The 360 thread!

[fuwafuwa]

another week of no XBLA release here in Japan *sigh*

[chub]

another week of no XBLA release here in Japan *sigh*

Really? I assumed the XBLA releases came out everywhere at the same time. Do they get released later in Japan, or just not at all?

[fuwafuwa]

another week of no XBLA release here in Japan *sigh*

Really? I assumed the XBLA releases came out everywhere at the same time. Do they get released later in Japan, or just not at all?

It's rare these Not-available-in-Japan titles get released here later. We don't have Atari titles. No SWOS. No Capcom titles. Sierra no longer release their titles in Japan.

[Flabio]

With the Japanese 360 market being so small, and the profit margins on a live title also so small, I imagine most companies are electing to avoid the expense of getting a game localised and certified.

[fuwafuwa]

Well, the Live attach rate is very high, and there are hardcore users who spend lots of their money on Marketplace here. 1.2 million downloads(200 million MSP) of Idolmaster DLCs - does this sound small to you?

[Flabio]

The Idolmaster thing is very much the exception rather than the rule though, if the figures are to be believed.

[PVB]

PGR4 In Game Content (Premium and Free)
Content: Free Challenge Pack
Price: Free
Availability: All Xbox LIVE regions
Dash Text: [ESRB: E (Everyone) MILD LYRICS] Download the new Free PGR 4 Challenge Pack from Bizarre, and you'll drive the hydrogen-powered 2007 Peugeot Flux, winner of the 2007 Peugeot International Design Competition. Plus, you'll get two new game modes—one of them the player-requested Tourist Mode, which lets you tool around any city in the game checking out sights with your friends. Or play Free Roam Cat and Mouse, where a slow mouse vehicle must avoid enemy cats. And you add another 10 achievements. Get more racing fun for the best price—free!

Content: Premium Challenge Pack
Price: 400 Microsoft Points
Availability: All regions
Dash Text: [ESRB: E (Everyone) MILD LYRICS] The Premium PGR 4 Challenge Pack from Bizarre, available for 400 Microsoft® Points, gives you seven new cars—the 2008 Chevrolet Camaro Convertible Concept, 2007 Volkswagen Golf GTI W12-650, 2007 Peugeot Flux, 1987 BMW M3 E30 DTM, 2007 Ferrari 430 Scuderia, 2008 Honda S2000 CR, and 2008 Callaway C16 Speedster. You get three new bikes—the 2007 Yamaha YZF-R1, 1995 Aprilia RS 250, and 1998 Aprilia RSV 1000 Tuono R. Plus, new World Challenge Arcade Mode gives you 20 arcade events in 3 themed chapters, including 5 events that can only be done on platinum. In Tourist Mode, get a free ride with friends around any game city. In Free Roam Cat and Mouse, a slow mouse vehicle runs from enemy cats. Ten new achievements fill out the pack. There are no refunds for this item. For more information, see http://www.xbox.com/live/accounts.


FYI: You can now edit your profile information on Xbox.com
When we shipped the dashboard update in December, we added the ability to enter your name, location and a bio in the dashboard. I am happy to announce that starting today, you can now edit those field on Xbox.com. To add or edit this information, sign in to Xbox.com then go to Manage Profile then click Edit Personal Profile . This page has a place to edit those three fields directly in your browser. Much easier, huh?


Demo: Spiderwick
Content: Spiderwick Demo
Price: Free
Availability: Canada and the US
Dash Text: [ESRB: E10+ (Everyone 10+) ANIMATED BLOOD,FANTASY VIOLENCE] Based on the film by Nickelodeon Movies and Paramount Pictures, you take on the roles of Jared, Simon and Mallory Grace as well as the House Brownie Thimbletack, as you unlock the secrets of Arthur Spiderwick’s Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You—a magical book documenting an unseen world containing both wondrous and dangerous faerie creatures. Using the unique abilities of each character, you will battle hordes of Goblins, capture Sprites, solve puzzles and explore every nook and cranny of the world of The Spiderwick Chronicles™ leading to the final confrontation with the Ogre Mulgarath.


GH III: Dream On by Aerosmith (free)
If you own Guitar Hero III, grab Dream On by Aerosmith for free this weekend from the Xbox LIVE Marketplace. The download will be free until Monday night at 0200 PT.
Here are the dash details:
Content: Dream On by Aerosmith
Price: Free
Availability: All Xbox LIVE regions
Dash Text: [ESRB: T (Teen) MILD LYRICS,MILD SUGGESTIVE THEMES] As Re-Recorded by Aerosmith for the upcoming Guitar Hero Aerosmith game, rock out to this famous anthem. For all song credits please visit http://www.redoctane.com

[Jedburgh]

This week on XBLA: N+

[Misfit]

This week on XBLA: N+

The N+ team wrote:

At this point we’re completely anxious, worried that it’s too hard and no one will buy it because the graphics are so minimal and stylized (though stylish), and after struggling with the demo for the hypothetical 3 minutes you have before people get bored, they’ll give up instead of pushing on and finding their inner ninja. All we can do is hope people will see/play past all that and get incurably addicted. And then addict their friends!

Sounds a bit like some other game we all love over here....

[fog]

This week on XBLA: N+

I've always hated N because, strangely, I've always wanted to really love the game but it just wont let me. I'll be giving the demo a go though and hopefully with 360 controller in hand it'll click.

[turk182]

So The club then.. its a bit meeh , completed it on easy will try on normal now .I don't know why but I do like the kill baddies on a 'lap' , also is it only me that thinks the club secretary voice is des lynam?

[Mark]

This week on XBLA: N+

I've always hated N because, strangely, I've always wanted to really love the game but it just wont let me. I'll be giving the demo a go though and hopefully with 360 controller in hand it'll click.

I've had it on PC for ages and barely touched it. On PartnerNet I found it seemed to work better. Whether it works well enough is another matter. Certainly it feels more at home on the console, and as I'm no expert on the PC version, it may well have been tweaked to play better (the deaths feel more brutal than I remember, which makes screwing up much more fun for starters). Other than that the controls feel very similar to how I remember, the art style is a little more developed but not enough to count, but I'm guessing the level designs have changed.

It could be that on PC it just gets lost in the huge folder of Indie game I've got vying for attention when I fancy playing something different - not different enough from the other bunch of "agile ninja" type games I've got, whereas on the 360 it's one of a kind, pretty much.

Then again maybe the difference is just playing it on the big old screen at work though, rather than in a window on PC.

Or perhaps it's just the natty new red scarf the ninja wears - maybe I'm THAT shallow .

[Jedburgh]

Or perhaps it's just the natty new red scarf the ninja wears - maybe I'm THAT shallow .

It's a nice scarf all right. I hope they've fixed that thing where it gets caught on a bit of scenery and stretches out into a row of red pixels.

They've done a nice job on it, I reckon; good work translating the tippy-tappy PC controls onto the X360 pad. My main criticism's that they've shovelled far too many levels in there. You could lose at least half of the levels and end up with a much better game.

[Rod_S]

Wasn't someone say the RRoD problem is fixed now?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/technology/2 ... turns.html

[PVB]

Wasn't someone say the RRoD problem is fixed now?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/technology/2 ... turns.html

As the article says, there's no way of knowing how old the demo console is though.

Mine's started to get a bit noisier during Mass Effect loading, so I guess it's on borrowed time.