Sanctum 2: beauty and the beasts
“To take what everybody loved about Sanctum and elevate it,” Reverb Publishing’s Ted Lange says, speaking to the motivation behind Coffee Stain Studios’ upcoming sequel. Lange is leaning comfortably in his chair, discussing Sanctum 2 with XBLAFans in a small white room on the second floor of a San Francisco gallery. As point man for the game, you would expect a flurry of information and glossy rhetoric about the many wonderful things that are in store. But Lange exhibits a calm enthusiasm, content to let the game speak for itself — which says quite a bit.
The original Sanctum released exclusively for PC and Mac markets, garnering praise for its innovative concoction of methodical tower defense and furious FPS elements and selling notably well for an independent venture. Though there were criticisms. Sanctum shipped with only three maps and a similarly restricted number of weapons. There were no connecting threads between each of the maps or explanations for these vibrantly glowing aliens in the first place. Who was this spunky redhead with an arsenal of future-tech? Why must she single-handedly stem the onslaught?
The state of mind behind State of Decay
We’ve all thought about it: the end of days. Life, as we know it, over. Our laws, our society, our grande vanilla rooibos tea lattes, all gone, and we’re left with a staggering view of a world that’s indifferent of our existence. There’s no shortage of inventive ways to envision that demise, but the destruction-du-jour is contagion, with a twist. Infected by a mythical super-strain, our bodies succumb to the infection, wither and die. Reanimated a short time later, they shuffle (or sprint, depending on your inspiration) across the empty remains of our cities, towns and suburbs, catering to the most basic of impulses — to feed.
But the true draw, the appeal even, of an undead apocalypse isn’t the madness of the moment, it’s the days and weeks afterward. The life after life-as-we-know-it; the fitful consequences of our actions in an existence without margins for error, and how we stack up against that uncertainty. Undead Labs, the Washington-based, zombie-obsessed, fledgling development studio wants to realize that future, virtually, and give you the keys to a whole new life in a State of Decay.
XBLA Fans Monthly Roundup (February 2012)
We totally missed January, but the Monthly Recap is back for February! Yaaay. There’s an immense amount of news this month because for some reason February is XBLA month. There’s roughly a million game announcements and DLC as well. I suggest hitting CTRL + F and searching for the copious news about your favorite game. Or games. Or just read all the news, because that’s a good idea.
Beyond the “things that happened”, there’s also several Friday Top Fives and Most Wanted’s this month as we continue to beef up our feature repertoire. Our chief feature, A Year In Review (2011) is definitely worth checking out for some insight into the fluctuations in XBLA cost versus review scores. Lastly, amongst the five podcasts is our Music Special which showcases some of the best XBLA soundtrack tunes since its inception.
Without further ado, welcome to February all over again! Read More
The Simpsons Arcade review (XBLA)
The Simpsons Arcade was developed by Konami and Backbone Entertainment and published by Konami. It was released February 3, 2012 for 800 MSP. A copy was provided for review purposes.
The year was 1991, Bryan Adams’ hit song “(Everything I Do) I Do it for You” was #1 on the charts and The Simpsons were slowly becoming a household name. Only premiering Christmas 1989 and now on Season 23, it shows no stopping in sight. But one of the best parts of when it first came out was the merchandising, and video games were part of that sweet donut. Most of them were NES and SNES games but one game that never came out on any other consoles was The Simpsons Arcade and now, it’s finally upon us on XBLA.
The plot of the game involves Smithers and Mr. Burns stealing a diamond when they run into The Simpsons on the street, causing the diamond to fall out of Smithers’ hand and into Maggie’s mouth. They steal the baby and it’s up to the rest of the Simpson family to get Maggie back. You’ll punch, vacuum, jump rope and skateboard across 8 levels against Burns’s goons. Does it stay true to its yellow roots or is it as bad as a Chutney Squishee?
Scientifically Proven working on new horror title for XBLA
Bloody-Disgusting.Com recently had the chance to visit Scientifically Proven Entertainment to go hands-on with an unnamed horror title currently in development for Xbox Live Arcade. The tentatively titled Ghost …
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Orcs Must Die! review (XBLA)
Orcs Must Die! was developed by Robot Entertainment, Inc and published by Microsoft Studios. It was released October 5, 2011 for 1200 MSP. A copy of the game was provided for review purposes.
Orcs Must Die! is an action tower defense game created by Robot Entertainment, an independent game development studio formed by veterans of Ensemble Studios, the creators of Halo Wars and the Age of Empires franchise. You play as a young War Mage who is promoted following a workplace accident by the previous defender and left within the orc homeland to defend 24 fortresses. These fortresses were built by The Order to protect magical rifts or portals that connect the worlds. Utilizing an arsenal of weapons, traps and spells you must stop the enraged mob of orcs and other villainous monsters from reaching these rifts and crossing over to your world.
What we are playing: Week of July 3
What we are playing is a weekly column that appears each Sunday. Various staff members let the world know what games had them hooked the past week and which ones …
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Orcs Must Die! Hands on Preview
Ensemble Studios shutting down was a bittersweet moment for a team that had grown extremely close over the years; however, as cliché as it sounds, the doors closing on Ensemble forced the team to look at open doors full of opportunity and new possibilities. For many this meant the first chance in years to break away from an already established IP in over fifteen years presenting a chance now to take risks and reinvigorate themselves. The tight-knit group showed that it really did believe in fostering community, as when the former Microsoft subsidiary disbanded as company but the majority of its members stuck together in one of four new studios: Robot Entertainment, Bonfire (now Zynga Dallas), Windstorm Studio and New Toy.
Recently we had the opportunity to visit Robot Entertainment in Dallas. While the studio may have a new name, they haven’t forgotten all the old lessons they learned. The team still believes in community both internally and with fans. Upon entering the studio, the open environment is striking: four main quadrants of desks with no cubicles or walls and a biergarten style lunch room comprise the majority of the studio. Outside of the two war rooms, server room and executive offices, it’s an entirely open floor plan mirroring the studios own level of openness with employees. The real decisions as to what games are made don’t come from a guy in a suit with a calculator, but from a collaborative process involving the entire team.
This “organic” process started six months ago. Development on Age of Empires Online was beginning to wind down, and the studio was looking toward what their next project would be. Instead of setting their sights on the traditional three year AAA development cycle, Robot chose to focus on the downloadable segment of the industry. The shorter development time allowed the fifty person team to the ability to not become re-tied down to a singular IP for the foreseeable future. Robot started to brainstorm and create basic prototypes for some of the better ideas, one of which was Orcs Must Die.