About Michael Cheng

Time to boogie down.

Funk of Titans celebrates that funk is the music of the Gods. Zeus created funk and the people love it. However, the power balance is being shifted as the Pagan Titans are trying to takeover by using other types of music to brainwash the people. All hope isn’t lost though as Zeus sends Perseus in the name of funk to defeat all the Music Titans.

Featured in this game are more than 40 stages of side-scrolling platforming in three different worlds of music: Pop, Rap, and Rock. Perseus will use his Funk-Fu to show the Music Titans whose boss. Funk of Titans arrives on Xbox One on January 9.

If you’re lucky, you might even see a rocket stick with a horse head.

Get funky with the Funk of Titans trailer below.

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Germany based publisher and developer BitComposer Games has recently filed for regular insolvency proceedings on December 3, 2014.

Insolvency is the inability to pay back debt when owed.

BitComposer claims that its problems come from “the financial difficulties of its suppliers in game development” and that game operations are “running smoothly”.

Prior to the events on December 3, BitComposer filed for a protective shield procedure on September 26, 2014 in an attempt to protect itself from foreclosure from creditors while giving itself time to come up with a plan for insolvency. The company is now searching for investors to help continue gaming development.

What does this mean for Xbox gamers? Find out below.

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Square Enix and DONTNOD Entertainment have announced a new episodic, narrative driven adventure game of the story of a high schoolgirl named Max who suddenly discovers she can rewind time and saves her friend Chloe from danger with her new powers. Strange events start to occur as the pair stumble into the darker side of Arcadia Bay when they uncover the truth of the disappearance of a student.

Life Is Strange is set to release on Xbox 360 and Xbox One on January 30, 2015.

Episode one is priced at $4.99 and episodes two through five can be purchased individually for $4.99 when each episode is released. Each console will have a different bundle option available for purchase:

• Xbox 360: A season pass consisting of episodes two through five can be purchased for $16.99.
• Xbox One: The entire season consisting of episodes one through five can be purchased for $19.99.

Check below on the first reveal of Life Is Strange.

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Giana Sisters Twisted Dreams – Director’s Cut was developed and published by Black Forest Games on the Xbox One. It was released on December 12, 2014 for $14.99. A copy was provided for review purposes.

The Giana Sisters started off in a title known as The Great Giana Sisters which was released in 1987 on the Commodore 64. The title caused many controversies as the game’s design was incredibly similar to another popular platformer released at that time, Super Mario Bros. As a result, the brand went quiet for many years. Fast forward to 2012, Black Forest Games was successfully funded by a Kickstarter campaign for a project known as Project Giana. After more time passed, Giana Sisters Twisted Dreams was released on the Xbox Live Marketplace for the Xbox 360 on March 20, 2013. Moving ahead to current times, Giana Sisters Twisted Dreams – Director’s Cut was released on the Xbox Live Marketplace for the Xbox One on December 12, 2014.

When I first got a hold of Giana Sisters Twisted Dreams – Director’s Cut, I thought to myself, this is going to be great. Giana Sisters Twisted Dreams for the Xbox 360 was a blast and I’m excited to see the new improvements and extra content that is included in the Director’s Cut. After playing through the game extensively to provide a quality review, I’m at a loss for words to describe my experience. Then I found it. Let me show you below.

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#IDARB? It Draws a Red Box. ^

What once was a red box on Twitter has now become a platforming, jump-all-over-the-place, arena-ball esport that’ll make the crowds go wild. Crowds? Yes. For the first time, people can actively participate or interfere with games in progress by Twitch or Twitter. By using different hashtags, different effects may occur to really liven the game up: reversed controls, water floods, fireworks and even an internet meme that will never give up. Games played live may never be the same.

The best part? #IDARB is participating in Microsoft’s Games with Gold program in February, developer Other Ocean Interactive announced today. Microsoft members with an Xbox Live Gold membership will be able to attain #IDARB for free when downloaded while the game is in the program.

Can’t wait until February? Well, you’re in luck.

Other Ocean has started giving out full game codes two months early to some of its most vocal fans. If you want your chance to play the game early, visit Other Ocean’s Twitter page here, Twitch page here and website here to declare your desire to play the game.

