A $10 copy of Tetris this week with a strange addition.

• Tetris® Splash - 800
  So this Tetris features 6 player online and a fish-tank screen-saver. It has no other real noticeable features besides that which is kind of sad for a $10 game. I highly advise Tetris DS if you really want a good online Tetris experience

Just a single game this week, but it rocks

• Sonic The Hedgehog 2 - 400
  Sonic 2 with online co-op and Vs modes. I can’t see why anyone should miss this, Sonic 2 still stands up well to todays standard and is a total blast.

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A pair of budgets this week, nothing overly spectacular unless you are a fan of the original.

• FATAL FURY SPECIAL™ - 400
  2D fighting games give me fond memories, where combat can be seemingly simple, and yet, deviously complex. But Fatal Fury and I never saw eye to eye, SNK have released some great games, but with both SFII and MK3 on XBL, Fatal Fury just can’t measure up in my eyes.
• Cyberball 2072™ - 400
  I’m not usually a fan of Football games, but cyberball’s speed and simplicity do hold some appeal. Unless you are looking for a classic arcadey football game then the demo will probably show you that this is worth missing out on, it makes me with for Brutal Sports and Mutant League.

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These games represent some of the highlights of their respectable genres, and both would be worthy additions to your library

• Streets of Rage 2™ - 400
  SoR2 is perhaps my personal favorite 2d side-scrolling beat ‘em’ up, I played through it several times back in the Mega Drive days and found it to be vastly superior to the first game in the series, SoR3 was a fine game, but was missing the spark that the first game held. SoR2 features 2 player online play for two player co-op and some of the best music from any Mega Drive game which makes for some popular remixes. I really enjoy playing SoR2, it’s a lot easier than I remember it being nearly 15 years ago.
• Super Puzzle Fighter™ II Turbo HD Remix - 800
  SPFII:THDR, wow even the abbreviation is a mouthful! Many people have been anticipating Game 2 for some time since it was announced four months ag, today it finally arrives. Game 2 turns out to be exactly what I was expecting, classic puzzlefighter with sharper graphics, my big issue with this is that the sharper graphics shouldn’t warrant a $10 price tag over the usual $5 for old games. However the game is still pretty good so should still be worth it

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I’m really liking these two games a week bundles we’ve been getting, I could get used to this.

• Space Giraffe - 400
  Today’s bargain game is Space Giraffe, which at it’s core is an updated version of Tempest which appeared in the arcades in the great year of 1980. This updated release follows the same ‘lines’ as the original but has been updated with graphics that make it look more like a media visualisation than a video game, this may be unsurprising considering the developers previous work but it does make things a little distracting. For your $5 you get a game that feels as frantic as Geometry wars but the distractions make the game borderline unplayable. I did have fun with the game but you’ve really got to keep your concentration going and beware “The Eyes of Allard“
• Street Trace:NYC™ - 800
  I didn’t have too high hopes for Street Trac:NYC, and on the whole the game met my expectations. For video-game vets, you can pretty much sum up the game by just looking at a screen-shot or two and the game plays exactly as you’d expect. In fairness I have only played the demo so I can’t write about how cool the levels can become or how good the power-ups get. From the demo I surmised that this is a very generic futuristic, hover-board, combat game and that thought scares me

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Another two games this week, another Sega retro game and a new puzzle game

• Ecco The Dolphin - 400
  I quite enjoyed this game 15 years ago when it was first released, but time hasn’t been good to old Ecco, the once great Genesis graphics look bland and unattractive. The gameplay is quite difficult and frustrating, levels seem unimaginative, the whole experience is pretty lame. If you are a true fan of Ecco then you already know that you want this game, plus you get achievement points for less than the Wii port
• Hexic 2 - 800
  I’ll admit to quite liking the Hexic games, sometimes it’s nice to just chill and play a game you can just zone out to. Hexic 2 improves on the first game by providing different game modes. The multiplayer is fun also as surprisingly there are precious few multiplayer puzzle games available on the arcade

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A couple of XBL arcade games were released this week, lets take a brief look at them.

• Spyglass Board Games - 400
  If you like board games this is a nice deal. $5 for 4 games, including Chess, Checkers, Mancala and Reversi. The most unique and mind-blowing thing is that you can switch between the games on the fly with a tap of a button, which feels pretty crazy. The demo gives you a good feel for if you’d like the game, but if you have a friend you’d like to challenge a few board games Spyglass has got you covered.
• Marathon: Durandal - 800
  Durandal is famous for being created by Bungie for the Mac, as its own answer to the PCs doom. The game its self technologically has many improvements over doom, such as; with dual wield and individual fire of each weapon, 8 player online and team play. Dispite all these great features I found the game very hard to get into since I never played the original. This makes me wonder what I’d think of Doom had I never played the hell out of it back in the day (Yes pun intended ).

Are you claustrophobic?  Care to see some more of the world from the windshield of your favorite tiny vehicle?  Well wait no more, a new expansion pack Mad Tracks Bravo is now available on XBox LIVE.  This little purchase is packed with a huge amount of content.  Eight new mini games that you can use to drive and slide around in Antarctica, a German Dance Hall, and play Hide & Seek in a French Museum.  These new game types and maps are going to only set up back about 350 points.

Also there are new XBox LIVE themes available for 150 points.

