If you’re itchin’ fer some cars going ’round a circle, head on over to the Xbox Live Marketplace and pick up the demo for Nascar ’09. It’s available only to Canadian and United States residents though.
1600 Microsoft Points for $15
If there’s anything you’ve been wanting to pick up on Xbox Live, you should head on over to Target first. They are offering the usually $20 1600 Microsoft Points card for only $15 this week. Not a bad deal. Expecially if you were planning on buying some points anyway. Check out the deal in the local ad if you want too.
Buku Sudoku and Warlords On XBLA Today
Two games on Xbox Live Arcade this week, so get ’em while they’re hot.
Yet another Sodoku game on Xbox Live Arcade. I guess there’s a reason though; gamers love it. So today you can pick up Buku Sudoku, which has 1,200 puzzles and multiplayer up to four players. You can get it for 800 Microsoft points.
The other game offered this week is Warlords. This game features a Breakout-style type of gameplay. Each player controls a paddle which is used to protect their castle from bouncing fireballs. Of course, it’s your job to knock them into the other player’s castles. Get this one for 400 Microsoft points.
Full Cars Album on Rock Band Now Available
I mentioned last week that the full debut album from the Cars would be coming to Rock Band at some point and it looks like that some point is today. You can pick up the album in its entirety for 1200 Microsoft points or individual songs for 160 Microsoft points. Look for it on the Playstation 3 on Thursday.
Delisted Games on Xbox Live Still Available
There seems to be a lot of confusion, myself included, about Microsoft delisting underperforming games on Xbox Live Arcade. It seems that even though a game will be delisted from the service, it won’t really be removed entirely, just thrown in a sort of “back room.”
According to Aaron Greenberg, Director of Product Management for Xbox 360 and Live has stated that this is the case and that if you own one of those titles and you delete it and decide you want it later, you’ll still be able to re-download the game. Multiplayer and leaderboards will still work as they always have and delisted titles can still be purchased through the tell a friend option. So don’t worry too much about it, but it still sounds like a hassle to me.
To the Graveyard With Unsuccessful XBLA Titles
Microsoft has announced that they would like to put more focus on successful titles within their Xbox Live Arcade service and will soon be removing underperforming titles from the service entirely.
Right now the service contains somewhere around 130 different games, and Marc Whitten, Xbox Live general manager, has stated that they would now like to focus more on quality instead of quantity. Below is what determines if a title will be removed from the service.
- At least 6 months old
- Metacritic score below 65
- Conversion rate below 6%
If an XBLA title meets the above criteria, a three-month delisting notice will be given. So that means if there’s a title on the service that you don’t think is doing well, and you’ve been on the fence about purchasing it, look for a notice. If you see that notice, you got three months, homie!
Don’t Forget: Penny Arcade on XBLA
Just a reminder that you can pick up Penny Arcade Episode 1 from the popular online comic strip guys on Xbox Live Arcade today. It’ll set you back 1600 Microsoft points.
Rock Band DLC Available on Xbox 360
All of those European tracks that were announced last week for Rock Band are now here. Each song costs the usual 160 Microsoft points or $1.99 for the Playstation 3 on Thursday. Here’s the list again if you missed it on Friday.
- “Beetlebum” by Blur (cover)
- “New Wave” by Pleymo (master)
- “Monsoon” by Tokio Hotel (master)
- “Rock ‘N’ Roll Star” by Oasis (master)
- “Hysteria” by Muse (master)
- “Manu Chao” by Les Wampas (master)
- “Perfekte Welle” by Juli (master)
- “Countdown to Insanity” by H-BlockX (master)
- “Hier Kommt Alex” by Die Toten Hosen (master)
Xbox Originals: Stubbs and Gauntlet
You can now download both Stubbs The Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse and Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows through the Xbox Originals service. They are both 1200 Microsoft points. Below are the Xbox.com descriptions of the games.
Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel without a Pulse
Meet Edward “Stubbs” Stubblefield in Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel without a Pulse. During the Great Depression, he was a down-on-his-luck traveling salesman. Now it’s 1959 and he’s a zombie with an insatiable hunger for human brains. How could this happen?
The answer lies buried somewhere in Punchbowl, Pennsylvania, a high-tech “City of the Future” built by the world’s richest man. Punchbowl is a paradise of hovercars and helper robots, where crime and pollution simply don’t exist. It’s the perfect city: safe, clean, and convenient. Stubbs can’t wait to move in… and have the last laugh on humanity. Indulge your appetite for vengeance… and brains.
Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows
Seeking to undo the past, a powerful emperor is lost in his own dreams and nightmares. After being imprisoned by the emperor for two centuries, four immortal heroes set out to undo their tormentor’s lifetime of regrets. In the process, they must deal with the consequences of their own actions and watch as the world shakes apart around them.
Seven Sorrows is the fusion of fantasy fighting action with the strategy and fascination of user-friendly RPG elements, challenging gamers in solo play, co-op, and a thriving online community.
Rock Band Getting Another Full Album
If you’ve been waiting for another full album to download for Rock Band after the full Judas Priest album came out not too long ago, Harmonix is sure to please. This time around comes the full album from the Cars. This is their self-titled debut album, originally released in 1978.
There are only nine tracks, but this was a great one. I used to listen to this record all the time as a kid and I’ve actually just picked up the CD a few months ago. No pricing details or a date have yet been announced but here are the tracks that’ll be available.
- “Good Times Roll”
- “My Best Friend’s Girl”
- “Just What I Needed”
- “I’m in Touch with Your World”
- “Don’t Cha Stop”
- “You’re All I’ve Got Tonight”
- “Bye Bye Love”
- “Moving in Stereo”
- “All Mixed Up”