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This Wednesday: Magic the Gathering, Sam & Max hit the XBLA

by Richard Mitchell { Jun 15th 2009 at 1:43PM }

This week, Xbox Live Arcade gets not one, but two genres that rarely see the light of day on consoles. First, we've got the collectible card game, Magic the Gather: Duels of the Planeswalkers. Unlike the weird Magic title on the original Xbox -- which played something like a weird monster summoning / volleyball hybrid -- Planeswalkers sticks to the traditional card game, which should make fans mighty happy. The game will deal 800

($10) damage to your wallet.

Next, we have the XBLA debut of the Sam & Max adventure series, Sam & Max Save the World. Save the World is actually the first season of the Sam & Max episodic series that has been available on PC and Wii for some time now. That's six episodes of comedy gold for 1600

($20). For those keeping score, that's the same price as the PC version and $10 cheaper than the Wii version.

XBLA deals out Magic: The Gathering on June 17 [update]

by Richard Mitchell { Jun 3rd 2009 at 5:05PM }

Wizards of the Coast has announced that Magic: The Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers will finally release on Xbox Live Arcade this month. Specifically, the game will launch on June 17. Have no fear, Magic fans, unlike the Xbox version of Magic: The Gathering, Duels of the Planeswalkers is a straight-up card game. And, based on our time with it at PAX last year, it's a pretty good one.

Unfortunately, we still don't know how much green damage the game will deal to your wallet.

Update: We now have the price. Duels of the Planeswalkers will cost 800

($10).

X3F TV -- XBLA in Brief: Happy Tree Friends and Ticket to Ride

by Richard Mitchell { Jun 25th 2008 at 7:00PM }

This week, XBLA in Brief takes on Happy Tree Friends and Ticket to Ride. One of them is a pretty good board game about building railroads. The other one is a weird game that doesn't really seem to take advantage of the cartoon upon which it's based. We'll let you figure out which one is which.

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Happy Tree Friends and Ticket to Ride hit the XBLA rails

by Richard Mitchell { Jun 25th 2008 at 11:30AM }

Hey kids! It's Xbox Live Arcade Wednesday and that can only mean one thing. That's right, it's time for some new XBLA games. Huzzah! This week's releases are Happy Tree Friends False Alarm and Ticket to Ride. False Alarm has you guiding your favorite furry friends through various hazards, doing your best to keep them from being sliced, diced, burned, or otherwise mutilated. Ticket to Ride, on the other hand, is a board game in which you relive the spirit of expansion brought on by the advent of railroads. In other words, you build trains. It's more fun than it sounds. Both are available now for 800 MS Points each. Stay tuned for the next XBLA in Brief and we'll tell you whether or not they're worth the scratch.

Source - Happy Tree Friends False Alarm on Xbox.com
Source - Ticket to Ride on Xbox.com

Happy Tree Friends and Ticket to Ride storm the XBLA this Wednesday

by Dustin Burg { Jun 23rd 2008 at 12:30PM }

This week's Xbox Live Arcade releases (yup, plural) will both make your inner violent self cheer with bloody enthusiasm and your inner train conductor toot with excitement, because both Happy Tree Friends False Alarm and Ticket to Ride are releasing this Wednesday, June 25th to an XBLA near you.

This XBLA twofer will be a nice mix of variety seeing that False Alarm is more along the lines of "cartoon violence adventure game of blood, guts and survival" whereas Ticket to Ride is more "card game of choo-choo traveling fun". Though, there is one similarity, both will available for purchase this Wednesday for 800 Microsoft points. Now go and practice the elite art of video game screenshot viewing using the elite screenshot galleries below.

