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New Halo Wars dev blog talks unit balance

In the latest Halo Wars developer blog, lead technical designer Tim Deen discusses the game’s unit balance. Most Halo Wars fans are probably familiar with the game’s “Rock, Paper, Scissors” (or RPS) balance, but Deen goes into extreme detail, even providing the complex chart seen above. If you’d like to move beyond RPS basics and start learning the difference between a ’soft’ kill and a ‘hard’ kill — and which units do which — it’s definitely a good read.

Sadly, Covenant fans out there are left in the cold, as the chart itself only addresses UNSC units. Hopefully, someone at Robot will be kind enough to put together a new chart for our Covie friends. Then again, we only build Brutes anyway.

New Halo Wars dev blog talks unit balance originally appeared on Joystiq Xbox on Thu, 16 Apr 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Assassin’s Creed 2 teaser lacks gameplay, oozes melodrama

Following an unveiling in Game Informer and the launch of an official website, Assassin’s Creed 2 has spawned its first teaser trailer. This is typically a time of great excitement in the build-up to a highly anticipated game; it’s when we usually get a sneak peek — however brief — at gameplay. Not so for AC2. How would you like some fancy da Vinci-esque sketches of random objects and a narrator who’s been paid by the word in cheese?

Here’s what we now know, based on the teaser: It’s the Renaissance (yep, had that), science is big again, but the real truths? They “lie in the shadows … written in blood.” We’re left to wonder if this is some sort of code. Do we need to do something involving shadows (we can handle that) and blood (no way!) in order to see the real teaser? Or, maybe, we simply resign ourselves to the fact we just got handed a heaping plate of letdown.

Assassin’s Creed 2 teaser lacks gameplay, oozes melodrama originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 16 Apr 2009 13:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Lost Cities no longer found on XBLA

We’ve confirmed with Major Nelson that the now-aptly named Lost Cities has disappeared from Xbox Live Arcade. Apparently, not too many folks were actually looking for the game, as our inbox holds an overlooked tip about its missingness dating back to March 4th.

The game was published by Sierra last summer, but we presume that those rights transferred over to Activision Blizzard in “The Merger.” Microsoft currently has no further details on why the game was pulled, though Major Nelson remarks that it’s only the second game to be pulled from the service (the first being Yaris). In case you were wondering, this has nothing to do with poorly performing XBLA titles being delisted from XBLA, that program hasn’t yet been implemented — and likely never will.

[Thanks Josh and Jeremy]

Lost Cities no longer found on XBLA originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 16 Apr 2009 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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See Space Invaders Extreme’s Xbox Live multiplayer

This is new footage from a new mode in a new version of an old game that itself was a new version of an old game. We’d need Doc Brown to sort out this Space Invaders Extreme multiplayer footage for us, so we’re not even going to try to understand. We’re just going to watch the colors silently, mouth agape.

We’d encourage you to join us in the silence in the comments, even though we’re betting some jerk is going to ruin the whole thing. If you’re interested in something a little more in-depth than just video of colors, we’ve got mode descriptions after the jump.

Continue reading See Space Invaders Extreme’s Xbox Live multiplayer

See Space Invaders Extreme’s Xbox Live multiplayer originally appeared on Joystiq Xbox on Thu, 16 Apr 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Beatles: Rock Band priced in Europe, UK

MTV Games this morning revealed pricing for the European and UK iterations of its upcoming Beatles-based rhythm game extravaganza, The Beatles: Rock Band. Aside from the already announced $250 US release, the “limited edition premium bundle” arrives in the EU at €199 and £179 in the UK.

The release makes no mention of the rumored multiple microphone support (for harmonizing, naturally) but remains steadfast that the bundle will come with “additional special content.” Maybe that special content is the unreleased Beatles material included with the game? We’ll just have to wait until September 9th to find out. In the meantime, take a gander at the uber-classy box art below in the gallery.

The Beatles: Rock Band priced in Europe, UK originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 16 Apr 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ninety-Nine Nights 2 details arrive in short supply

Ninety-Nine Nights 2 (N3-2 from now on, dig?) is on the way, though we’re certain few were asking for it, and the latest issue of Famitsu has revealed the first details. Siliconera says the feelplus-developed title now contains support for two players, and a photo of the article reveals a couple new characters in “Guren” and “Sefia” (at least, we think — it’s all in Japanese!).

The title remains exclusive to the Xbox 360 and is expected to arrive later this year. These are the folks who worked on Lost Odyssey and Infinite Undiscovery after all — what could possibly go wrong?

Ninety-Nine Nights 2 details arrive in short supply originally appeared on Joystiq Xbox on Thu, 16 Apr 2009 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Guitar Hero World Tour Xbox bundles $99 at Wal-Mart

Now, we know that Guitar Hero World Tour isn’t nearly as a good as that other rhythm title, but if you’re a starving faux-artist on a budget, you might be interested to know that Wal-Mart is offering the Xbox 360 version of the full band World Tour bundle for a mere $99. We’d rather see a price cut for that other game, but you can’t really complain about all the plastic instruments you can bring home for that kind of cash. There’s no telling how long this “Rollback” offer will last, so if you’d best act quick, lest you be stuck with having to pick up the other, much better rhythm title.

Oh, who are we kidding. Wal-Mart doesn’t sell Gitaroo Man anymore.

Guitar Hero World Tour Xbox bundles $99 at Wal-Mart originally appeared on Joystiq Xbox on Wed, 15 Apr 2009 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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X3F TV — XBLA in Brief: Outrun Online Arcade

Filed under: X3F TV

This week, we take Outrun Online Arcade for a spin. Offering plenty of tracks, tunes and some ridiculously long powerslides, Outrun has a lot to offer arcade racing fancs. Check out the latest episode of XBLA in Brief and decide if Outrun Online Arcade deserves a spot in your digital library.

Download the trial version of Outrun Online Arcade

[iTunes] Subscribe to X3F TV directly in iTunes.
[Zune] Subscribe to the X3F TV directly (Zune Marketplace link coming soon).
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[M4V] Download the M4V directly.

X3F TV — XBLA in Brief: Outrun Online Arcade originally appeared on Joystiq Xbox on Wed, 15 Apr 2009 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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See Bane in Batman: Arkham Asylum clip

We sure hope that Eidos is saving a few surprises for those who actually play through Batman: Arkham Asylum, because the above clip of Bane (who once broke the Dark Knight’s back) seems like it could have been a good one. As would be expected, Bane looks totally huge and totally scary.

Though we’re starting to get a little prudish about these spoilers, we’d like to reiterate that holy crap do we ever want to play this game.

See Bane in Batman: Arkham Asylum clip originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 15 Apr 2009 18:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rumor: Beatles Rock Band supports multiple mics, harmonies

From the pages of Game Informer, according to Destructoid, comes a rumor that the upcoming The Beatles: Rock Band will support multiple microphones so that players can harmonize on vocal tracks. Apart from making sense, given the wide use of harmonies in Beatles music, the rumor raises a question: Where are we going to keep all this stuff? The sheer amount of equipment needed to supply four virtual rockers with both an instrument and a microphone begins to rival that of a real band. Here’s hoping the next Rock Band accessory is a full-size van.

Rumor: Beatles Rock Band supports multiple mics, harmonies originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 15 Apr 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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