Joystiq at E3

The Australian Office of Film and Literature Classification has posted a rating on its website for the long-awaited XBLA port of Rare's Perfect Dark, which would hint that a release is just around the corner. (Major Nelson did say that it would drop "this winter.") The OFLC gave the shooter an MA 15+ for "strong violence," the toughest rating they hand out for video games. If a release is imminent, now might be the perfect time to play through the 360 prequel, Perfect Dark Zero, and get further acquainted with Joanna Dark before you can revisit her debut adventure in high resolution. ...

click to enlarge It's possible that you'll be put off by Death by Cube when you notice the phrase "twin stick shooter" in its description; however, quick-to-judge players will miss out on one of the most creative titles in the genre's recent history. While Death by Cube doesn't revolutionize an overdone genre, Square Enix has provided one of the more memorable experiences I've had on XBLA since first playing Geometry Wars. ...

We popped by Atomic Games' booth here at PAX to check out Breach, the dev's attempt to take on DICE's online-only, digitally distributed Battlefield 1943. Atomic president Peter Tamte revealed during our play session that he hoped to get Breach on XBLA this summer (as previously estimated), and that the developer is targeting a $15 price point. Considering how polished the game was in the state we saw it, we certainly believe it can meet that deadline. Look for our hands-on impressions later today. ...

Calling it a "Multiplayer Online Battle Arena" (MOBA) title, Ronimo Games has announced its latest creation, Awesomenauts. Destined for XBLA and PSN release, the game is "inspired by '80s animated series" and, though details are slim, appears to be a Smash Bros. style brawler. Ronimo made its debut last year with the side-scrolling RTS title Swords & Soldiers for WiiWare, PSN and Steam. Awesomenauts will make its playable debut at E3 next month. ...

Remember when Doom was pulled off of Xbox Live Arcade over a year ago because of "expiring rights" (i.e. Zenimax acquired Id Software)? Do you also remember that Zenimax stated that the game would be back up "soon," courtesy of Bethesda? Well then, good news because "soon" is apparently today! Bethesda has sent out a note announcing that the original Doom has returned XBLA. The granddaddy of modern shooters will set you back $5 and features both co-op and versus multiplayer via Xbox Live. ...

Puddle, Konami's liquid-based puzzle-platform thing, will begin trickling out to gamers thirsty for a challenge on January 25. Konami announced plans to release the XBLA version in North America on that date, followed by PSN one week later. Puddle involves tilting the environment -- a human body, a blueprint, etc. -- to guide a small amount of liquid, such as water or rocket fuel, to its destination. It features a nice bit of real-world integration and a sort of augmented reality, in that talking about it totally makes you have to pee. ...

Sine Mora, the time-bending shooter from Grasshopper Manufacture and Digital Reality, finally has a release date, and it's sooner than you think. The game will be released exclusively on XBLA on March 21. The date was revealed in something of a roundabout way, as developer Digital Reality held a contest on Facebook to see who could guess the release date. The winner is revealed in the above video and, referencing the original contest post, we see he guessed March 21, so there you go! ...

Black Knight Sword, the second collaboration between Digital Reality and Grasshopper Manufacture, will be released on XBLA December 12. The puppet-style side-scroller, announced at Gamescom in 2011, features constantly-shifting stage backgrounds, in the story of a Black Knight and his magical sword, on a journey to destroy, rather than save, a princess. With the long, quiet development time, we wonder how much the game has changed. Specifically, we're worried the chicken guy who throws eggs at you isn't going to be there anymore. ...

var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/Capcom_brings_Rocketmen_and_Talisman_to_XBLA_and_PSN'; Though it seemed like Capcom was giving Xbox Live Arcade all the love at their annual Gamers Day event, they did have two surprises up their sleeves for fans of the PlayStation Network. Rocketmen: Axis of Evil and and Talisman both represent very opposite ends of the gaming spectrum and while we got to go hands-on with the former, the latter was not presently available. Based off the constructible strategy game of the same name, Rocketmen ditches the thinking and settles for some good ol' eight-way shooting. Like a friendly version of the classic Total Carnage, Rocketmen is deeper than your average Robotron-clone by offering up customizable characters, four player co-operative play and online modes to match. While what we saw was fairly early, the cel-shaded environments are looking fairly slick and the action can get nuts, as you can see in the screenshots below. Capcom currently has it penciled for a ...

