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Sonic Adventure 2 and the Battle Mode downloadable content were developed and published by Sega. They were released on October 5, 2012 for 800 MSP and 240 MSP, respectively. Copies were provided for review purposes.
Sonic Adventure was a bit of a mixed bag. The original release was lauded by fans of the franchise, but the overworld aspects were confusing, as was its what-the-heck-is-going-on plot. When it was re-released in 2010 via Xbox Live Arcade it was met with much of the same. While the 3D platforming was almost enjoyable everything else weighed down the game. Sonic Adventure 2 was released a few years later and seemed to, at least initially, address player concerns. Gone was the overworld and much of the complicated plot. But while it was an improvement it still had minor flaws.

Now Sonic Adventure 2 joins its older brother on the Xbox 360. It brings the same sense of speed as it did 11 years ago. There are several over-the-top moments that bring a measure of enjoyment to the game. Unfortunately it still suffers from the same issues it did in 2001. This is a straight-up port aside from the fact that the GameCube-exclusive Battle Mode is available for purchase separately.

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Croteam have announced via their Serious Sam Twitter account that the upcoming Serious Sam 3: BFE will be released onto XBLA in two parts. Gamers can pick up the …
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Hey, remember when Bond games weren’t just Call of Duty with different characters? Remember games like Everything or Nothing, Agent Under Fire and Nightfire? You know, back when you actually felt like Bond. Just look at the monstrosity that is GoldenEye 007: Reloaded. Everything about it screams “reboot because GoldenEye was a cash cow”. What a spit in Pierce Brosnan’s face. Not only did they go with Daniel Craig (great actor, terrible Bond), but they threw out nearly everything that made both the movie and Nintendo 64 game great.

But Nightfire was different. It had an original story. It had multiple awesome Bond gadgets. It had Bond moments, and most importantly it didn’t have the jarring “first person cutscenes”. It was fantastic. From the engaging campaign to the top-notch couch competitive multiplayer Nightfire could do no wrong. And with the upcoming retail release of 007 Legends and the SkyFall film Activision will have no way to woo Bond fans next year. This is exactly why Nightfire needs to make a comeback.

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NIGHTS Into Dreams… was developed and published by Sega. It was released on October 5, 2012 for 800 MSP. A copy was provided for review purposes.

NiGHTS Into Dreams… like the re-release of Jet Set Radio for XBLA last month, is a game from an era remembered with great fondness by gamers old enough to have played the original in its prime. NiGHTS is a game that dreamed large for its time, and as a historical curiosity, it is outstanding that Sega has seen fit to release it to a wider public. Unfortunately for the last great dream of Sonic Team, while it remains a grand vision with fantastic artistic direction, it has not aged very gracefully.

For anyone reading this review with no prior experience of NiGHTS, it was released for the Sega Saturn in the fall of 1996 on the cusp of the transition from 2D to 3D gaming — for reference, Super Mario 64, largely credited with completing this transition, was released a month afterwards as a release title for the Nintendo 64. NiGHTS (which is both the game’s title and the name of the main character) has its great moments, but they are tarnished by a few annoyances that are signs of the game’s original time period

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A new gameplay trailer for Guardians of Middle-earth has revealed the latest playable characters in the upcoming massive online battle arena (MOBA) title for Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation …
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ToyLogic and Microsoft Studios’ Happy Wars will be hitting XBLA next week. It will feature up to 30 player online multiplayer (with both versus and co-op), multiple game types, …
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In preparation for the upcoming Origin of Pain downloadable content for Trials Evolution RedLynx is releasing a title update which addresses issues and readies the game for the DLC. …
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• There was no XBLA game this Wednesday. Major Nelson, director of Xbox LIVE tweeted that it was because NBA Live 13 did not get released (and was …
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The gang over at PlayXBLA posted the official specs for what’s in the Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition 1.8.2 update. In addition to Creative Mode, new mobs, collectable and craftable items, and a number of fixes have been added. There’s no word on the release date for the patch, but such a detailed list as this can only mean it’s nearly finished. The list is quite exhaustive, so hit the jump for more info. While you’re there, tell us what your plans are once 1.8.2 is out? Will you be making crazy block sculptures, or going on a mob hunt?

Source: PlayXBLA

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Launched in 2008, The Behemoth’s Castle Crashers went on to become one of the most popular co-op experiences on XBLA, with it just recently having crossed over the 3 million player threshold on its leaderboards. More than just inspiring gamers to fight with and against each other for the right to make out with princesses, though, the title also put the development community in a scramble to get their own take on the genre onto the platform. While none have enjoyed the same runaway success that Crashers has, certainly their collective presence has made the platform a modern haven for games of its ilk.

If PAX Prime was any indication, the rush isn’t going to be slowing down any time soon. The show floor was full of promising (and not-so-promising) 2D side-scrolling action games, and our team played just about every single one of them. On the second day of the show, XBLA Fans caught up with one of the men responsible for kicking off the craze, The Behemoth co-founder and Art Director Dan Paladin. He was open to talking about everything from the state of the beat-em-up to the studio’s past projects to its current one, BattleBlock Theater, to developing for XBLA. In fact, about the whole thing Paladin declined to discuss was BattleBlock‘s release date. It’s a subject he says the studio hasn’t talked about since it announced a 2010 release that it was unable to meet, a strategy that he claims hasn’t stopped the press or the public from announcing dates on their own. Read on for the full details.

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