
Huge thanks to the entire team of writers who worked on this article: Christine Mitchell, Nathan Bowring, Perry Jackson, Ryan Reynolds and Todd Schlickbernd.
We’ve spent the past week searching the internet and hounding our industry contacts in an effort to compile the ultimate 2012 XBLA Game Release List. We anticipated one heck of a year for Xbox Live Arcade. So epic we couldn’t even fit everything on one page. So without further ado, check out the list:
For detailed descriptions of each of the games and videos check the links below.
XBLAFans Anticipated 2012 Releases A-B
Alan Wake’s American Nightmare
Alien Spidy
AMY
Anomaly Warzone Earth
Awesomenauts
Babel Rising
Bang Bang Racing
Battleblock Theater
Black Knight Sword
Blade Kitten: Episode 2
Bloodforge
XBLAFans Anticipated 2012 Releases C-F
Capsized
Charlie Murder
Choplifter HD
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Deep Black Episode 1 & 2
Defenders of Ardania
Diabolical Pitch
Dust: An Elysian Tail
Dungeon Fighter Live (unannounced title)
Fez
Any fan of the Tony Hawk series will tell you the series went downhill after American Wasteland. The series went psuedo open world with Project 8, and then the abysmal skateboard controller came along, nearly killing the franchise. What players remember and love are the more classic titles — the titles that didn’t have a tacked on story. The best Tony Hawk games were simple. It was about the skating and nothing else. That’s where Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater Arcade would come in.