XBox Gaming Blog

Gripshift Developers Want to Take You Down

Have you ever been schooled by a Kiwi?  Get ready to.  New Zealand developer Sidhe Interactive will be challenging gamers to some head to head Race and Deathmatch rounds of their game Gripshift.  Mark it on your calendar for Thursday, December 20th at 6pm PST.  It isn’t often that you get to play a game with the people who built it.  Register at http://forums.gripshiftgame.com/xbla to sign up for a slot in the game session.

If you don’t know Gripshift, you’ll have a chance to get acquainted with the action racer this week when it launches on the Xbox Live Arcade.

The Stars of "Chuck" Invent a Game

You know how it is, sitting with your friends while you come up with that sweet new game idea that will involve wrestling, guitar controllers, and an MMORPG.  It is a natural part of the gaming hobby to dream up games.  And, if only the developers would listen to us, gaming would be revolutionized overnight.

Hollywood actors are just like you and me.  Zachary Levi and Joshua Gomez, two of the stars of NBC’s “Chuck” had a ”what-if” discussion for our camera at the Spike TV Video Game Awards.  I can neither confirm nor deny if there actually is a “Chuck” game in the works, but Zach and Josh are halfway there.

Sensible World of Soccer and Tempest on Xbox LIVE Arcade

Monday, while typically being renowned as the worst day of the week, is often times the most glorious day of the week for me as I get the pleasure of telling you all which games are coming out on Wednesday.

Today is an extra joyful occasion for me as Tempest, one of the games that really defined me as a gamer, is finally making its debut on Xbox LIVE Arcade. Adding to the joy is that this is really the first “true” port of the game (though you can play with enhanced graphics). Tempest had me pumping quarters into arcade machines in the early 80s with reckless abandon. It actually got to the point where I wrote a letter to Atari in 1983 begging them to release Tempest on the Atari 2600, and giving them a 5th grader’s best game design tips complete with drawings. Seriously, true story. And people wonder why I work in the game business…

Also coming out this week is Sensible World of Soccer, which has universally been hailed as one of the greatest soccer games of all time and was named one of the 10 most important games of all time by Stanford Professor Henry Lowood.

From the media alert:

“Sensible World of Soccer” draws on the 96 / 97 original to re-create one of the most influential games of all time for the first time in HD. Challenge friends over Xbox LIVE, kick it solo in Career mode or flex your managerial muscles by leading a team to the Champions league! The game also features a helpful tutorial mode to bring players up to speed on the most popular sport in the world. Published by Codemasters Online, “Sensible World of Soccer” will be available worldwide, with the exception of Korea, for 800 Microsoft Points and is rated E for Everyone by the ESRB.

·     For more details on “Sensible World of Soccer” please visit:

o    http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/s/sensibleworldofsoccerxboxlivearcade

o    www.swos-game.com

A true classic, “Tempest” is an intense shooter game requiring skill and lightning quick reflexes. Players must harness their firepower to shoot and destroy enemy hordes in a desperate fight for survival across fluorescent geometric battlefields. “Tempest” contains both the original and enhanced gameplay modes. The game will be available worldwide, with the exceptions of Japan and Korea, for 400 Microsoft Points and is rated E for Everyone by the ESRB.

·     For more details on “Tempest” please visit:

o    http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/t/tempestxboxlivearcade/

MSN Games - Winter Wonderland Sweepstakes

How do you plan to start the New Year?  With a big party?  A new diet?  A firm resolution to never again mix Red Bull and schnapps?  How about with a brand-new gaming-optimized laptop and a one-year subscription to GameSpring?  Yeaaaaahhhh, that one sounds good.

Here at MSN Games, we’re pretty fond of option 4 as well, which is why we’ve launched the Winter Wonderland Sweepstakes. Just toss your name in the virtual hat between December 13 and January 7, and you could score an HP Pavilion HDX Entertainment Notebook PC, plus a year’s worth of our premium gaming service, GameSpring! Feel like increasing your odds? Enter every day; it’s legit.

And once you’re done entering, pop back to our site for a few great seasonal games, like Holiday Jigsaw, Holiday Films Trivia, Holiday Hexic, and Holiday Chicken Invaders 2. (No, really. Evil space chickens in Santa suits, dropping ornament bombs and holly leaves. I swear I couldn’t make this stuff up.)

Happy holidays to all!

Win a Copy of Undertow and Battle it Out with the Developers

If you like getting things for free, love playing extremely well designed arcade games, and enjoy the idea of rubbing virtual elbows with game developers, this might be your lucky week.

The team at Chair Entertainment, the makers of the recently released XBLA game Undertow, have put together a contest to give away copies of the underwater action game.  Three winners will each get a copy of Undertow and will also be invited to play with the development team during their “Tuesdays @ 10″ game sessions.  The contest ends on December 18th, 2007.  For more information, head over to the Chair Entertainment website.

