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Full House Poker is 2011's best-selling XBLA game (so far)
Over 321,500 gamers doubled down for an aces wild deal-in at the Full House Poker table, making it the best selling game on Xbox Live Arcade so far this year, according to Gamasutra. Also, we do not know any poker lingo. There are plenty of other winners in the chart (which is able only to count games with leaderboards) like Dead Rising: Case West (248,746), Torchlight (191,781) and A World of Keflings (185,504). But if we were to pick a lowlight, it would be that the delightful Adventures of Shuggy sold just 2,594 despite being, well, totally delightful. What's the matter, internet? Don't like good video games?
Toy Soldiers does big business in March
Gamasutra has the analysis of the March Xbox Live Arcade sales and (as you probably could have predicted even without a Farsight XR-20) the revamped FPS Perfect Dark did well with around 195,000 units sold. But the big surprise of the month has to be the tower-defense/action hybrid Toy Soldiers that, with little in the way of marketing, reached nearly 240,000 units by the end of the month-long Block Party. Sure, Toy Soldiers had two more weeks (its March 1 launch versus Perfect Dark's arrival on the 15th), but it's still a convincing testament to the power of word of mouth (word of Tweet?) advertising, especially in the download space.
This Wednesday: Toy Soldiers storms XBLA
This week Toy Soldiers kicks off Microsoft's month-long XBLA Block Party. While a tower defense game at its core, the game adds a small twist to the genre, allowing players to take control over individual towers and units. In other words, if you think your sniper tower is focusing on the wrong units, you can snap into first-person control and do something about it. Toy Soldiers lands this Wednesday on XBLA for 1200 ($15). In the meantime, be sure to check out our impressions of the title back from TGS.
Stay for the entire XBLA Block Party and receive parting gifts
Microsoft has announced more details about its Xbox Live Arcade "Block Party," which is ... right around the corner. Next month's lead-up to the launch of the Xbox Game Room will see a promotion similar to the one offered during last year's Summer of Arcade, and then some. For Xbox Live Silver members that purchase all three Block Party titles released next month -- Toy Soldiers, Perfect Dark and Scrap Metal -- and then download the free Game Room "client," Microsoft will credit your account 400 ($5). So, 3200 ($40) spent on the participating XBLA titles will get you back five bucks. If you're a Gold member, though, the deal gets a little sweeter: Purchase the three titles, download Game Room, and you'll get the 400 refund and a free month of Xbox Live Gold service (worth $4 and change if you're an annual subscriber) credited to your account. A free "everyone's a Gold member" (no, not that Goldmember) weekend is also scheduled, permitting Silver members to play the three Block Party releases online (but only the Block Party releases) from 12pm ET on Friday, March 26 through 12pm ET on Monday, March 29.
X10: A perfect storm of Perfect Dark media
It's been a crazy 48 hours, thanks to all of the news coming out of X10. Attendees were greeted with various playable demos, a box full of mullets and, in the case of this post, the above trailer and gallery full of screenshots for Rare's upcoming XBLA port of Perfect Dark. Featuring graphics of up to 1080p and small grey alien sidekicks named Elvis, it's one of the more high-profile games coming to Xbox Live Arcade as part of the Block Party promotion. %Gallery-85318%
XBLA Prices: Perfect Dark, Toy Soldiers, Scrap Metal
A press release from Microsoft has revealed the pricing of all games offered in the upcoming March XBLA Block Party promotion. Think of the Block Party as Microsoft's first-quarter crack at the Summer of Arcade, combining a month of releases under one convenient promotional banner. According to the press release the pricing for each title will be: Perfect Dark -- 800 ($10) Toy Soldiers -- 1200 ($15) Scrap Metal -- 1200 ($15) Xbox Game Room -- Free to download (Each title costs 240 [$3] per single license, 400 [$5] for use on PC and Xbox 360, or 40 [50 cents] per play) %Gallery-85318%
X10: Perfect Dark, Game Room, Scrap Metal, Toy Soldiers part of XBLA Block Party this March
Thanks to the Summer of Arcade, we've been conditioned to compulsively check Xbox Live Arcade during the hottest months of the year. But it would seem that March is the new summer, since that month now plays host to the XBLA Block Party announced during Microsoft's X10 event today. So, what do you have to look forward to? Well, Toy Soldiers kicks things off on March 3. If that doesn't grab you, don't worry, it'll be followed throughout the month by Scrap Metal, Perfect Dark and classics hub Game Room. Also, if it's anything like every block party we've ever been to, cocktail weenies will also be served. So that's something.
