Military Madness: Nectaris

Military Madness: Nectaris, the classic turn based strategy series, is now returning and making its way onto Xbox Live Arcade. It is coming back for a new generation with all new and improved graphical barrage, commander unit, online team and vs. multiplayer. This game is definitely the best in the series so far. There are many new features included in this game.

• Multiplayer: There is ability to play multiplayer with up to four people and this can be online. With your team mates, make strategies to taunt your opponents in various team or vs. multiplayer modes.
• New commanders unit: You have the chance to choose a commander which will lead your forces in multiplayer. In doing this, you will be able to choose from as many as 20 unique abilities.
• Different command views: Play this game in multiple views. Make your strategies in the overhead map view. Watch difficult battles occur with cinemagic camera action.
• Leaderboards: The leaderboard is highly detailed in stat tracking. Move up in the ranks as you go on your mission to prove to others that you are the best gamer of Military Madness: Nectaris.

Ion Assault

Ion Assault is a game that came out on Wednesday, September 23rd to the Xbox. This Shooter game, developed by Coreplay, is an action-packed arcade-style space adventure with an unprecedented particle physics engine. In this game you can fight by yourself or play cooperatively all the way through four different modes. Also, make your way though twenty different levels. Fend of swarms of aliens using the free energy particles as your weapons.

The following are some features that are included in this game:

Adventures of space: Battle aliens with a unique fluid and particle system.
Different varieties of play: Make your way through twenty levels using four different settings each with lavish graphics.
Upgrades: Earn different upgrades for your spaceships. Get upgrades such as augmented speed or increase radius used for collecting surrounding particles.
Mode of play: Play various multiplayer modes including cooperative, arena, or harvest. Play with up to four players.
Power-ups: Collect various special power-ups. Each power-up is only usable for a limited amount of time including the Black Hole.
International flavor: Ion Assault is the first Xbox Live Arcade game ever to be developed in Germany.

Pearl Jam Album to Rock Band

Pearl Jam’s new album “Backspacer” will be available on Xbox Live Marketplace for Rock Band and Rock Band 2 on the Xbox 360. This announcement was recently made by Harmonix and MTV Games.

Pearl Jam is a great alternative rock band that formed in Seattle in the year 1990. This band consists of Eddie Vedder, Jeff Ament, Stone Gossard, Mike McCready, and Matt Cameron. All together, the band has sold more than 60 million records around the globe.

In addition to releasing this album to Rock Band, Pearl Jam will offer a special edition CD available at Target stores nationwide which will include the Backspacer album disc and a special code allowing owners of the special edition to download the entire album for Rock Band or Rock Band 2 gameplay. The songs will be imported into the Rock Band player’s library. This will make these songs available in all of the game modes including solo, band play, online multiplayer and instrument vs. instrument.

Track Listing
If you would like to purchase the entire Backspacer album it is available for 1440 MS Points. You can also get just an individual track which is available at 160 MS Points each:

• “Gonna See My Friend”
• “Got Some”
• “The Fixer”
• “Johnny Guitar”
• “Just Breathe”
• “Amongst the Waves”
• “Unthought Known”
• “Supersonic”
• “Speed of Sound”
• “Force of Nature”
• “The End”

Microsoft might Buy EA Sports

If you have ever wanted some “big news” well here is some big new. Even though right now it is just a supposed “rumor”, the news is still rather shocking. The word on the streets of New York is that Microsoft is possibly interested in purchasing the huge game publisher of Electronic Arts, or more commonly known as EA Sports.

This claim will probably remain a claim for quite a long time. However, when word of Microsoft’s possible deal reached the public, Electronic Arts received a 4 percent boost in sales. I can not even begin to think about how huge this deal would be. There would be Xbox exclusives for Electronic Arts which would definitely boost the Microsoft sales.

However, until one of these companies, either Microsoft or Electronic Arts, makes it official, it is not worth getting very worked up about. If this were really to happen, it would probably not be any time in the very near future.

When this rumor was first heard of an Electronic Arts representative was supposedly not available for a comment. Also, a Microsoft representative declined to comment. But recently an Electronic Arts representative said, ”We do not comment on speculation about our business.”

Plants vs Zombies in Xbox Live Arcade

Pop Cap Games has just announced that the game Plants vs Zombies is going to be released on the Xbox Live Arcade. This games great success on the PC has led to it’s release on the Xbox 360. This simple, yet very addicting tower defense game is sure to be a hit on the Xbox 360. Pop Cap Games  has offered no insight about the games price, release date, or anything else about the game.