Overnight Success: Arkadian Warriors

Razzleson is not the name of a supermarket.  It is a gamertag for a Washington-based gamer named James.  When not attending university, he spends some of his free time devastating achievement leaderboards and working on the website x360a.com.  This week he was one of the first to unlock all the achievements in Arkadian Warriors, the latest Xbox LIVE Arcade release.

What got you into Arkadian Warriors?
I liked the fact that Arkadian Warriors looked like a stripped down version of Diablo (the best game ever). Once I saw the screens pre-release I knew I would be staying up and buying this game as soon as it was available for download.

Did you go out of your way to get the achievements, or did they just unfold through gameplay?
Most of the achievements unlocked with normal play, however some required a little extra work.

Do you have any Arkadian Warriors tips for other players?
If you’re a soldier or an archer, make use of the invincibility spell. The thing’s a gift from the heavens and in my opinion’s one of the best weapons at your disposal.  Also, in later levels stock up on potions from the merchant before each quest. Even if you don’t use any it’s better safe than sorry.

Do you usually pursue achievements?
When getting games I usually check out their achievements first, I want to make sure the majority of the achievements are obtainable. I love joking around with my Xbox LIVE buddies about who has the higher score in this game or that.

Does your involvement with an achievement website help?
With getting achievements it does for sure. I always try and get every achievement without any outside help, but if I’m stuck on an achievement, or if I can’t figure out what the secret achievement is, I’ll take a stroll over to Xbox 360 Achievements and look into the forums. Ninety-nine times out of one-hundred there will be a detailed walkthrough on how to get the specific achievement I’m having trouble with.

What games have been your favorite on the 360 so far?
For retail it would have to be Call of Duty 2, DEAD RISING, and Oblivion. For arcade I’d say Arkadian Warriors, Hexic HD, and Marble Blast Ultra.

What is Xbox 360 Achievements?
Xbox 360 Achievements is a media outlet dedicated to everything and anything Xbox 360. We have a fantastic staff, and an even better fanbase. We specialize in news, reviews, but most notably achievements. Our forums are host to some of the most widely used achievement guides on the net, and we’re usually the first to announce achievements for upcoming games.

Rock Band Contest Winner (Sort of) Announced

Congratulations are in order.  A community website has won the chance to give one of their lucky fans a full bundle of Rock Band.  If you choose to cheer, remember to pace yourself, because the big cheer will still be needed when the winning website chooses the winning fan.

Our random number generator hit upon the entry by All Games Interactive.  Proving that the contest was random, their winning entry was:  “Bock Rand”.  I’m not even sure what that means, but AGI proved that you have to be in it to win it.

You might like to know that another winner was selected by the computer, until we discovered that this person, or persons, had entered the contest multiple times, in direct contravention of our rules!  I won’t name names, because it would make your heart cry to know you almost won.

Remember to tune in to All Games Interactive for contest details.  I have no idea what wacky contest they will come up with for the ultimate winner, but we will be sending it off with our tender love.  Good luck!

Gamerscore Blogcast - 044 - The GSB VGAs

Holidays are approaching, so this may be the last podcast for the year.  JP’s on vacation already, so the three musketeers give you their take on the Spike VGAs, and bring their own GSB VGAs.

MP3 File: 11.6 MB, 34 minutes

AUDIO podcasts - available via the RSS feed, or the iTunes feed
VIDEO podcasts - available via the RSS feed

This week Tony, Nelson, and Chris talk about:

• Intro/Outro Music - Phylum Sinter
• Question of the Week - What would you change your gamertag to?
• Spike’s Video Game Awards Coverage
• GSB Top 3 Underdog Games of 2007
• GSB Game with Best Achievements of 2007
• GSB Best Video Game Moment of 2007
• Email us Questions/Comments

XNA 2.0 Released

XNA 2.0 has been officially released today!

For those of you that don’t know about XNA, it is the Microsoft developed tool set based on .NET that allows developers to spend less time doing mundane tasks and more time on creating their games.

There are several things about this release which are exciting. First, XNA supports many LIVE features like matchmaking right out of the box with little or no coding needed to activate them. Second, educators and students will have access to free trials in January via the XNA Creators Club. And third, there will be another Dream-Build-Play contest beginning December 14th with the winners announced at GDC in February.

You can read the full press release here.

Halo 3 Map Pack Available Today

Today marks the release of three brand-spankin’ new maps for Halo: Standoff, Rat’s Nest, and Foundry.

Standoff features entrenched bases with fields of boulders and is great for mid-sized objective or Slayer matches.

Rat’s Nest is a huge labryinth of passages which highlights indoor vehicle combat.

And finally Foundry is a Forge editor’s dream with every object in the map being customizable and the ability to place starcases, walls, bridges, and tunnels.

All this joy can be yours for a paltry 800 points. Or if you’re light in the wallet because of the holidays, you can download the map pack for free in Spring 2008 when the new map pack comes out.

For all the detaisl you can check out the full media alert here.