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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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“If Clementine came off annoying, people would be trying to find the button that sends her straight into a herd of walkers,” Melissa Hutchison, voice actress behind The Walking Dead‘s Clementine, told Game Informer in regards to how she and developer Telltale Games had to avoid making the little girl just another aggravating video game companion character.

“From the beginning, the designers knew they wanted a character that would act as a moral compass for the main character as he progressed through the game,” Art Director David Sakai said. “The designers envisioned a smart, honest, and capable girl around eight years old.”

Telltale’s designers didn’t have to completely imagine the character into existence, however: Clementine’s personality, attire and candid dialog were based upon Sakai’s daughter. With those inspirations and imaginations in place, the developer then had to find someone to breathe life into its creation, a task that proved to be initially troublesome.

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Another year is in the books, and, as expected, XBLA has continued to grow and reach milestones that one would not have imagined possible seven years ago when the first few XBLA games released. In 2012, XBLA games set many records only to break those same records again and again in the ensuing weeks. From Fez to Trials Evolution to Minecraft, the downloads just kept queuing up all over the world. The success of XBLA in 2012 was impressive to say the least.

That meant that we had quite the task in front of us when coming together as a staff to try to decide which game to pick for each Game of the Year category below. The nominee list for each category offered so many great choices, but at the end of the day, only one game could win each award and as a staff of passionate XBLA gamers, we think we did a pretty good job of presenting the highlights of Xbox Live Arcade in 2012. Hope you like what we picked, but if not, let us know in the comments what you would have voted for. Without further delay, here are the 2012 XBLA Fans Game of the Year awards as chosen by the XBLA Fans staff.

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Developer Arc System Works has revealed that it will be bringing the previously Japan-only Plus R update for XBLA fighting game Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus to North America next spring.

After Core was initially released on the PS2 in 2008, its developer followed up with Core Plus in 2009 before releasing Plus R exclusively in its home country back in September. The XBLA version of the game then arrived in North America on October 24 sans Plus R. Despite the game’s myriad ports and updates, fans in this part of the world have still been asking questions on message boards such as NeoGAF as to when the most recent update would make its way here. Now they have their answer.

When Plus R does arrive in the States players will be greeted with a new title screen that reflects this version of the game once an update has been installed. They will then need to go into the game settings in the options menu and enable Plus R. Players who trudge through all of that setup will be able to select fighters Kliff-Undersn and Justice in ranked matches and all Player Match sessions. In addition, Plus R-specific leaderboards and achievements will be appended to the XBLA game.

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Welcome to the XBLA Fans GOME Good Characters Guide. In this article, we’ll offer some invaluable usage tips which are specific to the good Guardians which, if used in conjunction with our General Strategiies Guide, should enable even the greenest of recruits to become combat effective quickly.

Arathorn

Father of Aragorn, Arathorn is found in the Warrior section and proves to be a very powerful character. His basic attack is very strong, and is what most builds will be centered around. He has 3 main skills that he will utilize during combat. Staggering Shot is a long range stun that does moderate ability damage. It has a reasonable recast timer, so when attack other Guardians open up with this move. You then have a choice of two moves to follow up with. Chieftain’s Focus is a forward facing attack, that not only slows the enemies movement but increases your attack speed. The other choice is Ranger’s Strike. This is a power move that does massive damage, slows the enemy and renders you invisible. Using a combination of these three skills, or all three back to back will likely kill most weaker Guardians and stronger ones will think twice about continuing the fight. His final skill is less useful in direct combat, and should be used more when killing monsters in lanes. Dunedain Blade is a close range attack that will deal damage over time while also slowing the afflicted targets.

For Gems and Relics, it is suggested you boost his basic attack damage and speed. His basic attack is quite high already, and adding on to this only makes him stronger. With the right gems in place, his damage can reach 300+ on regular attacks. Couple this with attack speed increases and you will have a very powerful Arathorn, who can net kills even without his abilities. An alternate build involves stacking a lot of ability power with cooldown reduction. This will allow for the player to cast abilities more frequently, for more damage. Potions and Commands that increase damage or speed are both recommended for this character.

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Welcome to the XBLA Fans GOME Evil Characters Guide. In this article, we’ll offer some invaluable usage tips which are specific to the evil Guardians which, if used in conjunction with our General Strategiies Guide, should enable even the greenest of recruits to become combat effective quickly.

Sauron

Sauron is a Warrior class Guardian who features a strong basic attack and extremely high durability. These cornerstone statistics, in conjunction with 3 fairly damaging abilities ensure that Sauron is always useful when pushing or holding a lane, because he can engage multiple foes at once with his ‘Might of Barad-Dur’ ability and base attack. ‘Dark Lord’s Reach’ is a great skill when facing a single, weak enemy Guardian, as it roots them and enables Sauron and his ally’s to hammer on the stricken foe. Any team which features a player who is using Sauron should be aware of the fact that his ‘The Lidless Eye’ ability damages ALL enemy Guardians for a small amount of health, meaning that when used it can immediately kill an enemy who is running very low. Use this to your advantage by calling out to your Sauron ally that there is an easy kill available for using his ultimate and remember to do so yourself, when called. Read More

So you want to succeed in Guardians of Middle Earth?(GOME) right? Well, you’re going to need all the help you can get, because GOME is a complex game which is made even tougher because it is played almost exclusively online against other human beings. Don’t worry though, because XBLA Fans is here to help. Below are some of the most useful hints for new players, along with a few more subtle strategies which even experienced players are sure to benefit from:

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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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