A Kingdom for Keflings Revealed [IGN via Xbox 360 Fanboy]

Puzzle Quest Expansion Pack hits Xbox LIVE® Arcade on July 23rd

D3Publisher of Europe Ltd (D3PE), a publisher and developer of interactive entertainment software, has announced that expansion pack Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords™ - Revenge of the Plague Lord, its latest Xbox LIVE® Arcade for Xbox 360™ offering, will launch on Xbox LIVE Marketplace on July 23, 2008.

The expansion pack will be available for play as an addition to fan favorite game Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords for Xbox LIVE Arcade for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, and includes four new hero professions, scores of new spells to cast and items to collect, challenging new quests, monsters and bosses, and the introduction of a new archenemy. Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords - Revenge of the Plague Lord will be available on Xbox LIVE marketplace for 700 Microsoft Points.

Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords - Revenge of the Plague Lord will offer fans hours of additional gameplay with four brand new Hero Professions: Bard, Rogue, Ranger and Warlock. Players will adventure with new or existing Heroes to explore an expansive new area on the Southern Map containing more than 25 challenging quests, cast more than 50 new spells and collect more than 40 new magical items as they’re immersed into the compelling story of Antharg, the Lord of Plague and brother to the infamous Lord Bane. New monsters, bosses and more will challenge veteran and casual fans alike for hours of compelling entertainment. The expansion pack further increases the full Puzzle Quest experience by adding three new Achievements and raising the character Level Cap to 60. Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords - Revenge of the Plague Lord was initially code-named “Puzzle Quest: 1.5” to reflect its tremendous amount of content.

For more information about the story and features of Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords - Revenge of the Plague Lord and other Puzzle Quest properties, please visit www.puzzle-quest.com.

Portal: Still Alive explained [Remowned]

Shader-stuff In Game [Stinkygoat (Jeff Minter)'s Live Journal, via GamerBytes and thanks reader Ryan L.]

Even though we as game journalists play a metric ton of games across a wide variety of genres, each of us has our Achilles' Heel — one genre, sort or stripe of game that we are just no good at. It's like a huge void in the repertoire, one particular area of the landscape that just doesn't register on the radar.

For me, two key words invoke a state of terrible incompetence: Stick. Shooter.

When I arrived at the XBLA booth to check out the upcoming titles, the reps were still aglow with awe at the reportedly epic Galaga Legions skills of my colleague, Michael McWhertor. He impressed them so soundly that I thought it best to merely bypass it altogether and get straight to dying every twenty seconds at Geometry Wars 2, the better to move right on to Castle Crashers and leave the whole "embarrassing myself in front of Microsoft" episode behind me.

Geometry Wars 2 now has co-op and multiplayer. Great; now I can die every thirty seconds in front of my friends as I lose track of which player is me. Mind you, this is squarely my failing — Geometry Wars 2 is fireworks of mesmerizing gorgeousness, and the new modes are great.

There's a timed mode called "Deadline," a sort of pattern-recognition mode of short stages called "Sequence," a versus mode, a mode called "Waves" that forces players to stay away from walls, and one called "Pacifist" where you can't shoot at all, but must try to guide the enemy ships into exploding devices.

The standout in my mind was "King" mode, in which you can protect your ship and shoot from safety by flying into a colored ring, which narrows slowly on you until you're forced to move out and onto another one. Outside the rings, you're vulnerable. See, I like the mode where there is a way to avoid being shot at all — but even in King mode, I was the first among the other players to get taken out in round after round.

But I get the appeal of Geometry Wars 2. It's visually overwhelming, I think, but also stunning. I enjoyed just watching the others (after I'd set my controller down in surrender).

Fortunately, I also got to play The Behemoth's Castle Crashers, featuring cute colored knights done in Dan Paladin's inimitable art style. The cartoony knights are really cute, and we four players as a team hurried from left to right, using weapon moves, archery and magical spells to knock out some surly castle guards on our way to storm the gates.

There's a strong attack, a weak attack, and a ranged attack, and each color knight has his own special ability charged by holding down the left trigger when you attack. It's simple, easy to play fun that feels classic and stylish, and seems great for groups, as it's engaging without being especially intense.

After my group reached the gates, we teamed up to take down a big boss, and then had to fight each other to the last man standing for the heart of the princess we rescued.

