Permanent Price Drop for 3 XBLA Titles

Microsoft recently announced that three of their Xbox Live Arcade titles will be getting a price drop. No, not just for a Deal of the Week promotion - permanently!

The three titles are:

- Braid - Now 800 Microsoft points, formerly 1200 points

- Cloning Clyde - Now 400 points, formerly 800 points

- 3 on 3 NHL Arcade - Now 400 points, formerly 800 points

I don’t know too much about Cloning Clyde, but if you haven’t picked up the award winning Braid yet, this is an even bigger steal. Out of the three up there, I’d say if you only got one, it would be Braid.

If you are a fan of Madden Arcade and silly hockey action, 3 on 3 NHL Arcade is a fun waste of time in between bigger titles. Power-ups, funny commentary, big heads and hard checks make 3 on 3 a pretty good NBA Jam alternative on ice. Be sure to head on over to the XBLA marketplace and get these games at their new price point.

[via Major Nelson's Blog]

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XBLA Deal of the Week: Zombie Apocalypse

We here at Loot Ninja are fans of killing zombies. We simply can’t get enough zombie killing in our video games! We continue to want even more blood, gore, and explosions of re-animated dead corpses on our TVs! It’s just how we roll. Well you’re also in luck kiddies, because this week’s Xbox Live Arcade’s Deal of the Week is Nihilistic Software’s Zombie Apocalypse. Normally priced at 800 MS points, you can head over to the Marketplace and snatch it up for 50% off! That’s only 400 MS points for all of you zombie killers out there.

For an XBLA title, Zombie Apocalypse looks and plays solidly, with the detail of the game being right up there with some of the better shooters in the online downloadable catalog. Zombie Apocalypse also features online multi-player for 4 players, and co-op for you and 3 friends (if they aren’t infected already). If you don’t want to spring $60 dollars for Left 4 Dead 2 or get the original Left 4 Dead for cheaper, Zombie Apocalypes isn’t too shabby of a price to hop on and kill zombies with your friends. Who doesn’t like killing zombies with their best friends?

[via Major Nelson's Blog]

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Review: Perfect Dark HD

Now here’s a game that takes me back. Perfect Dark was released in North America in 2000 for the Nintendo 64. It was the spiritual successor to Goldeneye 007 – what many believe to be one of the best FPS ever made. A decade later Microsoft and Rare opted to re-release PD with no more than a graphical overhaul. A decision I think was wise considering how terrible the 360 Perfect Dark was. Now the big question is: how does this stack up against the modern FPS? So much progress has been made in the last ten years, has PD been lost in the shuffle?! Click yon link to find out.

Hit the jump for more »

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Review: The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom

The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom likely hit the Xbox Live Arcade with little to no fanfare from gamers. Have you even heard of this game at all? Well, I should slap you if you haven’t, because you should. Mr. Winterbottom hit Xbox Live on Feb. 17th amidst loads of Dante’s Inferno hoop-lah and the release of Bioshock 2. You would be surprised to know that since it’s been out the ratings for The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom beat out the recently released Alien vs. Predator and are right up there with reviews of Bioshock 2. These are the type of titles hitting store shelves in a heavy release month, but I say we need to let The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom get all the praise it deserves.

Hit the jump for more »

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Get Your Lucid South Park Today!

I don’t even know if that is a real sentence up there in the title? Nor do I care at this point. I’m happy! Happy as all get out that I will be able to spend even more time in my favorite little Colorado town known as South Park. I’ve got a lot of great memories there. I saw the South Park Cows in their first football game, I saw the boys take on Scuttlebutt with Patrick Duffy as a leg, and saw the demise of Chef (sorry for the spoiler). You’ll even see Manbearpig around here in Scuba’s avatar. Truth is, we are fans around here.

Coming this week to Xbox Live is the longest game title ever to hit the XBLA service. South Park: Let’s Go Tower Defense Play! is set to hit Xbox Live this week for 800 MS points. Word on the street is it’s actually a South Park game that DOESN’T suck Chef’s chocolate salty balls. Check it out if you have some free time, but be sure to watch out for the yellow snow.

The other new title to hit this week is LucasArt’s Lucidity, a 2D puzzle platformer that follows a non-stop walking young girl named Sophie. The art style and venture away from the cash money franchises of Indy and Star Wars is enough reason to check this game out. This is also the same group that brought us the greatness that is The Secret of Monkey Island, so the gameplay and idea should be top notch. It’s easy to figure out from the South Park title that it’s a tower defense game. In Lucidity, you will be tasked with figuring out which item to use, and then placing said items in Sophie’s path to prevent her from falling to her death. Can’t wait to check both of these out!