Gallery: Happy Tree Friends False Alarm (XBLA)

Gallery: Ticket to Ride (XBLA)

Xbox.com: Ticket to Ride and Happy Tree Friends

by Terrence Stasse { Jun 21st 2008 at 4:30PM }

Y'know, this seems familiar. Hmm ... yes it does. While we already knew the solid release date of Happy Tree Friends: False Alarm (June 25), Ticket to Ride has been something of an unknown quantity, with not much information about the game having ever been relased to the press. However, the last time xbox.com pages appeared for unreleased XBLA games, they released exactly one week later. And with HTF:FA definitely hitting next week, we think we can say with some certainty that the electronic adaptation of the classic board game about building railroads will be hitting next week too. To tide you over until then, marvel at the screenshots below.

Gallery: Happy Tree Friends False Alarm (XBLA)

Gallery: Ticket to Ride (XBLA)

[Source, Happy Tree Friends: False Alarm]
[Source, Ticket to Ride]

[Thanks Jonah]

Happy Tree Friends has solid release date

by Terrence Stasse { Jun 11th 2008 at 4:00AM }

We've been down this road before haven't we? Indeed, we have. This time should a bit more reliable though, as the date came from Sega themselves. The new release date for Happy Tree Friends: False Alarm is June 25, the week after next. The game itself is a menagerie of differing gameplay types and focuses, strangely enough, on trying "to save the characters from gruesome demise." After being jerked around a bit with this title it's good to know that it'll be seeing the light of day sooner rather than later. Though we wish we could say the same about some other XBLA games that have yet to see release.

Gallery: Happy Tree Friends False Alarm (XBLA)

X3F TV -- XBLA in Brief: Warlords and Buku Sudoku

by Richard Mitchell { May 30th 2008 at 5:15PM }

XBLA in Brief takes a look at Warlords and Buku Sudoku this week. On the one hand we've got yet another Atari "classic" and on the other we have ... Sudoku. It turns out that Warlords is actually surprisingly fun, though we're not sure we'd be willing to plop down our 500 MS Points for it. Buku Sudoku is ... Sudoku. It does its job well enough, and if you really need some Sudoku that doesn't fit on your lap, then Buku Sudoku might be just the ticket.

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This Wednesday: Warlords and Buku Sudoku on XBLA

by James Ransom-Wiley { May 27th 2008 at 4:26PM }

It doesn't take a crystal ball to see that six months from now Warlords will be plenty eligible for delisting. Let's just say that deathmatches have come along way since 1980. But if you choose to respectfully disagree, you can pledge your feeble support to give this Atari classic a permanent home in the XBLA catalog by plunking down a five-spot (400 Microsoft Points). Just remember, some games are better left to memory -- and paddle controllers!

As for Buku Sudoku? Well, there's a reason this is the "first and only" Sudoku game on XBLA. Leave the number crunching to the pencil and paper, and go shoot some more hookers.

Gallery: Warlords

Gallery: Buku Sudoku

XBLA Wednesday: Buku Sudoku and Warlords

by Dustin Burg { May 27th 2008 at 1:00PM }

Microsoft just announced tomorrow's Xbox Live Arcade releases and finally, after a mild drought, we are getting an XBLA twofer with both Buku Sudoku and Warlords seeing a release on Wednesday.

Available for purchase off the XBLA for 800 Microsoft points is Merscom's Buku Sudoku, a puzzle word game featuring over 1,200 puzzles, online multiplayer, co-op and well ... lots of Sudoku puzzles. Over fifteen Sudoku books of puzzles ... or so we're told. The other half of this week's XBLA twofer is Stainless Games' 400 MS point Warlords, a remake of the classic Warlords but in prettified HD and four player Xbox Live support. Though, if you want to be all old-school, they've generously added a pixel-perfect remake of the classic. Browse the screenshots below and ponder an XBLA purchase.

