Blocks That Matter review (XBLIG)
Blocks That Matter was developed by Swing Swing Submarine and released on May 12, 2011 and costs 240 Microsoft Points. A copy was provided by the developer for review purposes.
Sometimes our only salvation during times of need are the products of our own intuition — creative outputs that have lagged behind because of the brevity of our attention spans — in Blocks That Matter, this is a lowly driller-robot that is tasked with a mission to finally repay its Swedish creators that have been kidnapped by a shadowy duo with sinister intentions.
You are Tetrabot, a robot that resembles a washing machine with arms, legs, a drill and a spin cycle that crushes blocks that do in fact matter, because they are not only obstacles in Tetrabot’s adventure, but also the solutions to the game’s complex puzzles. You “collect” blocks by drilling into them, and then pause the action to place them into the playing field, providing pillars to jump off and reach higher terrain. The catch is that you can only place four blocks at a time and they must connect to each other. This one-of-a-kind gameplay element will make Braid veterans scratch their heads in delightful confusion, but also make them appreciate one of XBLIG’s most remarkable titles.
Contest: Guess the 2011 Summer of Arcade Games
As anyone who plays XBLA games knows, Summer of Arcade is a big deal. It’s a spotlight of some of the season’s most promising games. Summer of …
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April 2011 XBLA sales
With no NPD-style analysis of XBLA and Microsoft announcements of sales data few and far between, Gamasutra has made it a habit to do monthly analyses of leaderboard data to get some kind of grip on relative success and failure in the marketplace. April’s deluge of new releases alongside a handful of sales for previously released titles meant that Gamasutra contributer Ryan Langley had a lot to parse. Read More
Rewind Review: Rez HD (XBLA)
Rez HD was developed by Q Entertainment and retails for 800 MSP. It was released January 30, 2008.
Originally conceived as a Sega Dreamcast game and later ported to the PlayStation 2, Rez HD is a completely revamped version of its earlier counterparts that keeps the on-rails shooter gameplay intact while adding the graphical upgrade that most XBLA ports receive. Three years after it’s original XBLA release, it is still one of the best titles on the Marketplace.
XBLA Sales Everywhere!
Many XBLA games are currently discounted at multiple locations throughout the dashboard. Capcom content is featured in the Deal of the Week section, which is located on the “Spotlight” section of the dashboard. Also within the Deal of the Week ad is another sale of recently discounted games. Of those titles, Comic Jumper, Quake Arena Arcade and Puzzle Quest 2 have been permanently discounted to 800MS points, and Droplitz has been permanently discounted to 400MS points.
Finally we have a Microsoft Games Studios sale located in the “Spotlight” section of the dashboard. You can currently find the following 10 XBLA titles at a discount price: Read More
Triple Pack coming to Europe, too
Earlier this month we reported that the Triple Pack, a retail title consisting of Trials HD, Limbo, and ‘Splosion Man, was coming to Japan and and the …
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Support victims of the tsunami with this custom Xbox 360
The collaborative game organization Play For Japan is overseeing several auctions on eBay, the proceeds of which will go to help the victims of this month’s earthquake/tsunami combo in Japan. Among those is this custom Captain Smiley console that was, according to the eBay listing, “destined to be part of the IEB Permanent Collection of customized game hardware at Microsoft.” The console is now up for auction, is signed by members of Twisted Pixel Games and features over 150 Xbox Live Arcade games, all of which were published by Microsoft Game Studios.
The auction doesn’t list the console’s region, but given this is on eBay.com and that Microsoft is based in Washington in the United States it’s probably US NTSC. According to Twisted Pixel’s Micheal Wilford the console and games are valued at US $2900, and given the circumstances we hope they get at least that for it. See a partial list of included titles after the break and check out Play For Japan for other unique auctions to help Japanese victims.
Beyond Good & Evil HD Review (XBLA)
Beyond Good & Evil HD was originally developed by Ubisoft Montpellier, ported to XBLA by Ubisoft Shanghai and published by Ubisoft. It was released for XBLA on March 2nd 2011 and retails for 800MSP.
Beyond Good & Evil is considered by many to be a cult classic. It was well received by critics and gamers alike during the last generation of consoles. However it didn’t sell particularly well and as such the apparent sequel has been in limbo for a while.
The game tells the story of Jade, a photo journalist living on the planet of Hillys. Jade also runs an orphanage for children whose parents have gone missing during attacks from the Domz, an alien race who currently have the planet under siege. A group known as IRIS soon recruit Jade to help expose a conspiracy between the Domz and the Alpha Sections who rule Hillys.
Ubisoft Shanghai were tasked with porting the game to current-gen consoles, which in this instance also meant reworking some of the games graphics. It’s this extra work that sees the game add the ‘HD’ moniker. To sweeten the deal the game has been released for the lower price point of 800 Microsoft points (with most big releases lately costing 1200). It seems Ubisoft is trying to give this game more of a chance than it got before, but does it deserve it?
Xbox Live Arcade Awards Voting is Open
Today the voting for Xbox Live Arcade Awards has officially opened. All you need to do in order to vote is visit the “Spotlight” section of the dashboard and select the advertisement pictured above. You can vote for 8 different awards and apparently you can cast a new set of votes everyday until the polls close. The nominees are: Read More