I was the second to last one standing. Microsoft's Scott Austin was like, ten levels ahead of me after demoing all day, though, so that's the only reason why he won. Seriously, I so had that.

It's pretty simple stuff on the surface. Move your ship anywhere on the screen with the left analog stick. With the right stick, you can place your ship's two satellite guns. These two guns can be dropped anywhere on the fly, with a quick tap in the direction you want the guns to autofire.

Your ship will autofire by default too, but you can choose to call your own shots with the right trigger. The point? Higher scoring bonuses. The whole mechanic makes a lot of sense and you'll need equal parts strategy, quick reflexes and pattern recognition to make it through all five areas.

Like the original Galaga, Legions throws wave after wave of enemy at the player. The formations are more varied in the XBLA update — those series of blue lines you see in the pictures draw on screen prior to each wave — and enemies can come from any direction at very high speeds. You'll have to quickly plan where your ship and your satellite guns should be to survive the crush of Galagas.

And like the original, you'll be able to add extra fighters to your assault team. This time, instead of the Galagas capturing your ship, you'll capture theirs. In some formations, a special freighter-style ship will appear. Shoot it, and the remaining Galagas will be absorbed and added to your forces. This addition of a few dozen fighters on your side of the screen adds a heaping help of chaos, but seeing the swarm of space bugs go after their former allies is awesome stuff.

Like Pac-Man Championship Edition, Galaga Legions looks to have copious replayability. It's not just a lovely looking freakshow, it's fun to play and a great example of how to update an old franchise.

Or they could poop on a cherished childhood memory. I suppose we'll have to wait and see.

Plunder Gets Some Booty! [Capcom]

IGN: Flock Preview[IGN]

PS3 owners get the game on July 24, while Xbox 360 owners get it on July 23.

The new 1942: Joint Strike will include 2-player online cooperative play, updated graphics and music by Backbone Entertainment and a new score by Norihiko Hibino, a composer best known for his work on the Metal Gear Series.

1942: Joint Strike takes inspiration and influence from the ‘80s 194X series of World War II-themed vertical arcade shooters. The art, sound and gameplay of the new game take cues from the original 194X games, but will stand out as its own unique entry. Gameplay will resemble the classic 2D style that gamers expect, but the game utilizes a fully 3D engine. Set in a World War II-themed locale, stages, vehicles and weapons have the look and feel of WWII with some stylistic differences.

Best of all, while the Fable II Pub Games will be available for purchase at 800 MS points, preordering the game from participating retailers gets you the mini-games for free, my personal favorite price.

Build Your Fable II Gold with Pub Games [Xbox.com - Thanks Peter!]

I think that it will [shift into a Hollywood-type model]. And I think that, ultimately, it has to. And I think we will shift to that model, but I think that there are a couple of things that have to happen before we really shift to that. One is that I think technology has to settle down a little bit. I think technology is moving forward really rapidly, and part of what a lot of teams do is exploring new technology, and I think that's kind of hard to do with an ad hoc thing.

I think the other thing that's going to have to happen - and this is a really big one - is we're going to have to become unionized. Because I don't think that you're going to be able to grab all of these freelance people when you need them if there isn't some kind of a union structure that's over the top of them. You can't really have a bunch of animators just floating around from job to job with nothing in between.

So I think there's going to have to be a lot more structure, and I think that's going to have to come in the form of unions - which, you know, I don't know that I really agree with that; I think unions bring a lot of bad things to gaming, but I think they're going to be necessary for us to move into that Hollywood model.

Interesting interview with a lot of content; worth plowing through if you're in the mood for some interesting reading.

Spanking Death: Ron Gilbert Goes Episodic... And Loves It [Gamasutra]

As revealed at the end of the trailer, Double D Dodgeball is coming to Xbox Live July 30th.

