[We round up the top console digital download news of the last week from sister console digital download site GamerBytes, including brand-new game announcements and scoops from the world of Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, WiiWare, PSP Minis and DSiWare.]
Well what a busy week this has been for us. The announcement of the Game Room on Xbox Live is a huge step in adding more digital content to the Xbox 360. As a young man who was born in 1985, this will be a far better way for me to learn of those games from the past than a compilation - I'll actually give each one of these a go. Who knows, there might be some gems in there that'll make a HD comeback someday.
Also this week was our look back at 2009's most overlooked games. The biggest hit has been our look at WiiWare and PSN Minis and the problems we fall into all the time - give them a read, you'll learn something about our work in the background.
XBLA: New Footage Of Game Room, New Details Emerge, Plus A Rant
Several websites, GameTrailers, 1UP and Kotaku, have all been given their own tour of the Game Room, which shows off several of the new mechanics that will become available to the room with play.
Menu System: For all of you crying that you don't want to run around some "stupid AvaTower", the Game Room has its very own "select game" menu system. You can completely ignore the room itself, and get going to play Pitfall.
Three Stories Of Fun: The AvaTower consists of three levels, each with four rooms which you can deck out with various styles. Atari, Intellevision, Haunted House and other styles were shown off with their own decorations you can put on your room.
Much like Avatar clothing and Premium Themes, these will be available in packs and constantly updated. It's going to be hilarious seeing them sell you decoration for a room that's more expensive than a game, but then you, the public, are buying Ghost MW2 Uniforms for $5, and doing it a lot.
Hey I'm (Not) Walking Here!: Player's don't actually have control over their Avatar in the Game Room - they have control over which room their looking at and what game their looking at. There's none of the "walking over to a arcade machine and standing in line" nonsense that PlayStation Home has.
The Classic Mode: Classic Mode allows you to play the game anyway you want. You can choose to save and load a game at any time, and in the case of Arcade games (and probably Atari games in terms of "modes") you can change the DIP switches on the Arcade board. This version of the game has no ranking on the Leaderboards.
Hopefully in the long terms this would allow classic games which had cheat codes like say, Sonic 1 on the Megadrive, to have complete freedom in this regard. This way you can turn on all cheats or basically do whatever you want to the game.
The Ranked Mode: This is where Leaderboards and Challenges come into play. In this mode the game will count down from three, and then you start playing the game. The game will then keep track of your score and once you're dead or done will post your score. While this will be a little weird for games that don't really include a score, if they end up moving into the 80's and 90's like MegaDrive, TurbografX and so forth, it'll give a more "classic" experience of not having a save system.
From here you can then send challenges to your friends, much like Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook. While not announced, integration of this feature with the new Facebook and Twitter applications is absolutely essential, and would be perfect for this "social" experience. It's be stupid if this wasn't the case.
Achievements: While each game does not have their own achievements, the Room itself does. In the Inside Xbox video of Game Room in action they accidentally reveal two of them - one for sending your first challenge, and one for receiving your first medal.
Issues: Time to go on a bit of rant - I feel that the $3 price point is fair for some of these games, but at the same time Atari had sold us both Centipede and Millipede together in a bundle for $5 on the Xbox Live Arcade - and now I have to pay more in this new system? $2, or 160MSP is a lot more of a "bite" priced piece of software, particularly in this age of the iPhone marketplace.
I feel the segregation between Games For Windows and the Xbox 360 is completely unnecessary. Simply buying a game once and having it available everywhere is the best option. As suggested by David Ellis on the 8th of January 4 Guys 1 Up Podcast - it's counter to their own Zune Marketplace "Buy it once, play it anywhere" structure. It's silly to have to pay $5 for an Atari game just to make sure I can play it on my PC at some point.
It's also kind of weird on how you invite people into your Game Room where they stil have to buy Arcade machines. If friends can play a game once for free each time they go into your Games Room, or have it limited in some fashion (Ranked only?) I feel would be better suited, and actually encourage more people to go into this room.
Other than these issues, I'm really interested to see how these games end up going. I think it's going to be a great service in the long run. Being a fellow born in 1985 I'm interested in giving Yar's Revenge a shot, or playing Pitfall for a little bit. I was never part of the Atari Generation, but if I can give some games a shot that aren't through an RF cable I would be very interested in giving them a go.
