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Guardians of Middle-earth‘s ever-expanding stable of seasoned heroes was bolstered again today, as Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Monolith Productions inked the newest name to the roster. Radagast the Brown, the nature-conscience wizard recently featured in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, lends his particular set of skills to the ongoing war for Middle-earth.

Radagast enters the fray as an enchanter, similar to Gandalf, dealing ability damage and crowd control through with his many area-of-effect spells. To compliment his arsenal, Radagast is able to increase his attack speed, and reduce controlling effects on himself and his allies, making for a potent ally in any skirmish. You can see him working his magic in action by checking out the character profile video, after the jump.

Everyone eager to battle with the brown wizard can purchase him individually or as part of the Season Pass, which includes all existing and future downloadable characters, as well as the forthcoming Survival mode for 1200 MSP. Additionally, players will have the opportunity to compete in “The One Road” challenge this weekend. Running February 1 through 3, the competition requires you rack up the “Most Wins on a One-Lane Map” in order to walk away with 500 XP, 20,000 Gold, and three Mithril level items to outfit your utility belt.

Those not yet waging war across the lanes of Middle-earth can get up to speed with our Guardians of Middle-earth review and helpful guide.

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A slew of new releases and deals have been revealed on Major Nelson’s blog. Included in new releases is the long anticipated Skulls of the Shogun, a game we have waited a long time for. Also finally joining the party is the all-new Scott Pilgrim online multiplayer mode, plus Wallace Wells as a playable character. Lastly, for all you deal headhunters, you might want to check out Hydrophobia available for a measly 160 MSP.

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EA Sports released a roster update for NBA Jam: On Fire Edition this past Thursday. While much of it seems to be shifts in player teams, there might have been a new player in there that we missed. Operation Sports was kind enough to post a video of the most recent roster update on their YouTube channel which outlines the changes.

This update is the first since April 2012, which added 14 new players to the game’s lineup. Prior to that an update was made in January 2012 which traded/added/dropped a number of players. Both of those roster updates can be found after the break, but we don’t have any details on the newest update aside from Operation Sports’ video.

To download the update simply boot NBA Jam and head to the Online Arena section. The game will then begin the download.

Sources: EA Sports Twitter, Operation Sports, NBA Jam Facebook, NBA Jam Blog

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Following a nearly 2-year-long period of silence, Boston-based developer Moonshot Games has announced that its side-scrolling co-op shooter for XBLA, Fallen Frontier, has been canceled. The studio elected …
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The fix is in for the next round of changes coming to 4J Studios’ Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition. The best-selling XBLA title of 2012 will get patched up with a host of new changes, tweaks and bug-squashing fixes with the release of Title Update 8. As we reported earlier this month, Minecraft‘s endgame content event, aptly titled “The End”, was pushed from production of the forthcoming update, citing a need to concentrate on a number of issues that popped up with the release of Title Update 7. Everyone eagerly awaiting the chance to duke it out with the infamous Ender Dragon can breathe easy knowing the content has been rescheduled for Title Update 9.

As for the many fixes stuffed into this release, you can expect things to be getting back to normal within the blocky reaches of your biomes. Appearing on PlayXBLA, the finalized change list is quick to address the many crashes and freezes introduced in the previous update, including: the random Kick Player crash, the random crash when loading the tutorial, and the dreaded sign-writing/autosave freeze.

What’s more, these fixes are merely the tip of the iceberg. With nearly forty items in tow, Title Update 8 should help to smooth things over while you chip away at that fortress you’ve been meaning to finish. There’s no official word as to when this panacea will be administered, though 4J Studios issued a tentative schedule of “this month” via their official Twitter page, when asked by a curious fan.

Hit the jump for the complete, lengthy list of fixes and changes coming with Title Update 8.

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All you creative folks have a new challenge on your hands! Trials Evolution developer Red Lynx is hosting a competition to see who can build the best motorcycle stunt track set …
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Speaking to VentureBeat, SpikySnail Games Studio founder, Niv Fisher, has commented about the struggles that indie developers encounter when marketing their games on XBLA.

In particular, the developer of XBLA game The Splatters claims that the marketplace has gotten “tougher in the last couple of years, with a few titles getting lots of promotion, exposure and sales, and the rest are getting hit pretty hard.”

Fisher argues that Microsoft can do much to address the issue, particularly with regard to the current dashboard. “I feel the current dashboard just doesn’t work well as a storefront, especially if you want to encourage discovery or diversity,” explains Fisher.

“Games are hard to find, there’s no friend-recommendation system, and lots of the store promotional space goes toward non-game applications – and now, also downloadable retail games. Sales are usually poorly promoted, and dashboard placement is sold and bartered with. Small developers like us have very little to offer here and are often left on their own.”

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Online retailer Amazon has listed a [easyazon-link asin=”B00B1ULJI0″ locale=”us”]Microsoft 5-Game Arcade/Indie Pack [Download][/easyazon-link] for only $10. While all are XBLA titles, the codes are only redeemable on PC and Steam, as opposed …
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In a fascinating read over at the Penny Arcade Report, designer Andy Schatz explains that his upcoming XBLA game Monaco is not a stealth game, despite surface-level appearances.

Viewed …
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What we are playing is a weekly column published on Sunday. Select members of the team talk about the games they’ve been playing over the past week and which they’re …
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