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PSN Summer Sale drops prices on Scott Pilgrim, Pac-Man CE DX, and more next week
If your PlayStation Plus membership is still active next week, you'll be privy to some deep, deep discounts between July 12 and July 19 thanks to Sony's PSN Summer Sale. If your membership has lapsed, you'll still get discounts, but only one "deep" worth. Sony announced the 11 games that will form the basis of the sale, including Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Shank, Pac-Man Championship Edition DX, Chime Super Deluxe, the Move-enhanced port of Dead Space: Extraction, and more. Plus members will save 50% off the normal price, while everyone else will grab a nice 30% discount. Check out the full list after the break. If you see anything you like, we suggest going and purchasing a PSN card to pay for it, on account of ... recent events.
Croft, Comic Jumper, TMNT this week's XBL Deal of the Week, Torchlight next week
This week's Xbox Live Deal of the Week deals are organized under the generous umbrella of "Mutants and more!" The soon-to-be-pulled TMNT: Turtles in Time Re-Shelled is available for just $5 / 400 Microsoft Points until July 4. (Note: Ubisoft told us it would be pulled at the end of this month.) That's certainly mutant-themed, so what's next? X-Men Arcade is also 50% off at just $5, so that's another mutant-themed offering. So there's something of a theme here ... ... except the other three games are non-mutant-themed! The excellent Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light is 50% off, dropping the asking price to just $7.50 / 600 Microsoft Points, while both Comic Jumper and Hard Corps: Uprising are 50% off, dropping their sticker prices to $5 / 400 Microsoft points each. While we love those deep discounts, is it too much to ask for a solid theme? Next week's offerings, while more thematically consistent, aren't nearly as delicious. The highlight for "Heatin' Up Summer" is definitely Torchlight for 33% off, at $10 / 800 Microsoft Points. Less enticing offerings include: Dante's Inferno DLC, a Medal of Honor map pack, and a Red Hot Chili Peppers album for Rock Band.
Xbox Live leaderboard data shows how House Party promotion fared
GamerBytes did a little number-crunching on the Xbox Live Arcade leaderboards for last month, and while we don't have exact numbers on Xbox Live titles (other than Major Nelson's usual list of most-played and purchased games), these are usually a rough indication of what business was like on Microsoft's network last month. Bionic Commando: Re-armed 2 was the biggest disappointment, picking up fewer than 10,000 players on the leaderboards, compared to over 130K first-week sales for the first title. Hard Corps: Uprising, the first game to come out under Microsoft's "House Party" banner, brought in a few more players, at around 27K, and Bejeweled Blitz Live did pretty well (for a game that's on nearly every platform known to man in its basic form) with over 14K new players in the single week of February it was out. Sales were big drivers -- Hydrophobia picked up over 10,000 new players thanks to a sale, and Geometry Wars 2 saw a huge bump as well. Outside of the new titles, Pinball FX 2 and Trials HD continue to grow their leaderboards.
Hard Corps Uprising DLC adds one more soldier to the Corps
The "Leviathan" DLC is now available for the Xbox Live Arcade version of Hard Corps: Uprising, Konami's downloadable run-and-gun whose similarity to Contra is total coincidence, we're sure. The DLC isn't available on PlayStation Network yet because ... the game won't be available on PSN until tomorrow. The 200-point ($2.50) add-on introduces Leviathan, a playable character that has only one weapon slot, but compensates with a back-flip grenade throw move and sliding attack. Two previous DLC characters, Harley and Sayuri, are also available for purchase on the Xbox Marketplace.%Gallery-119029%
XBLA in Brief: Hard Corps: Uprising
The first title in the Xbox Live Arcade House Party promotion has been released. A Contra game in all but name, Hard Corps: Uprising should prove very familiar to series fans. In fact, it might even be a bit too familiar. Take a look at the latest XBLA in Brief and see if this game tickles your trigger finger. [iTunes] Subscribe to XBLA in Brief directly in iTunes. [Zune] Subscribe to the XBLA in Brief directly. [RSS] Add the XBLA in Brief feed to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically. [M4V] Download the M4V directly.