Both will be released today for 800 Microsoft Imagination Land-Reading Rainbow-Couric’s (shit measurement) from Xbox Live.

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LucasArts Reveils “Lucidity”

George Lucas is a man that loves to shove his member down your throat and get that money lodged deep inside your pockets. He’s done it countless times with the Star Wars and Indiana Jones series. He’s pushed these classic series almost into the “sellout” genre offering Star Wars Burger King toys and even Trivial Pursuit games (which I own). This doesn’t even get into the Indiana Jones Krystal Skull movie, and I won’t even go there. Point is, he hasn’t created an original game in quite some time

Hoping to dispel this rumor is LucasArts’ announcement to release an original game with an original story? Holy crap! This hasn’t happened since Fracture for the Xbox 360 and PS3, and well, let’s just forget about that game and go even deeper into the catalog and mention Gladius or Thrillville. These other games not ringing any bells? That’s right, they shouldn’t, because LucasArts has had you on the Indiana Jones and Stormtrooper teet for way too long.

Lucidity follows the actions of a young girl named Sophie, being tasked to find her way across numerous levels of this all new 2D puzzler/platformer for the Xbox Live Arcade. The twist is, you won’t be controlling Sophie, you’ll be in charge of manipulating the levels so she can make her way through. Sophie will just be walking, walking towards anything on the right side of the level. Place a huge penis there shooting spikes? Or a Sarlacc monster? She’ll walk to it? Even place a Pedo bear and a white windowless party van? Sophie will walk there. You will be tasked with placing objects in her relentless trek to make her jump (placing a trampoline), climb up the edge of a walkway (in the form of a slingshot looking contraption), and placing stair pieces in real time for Sophie to interact with so Sophie does not fall to her doom. The game looks different than anything LucasArts has ever done, and I guess that’s the point? I’m sick of tasting that cheap plastic Stormtrooper teet.

Look for Lucidity to hit XBLA around the end of the month.

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Grab the Trine Soundtrack Today

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PS3 and 360 gamers may have to wait a bit to experience the pure awesome that is Trine, a 3D platforming puzzle game developed by Frozenbyte. The game ended up being a very pleasant surprise for me when I played it, everything about it is awesome - the puzzles, graphics, and especially the music, which reminds me of the original Fable game, somewhat.

Ari Pulkkinen, the composer of the Trine soundtrack, has made the music available for download today - for a price, of course, but you can hear the main theme for free.

If you’re a console gamer who hasn’t heard of Trine, or if you are still anticipating the release of the game on PSN or XBLA, trust me - it’s well worth the wait. The PSN version has been delayed until “Q3 2009″, and the XBLA version is still in development.

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Castle Crashers To Get New Weapons!

Chainsaw is included!

Almost a year after its release, Castle Crashers is still topping Major Nelson’s Xbox Live Arcade activity list. It has dropped down over previous months in lieu of new Arcade titles like Battlefield: 1943 and Trials HD, as well as the great fighting game Marvel vs. Capcom 2. Coming soon though will be downloadable content for Behemoth’s classic game in the form of new weapons, new animal orbs, and a few new playable characters. No news on the release date or price for the “Necromatic DLC”, but we’ll let you know as soon as we know! Knowing how Microsoft operates, they’ll charge their evil currency known as Microsoft points, instead of leaving the DLC free of charge for all Castle Crashers owners. Oh great, Microsoft is running the show.

Hit the jump for more »

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PopCap Content With Making Me Poor - Plants vs. Zombies Coming to XBLA & iPhone

Just like with Peggle, I’ll be buying multiple copies of Plants vs. Zombies. I’ve played the game for countless hours on my Mac and now versions are being developed for the iPhone and Xbox Live Arcade. I can guarantee you I’ll be picking up both. The iPhone version should be hitting later this year while the XBLA edition does not yet have a release date.

I’ve always though the iPhone would be an ideal platform for Plants vs. Zombies. The touch controls should work perfectly for positioning your plants and seeds as well as picking up sun drops. I’m sure it’ll work out well with a controller on the Xbox, but just like Peggle before it, I think the iPhone version might be my favorite. We’ll have to wait and see until later this year.

If you haven’t jumped on the bandwagon just yet and don’t want to pay to download a copy of the game on your PC or Mac, PopCap will have the game on retail shelves for $19.95. I highly suggest you get this game on some platform, because it could be a Game of the Year candidate.

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Mini Ninjas - Shun Hero Debut Trailer

Check out this new trailer for an upcoming XBLA, PSN game involving, you guessed it, Ninjas. You can plainly see we have a vested interest in game of this nature. There is no gameplay, but by the quality of the trailer, this may be something to keep your eyes on come September. I kind of want some apple sauce now.

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