UncleGramps

I went to the hub last night, and there was an ad for Fruit Ninja Kinect. I selected it and then there was a "Play Now" option.

Decker

Really? It's like a gate you have to fire a missle through that leads to a twisty cave that you have to steer your missle through and eventually hit a target. If you hit the walls five times, your missle explodes. No way around it. No leveling up. I was stuck there for a week now (not every day, but it was a seriously huge amounts of attempts before thank God I finally made it through). After that the level boss was a piece of cake, but it still took me several tries to get it right. I then quit for the night.

I'm liking all the XBLA SotA games, but From Dust can be frustrating. It's much better than the demo lets on, though.

Wick

Toy Soldiers: Cold War could possibly be the best of the five SoA releases. It's really good. Highly recommended.

Fruit Ninja was also really impressive last week. I couldn't stop playing it over the weekend. Put about 5 hours into it and my arms hurt like Hell. I'm interested in seeing how my high scores will hold up.

Decker

Bejeweled Blitz LIVE just dropped to 400 points. Not as good a deal as when it was on sale for 160, but still not too bad.

UncleGramps

Oh, that part. Yes. There are actually a couple of those throughout the game. I got the hang of it after a few tries.

I finished ITSP over the weekend. Good stuff! I still need to finish up the map exploration and item collection, though.

MasterofDVD

I finsihed the game as well and had a good time with it but was a little bit upset over I bought it mainly because it seemed like a more advanced Pixel Junk Shooter and it gave me more of what made that game so good.

Mok

Gatling Gears is on sale for 400pts.

Decker

Okay, so I lied. After relenting and getting on board the SotA train, I found that once I got the hang of it, I enjoyed From Dust a lot. I completed the story with 100% vegetation last night. Though I must admit I watched the Inside Xbox IGN_Strategize feature on the final (real) level. That one (Movements) was really, really difficult. I needed the Chobot to give me a little direction there to keep my villages from getting washed away. After I got through that, I figured I'd finish everything else, save challenges and call it a night.
I like that the game lets you go back to the end of levels when you need to get your 100% vegetation. Thought that would be quick to knock out, and it mostly was, but it took me FOREVER to figure out the desert level (Wildfires). I kept poring earth over the trees and my meter wouldn't budge. Finally I figured out what I was doing wrong -- I needed to get the earth wet with some heated Water trees in the desert parts of the map -- then it was a breeze (and, unfortunately 1:30 AM as well).

Did others note some of the worst screen tearing this generation in that game? I had to be really careful turning my map slowly or it would be pretty unwatchable.

astrochimp

I'm enjoying Toy Soldiers Cold War. It really doesn't feel that different from the first TS despite the change in eras. Mini games aren't really anything to write home about. But overall its still a fun game.

wlj

I just purchased that this morning.

pinata242

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Xbox LIVE Arcade	Release Date	Price Microsoft Points
Hole in The Wall	24-Aug	800
Street Fighter III 3<sup>rd</sup> Strike	24-Aug	1200
Crazy Machines Elements	24-Aug	800
Mortal Kombat Arcade Collection	31-Aug	800
The Baconing	31-Aug	1200
Ugly Americans: Apocalypsegeddon	31-Aug	800
Game Add-ons	Release Date	Price Microsoft Points
Call of Duty: Black Ops Rezurrection	23-Aug	1200
Dragon Age II Item Pack 2	23-Aug	400
Sales  & Specials	Discount Date	Price
Activision Publisher Game Content Sale– Games on demand, Add-ons, and more from the “Call of Duty” franchise	August 30 – Sept 5	Up to 50% off
Deal of the Week	Discount Dates	Price Microsoft Points
If You Missed It…
Bulletstorm Gun Sonata DLC Pack	August 23 – August 29	400 (50% off)
Bulletstorm Blood Symphony DLC Pack	August 23 – August 29	400 (50% off)
Red Faction:  Battlegrounds	August 23 – August 29	400 (50% off)
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Conviction:  Deniable Ops Insurgency Pack	August 23 – August 29	400 (50% off)
Hydrophobia	August 23 – August 29	400 (50% off)
Manic Machines
Gatling Gears	August 30 – Sept 5	400 (50% off)
Metal Arms:  Glitch In The System	August 30 – Sept 5	800 (33% off)
BioShock 2:  Minerva’s Den	August 30 – Sept 5	400 (50% off)
Borderlands Claptrap New Revolutions	August 30 – Sept 5	400 (50% off)
Games on Demand	Release Date
WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2011	23-Aug
MySims SkyHeroes	23-Aug
Dynasty Warriors 5: Empires	23-Aug
de Blob 2	23-Aug
Wheelman	30-Aug
Sniper: Ghost Warrior	30-Aug
Games on Demand	Price Reduction Date
Gears of War	August 23 – August 30
Gears of War 2	August 23 – August 30
Avatar Marketplace	Release Date
Deus Ex: Human Revolution	23-Aug
Dead Island	25-Aug
Robo Cop	25-Aug
Ugly Americans	25-Aug
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3	2-Sep

Corey31

Anyone played Hydrophobia? It's been so long since an XBLA game was on sale that I didn't own that I'm tempted to pick it up just for that reason.

