About John Laster

We’ve spent the past week searching the internet and hounding our industry contacts in an effort to compile the ultimate 2011 XBLA Game Release List. We anticipated on 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:

Check out the rest here:

XBLA Fans Anticipated 2011 Releases: A-C
XBLA Fans Anticipated 2011 Releases: D-F
XBLA Fans Anticipated 2011 Releases: G-M
XBLA Fans Anticipated 2011 Releases: N-R
XBLA Fans Anticipated 2011 Releases: S
XBLA Fans Anticipated 2011 Releases: T-Z
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We’ve spent the past week searching the internet and hounding our industry contacts in an effort to compile the ultimate 2011 XBLA Game Release List. We anticipated on 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:

Read More

Section 8 was a flawed gem. A diamond in the rough relegated mostly to bargain bins, the original Section 8 pushed new ideas into the first person shooter genre. It overcame minor bugs, mixed reviews and the stigma of being a full priced multiplayer only game, developing a small cult following along the way. Section 8 is back and ready to do an orbital drop again, but this time TimeGate Studios is rewriting the rules.

With the freedom that self publishing gives them, TimeGate Studios is pushing the boundaries of what has been traditionally accepted as normal. Section 8 Prejudice is a fully fledged sequel to Section 8; however, it will be released on Xbox Live Arcade in early 2011 for 1200 Microsoft Points ($15), nearly a fraction of the cost of the original. The transition from a $60 retail product to an Xbox Live Arcade sequel is a new one in this industry. We had some trepidation that the production values would suffer or that the game might feel too much like a rehash of the first, but that was all alleviated when we went hands on with Prejudice this past week.

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It may have taken us a while, but we have finally finished our Bandage Guide for Super Meat Boy. Huge thanks to our team, in particular Mark Brezinski and Jackie Lee, …
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Gameinformer has a wonderful interview in their December Issue with 5^th Cell Co-Founder Jeremiah Slaczka. Unfortunately, he was largely mum on details about their new game, Hybrid. For the uninitiated, Hybrid will be a high-res shooter that utilizes the source engine (check out the Hybrid teaser trailer here).

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The following article is based around an email interview conducted by our team with Jake Kazdal, CEO of Haunted Temple Studios. For the uninitiated, Haunted Temple Studios is currently developing Skulls of the Shogun for Xbox Live Arcade for Spring 2011 release.

Skulls of the Shogun is a turn based strategy title. Players take on the role of a Samurai General who was betrayed by one of his closest allies and slain in the moment of his greatest victory. Awakened in the afterlife, he finds the same opponent has betrayed him again in death. As a result, he begins a rampage trashing the laws of the Samurai afterlife as he seeks revenge.

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Hydro Thunder: Hurricane was developed by Vector Unit and published by Microsoft. The full game retails for 1200 Microsoft Points. The Tempest DLC pack retails for 400 Microsoft points. A copy of the DLC was provided to us for review purposes.

Back in August, we reviewed Hydro Thunder: Hurricane for XBLA and gave it a Try rating. This wasn’t to say the game suffered from significant flaws, but we questioned if the game could hold attention long enough to match its $15 value for the majority of players. Clearly it could, as two months later, the game’s online community is still thriving and Vector Unit has released their first piece of DLC.

The Tempest Pack for Hydro Thunder: Hurricane contains three brand new original maps (Atlantis, Castle Von Boom and Bermuda), two new, original Boats (the super agile Whiplash and the slip-slidery Psyclone), one new skin for every boat in the game, six X-Boats (upgraded to expert versions of current boats) and of course 50 additional Gamerscore.

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So Dream Chronicles just launched on Xbox Live Arcade today. We are currently writing up our review, but  we talked with some of the awesome people working on the …
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Over the weekend Team Meat approached Microsoft about a way to give back to their fans. Instead of doing a sale months into the games lifespan, they have decided …
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So Super Meat Boy is coming to Xbox Live Arcade this Wednesday the 20th. The game is one you need to check out. If there’s any doubt in your …
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