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Lost Planet: Colonies, Assault Heroes 2 rated by ESRB
Although Capcom has yet to announce Lost Planet: Colonies (or even explain what it is), Gamespot has pointed to the Xbox 360 and PC game's existence on the ESRB's frequently revelatory database. The mysterious Lost Planet: Colonies was first discovered last year, when Germany's USK rated the game and fueled speculation regarding the game's genre and relation to Capcom's 2007 action smash. The ESRB also lists an equally unannounced Assault Heroes 2 for Xbox 360, which logic would dictate is a sequel to XBLA's well-received Assault Heroes.
Sierra Online details upcoming PC, XBLA lineup
Vivendi Games' Sierra Online division has revealed a number of details concerning its lineup of XBLA and PC releases throughout the remainder of the year, including a number of previously announced titles as well as two new games, one where you get to shoot aliens (pictured) and another where you..well...play with bunnies. Earlier this year following the appointment of XBLA's former portfolio lead Ross Erickson to Sierra Online we predicted that the company had big plans for the downloadable space, and given the breadth of today's announcements that assumption looks more correct than ever. The two new titles announced today include a particularly interesting sounding "third person retro-arcade shooter" called Aces of the Galaxy, where players man the turret of an AI-driven spaceship to shoot down waves of bad guys, and the strangely titled Boogie Bunnies, where players will match up colorful rabbits in a "match-three puzzle game." Both of these will arrive for both the PC and XBLA this winter. In addition, Sierra confirmed that Wanako Studios' top-down XBLA shooter Assault Heroes will make the move to retail shelves and unspecified digital download services for the PC for $19.99 on October 23. The earlier acquired Latin American studio is also developing the hack-and-slash dungeon crawler Arkadian Warriors (formerly called Artemis Warriors), which will launch this fall from Sierra for the PC and over XBLA, though we hope that this time they'll manage to get multiplayer working from day one.
Assault Heroes finally patched ... almost
Let's say your game shipped with a horrendous multiplayer bug that prevented many people from connecting to online co-op sessions. Would you fix it? Would you fix it quickly? If you're part of Wanako and Sierra Online, and your game is Assault Heroes for Xbox Live Arcade, then your answer is clearly "no." Yes, Assault Heroes was added to the XBLA library last December and played host to a serious co-op problem, namely that co-op games could not be joined by many people. Now, seven months later, a title update for Assault Heroes has finally been released. There's only one problem: you can't download it. In a particularly delicious bit of irony, you are greeted with an error message the moment you accept the update prompt. Oy vey. Let's hope the Assault Heroes team gets their ducks in a row and fixes this problem soon.
Vivendi acquires Wanako Games
Vivendi Games has announced its acquisition of the largest game development studio in Latin America, Wanako Games. Best known for its Xbox Live Arcade title, Assault Heroes, Wanako is expected to bolster Vivendi's Sierra Online division and expand its presence in the exceedingly colorful world of digitially distributed games. Wanako is currently working on 3-D Ultra Minigolf Adventures for Xbox Live Arcade. Wanako founder, Esteban Sosnik, seems pleased as punch by Vivendi's decision. "In working with Sierra Online on Assault Heroes it quickly became clear that our companies shared the same core values in game development and by joining together we could develop and deliver amazing products," he says. Indeed, this enhanced collaboration might just grant Wanako and Sierra Online the ability to develop and deliver an amazing patch for Assault Heroes, which has suffered from broken online multiplayer since its release over two months ago.
