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Playfeed Interview: Outpost Kaloki X Creator Steve Taylor
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Features, Simulation, Strategy, Xbox 360, Xbox Live Arcade,
We had the opportunity to talk with Steve Taylor of NinjaBee and Wahoo Studios. If you own an Xbox 360, you may know these guys as the creators of the Live Arcade hit Outpost Kaloki X. We talk with Steve about Outpost Kaloki, the process of shipping a game for Xbox Live, and the importance of Xbox Live Arcade to an independant game producer:
Steve, thank you for taking the time to talk with us today. To start out, can you give our readers a rundown of who you are and what your position entails?
I’m the president of NinjaBee and Wahoo Studios, but we’re a small company, so in practice I just manage projects and write code.
Give us some background on NinjaBee/Wahoo Studios.
Wahoo Studios is about four and a half years old. We got started as a contract development company, doing work for hire for game publishers and other developers. When we released Outpost Kaloki for the PC, we decided we needed a separate name for the “Indie” side of the company. NinjaBee is the name we use for anything we develop and release on our own.
Turning to the Xbox 360, you guys developed the hit Outpost Kaloki, which later hit the Xbox Live Arcade as Outpost Kaloki X. Can you give us some insight into how you go on board with Microsoft, and the process of virtually shipping a game for Live Arcade?
Originally, we designed what we thought was a pretty cool tycoon game for console play. It was aimed specifically for the console player in control and other gameplay elements. We pitched that idea to a ton of publishers, and while they were very complimentary of the game, nobody was willing to risk a traditional development budget to get the game on a console system. So we eventually redesigned the controls for the PC and released the game on our own in the PC downloadable market.
We later had the chance to show the game to Ross Erickson at Microsoft and explain our original vision for the game. He believed in it enough to get us signed up for doing Outpost Kaloki as an Xbox Live Arcade game. For us, this meant a return to the original vision we had, but also an expansion into a bunch of new areas including a ton of Xbox 360 specific features, new gameplay, new technology, new graphics, new stories, and more…
Click to continue reading Playfeed Interview: Outpost Kaloki X Creator Steve Taylor
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Don’t Confuse Jewel Quest With Crystal Quest
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Strategy, Xbox 360, Xbox Live Arcade,
For all of you less-attentive types out there, here’s a heads up on a couple of game titles that can be confusing on the Xbox Live Arcade. Crystal Quest went live a few days ago, and later this month we should see a game with a very similar title hit Xbox Live. Jewel Quest is your typical “match the shapes and make the disappear” puzzler, but looks and plays nothing like Crystal Quest. We have been playing both titles over the past few days, and haven’t been too impressed with either. Check out an image of each game after the jump.
Click to continue reading Don’t Confuse Jewel Quest With Crystal Quest
Sega Dreamcast Games on Xbox Live Arcade?
Posted by Brandon Gribin Categories: Retro, Rumors, Xbox 360, Xbox Live Arcade,
According to a Microsoft insider, you can expect to see upwards of 50 Dreamcast games show up on XBLA within the next couple years. The insider also suggests that a group of games will be released at a time and will retail for $10 each.
While this is just a rumor, we’re buying it. It makes a lot of sense, and we could definitely picture Microsoft and SEGA working something out. Now we’re just waiting for Crazy Taxi…
Read More 
| Xbox 360 News
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Crystal Quest Hits Xbox Live Marketplace
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Strategy, Xbox 360, Xbox Live Arcade, Xbox Live Marketplace,
For those of you who wait with baited breath for new games to spend your Microsoft Points on, Crystal Quest has just been released on the Xbox Live Arcade. This was a game originally played on the Mac, but that was many moons ago. The pleasure of downloading Crystal Quest will cost you 400 points.
Read More | Major Nelson
EuroGamer has posted an interview with the creator of Geometry Wars, Stephen Cakebread. If you’ve been hooked on the $5 Xbox Live Arcade title, you may just have to check out the interview.
Interestingly enough, Cakebread’s high score is 2.1 million - which certainly isn’t the highest worldwide. The current high is actually 12.8 million, which makes Cakebread’s score seem pretty small. 2.1 million isn’t easy to obtain by any means - I finally purchased the game last weekend and am working towards passing 500,000. The article does a good job of talking about why so many people have become insanely addicted to the game.
But why is Retro Evolved popular? What’s so special about it? Many games do the things it does. Perhaps the difference is that it appeals on a number of levels. One person who thinks so is Leo Tan of PR firm Barrington Harvey, who despite having no association with Microsoft or Bizarre Creations is well known in trade circles for going around telling everyone how great Geometry Wars is, and how he’s got the “UK games industry high score” of 970,360. The interesting thing is that he doesn’t play it just to lord it over us. “I love the sound, the insanity, the borderline nature of trying to stay alive. It’s an assault on the senses. Turn the volume up, the lights down and get an excessive amount of caffeine and chocolate by your side,” he says, soundbiting us a little in the process.
If you don’t have an Xbox 360, you absolutely need to take Geometry Wars for a spin if you haven’t yet. It’s absolute bliss.
Read More | Eurogamer
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