Joining the fabulous lineup of puzzle games available on Xbox 360, “MR. DRILLER Online” comes to Xbox LIVE Arcade this Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Players take on the role of a driller moving through levels of colorful blocks, avoiding the threat of being crushed by falling blocks, all while keeping their air supply from running out.

“MR. DRILLER Online” features single player modes including Standard Driller and Quest Driller, as well as online multiplayer support for up to four players on Xbox LIVE. In online multiplayer mode, players can participate in a split screen Solo Battle, where the best score wins, or in Tag Battle, where friends team up in pairs to beat the game.

Mr. Driller certainly is a weird one - not for the game itself, but the fact that.. well, NOBODY has played it! Despite being a fairly well known puzzle game to Namco fans, there has been absolutely no news about the game at all. The only 'preview' information can be seen here at IGN, which is little more than a list of features (though admittedly, much like the beginning of this post), outside of that, nobody has played the game. It's not even up on Microsoft's Partnernet service for developers.

Considering Namco's previous effort of Pac-Man CE was so well received by Gamers and Game Press alike, it's a little strange to do the same here. Though Pac-Man CE was a secret addition to XBLA when originally announced, the game was a collaboration between Namco and Microsoft. Mr. Driller Online appears to strictly be a Namco idea, and of the very few screen shots available it's looking a little half-arsed - particularly the sprites of your players.

We'll know in less than 24 hours, I guess. But the Xbox Live Arcade service should have gotten over this a long time ago.

Check out images of the game here.

Check out the Xbox.com page here.

Source: Major Nelson

Zen studios have announced that a new board will be available soon for their game Pinball FX. The board will be based on their upcoming XBLA game - Rocky & Bullwinkle.

They've released a trailer too, click the video above to watch it!

Source: Game Trailers

In the latest Bionic Commando Podcast Christian Svensson, VP of Strategic Planning & Business Development over at Capcom USA, was invited. In the podcast they discussed Okami for the Wii, as well as some of the Backbone XBLA projects. Here is a small excerpt from the conversation:

"Final Fight? On XBLA / PSN?"

"We've discussed it, it's in the maybe column. It's is something that we (Capcom USA) own, but it's coming in the shadow of Final Fight Streetwise, so it may need to rest a little longer before we do that."

"But those Beat-em-ups like Ninja Turtles did really well!"

"Yes those and a few others did really well, we're giving some thought to it. Not that I don't think the content isn't appropriate - I think it's very appropriate, we're being very cautious with our bets, and we're trying to see where we can add value."

"We listen very very carefully to discussions on our forums, so maybe post on Capcom-Unity's forums and show your support [...] in the coming months you'll be some pretty radical - I think Industry leading approaches to how we're creating our community. I can't say anything yet, but look for it in the coming months. Any more and my PR masters will get mad at me!"

You heard the man, go to the Capcom Unity Forums and voice your opinion!

They also discuss the rating for the upcoming Bionic Commando Rearmed - it's looking likely that it'll get an M!

"Master D's Head HAS to explode, it's not 8-bit pixels anymore. Therefore, yes, for 10 seconds of the game there is one over-the-top violent scene, and that's giving us an M rating!"

Download the podcast here or join the RSS Feed

Developer: NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc.
Publisher: NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc.
Genre: Xbox LIVE Arcade (Uhh...)
Price: 800 Microsoft Points
Availability: All Xbox Live Arcade Regions

Click here for images of Mr. Driler Online

Click here for the official Xbox.com webpage

IGN have just added a new interview with the creators of the web cartoon Happy Tree Friends and how the game - made by Stainless - is coming along. There are a few very short clips of the game intertwined throughout it - it's actually looking pretty good!

Source: IGN - New Happy Tree Friends Video!

You read right friends! The latest OFLC update has brought some crazy stuff to the table!

GEOMETRY WARS RETRO EVOLVED 2 (Multi Platform dot dot dot) Rated G
Author ACTIVISION

As well as GO GO BREAK STEADY and BRAID being rated, both getting a G rating, as well as VIGILANTE 8: ARCADE with PG

Going by the name, this isn't simply Geometry Wars Waves from Project Gotham Racing 4. What could it possibly be, after the release of it and Galaxies on other consoles?

Looking Forward to hearing more! Pull your pants up people!

Source: OFLC

Namco's recently released Mr. Driller Online has had a LOT of problems - particularly, the 'Online' mode is a completely unplayable mess, as seen in this lovely video provided by Xbox 360 Fanboy. People are mad about it - some people even got a refund, and the game has been given a bevy of crap scores.

Since then, Namco has released a response to the public, which can be read here in Japanese. Basically, it says the following:

- We are aware that there are some problems in Mr. Driller Online's online play.
- We are currently investigating the issue.
- We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused.
- We will post an update at a later time.

Let's hope they do something fast, and slap the back of the developers collective heads for this tremendous screw up. I wonder if this'll get picked up by Major Nelson & co?

Source: Your friend and mine, rmk106!