This Week’s News
7/20/2006
Test Drive to be $40, XBL Arcade News, & GameFest
Microsoft’s official site for their upcoming “GameFest” conference is now open, you can check it out here: Microsoft GameFest Conference Details
Atari announced today that Test Drive: Unlimited will be sold for $39.95. They also announced that starting 6-weeks after the game’s launch this fall, they will be releasing monthly downloadable car packs, each with 6 or more cars included. That content will be found through Xbox Live Marketplace obviously, and UNSCleric.com will alert you when those go up this fall.
Also, I think this next little bit of news most people are not aware of. We all know that the Xbox Live Arcade team has promised 5 weeks of Arcade games, one game each Wednesday, we just hit the second game’s Wednesday yesterday. What most people don’t seem to know is that it’s not stopping after Ms. Pac-Man on August 9th. Greg Canessa, General Manager of Xbox Live Arcade has stated that their goal is to deliver at least one game every Wednesday. He said they may miss a week every now and then, and there’s no guarantee, but the hope is that they can keep the scheduled release cycle going, and keep a new game coming out every week consistently.
We’re going to have a lot of new Xbox Live Arcade games by the end of this year. Speaking of Xbox Live Arcade, here’s an interview with the creator of Cloning Clyde, which I think shows how great Microsoft is doing when it comes to the “indy” developers of these great, small budget games. Click here for the interview.
That same guy actually called Microsoft and Xbox Live Arcade “a savior” to development teams like Wahoo Studios, because they give you the tools to make small games and the outlet get them out to people for relatively cheap, everyone wins. Games like Marble Blast Ultra are made by 2 people, and then sold to millions of people on Xbox Live, and the guys who put tons of work into the game get a nice profit to continue developing, and the gamers get an awesome game for $5-$10.
7/19/2006
New Chromehounds Content
You can now download the following free content for ‘Chromehounds’:
* Light arms 02
* Heavy arms 01
* Assist parts 01
* Color 2
Cloning Clyde Now On Xbox Live Arcade!
It’s Xbox Live Arcade Wednesday! This week release is ‘Cloning Clyde’! You can now download a free ‘Cloning Clyde’ demo from the Xbox Live Arcade. If you like it, the full version of the game is 800 points.
7/18/2006
New Marketplace Content & More
The following trailers are now available on Xbox Live Marketplace
* Trailer for the G.R.A.W. Chapter 2 content
* NCAA Football 07 Inside Look trailer (GTTV special)
* Bullet Witch Trailer (both 480p & 720p)
….and coming soon, there will be a demo for Rockstar’s Table Tennis game.
7/17/2006
Xbox Live Friends List on Messenger
Finally…you can check your Xbox Live Friends list from messenger!After a 14–month hiatus, it’s back! You can now check your Xbox Live friends list from MSN Windows Live Messenger*. Don’t have Messenger yet? Download it here. If you already have messenger, click on the Xbox tab and you’ll see your friends list. Plus, you can even click a friend to go to their profile page. Nope…no word on when/if we’ll combine the Messenger and Xbox Live friends lists, but at least we’ve got this back.
*Note this is for US passport accounts only. Other regions may have this function, but it is purely up to the regional Windows Live Messenger teams if they want an Xbox tab…the Xbox team does not make this decision.
- From MajorNelson.com
Xbox Live 12-Month Card For $35
Get it while you can, it’s at Walmart.com & in-stock currently.
Full Auto Picture Packs and Dead Rising Achievements List
There are now two ‘Full Auto’ picture packs on the Xbox Live Marketplace. This content is 100 points for each picture pack and is available in all Xbox Live regions.
Click here for the list of Achievements for Dead Rising