It’s still a work in progress. We’ll probably see it in the fall of 2009 for a price of 800 microsoft points as this is the normal price we see arcade games going for. If you’re dying to play this game, you can always check out the PC version; however, I have no idea where you’d play it or if it’s free. If you have a link, post it in a comment as I’m interested in giving the game a try before it goes onto the Xbox 360.

Most Downloaded XBL Arcade Games of the Week

It’s interesting to see what gamers are spending their microsoft points on in the Xbox Live Arcade. There are so many games and between the games and downloadable content to existing games, it’s interesting to see which of the arcade hits are making the news. I’ve actually heard of the majority of these games as they’re usually the same ones that you’ve heard about for weeks. If you have some spare microsoft points sitting on your account, and you’re looking for a new arcade game to spend them on that why not consider one of these arcade titles.

1. Battlefield 1943
2. The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition
3. Ikaruga
4. Worms 2: Armageddon
5. Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers
6. Castle Crashers
7. Uno
8. N+
9. Hasbro Family Game Night
10. Sonic the Hedgehog 3

I’ve played Uno and Worms 2 and they are pretty solid games. They aren’t going to keep you hooked for weeks or months by any means, but they will provide some afternoon fun when you’re bored and looking for a change in games. I’ll hope to keep you updated with next weeks most downloaded arcade games as well.

Gears of War 2 DLC Released on Accident

Apparently, Thursday night Microsoft made a slight mistake with the Gears of War 2 DLC that wasn’t scheduled to release yet. It was placed into the Xbox Live Marketplace too early and under priced. The DLC expansion pack “All Fronts” was released without warning and unsuspecting gamers were able to jump on the opportunity and secure the download before it was pulled. The only problem was that the download was full of errors and unable to actually fully download the content seeing as it wasn’t prepared to be released yet. It took Epic Games quite some time to realize that the expansion pack had been released early by mistake. Eventually the download was pulled.

The scheduled release date is July 28th and this still remains the official release date for the game. The “All Fronts” pack is going to cost you 1,600 Microsoft Points, while the “Dark Corners” expansion is going to cost you 1,200 Microsoft Points. The content sounds promising, then again, didn’t Gears of War 2 in general sound promising? Sadly, I am a Gears of War die hard turned Gears of War 2 hater.

Project Natal Preview Video

I’ve seen the first of the Project Natal in action and I’ve got to say, it’s looking rather impressive. Microsoft’s purchase of the motion sensing company last year really must have helped with the production of Project Natal. It looks not only more accurate than the Wii’s motion sensing gameplay, but it also looks to be more advanced. You can get your equipment in the game. Playing Tony Hawk? Scan your real skateboard into the game.

If you haven’t gotten the chance to check out the video for Project Natal check out this brief video showing some gameplay and different features it has. What do you think about it? Do you think this will be more powerful and accurate than the Wii’s? Do you think a successful release of this will make the Nintendo Wii virtually useless?

Project Natal Preview at Casual Connect Seattle 2009 Conference

Project Natal, the greatly anticipated addition to the Xbox 360 that was announced not to long ago at E3 is finally going to be shown to us in action. At the Casual Connect Seattle 2009 Conference sometime from 8:00 AM – 6:30 PM on July 21-23 we will get the chance to see and use the Project Natal at it’s current stage. It will be on one day for a limited time so you’ll have to be on the ball when it’s brought out if you happen to be there the day it’s been tested. If you’re interested in going there it’s going to cost you $450 per day that you plan on attending.

This is by far the biggest exhibit at the upcoming conference. There isn’t going to be anything else that is really jaw dropping (that we know of at least) besides this. We don’t even know which games we’ll get to use in the demo. Are they going to be the same ones we saw at E3 or some new ones? Expect to hear more about Project Natal and possibly more specifics about the exhibit as we near the date of the 2009 conference.

1 vs 100 May Not be Free

The original thoughts were that the arcade game 1 vs 100 would be free to Xbox Live Gold members. The beta was free to all users who had an Xbox Live Gold account, and those who had silver even got a chance to play it for a weekend. The arcade game was a hit (aren’t all free arcade games hits?) among all types of gamers. There was a pretty big audience for the game and it was oddly entertaining to all ages.

Microsoft spokesmen won’t comment on the games full versions pricing. They won’t confirm a free arcade game or if they’ll charge for it. They keep saying they don’t want to commit to anything at the current time and that they hope the game will be a great success.

I think the game will end up costing us a few hundred Microsoft Points. If it were going to be free, they’d get the hype starting now. Why they don’t just do advertising like they did in the beta and give the game to us for free, I’m not sure. Are you willing to pay even $5 for this game though? I don’t think I’d download it if it cost me money, but I’d be more than okay with a few ads being thrown at me in a sort of midgame style like they currently are.