Boba Fett

It was panned on release and apparently the developers went back and fixed some glitches, retooled the difficulty and also overhauled the camera.

Supposedly the revamp was met with greater acclaim but the reputation was still pretty sullied from the first release which was arguably rushed for inclusion in Summer of Arcade.

slop101

But the chart above says August 30 - Sept 5.

Decker

So I checked out Hole In The Wall Kinect this morning. My kids were SO looking forward to it. I'm not sure yet. The demo only has you play as a 2-player team. So there was that whole struggle to get everyone signed in correctly. Then my daughter and I tried it.
I don't know. I think the problem is that she's like 18 " shorter than me and the Kinect can't really rectify that in this game. I was forcing me to hold poses that were at least a head too short for me, but just right for her. It might work better with two people about the same height. Will try the demo later today again and see (assuming of course that my daughter doesn't accidentally buy the full game like she almost did this morning).

superfro

I finally got to sit down with Cold War last night and feel it's actually quite a bit different. They've made it much more arcade-y feeling with the use of the individual weapons and totally ramped up the need/effect of getting hands on with the different stations. Loving it thus far.

Liver&Onions

Oh Shit! Fro is back.

Groucho

Isn't this like the third time they've tried to release "Crazy Machines Elements" (whatever that is)?

superfro

I've heard nothing about this game. Does anyone know what it's like?

Liver&Onions

Decker

I tried the demo. It's more like this:

<iframe width="560" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/J_0i5WqiIcc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Decker

Castle Crashers big title update



As we approach the third birthday of one of XBLA’s biggest hits, The Behemoth celebrates with a brand new Castle Crashers title update full of new content and fixed glitches for the fans to enjoy. Here’s the complete list of features, directly from The Behemoth:

Castle Crashers XBLA Title Update 2 Changes

•Download the Pink Knight (complete with new weapons!) in the Xbox LIVE Marketplace, FOR FREE!!!!!!! ($1.00 donated to Keep A Breast Foundation with each of the first 50,000 downloads)

•Download the Blacksmith Pack for 160 Microsoft Points. Once shrouded in mystery, the legend of the Blacksmith becomes a reality. Wielding miniature antlered frogs, burning hammers of justice and springboard contraptions, this warrior is much like William Wallace (ala Braveheart), but purple and definitely not Mel Gibson.
•Added a Team vs Team feature to Player Match Arena (as opposed to the current free-for-all).
•Earn two new Avatar Awards—Cardinal Animal Orb and Knight Helmet!
•Ability to check Player’s Gamer Cards in Xbox LIVE matches.
•Main menu News Ticker for all of your latest Castle Crashers and Behemoth Updates!
Notable Bug Fixes:

•Level 256 cheat resolved (more info available on request).
•Data copy glitch (more info available on request).
•Sandworm experience glitch (more info available on request).
•Wedding Crashers progression save now fixed when user leaves game play in flowery fields.
•Smoothed Alien Hominid’s Splash Magic when traveling over water.
•Slowed down Iceskimo’s power drainage from magic.
•More effects added to elemental attacks for Alien Hominid, Demon and Iceskimo!
•If your character dies, your Animal Orbs can no longer fight without you.
Adding free fresh content to a three year old game is not done often, but this comes as a nice surprise to fans and will give more incentive for people who haven’t bought the game already. A new multiplayer mode, avatar awards, and the legendary Pink Knight are all proof of how much The Behemoth loves us.

Source - The Behemoth Development Blog

UncleGramps

Finished Bastion yesterday. The game gets better and better as it goes on. Best soundtrack of the year so far, too.

fumanstan

Castle Crashers is still my favorite XBLA game of all time; this might give me and my friends a reason to go play it again.

Yeah, Bastion is great. I'm surprised this didn't get more love here.

Decker

I was cruising right along with Bastion until I came to the seemingly never-ending flashback level where you try to retrieve the first Shard. I keep dying and without any more health vials, black ink or extra lives, it's become very frustrating now. I wish I could keep advancing, but it seems I'm just stuck.