Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams

Thanks for joining us again for the weekly round up of the Deals with Gold. Just in time for the holidays, gift someone multiple games thanks to a huge sale …
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Germany based publisher and developer BitComposer Games has recently filed for regular insolvency proceedings on December 3, 2014.

Insolvency is the inability to pay back debt when owed.

BitComposer claims that its problems come from “the financial difficulties of its suppliers in game development” and that game operations are “running smoothly”.

Prior to the events on December 3, BitComposer filed for a protective shield procedure on September 26, 2014 in an attempt to protect itself from foreclosure from creditors while giving itself time to come up with a plan for insolvency. The company is now searching for investors to help continue gaming development.

What does this mean for Xbox gamers? Find out below.

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Giana Sisters Twisted Dreams – Director’s Cut was developed and published by Black Forest Games on the Xbox One. It was released on December 12, 2014 for $14.99. A copy was provided for review purposes.

The Giana Sisters started off in a title known as The Great Giana Sisters which was released in 1987 on the Commodore 64. The title caused many controversies as the game’s design was incredibly similar to another popular platformer released at that time, Super Mario Bros. As a result, the brand went quiet for many years. Fast forward to 2012, Black Forest Games was successfully funded by a Kickstarter campaign for a project known as Project Giana. After more time passed, Giana Sisters Twisted Dreams was released on the Xbox Live Marketplace for the Xbox 360 on March 20, 2013. Moving ahead to current times, Giana Sisters Twisted Dreams – Director’s Cut was released on the Xbox Live Marketplace for the Xbox One on December 12, 2014.

When I first got a hold of Giana Sisters Twisted Dreams – Director’s Cut, I thought to myself, this is going to be great. Giana Sisters Twisted Dreams for the Xbox 360 was a blast and I’m excited to see the new improvements and extra content that is included in the Director’s Cut. After playing through the game extensively to provide a quality review, I’m at a loss for words to describe my experience. Then I found it. Let me show you below.

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The historical origins of Giana Sisters date back to 1987 with the release of The Great Giana Sisters on the Commodore 64. Fast forward to March 20, 2013, Xbox Live Arcade saw the release of Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams for $15.00 USD. For fans of the XBLA game and curious newcomers alike, Black Forest Games is introducing Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams — Director’s Cut to Xbox One users on December 12, 2014 for 14,99 € and undisclosed USD price.

What is the difference between the Xbox 360 version and Xbox One version?

More everything.

This release encompasses the original Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams as well as the add-on Rise of the Owlverlord. On top of that, Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams — Director’s Cut will also contain The Christmas Levels and The Halloween Levels, which will total for 38 action filled levels in 1080p HD graphics at 60 frames per second.

Included after the jump is an early announcement trailer of the festivities coming soon.

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Indie developers Black Forest Games have revealed that Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams has now sold over one million copies. The game was released on XBLA one year ago today …
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The year 2013 has come and gone, and you know what that means: XBLA Fans dropped the ball on getting our Game of the Year awards out during the same calendar year the games released. Apologies for our tardiness, but we’re here today to make it up to you with our awards for the very best XBLA games to release in 2013.

After eight long and (mostly) wonderful years on the market, the Xbox 360 saw the beginning of its end in 2013 when its successor, the Xbox One, launched in November. Of course, Microsoft’s last-gen console and Xbox Live Arcade platform weren’t about to go quietly into that good night. No, major releases continued throughout the year for Xbox 360 XBLA, and that trend looks to continue well into 2014 and possibly even beyond. That meant that picking out the best of the best XBLA games released last year was every bit as difficult for us as it’s been any other year. Games like Charlie Murder and Skulls of the Shogun were strong competitors that just missed landing on our list of 2013’s best.

But enough about the games that didn’t make the cut. Let’s get down to what you came here for: the best XBLA games of 2013. Read on for XBLA Fans’ picks and let us know what your favorites were and which 2014 game you think will be worthy of being named Game of the Year at the end of next December.

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Gamasutra has published its XBLA sales analysis for the month of March, which notes some interesting movement that has shaken up recent trends. Storming onto the charts with a …
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What we are playing is a weekly column published on Sunday. Select members  of the team talk about the games they’ve been playing over the past week and  which they’re …
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Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams is the rare platformer in today’s world that is simultaneously incredibly demanding and very satisfying. The game, ported to XBLA from the first batch of Steam Greenlight games, was originally part of a successful Kickstarter project. The game’s protagonist, Giana, derives her name from the original Great Giana Sisters of the 1980s which was most well known for being successfully sued by Nintendo for its close similarities to Super Mario Bros. The new game maintains the charm of an older era while demonstrating a keen awareness of how graphics and sound have improved in 25 years between the original and Twisted Dreams.

The game’s main mechanic involves Giana’s ability to shift between two different forms, which shifts the entire world’s graphics and music accordingly. Players will find themselves shifting back and forth between worlds extremely rapidly at times — it recalls the shifting of Ikaruga and Outcast, though with substantial changes to the environment also, not just the main character.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6i3T5mQfry8

Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams, the Kickstarter success from Black Forest Games, officially launched today for Xbox Live Arcade at 1200 MSP. To celebrate the release, the studio has issued …
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