Disney

If PAX East 2013 is remembered for anything, it will undoubtedly be the contagion that swept the showroom floor. It wasn’t some handshake-induced strain that whipped through attendees and across the vast reaches of the internet. It was something far more potent: the long-dreamed resurrection of DuckTales and its infectious tune, spreading with airborne hums and whistles. By day’s end nowhere was safe, and among the eager mobs huddled around Capcom’s display booth hoping to catch a glimpse of their childhoods, it was ground zero.

When sounds of the infectious DuckTales Remastered theme song caught the ear of XBLAFans, we naturally investigated. We were intent on finding the culprit, daring to believe rumors of the nostalgic possibilities at the end of the line. What we found was Capcom Senior Product Marketing Manager Matt Dahlgren manning an arcade machine surrounded by toe-tapping onlookers and a flurry of questions.

“The whole game has been built from the ground up. They did start with the 8-bit version but everything’s been layered on top of it,” said Dahlgren, speaking of developer WayForward Technologies. “It has hand-drawn and animated sprites – the game looks like the cartoon.”

Read More

Star Wars: First Assault isn’t the reincarnation of the now defunct Battlefront series like many had hoped. According to a Kotaku report citing an unnamed source who is said to be “familiar with the project,” Star Wars: First Assault is a first-person shooter consisting of 8-on-8 matches between the Rebel Alliance and Imperial Stormtroopers.

First Assault popped up on our radar last year, when LucasArts — the gaming arm of the Lucas empire — filed trademark and domain registrations for the title. It was a move that was not-so-subtly reinforced a month later when a solitary image leaked depicting a confrontation between opposing ground forces of the Star Wars universe, complete with an XBLA banner.

We’ve since suspected that Star Wars: First Assault could be the byproduct of Battlefront III, the long-rumored entry to the franchise that spent six misbegotten years in development and bounced between development studios before being unceremoniously killed. Allegedly, development on Battlefront III had been merged with Star Wars: Battlefront Online, a new iteration of the series that was designed for a console generation with an approaching expiration date and collapsed under its own weight, leaving years of assets unused.

Read More

The side-scrolling Sega Genesis classic Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse may be coming to XBLA if recent classification ratings are any indication.  Not to be confused …
Read More