The above video is from GameVideos. To view the GameTrailers and Kotaku footage, continue reading.
Along with the reveal of Game Room Microsoft were also showing off some upcoming XBLA games. Slick Entertainement were there with Scrap Metal, and with it came this new trailer.
This footage shows off some new features - mounted weapons on your car, destruction derby modes and 4 player split-screen multiplayer. Looks great so far, can't be too far away either.
DSiWare, WiiWare: NA Nintendo Update - Phoenix Wright,, Chronos Twin DX, Jazzy Billiards And More
This week we have three new WiiWare games, three new DSiWare games, and one new Virtual Console release.
Phoenix Wright, the very popular DS title, is now available on WiiWare for just 1,000 Points. Alongside that is Chronos Twin DX, also for 1,000 Points. Finally we have ShadowPlay, the first WiiMotion Plus WiiWare game.
Pixel Boardern is a 2D plane snowboarding game with a neat pixel aesthetic. You run down each course trying to do tricks, while also using the two analog sticks to keep your guy upright.
I've picked it up myself and am enjoying it a lot - but it's quite difficulty get a hang of at first. It's currently 240MSP ($3USD), and you can check out the demo here.
XBLA: This Week On XBLA - Serious Sam HD, Cheap Magic: The Gathering
This week's release on the Xbox Live Arcade is Serious Sam HD, the remake of the 2002 run-and-gun game. If you want to learn how to blow stuff up, this is the game for you. It also includes 4 player cooperative play - bonus! Grab it this Wednesday for 1200MSP.
Also this week for Xbox Live Gold Members, Magic: The Gathering is half price, so go pick it up for 400MSP today.
[It's been a busy year for the downloadable games business - several new developers have emerged on the scene on the Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network and WiiWare while new game environments have emerged with the Xbox Live Indie Games, DSiWare PSN minis.
Development teams can be tens of people strong, or sometimes they can be just one guy barely out of school. There's still so much to learn about development, so we contacted developers across the gaming landscape to ask them what they enjoyed about the last year, what was the most troubling, and what lessons they'll be bringing into the new decade.]
Capybara Games have been keeping themselves in the mobile space for a long time, but they finally branched out this year to the PlayStation Network with Critter Crunch, and has received wide appraisal.
We spoke to Nathan Vella, President at Capybara Game and asked what they've learned from this year, and what we can expect from them in the future.
What were you most happy with during the game's development?
Nathan Vella: I was most happy with the opportunity to self-publish on PlayStation®Network, and therefore make Critter Crunch exactly how Capy envisioned it. We’ve worked with numerous publishers throughout our history, and had both great and terrible experience – but we have never had the opportunity to actually make our game, our way. Self-publishing Critter Crunch gave us that opportunity, and it was awesome.
We could define our own art style, cram the game full of modes, do a demo with multiplayer, have characters barfing into other characters’ mouths, fill the game with jokes we love… and then sell it for 7 bucks. All the while, we could promote it in line with our vision – talk honestly about the game, it’s development, and so on.
While no game is ever perfect, and there are tons of things we would have liked to have done better/different/more of in Critter Crunch… in the end it was truly a Capy game.
What were you least happy with, in retrospect?
NV: I was the least happy with our release timing. Critter Crunch’s release got pushed into early October, at the start of the “rainy season”. So many amazing games launched in October and November, and some big-profile DLC did as well… and that’s just shitty timing to put out a small, original puzzle game.
What is the biggest lesson you're going to apply to the next game you make?
NV: Capy has always believed that if we made games that we were passionate about - games we were actually and truthfully proud of – gamers would be able to recognize it. They would know that it came from a small independent team full of people that worked their asses off to make something fun, something original and something engaging.
In 2009, we finally had a chance to test that hypothesis, and holy shit does it ever feel good to be right!
[Critter Crunch is currently available on the PlayStation Network and iPhone, and their recent DS title Might and Magic: Clash Of Heroes has been getting some fantastic reviews and is available now.]
Through an anonymous source, SegaOnline.nl has happened upon the above screen - apparently proof that Sonic Adventure is coming to the Xbox Live Arcade.
