If you don’t normally check out Xbox Live Indie Games on your Xbox 360, then this little contest might give you some incentive to do so.
If you can set the world record score in the indie shmup You Will Die by August 1, you will be awarded 10,000 U.S.-based Microsoft Points (that’s $125). Second place will be awarded 1,600 Microsoft Points while third place will receive 400 Microsoft Points.
All submissions will have to follow the Twin Galaxies guidelines and must be received by August 1. The current high score is 10,538,510, set by Todaysforgotten.
If you don’t already own the game, you can download it for 80 Microsoft Points via this link. Inquiries regarding the contest can be sent to info@deadpixelarcade.com.
Apparently unphased by Activision’s treatment of Infinity Ward employees, Bungie has sealed a deal with the devil for the next 10 years:
PR Spin: “We chose to partner with Activision on our next IP because of their global reach, multi-platform experience and marketing expertise,” said Harold Ryan, President of Bungie. “From working together over the past nine months on this agreement, it is clear that Activision supports our commitment to giving our fans the best possible gaming experiences.” “Bungie is one of the premier studios in our industry and we are extremely pleased to have the opportunity to work with their talented team over the next decade,” stated Thomas Tippl, Chief Operating Officer of Activision Blizzard. “Bungie has developed some of the most compelling and successful games, multiplayer experiences and thriving fan communities, and this alliance underscores our long-standing commitment to foster the industry’s best creative talent. Our unprecedented partnership with Bungie will enable us to broaden our pipeline of exciting new games as we continue to strengthen our industry position and pursue long-term growth opportunities.”
So today is the last day for you to play Halo 2 online. Depressing, isn’t it?
With only a few hours left until Microsoft takes down all Xbox Live services for original Xbox games, you may be able to get in a few matches before all of those hours of trash talking become nothing more than a distant memory (assuming you’re reading this article as soon as it’s posted).
I can just see it now. Only a year from now 360 gamers will begin recounting tales of “vanilla” Xbox Live, much like WoW players regaling everyone with stories of the original Level-60 Naxxramas or countless Onyxia wipes. “Oh yeah, well I remember when Halo 2 was online. We used to play that all the time, back in my day….”
But, at least Bungie is having some fun before pulling the plug on Halo 2’s life support. As you probably already know, we’re big fans of all things teabagging related. That’s why one of the “Did you know?” posts by Bungie today gave us a good chuckle:
I knew it was going to suck and reality has proven me correct. The newly launched Arcade Room for the Xbox 360 had its high point yesterday when it launched and wouldn’t work. MS should have left well enough alone, as the downloading and installing of Arcade Room was more entertaining than the games on offer.
I’m sure Arcade Room seemed like a great idea at some point but something went terribly wrong along the way, leading to an environment that doesn’t have a single compelling element. It looks like a 3D environment, similar to Sony’s Home, but you can’t interact with anything, nor can you even move freely within this environment. You simply swivel your view around and pick a section of game room that houses whatever game you want to play. There you see some very uninteresting arcade cabinets, followed by even worse versions of classic titles like Asteroids Deluxe.
I examined quite a few of titles on offer and was shocked to discover that many games are actually worse, in terms of graphics, than the original games. Asteroids Deluxe looks like a mess, verified by myself when loading up MAME, the arcade emulator, and checking out the original ROM, which has noticably higher resolution than the half-assed 360 version.
So, in the end, you have a bunch of lame classic games that are grossly over-priced. Why people would want to pay to play crappy Intellivision games is beyond me, especially when every Intellivision game can be found freely (and legally) on the net using nothing more than a JAVA emulator.
Arcade Room is really nothing more than a front-end for game emulation. Problem is, the front-end horribly designed, big, bulky, slow, unwieldy…and the emulation aspect is a joke. Do yourself a favor, go download a real PC front-end like EmuLoader, get yourself some ROMS, and enjoy these classic titles as they were. Better yet, with a front-end like EmuLoader, you can add great high-res shots of the original arcade cabinets, original gameplay fliers and historical information that puts Arcade Room to shame.
I have no idea what MS was trying to accomplish with Arcade Room, but if embarrassment was their goal then it is a resounding success.
If you happen to own a PS3 or Xbox 360 and are looking for great media-streaming software, then TVersity is a worthy option. It’s fast, stable and free, my three favorite words when it comes to media-streaming. While it doesn’t support as many formats as Java PS3 Media Server, it does benefit from having a simple design, making it more accessible for your average consumer.
TVersity has just been updated to a new beta version and with it comes some pretty cool new features.
Completely new off-screen browser, based on Google Chromium: runs out of process for increased stability and solves all the known issues with premium content (it used to occasionally fail to start on some systems).
Premium content site are now defined in an external file (osb.xml), advanced users can easily add their sites.
List of supported websites can now be updated without requiring a new release, so expect many new sites to be added and pushed to you from now on. (Advanced users should send us their additions since from time to time we overwrite your osb.xml automatically).
Update and expand YouTube support to include subscriptions, favorites and playlists by user (in addition to user video uploads which were previously supported). Also support adding YouTube content by search queries (replaces the “by tag” category which YouTube has obsoleted).
Darwinia+ is finally available on Xbox Live Arcade after an extended development cycle of over four years. Darwinia+ was created by Introversion, one of the best independent game developers on the planet with several classic (and award-winning) PC games under their belt, including Darwinia, Multiwinia, Defcon and Uplink.
Darwinia+ gets nearly everything right on the Xbox, albeit with a few caveats. First off, the price is simply too high. I personally think 1200 points is a great value considering how much gameplay is on offer, but I’m in the position of being a self-professed Darwinia-freak and as such, have a complete understanding of the game and its concepts. This places me in the minority. Most Xbox 360 players will have never heard of Darwinia and will be quick to disregard it based on nothing more than its retro-graphics. Too bad, their loss.
A lower price-point of 800 would have made impulsive and/or exploratory purchases far more likely. At 1200, Darwinia is pricing itself away from experimentation and distancing itself from gamers who may not be able to perceive the game’s value based on the trial version. Additionally, Microsoft has been discounting a considerable number of games lately and players are well aware that a discount will hit Darwinia at some future date, so fence-sitters are prone to remain on their asses until the price comes down.
My second problem with Darwinia is the camera-scheme that kicks in when controlling a Squad. It does its best to position itself correctly, based on the elevation of nearby terrain, but it’s not what I would call perfect or some semblance of perfection. Fortunately, you can work with it and bend it towards your will by releasing control of your squad and repositioning the camera at a better angle, though it doesn’t completely resolve the problem.
True resolution of the Squad Tracking Camera issue will only be found in a patch and I see it working as such: Darwinia currently has two ways of selecting available squads/engineers, via bumper-buttons or directional-pad (left-right). You only need one scheme, so drop the bumpers for squad selection and use it for rotating the camera while the directional pad cycles through units. Problem solved. I waive my consultation fee.
While the camera is a minor problem at best and one that can be dealt with, the price is less surmountable. What you need are valid reason to buy Darwinia+, reasons that may not be entirely obvious in the limited trial version. Without further ado…
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(Ratings Average: 4.00 out of 5)
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