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Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon listed on XBLM for May 1, stars Michael Biehn
Not only is Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon very real and very, very neon, it also could be here in just over three weeks. The 80s-inspired Far Cry 3 spin-off emerged on the Xbox Live Marketplace this weekend, where its release date is listed as May 1. The listing confirms Blood Dragon as a standalone shooter which won't require a copy of Far Cry 3, likely only to be single-player given its online features are restricted to "leaderboards."More important than that, or the confirmation of previously leaked screenshots (see the gallery below), is that Blood Dragon features the radness of Michael Biehn, he of Kyle Reese in Terminator and Corporal Hicks in Aliens fame. Biehn's starring role is just a part of the "80s VHS vision of the future" that is Blood Dragon, according to the XBLM listing.It reads in full: Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon is THE Kick-Ass Cyber Shooter taking place on a bizarre open-world island crawling with evil. Welcome to an 80's VHS vision of the future. The year is 2007 and you are Sargent Rex Colt, a Mark IV Cyber Commando who's fighting against a cyborg army gone rogue. Your mission: get the girl, kill the baddies, and save the world. Experience every cliché of a VHS era vision of a nuclear future, where cyborgs, blood dragons, mutants, and Michael Biehn (Terminator, Aliens, Navy Seals) collide. Playing Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon doesn't require a copy of Far Cry 3.Quite how Blood Dragon ties in to Far Cry 3 beyond the island remains to be seen.We've reached out to Ubisoft for more info. While details are so far restricted to XBLA, Brazilian classification ratings point towards releases on PS3 and PC as well. %Gallery-184983%
Darkstalkers Resurrection update adds Fight Requests April 12
Darkstalkers Resurrection will receive a new "Fight Request" feature via an April 12 patch, according to Shoryuken's translation of an update to the official Japanese website. Fight Requests, also found in Super Street Fighter 4 (among other games) allow players to queue up for online matches while practicing in offline modes, such as Arcade and Training.The update also fixes various online matchmaking bugs, voice chat errors and in-game glitches, the full list of which can be found here, if you're into that sort of thing. For most people, however, the game will remain broadly unchanged.
Battleblock Theater review: Bring some friends and beat 'em up
Every week, a group of friends and I get together to watch the television show, The Walking Dead. By "watch" I mean we make fun of the terrible acting and bemoan the missing parts that made the comic so good. It's a joyful, heartfelt tradition that we look forward to each week, and not much distracts us from this routine. Except, of course, a really good excuse to beat each other up.This week we started our screen session with a local co-op round of The Behemoth's Battleblock Theater in Arena mode. Arena mode features a handful of four-player mini-games, all of which are co-op, two-on-two or every man for himself. We started with "Ball Game." After two hours of passing the controllers, running through various levels, rolling in laughter and punching each other whenever a sweet move went awry, someone suggested we start up The Walking Dead. The response was immediate."No way. We're playing this." And so we did, all night long.%Gallery-184916%
Minecraft XBLA Title Update 9 out a day early, which is today
Minecrafters waiting for 'The End' are in for a treat, as 4J Studios says Title Update 9 is rolling out for the XBLA game "right now." It was expected tomorrow, but the early release means, we suspect, more than a few people's weekends are going to start a day early.The End, complete with Ender Dragon, isn't the only inclusion in TU9; you can check out the update's change log on the official Minecraft forums.
XBLA sale: Mark of the Ninja, Trials and more cheap until Apr. 9
Another sale has spread across Xbox Live Arcade, running until April 9. The sale's highlight is 50% off Mark of the Ninja from Klei Entertainment – one of Joystiq's favorite games of 2012 – bringing it down to 600 MS Points ($7.50).Other cheap contenders include Trials Evolution for 800 MS Points ($10) and some discounted Pinball FX 2 tables. There's also Dust: An Elysian Tale and Deadlight for 600 MS Points ($7.50) to consider.On top of this promotion highlighting Microsoft Studios games, there's also the ongoing Xbox Live Arcade Deal of the Week sale. Retro City Rampage has been knocked down to 600 MS Points ($7.50) and Quarrel is 200 MS Points ($2.50). The full list of both sales can be seen through the source links below.
XBLA Minecraft blocks out April 5 for title update 9
"The End" is nigh for Minecraft on Xbox 360. 4J Studios, developers of the Xbox 360 version of Minecraft, announced last night on Twitter that title update nine has passed certification and is scheduled for release this Friday, April 5.4J Studios recently noted the XBLA version of Minecraft had sales surpassing six million units. A retail version of the Xbox Arcade's digitally distributed hit will arrive April 30. We're sure folks will dig it.
