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Microsoft's latest inexplicable picks for the Arcade Hits collection
You remember the Arcade Hits collection, don't you? It's the selection of discounted XBLA titles offered by Microsoft. Ostensibly, these are titles that were popular enough that they can now be offered at a reduced price. Now, we have a task for you: We want you to think of three games that you think should be given the honor of becoming an Arcade Hit. Nope, it's not that one. Not that one either. That one isn't even close. Nope, the three titles that have now entered the hallowed halls of the Arcade hits are Brain Challenge, 3D Ultra MiniGolf Adventures and Street Fighter II Hyper Fighting, all of which will be permanently knocked down to 400 ($5) this Wednesday. That's right, a Brain Age clone, a game you forgot even existed and a game that has already been remastered and made better in every way. Also on sale this Wednesday, for free, no less: Utter bewilderment.
NintendoWare Weekly: Bit Boy!! brings the bits
This week's biggest release is undoubtedly Bplus' Bit Boy!!, an odd title that pays homage to the various bits that make up gaming's past. Bit Boy!! runs the gamut from gaming's humble beginnings during the 4-bit era, all the way up to the last generation's 128-bit capabilities. The goal is to rescue Bit Boy Kubi's pals, who've been imprisoned across the various worlds.
VC/WiiWare Friday: Happy Hanabi Festival
Nintendo of Europe's Hanabi Festival returns, bringing with it, of course, import games! Fantastic stuff is available this week on Virtual Console: Pulseman, a Mega Man-style platformer from a pre-Pokemon Game Freak, and Ogre Battle, the legendary strategy title from Yasumi Matsuno's Quest.This week's awesomeness extends to WiiWare, with both Bplus's Bit Boy!!, the maze action game that shuffles between various levels of retro, and Gradius Rebirth, which settles at the 16-bit era. And on DSiWare, the Mario calculator and clock apps arrive. Roll your eyes all you want, but they're surprisingly delightful. Details after the break.Nintendo also announced Hanabi Festival titles you can expect in following weeks: Bomberman '94, Kirby's Dream Land 3, Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics II, MUSHA, Detana!! Twinbee, and the NES Smash Table Tennis!
Xbox deal this week is a 'Brain Challenge'
It's quite the coincidence that after challenging our brains week after week about how the Xbox "Deal of the Week" is determined, Brain Challenge ends up becoming this week's offering. The glorified mobile app isn't "bad," but we still have to think real hard if it's worth the 400 ($5) price -- at its standard 800 ($10) price, we feel a purchase would put us in the same category as Abby Normal's cerebral matter.If you're in the market for some cranial exercise, this would be the week to get the Brain Age clone. Just be prepared to learn that a purchase is unlikely to make you any smarter.[Add Brain Challenge to your Xbox 360 download queue]%Gallery-14098%
Brain Challenge title update adds Avatar support
Brain Challenge just joined the short list of Xbox Live Arcade games that support Avatars, as confirmed by Major Nelson's recent Tweet. Avatar support is installed into Brain Challenge via a new title update, automatically downloaded the next time you launch the game online. While we'll take our cameos wherever we can get 'em, Brain Challenge wasn't exactly the next destination we had in mind for our cartoon likenesses. Street Fighter II HD on the other hand ... now that's the kind of game we could really see ourselves in!%Gallery-14098%
Trophies: Brain Challenge
0 Platinum1 Gold4 Silver7 Bronze Difficulty: Impossible Online Trophies? Yes Time to Completion: 100+ hoursDLC Trophies? No View Trophy List Read More About the Game %Gallery-18071%
It's a Yummy Yummy Cooking Jam Brain Challenge on WiiWare
These two entries to the WiiWare have been on Earth for a little over three hours now, so we're going to dispense with making any effort to educate you about them, and just skip right to the making fun of them. Yummy Yummy Cooking Jam (Virtual Toys, 1-2 players,1,000 Wii Points): Here are just a few names for a game better than Yummy Yummy Cooking Jam. (1) Stalin's Underage Keg Stand Downhill Huckjam. (2) Making Stuff Sticky 2: The Stickying. (3) Imagine Tax Adjusterz. Brain Challenge (Gameloft, 1-4 players, 1,000 Wii Points): This has been one of our favorite cellphone pastimes for ages now. So, if you use your Wii as a cellphone, we don't think you should pass it up. Also, (4) Pepsi Pete: The Podracing Penguin.
