XBLA is taking a break before NXE hits next week along with Kingdom for Keflings which will make use of its avatars. XBLA aficionados aren’t left all alone though. Today, three more games become Arcade Hits: Feeding Frenzy, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, and Worms now sell for the low low price of 400 spacebucks (that $5 in good old USD).
In…less exciting news, we’re also getting a Street Fighter II table for Pinball FX today for 200 points. Pinball FX has already added the maximum 50 gamerscore points with earlier content, though, so this table is a tougher sell.
Previously available only to those who pre-ordered Valve’s zombie infestation action FPS, now anyone can download the demo of Left 4 Dead. Containing single-player and multiplayer gameplay, the demo is available for PC and Xbox 360 and will run only until the full game is released on Nov. 18.
PC users can download the demo through Steam. System requirements are listed after the break. Xbox 360 users can find the demo on Xbox Live.
Valve also released a patch for the demo made available last week to those who had pre-ordered the game. As well as providing some bug fixes and improving online matchmaking, the patch removes an exploit some players had been using to play as the zombies, a key feature of the game that’s not included in the demo.
READ MORE
The quantity of Bond games over the years is staggering and I approach each one with a little bit of hesitation because the quality varies so much. Quantum of Solace is different though. Kind of like rekindling an old flame, it’s made me realize again how much I enjoy taking on the role of 007 himself.
There is still that mix of stealth and blazing guns, but it’s at a ratio that I can handle. The engine is solid and the AI is stellar. Everything about this game screams blockbuster. Unfortunately for it, most gamers will probably be picking up Gears of War 2 instead.
If you’ve got the funds, you should definitely at least give it a look as my time with it so far is delivering a very rich and entertaining experience that isn’t to be missed.
Mike Capps hates the secondary video game market. He also hates video game rentals. Unless you bought his game new at retail you don’t really deserve to fight the final boss without throwing down $20 for the DLC. Unlock key DLC is bad enough (Namco, I’m looking squarely at you and my copy of Beautiful Katamari), but $20 unlock key DLC is ridiculous.
Granted, two times as many people played Gears of War than bought it at retail (I know I got mine second hand), but this potential solution is more likely to just keep people from playing (and potentially buying real DLC) at all instead of convincing them to pick up your game from Target or Best Buy. People buy used because not every game out there is worth $60, not because they’re looking to screw over your development house.
Please don’t do this Mike. If nothing else it will guarantee that I never buy another game developed by your studio.
Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the closed doors of a game developer? In an effort to get some answers and a little more clarity into this competitive industry, we interviewed Colin Lynch Smith, VP of NYC-based game developer Freeverse.
Snackbar Games: Can you tell us about how Freeverse started?
Colin Lynch Smith: My brother Ian graduated from Vassar with a degree in Cognitive Science, and spent the year after graduation sharing a house in East L.A. with a bunch of other recent grads who were writing screenplays and trying to break into the movie business. Ian didn’t really share their career goals, so he did a bit of temp work and started coding a Hearts card game on his old Apple Powerbook. It was revolutionary for its time, making use of a faux-3D perspective, talking characters, voice recognition and other cool stuff. He released it as shareware on AOL and started getting checks for $15 in the mail. He immediately became the wealthiest of his Dorito-eating slacker friends in the house…not a huge accomplishment, but it was better than temping, and Freeverse was born.
SB: Something most people may not realize is that you publish your own games as well as developing them. Can you tell us a little about how that process works and why you do it yourselves?
CLS: Need and rejection are the mothers of invention. As a Mac-focused developer, there was a very limited pool of publishing options, and after they all turned us down, we had to create our ownopportunities. So that meant building our own online store…and eventually learning how to design and print boxes and forging the relationships with distributors to get our titles onto shelves. We got very lucky on the retail side. When Bungie wasacquiredby Microsoft, they didn’t need a channel sales manager anymore. So he eventually became our channel sales manager and helped us navigate the verytreacherousshoals of shelf-space.
READ MORE