Go behind the scenes with Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
This video for Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons sheds a little light on the creative process that Starbreeze Studios adopted to bring the brothers' adventure to life. The game is slated to launch this Spring on PC, XBLA and PSN.
Twisted Pixel bundle includes studio's XBLA library, coming 'soon' to Live
Twisted Pixel is packaging all of its XBLA games into one 'Twisted Bundle,' which is making its way onto Xbox Live "soon." We're waiting for the four-in-one compilation, which includes The Maw, 'Splosion Man, Ms. Splosion Man, and Comic Jumper to twist on a price and date.
Capy's success and sworcery catchphrase: 'It's getting there'
At the conclusion of his GDC 2013 panel, Still Kicking: The Viability of Paid Apps in the Era of F2P, Capybara Games co-founder and president Nathan Vella offered unique insight into the trials endured by the company. The developers were pushing for creativity and originality in their games, but were beset by problem after problem."It's getting there" quickly became the company mantra, a mission statement of sorts and catchphrase that succinctly sums up the Toronto development house's endeavors.
Double Dragon 2 remake busting chops on XBLA April 5, XBLM deals
Gravity's very-different-looking Double Dragon 2 remake, subtitled Wander of the Dragons, breathes fire onto XBLA on April 5 for 1200 MSP. After not hearing anything about it in 18 months, the game surfaced out of nowhere via an achievements listing earlier this month.Major Nelson announced its release date in his XBLA update today, which also notes Games on Demand arrivals for Assassin's Creed 3 today and WWE 13 next week on April 2.The Xbox marketplace major also announced a number of upcoming deals for the platform, in addition to those in the spring sale starting today. Up until April 1, a metamorphic army's worth of Transformers: Fall of Cybertron and War of Cybertron content is half-price including the games themselves. The following week sees several XBLA games also go half-off, including Retro City Rampage, Axel & Pixel, and the territorial vernacular showdown that is Quarrel. For more details, head to the major's office.
Terraria digs in on PSN March 26, Xbox Live March 27
Terraria will meet its projected console launch window, with PSN and Xbox Live downloads available in North America on March 26 and March 27, respectively. Terraria is priced at 1200 MS Points ($15).Re-Logic's indie action-adventurer was first released on the PC in 2011, and now comes to consoles packing new content. Last we heard, Terraria had sold 1.6 million copies on PC.
TMNT: Out of the Shadows, Away From the Comforter
You kids and your rainy rooftop anti-heroes. Back in my day, we had to make do with the Teenage Mutant 'Hero' Turtles, a tubular gang of brightly drawn crime fighters that spread dude-lingo across comics, cartoons and - if you were lucky - curtains.In Europe and Africa we got 'hero' instead of 'ninja,' mainly to soften the violent imagery conjured by the covert assassins of feudal Japan. That's clearly the wrong message for a show hinged on the improper disposal of disgusting, mutagenic waste in a densely populated city.The 1980s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon had its charms, more so in the dreadful puns and pizza worship than the fangless fighting. The combat was high in energy, but the turtles trounced their foes with creative knockouts and garbage can lids repurposed as offensive cymbals. The violence was masked in environmental euphemism, and that may be why it isn't explored in much depth whenever the turtles appear in a video game.%Gallery-180672%
Rumor: New Strider coming to XBLA, PC, Double Helix involved
NeoGAF user canIhasAnAccount discovered a temporary XBLA box art and banner for a new Strider game. Subsequently, users found a Strider entry on the Steam database, complete with icon of Strider Hiryu's face from the Capcom ninja series.To extrapolate further, user Sega1991 found a Steam Community page connected by number with the leaked Steam information, posted by a user "ascarlston" whose profile offers a first name "Andrew." A quick search finds one Andrew Carlston in the game industry, a junior programmer at Double Helix. He's Steam friends with someone named Jorge Oseguera, a name belonging to a producer at Double Helix. Double Helix is the studio behind Silent Hill: Homecoming, as well as Front Mission Evolved and the Battleship game (based on the movie based on the game.)As we find ourselves trapped deep within this rabbit hole, we called out to Capcom for verification of any of this. Capcom told Joystiq only that "We have made no announcements in regards to that title." In the absence of more info about that, why not look back at the last attempted Strider reboot, by GRIN Barcelona?
