Castle Crashers

Now that the year 2012 has been set firmly in the books, the boys back at the lab have poured over the raw data to bring you the top arcade titles of the year. The figures, based on full versions sold, were tallied from January 1, 2012 through December 31, 2012, and made public thanks to Xbox Live’s Larry Hyrb.

No surprise to anyone was Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition topping the list this year. Having launched in May, the massive Minecraft community helped propel the title to well over 5 million downloads by year’s end. More impressively, the arcade adaptation outsold its robust PC cousin by nearly a million copies, securing Xbox Live Arcade as the fastest (legally) growing Minecraft community of 2012.

Trials Evolution rode into the second spot of the year’s most-purchased title on XBLA, and despite the staggering difference between first and second place, did very well for itself. Our Game of the Year, The Walking Dead wrapped up the third spot thanks to critical acclaim and its infectious word-of-mouth campaign. Pinball FX2 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive rounded out the top five, in that order.

Amazingly, the never-say-die mantra of Castle Crashers has proven itself again; moving the sixth most number of copies nearly half a decade after its initial release. Filling out the top 10, in order, are: Gotham City Impostors, I Am Alive, Fruit Ninja Kinect, and finally, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD.

You can check out these titles in list form, along with the rest of the top 20, after the jump.

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In a recent interview with Xbox 360 Magazine, John Baez from The Behemoth praised Xbox Live Arcade, saying, “I think without a doubt the indie console community would not …
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Weekly Roundup compiles all the biggest news stories, reviews and features from the week into one handy post on the weekends.

Another week of Xbox Live Arcade is in the books. This one’s been all over the map, celebrating the 10-year anniversary of a service that brings us all together. With so much happening on this platform of ours, it’s easy to lose sight of just how good we have it. If it weren’t for Xbox Live, none of us would be here, so XBLA Fans wants to know, what’s your favorite memory from the past ten years of Xbox Live gaming? Let us know in the comments and Happy Birthday, Xbox Live!

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Ten years ago Microsoft launched Xbox Live. Today, they are celebrating with a slew of rewards and discounts. The first one you should claim is Wreckateer, because it’s free for today and tomorrow (November 15-16) only. Also, Microsoft is running a sweepstakes for a special anniversary edition Xbox 360 console (sorry, North America only). Their official post has all the details and a letter from Marc Whitten thanking YOU for making Xbox Live what it is today. Here is what’s on sale…

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• Three mid-90s Sega fighters – Virtua Fighter 2, Sonic the Fighters, and Fighting Vipers – were recently rated for release on the Xbox 360 by German software regulator …
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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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The original breakout hit for XBLA, Castle Crashers, has hit a major sales milestone. Though extrapolating sales figures from XBLA leaderboards isn’t an exact science, The Behemoth now has …
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A crazy amount of new skins have been announced for Minecraft‘s second skin pack. First, we have the trio from Rare’s classic N64 shooter Jet Force Gemini. Don the appearance of interstellar heroes Juno, Vela, and Lupus, then party like it’s 1999!

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If one were to wonder what SouthEnd’s follow-up to 2010’s cute-as-a-button ilomilo would be, their  first guess might not have been a colorful side-scrolling beat-em-up in the same vein as Golden Axe or Castle Crashers. That’s just what the developer is serving up, however, as it’s just announced it will release Sacred Citadel on XBLA, PSN and PC in 2013.

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Gamespot went to visit The Behemoth‘s retro styled booth at this years San Diego Comic Con, where both their best seller Castle Crashers and upcoming platformer Battleblock Theater were playable on …
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