VC Friday: Resistance is futile
EX-TERM-IN-ATE! EX-TERM-IN-ATE! Wait, no, those are the other ones. But whatever. The point is: after hearing nothing about Space Invaders Get Even! for months, the game has randomly appeared on the European and Australian Wii Shops. We are unashamedly jigging with joy as we type this. And the extra-terrestial goodness doesn't stop there, for Alien Crush Returns has also joined the line-up. Needless to say, we wholeheartedly welcome our new rulers (of all our spare time). The other game is Brain Challenge. Sorry, Brain Challenge. Alien Crush Returns -- WiiWare -- 800 Nintendo Points Brain Challenge -- WiiWare -- 1000 Nintendo Points Space Invaders Get Even! -- WiiWare -- 500 Nintendo Points %Gallery-25384%
VC Tuesday: Party time! Excellent!
How can the Wii have been in stores for two years without a Tetris game? At least Hudson is compensating for the lack of the staple video game with one that is both awesome-looking and cheap. It's being joined on WiiWare by a cheapo darts game and Brain Challenge -- which was actually pretty good on the DS. On the Virtual Console, a super old sidescroller from Sunsoft that looks like a slowed-down, more awkward Legend of Kage, and a totally cute Taito classic!Virtual Console releases: Kanshakudama Nage Kantarou no Toukaidou Gojuusan Tsugi (Famicom, 1-2 players, 500 Wii Points) The New Zealand Story (PC Engine, 1 player, 600 Wii Points) WiiWare releases: Darts Wii (1-4 players, 500 Wii Points) Brain Challenge (1-4 players, 1,000 Wii Points) Tetris Party (1-6 players, 1,200 Wii Points) %Gallery-18122%
Gameloft developing for PS3 and PSP?
If you've heard of the name Gameloft before, chances are you've played your fair share of Desperate Housewives on your mobile phone. Either that or you've got a thing for WiiWare games. Whatever your poison is, you'll want to keep watch over the primarily-mobile-phone-dev as it just might be making way onto PlayStation platforms.According to the eagle-eyed at Siliconera, the USK -- Germany's ESRB equivalent -- rated Gameloft's Brain Challenge as both a PS3 and PSP title. It looks like the trivia game might be heading to the PSN as a downloadable title ... at least for Germany anyhow.
DS Fanswag: Puzzle pack reminder
Our latest contest ends tomorrow, which means you still have two chances to get your name in the hat. Just head over to the original post and leave a comment for your chance to win Professor Layton and the Curious Village, along with Brain Challenge.
DS Fanswag: Pick up a professor-approved puzzle pack!
Need a couple of new games to play? DS Fanboy is here for you with another awesome prize pack. This time, we've got Professor Layton and the Curious Village ($29.99), along with Brain Challenge ($19.99). Could two games be any more similar, and yet different? You'll have to try to win them and find out! All you have to do is leave a comment below telling us about your favorite puzzle game of all time. We've got some good news with this contest as well -- DS Fanboy giveaways are now open to Canadian readers (except for Quebec, sadly)! So if you're 18 or older, and a legal resident of the United States or Canada (minus Quebec), you're cleared to enter once per day between now and March 23. The giveaway will end that evening at 11:59 PM Eastern. We'll select one winner in a random drawing and announce the name of the lucky reader on Monday, March 24. Have questions? Check the official rules.
X3F TV -- XBLA in Brief: Bliss Island and Brain Challenge
XBLA in Brief returns this week with a two-for-one look at both Bliss Island and Brain Challenge. Bliss Island is a strange collection of boring mini-games that clocks in at 400 MS points. Brain Challenge is a pretty good knockoff of Brain Age for the Nintendo DS. One of them is actually entertaining. That game is not Bliss Island. We'll give you one guess as to which game was halfway decent. Watch the video above and rejoice in the fact that you will never have to play Bliss Island.[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (MP3).[Zune] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in Zune Marketplace (MP3).[RSS] Add the Xbox 360 Fanboy Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically.[M4V] Download the M4V directly.
