XBLA Today: Joy Ride Turbo, Monster World Collection, Alex Kidd & Co.

Posted on May 23, 2012 by John Scalzo

Microsoft has added a trio of new games to the Xbox Live Arcade today, or depending on how you look at it, seven new games.

This week’s featured released is the Kinect-less Joy Ride Turbo. This racer for the whole family can now be played with a controller and can be downloaded for 800 Microsoft Points ($10):

From the Kinect Joy Ride creators comes Joy Ride Turbo, a controller-based arcade racer delivering precision handling and crazy stunts with more thrills, speed, & mayhem! In the new Stunt Park, you’re free to show off! There’s no limit to the whacky tour de force you achieve with friends. It’s a vibrant playground for your car – jump off cliffs, shoot from a cannon, & more. Plus, explore and find collectibles that unlock cars – giving you an edge for faster races and death-defying tricks. Race new tracks, old favorites and 3 modes of play: Battle Race, Pro Race & Time Trial. Challenge family & friends to local 4-player split-screen or race up to 8 on Xbox Live. With Joy Ride Turbo, everyone’s in the driver’s seat in this madcap kart racer.

Also available this week, for 800 Microsoft Points apiece ($10), are a pair of classic game collections from Sega.

The Monster World Collection includes Wonder Boy in Monster Land, Wonder Boy in Monster World, and for the first time outside of Japan, Monster World IV. Then there’s the less-thematically similar Alex Kidd & Co. Collection, which includes Alex Kidd in Wonder Land, Super Hang-On, and The Revenge of Shinobi.

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Diablo III scores biggest PC launch ever

Posted on May 23, 2012 by John Scalzo

Blizzard has announced that more than 3.5 million copies of Diablo III were sold in its first 24 hours of availability, setting a single-day sales record for PC games in the process. An additional 1.2 million copies of the game were given to World of Warcraft players who signed up for the Annual Pass promotion.

In the week since its launch, more than 6.3 million people have purchased a copy of Diablo III or received one as part of the Annual Pass offer. And that’s not all. The title has taken the South Korea’s Internet game rooms by storm, with a record 39% of all users joining the fight for Sanctuary.

“We’re definitely thrilled that so many people around the world were excited to pick up their copy of Diablo III and jump in the moment it went live,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment. “We also regret that our preparations were not enough to ensure everyone had a seamless experience when they did so. I want to reaffirm our commitment to make sure the millions of Diablo III players out there have a great experience with the game moving forward, and I also want to thank them for their ongoing support.”

I guess you could say that Diablo III has made a lot of “scratch” since it launched.

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Microsoft to give refunds to gamers who can’t play Minecraft multiplayer

Posted on May 23, 2012 by Chris Urie

It’s often that we hear about a huge corporation messing it up for the little consumers like us, but in light of the recent Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition splitscreen debacle, it seems that the big, bad Microsoft is playing nice.

For those of you who don’t know, the splitscreen feature for Minecraft is only available if you have an HDTV. If you have a standard def set, you’re out of luck. The problem was that on XBLA, these requirements were never stated and many of the customers thought they were getting the whole game when, sadly, they weren’t able to enjoy one the best features of playing Minecraft on the Xbox 360. Thankfully, the requirements for splitscreen play have finally been added to the game’s Xbox.com listing and wronged customers are being sorted out in a well-oiled manner.

If you’re one of these disgruntled customers with a standard def set, you can contact Microsoft customer service and receive a refund if you purchased the game before the newly stated requirements went up over the weekend.

It could have been much worse. Microsoft could have told customers to build their own HDTV in Minecraft so that they could play split screen Minecraft in Minecraft. Then together you could each make your own HDTV’s to play Minecraft within Minecraft within Minecraft. Then even Christopher Nolan would be confused.

[Source: Kotaku]

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Take Two hints at early 2013 release for Grand Theft Auto V… maybe

Posted on May 22, 2012 by John Scalzo

Take Two Interactive held their quarterly financial call today, but first they laid out their release calendar for the rest of 2012 and into 2013.

The calendar includes plenty of dates we already know… Spec Ops: The Line in June, Borderlands 2 in September 18, and XCOM: Enemy Unknown in October. We also got confirmation that NBA 2K13 will be shipping to stores this October, but that’s not exactly a surprise.

It also wasn’t a surprise that Grand Theft Auto V was included on the list with a “TBA” release date. What was surprising was that the game’s spot on the list was nestled between the February 26, 2013 release of BioShock Infinite and the “2014 Fiscal Year” (4/1/2013-3/31/2014) release of XCOM.

So it’s a stretch, but there’s a real possibility the listing was a subtle hint to an early 2013 release for the fifth GTA. This actually lines up nicely with Take Two CEO Strauss Zelnick’s earlier statement that the publisher will have a very profitable fiscal year.

You can see Take Two’s complete 2012-2013 release calendar after the break.

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XCOM FPS delayed into 2013

Posted on May 22, 2012 by John Scalzo

After announcing an October release date for XCOM: Enemy Unknown this morning, Take Two Interactive confirmed that the XCOM first person shooter won’t be released this year. In fact, the game has been delayed into the publisher’s 2014 fiscal year, which runs from April 1, 2013 through March 31, 2014. So yeah, we won’t be playing an XCOM shooter anytime soon.

XCOM is in development at 2K Marin for a PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 release. No reason was given for the delay, but presumably it’s so that the two games don’t compete against each other for shelf space this Fall.

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AirMech prepares to land on Steam

Posted on May 22, 2012 by Melissa Niedringhaus

Carbon Games says that AirMech, an action strategy game that puts you in control of a transforming robot, will soon be available to download on Steam. The game is already available for test through Google Chrome, and can be downloaded from Carbon Games’ website if you’d like to check it out.

Additionally, if you’d like access to AirMech ahead of the public beta, you only need to follow AirMech on Facebook or Google+ for a Steam key.

For more information about the game, or about the developers, head on over to the Carbon Games dev blog.

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PlayStation Store Today: Sorcery, Sega Classics, Doctor Who, More

Posted on May 22, 2012 by John Scalzo

Another week and another monster update to the PlayStation Store. And I mean “monster” quite literally. Sony’s Sorcery, newly added to the Store this week, puts the Move controller to good use fighting all sorts of monsters with the power of magic.

The many other additions this week run the gamut from old platformers (six “Sega Vintage Collection” titles) to new fighters (Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition) to the world’s great time traveler (Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock).

There’s even a new Vita game (Table Top Tanks), a PSone Classic (Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare) and a pair of PS2 Classics (Need For Speed: Most Wanted, Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain)

Hit the jump for a complete list of this week’s new releases and check out the PlayStation Blog for all the latest game add-ons that have been added to the PlayStation Store.

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Vita scoops up Super Monkey Ball: Banana Splitz this October

Posted on May 22, 2012 by John Scalzo

Sega has announced that Super Monkey Ball: Banana Splitz will be available for the Vita on October 23. Are you ready to experience more monkeyshines with AiAi, MeeMee, GonGon and Baby? Here’s what Sega has lined up for the game:

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Splitz contains more than 100 stages of puzzle mayhem and eight mini-games (including such fan favorites as Monkey Target and Monkey Bingo) as well as a full complement of Vita-specific features that take advantage of the powerful handheld console. Tilt control functionality allows gamers to step inside the Monkey Ball and negotiate the game world using motion control, while the PS Vita’s camera can be used to capture real-world objects to create custom stages within the game.

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