Limbo

We’re starting yet another feature here at XBLAFans that will showcase any newly announced Xbox Live Arcade-based avatar awards from are friends over at AvatarAwards. They’re a great site that somehow gets news on avatar awards for all 360 games before they’re released. Be sure to check them out if you’re curious about any non-XBLA related avatar awards. For simplicity’s sake and so that we don’t leech from them, each of the links below will take you to their site. Remember, these are awards, so they’re given out to the player by completing criteria in each game. For more detail hit up the Avatar Awards site. You can also follow them on Twitter at @AvatarAwards360.

We’ve got a big backlog to fill between the AvatarAwards and things that pre-date their site, so this one’s a lot longer than usual. Hit the jump to see the list. Also, let us know if we missed one.

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Blocks That Matter was developed by Swing Swing Submarine and released on May 12, 2011 and costs 240 Microsoft Points.  A copy was provided by the developer for review purposes.

Sometimes our only salvation during times of need are the products of our own intuition — creative outputs that have lagged behind because of the brevity of our attention spans — in Blocks That Matter, this is a lowly driller-robot that is tasked with a mission to finally repay its Swedish creators that have been kidnapped by a shadowy duo with sinister intentions.

You are Tetrabot, a robot that resembles a washing machine with arms, legs, a drill and a spin cycle that crushes blocks that do in fact matter, because they are not only obstacles in Tetrabot’s adventure, but also the solutions to the game’s complex puzzles. You “collect” blocks by drilling into them, and then pause the action to place them into the playing field, providing pillars to jump off and reach higher terrain. The catch is that you can only place four blocks at a time and they must connect to each other. This one-of-a-kind gameplay element will make Braid veterans scratch their heads in delightful confusion, but also make them appreciate one of XBLIG’s most remarkable titles.

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With no NPD-style analysis of XBLA and Microsoft announcements of sales data few and far between, Gamasutra has made it a habit to do monthly analyses of leaderboard data to get some kind of grip on relative success and failure in the marketplace. April’s deluge of new releases alongside a handful of sales for previously released titles meant that Gamasutra contributer Ryan Langley had a lot to parse. Read More

Get you points ready, the sale starts now!
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Many XBLA games are currently discounted at multiple locations throughout the dashboard. Capcom content is featured in the Deal of the Week section, which is located  on the “Spotlight” section of the dashboard. Also within the Deal of the Week ad is another sale of recently discounted games. Of those titles, Comic Jumper, Quake Arena Arcade and Puzzle Quest 2 have been permanently discounted to 800MS points, and Droplitz has been permanently discounted to 400MS points.

Finally we have a Microsoft Games Studios sale located in the “Spotlight” section of the dashboard. You can currently find the following 10 XBLA titles at a discount price: Read More

Earlier this month we reported that the Triple Pack, a retail title consisting of Trials HD, Limbo, and ‘Splosion Man, was coming to Japan and and the …
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Three of the best XBLA games you can get on the market are coming to Japan and the US in one disc-based retail release. On Xbox Japan’s website, …
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Today the voting for Xbox Live Arcade Awards has officially opened. All you need to do in order to vote is visit the “Spotlight” section of the dashboard and select the advertisement pictured above. You can vote for 8 different awards and apparently you can cast a new set of votes everyday until the polls close. The nominees are: Read More

Xbox Live Arcade has come a long way since its launch on the original Xbox a little over 6 years ago. Back then the selection of games was in the teens but now there are hundreds of games on the service. You can play anything from 16-bit classics like Streets of Rage 2 to exceptional original titles like Shadow Complex.

With so many games to choose from it’s hard to know what to spend your good ‘ol Microsoft Points on. Lucky for you however we at XBLAFans have taken it upon ourselves to compile a list of the 15 XBLA games you must own. The games featured (listed alphabetically because they’re just too good to rank on quality) are the best of the best. If you haven’t played a game on this list then you owe it to yourself to at least download the trial (which we’ve handily linked to) and give it a go.

So let’s get on with it shall we, below you’ll find the games we decided on and brief summaries from our writer explaining why they’re deserving of the term “must own”. If you agree or disagree with the list, or just want to comment in general please feel free to do so. Read More

First off, if you haven’t at least tried the demo of LIMBO go do that.  Since you probably have you know how simple yet effective the gameplay can …
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