It's been a while since the Space Giraffe kerfluffle where Yak Minter threw a hissy fit in his blog regarding poor scores given to the XBLA psychedelic shooter (and the point where it was compared to Joyce's Ulysses, but I came across an interesting piece recently that talked about Space Giraffe in reference to (wait for it) a piece of literary theory known as 'authorial intent.' The post-structuralist conception is (at least in part) that the critic's will and opinion always supercedes that of the author. What does this have to do with Space Giraffe? Well, it's one way to look at why there was such heated discussion over Space Giraffe:

The collision between the Llamasoft's eccentric design aesthetic and the expectations of entire modern internet did not fall in Minter's favor .... At least a couple of online discussions link to a post on Minter's personal blog where he expresses muted optimism at the game's tepid sales after its launch last summer, and another on the game's official development blog where he angrily rebuffs players (and reviewers) who find the game too difficult or unfriendly to "man up and grow a pair", ranting that the expectation of the modern gamer to encounter some easy tutorial levels followed by a steady-but-gentle difficulty curve is more pandering to the masses than a time-tested refinement in game design philosophy.

This alone paints an interesting portrait of a truly old-school game designer discovering the sort of controversy that would arise only as a result of the almost anachronistic insertion into the XBox Live Arcade catalog that Space Giraffe represents - a brand-new, high-definition, surround-sound game that still somehow feels like it's from 1985. What brings it all around to my thoughts on authorial intent are articles like this one, where Minter insists that Space Giraffe is not a followup to Tempest. Except... it totally is. I put forth that not a single person who has played the original Tempest, and who has had no contact with Minter's own thoughts on Space Giraffe's design, will fail to immediately think "Aha! Tempest!" upon seeing the newer game. Furthermore, even if they like the game enough to stick with it and discover all the ways that it's different - and there are indeed many - they will still consider it a Tempest offshoot.

It's not a particularly long piece, and many may cringe at the collision of literary theory and, uh, gaming, but it's not that often we see such a visceral response from an auteur to critics that stretches out over a period of time.

On Authorial Intent and Space Giraffes [The Gameshelf]

It's been almost nine years since I first played the Dreamcast port of Soul Calibur which, at the time, seemed like the pinnacle of fighting game visuals. Another instance of my gaming career where I genuinely thought "This is it. They've done it. It can't possibly get any better." This was, of course, before the engineers at Namco Bandai dedicated man hours and processing power to ass-jiggle physics; before we really knew how detailed a cod piece could be. Anyway, the compressed Soul Calibur for Xbox 360 seems like a fun diversion, but I've still got my Dreamcast hooked up to Input 3 on my television. And Soulcalibur IV is out, like, any day now. Kinda makes the whole thing seem moot.

Soul Calibur Gameplay HD [GameTrailers]

Also hitting Live Arcade this Wednesday is Ticket To Ride which is based on the award-winning board game of the same name. The Playful Entertainment-developed, multiplayer-friendly game is rated E. Both titles will set you back 800 Microsoft Points. Media alert is after the jump!

Happy Tree Friends False Alarm! and Ticket to Ride Launching on Xbox LIVE Arcade This Wednesday!

The popular and twisted Web series, “Happy Tree Friends False Alarm!™” and the award-winning board game “Ticket to Ride” will debut on Xbox LIVE Arcade this Wednesday, June 25, 2008 at 9:00 a.m. GMT (1:00 a.m. PDT).

“Happy Tree Friends False Alarm!” incorporates the twisted humor and mayhem from the cartoon Web series as the cute and cuddly Happy Tree Friends face one gory, horrible disaster after another! Players assume the persona of Lumpy the moose, who must save his clumsy friends by blasting open areas when they are trapped or deep freezing them before they stumble into danger. “Happy Tree Friends False Alarm!” features 10 exclusive scenarios, ranging from a mine shaft to a candy factory, with three frantic levels and new cut-scenes. Just like the hit Web series, players must try to keep their pals safe, but with this accident-prone group, catastrophic mishaps are inevitable.

Developed by Stainless Games and published by SEGA, “Happy Tree Friends False Alarm!” will be available worldwide for 800 Microsoft Points and is rated M for Mature by the ESRB.

All aboard! Get your “Ticket to Ride” the rails from coast to coast on this exciting train adventure. Based on the award-winning board game, “Ticket to Ride” features simple rules and fast play, promising fun for the whole family on Xbox LIVE Arcade.

Plan your routes and connect your cities across the country to become the ultimate traveler, earning points as you claim your tracks and complete your Tickets for your chance at the big score. “Ticket to Ride” supports play with up to five people on Xbox LIVE or four people on the same Xbox 360 as you lay track from coast to coast. “Ticket to Ride” features Leaderboards, Achievements and multiple levels of AI players to keep the challenges coming. Who will win when the steam clears? Get your “Ticket to Ride” and see this Wednesday!

