Xbox Live Arcade

[icycalm]

So I just raided XBLA and got a bunch of shit, combing over their entire catalogue (500+ titles and counting!) several times to come up with the definitive to-buy list and make sure I don't miss anything. And here's what I got:

Coming Soon
Virtua Fighter 2
Sonic the Fighters
Fighting Vipers
Virtual-On: Cyber Troopers
Virtua Striker
Crimson Dragon

1,200MSP
Hard Corps: Uprising
Sine Mora
Shadow Complex
Moon Diver
Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes
Torchlight
Mark of the Ninja
Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown
Bionic Commando: Rearmed 2
Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II
Hydro Thunder Hurricane
Renegade Ops
Virtual-On: Oratorio Tangram
Rocket Knight
Radiant Silvergun
Gyromancer
From Dust
Trine 2
Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus
Dead Rising 2: Case West

800MSP
Strania
Dungeon Fighter Live
Bionic Commando: Rearmed
Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I
Outland
Ikaruga
Trouble Witches Neo
KOF Sky Stage
Omega Five
After Burner Climax
Rez HD
Perfect Dark
Guwange
Jet Set Radio
Islands of Wakfu
Triggerheart Exelica
Crystal Defenders
Pac-Man CE
Pac-Man CE DX
E4
Burnout Crash!
Exit
Exit 2
PowerUp Forever
Dead Rising 2: Case Zero

400MSP
Nin2-Jump

Bold stuff I already bought. Non-bold stuff I plan to buy soon or at least eventually. I am not saying all these are great, or even good games, all I am saying is they look interesting enough for me to check out. Will be formatting the list to look better soon, and let me know if you think I am missing something.

[Amor fati]

Guwange
Hydro Thunder Hurricane
Pac-Man Championship Edition DX

[icycalm]

I just spent another 8,000 points on shit. I'll wait until Accent Core releases on the 24th, then spend another 8,000, and by that time I'll probably have everything. Even though I only seriously play about 2-3 games at a time (and of different genres) I do like to have everything available, and be able to spend 5-10 minutes on each game before I make my choices. This really helps me go straight to the good stuff, instead of buying one or two games at a time and inevitably getting stuck playing bad and mediocre ones. If I know that a game is bad or mediocre, and still want to put some time into it, I simply play it for a bit whenever I get stuck in one of my main games. It's a good way to both maintain a high interest level in videogames (since you only concentrate on the good stuff), and at the same time go through lots of different titles for variety's sake, and it can only be done if you buy lots of shit at the same time. That's why I almost never buy full-price games, because you have to be quite rich to employ my method if every goddamn game you buy costs $60, and I am not quite that rich yet. But when a game is down to $10-$20, that's the sweet spot for me, and all the XBLA titles are at that level from the start, which works out nicely. (But perhaps not so nicely for the devs, of course, which is however another matter...)

As for the suggestions, I added Guwange, and Pac-Man was already on the list (except if CE and CE DX are different games?) The Hydro Thunder sequel I am not going to add because the screens look like ass, I've not played the first game, and have not heard anything great or even merely good about either of them. I might try the trial version though, if there is one, and then perhaps I'll add it.

As usual, people are free to continue recommending games, but I'll be picking what goes on the actual list.

[Nic P]

Virtual-On: Oratorio Tangram

[Amor fati]

Pac-Man was already on the list (except if CE and CE DX are different games?)

CE and CE DX are different games.

The Hydro Thunder sequel I am not going to add because the screens look like ass, I've not played the first game, and have not heard anything great or even merely good about either of them. I might try the trial version though, if there is one, and then perhaps I'll add it.

NFG's Game of the Year 2010: Hydro Thunder Hurricane (Xbox Live Arcade)

This is seriously hot shit. This is, without question, the finest edge-of-your-seat racing since, well, since the first one hit the arcades back in like 1999. If you've ever played Hydro Thunder on a home console before Hurricane you'd probably hate it. They all sucked. But this... Well I don't know who the fuck Vector Unit are, but by golly they know how to craft a fine racing game. I love this so much I've just sworn at you twice.

I'd meant to write a full and proper review of this game but every time I sit down to work out some screenshots or video I end up playing it for the rest of the day. Put on your hardest fastest bestest music and this game kicks the ass of every other damn thing.

http://nfgworld.com/mb/post/3279

[icycalm]

Bought a bunch of new games and added the following ones:

Virtual-On: Oratorio Tangram
Pac-Man CE DX
Hydro Thunder Hurricane
Dead Rising 2: Case Zero
Dead Rising 2: Case West
Perfect Dark

I don't know if OT has any additions compared to the DC version, but if it doesn't the only reason I am adding it is for that cool controller released for the game by Hori that Cacophanus had been raving about before the game came out. No idea if it was actually released, and if it did it'll probably cost a fortune by now, but if I can track it down I'd like to give the game another spin with it.

Perfect Dark has online co-op, so it goes on the list regardless of the quality of the conversion.

Hydro Thunder I am downloading as I type this, so we'll see.

The DR2 expansions go without saying.

Accent Core Plus was released and it's an upscaled mess but it's going on the list because when they release the R DLC it will be the only port of R available, far as I know.

Guwange I tried it and it's a terrible unplayable port (despite what the aspies are saying), but again it's the only port of the game so I might as well add it. And who knows, perhaps if hooked up to a VGA monitor/480p TV and tated or hardware-downscaled or whatever, it might become playable.

I took another look at the XBLA catalog and came up with at least a dozen other titles worth checking out, so I'll be adding those later when I get the time. And also properly formatting the list. Note that all details are currently of the US XBLA, but I'd like to incorporate the Japanese one too at some point. Not sure if there is any point in adding other regions. Do they have any worthwhile exclusives not available in the US or Japan?

[icycalm]

And some news:

http://www.gamengai.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3076

[360] [PS3] Model 2 Collection

Almost too good to be true. PS360 ports of:

Virtua Fighter 2
Sonic the Fighters
Fighting Vipers
Virtual On Cyber Troopers
Virtua Striker (first home port of the game ever)

with netplay, lovingly converted by AM2. All sold as separate downloads.

The first three are due by the end of the year; we won't be getting VO and Striker till 2013. They're also making PS3 VO twinsticks for the first time--maybe we can expect ports of OT and Force to the platform later.

Gotta say, I'm excited to finally be able to play Fighting Vipers against another human.

[icycalm]

And a site dedicated to XBLA news, including info on all the games being pulled down:

http://www.xblafans.com/

I've added it also to the news source thread [ > ].