Xbox Live Arcade (2)

Now here’s an HD remake I can really get excited about.

Originally released in 2001 on the Dreamcast and PlayStation 2, Rez quickly achieved cult status - if you can find a copy available these days, don’t be shocked to see it priced well above the original MSRP.

Of course, when collectors are shelling out USD $90 for second hand copies of a six year old game, it can’t be too long before the creators wise up, and get cracking on a HD port for the Xbox Live generation. Which has finally happened with Rez…and we’re getting a 5.1 surround sound remix of the music thrown in for good measure.

No pricing or release date have been announced, but even the most expensive Xbox Live Arcade title is likely to be a much better deal than the exorbitant prices eBay dealers are asking for the game.

For the uninitiated, Rez is essentially synaesthesia in virtual form - the brainchild of Tetsuya Mizuguchi, best known for his more recent work on music game Lumines, and realized by a dev team consisting of several members of the team who built another cult classic Panzer Dragoon. Although, gameplay videos speak far louder than words…so click through for gameplay video from the Dreamcast version.

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The shiny, HD remake of Bungie’s classic Marathon: Durandal is now available on Xbox Live Arcade. First person to guess what is currently being downloaded onto my Xbox 360 wins a cookie.

We might have 1080P resolution and motion controls, but what the current-generation really needs now is a button-mashing, side-scrolling, hack-n-slash game…and The Behemoth are feeling me on that one. Here’s a new clip of their upcoming Xbox Live Arcade title Castle Crashers, featuring four players beating the crap out of a giant boss - just like back in the day!

via Kotaku

Looks like Sony marketing boss Peter Dille needs to familiarize himself with the offerings of his competitors a little more. He recently told CVG,

Whereas our competition takes a bunch of old content and catalogs content from previous generations and offers that in a download fashion, our development organization are making games specifically for PS3.

When you download them, they’re in 1080p, and they’re showing off what’s going on with Cell and the PlayStation 3 technology,

Someone forgot to word Pete up on the fact that fl0w, Castlevania: SOTN, Mortal Kombat II, Lemmings, Crash Bandicoot, Tekken 5, Championship Sprint, Gauntlet 2, Joust, Q-Bert, Rampage World Tour and Wipeout weren’t developed for the exclusively for the PS3.

…and that once you subtract the Geometry Wars clones from the remaining games, you’re left with the abysmal Calling All Cars, and the forgettable Super Rub a Dub.

…and that the XBLA version of Castlevania is in high-def, unlike the PlayStation Store offering.

…and that the XBLA already has a number of original titles under its belt.

…and that WiiWare will be bringing original downloadable titles to the Wii, possibly by the end of the year.

There’s always next time, Peter.

via CVG

The folks at Gaming Today have been playing a little Uno over Xbox Live, and were fairly disturbed by the things they observed. Seems that in practice, the Xbox Live Vision Camera is used mainly by lonely gamers looking to broadcast a live video feed of their wang/love-taco to unsuspecting Uno players. If you’ve got young kids using Live, you might want to consider restricting them to games without Vision functionality. On the other hand, if catching an eye-full of some guy from Idaho’s junk sounds like your thing, hit up Uno on Xbox Live - it’s only 400 Microsoft points.

EA have confirmed that Wing Commander Arena, their 3D remake of Wing Commander, will hit Xbox Live Arcade on the 25th of July - making it the first Arcade title to feature 16-player online play.

More screens at the official site, and if you’re eager enough, you can download the PDF manual here.

via Xbox 360 Fanboy