The official Xbox Live Arcade/Indie Games/Game Room Thread of Space Bucks for Fun

[chuckd21]

Originally Posted by pinata242

Somewhere in the middle.

Honestly, I think it was waking up at 6am every Sunday to farm MP achievements from Red Faction: Guerrilla with folks across the pond that made me seriously re-evaluate how I spent my "gaming" time. I realized that I was pushing too hard for way too little and too much fun was passing me by.

Then I got Pinball and nothing mattered anymore.

Good man.

[MWB]

Originally Posted by pinata242

Somewhere in the middle.

Honestly, I think it was waking up at 6am every Sunday to farm MP achievements from Red Faction: Guerrilla with folks across the pond that made me seriously re-evaluate how I spent my "gaming" time. I realized that I was pushing too hard for way too little and too much fun was passing me by.

Then I got Pinball and nothing mattered anymore.

So you've finally thrown in the Bejeweled 2 towel, I take it?

[pinata242]

Originally Posted by MWB

So you've finally thrown in the Bejeweled 2 towel, I take it?

Oh no, I'll still do that. I only have like 10 levels of endless left! Whether or not I'll do much beyond that is up in the air. The advanced action (hyper?) mode is stupid hard, especially with their slow control scheme.

[MWB]

Well, good luck to you, then. I've never played it, and never will, because if you can't 200/200 it, then I don't have a chance.

My problem game is Luxor 2. There's a special place in Hell reserved for the developers of that piece of shit. Wish I never would have started it.

[pinata242]

When I started Luxor 2, I wasn't sure if I could 200/200 it (never did), but I made damn sure I wasn't going to get some shit-ass gamerscore ending in a 2 because of it!

[MWB]

Originally Posted by pinata242

When I started Luxor 2, I wasn't sure if I could 200/200 it (never did), but I made damn sure I wasn't going to get some shit-ass gamerscore ending in a 2 because of it!

I'll probably be stuck at 92/200 on that one forever. [sobstory]I was maybe 2/3 of the way through the campaign on Easy, and then about a year ago my Xbox was stolen, along with nearly all of my games, including the XBLA compilation disc with Luxor on it.[/sobstory]

I've replaced the Xbox, but not the disc (and I'm sure as hell not spending points on that shitty game). I'm assuming that if I were to play it again, I'd have to start the campaign over from scratch, and that's not gonna happen. So, using your "achievements or fun?" scenario, I'm taking fun, at least in Luxor 2's case.

[pinata242]

To be fair, I still like achievements and they aren't mutually exclusive from fun, even if difficult or time-consuming. I just don't feel the need to go for 100% completion. Once I hit 90% on TA, I decided I wasn't going to strive to beat it.

Plus a lot of retail games adding MP components really take it out of my league anyway. I don't want to devote my entire attention to any one game that isn't fun anymore.

[pinata242]

My brother that lives near Penn Square has my disc with Luxor on it if you ever want to try again

[MWB]

I saw a couple of used copies for $3 each at GameStop the other day. The only way I'll ever play that one again is if my save somehow miraculously still exists in my profile, and maybe not even then. I'll just have to live with my Gamerscore ending in a 2 or a 7.

The only games that are worth a crap on that disc are Pac-Man C.E. and Uno, and I bought and downloaded them years ago from XBLA. Fuck those three other games. Seriously.

[Michael Corvin]

Originally Posted by pinata242

When I started Luxor 2, I wasn't sure if I could 200/200 it (never did), but I made damn sure I wasn't going to get some shit-ass gamerscore ending in a 2 because of it!

Just checked, I got lucky and gave up at 125/200. No damn odd score for me.

Picked up Halo Reach and have been playing with buddies lately and unintentionally unlocked a 42 point achievement over the weekend.

Oh and fuck Luxor.

[MoviePage]

Free code for a B.J. Blazkowicz (Wolfenstein) avatar mask:

1) Go to https://www.facebook.com/wolfenstein...36344676490285
2) Enter email address

[Decker]

Thanks for that. Doubt i'd ever have my avatar wear it, but free is free.
_____________________________

One funny thing I've noticed while browsing through all the discounted content now available is that the user ratings for Marketplace items, while great in theory, is really useless. Pretty much every single piece of content, from Fusion Frenzy 2 to the Modern Warfare 3 Collection 1, is rated somewhere between 3.5 and 4.0 stars. It must say something about the way we as a society rate things that when enough people finish grading an item, everything somehow falls somewhere between 70-80%.
It seemed like such a good, useful idea to encourage users to grade Marketplace content. It's strange that it didn't work out somewhat more useful.
FWIW, PSN Store does the same thing, but it seems their users are a little more generous, giving out more grades in the 4-5 area.