Created by Vancouver-based publisher, Playful Entertainment, “Ticket to Ride” will be available worldwide (except Hong Kong or Taiwan) for 800 Microsoft Points and is rated E for Everyone by the ESRB.

For more details on “Happy Tree Friends False Alarm!” and “Ticket to Ride,” please visit http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/livearcadexbox360.

Second character just announced: Skelly, whose weapons seem to include a sword and a bow-and-bone arrow. Plus from gameplay screens, he's either blocking or projecting some kind of energy attack.

Full screens after the jump.

Castle Crashers: Ninja and Skelly [Castle Crashers Development Blog of Love, via Xbox 360 Fanboy]

Interpol
Basic Fact Sheet

Publisher Sierra Online
Developer TikGames
Category Puzzle
Platform XBLA
Overview/Storyline Track down the evil and destructive fugitive Dr. Chaos, as you hunt down clues in this exciting seek and find game. As an elite agent for Interpol, it is your mission to eradicate his trail of corruption as it takes you around the world from one international city to the next. Use your investigative skills to quickly gather the evidence needed to bring him to justice.

Game Features
Tons of Puzzles – Analyze elaborate crime scenes to uncover hundreds of mysterious hidden objects
Glamorous Destinations – Search for clues scattered in exotic locales around the world including San Francisco, Cairo, Paris, Tokyo and more.
Clever Minigames - Discover bonus similarities and differences puzzles to test your keen eye-sight
4 Player Co-op – Complete missions with other agents to quickly apprehend this dangerous criminal before he does more harm
Availability Fall 2008
Rating RP

Up to four players can compete together locally or co-op, and online multiplayer is for up to eight. You can also compete against three AIs all by your lonesome, so there are a lot of options - You get the idea.

So did I get creamed on the video game the same way I used to as a little geek?

Short answer is yes - but my team actually won one round, too, thanks to my heroics once my partner got knocked out. Gameplay's actually quite simple; you can jump and throw the ball from midair, dodge backward with the right shoulder button, or pick up the ball simply by running over it. There are several different pirates and several different ninjas to choose from, and each one has its own special move.

The character animations are really cute, and the different characters are all rather different (surprised?) One of the ninjas looks more like a samurai than a ninja, technically. I tried playing a female ninja who did one of those spread-armed crane-winged jumps in the air. One thing I didn't know is that zombie and robot teams will also be featured as unlockables, with sets of abilities all their own. When I played as a robot, the sprite I chose was able to stun both her enemies and allies via a bright laser beam from her chest.

Essentially, two teams scrabble for the ball and beat each other senseless with it until all the members of one team are out of stamina. You can recoup your stamina by catching the ball instead of being hit by it. Making things a little more wicked is the fact that you can perform normal attacks on your opponents with weapons to drain their stamina as well, or to keep them from reaching the ball so that your own teammate can get it.

Pirates vs. Ninjas Dodgeball was actually supposed to be out earlier this year, but the rep told me the reason for the delay was to add additional game modes - for example, if you'd just like to play straight dodgeball without the ability to hit and be hit with the weapons, you can now do that.

I played a few rounds of two-on-two local against the reps, and had a blast. It's a little bit like the fun and chaos of Smash Bros. but without all the complexity. It's simple enough that even your non-gamer buddies would probably want to play it with you when they're all over for beers or something. Not that you'd need to drink to enjoy it, mind you, but it feels like a great party title.

Schizoid Game Page [Torpex Games]

The pack also includes the Jjaro texture and design set from Marathon Infinity, as well as two new achievements with the potential to add another 30 points to your gamerscore.

Look for the Jjaro Map Pack tomorrow for the low, low price of 250 Microsoft points. It looks so old it's practically new!

Freeverse Announces New Content Pack for Critically Acclaimed Marathon: Durandal on Xbox LIVE Arcade

New York - June 17th, 2008 - Freeverse, Inc. today announced its plans to release a major downloadable content pack for its 2007 XBox LIVE Arcade port of Marathon: Durandal, Bungie's classic first-person shooter. Slated for a June 18th release, this content pack will extend the Marathon gaming experience on the Xbox 360 gaming console with new maps, game modes, and textures.