The screenshot just depicts the dashboard, likely from the development network of XBLA games, and seems to suggest the game will also have an extension package, whatever that is.
If this is the case, I hope Sega make an official announcement soon. Sonic Adventure DX on Gamecube was alright, but I want that game in widescreen and at a locked 60FPS.
According to the latest update to the ESRB, the popular web and iPhone game Super Stacker is getting its own variant on the PlayStation Network.
Super Stacker is a simple title - simply drop a bunch of squares and triangles, each with their own little smiley faces, in the hope that they don't fall off of the screen. You can play a free version of super stacker online here.
It's a fun game, but it is very simple. It does have potential though - a Critter Crunch style makeover could make this something worthwhile.
Infinite Interactive's next puzzle title Puzzle Chronicles is coming soon to both XBLA and PSN - the handheld versions are out in February, and the digital releases should be a little afterwards.
To celebrate the completion of the game Konami have released a new trailer. It's certainly a strange puzzle game, far different to anything else Infinite Interactive has done. I'm not a huge fan of the design of the characters, but who knows - it might be fun.
The developer, ArtePiazza, is best known for their work on the DS remakes of Dragon Quest. No idea if it'll get released here, but I would sincerely hope it does.
XBLA: RISK: Factions Coming To XBLA, Now With More Zombies And Cats
EA has revealed their next plan for the Hasbro license - to bring RISK to the Xbox Live Arcade. But hold on, it might be what you think.
The announcement has revealed that Stainless Games, who also developed Magic: The Gathering on Xbox Live Arcade, are the fellows behind this new RISK. The game will include both objective-based and world conquest modes, as well as online multiplayer.
The press release states the game takes a bit of a different turn to its board game counterpart with a "unique art style, new gameplay twists and off-beat humor" compared to the standard RISK battles. According to the latest OXM Magazine, which has the only screenshot available of the game, you will be able to battle Zombie Factions against Cats. Sure!
The game will also include cinematics from Powerhouse Studios, a Flash animation specialist. Based on their work, you might get a good idea on what this game will be like.
RISK: Factions will be available early this year, so look for it in the next few months.
[It's been a busy year for the downloadable games business - several new developers have emerged on the scene on the Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network and WiiWare while new game environments have emerged with the Xbox Live Indie Games, DSiWare PSN minis.
Development teams can be tens of people strong, or sometimes they can be just one guy barely out of school. There's still so much to learn about development, so we contacted developers across the gaming landscape to ask them what they enjoyed about the last year, what was the most troubling, and what lessons they'll be bringing into the new decade.]
Today we spoke to Camille, the owner of Arkedo Studios. Arkedo recently made its name in downloadable games by storming into the Xbox Live Indie Games space and releasing three top-quality games in JUMP, SWAP and PIXEL! While their only new on the downloadable scene, they've worked in both the mobile business as well as for the Nintendo DS.
What were you most happy with during the game's development?
First of all: we enjoyed being able to make Arkedo Series. It's a luxury.
They were made technically possible by the XNA ecosystem. It was so smooth and streamlined, that we could almost immediately focus on the gameplay and experiment stuff out of the box. It is like if, when building a house from the ground, you would almost immediately have everything done, and all you had to do was taking care of interior design :) It made the whole "Arkedo Series" possible, because it was the only place where we could make so many games in so little time.
So this made us happy, because we always prefer to make 15 games in 18 months, than just one, as we did in the previous years. The excitement in not comparable.
So we decided to try an experiment on XNA, because there were a lot of interesting points we found in the ecosystem:
- we did not have to equip the studio with new devkits, just some basic 360s
- there was no concept approval, no need to apply to become official developer
- there would be no Lotcheck approval in the end, just an approx. 8-day peer review
- code and debug the game on the PC, click on a button, and try it with a pad on the 360
- lots of code examples, our first game even used one of them and build the game on it
- everyday online sales report, 50 frees code to give away to journalist and pretty girls
DSiWare: Q-Games Next DSiWare Title - 3D SPACE TANK
The Australian Classification Board has revealed the next game by the PixelJunk Developer - 3D Space Tank.
