Xbox 360

XBLA Update – 12/29/10

I hope all you gamers out there had a Merry Christmas and that Santa got you just what you wanted, because his sack is pretty empty when it comes to XBLA swag this season.

A slow week is to be expected this time of year, though Dead Rising 2 fans should be excited for the game’s first piece of DLC, Case West, which introduces the first game’s protagonist, war-covering photojournalist Frank West, to the sequel. On the arcade game front, there’s the cartoony puzzler Raskulls and the EA-published MicroBots, a twin stick shooter that takes place inside a human body.

Marvel Pinball (X360) Review

Pinball was one of the staples of the late, great American arcade. The intricacies of the machines, the flashing lights, and the feedback from hitting the flippers are hard to match. Zen studios has picked up where the defunct arcades left off, offering virtual pinball through its Pinball FX series and more recently in the release of the add-on pack Marvel Pinball.

Marvel Pinball fits right into the framework of the Pinball FX interface, allowing you to switch between the classic tables you may already have as well as introducing four Marvel character themed tables to play. The pack consists of tables featuring the like of Wolverine, Blade, Spiderman, and Ironman. The goal is, of course, to get as high of a score as possible. You can accomplish this by completing a variety of character specific missions within each table.

5 Games to Play With the Family

Here’s the scene, you’re gathered around the living room with you beautiful family, dad is half asleep, mom is fully asleep, and you just like to look at everyone while they sleep. In comes your family! Cousins, Aunts, Uncles, they come in with their food and their children. What are you going to do to pass time? Rock, paper, scissors? No, the answer is video games. Here’s what you should play.

A World of Keflings Review

What can you say about a game that refuses to be like any other you’ve played? With A World of Keflings, developer Ninja Bee has concocted a very unique game that will undoubtedly find a niche but will certainly leave a lot of gamers scratching their heads in confusion.

A World for Keflings follows a similar premise to its 2008 predecessor, A Kingdom For Keflings. You play as a giant version of your Xbox avatar and help a bunch of wee folk – the titular Keflings – build houses, factories, academies and ultimately castles. It plays like a simplified version of an RTS or Civilization game, with your giant able to collect and gather resources, such as wood and ore, or sending the Keflings to do so by placing them next to resources for them to harvest. Having your giant seize Keflings and drop them next to their intended task is a clever substitution for using a keyboard and mouse to select units, though trekking on foot across your ever increasing kingdom makes you yearn for some sort of mini-map. 

Harmonix Regains Independence

Harmonix is going back to being independent.

Viacom, their parent company, sold Harmonix to Harmonix-SBE Holdings LLC, a new affiliate of the private investment firm Columbus Nova, LLC. There were no details on the deal’s financial terms. 

Viacom announced back in November that they were putting Harmonix, the creator of the Rock Band franchise, up for sale due to a recent oversaturation and thus lacking sales in the rhythm game market. Harmonix has paid off for its freedom and is now going to return to where they started.

“We’re excited to be returning to our roots as an independent and privately owned studio,” Harmonix said on their forums. “As for what it means for you, the DLC schedule marches on for Rock Band, we will continue our support of previously released titles and we’re hard at work on some unannounced projects that we think you’re going to be pumped about.”

Xbox Live Update – 12/23/10

So, the update is a day late this week – apologies, but hopefully you were spending the time getting ready for the holidays, if you were not already enjoying them. Anywho, the multiplayer expansion Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Vietnam headlines the list of Marketplace updates this week. This Bad Company 2 DLC contains four new multiplayer maps based around the Vietnam War, including 15 weapons and 6 vehicles based on technology from that time period.

The Wild West got some Marketplace love as well with the release of Red Dead Redemption on Games on Demand and the arrival of Dead Money, the first DLC expansion to Fallout: New Vegas. Arcade games releases were a bit skimpy this week, especially after last week’s nostalgia triple-whammy of X-Men, Bomberman and Quake. Arcade fans do have World of Keflings to look forward to, the review of which should be up on this site shortly.

Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale Announced by Atari

Warm up your +5 vorpal schimitars, D&D fans – Atari has announced a new Dungeons & Dragons game for Xbox Live Arcade, Playstation Network and PC.

Titled Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale, the game takes place in the Forgotten Realms, one of the hallmark settings of the venerated pen and paper game. One to four players will be able to play through the game cooperatively, and will be able to customize their character based on class, loot and skills. Online play was not yet announced, though it seems a natural for a downloadable title such as this.