Recently Xbox Live Arcade has shown considerable potential as a home for shoot 'em ups, from the Forgotten Worlds-channeling Omega Five to monochrome shooter Ikaruga's looming release. However, to hear talk from 5pb, the devs charged with bringing Cave's nefarious DoDonPachi series as well as its latest shooter Ketsui to XBLA's digital frontier, the platform still has a few nagging hang ups keeping it from becoming a beacon for shmups. Echoing N+ developer Metanet's recent comments concerning what does and does not make it to the service, 5pb spoke out about similar frustrations in the latest issue of Famitsu, revealing that both of its ports of DoDonPachi Dai Ou Jou Black Label X and Ketsui X had been summarily rejected for release over XBLA, with Microsoft claiming that it's "going to cut down on faithful arcade ports." Only faithful ones? We agree that there is certainly a glut of arcade nonsense on XBLA, but this is equivalent to throwing the baby out with the bathwater. 5pb and Cave are reportedly now ...

It was a month and a half ago when we began our series, "That should be on XBLA," in which we pick a classic game that would be a perfect fit for Xbox Live Arcade. The first game we picked was Taito's perennial action puzzler, Bubble Bobble. The idea behind "That should be on XBLA" is to get developers to notice that their games belong on Xbox Live Arcade. It looks like Taito was listening. Taito's publishing company, Empire Interactive, has a thread running in their forum right now, which reads thusly: "Hi All I hope you can help us out with a bit of retro advice, If you were to pay to download a Taito Classic what would your top 3 be ?? Also, without giving the game away :) would online multiplayer be important to you downloading it ?? Come on guys - post your lists and let us know what you want." While the post doesn't directly mention Xbox Live, we're pretty sure that's what this is all about. We're also pretty sure he's talking about Bubble Bobble with that question about online multiplayer. Note to ...

Following the Australian rating and the leaked video, Hudson Entertainment finally announced Bomberman Live is coming to XBLA this summer. The title will sport an "HD makeover" and 8-player online support. Along with the very robust online multiplayer, players will have full customization of their Bomberman -- now don't ruin this moment by microtransactioning us for costumes Hudson! This may finally erase all memories of Bomberman: Act Zero from our minds. And in what's sure to make a lot of gamers happy, not only will you be able to play online, but Bomberman Live will also allow for 4-player local action. It's the full package. No word on price yet. Definitely looking forward to gussied up classic Bomberman action over Xbox Live with seven other people. Nothing wrong with that. [Via Press Release] ...

Ahhh, the Cold War. Americans and Soviets locked in a nuclear and good for propaganda arms race. With mutually assured destruction the only outcome, we got games like Russian Attack. Oh, what? Rush 'n Attack? Was that really the name of it? Anyway, enjoy Rush 'n Attack this Wednesday along with Xevious at a 400 MS point ($5 US) cost each. Still the Cold War was kinda fun. This week's XBLA offerings are retro games that influenced future titles. Rush 'n Attack, or Green Beret as it was also known, is an arcade action game that was the precursor to Metal Slug. Save the prisoners of war by yourself or with a friend online or off. Xevious is a shmup that is "100% arcade accurate reproduction ... for the first time anywhere." 1942, Ikaruga and all the other games in the shmup genre, meet one of your granddaddies. ...

"I'm with those short guys," we imagined Eddie "Skate" Hunter might have insisted to the bouncers of Club XBLA. "Yeah, I'm going to fight some puzzles or whatever." No matter how it went down, we're happy to see Streets of Rage 2, making an unheralded entrance onto the Xbox Live Arcade today. We find it hard to imagine two more disparate takes on fighting than Streets and today's other release, Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix. Today's offerings are more of a personality test than anything. Do you want to battle opponents with your mind and spatial reasoning, or would you prefer furious punching to the beat of throbbing techno music? Hey, don't look at us pal, we can't live your life for you. ...

We know what you're thinking: "This isn't news! I've known about the release of Sensible World of Soccer and Tempest on XBLA for weeks!" Well, you're right and you're wrong. As for the well-regarded soccer game Sensible, you hit the nail on the head as we reported last month it would arrive on the 19th for 800 points. So no big surprises there. And as for Tempest, we're pretty sure that you're confusing it with Space Giraffe. Don't feel bad though, it happens to everybody. While "a tarted up, 400-point HD version of Tempest" would be an accurate way to describe both, this one has a way better title. ...