Joystiq review: Assault Heroes (XBLA)
It really is quite unnerving how rapidly a game like Assault Heroes can expose a terrifying desire, possibly even an instinct, amongst every single gamer alive. Perhaps it's just common sense, but when something moves, we absolutely have to kill it. Whether it's a tank, an alien, a robot or just a poorly constructed mass of pixels meant to represent evil, taking a step towards us is rarely interpreted as a welcoming gesture. No, sir. That step was your last. That isn't to say we're a naturally violent lot. Some games simply slip into that easily accessible groove where things come rushing at you and your brain automatically makes sure that a bullet's gone out to greet them. Assault Heroes taps into this familiar area with some precision, much like a group of miners donning helmets and heading into a nostalgia mineshaft. They'll come back with the shiny things you adore, but it's not like you haven't seen any of it before. Maybe you've witnessed it in a necklace or ... let's just forget this metaphor. It's crap.
Assault Heroes assaulted with co-op issue
As Jerry Seinfeld might put it, "what's the deal with Assault Heroes?" We posted our favorable impressions of the game last week, and we have since encountered a serious problem. During our first play test we encountered some connection problems with co-op games. In some cases we could never get one started and were left hanging on a "waiting" screen. Other times, we've been left hanging at the same screen in between levels -- after we've already established a connection. Playing with a blogger from Joystiq today (Ludwig Kietzmann), we managed to join 1 out of 3 games. According to Kietzmann, the one successful game we played was the first one he had ever been able to join since the game's release. We haven't played the title enough to assess how serious this problem is, but if it is widespread, then it needs to be dealt with. Have any of you encountered this problem? If so, speak up.
100,000 MS points ... for free [update 1]
In celebration of the release of Assault Heroes on Xbox Live Arcade, Sierra is giving away 100,000 MS points (technically 100,800). The award will be dealt out as an unwieldy stack of 63 separate 1,600 point cards. The best part is that it will take you only seconds to enter. The only info required is a name, email, birthday, and zip code. Hit submit and BAM!, you're entered. The winner will be announced in March. Sure, there's basically no chance that any of you will win, but there are certainly contests that require you to jump through more hoops for much less. As our informant XBLArcade mentions, this is enough points to buy RoboBlitz 84 times, so the prize is sweet. Go enter while the entering's good.Update: This contest is open to US residents only. We apologize for not mentioning this earlier.[Via XBLArcade]
Assault Heroes impressions: shoot it all!
We hooked up with Gamertag Radio's Godfree to play some co-op Assault Heroes earlier, and except for some connection problems, we enjoyed the game quite a bit. Assault Heroes is a top-down shooter akin to many shooters of the nineties. The only direct comparison we can thing of would be Jackal, which also involved a jeep. Assault Heroes finds players driving and shooting in multiple directions, à la Geometry Wars. You start the game driving a heavily armed jeep, not unlike Halo's Warthog. There are three selectable weapons: the minigun, flamethrower, and flak cannon. The minigun is your all around weapon; it's medium range, rapid fire, and effective against most targets. The flamethrower is powerful but has very limited range. The flak cannon acts like a gauss rifle: it's long range and causes heavy damage, but it has a slow reload time. Players also have access to limited grenades that are great for causing heavy damage to structures and bosses. Finally, there is, of course, a screen-clearing nuke.
Assault Heroes assaults XBLA today
Just a reminder from your friendly neighborhood fanboys, Assault Heroes is now available for Xbox Live Arcade. We've downloaded the trial version and look forward to blasting baddies to bits. As soon as we get a little "me"-time with the game, we'll post some impressions. We do this as a service to those that are chained to desks (office or school) and cannot try the game themselves. As for the rest of you -- the crazy ones who stay up past midnight just to download Arcade titles -- do you like it thus far?
Assault Heroes gameplay trailer
Tomorrow marks the release of Assault Heroes on Xbox Live Arcade. It also marks the third original Arcade title in a row that we've received, which is something of a Christmas miracle. But what the hell is Assault Heroes you ask? It's a top down shooter of the old school variety, full of giant enemies, plenty of weapons, and some nifty team maneuvers. Watch the video embedded after the break for a heaping helping of shootery goodness. It's unfortunate that YouTube has enfuzzinated* the picture, because the game is actually very sharp. We're looking forward to giving it a try tomorrow.
