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Haunt was developed by developed by NanaOn-Sha and Zoë Mode and was published by Microsoft Studios. It was released January 18, 2012 for 800 MSP. A copy of the game was provided for review purposes.

Haunt is the latest Kinect enabled game to hit XBLA, and with PaRappa the Rapper creator Masaya Matsuura at the reins we know we’re in for something a bit different. You play as a “kid” who wakes up in an old mansion when a mysterious painting calls you over. It turns out to be the mansion’s owner, Benjamin Muldoon who has been trapped there by ghosts. He asks you to explore the haunted mansion and collect “Phantaflaks” (regular orange soda just won’t cut it) that can be used to free him once and for all.

If you’re expecting something along the lines of Silent Hill then you’re going to be disappointed. The scares in Haunt are more on the campy Ghostbusters level. Playing like a cross between an old school point-and-click game and a Haunted House amusement ride, there’s about as much frights as there is rapping but that doesn’t stop us being thoroughly entertained.

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Trials Evolution, the long-awaited sequel to XBLA hit Trials HD was last night leaked on a number of file-sharing websites. Gameplay videos of the leaked version were also being …
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The following is the opinion of one editor, and does not represent the opinions of XBLAFans as a whole.

“Gamertag was last signed in on another console.” That’s what my 360 said as I signed in just before Christmas. I immediately checked the family bank account. Sure enough, the hacker had nearly drained our money, meaning that for the next five or six days we’d be living off what was in the fridge. Now the fridge wasn’t empty, but we always do our shopping throughout the week, so things that we needed to make our normal meals we couldn’t get. The family survived with no major issues, but the annoyance and utter frustration others had felt suddenly became very real. They weren’t just stealing my Microsoft Points, it could affect the way we ran our family.

Every big entity gets hacked, though. I get that. I’ve seen Twitter and Facebook accounts hacked, bank accounts, all sorts of things in my time as an IT guy. Even though I was annoyed with Microsoft, they weren’t any less secure than anyone else, it’s just that the frequency of attacks increased since the release of FIFA 12. How much? Well let’s put it into perspective: we now have roughly 20 active members on our staff. Of those 20, four have been victims of the FIFA hack. That’s a 1-in-5 ratio. That’s what’s called rampancy, folks.

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Getting our Word-Power on
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Xbox Live Arcade brought in $144 million in 2011, making it the best year for the service yet. Leading the charts in 2011 were Castle Crashers and From Dust, as they grossed around $4.6 million each, and were both among the best selling XBLA games of the year. For the full list of best selling XBLA games of 2011 read the full article.  Read More

Scarygirl was developed by TikGames and published by Square Enix. It was released January 18, 2012 for 800 MSP. A copy of the game was provided for review purposes.

Everyone has bad dreams but some have deeper meanings than others. Scarygirl keeps having dreams where something or someone is haunting her. She decides to go on a journey to discover what her dreams really mean. Along the way, she’ll discover octopus shops, a man looking for his wife’s bones and some of the creepiest owls you’ll see.

Scarygirl‘s universe is based on the mind of Nathan Jurevicius who wrote the graphic novel and the story will be an animated film also. A whimsical tale about a girl with a tentacle arm in a 2D style platformer similar to Tomba! or classic PS1 style platformers. Ones that relied more on camera angle tricks rather than a 3D camera. Does it offer us a treat or is it a scare to play? Read on to find out.

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Back in the winter of 2001 eager gamers stood in the cold overnight in anticipation of getting their hands on Microsoft’s first console, the Xbox. They took their new console home along with their selection of about a dozen launch titles. About a month later a second wave of games were released, among them was Stormfront Studios’ Blood Wake. It was an innovative title that focused on combat on the open waters. Like many titles from that time the plot had a certain amount of cheese factor, but somehow was still incredibly satisfying. But the real gem was the water physics, something ahead of its time.

Funny thing is, without Blood Wake we wouldn’t have Hydro Thunder Hurricane. See, Stormfront housed the brains and brawn behind Vector Unit, Hurricane‘s developer. Ralf Knoesel and Matt Small both worked on Blood Wake as a programmer and artist, respectively. Knoesel designed the water simulation which became one of the building blocks for the system in Hurricane. These guys have a special place in their heart for this little gem, and there are a lot of good reasons why.

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This cover surfaced earlier today and shows Dark Reign Redux, a previously published PC title, coming to Xbox through the Indie Games channel. What’s interesting about this cover is …
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Brad Muir, project lead for Iron Brigade at Double Fine Productions, sent out a Tweet earlier today that the cost for Iron Brigade‘s newest DLC “Rise of the Martian …
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Quarrel was developed by Denki and published by UTV Ignition Entertainment. It was released on January 25, 2012 for 400 MSP. A copy of the game was provided for review purposes.

The wildly popular word game Quarrel is finally available on the Xbox 360. We won’t get into specifics as to why it took so long for the game to finally arrive on the 360. But as both a game that test your knowledge of the English dictionary and patience, Quarrel provides a unique twist on word games with its strategic gameplay. With its cheap 400 MSP price tag, it’s also a steal for fans of word games.

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