Gallery: Buku Sudoku (XBLA)

Gallery: Warlords (XBLA)

X3F TV -- XBLA in Brief: Battlezone and Rocky and Bullwinkle

by Richard Mitchell { Apr 19th 2008 at 1:00PM }

It might not occur to all of our readers when they see the average episode of XBLA in Brief but, let us assure you, it is a public service. We play awful, awful games so that you don't have to. Rocky and Bullwinkle is just such a game. It is -- if there can be such a thing -- the perfect storm of bad game design. The license is used horribly, the graphics aren't good, and the game employs awkward (and unresponsive) vision camera controls. The misuse of the Rocky and Bullwinkle license is perhaps the worst offense. We hate to see a classic cartoon turned into something this awful.

Check out our video of us checking out Rocky and Bullwinkle (along with Battlezone) and be glad it wasn't you.

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Happy Tree Friends: False Alarm Teaser Trailer

by Terrence Stasse { Apr 3rd 2008 at 12:00PM }

Thanks to a recently distributed press release from Sega we now have the first teaser trailer of the XBLA version of that violent flash cartoon, Happy Tree Friends: False Alarm. Considering the fact that this is a teaser, its understandable that there is no gameplay. And besides, with an art style like this one, the only way we might even differentiate gameplay shots would be some sort of HUD or something. Other than that, the video reaffirms the fact that the game will not be cleaning itself up in comparison with the rest of the series, and that the game will be seeing release sometime this Spring. No word on the supposed "week of the 21st" release date though.

Happy Tree Friends: False Alarm to release in April

by Terrence Stasse { Mar 28th 2008 at 11:00PM }

The flash-animated, internet-cult phenomenon, known as Happy Tree Friends is getting it's XBLA release (with a subtitle of False Alarm) next month. As an extremely violent flash cartoon that it is, every entry features blood, gore and violent deaths, and as such should fit right in with the 360 crowd. On the HTF website, there is a confirmation from the staff that the game is set to go live on April 21, strange part is, (as you likely already know) XBLA games only release on Wednesdays. Now assuming that they are simply unfamiliar with that pattern, then it's likely that the game will see release the week of April 21 (its a Monday). Either way, the devs have gotten word that Happy Tree Friends: False Alarm is releasing soon, and from the looks of the rumors swirling, April should end up being a great month for XBLA.

Poker Smash smashes the XBLA this Wednesday

by Dustin Burg { Feb 4th 2008 at 12:15PM }

We're getting good at finding out which upcoming XBLA game will be releasing before the official announcement from Microsoft comes along and this week played out just as expected. Void Star Creations' Poker Smash will release to the Xbox Live Arcade this Wednesday and for 800 Microsoft points you can expect a smashing good time. Or, at least, that's what Void Star promises. Poker Smash's release will also be accompanied by a Poker Smash Play & Win where gamers can win an Xbox 360 Elite and Microsoft points galore.

And if the release of Poker Smash doesn't bring happiness to your life, Stainless Games just announced that they'll be releasing a free update to Crystal Quest that'll add a new multiplier element to the game allowing for higher scores and more crazy craziness. As a result of the update, the old leaderboards will be retired, so if you reign supreme high atop the Crystal Quest boards we advise taking some sort of screenshot. Then, in the future, when you talk of your Crystal Quest mastery, everyone will be forced to believe your mad skills from "back in the day".

Gallery: Poker Smash (XBLA)

Wizards partners with Carmageddon devs for downloadable game

by Jason Dobson { Dec 6th 2007 at 9:45AM }

Crazy rich card game, role-playing, and now social networking company Wizards of the Coast has announced that it is venturing into the downloadable games space with a partnership with UK developer Stainless Games. Both parties remain tight lipped as to the nature of the project, though Stainless CEO Patrick Buckland teases us by calling the game "one of the most treasured IP's in the games field."

While we wait for more information to come in early 2008, it's anyone's guess what will come of this digital love in, especially given Stainless Games' eclectic development history. The studio's recent efforts have been focused on recreating Atari classics for XBLA, though its roots are much less tame, having been responsible for the "racing game for the chemically imbalanced," Carmageddon, as well as its road stained sequel.