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Oh man, we love us some 360 controllers. They fit any size hands, unlike the Sony controllers, and despite the less-than-stellar stock d-pad they’re a dream to use. But it’s not just about functionality, it’s about collectability. And with 33 official Microsoft controllers to hunt down there’s no shortage of game for the hunter.

But some controllers may only interest you from an aesthetic standpoint, and so in addition to a rarity rating for each controller we’ve also listed an availability level for replacement parts should you want to transform your existing controllers. So instead of buying an all new controller you can give that nasty, sticky-buttoned gamepad new life and a wicked shell. When searching for custom shell parts remember to stick with vendors that have high reputability or high eBay ratings. There are a lot of cheap knockoffs that look the same in a picture but fit poorly. As per our recent review, we recommend Quickdrawmods if you’re looking for shells that have a Low or above availability rating. Past that go for eBay sellers with high ratings (both in percentage and number of ratings). Also be sure to pick up a Torx T8 security bit screwdriver from whoever you buy your first shell from. It’s invaluable, and they’re usually dirt cheap.

So without further ado we present the 32 Microsoft produced 360 controllers: row by row, left to right.

UPDATE: Added a missing controller to bottom right of the above, along with a description below.

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New screenshots from developer Moon Spider Studio’s upcoming Harold have washed up, showcasing the sandy shores of the “Beach” courses. Players can expect to guide the hapless Harold across this and other vibrant environments in the platforming-puzzle-racer hybrid coming to “consoles” and PC later this spring.

The first effort from the Florida-based developer, Harold puts the player in the role of Gabe, the titular sprinter’s guardian angel who must protect his charge through the multiple paths of each course en route to the finish line. By manipulating obstacles, disarming pitfalls and “motivating” Harold with angelic abilities, players must purportedly act fast to not only achieve the best time, but save Harold from his biggest threat — himself. Touting humorous gameplay and a casual curve that’s difficult to master, Harold aims to deliver a dynamic experience for players of all types.

However Harold ends up finishing, he’ll certainly look good doing it. The downloadable title’s hand-drawn visual style has been crafted by Moon Spider Studio’s stable of artists and animators whose credentials include the world-renowned Dreamworks, Pixar and Studio Ghibli. If these new screenshots are any indication, Harold‘s shaping up to be a beautiful game. Check out the full gallery after the jump.

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XBLA Fans recently had the opportunity to chat with Pawel Lekki, COO at Exor Studios. Exor’s Zombie Driver HD released on XBLA this past October, and Lekki was more than willing to talk about the title as well as his background in game development.

Pawel, please tell us a few things about yourself outside of the world of gaming.

I think there isn’t much outside the world of gaming because I spend most of my day at work to be honest. But if I’m not working I enjoy travelling by car around Europe. Moving around in your own vehicle gives a lot of freedom, and I annually make road trips with a few friends. Our record braking trip so far was visiting 11 countries in 7 days with a total of 5000km on the road.

How did you get into game development?

The first gaming-related thing I did [actually involved] classic role playing games. I was a game master for 5 years, and together with our team we created our own version of one of the popular RPG systems. I guess you could say we started modding with pen and paper.

When it comes to traditional computer game development, I started by making levels for various games with my brother. The first game for which we made our own maps was Age of Empires, then StarCraft, and later we moved on to first person shooters like Unreal Tournament, Quake 3 and Half-Life. The first Make Something Unreal contest actually played an important role in our journey because it made us go public and share our works on the internet. After that we started working on mods for Half-Life and informally started Exor as a modding group. Our first public mod was ‘D.I.P.R.I.P.’ for Half-Life 2 and because of our work on it we were all hired by a Finnish mobile game development company called Gamelion. That was the beginning of my professional game development career which started 7 years ago.

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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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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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