Features

To make up for the rather short show last week, we’re back to a more usual length. We brought in our Video Co-ordinator Shawn Saris to help with that. This week Perry tells us all about the final Summer of Arcade game Dust: An Elysian Tail, which he enjoyed quite a bit. We talk a bit about Hybrid, including that metagame, then you can hear me rant about Star Wars for a little bit.

We have actual news this week, then Andrew rounds out the show with the ol community corner.

Please subscribe, rate and review the podcast on iTunes. We appreciate it! Check us out on twitter (@XBLAFans) where you can win codes for games, give us feedback or just ask a question. You can do the same on Facebook, and hey while we’re plugging stuff be sure to check us out on YouTube and Twitch.TV. We are also now on Stitcher, so you can stream the show on your smartphone, give it a go!

Big thanks to Chris Green for the awesome theme music, be sure to check out his site BlurredEdge and why not follow him on twitter too @BlurredEdge.

[podcast]https://xblafans.com/xblafancast/XBLAFancastEp74.mp3[/podcast]

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Can you find the Golden Apple?
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Weekly Roundup compiles all the biggest news stories, reviews, and releases from the week into one handy post on the weekends.

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In the wake of upcoming turn based artillery giant Worms: Revolution, the sheer vacancy of this genre becomes ever more apparent. The genre is populated almost exclusively by Worms, but there are a few other games which have made a name for themselves over the years. One such competitor which has maintained popularity throughout its existence is Gunbound. This free to play online artillery game just had its 7th anniversary since its inception in Korea back in 2005. Developer Softnyx’s approach to the genre includes an extensive item-based stat customization engine as well as several different “mobiles”, each with different elements and stats. At the heart of the game is aiming and shooting, but there’s something strangely deep about it too.

When you boot up a game of Gunbound today in 2012, you’ll note not much has changed in the UI over the last several years. The game has never had a graphical update (that we can tell), you still can’t change the resolution, and there’s still not enough information on each mobile in the mobile selection screen. That said, the amount of content has at least doubled in every respect including mobiles, items, maps, and game modes. While estranged from its early adopters by a lack of true game experience upgrades, if Softnyx were to join Nexon (developers of Dungeon Fighter Live) on Xbox Live Arcade and beef up the presentation of Gunbound, this mobile blastin’ multiplayer game could be just as addictive as it was on PC. Read More

Anyone who has grown up in the last decade or so most likely has an affection for Cartoon Network. We’ve seen some rad old shows show up on their programming line-up from Batman to Bugs Bunny, but they’ve also had a great share of original programming. Things like Ben 10 or Johnny Bravo proved that modern animation could still be as good as the olden days. Here at XBLA Fans we thought some of that original programming could use an XBLA game or two. So here’s our top five shows that need XBLA games:
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Third-person shooter Hybrid released Wednesday with a fairly turbulent launch. For most of the day the servers were unavailable, leading Microsoft to pull the game from the marketplace to prevent players from purchasing something they couldn’t play. As an online only game, Hybrid’s release yesterday reiterated that when the plug is pulled on the servers, the plug is pulled on the game itself. As such, the value of the game relies upon players continuing to purchase and play it. The game will eventually peak and decay until the moment there are no longer enough players to sustain the servers and developer 5th Cell decides to pull the plug causing the game to cease to exist. As such, 5th Cell has done everything they can to keep players interested long term creating a Meta Game involving a war between two factions: Variant and Paladin. The issue is the Meta Game is broken.

Hybrid focuses on three on three squad-based matches. The game adds a unique twist in the sense that ground movement is limited to moving along cover and flipping from one side of a wall to another. The majority of movement occurs in the air. Players can beeline from one cover to the next using their jetpacks and changing their end destination to any visible cover. Players can move up and down or left and right while in the air in order to strafe and avoid incoming fire. Imagine having a string between the two covers that can be pulled in various directions to an extent, but the movement is tethered. The result is a highly unique and interesting flow of combat that Todd will be discussing in depth in his forthcoming review.

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Check out the world war in Hybrid, the new Trials Evo track and the sales and specials going on!
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A few days ago, we reported that racing legend Jeremy McGrath would be donating his share of the profits from Jeremy McGrath’s Offroad towards a bone marrow registry program. Very inspirational news, but is there anything to report about the game itself? As it turns out, yes.

New addition to the XBLA Fans team, Paul Acevedo (@segacon), recently interviewed Robb Rinard, Creative Director at 2XL Games, and learned all kinds of interesting things about 2XL’s racing games, including Offroad. In fact, Robb even teases the game’s first DLC pack. Read on to learn what’s in store for Jeremy McGrath’s latest racer.

There’s not much to talk about this week, with Deadlight out of the way and us failing to play much of anything else. We still manage to fill 40 minutes with some fun and a bit of XBLA talk though.

Please subscribe, rate and review the podcast on iTunes. We appreciate it! Check us out on twitter (@XBLAFans) where you can win codes for games, give us feedback or just ask a question. We are also now on Stitcher, so you can stream the show on your smartphone, give it a go!

Big thanks to Chris Green for the awesome theme music, be sure to check out his site BlurredEdge and why not follow him on twitter too @BlurredEdge.

[podcast]https://xblafans.com/xblafancast/XBLAFancastEp73.mp3[/podcast]

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A long one this week, kicked off with a lengthy discussion of Deadlight. While Perry isn’t quite as harsh, we both agree it has some major issues.

News, a sort of Todd Talk and Crews’ Community Corner round out the rest of the show.

Please subscribe, rate and review the podcast on iTunes. We appreciate it! Check us out on twitter (@XBLAFans) where you can win codes for games, give us feedback or just ask a question. We are also now on Stitcher, so you can stream the show on your smartphone, give it a go!

Big thanks to Chris Green for the awesome theme music, be sure to check out his site BlurredEdge and why not follow him on twitter too @BlurredEdge.

[podcast]https://xblafans.com/xblafancast/XBLAFancastEp72.mp3[/podcast]

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