Nothing is known about the game, but it's likely to appear in the next couple of weeks. If we're going by the Q1 release list, we expect the US name will be X-Scape, as all their previous titles have been renamed in other territories. It's absolutely frustrating.
XBLA: XBLA Update - Serious Sam HD, 0 Day Attack On Earth DLC, Cheap Magic: The Gathering
Serious Sam HD is now available on the Xbox Live Arcade - the entire first encounter is now available to purchase for 1200MSP, or $15. For those of you who were worried that the fast gameplay wouldn't work on a console it seems to play pretty well based on a play of the trial version.
Also available this week is downloadable content for 0 Day Attack On Earth. The Loneon pack contains 7 new levels for 560MSP. You can download it here.
And don't forget, Gold users can pick upMagic: The Gathering for just 400MSP this week.
DSiWare, WiiWare: 2009 Developer Reflections: Digital Leisure
[It's been a busy year for the downloadable games business - several new developers have emerged on the scene on the Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network and WiiWare while new game environments have emerged with the Xbox Live Indie Games, DSiWare PSN minis.
Development teams can be tens of people strong, or sometimes they can be just one guy barely out of school. There's still so much to learn about development, so we contacted developers across the gaming landscape to ask them what they enjoyed about the last year, what was the most troubling, and what lessons they'll be bringing into the new decade.]
Today we talk with Paul Gold, VP Operations at Digital Leisure. Best known for their Dragon's Lair titles of the 80's, Digital Leisure have recently made a resurgence with the development of several games on WiiWare and DSiWare. We don't really hear much about the development on these platforms, so read in on their thoughts of the past year, and what to look forward to in the future.
What were you most happy with during the game's development?
Paul Gold:For us it's been a very big learning curve. Our background is in, well, Dragon's Lair. So moving to original Wii and eventually DSi title development was a huge step for us, that has ultimately been very rewarding. The Incredible Maze was our first 3D and Balance Board game, Texas Hold'em Tournament was our first on-line game, Copter Crisis was our first game with Download Content and also our first large-scale 3D game.
Each of these represented huge development obstacles for our graphics and programming teams. Our current games in development feature external server interaction and WiiConnect24 play on the Wii and local WiFi play on the DSi, as well as building on the technologies that we're now familiar with. With these technologies now under our belt, we're able to make more ambitious titles on the same budget as our earlier titles.
In terms of most happy, I guess we're happy that our graphics teams have mastered the use of the more advanced graphic capabilities of the Wii and we've also recently added a dedicated artist that is turning out some fabulous work that you'll see in our upcoming titles. On the programming side, we now have a very good sense of how to tackle the technical challenges and this helps especially during the game design phases.
We're happy that we now know what to expect in terms of sales on the two platforms so we can better budget development costs for titles based on reasonable expectations.
We're also very happy that we're very close to our goal of releasing one game per month on the WiiWare and DSiWare platforms over the upcoming months!
What were you least happy with, in retrospect?
PG: The size restrictions that Nintendo allows for their downloads. Having said that, we're getting pretty good at figuring out how to make the most of the size that's been allocated. We're also not happy about updates not being allowed but we understand why this is the policy.
What is the biggest lesson you're going to apply to the next game you make?
PG: The time it took to figure all this stuff out. In hindsight, probably reading over all the documentation a couple of time before we began would have been a wise investment of time. Having said that, the Nintendo tech staff have been a big help and great to work with.
XBLA: Flood Of Sonic Adventure Screenshots Surface
It only take a few rabid fans to leak screenshots from the Microsoft developer environment - and Sonic fans can be some of the most rabid of all.
Leaks of the Sonic Adventure port to the Xbox Live Arcade have surfaced over the past couple of days, both off-screen and direct feed. Despite what a lot of other websites have suggested - this is not a port of the Dreamcast game, but instead is a port of the Gamecube / PC version of the game which went under Sonic Adventure DX: Directors Cut. This version included some updated models for the main characters as well as as 50 extra missions.
It appears that zilch has been done to the game, except for an upped resolution. The game sits in 4:3 with a large border surrounding it, and the draw distance, which was quite low in certain sections of the game, has not been fixed. This is a far cry from Sega's prior remade classics in Outrun Online Arcade and Virtual On: OT which featured numerous graphical upgrades.
