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Gyruss, 3D Ultra MiniGolf Adventures Hit Live Marketplace This Week
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Arcade, Xbox Live Marketplace,
It looks like two games have managed to pass Microsoft’s certification testing this week, leading to a rare week when more than one downloadable game title hits the Live Marketplace service. One title is an arcade port of the classic circular shooter, Gyruss. For 400 Microsoft Points ($5), gamers can experience the retro shooter and its Tocatta and Fugue in D Minor soundtrack; Microsoft promises both an original and enhanced mode, with 3D rendered graphics. The usual assortment of achievements is included, along with multiplayer support via Xbox Live. The second title to hit will be 3D Ultra Minigolf Adventures, ostensibly a sequel to the original PC title, 3D Ultra Minigolf. For 800 Points ($10), gamers will get 36 holes on three different theme courses, online Xbox Live play and a course editor, along with related Achievements and Gamerscore. It isn’t clear from the press release whether custom courses will be shareable online – this would be a nice feature, but it doesn’t seem likely that this would happen.
Read More 
| Gamerscoreblog
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Guitar Hero Song Packs Hit Live Marketplace
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Activision, Music, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Marketplace,
The first Guitar Hero II song packs have hit the Xbox Live Marketplace, according to the Major Nelson blog, and they aren’t cheap. 500 Microsoft Points will get you a song pack of 3 songs. At $6.25 per song pack, this translates to a little over $2 a song. Not only that, but these songs are not original to Guitar Hero 2 for the Xbox 360; all of the songs are from the original set list of the original Guitar Hero. If Red Octane and Activision price the rest of the set list like these first three packs, the whole batch of songs from the original game will cost Xbox 360 gamers over $95. For those still interested, these are the songs included in each pack:
- Track Pack 1: Bark at the Moon as made famous by Ozzy Osbourne, Hey You as made famous by The Exies, Ace of Spades as made famous by Motorhead
- Track Pack 2: Killer Queen as made famous by Queen, Take it Off as made famous by The Donnas, Frankenstein as made famous by The Edgar Winter Group
- Track Pack 3: Higher Ground as made famous by Red Hot Chili Peppers, Infected as made famous by Bad Religon, Stellar as made famous by Incubus
Read More | Major Nelson
Boom Boom Rocket Launches Tomorrow
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Action, Electronic Arts, Music, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Arcade, Xbox Live Marketplace,
Bizarre Creation’s latest Xbox Live Arcade title hits the Marketplace tomorrow; Boom Boom Rocket will sell for 800 Microsoft Points ($10). The game features Bizarre’s particle effects as fireworks layered over a 3D cityscape. Combining fireworks, classical music, and cityscapes will certainly draw comparisons to the PS2 title Fantavision, but hopefully this, combined with music/rhythm gameplay, will be an original enough creation to set it apart. Certainly Bizarre Creations is familiar with remixing order gameplay styles to create something new; Geometry Wars still stands as a unique mix of classic arcade archetypes.
Read More | Gamerscoreblog
Halo 3 Beta Details Announced
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Bungie, First Person Shooters, Internet, Xbox 360, Xbox Live,
Bungie today announced the details of the Halo 3 beta for qualifying gamers; those that either got into the original registration period, those that won spots during the “Rule of Three” contest, or those that bought copies of Crackdown with the golden ticket inside. At midnight May 16th Pacific Time the beta goes live and will continue through the end of June 6th. Bungie is currently promising three maps for the beta program, Valhalla, High Ground, and Snowbound, available through the beta version of Bungie’s matchmaking service. Some of the new weapons and vehicles will be present in the beta, including the Spiker, Spartain Laser, and the Spike grenade. It sounds like some of the mysterious functionality of the “X” button will be revealed; from the video Bungie has released, it looks like the button will act as a “deployment” function for some of the new equipment in the game. Further details and information on the road leading to the beta can be found in Bungie’s new Vidoc, linked from their beta announcement.
Read More | Bungie
Xbox 360 Dashboard Update Video Leaked
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Release Dates, Rumors, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Arcade, Xbox Live Marketplace,
Our papa-site Gear Live pointed out this video from MyGamerCard.net that was supposedly leaked from Gamespot.com. This one is looking real legit, and boasts some exciting features:
* Ability to add up to 600 Windows Live Messenger contacts to your Friends List.
* Text chat with up to 6 Live Messenger contacts at once during games or movies.
* The Marketplace will be getting its own Dashboard Blade.
* The Marketplace will be skinned independently of the Dashboard, for special events.
* The Marketplace will be getting a new, easier-to-navigate remake.
* Achievement Pop-ups will now display how many points and which Achievement you have gained.
* Low-power downloading (fans off) and auto-off after finishing queued downloads.
* View partially downloaded video files.
