XBox Gaming Blog

Xbox Live Arcade Trivia Time!

Are you sad that there’s no XBLA title today?  Don’t be!

In addition to the arcade announcements we made yesterday, we are having a sweepstakes focused around Live Arcade!  We’ll run the contest starting today (it is Xbox Live Arcade Wednesday, after all) and up through next Tuesday (2/6/07).

Correctly answer all of the questions below, and you will be entered into a drawing for 1000 Microsoft points!  The answers can be found in the games mentioned (including the free trials).

To enter, send an email to arctriv@microsoft.com including your Xbox Live Gamertag, the email address tied to your Xbox Live Gamertag, and your answers to the questions below.  100 winners will be selected from the correct entries.

Trivia Questions:

1 - In Small Arms, the frenetic action shooter, in what city did Mousey McNuts, the lovable street urchin, grow up? (Quit laughing, that’s his name̷

2 - In Marble Blast Ultra, the 3D marble puzzler, what is the difficulty rating of the hardest single player level?

3 - In Cloning Clyde, the zany-side-scrolling platformer, how much money is Clyde offered for his help in the cloning experiment?

People in suits and black sunglasses are requiring me to state the following:
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY.  Open only to legal residents of the 50 United States (includes D.C.) 18 years or older.  Game ends February 6, 2007.  For full rules including alternate method of entry, visit this link.

Crackdown Achievements Video

There’s been a lot of talk about the upcoming game, Crackdown.  The product team put together a video of a few of their favorite achievements from the game.   I posted it up on MSN Soapbox (and on YouTube and Google Video) for your enjoyment…

[Edit: TeamXbox posts the video in hi-def.]

We May not Hear from Wolf for Awhile…

I popped into Wolf’s office to ask him a Windows Vista question, and he wasn’t in his office.  Something on his desk caught my eye (highlighted in yellow).

Yes, it appears that someone is going to take the trip that few come back from.  Several of us at work have talked about jumping into World of Warcraft.  Wolf already jumped in with both feet.

I was in the WoW beta, and had played for a few months (although my highest character is level 54, not 60) so I know how addictive it is.  We all have time constraints that will probably mean we won’t be doing the 60th level raids, but I’m sure we’ll have fun.

8 Million people can’t be wrong…

Four down(loadable), four to go!

So, upgrade to Vista today? Excellent! We’ve got some new casual games just for you: the first four of our “Games Enhanced for Windows Vista” titles are finished and available for download from MSN Games. For those who crave a little textual adventure, there’s the fast-paced and lexically challenging Spinword. Puzzle junkies can indulge in two amped-up, feature-packed sequels to the popular Luxor and Jewel Quest games. There’s even an action-y, arcade-y, strategically devious title called Darwinia to tempt you into download excess.

Wait, did I say excess?  Not even.  They’re only $19.95 each — practically the polar opposite of excessive.  And as always, a full-featured trial version is absolutely free.

Stay tuned for four more exclusive Vista-enhanced games, launching soon!

Oh, and if you didn’t upgrade to Vista today, but you’d still like to play Jewel Quest 2, we’ve still got you covered.  In fact, we’re the only ones who have you covered, since this launch is an MSN Games exclusive.  One hundred n’ eighty brand-spiffin’-new levels of jewel-encrusted puzzle joy (can you tell that I adored the previous game?), and the trial version once again costs a whopping nada.  Why resist?