Look at it burn. See it burn. It’s fire. It burns slowly. It burns in Slow Motion
Author: Orion Williams
Happy Wars Beta now available as part of Xbox Live Public Preview
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
| 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
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
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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Rock Band Blitz Review
When you look at the track record of quality that Harmonix has, you can hardly doubt that their next game in the rhythm genre will be a good time. Rock Band made playing plastic musical instruments a household phenomenon in America, and Dance Central showed us that the Kinect sensor could be used to teach us wallflowers how to dance (a little, anyway). Continue reading
The opening cinematic to Transformers: Fall of Cybertron sounds as good as it looks
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)
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.
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
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.