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.
XBLA Wednesday: TNT Racers, Stacking and Castlevania DLC
This week on XBLA Wednesday the marketplace has a lot of variety. In Stacking (1200MP) from Tim Schafer’s Double Fine Productions you take control of Russian stacking dolls, also known as Matryoshka dolls, in this delightful adventure puzzler. TNT Racers (800MP) shifts to top down view in this simple arcade racer boasting a wide variety of cars, modes, maps and powerups as well as online and on-couch multiplayer. On the DLC front there’s an extra stage for Castlevania Harmony of Despair titled “The Legend of Fuma” (240MP), a retro throwback to Getsu Fuma Den, and a character pack to match it (160MP). Three completely different XBLA experiences, all in one day! Read More
Raskulls review (XBLA)
Raskulls was developed and published by Halfbrick Studios for XBLA on December 29, 2010, and retails for 800 Microsoft Points. The publisher provided us with a copy of the game for reviewing purposes.
Raskulls is a unique blend of action-platforming, objective racing and puzzle solving, and is something you won’t really find anywhere else on the XBLA. It is also the type of game to that starts off at almost mind-numbing levels of simplicity before it really begins to grow on you as you spend more time with it.
Dead Rising 2: Case West Weapon Combo Guide
This guide is geared towards helping players build all weapon combos. However, the “Handy Man” achievement for building all the new combos is a little tricky. In order to get the achievement, build ONLY the following seven weapons: Shocker, Zap N’ Shine, Lightning Gun, Reaper, Impact Blaster, Sterilizer, Laser Gun.
I realize you have to build the Laser Sword and the Lightning Gun to then build the Laser Gun, and that is fine for you to do. If you build any other weapon before these 7 (8 if you count Laser Gun components), the achievement won’t unlock. You will then have to move your save file to another memory unit or delete it from your hard drive and start a new game from a memory device that contains no previous Case West data. Then you will need to build the previously listed 7 weapons in order to unlock this achievement. Read More
Super Meat Boy Bandage Guide: World Five
Pictures by Jackie Lee
Hello and welcome, fans of old school gaming, to XBLA Fans’ Super Meat Boy Bandage Guide. Getting all the bandages in Super Meat Boy will unlock some secret characters and serve as undeniable proof of your platforming prowess. This guide will help you find whatever bandages you’ve missed, or tell you how to get that one you can’t seem to reach.
Need help on a different world? Check out our other guides:
Super Meat Boy Bandage Guide: World One
Super Meat Boy Bandage Guide: World Two
Super Meat Boy Bandage Guide: World Three
Super Meat Boy Bandage Guide: World Four
Epic Dungeon Review (XBLIG)
Epic Dungeon is the latest release from Eyehook Games, and it was released during the Indie Games Winter Uprising.
Epic Dungeon boasts 4 playable classes, dozens of monsters, loads of glittering loot, unique encounter system, 50 deadly dungeon levels and the low price point of 80MS Points ($1 US). Upgrade your skills, stats, and equipments as you forge your path to victory in this rougelike RPG.
So how does it fare? Click read more to find out of course. Read More
Super Meat Boy Bandage Guide: World Four
Pictures by Jackie Lee
Hello and welcome, fans of old school gaming, to XBLA Fans’ Super Meat Boy Bandage Guide. Getting all the bandages in Super Meat Boy will unlock some secret characters and serve as undeniable proof of your platforming prowess. This guide will help you find whatever bandages you’ve missed, or tell you how to get that one you can’t seem to reach.
Need help on a different world? Check out our other guides:
Super Meat Boy Bandage Guide: World One
Super Meat Boy Bandage Guide: World Two
Super Meat Boy Bandage Guide: World Three
Super Meat Boy Bandage Guide: World Four
Super Meat Boy Bandage Guide: World Three
Pictures by Jackie Lee
Hello and welcome, fans of old school gaming, to XBLA Fans’ Super Meat Boy Bandage Guide. Getting all the bandages in Super Meat Boy will unlock some secret characters and serve as undeniable proof of your platforming prowess. This guide will help you find whatever bandages you’ve missed, or tell you how to get that one you can’t seem to reach.
Need help on a different world? Check out our other guides:
Super Meat Boy Bandage Guide: World One
Super Meat Boy Bandage Guide: World Two
Super Meat Boy Bandage Guide: World Three
Super Meat Boy Bandage Guide: World Four
Dream Chronicles Review (XBLA)
Dream Chronicles was developed by KatGames and published by Hudson Soft for XBLA on October 20th, 2010. Retails for 800 Microsoft Points. The publisher provided a copy of the game for reviewing purposes.
You’d be forgiven for having not heard of Dream Chronicles, a port of a 2007 PC game released with little fanfair on the same day as Super Meat Boy and Costume Quest. Dream Chronicles is a hidden object game for the most part with some puzzle and adventure elements thrown in for good measure, with a style very reminiscent of Myst and similar games.
You play as Faye an occupant of the Village of Wish which has had a spell cast over it causing all humans to fall asleep. Faye’s husband (Fidget who we discover is actually a fairy) managed to awaken Faye before being captured by the Fairy Queen of Dreams, Lilith. It is Lilith who is responsible for Wish’s current slumber. You must find your way to Fidget but Lilith uses her magic to slow you down at every opportunity. Read More
Redefining a Genre: Skulls of the Shogun Aims to Add Accessibility; Keep Depth
The following article is based around an email interview conducted by our team with Jake Kazdal, CEO of Haunted Temple Studios. For the uninitiated, Haunted Temple Studios is currently developing Skulls of the Shogun for Xbox Live Arcade for Spring 2011 release.
Skulls of the Shogun is a turn based strategy title. Players take on the role of a Samurai General who was betrayed by one of his closest allies and slain in the moment of his greatest victory. Awakened in the afterlife, he finds the same opponent has betrayed him again in death. As a result, he begins a rampage trashing the laws of the Samurai afterlife as he seeks revenge.