The 360 thread!

[chub]

PMs sent to The Caffeine Kid and Ratsoap.

[Mark]

If anybody else wants a code for Kinect Fruit Ninja I also have one going spare. I won it the same weekend as Chub, but there didn't seem much point posting until his had gone. It's actually quite a fun little game, and one of the better implementations of Kinect.

[Mark]

My Fruit Ninja code has gone now, just so's you know. Ta.

[Jonesey]

This is the first I've seen or heard of Deadlight (XBLA). The gameplay looks like Flashback and the atmosphere comes across well even in the trailer. Definitely one to watch out for.

Available for XBLA download on August 1st. Nice.

[fog]

Yeah that looks like the highlight in not the greatest Summer of Arcade to date.

July 18 - Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD - 1200 MSP

July 25 - Wreckateer - 800 MSP

August 1 - Deadlight - 1200 MSP

August 8 - Hybrid - 1200 MSP

August 15 - Dust: An Elysian Tail - 1200 MSP

I loved the original Tony Hawk's games, but the dev saying the physics and controls in the HD remake have been improved probably means they've ruined them.

[Jonesey]

I've just been playing Manic Miner on Xbox Indie. I've lost count of how many formats and versions I've played it on over the years.

Shame there's no cheevos - loop the game x number of times or whatever...tough for me but a piece of piss for some of you guys.

[Jonesey]

Anyone else been torturing themselves with Spelunky?

Currently working on the funds for my second short-cut to the Ice levels...

...bastard game...

[Mark]

Anyone else been torturing themselves with Spelunky?

Currently working on the funds for my second short-cut to the Ice levels...

...bastard game...

Hell, yes!

The PC version would probably make it into my top 10 games ever, so this was the game I was most looking forward to this year. It hasn't disappointed. Absolutely loving it. There are a few changes that were throwing me at first that I'm starting to adapt to, but this still seems a fair bit harder - positively brutal at times. And yet I keep on going back for more.

I'm probably 100 games in and I've barely scraped the 3rd world yet (I'd have finished the whole game maybe half a dozen times on PC in that many games). The dark levels are especially nasty, even more so when they occasional double up with a themed room/area.

I read elsewhere what's needed to unlock the shortcut to the last world. The last item needed is the product of a properly sadistic mind.

In with a good shout for GOTY for me so far.

[Jonesey]

Now available in a browser flavour - HERE.

Deadlight is released today - I'll deffo be giving that a shoofty when I get home.

[F-ZeroOne]

Anyone else been torturing themselves with Spelunky?

Currently working on the funds for my second short-cut to the Ice levels...

...bastard game...

Hell, yes!

The PC version would probably make it into my top 10 games ever, so this was the game I was most looking forward to this year. It hasn't disappointed. Absolutely loving it. There are a few changes that were throwing me at first that I'm starting to adapt to, but this still seems a fair bit harder - positively brutal at times. And yet I keep on going back for more.

I'm probably 100 games in and I've barely scraped the 3rd world yet (I'd have finished the whole game maybe half a dozen times on PC in that many games). The dark levels are especially nasty, even more so when they occasional double up with a themed room/area.

I read elsewhere what's needed to unlock the shortcut to the last world. The last item needed is the product of a properly sadistic mind.

In with a good shout for GOTY for me so far.

My take on Spelunky:

"You run into a lot of gunfire in these caves, Mr. Wayne?"

And spikes. And falling blocks. And explosives. And spiders. And Giant Spiders. And man-eating plants. And giant boulders. And Kali. And...

...in short, Spelunky wants to kill you. Sometimes, right next to the start point of the level.

Its an XBox Arcade game. Its plays like a mix of classic 8-bit platform games, notably "Pitfall", with some "Boulder Dash" and "Rogue" mixed in.

Its old-school in another way, as well. You can't save. Ever. Die on level 2-1 and you will find yourself five levels back at level 1-1. Every time you die.

And death happens a lot in Spelunky. Your pith-helmeted adventurer has discovered possibly the last place on Earth where 'elf and Safety got bayoneted just for walking up the drive. Levels are randomly generated, so its not quite as infuriating as it sounds, but be prepared to see the start screen. Many, many times.

The kicker is, although everything can kill you, what mostly kills you is you.

By being careless, mostly. Everything works in a set way, and over time - mostly by being impaled by it - you learn from experience. Which also kills you, because you then get cocky. And careless.

There are damsels you can rescue for much-needed extra health. But damsels are squishy, too, and use them too much to set off traps and what you're left with is a damsel not so much in distress, as a damsel in a million little fleshy bits.

Did I mention the ghost? Attempt to inch through a level, metaphorically tossing miners canaries into the jaws of lurking pit-bulls, and the ghost appears. And is invincible, as far as anyone can tell. Guess what it does if it catches you?

Despite the difficulty level (have I said yet that some levels take place in the dark? No? Well, some do), its addictive. I played it for nearly two hours without getting any further than five levels in. And its addictive because, gradually, you learn how to survive just that crucial moment longer. Eventually there are helpful items to find that prolong death just a few seconds more. The first time you get a boomerang, you feel like a superhero. And then you get cocky again. And die. There is supposedly a guy who shows up and who, in exchange for much-blood-sweat-and-tears acquisitions, will build shortcuts to previously explored levels. I've never lasted long enough for him to do so.

Spelunky is like the Klingon proverb. Every game is a good day to die.

[Jonesey]

I had a helluva time carrying a key all the way from Mines (1.2) to the end of the Ice Caves (3.4) for the Tunnel Man to make a shortcut to the Temple levels. I've yet to beat Olmec.

[merman]

Actually, I think Spelunky is meant to play like Spelunker, the old Broderbund arcade game...

[F-ZeroOne]

Pitfall 2 was an arcade game at one point... And to be honest, thats the first I've heard of "Spelunker"...!

[Bod]

Xbox 360 dashboard beta is under way & incorporates :

Internet Explorer for Xbox
Recommendations and ratings
Pinning and favorites
Enhanced category search and discovery features
Voice search (in specified markets)

[jawafour]

Over the past few months my Xbox 360 (slim 250GB model) has been operating slower and slower. Logon to Xbox Live could take four minutes, blank panels greeted the dashboard, profile details took ages to appear and my profile log was regularly corrupting. In short, it was becoming a pain to use the machine.

But I've just flushed the hard drive cache and... fast logon, panels appearing instantly, the dashboard becoming usable... wow, it's like a new machine! The minor drawback is that any game patches will need to be re-downloaded, but that's only as and when I play the game online.

Good stuff - the 360 is back in use!