Assault Heroes coming to XBLA Wednesday
Tomorrow, December 13th, Assault Heroes will be slamming onto the Xbox Live Arcade and be ready to download. Assault Heroes is a vehicular combat game where you are part of the special forces searching for a secret underground lab and fighting to save humanity. The game also allows for campaign co-op via Xbox Live and allows quite a bit of freedom from land vehicles, to boats, to battling it out on foot. Download Assault Heroes on the XBLA for 800 Microsoft Points this Wednesday. Full press release after the break.
Will Assault Heroes revive Xbox Live Arcade?
The third original title to hit Xbox Live Arcade in less than a month, Assault Heroes, will arrive on Wednesday (for 800 points). Wanako Studios' top-down shooter (à la Commando, Ikari Warriors, etc.) will follow closely behind two insipid releases, Small Arms and Roboblitz, which have appeared on XBLA during the past three weeks. Ever since Geometry Wars stole the Xbox 360 launch spotlight, there's been a great deal of anticipation for more original XBLA titles; and Microsoft has certainly put together a fine strategy: holding them off for a holiday blitz. But the early bait has failed to earn our confidence -- our assurance that XBLA can consistently provide distinguishing experiences. And so, it's with much trepidation that we look forward to Assault Heroes' impending arrival.
Atari games on XBLA, holiday titles confirmed
Alongside the press release for Contra hitting XBLA, Microsoft sent another press release outlining a slew of Atari classics heading to Live Arcade next year. The six Atari games to be released are: Centipede/Millipede Battlezone Asteroids/Asteroids Deluxe Missile Command Tempest Warlords All of the games will feature both original and "evolved" versions. The evolved versions, similar to Konami's offerings, will feature revamped graphics and sound. All games will have leaderboards and achievements, and multiplayer games will have Live support. Surprisingly, many of these games are receiving some pretty impressive new features, including Live Vision support for Battlezone and Warlords. It looks like many of the games will receive three dimensional upgrades instead of simply using high definition sprites, too. Finally, and this is not a joke, Centipede evolved has motion blur. Motion. Blur. In Centipede. If that's not worth $5, we don't know what is.Also worth mentioning, the press release confirmed that the following titles should hit the Arcade before the end of 2006: Small Arms Assault Heroes Novadrome (?) Heavy Weapon Defender It should be noted that this isn't necessarily all the titles we'll be seeing by year's end (we're looking at you RoboBlitz). Full press release after the break.
XBLA videos from Digital Life
Godfree and the gang at Gamertag Radio have been having a blast at Digital Life in NYC. And just to rub it in our faces, they have posted several shaky cam videos of themselves playing upcoming Xbox Live Arcade games. See video of Small Arms, Assault Heroes and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 after the break. Which one are you most excited for?
X06: XBLA mini-impressions
While demos for major retail games dominated the show floor at X06, there was a small neglected corner devoted to current and upcoming games for Xbox Live Arcade. Some of the more interesting upcoming releases: Assault Heroes -- Yet another overhead shooter with dual-stick controls for movement and shooting. This one sets itself apart with vehicles and... that's about it. Graphics are impressively detailed for a Live Arcade title. Heavy Weapon -- Also a dual-stick shooter, but this one is from the side view. Co-op play has been added since the E3 demo, and the graphics have been polished up quite a bit. Simple, but surprisingly addictive -- all it needs is a jump button to be truly complete. Small Arms -- Described by the demo attendant on hand as "Super Smash Bros., but with weapons," a pretty accurate assessment. Lots of button-mashing in both long range and melee combat. Controls and balance need some touching up, but has the potential to be a great party game. Street Trace NYC -- Very early version of a hoverboard/shooter deathmatch, complete with rail slides and rocket launchers. Targeting was a mess and managing all the different weapons and functions while boarding was difficult. Needs work. No specific releases or prices were available for these titles, but Microsoft said they are all expected by the holidays worldwide. Also see: Lumines Live mini-impressions
