About Brandin Tyrrel

Weekly Roundup compiles all the biggest news stories, reviews and features from the week into one handy post on the weekends.

We’re well under way in our 12 Days of XBLA giveaway. If you haven’t caught it, ’tis the season for giving and your chance to score dozens of terrific XBLA titles as the holidays approach. In other news, Minecraft gets some video coverage, and delays are discussed across a few games that fell away from the spotlight.

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The first new additions to the already robust Guardians of Middle-earth roster are now available. Joining the ranks are Bilbo Baggins, the titular star of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, who fills the role of a striker with his blade, Sting. Tipping the scales for the forces of darkness, Bert the Troll brings considerable firepower as yet another tactician, using his abilities to secure lanes and push toward enemy installations. Both guardians can be individually purchased for 160 MSP, or as part of the Season Pass, which also secures future downloadable content for 1200 MSP.

Also available for download, The Shire map skin brings 3-lane warfare to the rolling green mounds of Hobbiton. The Shire plays similarly to the existing 3-lane map, though players will notice shrine locations are slightly changed, and bushes scattered throughout the map present new opportunities for potential ambushes. Part of a compatibility update, The Shire map skin is free of charge, joining the random map rotation once downloaded.

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Monolith Productions plan to release more content over the course of the coming months, including several new guardians and game modes when they become available. For a better look at Bilbo, Bert and The Shire, check out the trailer after the jump. Anyone not yet knee-deep in the battle can see what all the fuss is about in our Guardians of Middle-earth review.

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Two new titles land on Xbox Live Arcade today. Black Knight Sword marks a second dip into XBLA waters for co-developers Grasshopper Manufacture and Digital Reality since their release of Sine …
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Weekly Roundup compiles all the biggest news stories, reviews and features from the week into one handy post on the weekends.

A solid week for Xbox Live Arcade. We’ve got some big releases and DLC to pour over, a lot of great games on the horizon and a few impressive milestones for XBLA favorites. What did you pick up this week? Are you battling for Middle-earth? Hitting monster combos in Tony Hawk, or pitting historic figures against each other in fantasy duels to the death?

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The recent appearance of Mensa Academy (purportedly American Mensa Academy in North America) on the Xbox Live Marketplace seems to indicate the title is finally ready to put your mind to the test …
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We’ve been talking a lot about Guardians of Middle-earth over the past few months, with a steady stream of character reveals and tutorial videos for the Tolkien-inspired MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) title. Though beyond the multimedia fanfare preceding its imminent release, Guardians of Middle-earth carries weighty ambition as the first true title of the genre developed specifically for consoles.

The MOBA is a notoriously delicate genre, requiring nearly constant post-launch supervision in order to maintain the balance of character power as player strategies evolve over time. That balance necessitates regular updates and patches, the kind of support that’s seemingly at odds with the “closed system” of a console, which normally requires any changes be vetted by the manufacturer’s certification process.

When we spoke with producers Bob Roberts and Ruth Pomandl last month, they briefly touched on their plan to issue real-time updates without needing to repeatedly pass through the lengthy and expensive, recertification process. In an interview with VG247, Roberts further explained the importance of fine-tuning character balance and how they intend to continue those tweaks after the title has gone live.

“We did also build a system for having a lot of our balance database saved in cloud storage, that you’re going to download every time you launch the game. It’s a very small, quick update that doesn’t have to go through certification, so we can update it every day, every week – however often we need to if we see critical balance issues.”

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Weekly Roundup compiles all the biggest news stories, reviews and features from the week into one handy post on the weekends.

Another week of Xbox Live Arcade brought to a close. It’s been a relatively quiet one, compared to the mad dash of last week’s seasonal sales. Though there isn’t much to write home about in terms of marquee XBLA titles, there’s quite a bit to look forward to in the coming weeks and months on Xbox Live Arcade. With so many big games coming down the pipe, what are you looking forward to getting your hands on?

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Over the last two months, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Monolith Productions have, like a sagely Mr. Miyagi, or a learned Obi-Wan, tried to teach us the ways of the MOBA. Today, those lessons are complete, as the final video in the “MOBA Mastery” series debuts in preparation for the December 5 launch of Guardians of Middle-earth. The multiplayer online battler pits teams of Tolkien-inspired heroes against one another, utilizing their varied skills and abilities to achieve control of the environment, and sweep the leg of their opponents.

The fifth, and final, video brings together all the elements discussed in previous weeks, culminating with team strategy and how a match unfolds. If you’ve missed any of the previous weeks, you can find week one, two, three and four, by hitting those links, and part five after the jump.

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We’ve all thought about it: the end of days. Life, as we know it, over. Our laws, our society, our grande vanilla rooibos tea lattes, all gone, and we’re left with a staggering view of a world that’s indifferent of our existence. There’s no shortage of inventive ways to envision that demise, but the destruction-du-jour is contagion, with a twist. Infected by a mythical super-strain, our bodies succumb to the infection, wither and die. Reanimated a short time later, they shuffle (or sprint, depending on your inspiration) across the empty remains of our cities, towns and suburbs, catering to the most basic of impulses — to feed.

But the true draw, the appeal even, of an undead apocalypse isn’t the madness of the moment, it’s the days and weeks afterward. The life after life-as-we-know-it; the fitful consequences of our actions in an existence without margins for error, and how we stack up against that uncertainty. Undead Labs, the Washington-based, zombie-obsessed, fledgling development studio wants to realize that future, virtually, and give you the keys to a whole new life in a State of Decay.

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It’s getting pretty crowded on the Guardians of Middle-earth roster. Over the last few months, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Monolith Productions have released a steady stream of information regarding the characters you can expect to employ when Guardians of Middle-earth lands on Xbox Live Arcade next Wednesday, December 5. This week is no different, as we’re introduced to two new guardians who’ll lend their abilities to the team-based arena battler.

Haldir, the dexterous and deadly elven striker, uses his speed and ranged prowess to lay down punishing fire. In a pinch, Haldir can teleport to a desired location, stunning enemies with his next shot before finishing them off with devastating special attacks from a distance. Lugbol, on the other hand, uses his summoned wolves to soak up damage and taunt his enemies. The undead goblin, possessed by an evil entity, then utilizes his dark mastery of fire and lightning to visit utter destruction on his victims. See both guardians in action in the Battle Profile video below.

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