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Fez sales shift 100,000 copies across XBLA
Phil Fish (and co.'s) passionate labor has paid off with Fez having reached 100,000 sales on Xbox Live Arcade. Fish made the announcement this morning on the Polytron site. Looks like Microsoft finally gave Fish a sip of that secretive sales data.Following years of development, which made it feel like Fez had become the second-cousin of Duke Nukem Forever, the game finally launched last month to high critical praise – which is more than we can say for that cousin we mentioned.
Zen Studios' CastleStorm marching onto Xbox Live Arcade this year
Zen Studios is just as busy as can be, it seems. In addition to the upcoming Kickbeat, the studio is also bringing CastleStorm to Xbox Live Arcade and other unannounced platforms. Promising a mix of real-time strategy, tower defense and destruction gameplay, CastleStorm lets players take up the roles of either knights or vikings as they fight to destroy each others' castles.The game bears some resemblance to Ronimo's Swords & Soldiers, and has players sending out various troops, building their castles and using spells. Castlestorm is slated to be released this year. Check out the first trailer above and some screens in the gallery below.
Zynga CEO Mark Pincus says 'no thanks' to console gaming, isn't worried about a life detached from Facebook
Zynga CEO and founder Mark Pincus just took the stage here at D10, and in a wide-ranging interview with Kara Swisher, he sidestepped conversation about Words With Friends and Farmville long enough to touch on the murky world of console gaming. In a bid to quell any potential surprises at E3 next month, Mark said outrightly that his company is not interested in getting into the console world. "We're aiming for you," he said while pointing at Swisher. "We're going after the mainstream market. There's too much friction [in the console world]." He also made clear that he tries to not look too far ahead of where the world really is. When talking about the undeniable shift to mobile, he made clear that there's still a huge amount of desktop traffic on Zynga's games -- "lots of people play while bored on conference calls at work," he quipped. It's an interesting viewpoint in a world where PSN and Xbox Live Arcade has given independent developers all new distribution platforms to reach users, but it also highlights the outfit's intrinsic attachment to Facebook in particular.
Rock Band Blitz tracks include Elton John, All-American Rejects, Iron Maiden, more
Harmonix has revealed some of the new tracks that will be headed to its controller-powered Rock Band Blitz. The list features plenty of variety, including Elton John's "I'm Still Standing," All-American Rejects' "Kids in the Street," Iron Maiden's "Wicker Man" and Fall Out Boy's "A Little Less Sixteen Candles." Living Colour has a track as well – we'll let you guess which one.Harmonix has also released a short video explaining some of Blitz's power-ups. Check it out above, and find the partial track list after the break.
Minecraft edges Black Ops out of second spot on XBLA charts
This week, two important things happened to Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition on Xbox 360 – one, the game topped the Xbox Live activity charts once more, this time beating out the longstanding Call of Duty: Black Ops for the number two spot (Modern Warfare 3 remains lodged in the top position). Second, and more importantly, I finally made a nether portal last night. This is important business, folks! Regardless, it's likely many of you folks have also done so by this point – the game's also topping this week's "Top Arcade Titles" list as well, digging under the hills and valleys of big seller Trials Evolution. How about those crazy ghost things, huh? Straight up madness!
Techland's Mad Riders touches down on PSN May 29, XBLA/PC on May 30
If you've somehow managed to get your fill of Trials Evolution's dusty peaks and valleys already, Techland's latest, Mad Riders, may be perfect for you. And hey, the game is set to launch on May 30 according to the latest trailer. That's pretty soon!Like Trials before it, Mad Riders is a digital-only title, but unlike Trials, it's not limited to a single console (Mad Riders is headed to PSN, XBLA, and PC). It'll be available one day earlier for PSN users on May 29, and May 30 on XBLA and PC, but it'll cost the same on all three: a cool $10. Techland describes that as "an awesome game for the price of a pizza," though we'd warn the studio against devaluing its games as such. What kind of pizza are you gonna get for $10? Terrible pizza, that's what!
