Super Contra is another great addition to the Xbox 360 Live Arcade and I say this as both a huge fan of Contra and a gamer. Super Contra sticks to it’s roots and brings the run and gun the same way the original Contra port did. One huge difference between this port and the original is the difficulty, Super Contra may kill your friends so be careful. The game borders on impossible at times especially if you play with someone inexperienced.

Presentation and Graphics: Super Contra was given a face lift to the real of HD and let me say the difference is noticeable. The game still is no match for a full priced game, but as far as arcade titles go it is up there. The explosions and gun effects are all nicely done. 3 of 5

Sound and Music: The music is spot on to give you that Contra feel and so are the explosions. For an old game I still love hearing the Contra ttheme music. 3.5 of 5

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Ok so I spent quite a few hours playing Super Contra from the Xbox Arcade and let me say this is one of the most frustrating Contra games ever because of it’s insane difficulty. But after many attempts at the different stages and getting a feel for the different guns and where the enemies spawn I completed the entire game over Xbox Live (shout out to my buddy Quildar for beating this with me). As if this hard fought victory wasn’t sweet enough, I checked the Leaderboards for Super Contra and saw we were the #1 & #2 ranked coop players on LIVE.

Here is a shot of the leaderboard.

I know we won’t last long at the #1 spot, but it still is nice to grab the top spot on an Xbox leaderboard. I still have 2 achievements left to complete and they are in arcade mode, so you will catch me playing some more Super Contra real soon.

Full review of Super Contra to come.

Well Xbox Live Arcade Wednesday update is upon us and we have two titles coming our way, Wing Commander Arena and Super Contra! I can’t believe I almost let Super Contra go un-noticed, this will consume most of my Xbox 360 time tomorrow and look for me to stalk all the achievements! Yes I am a Contra wh0re! If you want ot get a Co-op game in just drop me a FR.

From Major Nelson:

Wing Commander Arena will cost 800 points and includes features such as:

The first Xbox LIVE Arcade title featuring multiplayer gameplay for up to 16 players over Xbox LIVE
Four gameplay modes: Single Player, Multiplayer Team, Free for All, and Duel
Players can choose from 18 different ships that can be customized with cloaking devices, mines, energy weapons, missiles and more!
Skill-based matchmaking for ranked games
Earn up to 12 Achievements and 200 Gamerscore
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After hours of gaming it has come… I have the “Bullet Proof Achievement”, beating Contra on one credit! I came close to screwng it up but I got it after suiciding on the last boss! This is probably my sweetest achievement to date. Anyone have a particular achievement in a video game they are proud of of?

Hereare all the achievements for Halo 3. Some of the point totals to be reached are not finalized yet, but there seems to be a lot more gamerscore points in the campaign than in the online play. I counted 9 missions, 10 skulls, and 49 total achievements. It looks like the Spartan program is what the online multiplayer will be.

Ok this motivates me to do great things, like beat the game on one credit and get the achievement! It can be done folks, once I get it, the victory will be quite sweet.

That’s right folks, 250 more Achievement Points for you to stop your life for.

Around 0200 GMT tomorrow (that’s roughly 10pm EST tonight for those who don’t want to check), Gears will receive a title update that adds the new achievement points for the new Annex gametype and the Hidden Fronts map pack. Along with the new achievements, the game will get a slew of fixes including improvements to the Roadie Run, as well as plugging a few multiplayer exploits.

Sounds like a plan to me. Kudos to Epic for keeping up with new content for the game. And just remember, that Hidden Fronts map pack will be free coming September 3rd. So don’t feel like you have to go spend $10 just to get these new achievements.

Def Jam Icon is a bit of an old game for the Xbox 360, but we recently got our hands on this title and decided to give the wheels of steel a beating and a review.

Presentation and Graphics: The game is visually appealing and the characters, which span from Big Boi, E-40, The Game, Ghostface Killah, Jim Jones, Lil Jon, Ludacris, Method Man, Paul Wall, Redman, Sean Paul, Sticky Fingaz, T.I., Young Jeezy, etc. all look spot on. The environments are semi interactive in that you can throw people in to the background and make it explode, catch fire, or whack your opponent. The damage that is visible on the characters as the fight goes on is pretty good as well; nothing beats seeing a rapper get his ass beat and has black and blues. 3 of 5

Sound and Music: This game has no lack of soundtrack, you have a great lineup formtop to bottom that sounds great and is integral during fights, the song you choose gives you bonuses to damage as long as it plays and makes the environment explode with the bass. You can also import your own songs from your HDD in order to play those while fighting. The voice acting is pretty decent also; I am pleased to say that there is no lack of sound here. 4 of 5

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Mark Rein dropped a line on the official Gears forums to let everyone know that progress is being made on the next title update for Gears of War. Oh yeah, there’s 250 more Achievement Points coming too.

From the man himself (here and here):

The next Gears of War update is coming along nicely. We don’t have a release timeframe for it yet but I just wanted to let you know we’re making significant progress. In addition to the previously mentioned plan to improve roadie run we’re also going to have new achievements relating to Annex and the Hidden Fronts DLC. Of course no title update would be complete without more exploit squashing and the ever-popular “general housekeeping”.

The title update is free and that’s what contains the achievements. However some of the achievements are tied to things relating to playing the maps in the Hidden Fronts map pack which currently costs money but will be made free in a few months.

Soltrio Solitaire will become available worldwide on XBLA (except for Korea, no love) – for 800 Microsoft Points this Wednesday. To me the 800 points seem a bit steep for a solitaire game and I think most people will pass on this one. The only interesting thing it brings to the table is the capability to use the Xbox LIVE Vision camera, other than that it is just another solitaire game, last time I checked Spider Solitaire came free on your computer.

Here are some of the game features:
· Two-player multiplayer via system link or over Xbox LIVE
· Xbox LIVE Vision camera support, making multiplayer solitaire an engaging social experience
· In two-player mode, two games take place at the same time, and both players share the same foundation piles, prompting a fight over the piles in the race to win the game
· In co-op mode, players work together to attempt to finish the game with the best score possible, and players also have the ability to pass cards to each other
· Create new cards when you unlock card elements, show them off to your friends and customize your own decks!
· Earn up to 12 Achievements and 200 Gamerscore points