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Meet Haris Orkin, writer and voice director behind the critically acclaimed Call of Juarez: Gunslinger. He assisted Techland on the first Juarez game back in ’05, when he suggested the polish developer hire an American writer to get the dialogue right. He’s been working with them ever since.

In a ‘making of’ documentary posted by Ubisoft, Orkin recounts the process behind how Gunslinger came to fruition. From the beginning when Techland didn’t know if they needed a traditional story since this was a “downloadable game”, through the process of  developing Silas Greaves and presenting the tall tale history of the Wild West.

“They came to me with the idea of the entire game being narrated a la Bastion,” Orkin recounts. “They told me they wanted narrative tricks in the game; that things in the game world would change depending on the narrators story. I thought that idea was pretty brilliant and mirrored exactly how the history of the West came to be written in the first place.”

To delve into that rich history of the Wild West, Techland wanted the larger-than life personas that cut out a living during the time. “They wanted the game to feature some of the most iconic Western legends and characters from the past,” Orkin says. “Together we crafted a story based on that premise. The character would be someone who brushed against all those famous characters.”

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At last week’s San Diego Comic-Con, Ken Lobb from Microsoft showed off the recording features of the Xbox One with Killer Instinct. Naturally, the long-awaited fighting game is perfectly …
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505 Games has announced Rekoil, Plastic Piranha’s competitive first-person shooter, is headed to Xbox Live Arcade. Heralding Rekoil as a return to the balanced, infantry-based action of yesteryear, the title forgoes modern trends like killstreaks insisting that “a player’s skill is always at the forefront.”

What’s more interesting is the heavy emphasis Plastic Piranha has placed on the modding community. Rekoil is designed from the ground up to allow for flexible gameplay configuration. Whether that be community support with modding tools, or allowing players to set up servers based on their preferences, Rekoil‘s class-based combat should be diverse enough to accommodate any play style.

So what does this mean for Xbox Live Arcade? A closed ecosystem that doesn’t support modding, an eSports scene or the flexibility of the PC? We reached out to 505 Games for a better understanding of how these marquee features might be integrated into a closed, digital platform. We’ve yet to hear back, but if that changes, we’ll update accordingly.

For now we can only assume Rekoil will come to XBLA as a packaged first-person shooter, and pretty set in its ways. Without modding and server configuration, we’ll have to wait to see some gameplay before we have something to really get excited about. To catch a glimpse at the locales you may encounter when Rekoil lands, check out the gallery after the jump.

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Thunder Wolves was developed by Most Wanted Entertainment and published by bitComposer Entertainment. It was released June 12, 2013 for 800 MSP. A copy was provided for review purposes.

Thunder Wolves is about one thing, and one thing only: blowing stuff up. There’s not so much a plot, as a collection of directives loosely stringing one over-the-top level to another, always boiling down to the same principle. Everything painted with red gets blasted to smithereens. There are softer moments, though whether Thunder Wolves is legitimately reaching for depth or just parodying cheeseball melodrama doesn’t really matter. At the end of the day, you’ll likely foster stronger emotional bonds with your arsenal of helicopters than the sensational stereotypes piloting them.

Across the game’s thirteen levels you’ll pilot as many choppers, ranging from attack to recon, all loaded for bear with a variety of ordinance. In rare cases, you’ll swap out of the pilot seat to perform an on-rail shooting segment, lob bombs from a circling gunship or drive a dump truck. These instances mix up the gameplay but are never more engaging than the core experience, annihilating enemy bases and stemming the flow of oncoming waves. That’s really what Thunder Wolves has to offer – a simple, straightforward exercise in lighting things up from your volitant chariot.

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“So the basic idea being, what would happen if you could become your shadow, and I’ll start walking on shadow lines in the world. That really, at its core is where the game concept first evolved. In the same way as Portal, I wanted to create a mechanic that really fit well and [you could] learn well. So something that had enough depth that as long as there is a light source in the game you can become a shadow and use this mechanic in several ways.”

This is how Compulsion Games Studio Head Guillaume Provost presents his game to XBLAFans and a smattering of other members of the games media. He does it behind closed doors at Contrast‘s Electronic Entertainment Expo booth. It’s a little backwards. Having played the demo half an hour ago, I’ve already walked on the shadow lines to which Provost refers. I’ve already manipulated the power of light to illuminate a cabaret stage and subsequently born witness to a less-than-harmonious meeting of lovers after the close of the show for which I played at stagehand. I’ve already become a shadow to platform across the dark contours of merry-go-round horses at an eerily deserted circus in an old town.

Now, after they’ve already been experienced, these things are explained for the first time, and that leads into some questions. Chief among our curiosities are finding out who these characters are and what it means when they become shadows. Provost and Complusion’s public relations and community man, Sam Abbott, are mostly forthcoming with the answers. Mostly.

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Mars: War Logs, the atmospheric cyberpunk action RPG, is finally coming to Xbox Live Arcade. Announced late last year, War Logs had always targeted XBLA, but took a detour for an early PC release. Fortunately, Roy Temperance and his murky past will finally arrive on the red planet this Friday, July 26 for 1200 MSP.

We’ve logged quite a bit of information ourselves about Spiders’ upcoming offering. From their cleverly named Silk engine that weaves War Logs‘ impressive visuals to the fluid combat system, lifting more than a little inspiration from Batman: Arkham Asylum.

To get a sense of what’s in store for those looking to take the plunge into the martian world, hit the jump to hear Spiders’ motivations behind the ambitious downloadable title.

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The next bundle to land on Xbox Live Arcade launches today. Dubbed the Space Shooter Bundle, the package sends four titles into a modest orbit around 1600 MSP, saving you …
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Update 2: In a second statement released to Kotaku today, Xbox Chief Product Officer Marc Whitten confirmed an earlier report by Game Informer that while all Xbox Ones will …
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The Pinball Arcade on XBLA has received the yo-yo treatment as of late after it was delisted from the Xbox LIVE Marketplace last week. While the game probably won’t …
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If you’re one of many who found the recent releases of the Soul Calibur franchise to be lacking, then you now have a reason to be excited. Soul Calibur …
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