Serious Sam 3: BFE, Serious Sam Double D XXL run screaming to XBLA this fall
This fall, Xbox Live Arcade doubles down on Serious Sam. Serious Sam 3: BFE – which launched on the PC late last year and was ported over to the Mac last month – will ditch the disc for an Xbox Live Arcade release this fall. Serious Sam 3: BFE on XBLA will be the full game, losing nothing in the transition over to console.Serious Sam Double D XXL is the new version of Mommy's Best Games' PC release. The XXL brings with it "new campaign missions, new challenges, new enemies, Gunstacker upgrades and a hot new two-player local cooperative mode." Serious Sam Double D XXL is priced at 800 MS Points ($10).%Gallery-155549%
Trials Evolution moves half a million in just three weeks
Screaming at monitors while attempting to make just one more crushingly difficult checkpoint is apparently a pastime shared by many, many gamers. This week, Ubisoft revealed that the latest Trials franchise entry – Trials Evolution – sold approximately 500,000 units since its launch in mid-April.Sure, it's no Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition, but half a million sales in less than a month is quite impressive for a title on Xbox Live Arcade. How impressive, you ask? Well, we'd love to tell you, but Microsoft doesn't release sales numbers for XBLA games. Those rascals! For context's sake, though, we'd point out that it took just over a year for the first Trials game on XBLA to hit 1 million units sold. We get the feeling it'll take a bit less time with Evolution.In the same slide, RedLynx is called out as having many brands with "great multiplatform potential." A quick glance at RedLynx's catalog confirms our suspicion that Trials is indeed the Finnish studio's biggest "brand." How about that!
Castle Crashers (XBLA) on sale for $7.50 through May 21
We can't imagine there are people out there who haven't ever played Castle Crashers – well, maybe babies haven't. Those babies should to take advantage of the current Xbox Live Arcade sale, which has priced Castle Crashers at 600 MS Points ($7.50) through May 21.
Deja Review: Minecraft (XBLA)
We're of the firm opinion that your time is too precious, too valuable to be spent reading a full review for a game that was already reviewed many, many years ago. What's the point of applying a score to a game that's old enough to be enrolled in the sixth grade? That's why we invented Deja Review: A quick look at the new features and relative agelessness of remade, revived and re-released games. Minecraft on Xbox Live Arcade is surreal. It's like eating jelly on eggs while watching a baby play in a lion cage: It doesn't belong where it is, but now that it's there you can't look away and, for some reason, there's a surprisingly delicious taste in your mouth.Minecraft's shock value as an XBLA breakout isn't a result of it not making sense on the platform – in fact, it plays almost like a native title. It's surprising because Minecraft was never supposed to be big enough for a high-profile XBLA port. It's a voxel-based PC-only sandbox game with choppy graphics and no defined goal, which some argue makes it the opposite of a "game." Minecraft was never supposed to be a hit. It wasn't supposed to sell more than 5 million copies, generate $80 million or be played by more than 25 million people. It wasn't supposed to turn Markus Persson's developer persona, Notch, into a millionaire, a fashion icon, or a common name among Swedes and gamers alike,But Minecraft has done all of these things, and now it's made its way XBLA. And just as it has everywhere else, Minecraft surprisingly succeeds.
How to buy Minecraft on Xbox 360 for $5 less than on your Xbox 360 [update: no more!]
Update: Best Buy's price for Minecraft is back at $20, unfortunately. Congrats to those of you who managed to snap up the lower price!With the launch of Minecraft today on Xbox Live Arcade for the lofty price of 1600 MS Points ($20), we searched long and hard to discover a way to buy the game for a full 25 percent off. There was lava and exploding Creepers and this skeleton that kept shooting arrows – pretty harrowing stuff. Anyway, we sussed out this precise formula for snagging the game on the cheap. Follow along below ... if you dare. Step 1: Go to Best Buy's website. Step 2: Purchase Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition for $15 instead of the $20 it costs on Xbox Live Marketplace. Step 3: Laugh and throw money in the air, you baller.[Thanks KP!]
Fable Heroes review: For every choice, no consequence
In Fable Heroes, you and some friends take the role of cutesy Fable-based puppets, battling through a number of cookie-cutter levels on the couch or online. Put frankly, the game is a shameless abuse of the Fable property. The idea of a cartoonish hack-and-slash isn't necessarily a bad idea, if executed properly. Unfortunately, Fable Heroes struggles at its core concept.Like most hack-and-slash games, the button scheme is fairly simple, featuring a light and heavy attack, along with a roll maneuver. You can open chests for various power-ups (some of dubious helpfulness) and there is a special move that none of my multiplayer party fully grasped. I knew how to do it, but for the life of me couldn't figure out when it was available. This led to rampant guesswork with limited success. The help section of the game didn't offer much assistance either. (Though it does include a 17-page description of all the power-up chests.)%Gallery-149430%
Bloodforge review: God of sore ... thumbs
Even before diving into Bloodforge's gore-soaked, beast-slaying combat or encountering one of its screen-enveloping enemies, the XBLA brawler announces itself as a God of War wannabe. From its pissed-off protagonist to its female narrator, the hack-and-slasher channels Kratos' exploits before the first entrails stain your sword. There are certainly worse series to crib from, and Bloodforge, while significantly flawed, generally feels more like a fan-made tribute than a cash-grabbing copycat.The first thing Bloodforge hits you with isn't some ugly monster's sharp steel, but a striking visual presentation. Contrasting a desaturated color palette with buckets of bright blood, Bloodforge looks like it may have jumped off the paneled page of a mature graphic novel. The dark vibe is further complemented by sopping rain storms, snowy landscapes stained with viscera, and marshes blanketed with mist. If all that doesn't set the tone, silhouetted corpses impaled on spikes and hanging from nooses should do the trick.%Gallery-137258%
Hybrid will cost $15; beta to kick off at 'the end of this month'
5th Cell's XBLA-exclusive shooter, Hybrid, now has a price point: 1200 MS Points ($15). Producer Caleb Arseneaux confirmed the pricing with Joystiq during a preview session earlier this week.Arseneaux also narrowed down the beta timeline. Initially set to launch the game sometime following GDC, 5th Cell is now targeting a live date by "the end of this month." Arseneaux wouldn't go into more detail, but reinforced how essential the beta would be to Hybrid's successful launch. If you signed up for the closed beta, you should receive an email with your download code soon.