Available for 250 Microsoft Points on the Xbox LIVE Marketplace, the Jjaro Map Pack for Marathon: Durandal will include 12 classic multiplayer levels previously seen in Bungie’s Marathon and Marathon Infinity.

Nostalgic players will recall the names of these classic maps: Thrud, Vulcan, King of Pain, Spiral Insanity, Dead Fields, Morphine, La Cosa Nostra, Mars Needs Women, ‘Fugee Camp, What Goes Up Must Come Down, Arena, and Spline.

Each of these downloadable maps will support new gametypes previously unseen in their original release on the Macintosh platform, including King of the Hill, Kill the Man with the Ball, and Tag.

Also included in this downloadable content pack is the “Jjaro” collection, a texture and design set previously introduced in Marathon Infinity. In addition to these exciting new environments in which to play, players will also be able to unlock two new achievements:

Thing What Kicks - Kill a Juggernaut in Survival and live to tell the tale. 20 points.

King Pfhor a Day - Outscore all other players (at least 3) combined in a King of the Hill or Kill the Man with the Ball match. 10 points.

Players must download and enable the Jjaro Map Pack before they can earn these challenging new achievements.

Marathon, considered ahead of its time in 1994, was a first-person shooter featuring an advanced 3D graphics engine, interesting story line, and compelling multiplayer game modes. Unique level design set players against obstacles and puzzles, including low-gravity spots, crushing ceilings, and magnetic fields that interfere with the player's motion sensor. Marathon's unique gameplay paved the way for two sequels, as well as Bungie's later franchise Halo.

Freeverse's 2007 XBox LIVE Arcade port adds some modern flair to this timeless classic, including a revised hud, enhanced widescreen high-definition graphics, and an increased framerate. Multiplayer is possible through four-player split-screen and 8-player games over Xbox LIVE, including both co-op and deathmatch modes. Winner of a Best of Show Award at the E3 2007 show, Marathon: Durandal is currently available on the XBox LIVE Marketplace for 800 Microsoft Points.

Castle Crashers Isn't Only Done, Now It's Rated! [Xbox 360 Fanboy, also the pic.]

GamerBytes, the new blog in the Game Developer/Gamasutra/GameSetWatch line up, chatted with some developers to get their opinions on the XBLA delisting issue. The little three parter is a nice look at a couple of view points. Unsurprisingly, opinions are mixed — some are staunchly opposed, while some (like the cofounder of Merscom, Buku Sudoku developer) think it's a fabulous idea:

I support this policy. I think it is important to maintain a consistent level of quality and if a game is not hitting these targets (which are not that rigorous) they aren't giving the gamer a good experience ....

I always believe in quality over quantity and I think the Microsoft policy is a good move in this direction. I understand how some developers feel they might end up wasting their effort, but I think if they make a REAL effort these hurdles should be a piece of cake.

Of course, there are some excellent points made against the plan — like the fact that even "low" revenues can mean a lot to small indie developers — but we'll see how this all shakes out in the wash.

XBLA Delisting - Developer Response (parts 1, 2, and 3) [GamerBytes]

The conference, supported by Nintendo, will explore how technology can be used for learning.

Graham Brown-Martin, founder of Handheld Learning, said: “Providing teachers with free Nintendo DS Lites is not intended to be a gimmick, we expect our delegates to use them during the conference and experience an environment that would typically not be allowed in a classroom.”

I think it's a great idea. In fact in my recent conversation with Nintendo's Cammie Dunaway I was telling her that Nintendo should work to get some WiiWare educational games out and then provide the Wii to schools around the country. It worked for Apple, so why not Nintendo? Personally, I think all three hardware companies are obligated, as good corporate citizens, to create educational games for their download services. They may not make money, but I can't imagine it would cost them that much and think of the good will, both to the company and the industry.

Nintendo to hand out free DS consoles [Digital Spy]

"I'll be honest here, I went out to my car and ten of the little guys were wandering around, bumping into each other and wearing little sandwich boards reading 'Will Work for Hats,'" said Steve Taylor, President of NinjaBee. "We couldn't put them out on the streets after they worked so hard on our game, so we hired them to help around the office. They follow directions to the letter and are very friendly, but not too smart. The way I see it, what could go wrong?"

