15 years ago
XBLAFancast Episode 32 – Stick it in
Back to a three man show this week as I am joined by John Carson and Jon Cole. It’s been a fairly slow news week so we get through the weeks stories fairly quickly and move swiftly onto talking about what we’ve been playing. We get a nice mix of XBLA games, including Burnout Crash, Section 8 Prejudice and Clash of Heroes, before talking a whole lot of mess about the Battlefield 3 beta.
I am in the middle of moving house at the moment so it’s a fairly quick and dirty edit to the show this week, apologies if it sounds a bit rougher than usual.
Please subscribe, comment, review the podcast on iTunes and tell your friends! We appreciate it! Check us out on twitter (@XBLAFans) where you can win codes for games, give us feedback or just ask a question.
[podcast]https://xblafans.com/xblafancast/XBLAFancastEp32.mp3[/podcast]
15 years ago
Deal of the Week: Never be board again
This week’s Deal of the Week on Xbox Live Marketplace sees 50% off selected XBLA games with a card and board game theme ensuring you will never be “board” …
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15 years ago
NBA Jam On Fire Edition: Boom goes the dynamite!
This preview was originally intended to be a podcast. Unfortunately unbeknownst to us the recording software crashed mid-podcast. Instead we’ve put together a preview based on that podcast. Apologies and enjoy — and special thanks to NBA Jam On Fire Edition producer Cody Sawatsky for taking the time to talk to us.
Is there honestly anyone out there that doesn’t have fond memories of NBA Jam? It’s part of every adult gamer’s past, whether pumping quarters into an arcade machine or playing some late night Tournament Edition with a friend on the Super Nintendo. Over the years the game has evolved, with several iterations in the 90’s, a solid last-gen release in 2003, and last year’s retail release. But perhaps the biggest jump in innovation comes in On Fire Edition, out tomorrow on Xbox Live Arcade.
While the 2010 edition of NBA Jam was meant to be true to the arcade, On Fire Edition takes those principles and set them on, well, fire quite frankly. NBA Jam producer Cody Sawatsky cited over 1,000 gameplay tweaks, changes and enhancements were made since the 2010 installment, including updated AI, new playable characters, easter eggs and more. It’s kind of like taking a new Camaro and stuffing in an even bigger engine, a kickin’ stereo and a set of sweet rims.
Sega teases Daytona USA announcement with video and contest
Start your engines racing fans, Sega just might have something special coming your way! Earlier today Sega made a blog post that included a teaser video hinting at an …
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15 years ago
Five gaming trends that need to end
Everyone has that list of things that bug you about video gaming, the sequel syndrome, DLC overflow, etc. Having been a part of the media side of the industry for a while now I’ve developed a few of my own. These are things that I just can’t stand, and I’ll wholly admit that I might not always be fully educated on all the matters, but I think making five changes can help the gaming industry and community for the better.
15 years ago
XBLAFancast Special – Orcs Must Die! interview
Orcs have been a problem throughout the universe for all eternity. Well. Maybe not, but they still have to die! And so they will in Robot Entertainment’s action tower defense strategy game Orcs Must Die! Justin Korthoff, Community Manager at Robot Ent, joins myself and John Laster to discuss the game’s origin, some details about Robot Ent, and of course the awesome points of the game.
Justin goes over the bit of time following Ensemble Studios’ collapse all the way up through the beginning of Orcs Must Die!, and how small the game started at first. On top of that is the birth of a lot of the game mechanics, how three traps turned into over 20, and how the crossbow and various other elements of the game were balanced to ensure that each of the game’s levels played differently. This podcast is full of great insight into the processes regarding this game’s development and the result of those design strategies.
Venture forth and listen!
[podcast]https://xblafans.com/xblafancast/XBLAFancastOMDInterview.mp3[/podcast]
15 years ago
What we are playing: Week of October 2
What we are playing is a weekly column that appears each weekend. Various staff members let the world know what games had them hooked the past week and which ones …
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15 years ago
XBLA’s Most Wanted: Quake II
Call us nostalgic if you want, but we want yet another Quake game to come to Xbox Live Arcade. We’ve got Quake Arena Arcade, which is an enhanced version of Quake III Arena. We’ve got Quake IV via retail, and we’ve already petitioned id Software for the original Quake on XBLA. Now it’s Quake II‘s turn.
Here’s the thing: it’s already been released on the Xbox 360 once before, in a manner of speaking. It came as a bonus feature with Quake IV. It had the entire game, system link, and four player splitscreen. While it didn’t feature any graphical improvements or Xbox Live support, it was a proper port (read: not emulated) and so gets the ball rolling for an XBLA release.
15 years ago
Gladiator Map Pack now available for SkyDrift
Digital Reality has announced that the Gladiator Map Pack for SkyDrift is now available on the Xbox Live Marketplace. The Gladiator Map Pack gives players access to the new …
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15 years ago
Section 8: Prejudice sale and contest
To celebrate the Section 8: Prejudice sale this week, we are partnering with TimeGate Studios to give away some T-Shirts and some DLC tokens to go with the game …
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