Wind up and take off!

Via Press Release

I am not sure when something was considered cool by the fact that old people are using it in some way, but Nintendo sure is milking this Public Relations cow to death.  It seems like every other Blog post about the Nintendo Wii is about somebody’s grandma or grandpa bowling with Wii Sports.  Well Microsoft finally took notice of this and decided they want some of this Geriatric love also.  But without any motion controls what is a console maker to do?  Well create a game that the Grannies and Graps of the world already love, bring on Solitaire!  For the price of an entire Social Security check you can play solitaire, but it will be worth if is the only way to get those pesky grandkids to come and visit.

If you want an idea of  the game play in Soltrio Solitaire go to any Best Buy, Wall mart, or any Big Box store head on over to the computer section and find a Microsoft Windows computer.  And play the version of Solitaire that comes free with Windows, but the trick is this.  To get the real Soltrio Solitaire experience you need to not use the mouse, only the keyboard.  Using only the keyboard will give you the same sticky clumsy interface that has been programmed for the game controller.  Like a teenage boy fumbling with his first bra snaps (or hooks), you to will fight and wiggle and curse trying to unlock the wonders that are being kept from you.  The focus or sparkle highlight seems to jump rather unpredictably around the screen.  While the game does offer a little more then just the basic game of Solitaire that has come with every copy of Microsoft Windows since the early 1990’s, I just can not recommend spending $10.00 in Microsoft Points to buy this game.  Even at $5.00 this game would be really hard to recommend, most of you probably have it on a computer in your house or you could pick it up in some card game compilation pack for about the same price.  Not to mention they are already trying to get more money out of you for more skins and different decks of cards in the form of extra downloadable content available at 150 Microsoft Points each.

I got a free code to download the full game to test it out, if you can get a free code also I highly recommend you use it.  Otherwise I would have to say let this one sit on the Microsoft LIVE server, download the demo if you really need to get a Solitaire fix but keep your cash!

So it looks like Alex over at GamingTalkHQ must have himself a neat little video game predicting crystal ball.  Last week he broke the story that Mad Tracks was going to be next weeks XBox LIVE Arcade and what do you know, today Major Nelson confirmed it.  I wonder if that thing works with Power Ball Numbers?

Players can race through 15 challenges consisting of nine mini-games and six different races behind the wheel of one of 12 sleek compact cars. “Mad Tracks,” from Load Inc., features 12 power-ups to keep engines revved up and players in the fast lane ahead of the competition.

Enjoy the robust, full game features of “Mad Tracks” this Wednesday, and also be on the lookout for new tracks coming soon. You can double and even triple the challenges in “Mad Tracks” with the Bravo and Encore expansion packs, arriving in the near future. For about half the price of the full game, players will be able to add additional races and mini-games to “Mad Tracks” by downloading the Bravo and/or Encore expansion packs. Each expansion pack includes an additional 15 nail-biting races and action-filled mini games for 350 Microsoft Points each, extending the fun and offering a great value.

Game Features

• 15 distinct challenges (6 races & 9 mini-games) provide a full-fledged racing game experience
• 12 stackable power-ups (rockets, freezer, oil drop, EMP and more!)
• 12 sleek looking cars to choose from
• 4 player multiplayer over Xbox LIVE and 4 player local multiplayer via split screen mode
• Championship mode & Arcade mode
• 2 free gamer pictures
• Earn up to 12 Achievements and 200 Gamerscore points

“Mad Tracks,” will be available for download on Xbox LIVE Arcade for Xbox 360 beginning Wednesday, May 30, at 9:00 a.m. GMT (2:00 a.m. Pacific Time).   Have 800 Microsoft Points in your account because that is what this little racing game is going to set you back.

Check out the GamerScoreBlog Flicker Photos of Mad Tracks

Via Major Nelson

Back in 1989 a little game came out called Prince of Persia.  And now 18 years later it is being re-released on the XBox 360 Arcade.  If you believe the Ubisoft PR team they are quoted as saying “Prince of Persia game that was lauded as THE game that started the platforming genre”, Hmmmm I remember this little game called Super Mario Brothers?

For those of you who are too young or who were not big enough geeks back in the 80s like I was to remember this game let me tell you a little bit about it.  While the Sultan of Persia is away for a war, the evil Vizier seizes the throne for himself. He has also imprisoned the beautiful Princess and has given her an hour to decide her fate – marry him or die. As the courageous Prince, you have 60 minutes to complete the mission of saving the Princess from her deadly fate.

For those of you who remember this game like it was yesterday be warned the game has been enhanced with new game play experience, new traps, puzzles and enemies.  Look for Prince of Persia to come out early this summer!

Via Press Release

Well it looks like the crew over at Joystiq are trying to out do the Cheap Ass Gamer guys.  Ludwig is letting all know about a free XBox LIVE Arcade title coming to XBox LIVe and with free Achievement Points!  Oh what a sweet feeling it is getting those Gamer Score points knowing that you did not have to pay to get them, and especially if you do not feel as stiff and sore as a 90 year old man after playing a free game like Totem Ball.

Head over to Joystiq and get the low down, but this offer ends soon and with that series of tubes looking to get clogged up with Halo 3 Beta goodness tomorrow a cheap ass gamer might want to hurry up and get it downloaded as soon as possible.

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