Mike Mika, Head of Development for Other Ocean Interactive had this to say about giving away the game early: “It might sound kind of strange to give the game away for free two months before it officially comes out, but that’s in line with how #IDARB was built from day one.”

What is this game, and how does it play? Check out the trailers inside to see festivities in action.

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• After Burner Climax will be delisted from the Xbox Live Marketplace on December 24, 2014. A producer of After Burner Climax, Noriyuki Shimoda, confirms via Twitter the removal of the game from distribution. The PlayStation Network is currently seeing a sale for the title and it is unknown at this time whether or not the Xbox Live Marketplace will see an equivalent sale.
• Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Special Editions was quietly delisted from the Xbox Live Marketplace while Deep Silver had it listed for its Deal of the Week from December 2-9. While it was sad to see it removed before the sale officially ended, at least the publisher can say the game was put on sale before removal.
• JUJU launches on the Xbox Live Marketplace today, December 10. The game is already available now for $14.99 USD and the download size is 1.75GB. After the jump is a launch trailer for the title. Check it out to see JUJU in action.

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#dealwithit

That was Adam Orth’s comment in 2013 about future consoles being “always-online.” It was the comment that sparked major internet backlash, put him on his path to be released from Microsoft and set his life in a spiral.

You could say his life was…Adrift. You could say, this is his attempt to #dealwithit.

Studio Three One Zero describes Adrift as “an immersive First Person Experience (FPX) that tells the story of an astronaut in peril. Floating silently amongst the wreckage of a destroyed space station with no memory and a severely damaged EVA suit, the only survivor struggles to determine the cause of the catastrophic event that took the lives of everyone on board. The player fights to stay alive by exploring the wreckage for precious resources, and overcomes the challenges of an unforgiving environment to repair the damaged emergency escape vehicle and safely return home.”

Sound familiar? Parallels can be drawn to Adam Orth’s experience and his attempts to salvage his life, pick up the pieces and learn from his mistakes in the process.

Check out the trailer below for the first look at Adrift.

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World Series of Poker: Full House Pro for Xbox Live Arcade will be shut down on March 4, 2015, developer Pipeworks software has announced.

Following is a timeline of events leading up its closure:

• World Series of Poker: Full House Pro for the Xbox 360 was originally released to the public on September 3, 2013.
• World Series of Poker: Full House Pro for Windows 8 was released on April 9, 2014 that featured cross-platform play.
• New weekly events stopped occurring after the week of May 29, 2014.
• An announcement on June 3, 2014 from the developer’s website stated the development phase had ended and new content would be not created anymore for World Series of Poker: Full House Pro.
• An announcement on September 4, 2014 from the developer’s website stated that World Series of Poker: Full House Pro will close on March 4, 2015.

What does this mean to the players? Click ahead to find out for yourself.

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Warface was publicly released for the Xbox 360 on April 22, 2014. Less then one year has passed, but Crytek has already announced that Warface for the Xbox 360 will no longer be available after February 1, 2015.

A Warface moderator on the xbox.com forums had this to say: “It is with a heavy heart that we have to announce you the upcoming closure of Warface: Xbox 360 Edition. We considered every option before making the difficult decision to end the product that brought us together.”

The moderator then goes into further detail saying, “We’re always evaluating our portfolio to ensure that the experiences available on Xbox suit the needs of our community. Player demand and creative direction sometimes mandate that we shift our focus onto other games and opportunities.”

How will this affect the players? Jump inside to find out.

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The historical origins of Giana Sisters date back to 1987 with the release of The Great Giana Sisters on the Commodore 64. Fast forward to March 20, 2013, Xbox Live Arcade saw the release of Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams for $15.00 USD. For fans of the XBLA game and curious newcomers alike, Black Forest Games is introducing Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams — Director’s Cut to Xbox One users on December 12, 2014 for 14,99 € and undisclosed USD price.

What is the difference between the Xbox 360 version and Xbox One version?

More everything.

This release encompasses the original Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams as well as the add-on Rise of the Owlverlord. On top of that, Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams — Director’s Cut will also contain The Christmas Levels and The Halloween Levels, which will total for 38 action filled levels in 1080p HD graphics at 60 frames per second.

Included after the jump is an early announcement trailer of the festivities coming soon.

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