Happy Wars Beta now available as part of Xbox Live Public Preview

Posted on by Orion Williams
Games

Free to play title Happy Wars has a beta, and it’s out now.  That means if you are in the Xbox Live public preview, then you can help yourself to some experimental Xbox free to play action.  As usual, Xbox live gold members only.

Two games have been announced this year as being free to play, or freemium titles.  But the Happy Wars beta was a bit of a surprise today.  If you played it, we’d love to hear what you thought of it.  Does free to play have a future on the 360?  We hope so.

Xbox Deals and upcoming releases for September

Posted on by Orion Williams
Deals, Games
Everybody was Kung Fu fighting, or Dogfighting, or…well everybody was fighting at least and that should be enough for you.  September 5th sees two action games, followed by some sweet ninja action on the 7th.  Ohhh, speaking of ninjas.

 

Xbox LIVE Arcade  Release Date MS Points
Kung Fu Strike: The Warrior’s Rise 5-Sep 800
Dogfight 1942 5-Sep 1200
Mark of the Ninja 7-Sep 1200
Red Johnson’s Chronicles – One Against All 12-Sep 800
Double Dragon NEON 12-Sep 800
Add-ons Release Date MS Points
Skyrim: Hearthfire 4-Sep 400
Pinball FX2: Plants vs. Zombies Table  5-Sep 240
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3: Collection 4 – Final Assault 6-Sep 1200
Battlefield 3: Amored Kill Premium Members 11-Sep 1200
Quantum Conundrum: IKE-aramba! 12-Sep 240
Gold Exclusive Deal of the Week Discount Dates Price
4-Sep to 10-Sep
Babel Rising 400
Rayman 3D HD 400
Mad Riders 400
Alan Wake’s American Nightmare 600
Limbo 600
Sine Mora 800
PopCap 11-Sep to 17-Sep
Plants vs. Zombies 600
Peggle 400
Peggle Nights 200
Zuma 200
Bejeweled 3 400
Heavy Weapon 400
Astropop 400
Feeding Frenzy 2 400
Bejeweled Blitz Live 200
Feeding Frenzy 200
Special Sales Discount Dates Price
Back to School Sale  4-Sep to 10-Sep varies
Kinect Central – Just Dance 3 Spring Break Pack  4-Sep to 10-Sep 320
Kinect Central – Rhythm Party 11-Sep to 17-Sep 400
Games on Demand Release Date
Street Fighter x Tekken 4-Sep
Sniper Elite V2 4-Sep
Cabela’s Adventure Camp 4-Sep
Karaoke Revolution Glee: Volume 3 4-Sep
Birds of Steel  4-Sep
Max Payne 3  11-Sep
Kinect Sports: Season 2  11-Sep
FIFA Street  11-Sep
PowerUp Heroes  11-Sep
Avatar Release Date
College Game Day Update  4-Sep
Rockband Blitz Update  11-Sep

Thanks Major Nelson!

Skyrim: Hearthfire lets you build a house in between dragon slaying

Posted on by Orion Williams
Games

hearthfire

You loved all of customization options in Skyrim.  Building your character in form and function and choosing just the right apparel to strike fear into your enemies at just a glance.  You loved the Skyrim experience, but one thing was missing.  How did they omit this obvious feature?

All wrongs have been righted now.  For $5 you can finally build a house in Skyrim.  Use the drafting table and carpenter’s bench to fashion new furniture and decorations.  Build an alchemy lab, armory, garden, stable and more.  Your dragonborn can also choose to adopt children.

So get on with it.  Build the orphanage of your dreams today!

Halo 4 VidDoc – A Hero Awakens

Posted on by Orion Williams
Games

Halo 4 cover art

The latest Video Documentary for the making of Halo 4 explores Master Chief’s humanity and touches on the sacrifices needed to be a hero.  See the motion capture actors and voice actors that bring the starring roles to life.  Make sure to get your preorder in for Halo 4 as well.  November 6 2012 is not that far away.

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The opening cinematic to Transformers: Fall of Cybertron sounds as good as it looks

Posted on by Orion Williams
Games

Upon launching the game Transformers: Fall of Cybertron, you are graced with this emotional video showing a mostly destroyed Cybertron and it’s inhabitants engaging in a civil war.  It would be a cool video to see if it didn’t have the music.  But Puscifer’s “The Humbling River” really sells the mood and makes it something to see, if you have even a mild fondness for the Transformers.  The classics are here, Optimus, Bumblebee, Megatron, Starscream.  Enough talk!  On with the show.

Xbox Live Deal of the Week (August 21, 2012)

Posted on by Orion Williams
Deals, Games

Those looking to save, while they spend their Microsoft Points, eagerly await the Deal of the Week.  Here you go super savers.

Deal of the Week Discount Dates Price
TNT Racers 21-Aug to 27-Aug 400 (50% off)
Faery 600 (50% off)
Crazy Machine Elements 400 (50% off)
Dead Block 400 (50% off)
Dead Block – More Dead to Block Map Pack 120 (50% off)
Skydrift 600 (50% off)
Skydrift – Extreme Fighters Pack 80 (50% off)
Skydrift – Gladiator Pack 200 (50% off)

 

Dust: An Elysian Tail – All 12 friends unlocked for you to see.

Posted on by Orion Williams
Games

Dust: AET has 12 unlockable “friends” that give you a health boost with each one you find.  But more importantly, they provide you with a warm fuzzy feeling if you have played any or all of the games that starred this lovable cast.

Featured in the game and subsequent video are:

Meat Boy

Bandage Girl

The Dishwasher

Yuki

Chris (HyperDuck SoundWorks)

Dan (HyperDuck SoundWorks)

Spelunky

Spelunky’s Girl

Tim from Braid

The Kid from Bastion

The Maw

Gomez from Fez

 

Until you find them all yourself, enjoy the collection here.

If you are looking for help getting all of the friends unlocked, cakechieveables has a great tutorial right here:

Dust: An Elysian Tail Review – Art in motion

Posted on by Orion Williams
Game Reviews, Games

I don’t want to wait until the end of the review to tell you I think this game is amazing and that you should buy it.  I feel like it almost does an injustice to the efforts of it’s creators to pick it apart and tell you what I think of it’s elements.  But I was selected to inform you, based on my opinion, if this game is worth your time and money.  It is, and because it’s my job, I will tell you why.

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