What could go wrong? How about....MURDER!? Look for A Kingdom of Keflings this fall, unless the authorities find the bodies first.

STUDIO HIRES 20 NEW EMPLOYEES, ALL 3 FEET TALL

NinjaBee, now with more Keflings!

Orem, Utah - June 4, 2008 - NinjaBee, a leading independent developer of Xbox LIVE® Arcade titles, announced today it has hired 20 Keflings to help around the office. Featured in their newest Xbox LIVE Arcade Title, A Kingdom for Keflings, the Keflings are short, happy beings who aren't afraid of a bit of hard work. Once production slowed on the studio's newest city-building game, the Keflings became aimless without constant direction.

"I'll be honest here, I went out to my car and ten of the little guys were wandering around, bumping into each other and wearing little sandwich boards reading 'Will Work for Hats,'" said Steve Taylor, President of NinjaBee. "We couldn't put them out on the streets after they worked so hard on our game, so we hired them to help around the office. They follow directions to the letter and are very friendly, but not too smart. The way I see it, what could go wrong?"

The Keflings are expected to work everywhere from the art department to the copy room and will surely remain happy and occupied. The new title, A Kingdom for Keflings, will feature fun and light-hearted gameplay with graphics and original music to match. Look for A Kingdom for Keflings on Xbox LIVE Arcade this fall.

Undaunted, Penny Arcade and Hothead Games now brings us chapter one of Penny Arcade Adventures: On The Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, a Lovecraftian period role-playing game in four parts. Is it an adventure strong enough to weather the ensuing critic-storm, or will it crack under the pressure, spiraling slowly into madness? Read on, brave adventurer...

Loved
The Story: It's H.P. Lovecraft meets Monty Python, complete with ancient gods, dark rituals, clowns, hobos, and evil mimes. Two great tastes that go surprisingly well together. Being able to create my own character who features prominently in the cutscenes really made me feel like I was part of the twisted tale.

The Combat: It's as if they took the best bits from several RPG's and tossed them all together, adding their own unique spin. You get standard attacks, super moves that rely on mini-games (one rather similar to Shadow Hearts' wheel mechanic), timed blocking, and support characters that can unleash devastating and not-so-devastating attacks. It's an issue of Popular RPG Mechanics.

The Humor: To be honest here, I am a big fan of the Penny Arcade web comic, and that same style of humor oozes through every pore of PAA. It can be a bit hit or miss at times, but I found myself at least tittering to myself a good 80% of the time, with a few definite LOL moments. “What. The. Fuck.”

The Brevity: With RPG's getting longer and longer with each passing year, it's quite refreshing to be able to sit down with a game in the genre and be finished in 8 hours.

The Music: The instrumental music by Jeff Tymoschuk captures the off-kilter atmosphere of the game quite readily, but the ending credits song “Final Boss” by MC Frontalot steals the show.

Hated
The Environments: While the various settings in the game are well-detailed and crafted lovingly, there are only four of them, with one of those consisting of a single room. I wanted to see more of the world.

The Item Collection: The game would have benefited greatly from some sort of item store. As it stands, using up all of your power ups during a difficult fight leaves you running back through the stages whacking trash cans in order to rebuild your supply.

Easy Peasy: Enemies are on screen for the most part, allowing you to avoid them while you hunt for items to help do them in, and your health replenishes completely after every battle, making the game a bit easier than I would have liked.

Penny Arcade Adventures: On The Rain-Slick Precipice Of Darkness is a game lovingly crafted for fans of the web comic, so it goes without saying that if you despise Penny Arcade and all they stand for then this is probably not the game for you. If you are a big fan, then by all means, pick the game up. Even if you aren't big on the RPG format, it's packed with tons of trademark PA humor that anyone who follows the comic shouldn't miss out on.

With that in mind, I found On The Rain-Slick Precipice Of Darkness to be a wholly enjoyable experience and an excellent beginning to the Penny Arcade Adventures saga.

Penny Arcade Adventures: On The Rain-Slick Precipice Of Darkness was developed by Hothead Games, designed by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik. Retails for $19.95 or 1600 Microsoft points. Available on Xbox Live Arcade, PC, Mac. Played to completion.

