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Toylogic’s free-to-play multiplayer title Happy Wars – which has “sold” an impressive 1.2 million copies since its release in October – has a new title update available that tweaks …
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[springboard type=”video” id=”634507″ player=”xbla001″ width=”640″ height=”400″ ]

A demo for the Grounding Inc. and LAND HO! co-developed on-rails shooter Crimson Dragon suddenly appeared on the Japanese Xbox Live Marketplace over the weekend sans a formal announcement of its existence. Japanese XBLA players interested in test-flying a dragon were required to have at least a Silver Xbox Live account and be willing to part with a wallet-obliterating 4,294,967,295 MSP. The demo release, along with its ludicrous listing price, was a mistake, but it is said to be in a playable state.

Ground Inc.’s Yukio Futatsugi (director, Panzer Dragoon Saga) responded to questions about the nature of the demo over Twitter by saying that it was “mistakenly” (Google Translate) released, but that it was “actually playable.” XBLA Fans’ unofficial man in Japan, @lifelower, reports that the demo initially appeared to be a limited version of the full Crimson Dragon game, but Futatsugi shot that notion down, explaining that the download was a dedicated demo. The game designer also mentioned that he has been in contact with Microsoft over the accidental release.

Microsoft pulled the demo down on New Year’s Eve, but lifelower was able to grab footage of the English version of the game and toss it up on YouTube. The video, posted above, shows off the game’s menus and one of the six playable dragons soaring through the skies and mixing it up with airborne baddies in jungle and arctic levels.

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Recently, Xbox Live suffered some technical difficulties that hindered purchases and cloud saves for users. After a few days, everything has been put back to normal with the saves …
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Dying happens a lot in Spelunky, but up until now the game has caused some unfair deaths. The game’s first patch was released recently, and it sets out to improve …
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Deck 13 and dtp entertainment have announced that action RPG Blood Knights will release on XBLA on February 20 2013 for 1200 MSP. According to Deck 13 and dtp, Blood …
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It’s the gift that keeps being given, it seems: Mojang’s runaway indie success Minecraft continues to sell through the roof, reportedly chalking up an additional 453,000 sales across all …
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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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Be a pro at defending The Shire
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If you’ve somehow missed out on Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead, or have been on the fence on whether it’s for you, you’re in for some luck – the first of the game’s five episodes, “A New Day,” is currently as cheap as free on the Xbox Live Marketplace, giving waffling players the perfect excuse to try out one of the biggest surprise hits of 2012.

Telltale PR rep Job Stauffer confirmed on Twitter that the debut episode will enjoy its 100 percent discount through Monday. Other episodes sell for 400 MSP a pop, meaning the entire first “season” of the game is available at one of the lowest prices it’s yet seen.

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XBLA players will be able to ring in the New Year next week by partying like it’s 1999…or 1989…or any other year from the ’80s or ’90s, for that matter: developer Vblank Entertainment Inc. has revealed that Retro City Rampage will finally release on Xbox Live Arcade on January 2. The game first released on PSN and PC in October, but the announced XBLA and WiiWare versions were pushed back indefinitely.

Brian Provinciano, the man “almost entirely” responsible for developing Retro City Rampage, announced last month that an improved XBLA version was complete and had entered certification, but he was unable to provide a concrete release date at the time. Provinciano used the time between the October release on PSN/PC and the game’s November certification bid to tinker away on the XBLA version, ensuring it would be what he calls “a better experience.”

The retro-tinged open world game was designed from the beginning to require players “to stop and strategize” while playing. Unfortunately, he received player feedback following the October release that the game was frustrating when players entered into certain missions with “just fists and guns.” Additional tutorials and tip screens that show after a player has failed a mission a certain number of times have been added to the XBLA release in an attempt to smooth out the experience. Further softening the difficulty are additional checkpoints sprinkled throughout the game.

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