This past Wednesday, Braid was released on the Xbox Live Arcade. A platformer that uses the manipulation of time as a core gameplay mechanic, Braid attempts to push the boundaries of how games can be storytelling devices.

Does the game succeed? Hit the jump to- Oh screw it. Braid is f***ing brilliant. Buy it now.
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Castle Crashers, the newest XBLA game from The Behemoth finally has a release date for their eagerly-awaited co-op action game. August 27 is the day you can pay a few spacebucks for this adorable little adventure. Woohoo!

Microsoft has also given release dates for titles such as Bionic Commando: ReArmed and Geometry Wars: RE 2, which you can find after the jump.
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Crisis averted.

Until now, the war between music game franchises has left frugal gamers with no option but to pick a side and hope for the best. Following Guitar Hero publisher Activision’s press conference, however, Chris Kohler over at Game|Life brings us good news:

At Activision’s E3 press conference Tuesday, Guitar Hero director Brian Bright told the crowd that if they already owned guitar controllers and drum controllers from “previous games” on the Xbox 360, they’d work with Guitar Hero World Tour.

As a person who owns Rock Band and all its peripherals on the 360, this makes it a lot easier to be on both sides of the music game fence. My Rock Band 2 purchase is all but sealed up, but knowing that I can get the full Guitar Hero World Tour experience without crowding my basement with even more peripherals makes it all the more enticing.

Specifics on now the RB drums will work with GH remain to be revealed, but it should be interesting, as the Guitar Hero World Tour drums require one more input than the Rock Band drums currently have. In addition, Bright did not adress PS3 or Wii compatibility. We’ll have to wait and see.

[Image and info via Wired]

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What? A Gears of War sequel? That’s a shocker.

You have probably already heard, but Gears of War 2 is going to feature more of the same gameplay, with some add tweaks to the cover system, weapon-specific executions, and the ability to take meat shields. Above, you’ll find the E3 walkthrough video from just this morning.

In the video, Marcus and his allies are trying to escape a burning sideways building. Inventive level design? Possibly. To me, though, it still feels like more of the same, simply because of the color scheme. Developers have a trend of associating dingy colors with realism, and every game is just starting to blend together. The graphics do look quite polished, however.

Some of your favorites weapons, such as the Hammer of Dawn, will reappear, but another turret-like gun also makes it’s debut. Hopefully, this sequel won’t just be more of the same.

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Wouldn’t ya know it? As I was writing this, Nathan managed to post the entire tracklist, but… uh… enjoy the first part of the article anyway.

With the start of E3 today, Harmonix has revealed the entire setlist for Rock Band 2 as well as a few other awesome details to secure at least 60 of my hard-earned dollars. THere will be 75 regular tracks as well as 9 bonus tracks, all of which will be master recordings. In addition RB2 will feature two debuts: AC/DC will make its first appearance in a video game and in even bigger news, a track from Guns N’ Roses (possibly) long-awaited Chinese Democracy will be a part of the setlist.

Rock Band 2 will also sport a number of other cool amenities. in addition to all DLC being cross-compatible, owners of the first iteration of the series will be able to copy those songs onto their console’s hard drive for use in Rock Band 2, saving the hassle of switching discs. In addition, despite the 84 tracks, MTV wanted to include over 100, so they will be releasing at least 20 master tracks for free via download.

If you really want to know, personal highlights from the tracklist include Journey’s “Any Way You Want It”, Beck’s “E-Pro”, Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ On A Prayer”, and The Who’s “Pinball Wizard”.

Low points include Panic at the Disco’s “Anything they have ever written”.

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Because today is July 7, aka 7/7, and because of Bungie’s affinity for the number 7, today is being unofficially declared Bungie Day by the developers of the Halo series. As a thank you to their fans, Bungie is giving away a new Halo 3 map called Cold Storage, which is a remake of Chill Out from the original Halo:CE. I’m not one to argue with the low, low price of free, and the map does look pretty cool.

In addition, Bungie is giving away a free theme and picture pack to commemorate the occasion. I’m definitely going to start using the Pimps at Sea gamerpic. They are also discounting the price of the Legendary Map pack from $10 to $7.50.

Hit the jump for two more screenshots of the new map.
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A few days ago, Major Nelson gave us word of a new tool that Xbox owners could use to regain licenses for their downloaded content such as Arcade games and add-ons. The Microsoft DRM has been a point of considerable debate, as users can only use their content on one registered console without being connected to the Internet. This was exacerbated by the fact that the Xbox 360 has a less-than-exemplary hardware reliability and so many users who had to get their consoles replaced (including myself) found the content that we had paid for crippled due to the games not being played on the console with which they were originally downloaded. Until this new DRM management tool was released, Xbox users had no way of transferring their licenses. Have I lost you?

Hit the jump for more details on what is possibly the most inept remedy I’ve ever seen.
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Speaking at the Paris Game Developers Conference, EA’s David McCarthy revealed that within the next year, EA Sports games will be bundled with peripherals. McCarthy said “I think you’ll see games using that Rock Band peripheral strategy from EA Sports, even within the next 12 months,” so long as the accessibility of a game isn’t compromised. McCarthy did not expand on whether or not the peripherals would reach all three major consoles, or even what specific games they are being developed for.