Trials Evolution is 'highest grossing day-sales in Xbox Live Arcade history'
Maybe you haven't heard – Trials Evolution is kind of a big deal. Such a big deal, apparently, that Microsoft says it's the, "highest grossing day-sales in Xbox Live Arcade history." What does that actually mean? Your guess is as good as ours, as Ubisoft unfortunately "don't have any numbers that we can share." At least that's what a rep tells us. Harumph.Gamasutra, however, sussed out from Xbox Live leaderboards that approximately 100K ruff ryders took to the hills and valleys (and tires and wood and ... you get the idea) of Trials Evolution. Not too shabby for day-one sales on Xbox Live ... we think? At 1200 MS Points ($15), that's approximately $1.5 million gross in a mere 24 hours, so, yeah, not too bad!
Trials Evolution review: Try, try again
I made a huge mistake. "So help me, Richard, if I don't review Trials Evolution," I said back in March, "I'll start walking to Oklahoma right now."That was when I was younger, more foolish and willing to march to someone's house to get a downloadable game.The Ben of mid-April, however? He knows better. He knows that a sequel to 2009's Trials HD, expanding greatly on the finely tuned physics masterpiece of the first game, would be a dangerous game to review. Not because it isn't good – sweet lord, it's glorious – but because reviews are things that happen quickly after release. What I want to do with Trials Evolution is play it for another decade. Maybe then – maybe! – I could speak to all the content RedLynx added this time around.But here we are, and this is a review. So here it is: Trials Evolution is excellent.%Gallery-151268%
How the community solved Fez's hardest puzzle
Fez players be forewarned, the following contains spoilers. Stay far, far away if you want to uncover all of Fez's secrets for yourself. With that out of the way, dedicated fans know that collecting cubes is only half of Fez. The other half is solving puzzles, some of which hide their solutions in plain sight, while others taunt players with obtuse, seemingly indecipherable clues.
The Splatters review: Slip, slide, splat
Physics-based puzzle games can be a little hit-or-miss – sometimes literally. While the element of unpredictability can be addictive in games about knocking down structures with furious birds, it can also lead the way to frustrating trial and error when the physics refuse to cooperate. The Splatters on Xbox Live Arcade hits more than it misses, but it has a few issues that keep it from splashing onto the walls of the physics puzzle hall of fame.%Gallery-130386%
FEZ topped XBLA activity charts last week
Despite being released on a Friday, the long-awaited Fez topped the Xbox Live Arcade activity charts last week. We're just glad that so many people have discovered what we already know: Fez is a pretty good game. Skullgirls and I Am Alive came in second and third on the XBLA charts, respectively.On the Xbox 360 retail game side, Major Nelson reports that Modern Warfare 3 yet again maintained dominance. It was followed by Black Ops and FIFA 12. If only some company could figure out a way to combine Call of Duty and soccer ... hey, it worked for Mega Man!Finally, on the Games for Windows Live activity list – we're just kidding. Nobody cares about what's being played on Games for Windows Live.
PSA: Fez finally for really real available to buy and play and everything
Ready to get your Z-axis adventures on, all the while wearing an adorable (and potentially magical) hat? Polytron's Fez is finally (finally) available for you to do just that via Xbox Live Arcade. Better yet? It's just $10!But you haven't heard of Fez, you say? Well, frankly, that's kinda weird. We're saying we think you're kinda weird. If that is the case, however, there's a brand new launch trailer for Fez just above so you can learn all about it. Oh, and hey, we think it's pretty great, in case that wasn't already clear.
