XBLA

Gamasutra has published their XBLA sales analysis for December 2011. December was a slow month for XBLA games, but also very solid. The leader of the bunch was the re-release of Sonic …
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Castlevania has been a major part of the gaming world for over 20 years, bringing us many a Dracula slaying tale. This story encompasses many families, crosses thousands of years, and tells stories of love, betrayal, power and revenge. Each game delivers a solid story, but some lack the gameplay it takes to keep non-enthusiasts interested. Through out the years Castlevania has appeared on almost every system since the NES, telling one piece or another of this amazing story.

Though this is a huge story encompassing many years and games, it all started with just one game. The basis was simple: every 100 years Dracula comes back from the dead unleashing his evil terror upon the world. You control Simon Belmont, a man who comes from a long line of Vampire hunters. With Dracula awake and doing his worst, Simon sets out to send him back to where he comes from, just like his family members before him have done.

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AMY was developed by VectorCell and published by Lexis Numérique. It was released on January 11, 2012 for 800 MSP. A copy was provided for review purposes.

AMY is a survival horror game much along the lines of the original Resident Evil or Silent Hill–at least that’s the plan. Unfortunately about the only things AMY and those games have in common are a good idea and some clunky controls. Apparently there’s some unwritten rule that to be a member of the survival-horror genre, your game must play like it was made in the mid to late 90’s. You are Lana, a seemingly big-hearted woman who has been infected. The task is simple, figure out what the hell is going on and keep Amy alive. Along the way you will meet several infected, a couple intriguing characters and few shady ones. Not much more to explain then that, now for the guts of this thing . . .

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The Nintendo has always had a fond place in many gamers hearts and one of the forgotten games from that era is Fester’s Quest. It was a top-down view action game based off of none other then Uncle Fester from the Addams Family. The story line was completely off the wall, Aliens appear and start taking over the town, so you (Fester) grab your gun and go forth to become the savior. Encountering many of the Addams family members along the way who help you and make for some rather funny run-ins. Fester’s Quest was was a fun adventure taking you all over town, creating chaos with all sorts of aliens and bosses.

Fester’s Quest relied heavily on the actual fun of the gameplay, which is all games really had back then, requiring you to stay in-tune with what was going on if you wanted to continue on to the next section. The over-head view  gives a very Zelda-like feel, but was not the only one you encountered during this journey. As you find out the developers ventured into 3D with mazes that you had to journey through in certain sections. Filled with tons of weapons, characters, enemies and collectible items, Fester’s Quest provided an abundance of entertainment for its era.
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NFL Blitz was developed by EA Tiburon and published by EA Sports. It was released on January 4, 2011 for 1200 MSP. A copy was provided for review purposes.

One of the most beloved video game franchises of all-time is back. Although EA now has the right to the license, it means it’s being developed by a studio that knows how to make football games. EA Tiburon has tried to make a full-featured product, packed with several online game modes. This does not mean the newest NFL Blitz in the series is perfect. While it’s not riddled with bugs or glitches, it seems like a much more laid back NFL Blitz experience. Which is unlike the crazy atmosphere that usually surrounded past games in the franchise.

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Everyone loves playing games with their friends. Some of the best moments aren’t the game itself, but some interaction with each other: the trash talking, the gloating–you know how it is. But let’s be honest, sometimes we want to game solo: just you, your controller and some awesome gameplay. That’s why this weeks Top 5 is all about the best single player games on Xbox Live Arcade. Here are some great experiences that are definitely worth your time, whatever your play style: action, adventure, puzzle, artsy, you name it and it is here.

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More sales on four great XBLA titles!
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More DLC added to the XBLA library.
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Coming hot off the heels of the recent board ratings for the long awaited Fez and Trials Evolution, we’ve come across quite a few more XBLA ratings as we …
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The 12 Days of XBLA was an amazing success and we hope to bring you all more contests like this in the years to come. Thanks to all of our awesome community members for participating with over 1700 entries in a twelve day span, that’s quite an impressive turnout. And a huge thanks to the fine people at Microsoft and all the developers/publishers that donated all the prizes. Without them, none of this would be possible.

With that said, let’s get to the moment we have all been waiting for. After all the dust settled and we ran our random number generator for one last time in 2011, we are now proud to announce @OnyxPrimal as the winner of the Grand Prize worth over $150! Congratulations, you have won a copy of the following XBLA games: Read More