About Brandin Tyrrel

Focus Home Interactive and developer Mighty Rocket Studio have released an overview trailer for the upcoming stylized side-scrolling brawler Final Exam, arriving on Xbox Live Arcade November 8. Most high school …
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• Microsoft Studios vice president Phil Spencer stated you can expect the availability of the Xbox One to “feel a lot better than it did for 360,” in an …
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Ubisoft has announced the formerly PlayStation Vita-exclusive Assassin’s Creed Liberation is making its way to the Xbox 360, receiving the HD treatment in the process. Liberation showcases the series’ first playable female protagonist, Aveline de …
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There’s an uneasy moment when the green light flashes on a videogame adaption of a beloved television series. Call it apprehension, call it skepticism, call it whatever you’d like, but there’s a good reason for knee-jerk worry – most of them don’t pan out. Sometimes the source material isn’t really conveyable in another medium; sometimes the ball is just dropped during development. More often than not it’s a little from column A, and a little from column B, even when the planets have spectacularly aligned to guarantee a surefire success. Whatever the cause, cross-pollinating entertainment can often deliver a dud, but it can also bring about completely new ways to enjoy something we love. In the 24/7 cacophonous overload that is modern-day television programming, there are few series more suited for the game treatment than Archer.

For the uninitiated, Archer follows the exploits of the International Secret Intelligence Service (ISIS) which trots the globe undertaking missions ranging from espionage to personal errands. Without overselling it, Archer is one of the most cleverishly written and reliably funny shows on television, thanks to the character-driven plots that don’t so much focus on the mission at hand but rather the many ways in which the tidy collection of lovable psychopaths will unflinchingly undermine and berate one another.

So what makes Archer suited for the fertile lands of videogamedom? In a word? Everything. Logistically, the show takes place in an intentionally ambiguous time period, seemingly set during the ‘60s while regularly incorporating elements of contemporary culture and other historical eras. The agents have been to space, the ocean floor, a pirate fortress, and most countries in the known world, especially the ones ending in “stan.” With a license to kill, seemingly unending resources, diplomatic-ish immunity and a never ending supply of super villains, communist and/or tracksuit-sporting cyborgs, environmental terrorists and.. regular terrorists – there’s literally no limits to what you would be able to do in this universe. The real question then is – how is Archer not already a videogame?

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Spiders Studio’s next project Bound By Flame is already confirmed for the Xbox 360 early next year. It’s described as a dark fantasy RPG that assimilates much of the gameplay crafted in Mars: War Logs, Spiders’ previous offering, and builds upon that foundation with a bigger budget and more development time.

The premise places you in the role of a cursed mercenary, bound to a demonic being who tempts you with power in exchange for bits of your soul. You’ll choose whether to entertain this pact for shunned power in the face of increasingly deadly opposition, or go it alone, training in the purer ways of the hero. Intriguingly, scenarios and experiences within the game are said to change depending on the entity’s influence over you, altering your appearance in the process.

Combat in Bound By Flame unfolds in real-time, similarly to its predecessor with three skill trees dedicated to the holy trinity of combat, stealth and magic, but expanded to a much a larger degree. On the features front, genre staples confirmed to be making an appearance include: a crafting system to create and improve weapons and armor at both ends of the experience spectrum, the option to customize your character’s gender and facial features, and of course, droves of creatures in all shapes, sizes and levels of lethality.

The first teaser trailer seems to confirm that elves, dwarves, goblins and other high fantasy fare are thankfully missing, opting for a more gothic bestiary with somewhat of a Dark Souls vibe. Finally it should come as no surprise, like both of Spiders’ previous RPG offerings, Bound By Flame looks gorgeous. Hit the jump to see for yourself, and definitely keep this one on your radar.

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The forthcoming free-to-play action RPG, Ascend: Hand of Kul, continues its quiet march toward an inevitable launch date. Since early July, players who were fortunate to score a coveted spot in the closed beta have plummeted the depths of Signal Studios’ impressive landscape, and clashed against one another in the name of their respective gods. As we previously reported, plans are well underway to roll the beta into open release, starting with the latest content update.

Signal Studios’ President D.R. Albright III took to the developer’s blog to announce the update as version 1.1, the changes/features/fixes therein, and outline the future of Ascend. “The 1.1 phase will be released to those who have already been playing first,” he wrote. “Within a few days after release, we will be expanding the beta in larger groups, approximately 15k players is the goal.” If you’re not yet involved in the beta, the next round of invitations could remedy that – head over to official registration site to toss your name into the hat.

For those already engrossed in the ongoing Crusade for total dominion, you’ll be happy to know the playable world has now been expanded, including a long-awaited crack at one towering titan. Additional considerations aimed at improving player experience include: lowered repair costs, spells automatically receiving legacy status, pre/post invader status screens, increased difficulty during boss engagements and additional stats to pore over with each new item acquisition.

“We also fixed over 800 bugs since we last met and probably introduced a few hundred more :)! Let’s all hop on this beta and report any issues to the forums to help improve the public release,” Albright added. “Rest assured, back at the mothership we are already working diligently towards the next phase of Ascend, which is the full public release!” The full collection of changes can be found in list form – everyone’s favorite form – right after the jump.

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Microsoft has officially released the Xbox One marketing hounds in preparation for an upcoming November 22 system launch. At the head of the pack, the first commercial for the next generation console chased down televisions nation-wide to ask, “Are you ready for some football?”

The sure-fire spot focused entirely on non-gaming aspects of the forthcoming hardware, chief among them being Microsoft’s lucrative partnership with the National Football League. The TV spot – which can be viewed after the jump – showcases Kinect-based voice control, live sports streaming, the NFL app with fantasy integration and, of course, real-time Skype.

Xbox fans, who use the system to play games, might be disappointed in seeing the spot as another chapter in the narrative that paints the Xbox One as an all-around entertainment device first, and a gaming platform second. However, this commercial is likely the first of many, many fronts in the war for your wallet, and targeted specifically at the massive football-oriented audience tuned in for last week’s NFL season opener.

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This week’s deal offers up some of the very best Xbox Live Arcade has to offer, dropping names and prices on a couple of the year’s bigger titles and …
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Whoever coined the phrase, “Too much of a good thing,” likely never played a video game. Sure, mostly because the saying dates back to well before Pong ever pinged a virtual paddle, but in some small part because anyone that’s ever really connected to a great game knows the bittersweet sorrow of wrapping it up. Xbox Live Arcade is no stranger to great games — however you choose to define the word: fun, dense, deep, powerful – there’s something for everyone in our little digital corner of video games proper.

With that in mind, we take a look back at the heavy hitters, the ones that make you set down the controller upon completion and want to know more. XBLAFans’ Friday Top Five is back, bringing you the top five Xbox Live Arcade games (in no particular order) that require a sequel.

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Japanese developer 5pb has teased new downloadable content for the pixelated side-scrolling beat-em-up, Phantom Breaker: Battlegrounds. The developer unveiled its intentions to port the title to Sony’s handheld PlayStation Vita …
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