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Sega recently put up a seemingly random screenshot on Facebook and Twitter, which avid fans (our resident tipster lifelower included) linked back to a promotional picture for NiGHTS into dreams.

Sure enough, today Sega has officially announced an HD remake of the beloved Sega Saturn flying platformer. It will bring with it all the trappings one expects from an HD remake, including improved graphics (widescreen!), online leaderboards and achievements. In addition to that, you will also have the option to play the original Sega Saturn version of the game. Whether you’re an old fan or someone wanting to see what all the fuss is about, you can check out NiGHTS into dreams  when it comes to XBLA sometime this fall.

You can see the game in action in the announcement trailer above, and check below for a handful of screenshots. Read More

[springboard type=”youtube” id=”zM8Ga–dcAI” player=”xbla001″ width=”640″ height=”360″ ]

Remember when Marvel vs. Capcom 2 came out during the Summer of Arcade way back in 2009? It was a game we were …
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Spelunky was developed by Mossmouth and was published by Microsoft Studios. It was released on July 4, 2012 and retails for 1200 MSP. A copy was provided for review purposes.

Spelunky casts you as a nameless adventurer seeking treasure in a deep cave. Blocking you from your bounty are countless enemies, traps, and other hazards. The way you choose to tackle these challenges really defines how the game will play for you. Some may crash ahead fearlessly while others will be more cautious. Spelunky is technically an action/platformer, but it also has roguelike qualities as well. You run and jump, whip and shoot. What’s surprising is to learn that death is permanent here and one false move sends you back to the very beginning.  It’s a truly unique game and is presented in a very attractive manner. It does everything it sets out to do, even when it’s rejecting modern gaming conventions.

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Ascend: New Gods is an action game. The fact that players take control of gigantic warriors known as Caos that mow through hordes of beasts with magic and melee weapons while trampling the tiny, feeble humans under their feet as a man might a rodent, informs those who pick up the controller of as much. The fact that these towering, stout champions appear before the seemingly indomitable Titans of the game as not but rodents themselves, betrays that there may just be something more to Signal Studios’ game than the repeated mashing of a face button that could effectively get one through the title’s E3 demo.

Although Signal promises that more challenging enemies will turn up later in the game, the demo, while enjoyable, left one wanting to see what other tricks the studio has up its sleeve. Most of the encounters could be won by relying on basic attacks, the repeated swinging of a sword or war hammer until the foe(s) before the Caos were felled. Getting beyond the basic “press X to kill stuff” approach to battles is something that all developers of action games must work to overcome if they are to differentiate their work from that of the competition.

Signal has plans for that. A unique form of multiplayer (more on that shortly) and a slew of challenging beasts that may require a bit more cunning to overcome. “We have tons of different monsters in the game,” Signal Studios Lead Game Designer Ian Scott explained to XBLA Fans at E3. “As you saw, the humans are really small in our game; they’re kind of like rats. You can pick them up and eat them for health, but there’s obviously things that are a lot bigger than you and more badass. Well, I don’t know about necessarily more badass than you.” Scott isn’t sure whether or not the team wants individual non-Titan enemies to be tougher than a Caos, but he asserted that there are definitely enemies that can dole out a walloping.

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The staff is split on this one. Many prefer online over local, but Todd, Perry and I love that one of a kind feeling you get with living …
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The rumors were true! Ronimo Games has confirmed Coco Nebulon and Derpl Zork as their upcoming DLC characters for their 2D multiplayer online battle arena game, Awesomenauts. Not only …
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Spelunky, Mossmouth‘s gift to the platforming and roguelike world, is not easy. In no capacity is it easy, and in fact as of writing I have died ~600 times. Sure, a lot of that was just to find information, but we assure you the death counts for this game will be in the thousands for most players. While every adventure through Spelunky results in a score, and surely that is important, the real goal here is to make it to the end and get the treasure spoken of only in whispers in back alleys and on forums. This guide has a deluge of tips and tricks for you to employ in your journey through Spelunky, as well as an ever growing account of all the secrets and unlockables in this game. Here’s the disclaimer:

Spelunky is first and foremost about adventure. It’s about failure, about dying, about losing, about learning from each and everything you see that inevitably kills you. Part of the glory of Spelunky’s design is finding out how things work, the nature of the AI and of the ever-changing environments. You should experience that, and you should do so without this guide. We recommend you not look at this guide until you’ve died at least 100 times. That said, if you’re frustrated, or if you have to find the secrets right-just-now, we welcome you to enjoy our wealth of information.

We have no intention of spoiling the whole game for you, so the secrets and unlockables are on their own page, away from the tips and tricks. That said, there are plenty of spoilers in here as well, but we have separated each and every collection of tips by section of the game to which they pertain. Everything you’ll experience for the majority of your “newbie” experience is just below and none of it is entirely shocking, though there’s much useful information there. At the very bottom of this guide is our tips to completion, and they include information from every single thing, including the secrets, but they’re also our most comprehensive (and tested) tips for success. We wish you luck, adventurer. Read More

Welcome to the super secret section of our guide! The content is secret… not… not the guide. Spelunky is rife with “Did you know?”s and “Where IS this place?”s, and it’s our job to try and find them. Actually, it’s your job, but if you’re having trouble it’s our job to help! Not sure why you need to find these things? Well if you want to complete your journal, you’ll have to make your way through every nook and cranny of this game. We’ve cataloged each and every secret we could find, but as far as we know there are still much more out there, lurking in the roguelike shadows of this game. This guide will be updated as myself and the community discover new things. Please email me at todd@xblafans.com if you find something not in the guide. If you’re not ready to see all the secrets, head on back to the Tips & Tricks page. Read More

When Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD gets its first piece of downloadable content about around a month after the game’s July 18 release, it will include the revert …
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Do you enjoy exploring caves to your inevitable doom or beating up people in a shaped arena? XBLA Wednesday will appease both those appetites this week for your independence. …
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