The game could still very well be in an early stage of porting - the game does not seem to implement standard XBLA features like Leaderboards and Achievements into its menu system, but its not looking good. Even fans have been able to hack in widescreen to the PC version.
I would at least have hoped for a good amount of care to be put into such a port - I mean the problems with the game are well documented, I don't expect them to redo the awful voice acting but compared to the effort being put into Perfect Dark XBLA this looks like a mess. It's about as cheap as the SoulCalibur port last year - but at least it's held up better over time.
I suggest making Sonic a little less "all eyebrows" when he's talking, extend the field of view to everything, maybe fix up some of the broken cameras and those texture splits.
Make this defniitive, it's practically a given that it'll make money, but if it comes out like this it's the disappointment in the same vein that the Sonic cycle disappoints on a regular basis.
WiiWare: 2009 Developer Reflections: Over the Top Games
[It's been a busy year for the downloadable games business - several new developers have emerged on the scene on the Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network and WiiWare while new game environments have emerged with the Xbox Live Indie Games, DSiWare and PSN minis.
Development teams can be tens of people strong, or sometimes they can be just one guy barely out of school. There's still so much to learn about development, so we contacted developers across the gaming landscape to ask them what they enjoyed about the last year, what was the most troubling, and what lessons they'll be bringing into the new decade.]
Of the few gems crafted for the WiiWare in 2009, Over The Top Games were able to create one of them - NyxQuest, a sidescrolling puzzle platformer. We spoke to Roberto Álvarez de Lara, CEO of the Spanish studio about what they've learned in 2009, and what they're bringing into the new year.
What were you most happy with during the game's development?
Roberto Álvarez de Lara: Well, we finished the game, and that is something to be proud of! It was hard at times, but the experience we had in previous companies showed very important when we decided to establish our own studio. Without this experience, we would have suffered from delays.
Apart from that, we are really happy that we managed to develop NyxQuest with scarce resources. We didn't have a lot of money, so we had to find ways of achieving what we wanted. We asked some friends for support with the animations, the voices were done by one of our girlfriends and the testing was done using the tireless help of friends and family.
What were you least happy with, in retrospect?
RdL: Having your own studio requires a lot of work that is not strictly linked to the development of the game. When you make your game visible to the press and public, you start receiving a lot of requests for interviews, screenshots, videos, etc. The marketing and PR of a game requires a lot of attention, because it doesn't matter if you make a good game, if the people don't get to know it, they will not play it. This area requires a lot of extra work that stretched those of us involved in the managing of NyxQuest very thin. Without love and passion for this industry it would have been really hard!
What is the biggest lesson you're going to apply to the next game you make?
RdL: We learned a lot of things from the development of NyxQuest. We learned that passion is the real driver when developing a game, but it helps if you have some experience larger groups and projects. For NyxQuest we didn't spend enough time to its design in the early parts of the development, and we reached a point were we suffered from "feature creep". For our new projects we are fixing this, and we are providing the required attention to the design.
[NyxQuest: Kindred Spirits is now available on Nintendo's WiiWare service for 1000 Nintendo Points, and has received many good reviews.]
PSN, PSN Minis: EU PSN Store Update - Diner Dash, UNO, Zen PinballDLC And More
Today's PSN Update includes some games finally making their way over to Europe - Diner Dash (£7.99/€9.99) and UNO (£6.29/€7.99).
Also this week is a single PSOne title - Constructor for £3.99/€4.99), and a single PSN Minis - Deflector for £3.49/€3.99.
Finally we've got some good DLC that's not from PAIN - Zen Pinball's Ninja Gaiden table is available for £1.59/€1.99, and the Magic Orbz bundle pack featuring all DLC is now just £9.99/€12.99
In our latest employment-specific round-up, we highlight some of the notable jobs posted in big sister site Gamasutra's industry-leading game jobs section this week, including positions from Relic Entertainment, Vicarious Visions and more.
Each position posted by employers will appear on the main Gamasutra job board, and appear in the site's daily and weekly newsletters, reaching our readers directly.
It will also be cross-posted for free across its network of submarket sites, which includes content sites focused on online worlds, cellphone games, 'serious games', independent games and more.