Much like Gear Live, we’re still wondering “where the browser at?”, but it’s looking like Microsoft is still doing a great job of beefing up their already impressive online features.
Read More | Gear Live
Grab Shivering Isles For Xbox 360, $30
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Internet, Role Playing Games, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Marketplace,
Bethesda’s expansion for The Elder Scrolls: Obliviion, The Shivering Isles is now available on the Xbox Live Marketplace. The expansion promises more than 30 hours of additional gameplay for one of the best games on the Xbox 360. The add-on sells for 2400 Microsoft Points ($30), basically matching the price of the PC expansion, which makes this the most expensive downloadable content to date. The download also weighs in at almost a gigabyte, so those rumored 120 GB drives might come in handy sooner rather than later. Still, for Oblivion addicts, this expansion should be a great way to pass the time during the upcoming Live downtime, assuming that you can get it downloaded before the service goes down.
Read More | Major Nelson
Japanese Ace Combat 6 Site Online
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Action, Namco, Screenshots, Xbox 360, Xbox Live,
Namco Bandai has launched the official website for their upcoming Ace Combat 6 for the Xbox 360. The site has details on the story, characters, and jets to be featured in the upcoming release, unfortunately all in Japanese. Still, clicking through the pages reveals plenty of high resolution, beautiful screen shots of the environments and fighter jets included in the game, and apparently Japanese Xbox 360 owners should be able to start downloading picture packs and themes for the game today.
Read More | Namco Bandai
Castlevania Now Available On Live Marketplace
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Action, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Arcade, Xbox Live Marketplace,
The classic PlayStation version of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is now available on the Xbox Live Marketplace. The game sells for 800 Microsoft Points and the demo clocks in at slightly less than 100 MB, which makes this the first Live Arcade title to break the previous 50 MB barrier. So far, the gameplay seems to be true to the older PlayStation version, but with added achievement support and various scaling modes to support HDTV resolutions. Some of the scaling modes seem to work better than others, but one should be able to find a decent match to whatever display device is in use. The original soundtrack for the game makes it to the Xbox 360 largely intact, but one can tell that music was fairly heavily compressed to get it into a reasonable file size for Live Marketplace. Beyond this and the mushy Xbox 360 D-Pad, the port is a good way for gamers to experience the title on the 10th anniversary of its release.
Read More | Gamerscoreblog
Games For Windows Live Service Coming May 8
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Internet, PC, Xbox 360, Xbox Live,
Microsoft’s Games for Windows – Live service will be launching on May 8th, along with the launch of Halo 2 for Windows Vista. Microsoft also confirmed the pricing for the Silver and Gold tiers for the online service; like its Xbox Live sister, the Silver tier is free while the Gold level costs $49.95 per year. There is less of a differentiating factor between the two levels than on Xbox Live. While Xbox Live silver users have no online gaming support, Games for Windows – Live Gold level members will get access to friends lists and PC multiplayer gaming only. The Gold level will basically add more comprehensive matchmaking and cross-platform gameplay.
Microsoft announced three titles that will be supporting Games for Windows – Live; Halo 2, Shadowrun, and UNO. With only Halo 2 promised at launch, its hard to recommend that PC gamers without an Xbox Live Gold account already pay out the money for the full fledged service, particularly since Halo 2 won’t support cross-platform play. Of course, this will somewhat depend on how well developed a matchmaking service the game offers at the Gold tier. Still, the slate of games promised for this online service is really short right now; it almost feels like the ideal target customer for this is a current Xbox Live Gold member with an Xbox 360 that also has a decent gaming machine running Vista.
Microsoft’s full press release continues after the jump.
Click to continue reading Games For Windows Live Service Coming May 8
Live For Windows Pricing Revealed?
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Internet, PC, Xbox 360, Xbox Live,
Microsoft has apparently revealed the pricing structure for their Live for Windows Vista gaming platform, according to Game Informer Online. Xbox 360 gamers should be familiar with the price structure; Gold accounts on Live for Windows Vista will cost the same as an Xbox Live Gold account. A one year subscription will sell for $49.99, with one month options selling for $7.99, and three months sell for $19.99. Also, those gamers that have both and Xbox 360 and a PC won’t have to subscribe twice, as a single subscription will work for both accounts. This pricing structure would seem to be great for Xbox 360 gamers, not so great for PC gamers. While Xbox gamers have gotten used to paying Microsoft for the privilege of playing online, this will be a new experience for PC gamers. It also remains to be seen if there really is a value proposition in Microsoft’s Vista offering, considering the competition in the PC space. For those PC gamers looking to play online against their Xbox 360 brethren, Live for Vista may be the only option, but consumers may find that mere online access to this competition plus Achievement and Gamerscore support my not be worth it.
Read More | Game Informer
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