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Mike Mika has a problem. Gamers who’ve secured free copies of #IDARB, his multiplayer hybrid basketball/platformer game, likely don’t consider it to be a problem, but for Mika and his team at developer Other Ocean Interactive, it absolutely is. And it’s one that the head of development at Other Ocean can’t help but exacerbate.

“The problem we have, everything is so…we’re just so fixed in our ways,” the design director tells XBLA Fans, “it’s like, ‘Well, this should just be free. It should just be free.’ And we’re probably part of the problem when you hear people complain about free-to-play games, and how that’s been a race to the bottom on being able to make money. I can see how that happens, because while we’re putting this game together it feels like the right thing to do by all the gamers is to give [#IDARB] to them. I’m sure it’s dangerous. We can’t afford to keep giving it to them.”

But he wishes that they could. While acknowledging that giving too much away is “dangerous,” Mika says that his studio is “definitely erring on the side of being as extremely fair as possible.” No one who’s followed #IDARB (It Draws a Red Box) would dispute that that’s exactly what Other Ocean has done with its game. Mika solicited the help of every gamer with an opinion when designing #IDARB. Then he gave his game away for free before it released. Then he again gave it away for free when it released. Now he wants to give some additional #IDARB content away for free — all of its additional content, actually. But he can’t do that; he’s got a family to feed, and a studio to make profitable. So how does Mika do that? Where does he draw the line between what’s free and what’s for sale? He’s not really sure.

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Blue Isle Studios has announced that their first game, Slender: The Arrival, will be releasing on Xbox One on March 25 via the ID@Xbox program. The game will be coming to Xbox One with brand new story elements implemented, as well as extended levels throughout the entire game. Our review of the original game can be read here and while our final score wasn’t overwhelmingly positive it is still nice to see that the game is making the transition to the next generation of consoles with some added features for players.

A new trailer has been released for the Xbox One and Playstation 4 versions of the game and it can be seen below the break.

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Greetings earthlings.

In continuation of XBLA Fans’ previous story here, Sierra has released a video featuring behind the scenes footage detailing the creation process of Shiftlings.

So how will the lovable wacky alien janitors’ survive this adventure? The world will find out on March 4. The game is available to preorder here for $14.99.

The behind the scenes video will be available below the jump.

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Pneuma: Breath of Life was developed and published by Deco Digital and Bevel Studios. It was released on Xbox One on February 27, 2015 for $19.99. A copy was provided for review purposes.

If I learned anything from The Road to El Dorado, it’s that it’s tough to be a god. Sure, being worshipped and all-powerful is great and all, but you’ve got to live up to some high expectations. The prospect of being a god is the main conflict in Pneuma: Breath of Life, offering a unique perspective on being an all-powerful deity.

It’s important to emphasize that this isn’t your usual god game. You’re not an omnipresent spirit hovering over society, controlling life forms and building habitats, nor are you slaughtering your fellow divine beings. Pneuma is a first-person puzzler, putting you in the hypothetical shoes of Pneuma. As the creator of a brand new universe, you set out to explore your work and discover your powers. While the set-up may sound captivating, the game doesn’t quite reach god-like quality.

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Pillar was developed and published on Xbox 360 Indie Games by MichaelArts. It was released on February 17, 2015 for $4.99. A copy was provided by MichaelArts for review purposes.

Pillar is a perplexing assortment of puzzling mini-games by Michael Hicks of MichaelArts and was released with trophies on PlayStation 4 and as an indie game on Xbox 360. Hicks was responsible for the game’s design, programming, score and other components. In fact, only one other person, Gonçalo Antunes (art), is credited with working on the game in a role other than tester. As a game that was largely created by one person, the attention to detail is significant, and the player can feel the developer’s passion. Hicks also seems to be very sentimental about his work and appreciative of his family, friends and the community. If you have any interest in Pillar, you may want to take a look at this blog post at some point. It’s pretty heart warming.

As for the game itself, it abruptly starts off with a screen asking, “Who Are You?” and then follows with one inquiring “What Are You?” You are then thrown into the game with no rhyme or reason. In fact, you don’t even see a semblance of a title screen until you press pause. While it’s tempting to cut some slack for a lack of features due to the incredibly small team of people behind Pillar, I’ll be treating the title like any other game. Unfortunately, Pillar‘s seeming lack of direction hampers the potential that it could have.

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It has been revealed that the Dungeons and Dragons MMORPG Neverwinter will be making its Xbox One debut on March 31. At launch the game will include all base content, …
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Microsoft has released a significant update to the Upload Studio for Xbox One. Users now have more control and flexibility with editing their video files. Game videos can now be a maximum of 30 minutes, composed of fifteen separate components. Also new to this update are several cosmetic enhancements: “new transitions, splash screens, templates, intros, double-box and green screen effects,” according to the video guide released by Major Nelson. 

These interface and graphical augmentations provide increased dexterity for video creation. Clips can easily be placed in any order, moved and deleted, with transitions and other effects just as seamlessly applied. In the video released to highlight this update, Major Nelson shows off the new features and how these improvements will make Upload Studio better for all users. Take a look after the jump.

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You could make a case that the retro-style indie game is turning into an overused cliché, but  The Adventures of Pip goes beyond appearances and crafts a clever story out of its style. The game’s opening looks like a pixelated storybook, telling the tale of a tiny kingdom where the hierarchy is determined by pixel count. The kingdom’s royals are all 32-bit sprites, while the peasantry can only afford to be lower resolutions. One day a princess was born with the power to create pixels out of nothing, but on her 16th birthday she was kidnapped by the Skeleton Queen.

The demo, which was playable at PAX South, took me through the opening level of the game. Hero Pip begins as nothing more than a 1-bit red pixel, escaping his town as it’s attacked by the aforementioned evil queen. It looked like an extreme version of Thomas was Alone, as Pip jumped his way through a crumbling landscape as the world burned in the background. It’s a fun introduction, but nothing more than standard side-scrolling platformer gameplay. Boy, did that change quickly.

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The details for the March Xbox One system update were recently released and should add some interesting functionality to the console. The video below details everything in the update. …
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Take your world of Minecraft to a galaxy far, far away with the Star Wars Rebel Skin Pack available now for both Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition and Minecraft: Xbox One Edition.

Packed full of 23 new character skins including, Ezra Bridger, Hera Syndulla, Kanan Jarrus and Chopper, this skin pack can be yours for $2.99.

Star Wars Rebels is an animated television series that airs on Disney XD. The show is set five years before Star Wars Episode IV, and it follows the story of the Rebellion’s beginnings as well as tells some of the origin stories of the groups that will later form the Rebel Alliance.

Click below for the full list of characters.

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