Greenberg told MTV Multiplayer's Patrick Klepek:

“The reality is we’re not removing any games from the service, if you will. They’ll always be there for purchase. Think about a book on Amazon. It’s not always going to be featured on the front page of the store.”

You can re-download titles you once owned, if you delete them, or you can buy them if a friend recommends them to you, Greenberg clarified, even if you can no longer purchase them via storefront browsing.

Still, is the state of XBLA like an episode of "Survivor"? Greenberg told Multiplayer:

Objectively, one of Live's biggest obstacles is the sheer density of its offering and wildly variant quality levels - it's hard to tell what there even is to play, let alone if what you're checking out will be a worthy experience, despite the numerous demos. With that in mind, a standard methodology for trimming the fat might help the cream rise to the top, right?

Slaughterhouse and farming metaphors aside, a new opinion column by Lionhead and Climax veteran Tadhg Kelly presents a fascinating perspective on why Microsoft's new sales and scores-based "de-listing" strategy might actually spell the death of the service.

Basically, Kelly opines that opting for a standard supported by sales performance and Metacritic scores will saddle XBLA with the same struggles we're seeing in retail - publisher attempts to coerce or incentivize media and developers, for one, and more importantly, increased risk aversion.

Weren't digital distribution platforms supposed to provide an alternative route for developers wishing (or needing) to avoid the tight control score-and-sale scrutiny that many people think is stifling innovation in retail?

Also, writes Kelly:

Lastly, and far more seriously, it means that the developers will increasingly pitch for products that they think Microsoft will like, or products that Microsoft themselves might think should be on the service, and so XBLA will become a much more for-hire service.

If you're like me, you may have wondered why there wasn't a YouTube-esque content aggregator system for XBLA. That's because Microsoft sees its service as more of a "portal" offering, and Kelly says this and other issues are even more of a problem for XBLA, since its competition's quickly catching up:

Is it too late for XBLA? Well I hope not, but I suspect it is. Microsoft increasingly have competition from Sony (whose online play is free after all) and now Nintendo - who have announced a very interesting scheme for WiiWare that is squarely aimed at the sorts of innovative small developers that Microsoft wanted to attract but ultimately repelled with their portal structure.

Microsoft had an early-market advantage with XBLA 3 years ago, but their competitors have now matched (and may supercede) their offering. And with sales of the 360 console itself being caught by PS3 and out-classed by Wii, I would imagine there isn't much of an appetite in Redmond for large-scale changes to the system.

It could be that Microsoft's well-intentioned attempts to address what many have called XBLA's biggest problem may stand as a turning point for the service. We've contacted Microsoft to discuss, and hope to learn more soon.

Aggregation vs. Portals: Where Microsoft is Going Wrong With Xbox Live Arcade [GameSetWatch]

For us it's about getting it to as many people as humanly possible. In an ideal world all the back ends would talk to each other so people could compete together and play together. Simply having a different platform segments the market for multiplayer... With PC we're going across to all the different digital distribution and delivery companies and so again it's about reaching as many people as possible. When you choose one partner it segments the marketplace for us.

It's a shame more companies don't think like Capcom. There'd be fewer insane fanboys, you know.

Home platforms are segmenting multiplayer market - Capcom [GamesIndustry]

I know that once something hits the net it can be pirated very easily but I hope you can see the amount of time and money we have put forth to make this a reality. Just so that you don't see us as the evil corporation that is rolling in money and sticking it to the end-user, let me break down some costs:

We are charging 99 cents per song of which we usually make about 60% or so. That's 60 cents. Additionally there are server management fees, the internal staff hours it took to get the contract up and running, and of course a license fee to create the initial contract. All in all, it probably costs us around 10K just to get the product up and running. We would need to sell 15,000 songs to break even and when it comes to game soundtracks that just isn't a number that you can easily hit.

Odds are we will take a loss.

But still, I believe in the music. I believe in making it available to the fans. And I believe that you can't always look at the bottom line (although my boss disagrees).

Hates the money, loves the fans. That's nice.

BCR Music [Bionic Commando Thanks, Daniel!]

