Iron Brigade

With no Todd this week we’re joined by our other guide co-ordinator, Shawn Saris. He joins myself and Perry in a pretty long discussion of Alan Wake’s American Nightmare, so if you want to hear why you should be playing that, come listen.

Perry has some slightly more organised news bombs this week, with lots more announcements and such to talk about. After a week off Andrew brings back Crews’ Community Corner with a twitter topic and the Remember the Days game of the week for everyone to play.

Check out the music special we put out to celebrate the podcasts one year anniversary.

Please subscribe, rate and review the podcast on iTunes. We appreciate it! Check us out on twitter (@XBLAFans) where you can win codes for games, give us feedback or just ask a question. We are also now on Stitcher, so you can stream the show on your smartphone, give it a go!

Big thanks to Chris Green for the awesome theme music, be sure to check out his site BlurredEdge and why not follow him on twitter too @BlurredEdge.

[podcast]https://xblafans.com/xblafancast/XBLAFancastEp51.mp3[/podcast]

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Double Fine is offering Iron Brigade players an item pack featuring items based on its 2009 game Brutal Legend – and all they have to do is sign up for a newsletter.
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Weekend Rant is a non-regularly occurring weekend mini-editorial. In layman’s terms that basically means that if a staff member has something they want to rant about they can do so on any given weekend.

There’s a list of disturbing trends that have developed within the gaming industry this generation, and they revolve around cooperative play. Co-op is nothing new to gaming. It has existed since the earliest days of coin-op arcade machines going back decades. This generation however, co-op has evolved. No longer do we just get to tread through a game’s campaign with a friend, sometimes we get an entire stand alone co-op campaign. In other instances, we get completely unique cooperative modes with their own setup and rules like the highly successful Horde mode in Gears of War, or Zombie mode in Call of Duty. More than ever, developers are taking advantage of the fact that its just plain fun to play games with your friends. The evolution of co-op has also unfortunately created problems. And its about time we start talking about them.

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It’s a bumper episode this week, with one of our longest ever. We kick it off by talking about last week’s release of Shank 2, which we pretty much universally enjoyed. Be sure to check out our character unlock guide if you decide to pick it up. Speaking of guides, after spending a lot of time with Rise of the Martian bear for the guide, Todd isn’t keen to play it again any time soon.

After discussing some of the other random games we’ve been playing Perry brings the news. Which includes some Kickstarter discussion and debate about Gotham City Impostors approach to DLC. Then Andrew poses @MizzouGaming‘s twitter question to us, which leads to a long discussion about our thoughts on the past and future of XBLA. He then challenges us all to play Assault Heroes, so check it out and let us know what you think on twitter or the comments.

Please subscribe, rate and review the podcast on iTunes. We appreciate it! Check us out on twitter (@XBLAFans) where you can win codes for games, give us feedback or just ask a question. We are also now on Stitcher, so you can stream the show on your smartphone, give it a go!

Big thanks to Chris Green for the awesome theme music, be sure to check out his site BlurredEdge and why not follow him on twitter too @BlurredEdge.

[podcast]https://xblafans.com/xblafancast/XBLAFancastEp49.mp3[/podcast]

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Welcome back to the regiment, marine! That’s right, our very first big guide is back for the DLC nearly a year since the original release. Five new levels, two new survival levels, and over 50 pieces of loot and we’ve got the how-to to all of it. Big thanks to our Andrew Crews, Ryan Reynolds, Shawn Saris and his friend Tyler for helping us get through this challenging installment of Iron Brigade DLC. The DLC is currently available for 400 MSP and you can check out our review if you’re not sure you whether or not you should be jumping back into this game after it’s been so long.

For those of you who are diving back in or already have, we’ve got level guides to each of the five levels including what loot is acquired on those levels (so you don’t have to check the loot-specific guide) and strategies for getting gold medals (though they aren’t necessary for achievements this time around) and of course a wave breakdown for each. On top of that we’ve got the traditional loot guide complete with images for all the weapons, chassis and emplacements including all the stats and unlock locations. Lastly we have our guides to both survival maps, both of which provide quite a bit of a challenge. On top of that, each level and survival level have videos accompanying them, so do feel free to check those out if reading is too much work for you (the link can be found in the actual page if you want both). Without further a do, enjoy your guide to the Rise of the Martian Bear! Read More

Shankin’ and Shootin’
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Last week was a big Kinect week on XBLA, so we decided to get Xbox Kinect Fans writer Nick DePetris to join us and share his thoughts. Sadly that means no Todd this week, but don’t let that put you off we still have a fun packed show for you.

Nick kicks things off by telling us about Double Fine’s Happy Action Theater and Rhythm Party, both of which are pretty interesting additions to the Kinect library. Myself and Andrew played a bit of Iron Brigade DLC pack, Rise of the Martian Bear, which we don’t mind telling you is pretty tough!

Perry drops many a news bomb on us, check below for links to the full stories we discussed.

In Crews’ Community Corner Andrew chooses a twitter question in which @wolvie75 asked what our dream Summer of Arcade line up would be, choosing from the previous promotions. You’ll have to listen to the show to find out our answers though. Also be sure to check out Carcassonne for Remember The Days and let us know what you think on twitter.

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. We are also now on Stitcher, so you can stream the show on your smartphone, give it a go!

Big thanks again to Chris Green for the awesome theme music, be sure to check out his site BlurredEdge and why not follow him on twitter too @BlurredEdge.

[podcast]https://xblafans.com/xblafancast/XBLAFancastEp48.mp3[/podcast]

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Iron Brigade: Rise of the Martian Bear was developed by Double Fine Productions and published by Microsoft. It was released February 1, 2012 for 400 MSP. A copy was provided for review purposes.

Iron Brigade is a game with a rich history. That history involves a plethora of fun, customization, shots fired, explosions, lawsuits, name changes, and now, a chapter about bears in outer space. Rise of the Martian Bear is the first downloadable content to be released for Iron Brigade, Double Fine Productions’ take on tower defense originally released in June of last year. The add-on expands upon Iron Brigade in almost every way imaginable, giving fans more of what they loved, and plenty of new toys to boot. By now you’ve certainly heard that two-handed salutes have made their way into the game, but let’s dive into the rest of what awaits us on Mars.

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The Martian Bear Rises
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We’ve got a double dose of Double Fine and something for your dancing shoes this week on XBLA Wednesday. First up, more a collection of activities than a videogame, …
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