Regardless of the game, I think we can all agree that this console generation’s obsession with peripherals is getting a little out of hand. Whatever happened to picking up just a disc whenever we wanted a new game? Now I have to get an entirely new controller. The recently announced Guitar Hero 4 is supposed to have drums as well, and I sure as hell don’t need two drum sets.

This leads me into a greater argument about sports games as a whole. I feel that if you really want to play a sport, then go out and play it! There is some rationality to using a standard controller and playing online, but if someone is already swinging a virtual bat, that’s just one step away from actually playing baseball. Some may argue that music games such as Rock Band should follow the same guidelines, but learning the basics of an instrument is definitely more time-consuming than learning the basics of a sport. If you’ve ever had gym class, you should know how to play basketball.

Hey, EA, why not get to work on a new SSX instead?

[Via Gamesindustry.biz]

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[Note: This review may reveal a few plot points in the Indiana Jones franchise. If you would prefer not to have any part of the story spoiled, I would recommend not reading this review. Also, you should be ashamed for not having seen the films.]

Legos are awesome. If there is one toy that defined my childhood, it would be Legos. That’s why I was immediately attracted to Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures. It seems like a perfect equation: Legos + Indiana Jones = Adorable fun. Obviously released to coincide with the newest theatrical sequel in the George Lucas franchise, is the blocky version of the trilogy awesome or did I choose… poorly?
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Valve has just released a new trailer for another character, The Sniper, in their Team Fortress 2 “Meet the..” series. That these two-minute-long trailers provide more personality than most games with full-fledged storylines is certainly a testament to TF2’s character design. I wish I had an Australian accent.

Check out previous trailers after the jump.
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Developer Natsume is best-known for its farming sim franchise, Harvest Moon, but that doesn’t mean they don’t convert other mundane tasks into video games. Released in late April of this year, River King: Mystic Valley is a fishing game for the Nintendo DS that takes all the fun of sitting and waiting in real life and lets you do it in a game as well.
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The Xbox Live Arcade is a unique creature. Most of the time, it spits out dreck and crud with the frequency of a sewage plant. But on rare occasions, a hidden gem will shine through at just the right time to restore our faith in the service. One such game was the original Assault Heroes, a two-stick shooter in the vein of Geometry Wars. What set it apart was that on top of such simple gameplay, developer Wanako Games provided a unique presentation with the use of multiple vehicles and realized enemies, rather than simple shapes.

The game was such a fun, little experience and so well received that Sierra released a sequel for it a few weeks ago. But does Assault Heroes 2 provide anything new, or is it just more of the same? Keep reading to find out.
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Just in time to coincide with the fourth theatrical installment, Telltale Games’ LEGO Indiana Jones is about to see its release on June 3. Enjoy this new trailer with tons of awesome new action, adventure, and five o’clock shadow.

Just like Telltale’s previous LEGO Star Wars games, the game will feature characters completely made out of LEGOs. It will also cover the entirely trilogy of games, so expect to outrun some boulders, race on some mine carts, and find some ancient artifacts. One thing I’m a bit let down about though is that there will be no mention of Nazis at all. I understand the need to keep the game family-friendly, but I feel as though the villains will just be generic now. Additionally, is there really a need for over 60 playable characters? It works with the vast lore of the Star Wars universe, but this just seems like overkill. I’ll give ten gold stars to anyone who can name more than 20 Indy franchise characters off the top of their head.

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I never played the first 50 Cent game, because it looked like a pile of utter crap; a game that tried to be “gangsta” and just came off as a caricature of what it really wanted to be. The new game, 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand, focusing on the popular artist and his cronies, G-Unit, looks like it could be a good, stupid dose of fun. It takes place in the Middle East as Fiddy hunts down a diamond-encrusted skull, and (at least to me) the plot resembles some sort of quasi-Indiana Jones storyline. From what we know so far, the game will feature voice work from all of the artists in the game, as well as exclusive tracks, and will be played from a third-person perspective. It will also have co-op.

I really wanted to point out how fucking awesome this trailer is. 50 Cent singlehandedly wins the war on terrorism. I enjoyed it so much that I’ll ignore how everyone besides 50 is bleach-white, despite the game taking place in the Middle East. The game looks to be the equivalent of a good summer popcorn movie.

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1UP has brought us official word that a new Prince of Persia title is scheduled to hit stores before the end of the year. The game is being developed for the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC, and development will be handled by Ubisoft Montreal, creators of the PoP trilogy on the last generation of consoles and last fall’s Assassin’s Creed.

Ubisoft previously trademarked the title Prince of Persia Prodigy, but the title for this new game has not been announced. Ubisoft has, however, announced a “new breed of gameplay” and “brand-new illustrative art style.” If I had to guess, the new game will be a cel-shaded, first-person romp as the Prince transitions to the Artist Formerly Known as Prince and starts training a new generation of Arabian acrobats. You heard it here first.

[Via 1UP]

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