Brains and Bliss make their XBLA debut [update]
Update: There was some confusion, but Bliss Island is in fact 400 Microsoft points.Gather the siblings, kids and parents, it's Xbox Live Arcade Wednesday and we have two brand new releases! Both Gameloft's 800 point, mind straining Brain Challenge and Codemasters' 800 point 400 point old-school Bliss Island are available for download right now and we're sure both games are eagerly awaiting your purchase. And to help with your downloading decisions, we've ever so kindly uploaded a few screenshots into their respective galleries below. Personally, we're committing to a Brain Challenge trial download, because we're curious to see how much of our noggin those virtual doctors think we use. Here's to hoping we obtain the genius stamp of approval!%Gallery-18175%%Gallery-14098%
This Wednesday: Brain Challenge, Bliss Island on XBLA
It's a holiday for puzzle fans on Xbox Live Arcade this week, both for the nose-in-the-books types and those who like their brain-teasing a bit more whimsical. First up is the Gameloft-developed Brain Challenge which (if you haven't already guessed) appears to be in the Brain Age vein, but with the addition of modes (like ones that test your ability to deal with stress and one for the kids) and online multiplayer. You can pick it up for 800 points ($10).Also on tap, a visit to Codemasters' Bliss Island, where you'll play "Hoshi the Zwooph, a mystical blue creature that emits precise puffs of air to create clouds" (yes, we know, it's a total rip-off of The Wire). You can play through 25 puzzles or challenge friends if you pony up the required 400 points ($5). Both will drop on the service on Wednesday.%Gallery-18070%%Gallery-18071%
Brain Challenge and Bliss Island headed to XBLA
This Wednesday, March 12th both the mind hurting Brain Challenge and puzzling lands of Bliss Island will be available for download off the Xbox Live Arcade. Brain Challenge features numerous questions that'll test your cognitive abilities, online and offline multiplayer and all kinds of progressive charts all for 800 Microsoft points. PomPom Games' Bliss Island is an interesting puzzle game which comes packed with over 25 challenges, nine levels, online multiplayer and can be downloaded for 400 points. Remember, both games will be available this Wednesday and if you can't remember that ... well, then we recommend you give Brain Challenge a purchase. Yah dig?
DS Fanboy Review: Brain Challenge
Ubisoft's Brain Challenge is an odd little game. Like their other training games that we've encountered, there's definitely a lot to love here, and that's quite an accomplishment when you consider that the brain-training genre is dominated by our beloved Dr. Kawashima and his endlessly-Photoshoppable head. But the game is far from perfect, and the problems we encountered were frustrating indeed. In the end, however, Brain Challenge just might edge out Brain Age and its sequel, though it's a close race.But let's focus first on some of the positives. The first, glaringly obvious improvement that comes with Brain Challenge is the handwriting recognition. Calling it "incredible" may not even do the title justice; in hours of play, nary a single problem was observed, no matter how messily fours and sevens were scribbled in the rush to beat the clock. If that were the only thing Brain Challenge got right, it would be enough to give it a lasting place among training games.%Gallery-14453%
Brain Challenge screenshots for the brainy
Using our brains (ha, ha!), we dug through a pile of Xbox Live Arcade screenshots today and came across brand new Brain Challenge images. New Brain Challenge screenshots that we've kindly placed in a gallery below. New screenshots that give us better insight to what the game is about and how it'll be played. And from the looks of things, this Brain Challenge will be similar to the numerous brain testers on the Nintendo DS and is overflowing with that patented Japanese feel as well. Japanese artwork including balancing pandas and running sheep as well as an insightful doctor. And if we had to be nit-picky, we'd say our only worry is that the game's control scheme will hinder the player during the fast paced problem solving. Other than that, this looks to be a brain bending winner.%Gallery-14098%
December and January XBLA games revealed
In a press release announcing the Fall Update's Xbox Live Arcade Hits program, Microsoft also announced the next few months' upcoming Xbox Live Arcade games that are scheduled for release. As things stand right now, the next XBLA games to get released are Arkadian Warriors, Brain Challenge, GripShift, N+, Omega Five, Poker Smash, Rez HD and Sensible World of Soccer. No specific release schedule for each game has been confirmed just yet, but it's always nice to see what's headed down the old XBLA pipeline. And this list also lets us officially get excited for N+ and Rez HD. A big w00t to that!
