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The Splatters

Weekly deals: Xbox 360 & Xbox One sales and Games with Gold
7 years ago

Weekly deals: Xbox 360 & Xbox One sales and Games with Gold

Thanks for joining us again for the weekly round up of the Deals with Gold. Please remember that all prices listed below require an Xbox Live Gold membership.

First …
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The Beautiful Puzzle Pack bundles four great XBLA games at a discount
11 years ago

The Beautiful Puzzle Pack bundles four great XBLA games at a discount

Today the Beautiful Puzzle Pack silently stepped into the new release section of the marketplace and this is not something you want to overlook. If puzzle games are your …
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What we are playing: February 3
11 years ago

What we are playing: February 3

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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The Splatters developer speaks on the difficulties of the XBLA marketplace

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The.Splatters.screenshot.soccerball

Speaking to VentureBeat, SpikySnail Games Studio founder, Niv Fisher, has commented about the struggles that indie developers encounter when marketing their games on XBLA.

In particular, the developer of XBLA game The Splatters claims that the marketplace has gotten “tougher in the last couple of years, with a few titles getting lots of promotion, exposure and sales, and the rest are getting hit pretty hard.”

Fisher argues that Microsoft can do much to address the issue, particularly with regard to the current dashboard. “I feel the current dashboard just doesn’t work well as a storefront, especially if you want to encourage discovery or diversity,” explains Fisher.

“Games are hard to find, there’s no friend-recommendation system, and lots of the store promotional space goes toward non-game applications – and now, also downloadable retail games. Sales are usually poorly promoted, and dashboard placement is sold and bartered with. Small developers like us have very little to offer here and are often left on their own.”

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Huge “Countdown to 2013” marketplace sale begins December 18
11 years ago

Huge “Countdown to 2013” marketplace sale begins December 18

In a blog post he’s since deleted, Xbox Live Director of Programming, Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb, announced the “Countdown to 2013” sale for the marketplace. The sale, which begins on December 18 and runs through December 31, will see discounts for a raft of content from certain franchises and publishers on both XBLA and the wider marketplace.

Although the official page has been pulled, the folks over at NeoGAF managed to compile a reasonably comprehensive list of the titles to go on sale and the date their discounts will take effect. Unfortunately, Major Nelson never revealed the discounted prices at any stage. But if you hope to catch any of the games or DLC in the list below for cheap, it may pay to stock up on MSP!

However, the fact that the official page has been pulled (even though most of the details are out in the wild) has us at least a little concerned, so maybe try not to pin all your hopes and dreams on the “Countdown to 2013” sale.

The full list of currently known discounted XBLA items follows:

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Deal of the Week and more: October 9 – October 15
11 years ago

Deal of the Week and more: October 9 – October 15

Another busy week of XBLA sales sees Toy Soldiers and Toy Soldiers: Cold War along with their various add-ons being discounted in this week’s Deal of the Week. Those …
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Toy Soldiers: Cold War and others half price this week
12 years ago

Toy Soldiers: Cold War and others half price this week

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Do you like saving money? Of course you like saving money! Join us, then, as we embark on an adventure across the fields of frugality. Next stop: The Microsoft Studios Sale. This midsummer week boasts no less than five games all slashed, sliced and diced in price. Wallets at the ready, thrifty friends.

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XBLA sales figures for the month of April
12 years ago

XBLA sales figures for the month of April

By  •  News

Before we go marching on into the land of statistics… Yes the following figures are based on leaderboard data. No it’s not entirely accurate. It is, however, the best barometer we have. Onward!

It’s been a fine two months. We’ve seen the likes of Trials Evolution and Minecraft shatter records, Fez and The Walking Dead revitalise dusty genres and titles like Skullgirls and The Pinball Arcade bolstering genres with an already strong showing on XBLA. Not to mention Fable: Heroes, The Splatters and Anomaly Warzone Earth rounding out a special 8 weeks.

Rewind a little to April and actual sales data isn’t quite as cheery, at least not across the board. As usual, Gamasutra has the full rundown.

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Fez claims weekly top spot in XBLA activity
12 years ago

Fez claims weekly top spot in XBLA activity

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Exalted puzzle/platformer Fez has hurtled into pole position in this week’s Live Activity leaderboards, warding off strong competition from Skullgirls which debuted at number 2. Comments from controversial helmsman …
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XBLAFancast Episode 57 – Eightieser
12 years ago

XBLAFancast Episode 57 – Eightieser

While we did record a regular show last week in addition to our three PAX specials, it got lost in the dark recesses of my hard drive never to be heard from again. So here we are back with a regular show, minus one Andrew Crews. Myself, Perry and Todd struggle on without him though and discuss some of the big releases from the past week. We hit on The Splatters and Skullgirls but the bulk of the game talk goes to Fez, don’t worry though there’s no spoilers!

Perry rushes through what little news there is before taking the opportunity to talk about some of his favourite XBLA games he saw at PAX.

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/XBLAFancastEp57.mp3[/podcast]

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