If you think the plot is crazy, wait ’til you see the gameplay:

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I love the level variations, but I’m pretty sure I would get frustrated with this game real quick. I’m just not good at platformers, and this one looks like it’s the Ninja Gaiden of platformers. But if this scratches your gaming itch, then keep an eye out for Super Meat Boy. Developer Team Meat promises “over 300 levels of saws, disease, fire, lasers, missiles, and various other traps.” I don’t even want to know what those “various other traps” are.

[via the bbps]

I love how Shaun White’s intervening smiling mug completely obliterates whatever seriousness is left out of the Tiger news.

Yeah, that helpless-looking blue thing is the soul. As if that disturbing screenshot isn’t enough, Soul‘s trailer is one of the creepiest that I’ve ever seen:

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Now I really want to buy a new Xbox 360. Starving to death is scarier though, so I’ll have to wait and be content with watching gameplay videos. Dammit. Check out the game’s official website for more nighmarish screenshots. The game will be available “soon” for 80 Microsoft Points ($1 USD). Lucky Xbox 360 owners can download the demo now at the Xbox Marketplace.

[via Joystiq]

Xona Games’ Decimation X is best described as Space Invaders on steroids meth. The game consists of round after round of descending pixelated aliens and other retro-fantastic characters attacking you in what seems like an endless hail of bullets. Thankfully, your spaceship can be powered-up with plenty of defense and weapons upgrades, including an insane multi-fire attack, capable of annihilating dozens of enemies at once. The game even features a four-player mode where you and your friends can attack the aliens at the same time – sort of like a co-op mode, but you’re competing against each other for the high score.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

If you’re into retro gaming, you owe it to yourself to check out Decimation X. It’s available now over on the Xbox Live Marketplace for just 80 Microsoft points (or for those of you who pay with actual money, just one buck).

For a mere 80 Microsoft points ($1 USD), you can move through a number of dialogue screens, most of them refreshingly less stalkeriffic than the above, which I’m guessing indicates the end of your game. If not, then I’m guessing this dating sim/edutainment title/bit of hilarity takes a whole new Grand Theft Auto turn.

They’re not all dour and pre-prison, though:

Though if you’re the kind of guy who chooses option B, I’ve gotta say, you may be eventually leading up to that other screenshot.

From my limited exposure, I’m not sure if Don’t Be Nervous Talking 2 Girls is a serious effort or a bit of parody, and really, it could go either way. At the price of a dollar, I may have to find out, if only for science.

[via Gay Gamer]

Run Away! is a simple game in which players from from here to there while being chased by various enemies. There are five levels standing between you and your goal–love-interest Angry Girl–and if you get caught? It’s back to the beginning. Such are the pains of love.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The game is fun and silly–and surprisingly challenging–though for a dollar, it could have had only one of those qualities and it might have been worth it. With all three? It might be the best dollar you spend all week.

Run Away! is available for download on Xbox Live, through the Community Games portal.

[via IndieGames]

The graphics have been slightly upgraded for this version, but not at the cost of the game’s old school charm, which would have been a travesty. River City Dodge Ball All-Stars is designed for Windows–but it’s also available as an Xbox Live Indie title, under the much-less cool name Downtown Smash Dodgeball.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The original Super Dodge Ball is also available through the Nintendo Wii’s Virtual Console service for a mere 500 Nintendo points ($5), for all the purists out there… but if you’re a fan of Kunio-kun, you probably already knew that, and may actually be playing it right now.

[via Indie Games]

Hydrophobia is already unique in many ways–the waterlogged survival game apparently features unbelievable water physics (which, after seeing pictures, is totally believable). If you don’t believe me, here’s a little footage dug up from an early prototype, showing off the game’s water engine:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Now something interesting is being done with the Xbox 360 release, as well. The game will be available as DLC from the Xbox Live Marketplace in the form of three separate episodes… or on a retail disc to be released later. This is in addition to its availability for PS3 and PC. Apparently, they want to make sure everyone in the world can play this game, without any excuses to bar the purchase.

But, considering the concept, that may not be a bad approach. Hydrophobia‘s main character is an engineer with a fear of water who is stuck on a sinking ship–and has to help others escape. It’s a whole new brand of “horror” for the survival game genre, and one that sounds as interesting as its release format.

[Hydrophobia via Joystiq]

While I’m torn on the overall idea of breaking retail games up into episodic download packs –  just feels like the top of a possibly slippery slope to me — the idea of an entire portion of the game, without restrictions on saves and such, is very appealing.

No pricing available yet, other than the fact this is fully downloadable content and will not require the disc. The episodes will even work with previously available DLC packs… and the whole package debuts next month.

Also announced, to no one’s surprise, was Fable III, scheduled for release next year. Preliminary image looks nice!

[via Joystiq]

The spindly-fingered titular hero faces 55 levels of puzzle-filled platforming through a sugary land filled with hazards, but don’t worry–there’s plenty of coffee along his path. Oh, and there are robots. Evil robots. If that sounds odd, well, the game’s origins may be odder still; Johnny Platform’s Biscuit Romp began life as a humble DS homebrew title. The Community Games title has kept the vertical orientation that worked to move gameplay across the DS’s two screens.

Johnny Platform’s Biscuit Romp is available now on the Xbox Live Community Games service for a mere 200 Microsoft Points, and there’s even a demo so you can try before you buy.

