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This Wednesday: Feeding Frenzy 2, Domino Master drop on XBLA
Joystiq One-Step Style Guide: How to Feign Excitement
Step 1: Establish a reliance on excessive exclamation marks
Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade service will feature two new titles this Wednesday!! Those with a clam-oring for aquatic morsels should note the appearance of Feeding Frenzy 2: Shipwreck Showdown, an 800
whopper which features 60 new levels, couch co-op and the ability to jump out of the water and possibly over sharks!!!!
It's joined by the similarly priced Domino Master, a fairly self-explanatory domino game boasting Mexican Train, All 3s, All 5s, Straight Dominos and Bergen modes!!! We hope it doesn't fall down online!!!!!! LOL!!!
If neither of those float your cup of tea, there's a "1910" Ticket to Ride expansion (including 35 new destination tickets!!!) for 400
!!!!!!!
Step 1: Establish a reliance on excessive exclamation marks
Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade service will feature two new titles this Wednesday!! Those with a clam-oring for aquatic morsels should note the appearance of Feeding Frenzy 2: Shipwreck Showdown, an 800
whopper which features 60 new levels, couch co-op and the ability to jump out of the water and possibly over sharks!!!! It's joined by the similarly priced Domino Master, a fairly self-explanatory domino game boasting Mexican Train, All 3s, All 5s, Straight Dominos and Bergen modes!!! We hope it doesn't fall down online!!!!!! LOL!!!
If neither of those float your cup of tea, there's a "1910" Ticket to Ride expansion (including 35 new destination tickets!!!) for 400
!!!!!!!Ticket to Ride Europe finally arrives on XBLA
Without an explanation for missing its Wednesday debut, Ticket to Ride Europe just arrived on XBLA to pick up customers for the weekend.
The expansion to the digitized European board game costs 600 MS points ($7.50), which is far cheaper than the $30+ set in real life. We haven't downloaded the Europe expansion yet, but let us know if the red/orange color similarity issue found in Ticket to Ride has been fixed.
The expansion to the digitized European board game costs 600 MS points ($7.50), which is far cheaper than the $30+ set in real life. We haven't downloaded the Europe expansion yet, but let us know if the red/orange color similarity issue found in Ticket to Ride has been fixed.
Ticket to Ride: Europe DLC is off the rails

Board game aficionados may have noticed that the Ticket to Ride: Europe DLC that was promised last week is nowhere to be seen. As the name implies, the Europe DLC allows would-be railway commissioners to lay tracks across Europe (though we see that Ireland is left out of the fun) and also adds a plethora of new features (ferries, tunnels!). Joystiq has contacted Playful Entertainment, the game's developer, but has received no answer thus far. Our conversation with Microsoft turned up similar results, so for now we remain in the dark. We'll post any new information once we hear it.
Ticket to Ride Europe yet to arrive on XBLA, customers getting antsy

Considering it was supposed to be released today, a few people have been asking us: What happened to XBLA's Ticket to Ride Europe expansion? We really don't know. We tried contacting developer Playful Entertainment and pretty much anyone we know at Microsoft. Nobody is talking. Our next try is to check with the butcher and the baker, but typically the liquor store guy always knows what's going on.
We'll be sure to update as soon as someone decides to explain why the train is late to the station.
Gallery: Ticket to Ride: Europe (XBLA)
Ticket to Ride's Europe expansion boards next Wednesday

In the retail board game world, Ticket to Ride and Ticket to Ride: Europe -- which are sold separately -- would cost over $60, so we're not that sore about getting both on XBLA for $17.50. No word yet if the painfully close red/orange color blending will be fixed on the new board.
Gallery: Ticket to Ride: Europe (XBLA)
Next week, Ticket to Ride expands into Europe

Ticket to Ride vs. Ticket to Ride vs. Ticket to Ride

Alan R. Moon's Ticket to Ride has only been out for four years, but it has picked up several prestigious board gaming awards, and is quickly becoming a popular "haul it out of the closet and get yer game on" addition to game night. Last week, the Xbox Live Arcade version was released, joining Catan, Carcassonne, and Lost Cities as games that have breached the digital divide. But how does it stack up against the freebie Java version, and the board game itself? Read on, ticket holders, and find out.
Gallery: Ticket to Ride
X3F TV -- XBLA in Brief: Happy Tree Friends and Ticket to Ride
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Happy Tree Friends and Ticket to Ride hit the XBLA rails

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
Source - Happy Tree Friends False Alarm on Xbox.com
Source - Ticket to Ride on Xbox.com
ESRB Watch: Swan Song Edition

Yeah we know the post title is a bit needlesssly grim. Let's face it, we're going to still be getting some information about releases from the ESRB. And hopefully some publishers simply won't much care about putting their games up there early. Others like Playful Entertainment, publishers of Ticket to Ride, seem to still want their ratings to go up at the last minute (TtR releases this week).
However, if we're to believe that the publishers of the other two XBLA games on the list (Rocket Riot and Cribbage) also want their games to pop up at the last minute, we could be looking at the first hint of next week's releases. Or we could just be paranoid about this whole ESRB thing.
However, if we're to believe that the publishers of the other two XBLA games on the list (Rocket Riot and Cribbage) also want their games to pop up at the last minute, we could be looking at the first hint of next week's releases. Or we could just be paranoid about this whole ESRB thing.
This Wednesday: Ticket to Ride and Happy Tree Friends ride onto XBLA
"Spiel des jahres" 2004, Zug um Zug Ticket to Ride, is laying tracks and will be ready to pick up passengers from Xbox Live Arcade this Wednesday. The game is the debut title from Vancouver-based Playful Entertainment and will cost 800 MS Points ($10). Ticket to Ride joins other German board-to-digital leapers, Catan and Carcassonne.
Also arriving this week is Happy Tree Friends: False Alarm, which aims to deliver ten levels of action-puzzle ultra violence. Happy Tree Friends costs 800 MS Points ($10) and is rated "M," obviously. Ticket to Ride is rated "E," by the way, unless you use the Vision cam ... then an "AO" happening is never far behind.
Also arriving this week is Happy Tree Friends: False Alarm, which aims to deliver ten levels of action-puzzle ultra violence. Happy Tree Friends costs 800 MS Points ($10) and is rated "M," obviously. Ticket to Ride is rated "E," by the way, unless you use the Vision cam ... then an "AO" happening is never far behind.
Happy Tree Friends and Ticket to Ride storm the XBLA this Wednesday

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: Ticket to Ride (XBLA)
Xbox.com: Ticket to Ride and Happy Tree Friends


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: Ticket to Ride (XBLA)
[Source, Ticket to Ride]
[Thanks Jonah]
Ticket to Ride XBLA details chug in

Germans reveal Ticket to Ride, rate other XBLA games
The German Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle (USK) is no stranger to revealing unannounced titles and Xblah.net points out they've done it again. The highlight for fans of XBLA board game translations like Catan and Carcassonne is that Zug um Zug Ticket to Ride is ready to build railways on Xbox 360.
Other games rated by the USK are Penny Arcade's OtR-SPD, RooGoo, and Golf: Tee it Up! None of these ratings mean the games are coming out soon, but at least they're on their way.
[Via X3F]
Other games rated by the USK are Penny Arcade's OtR-SPD, RooGoo, and Golf: Tee it Up! None of these ratings mean the games are coming out soon, but at least they're on their way.
[Via X3F]













