News

After launching on the original Xbox back in 2004, Xbox Live Arcade matured when it made the leap to the 360 and became home to an impressive stable of downloadable titles from small and independent developers. More recently, however, scores of indies have retreated from XBLA in favor of platforms such as Steam, iOS and Android. Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Studios Phil Spencer, speaking with Games Industry International, addressed the current role indie developers play in the Xbox Live Arcade landscape.

“The term indie does not necessarily mean ‘small.’ Some of the most independent studios I’ve ever met are some of the largest studios I’ve ever met,” said Spencer. “I think if what we’re saying is if there is content available for Xbox at multiple price points, both from what it costs to build the content and buy the content, or does everything have to compete at $60 and beyond? I’m really happy with the different price points that we see on Xbox; we just put out Minecraft last month and sold 2 million units. Trials came out and did incredibly well. Further down on price point, I’m playing The Walking Dead, which is an episodic game for $5 or so [Editor’s Note: The two episodes currently sell for 400 Microsoft Points each], forgot the exact price. We have price points for content across the 360.

“The nice thing is we have successes at these different prices; there are real businesses that can be made at the different levels that are available. That’s a strength of the Live marketplace.”

Read More

Do you like saving money? Of course you like saving money! Join us, then, as we embark on an adventure across the fields of frugality. Next stop: The Microsoft Studios Sale. This midsummer week boasts no less than five games all slashed, sliced and diced in price. Wallets at the ready, thrifty friends.

Read More

Over the weekend, Gamespot posted a video interview (which you can view above) with a member of the development team for Capcom’s upcoming Marvel vs. Capcom Origins, which collects 1995 brawler Marvel Super Heroes and its 1998 follow-up, Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes. It’s worth a look, especially if you’re a fan of the classic fighters.

Read More

Quantum Conundrum is finally being released this Wednesday and we couldn’t be more excited here from our early impressions to our upcoming review this week. But a couple weeks …
Read More

Details on the multiplayer gameplay for upcoming Summer of Arcade release, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD have recently surfaced. Fans of the game’s PSOne days will be pleased to …
Read More

Weekly Roundup compiles all the biggest news stories, reviews, and releases from the week into one handy post on the weekends.

Read More

Earlier this week Microsoft announced the upcoming release of Skin Pack 1 for Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition. Character reveals have been trickling out throughout the week and the latest batch …
Read More

Telltale Games is off to an impressive start with their The Walking Dead adventure game series. Critically speaking we’ve given both episode one and episode two ‘Buy It’ scores, …
Read More

Zuma’s Revenge will launch on Xbox Live Arcade next week, PopCap revealed over Twitter yesterday evening. Responding to a question about whether or not more Bejeweled releases could …
Read More

As soon as The Walking Dead Episode 2 – Starved for Help wrapped up, we were already waiting for the feast that would be Episode 3 – Long Road …
Read More