This is MA-1. Sir, we know you've been waiting to get your hands on the finished Bionic Commando Rearmed, but it appears we've run into a few problems in the closing stages. I regret to inform you that we have received confirmation that the game won't be making its scheduled May release.

This is always the hardest part of any battle, sir. All we can tell you is that the game is done and is more awesome than pure liquid awesome sir! Our troops right now are in the trenches, battling with bugs and submission procedures. Fatigue is starting to set in but they won't give up until that game is on the shelves!

What's that, sir? There are no shelves, it's a downloadable title? You sure told me, sir. What a world we live in!

Pretty sure this is the best delay message in recent memory.

Game Delay [Bionic Commando via Gay Gamer]

The news sounds worse for Microsoft than Gamestop, though. It's 5,000 fewer stores through which Microsoft can grow sales of the Zune, and it whacks a natural cross-sell to Xbox gamers — who in the future might get exposed to XNA games on their console, and be interested in a portable device that plays them.

If you want a Zune, this really doesn't affect you. There's any number of big box retailers and online stores that can deliver it today or overnight. But long-term, it does speak to the health and adoption of the device and, ultimately, decisions that put features and content on yours.

GameStop to Stop Zune Sales [theStreet.com]

According to Whitten, any title that is six months old, with an average Metacritic score below 65 and a demo-to-full conversion ratio below 6%, will be pulled from the service. Concerned parties will be notified three months in advance if a title is going to be pulled.

That means titles like Cyberball 2072 and Arkadian Warriors may be on their way out, depending on when Microsoft plans to start taking out the trash. We're a bit confused as to why MS would choose to pull the titles outright instead of implementing other methods for showcasing more well received titles and we have little insight into conversion ratios, but Whitten hopes that "Overall I think you will find this will focus the catalogue more on larger, more immersive games and make it much easier to find the games you are looking for."

The Xbox Live GM also reveals that we won't see a Spring dashboard update like we did last year, but that Microsoft still has plans for new features. One of those is a new DRM tool "that will allow you to better consolidate your licenses for downloaded content to a single Xbox and allow you the freedom to be able to play your content both online and offline" according to Whitten.

Maybe that list of rumored updates we heard about earlier this month won't be coming for a long time (if ever).

MS To Delist XBLA Titles [Next-Gen]

Edery says the fattening up of XBLA titles is due to "listening to our partners, listening to our customers to try and get a feel for what's right" adding that "it's good for the ecosystem" to have some sort of limit to encourage pick up and play games. Hopefully, with that extra room, Namco Bandai can go back and add a bit more graphical oomph to Soul Calibur for XBLA, get the visuals back to my rose-tinted glasses memories of the Dreamcast version.

Xbox Live Arcade's David Edery [GamesIndustry.biz - thanks, Andy!]

Behemoth posted some new screenshots, and says the devblog will update with more character profiles even though the game's finished. Any guess what the points cost for this thing will be?

Castle Crashers is Completely Completed[Castle Crashers Development Blog, big thanks to GeorgeLiquor and Spade0013]

A digitally-distributed add-on to Rocketmen: Axis of Evil

• Players must have already purchased Rocketmen: Axis of Evil in order to play It Came from Uranus
• Continue the Rocketmen saga with your characters from the original game.
• 400 XBLA points / $4.95 PSN Store

3 New Weapons
• Blobber: Shoots blobs of goo at enemies, does damage over time in the part of the ground that it covers.
• Beamer: Shoots lighting at enemies, does high intensity damage.
• Bomber: Shoots grenades instead of bullets; grenades explode on impact doing damage.

2 New Secondary Weapons
• Falcon: Robotic falcon that attacks enemies automatically
• Screw bomb: Rocket that turns into a proximity mine on impact

3 New Levels
• Level 11 - Finding Jane: The player must escape the Saturnian prison mine and reclaim Nick's ship, the Icarus Jane.
• Level 12 - Clear the Asteroids: The player must clear a path for the ship through Saturn's rings
• Level 13 - The Plan: The player must make his way through the Saturnian palace and convince Angelica, leader of the Saturnians, to join the Alliance.

New Enemies
• Saturnian Marine
• Saturnian Elite
• Heavy Mining Terra Scientists
• Terra Rocket Marines
• Saturnian Pit Boss
• Saturnian Asteroid Demolition Machine
• Lord Angelica