Capcom Arcade Cabinet offers 1986 trio this week
The third pack of Capcom Arcade Cabinet releases is a trio of games from 1986: Side Arms, Legendary Wings, and Trojan.The $10 pack is an interesting mix of side-scrolling and vertical shooting, and the post-apocalyptic urban sword-and-shielding of Trojan, a game we remember for being the early Capcom NES game that wasn't Gun.Smoke, Commando or Mega Man.As usual, the arrival of this pack today means that last week's games will be available a la carte for $4 each.
'Dungeons and Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara' rated by Korean ratings board
A new Dungeons & Dragons game, Dungeons and Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara, has been classified by Korean ratings board GRB and evaluated for consumption on both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.The classification lists Capcom Entertainment Korea as the game's publisher, which implies that Chronicles of Mystara may be a bundled re-release of Capcom's classic Dungeons & Dragons brawlers Shadow Over Mystara and Tower of Doom, both of which will reportedly be announced for PSN and XBLA during PAX East, according to Siliconera.While the true nature of the game remains a mystery for now, we're keeping our fingers crossed that things will shake out the way they're looking. The last time Shadow Over Mystara and Tower of Doom were sold together was in Dungeon & Dragons Collection for the Sega Saturn, which we recently saw in a Akihabara resale shop for more than $300.
Max uncaps his Magic Marker again in XBLA's 'Curse of Brotherhood'
XBLA exclusives are becoming rarer and rarer. The latest is a sequel to Max & The Magic Marker by developer Press Play. Max: The Curse of Brotherhood sees a very impressively CG-rendered hero accidentally banish his brother to another dimension, then going on a quest (with the help of his reality-altering marker) to rescue him.The presentation has evolved from brightly-colored cel-shading to a more realistic 3D look, though the 2.5D gameplay is intact. In the introductory trailer, the magic marker is used to draw vines, water, and more.The game launches this spring on XBLA, for 1200 Microsoft Points. It's a cautionary tale, to warn you of what would happen if you put a curse on your sibling but didn't have any other magic powers.
Call of Juarez: Gunslinger trailer slings some guns
As promised, Ubisoft has released a "reveal" trailer for Call of Juarez: Gunslinger. We're not sure what's so much more revealing about it than last week's offering. Believe it or not, the gameplay involves shooting things with revolvers.%Gallery-181526%
Terraria split-screen slices off some sneak peeks
When Terraria hits PSN and XBLA this month, it will feature a host of multiplayer capabilities, including an immediate invite system, where a host can gather up to seven friends for an online co-op or competitive game. Terraria on consoles supports four-player split-screen co-op, eight-player online multiplayer, and four-on-four split-screen.Check out the sweet split-screen action in the gallery below, and sharpen those spades. It's going to be a dirt-based bloodbath.%Gallery-181542%
Charlie Murder wants you to give punk a chance, download a song
Charlie Murder is gearing up to trash XBLA sometime in the future, and Ska Studios is hard at work beating out all of the bugs in that version. James Silva and Michelle Juett Silva, the Ska Studios dream dishwashing team, are the voices, art, design, programming and music behind Charlie Murder – get a glimpse of their renaissance ways in the above video.Charlie Murder is a four-player, punk-themed, RPG brawler featuring tattoos, magic, dual-nail-gun-wielding, battles of the bands, clothes shopping, friendship and other things you never knew you wanted within one game.To tide us over until Charlie Murder launches, Ska offers us a song from the game's soundtrack, available for download right here. Fictionally, the band is Charlie Murder, but in reality it's the soothing sounds of James and Michelle themselves.
A.R.E.S. Extinction Agenda getting an EX version for X.B.L.A.
The manic side-scrolling shooter A.R.E.S. Extinction Agenda, originally developed for Windows by a Thai developer named Extend Studio, is making its way to the Xbox Live Arcade in an extended version, courtesy of Origo Games and publisher Aksys Games. The console version of the title (which placed second in Microsoft's 2010 Dream.Build.Play. competition) will feature new controls, a new UI, redesigned maps and enemies, and new high resolution textures and animated cutscenes.The XBLA version, called A.R.E.S. Extinction Agenda EX, will also include both the original soundtrack, and a new soundtrack for the second campaign by Peruvian heavy metal guitarist Charlie Parra Del Riego. Aksys hasn't announced a date or price for the game yet.