[Decker]

This is apparently coming to PSN this summer instead of XBLA now, but since this game's been discussed in this thread for years now, I thought I'd post it here. Don't know if it's a Sony-exclusive, but the trailer indicates only Playstation.

[pinata242]

MS won't allow it to come out on XBLA without bonus features now, right? Fuckers really need to get off their high horse.

[starman9000]

My first reaction was "son of a bitch" but the video didn't do much for me.

[Decker]

Originally Posted by pinata242

MS won't allow it to come out on XBLA without bonus features now, right? Fuckers really need to get off their high horse.

Could you explain this? I know they've got a bunch of fucked-up rules about XBLA releases, but not sure which one you are referring to here.

[pinata242]

There's a rule referenced many times in the past, though I don't know if it's written down anywhere, that MS won't allow games that have been previously released as PSN (or other?) exclusives without having something new for their platform.

One of the most recent examples of this is Joe Danger: Special Edition.

[Decker]

Yes, they won't allow a previous PSN-exclusive downloadable title to come to XBLA later (except for Joe Danger SE, which is a little silly work-around). But I still don't know why it can't come to XBLA at the same time it comes to PSN.

[Jay G.]

Originally Posted by Decker

Yes, they won't allow a previous PSN-exclusive downloadable title to come to XBLA later (except for Joe Danger SE, which is a little silly work-around). But I still don't know why it can't come to XBLA at the same time it comes to PSN.

I'm pretty sure simultaneous releases are fine with MS.

The official site mentions both XBLA and PSN:
http://www.dungeontwister-videogame.com/

The blog post from the developer last fall mentions the XBLA version specifically:
http://www.trictrac.tv/?video=453

[Decker]

Originally Posted by Jay G.

I'm pretty sure simultaneous releases are fine with MS.

Of course I know this. I just saw that trailer and wondered if they killed the XBLA version. Maybe they didn't. I hope not.

The Joystiq article just mentions the PSN version.

[MWB]

A Summer of Arcade title revealed on Xbox.com?



SOA has usually taken place between the last two weeks of July and the first three weeks of August. So although Microsoft won't announce anything until E3 most likely, this is pretty much a lock for SOA. It's supposed to be kind of like a Kinect version of Angry Birds.

EDIT: The listing has been taken down from Xbox.com

[Shagrath]

Looks like we get 3 releases today. Grabbed this info from NEOGaf.

Originally Posted by canIhasAnAccount

Released today,



Joy Ride Turbo - 800msp, 821MB.

Sega Vintage Collection: Alex Kidd & Co - 800msp, 219MB.
Alex Kidd in Miracle World, Super Hang-on and The Revenge of Shinobi.

Sega Vintage Collection: Monster World - 800msp, 241MB.
Wonder Boy in Monster Land, Wonder Boy in Monster World and Monster World IV.

[Kedrix]

The two Sega Vintage releases look tempting, especially the Monster World Collection. I find Kidd, Shinobi, and Hang On a weird compilation though. I might be in the minority, but an Alex Kidd compilation would be much more interesting.

[boredsilly]

Originally Posted by pinata242

To be fair, I still like achievements and they aren't mutually exclusive from fun, even if difficult or time-consuming. I just don't feel the need to go for 100% completion. Once I hit 90% on TA, I decided I wasn't going to strive to beat it.

Even though they are lost on me, I definitely see the value of achievements, and think they can really add to the fun of the player when they're implemented properly. I remember back in the day we would do stuff like speed runs or limit the moves or weapons we could use in a level to extend the length of the NES/SNES/Genesis "tapes" we had at our disposal. Those were essentially achievements, or achievement like tasks.

That said, I do think there is a sickness that can take over with achievement whoring, and I think many a gamer is going to look back on this era without a glimmer in their eye at the amount of time they spent playing games they didn't care about, or that weren't fun, just to inflate the score. Sort of like how some WoW players can be once they get off the game.

[pinata242]

Originally Posted by Kedrix

The two Sega Vintage releases look tempting, especially the Monster World Collection. I find Kidd, Shinobi, and Hang On a weird compilation though. I might be in the minority, but an Alex Kidd compilation would be much more interesting.

We know there are Golden Axe and Streets of Rage 3-packs coming soon too, probably others in this line. I'll wait until there's a sale on the collection.