[Xbox Live Community Games via auntie pixelante]

Later in the day, Microsoft’s posted this Buy Xbox 360, Get Halo 3 promotional page, clarifying the offer. The offer won’t apply to all new 360 buyers — just those who are already are Xbox LIVE subscribers with an original Xbox (and who happen to live in the United States). So it sounds like they’re just trying to incent original Xbox owners to upgrade to a 360 this holiday season.

To redeem the offer, here’s what you need to do:

1. Buy an Xbox 360 console between November 21 and December 21, 2007.
2. Convert your current paid Xbox LIVE account to an Xbox LIVE Gold subscription.
3. Register here between November 21 and December 21, 2007 with promotional code XBX7777, with your new console serial number, and a valid mailing address.
4. Look for your copy of Halo 3 in your mailbox!

So if you still haven’t made the jump from last gen to this gen, there’s no better time than the present.

[via Xbox360Fanboy]

According to an article in the latest Official Xbox Magazine, 360 owners will be able to download a number of original Xbox titles for 1200 Microsoft points each ($15 USD). The initial titles will include Halo, Fable, Farenheit, Crimson Skies, Burnout 3 and Crash Bandicoot: the Wrath of Cortex.

While you can pick up most of these titles for less than $10 used, it’s nice to be able to grab these classics without leaving the comfort of your couch. Be sure to keep your eyes peeled for the dashboard update when it hits on December 4th.

It seems like only yesterday, but on November 15, 2002, Microsoft’s groundbreaking online gaming platform made its debut as an add-on to the original Xbox. Five years later, it’s still leaps and bounds beyond the other onling gaming platforms, with easy downloads of add-on content, always on chat, a unified friends list, and a robust online movie store.

In celebration of the big day, Xbox LIVE is throwing an Live is 5IVE online party on November 15th and 16th, including chances to win prizes, play against game developers, get your ass handed to you by some serious gamer girls, and much more.

Congratulations to the Xbox LIVE team for hitting this important milestone. You’ve stolen countless hours of my life that I can never get back. Thanks for the memories.

[via Kotaku]

Well the good news is that Microsoft has confirmed that the device will be hitting stores next week, on or about September 4th. The Xbox 360 Messenger Kit snaps onto the bottom of your controller, and costs just 30 bucks. The keypad also features backlighting, which makes it much easier to converse in the dark. It also ships with its own headset, I’m guessing because the standard Xbox Live one won’t fit.

[via Kotaku]

The demo weighs in at a hefty 1.3 gig, so you’ll probably end up leaving your console on overnight (like me) to grab the full download.

According to the developers of the game, the demo lets you play somewhere between 45 minutes and an hour from the beginning of the game, along with a few extra weapons and capabilities that you won’t normally have that early in the game. Whatever the demo holds, I’m sure it’ll be just enough to whet your appetite for the full version of the game which ships in just over a week, on August 21.

For those of you who want every little bit of dirt on this upcoming game, head on over to Major Nelson’s website for all the gory details.

The latest Xbox 360 System Update appears to be causing major problems for gamers today. Speaking from personal experience, the update appears to be completely breaking Xbox Live for some users.

The symptom is that your console will say that Xbox Live requires an update, then you’ll try to run the update and after several minutes, the update fails. It then provides advice that you need to test your connection, which eventually tells you that you need an Xbox Live update to complete the tests. I even went as far as reformatting the hard drive on my 360 to make sure there wasn’t some corrupted data on there.

A number of users over on Major Nelson’s site are also reporting similar problems this morning. Microsoft hasn’t provided any information yet on when a fix might be available. I even sat on the 1-800-4MY-XBOX line for about 90 minutes earlier this morning to see if they could provide any insight, but eventually got disconnected and gave up.

…and I thought I’d be checking out that new Stranglehold demo tonight. Oh well, hopefully someone in Redmond is listening.

Crackdown is a 3-D action/driving game, from the original creator of the Grand Theft Auto series, Dave Jones. The game features “M”-rated action in urban sandbox environment like the GTA titles, but integrates more advanced futuristic weapon types, superhero-like powers and the ability to use almost any item in the environment as a weapon. In addition, it’s supposed to offer a strong co-op play mode so you can share your mayhem making with your friends. The full version of the Xbox 360 exclusive is slated to be released on February 20th.

It’s not clear whether or not the outage is related to higher than normal post holiday volume or some other unrelated issue. Perhaps it was the mad dash of people to download today’s earlier release of New Rally-X

You can check on the current status of Xbox Live here. At present, the service status message simply reads: “Up and running. Xbox Live is currently experiencing issues with Matchmaking. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and Thank You for your patience.”
Overall, Microsoft has done an outstanding job with the quality of their online system when compared to those offered by Sony and Nintendo, so it’s surprising when something like this occurs.

I’ll post back when I have any further updates.

UPDATE: It appears that service was restored shortly after my post at 1:05 AM Central Time. Total downtime was about 6 hours, and there is no word yet on the cause.

[via 2old2play via digg]

The Xbox Live Arcade game is actually based on the sequel, New Rally-X, was released back in 1981. It features additional courses, easier enemy AI and a few other tweaks. The game is available on the Live Marketplace for 400 Gamer Points.
[via Major Nelson]

A video has now surfaced, showing work in progress on the game, and it looks like it could be the first live arcade game to give Geometry Wars a run for its money.

The game play definitely is reminiscent of Minter’s classic Atari vector-based arcade game, combined with the trippy psychedelia that he’s well known for these days. The game is still in development, but should be hitting Xbox Live Arcade some time in 2007.

[via videogamesblogger]