Xbox Live House Party titles (Beyond Good & Evil HD, Torchlight) dated, priced
Just in the nick of time, Microsoft has announced dates and prices for its month-long Xbox Live Arcade House Party promotion. Things kick off on February 16 with Arc System Works' not-Contra side-scroller, Hard Corps: Uprising, priced at 1200 points ($15), followed by PopCap's Bejeweled Blitz on February 23, for 800 points ($10). Things really get moving on March 2, when Beyond Good & Evil HD is released for the eminently reasonable price of 800 points. The last two releases will undoubtedly gather the most attention: the excellent, heretofore computer-bound, dungeon crawler Torchlight will be released on March 9 for 1200 points, while Microsoft's Live-enabled Full House Poker makes its debut on March 16 for a surprisingly low 800 points.
Hard Corps: Uprising priced, screenshotted
Leading the charge on February 16 in XBLA's House Party promotion is Konami's "not-Contra" title, Hard Corps: Uprising, for 1200 MS points ($15). Alongside the news of the game's price, Konami dropped off a gaggle of new screenshots as well. No Bill or Lance to be found, unfortunately.
Torchlight coming to Xbox Live Arcade with new content for House Party series
Runic Games has announced that the Diablo-esque RPG Torchlight is coming to Xbox Live Arcade for the upcoming House Party series of releases. The game has apparently been remade to use the Xbox controller (with dual sticks for moving and attacking, bumpers for potions, and hotkeys assigned to triggers and buttons), and given a new interface for the console release. There will also be "new quests, armor sets, weapons, and a new pet" to play with as well. Consider us surprised -- it'll be interesting to see how a very PC title (that's found a lot of success on Steam) fits into Microsoft's arcade lineup. The House Party will start on February 16, and will also include a release of the Beyond Good and Evil HD remake, Hard Corps Uprising, PopCap's Bejeweled Blitz Live, and Full House Poker. That's a quality lineup right there! %Gallery-112898%
Hard Corps: Uprising is Contra in all but name
I played through the brief demo level of Hard Corps: Uprising during E3 and ... it was definitely a Contra game. (Well, apart from being able to take more than one hit before dying.) The game, which is a pseudo-sequel to Contra: Hard Corps, looked gorgeous, and, once I'd gotten used to the new dash mechanic, went from feeling a little too slow to blisteringly fast and stylish. There were countless nods to Contras past, such as flying weapon-upgrade pods, laying prone to duck under enemy fire and an end-of-level fortress spewing scatter shots and unleashing a massive energy blast to repel attackers. I only caught bits of the soundtrack on the show floor, but the iconic "level complete" tune was definitely in there. The kiosk noted that Hard Corps: Uprising is a "working title," so I really hope Konami works the Contra name in there before the game's expected launch on XBLA and PSN later this year -- so far, the game certainly seems deserving of it. Check out the first screenshots in the gallery below. %Gallery-95869%
Hard Corps: Uprising videos show the value of friendship
GameVideos recently got its hands on a pair of video demonstrations of Arc System Works and Konami's spiritual Contra successor, Hard Corps: Uprising. One features a single-player run-through of the game's opening level, while the other fills us with the capacity to love again.
Hard Corps: Uprising is new Contra for XBLA and PSN
It's Contra in all but name. That's what IGN asserts about Hard Corps: Uprising, a new PSN and XBLA run-and-gun expected for release this year. Despite the fact that the side-scrolling shooting gameplay we expect from a traditional Contra is present, and despite the fact that this is actually a sequel to the Genesis Contra: Hard Corps (starring the villain!), Konami has chosen to excise the series name from this digital release. That's not the strangest thing about this game. Development is being handled by Arc System Works, the developer and publisher of the Guilty Gear games and BlazBlue. We'll withhold judgment; after all, it turned out okay when Konami handed the license to the Ping Pals developer. At least with Arc (like with WayForward), we know we're in for great 2D art.
