Have a murderous Valentine’s Day with Ska Studios
It’s Valentine’s Day today and if you’re running a bit late and find the shops are all out of roses then why not say “I Love You” the XBLA way. The nice folk over at Ska-Studios, the developers behind the awesome Dishwasher series and upcoming brawler Charlie Murder, have designed these great Valentine cards especially for you and your honey. While you’re at it, you should also check out our top five romances on XBLA here to ensure the perfect night in.
See the full selection of cards after the jump and have Happy Valentine’s Day from XBLA Fans!
XBLAFancast PAX East 2012 Special – Day 2
John Laster once again takes the hosting reins as Perry Jackson, Nick DePetris and Andrew Crews join him to discuss day 2 at PAX East. In this show, Crimson Dragon, Wreckateer, Charlie Murder and Super Time Force among others are discussed.
Due to the nature of recording in a hotel room and passing the mic the audio is a bit spotty, we apologise for that but hope you still give it a listen.
Please subscribe, rate and review the podcast on iTunes. We appreciate it! Check us out on Twitter (@XBLAFans) where you can win codes for games, give us feedback or just ask a question. We are also now on Stitcher, so you can stream the show on your smartphone, give it a go!
Big thanks to Chris Green for the awesome theme music, be sure to check out his site, BlurredEdge, and why not follow him on Twitter (@BlurredEdge) too?
[podcast]https://xblafans.com/xblafancast/XBLAFancastPAXEastDay2.mp3[/podcast]
New free Games with Gold titles for the latter half of June
There are two new free Xbox 360 games available to Gold Xbox Live members right now. Charlie Murder & Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition. The Games with Gold …
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Games with Gold titles revealed for June
The one-year anniversary of the Games with Gold program brings with it the standard two titles each for Xbox 360 and Xbox One, as well as a bonus game for Xbox 360.
The first title for Xbox 360 is Dark Souls. This is an action-RPG for those who enjoy a grueling, teeth-grinding challenge, perhaps even to a masochistic level. The difficulty is legendary, and not for the faint of heart; however, for the grand total of no money, it might be worth it for those on the fence to give Dark Souls a chance and forever be trapped in the mindset of “just one more try.” The game will be free June 1-15.
Games for Gold titles in June for both Xbox 360 and Xbox One
The Games with Gold program will celebrate its first anniversary this June. To celebrate, Microsoft is expanding the program to include the Xbox One. Additionally, Xbox Live Gold members …
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Microsoft reveals huge list of new ID@Xbox partners
Microsoft has announced that over 200 developers are working on titles for the Xbox One via its ID@Xbox initiative and has released the names of 65 of these developers that are joining the 32 developers they already announced back in December.
Some of the highlights in the list include The Behemoth, developers of the extremely popular Castle Crashers and BattleBlock Theater; Playdead, the developers of eerie XBLA title LIMBO; Ska Studios, the team behind the beautifully violent games Charlie Murder and The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile; Warhorse Studios, the developers behind the highly successful Kickstarter Kingdom Come: Deliverance; and Zoë Mode, the developers of Powerstar Golf.
XBLA Fans 2013 Game of the Year awards
The year 2013 has come and gone, and you know what that means: XBLA Fans dropped the ball on getting our Game of the Year awards out during the same calendar year the games released. Apologies for our tardiness, but we’re here today to make it up to you with our awards for the very best XBLA games to release in 2013.
After eight long and (mostly) wonderful years on the market, the Xbox 360 saw the beginning of its end in 2013 when its successor, the Xbox One, launched in November. Of course, Microsoft’s last-gen console and Xbox Live Arcade platform weren’t about to go quietly into that good night. No, major releases continued throughout the year for Xbox 360 XBLA, and that trend looks to continue well into 2014 and possibly even beyond. That meant that picking out the best of the best XBLA games released last year was every bit as difficult for us as it’s been any other year. Games like Charlie Murder and Skulls of the Shogun were strong competitors that just missed landing on our list of 2013’s best.
But enough about the games that didn’t make the cut. Let’s get down to what you came here for: the best XBLA games of 2013. Read on for XBLA Fans’ picks and let us know what your favorites were and which 2014 game you think will be worthy of being named Game of the Year at the end of next December.
Final Exam Review (XBLA)
Final Exam was developed by Mighty Rocket Studio and published by Focus Home Interactive. It was originally released on November 8, 2013 for $9.99. A copy was provided for review purposes.
Final Examis a game that feels dated from the start. The zombie setting feels like an overused trope here, decided upon not because of any significant meaning to storyline or gameplay mechanics, but because zombies were popular at the time the game was being developed. Any game that casts a group of four people working as a team against zombies is going to owe something to Valve’s Left 4 Dead; Final Exam, owes a little too much — the first boss is called the Tank and looks like a ripoff of the monster from Valve’s popular first-person shooter. The game runs at 30 frames per second, which makes everything feel just a little slower than it should. There’s a neat idea or two to be found here, but nothing that adds up to a game worth any significant investment of time.
Xbox 360’s best XBLA games of all time: #5 – 1
Xbox Live Arcade began its life on Microsoft’s Xbox 360 simply enough. When eager gamers bought up Xbox 360s on launch day (November 22, 2005), they found a free copy of Hexic HD pre-loaded on their hard drives. Of course, it was another launch title that secured the platform’s success. Bizarre’s Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved both gave birth to the twin-stick shooter craze and demanded gamers take Xbox Live Arcade, which started in disc form back on the original Xbox, seriously as a digital games platform. Bizarre’s side project paved the way for the enormous variety of retro revivals, HD remakes, original indie projects, major studio releases, free-to-play games and more that have come to call XBLA home in the years since.
Today, we’re approximately one month away from the launch of the Xbox One, which will signal the end of XBLA as we have come to know it these past eight years. While Microsoft’s Xbox line will continue to be home to myriad low-cost downloadable video games, the XBLA moniker will not make the transition to Xbox One. It’s going down with the figurative (and literal) Xbox 360 boat. So what better time than now to count down the best XBLA games to ever grace the Xbox 360?
It wasn’t easy, but our staff has sorted through all of the best XBLA releases over the years and picked the ones that we feel are the true standout stars of the platform. Check back with us throughout the week as we run down five of Xbox Live Arcade’s top games every night. And don’t forget to head to the comments to let us know how much you love (or hate) our picks.
(Editor’s Note: Voting was conducted in early September. No games released post-Summer of Arcade 2013 were considered eligible.)
5.) Minecraft
Nathan Bowring, Reporter — Minecraft’s impact on XBLA has been huge; it’s been beating sales records ever since its release, and it continues to top the Xbox Live activity charts. There’s just something magical about that simple, blocky world that’s hard to resist. Every new, randomly generated world is the start of a new adventure. In Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition, you’ll map out the landscape, explore deep caverns to collect precious diamonds, fight terrifying nocturnal monsters and build to your heart’s desire. The resources you collect may turn into your new house, or maybe you’ll turn them into weapons to fight the Ender Dragon. The only thing that limits the game is your imagination, with every new title update adding so many more possibilities.
August XBLA sales roundup
The sales stats are in for the majority of the month of August (July 29 – August 25) on the XBLA marketplace and they certainly make for interesting reading. …
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