Some of the notable jobs posted this week include:
Relic Entertainment: Senior Level Designer
"Relic Entertainment, award winning developers of Homeworld, Dawn of War and Company of Heroes, is looking for a Senior Level Designer with AAA console shooter experience for our highly anticipated action RPG for Xbox 360 and PS3... Space Marine."
Edge of Reality: Game Engineer
"Edge of Reality is a veteran cross platform console studio based in Austin, Texas. Most recently, we worked closely with BioWare to release Dragon Age PS3 & 360. We also work with The Sims Studio, a part of the EA Play label on various projects. We have been fortunate enough to be part of several hit titles. As a result of this success, the studio has a stable future. Edge of Reality is completely independent. As such, we are free to work with any publisher, on any platform."
WiiWare: EU Nintendo Update - Phoenix Wright: Ace Attourney, Electroplankton, Sudoku
A small release list for Europe's WiiWare and DSiWare games - a single WiiWare game with the port of the original Phoenix Wright game, and three DSiWare titles - Electroplankton Beatnes and Electroplankton Hanenbow for 200 Points, and Sudoku Sensei for 500 Points. No Virtual Console at all.
January's been pretty quiet. Where's Castlevania Rebirth? Bah.
PSN, PSN Minis: NA PSN Store Update: Zen Pinball Table, Magic Orbz DLC, Dynogems Minis
No big releases this week - but there is a good amount of DLC.
The Ninja Gaiden 2 Sigma table for Zen Pinball is now live for $2.49, while Magic Orbz (aka Magic Ball) now has the Winter level pack for $2.99, or you can buy it in a collection with the rest of the DLC.
And finally, a new PSN mini game - Dynogems, which is a little similar to Astropop. You can play this on your PSP and PS3 for $2.99
[It's been a busy year for the downloadable games business - several new developers have emerged on the scene on the Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network and WiiWare while new game environments have emerged with the Xbox Live Indie Games, DSiWare and PSN minis.
Development teams can be tens of people strong, or sometimes they can be just one guy barely out of school. There's still so much to learn about development, so we contacted developers across the gaming landscape to ask them what they enjoyed about the last year, what was the most troubling, and what lessons they'll be bringing into the new decade.]
A true story of rags to riches, James Silva has taken control of both the Xbox Live Arcade and Indie Games stores with The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai and I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES!!!1. Here we ask what he's learned through working in both fields of gaming.
What were you most happy with during the game's development?
James Silva: This will sound a bit trite, but, as all of the game development stuff is basically just me drawing pictures, animating, writing code, building tools, making maps, bringing it all together and fixing bugs, I was really impressed by how well I'm coming along with all of that. The Dishwasher took about 2 years to put together, while Z0MB1ES, which is considerably less ambitious, took about 2 weeks.
What were you least happy with, in retrospect?
JS: It's not really a facet of development as business, but my sort of ongoing disappointment has been with the public's reaction to Xbox Live Indie Games. Just a couple of weeks ago, about a week before Z0MB1ES was named the IGA Best Indie Game of 2009, a fairly well known game critic gave a fairly derisive look on the whole Indie Games platform, brushing off Z0MB1ES with an "I'm not buying it," to which a bunch of commenters gave a "thanks, now I won't waste my time on Indie Games."
When you're the guy who plugs away on an indie title from 6 PM to midnight before heading to bed to get up for the 9 to 5 job (admittedly, I am not that guy anymore, so my complaints are all sympathetic) you probably wouldn't find this type of broadcast sentiment thrilling.
What is the biggest lesson you're going to apply to the next game you make?
JS: Have more fun. I have a tendency to make an engine, then start thinking in terms of "what can I do within the confines of the engine?" rather than "what would I like to do?" Lately, I've been finding that I've been a bit less scared about disturbing the fragile engine when it comes to introducing more functionality to hit one specific bit of content or another; and the end result is a game that feels a lot more fluid.
[We round up the top console digital download news of the last week from sister console digital download site GamerBytes, including brand-new game announcements and scoops from the world of Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, WiiWare, PSP Minis and DSiWare.]
In our latest employment-specific round-up, we highlight some of the notable jobs posted in big sister site Gamasutra's 
