Videos

Guardians of Middle-Earth, the latest Multiplayer Online Battle Arena game to aim for the Xbox Live Arcade scene since Awesomenauts, wastes no time jumping into the action. We talked at length about the game in our preview from E3, but Monolith explains further how they manage to carefully select what elements of MOBA are strongest here. “We wanted to get players in and out of the game quickly”, designer Scott Compton told us in a roundtable press conference, “We wanted to get players in and out of the game quickly. 45 – 60 minutes is too long of a game.”

This Lord of the Rings MOBA was built from the ground up to be about the action and overall have shorter match times than other games in the genre. To achieve this, the foundation had to be set with the controls. While the answer to how a MOBA would work on a console has been of some debate lately, Monolith claims they had a rather easy time with it. Compton told us that “putting the player in direct control was a really satisfying experience. Using the left stick and “driving” the character around on the battlefield, rather than clicking and orienting your character that way.” Using rectangular, wedge and circle attack radii all aimed with the left stick, the game achieves precision even without a mouse. Read More

Mini Ninjas Adventures was released today for 800MSP as one of those rare Friday XBLA releases. A follow-up to 2009’s Mini Ninjas, players will assume the role of a ninja …
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Obnoxiously titled hack-and-slash game Dungeon Fighter LIVE: Fall of Hendon Myre launches on Xbox Live Arcade July 13. We thought as much.

Dungeon Fighter LIVE (presumably you have to shout …
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The world of Pid is full of hostiles, yet the hero has no combat moves. As the trailer demonstrates through interpretive dance, it’s up to the player to outsmart …
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As you may have already heard, the much-anticipated Spelunky will be released July 4 for 1200MSP. If that news was not enough, developer Mossmouth has released a new trailer …
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Tequila Works wanted to create a realistic apocalypse story for their upcoming zombie puzzle-platformer Deadlight. In their second developer diary, the developers discuss how their story was created, from interpreting a …
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Trapdoor Inc. has published and developed two games this year with the House Party title Warp and the immensely popular Fez. They haven’t formally announced what they’ll be doing …
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So our amazing friends at Zen Studios have given us permission to stream one of the new tables this Sunday night. We …
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Babel Rising launched on XBLA yesterday and while we weren’t too impressed, the game’s publisher, Ubisoft, have teamed up with Redlynx to create a new Trials Evolution track based …
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There are a myriad of reasons — some massive, others minuscule — for wars throughout history. Wars ranging from the disagreement you had with your mother to World War II to the intergalactic alien space combat we’re likely to experience in the near future. No wars have been particularly fun until video games came along, removing the consequences and the guilt of war. Yet still wars are brutal, sad, scary sort of affairs, no matter what your role is in them — and then there’s Happy Wars.

Happy Wars’ pseudo cell-shaded art style (mixed with a bit of watercolor, perhaps) hearkens back to the days of Cel Damage and Jet Set Radio. The zany visuals and overall lighthearted presentation prove war isn’t always depressing and vile. White is pit against black in this 15 vs. 15 multiplayer action game in an effort to capture towers and destroy the enemy team’s castle. Players can pick from a warrior, mage or cleric class and acquire new skills as they level up and attempt to out-maneuver the enemy team.

Our demo was cut into thirds, with a tutorial and gameplay rundown to start, an explanation of the deeper features of the game following that, and lastly a match played to completion on the game’s desert themed level. Read More