Xbox Live ʻPlay To Earnʼ offers start in April – hereʼs what you can get

JadeWalsh

If you play lots of XBLA games then you might be interested in this

Microsoft’s Major Nelson has detailed a new feature called ‘MyPunchcard’, which is set to launch 1 April on Xbox Live for Xbox Live Rewards Members. Not entirely clear on the finer points of the scheme, but the general gist is that you get ‘Play To Earn’ rewards for fulfilling the following criteria:

  • Play 20 hours of any combination of arcade games (Reward: a free avatar item)
  • Purchase any four arcade games for 400 Microsoft Points or more from Xbox LIVE (Reward: a one month Xbox LIVE Gold membership)
  • Spend 3200 Microsoft Points on arcade games (Reward: 800 Microsoft Points)

Anyone who manages to play and purchase enough XBLA games to complete all three criteria will be ‘guaranteed a spot in an upcoming VIP Exclusives’. Again, not 100% (or even 10%) sure what that is, but we’re sure it’ll be something, er, exclusive.

Anyway, …

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Battlefield 4 pre-order Premium Expansion DLC is ʻstill being designedʼ

JadeWalsh

Mysterious ‘Premium Expansion Pack’ is still a mystery, but probably won’t be ‘Drone Strike’

An exchange on Twitter has thrown a little more light on Battlefield 4’s vague sounding ‘Premium Expansion Pack’, which is being offered as a pre-order incentive. When we say ‘a little more light’, we really do mean a teeny-weeny glow from a dying matchstick. That’s the light levels we’re dealing with. Anyway, let’s start by looking at this picture (thanks NeoGAF):

When questioned about the above image of what appears to be a Battlefield 4 point-of-sale promo advertising a ‘Drone Strike’ expansion, the official Battlefield Twitter responded like so:

So, Drone Strike confirmed as being – at least internally – the name for some Battlefield 4 DLC. Whether the contents of that add-on will eventually turn out to be the …

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Something for the Weekend Easter special – 50 best deals on Xbox Live and PSN

JadeWalsh

Enjoy the extended weekend with these choice cuts of downloadable goodness

As it’s an extended Bank Holiday for most folk across the world, we thought we’d compile a list of the best deals you can find on games and DLC packs this weekend. This one-stop-shop for the greatest bits you can download and own today sifts through Xbox Live Marketplace and the PlayStation Store so you can carry on stuffing your face with chocolate.

We’ve selected something for everyone – from big games with low prices, like Skyrim DLC  to smaller, but incredible titles like PixelJunk Monsters. Oh, and did we mention they’re all under £12? Well they are. Ready for savings? Let’s roll…

All prices correct as of 29th March 2013

PlayStation Store

The Walking Dead | Price Free

Driver San Francisco | Price £5.99

Child of Eden | Price £3.99

Dante’s Inferno | Price £7.99

Ghost Recon: Future Soldier | Price £11.99

Trine 2 | Price £4.49

Afterburner …

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Halo 4 Forge Island DLC is free and out now on Xbox Live

JadeWalsh

Were we expecting free Halo 4 DLC today? We don’t know. We can’t remember. We’ve had too much chocolate. Regardless, there is free Halo 4 DLC today – it’s the Forge Island map pack, it’s completely free and it’s ready to download right now on Xbox Live. As the name suggests, the map is intended to be used in Forge mode as a sort of blank canvas for budding cartographers.

Free DLC? We’ll buy that for a dollar.

In the mood for something completely different? Try one of our original features, like ‘Metal Gear Solid V: 16 things you missed in the trailer because you got drunk’ or ‘Goodies and baddies: A tiny person’s perspective of game characters’.…

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Gears of War: Judgment DLC arrives on Xbox Live, costs nothing

JadeWalsh

Haven add-on arrives early, includes multiplayer map and Execution mode

alk about waiting for buses. Hot on the tail of the free Halo 4 DLC comes this also completely free Gears of War Judgment add-on. It’s the Haven DLC pack and it contains the titular multiplayer map and the returning Execution multiplayer mode. It was originally planned for release on 2 April, so it’s arrived a few days early. Not that we’re complaining. Anyway, it’s free, it’s 50.12MB, and it’s ready to download from Xbox Live now.

We like free DLC. Please give us more.

In the mood for something completely different? Try one of our original features, like ‘Metal Gear Solid V: 16 things you missed in the trailer because you got drunk’ or ‘Goodies and baddies: A tiny person’s perspective of game characters’.

… Continue Reading

Goodies and baddies: A tiny person’s perspective of game characters

JadeWalsh

Kratos | God of War

Goody or Baddy: ”Baddy… DEFINITELY!”
Reason: ”He looks like he’s charging at someone and someone has put a whip around his arm and it’s all swollen.”

Marcus Fenix | Gears of War

Goody or Baddy: ”Goody”
Reason: ”He’s wearing all the armour to kill baddies. He’s got a scar but it’s a goody scar and looks quite good. It makes the baddies think he’s a baddie even though he’s a goody. So the goodies will pretend they’re in the baddie’s team and at night time when they’re all asleep the goodies will wake up and kill the baddies.”

Master Chief | Halo

Goody or Baddy: ”Goody”
Reason: ”He’s put a special helmet on to see closer up to where the baddies live. When you put the helmet on you can see a lot closer to things but it’s more special than binoculars because there’s buttons on the side and you can press them to see …

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Goodies and baddies: A tiny person’s perspective of game characters

JadeWalsh

Kids are off school this week, which – as a real-life parent – makes working from home more challenging than normal. However, rather than see this as a pain-in-my-ass-quit-making-so-much-noise-daddy’s-working-can’t-you-just-watch-TV-all-day sort of problem, it’s actually an ideal opportunity to exploit their tiny little innocent children brains in the name of video game themed internet content. So that’s what’s happening here.

Basically, I compiled a collection of images of various videogame heroes and villains, showed them to my youngest daughter (she’s 6), and asked her to tell me whether she thought they were a goody or a baddy character. Simple as that. Not trying to draw any psychoanalysis social commentary style conclusions, just trying to get some work done and interact with the younglings at the same time.

Here’s how it turned out (all words my daughters, I just wrote down what she said)…

Mecha-Hitler | Wolfenstein

Goody or baddy: ”Baddy”
Reason: ”Because it’s got two guns on each side and a …

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Metro: Last Light pre-order DLC isnʼt for lightweights – full details

JadeWalsh

Pre-order for the chance to play an extra hard version

Pre-order bonus details for upcoming nuclear shooter Metro: Last Light have been announced by the game’s new publisher, Deep Silver (who picked up the title during the THQ clear-out sale). Anyone who sticks their name down for a copy at a participating retailer will get free access to Ranger Mode DLC, which removes the HUD (depriving the player of visual assistance, offers a greatly diminished supply of ammo through the course of the game, and is described as being ‘Hardcore – The way it was meant to be played’.

But it’s not all take, take, take – Ranger Mode gives players access to a special AKSU Russian assault rifle, and also 100 in-game military grade bullets, which can be used as bullets to shoot enemy, or as currency to buy stuff.

If you’re not the pre-ordering type, don’t panic – the Ranger Mode DLC will be available at launch, but …

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Fire Emblem: Awakening demo hits European Nintendo eShop today

JadeWalsh

Work on your strategies ahead of the 19 April release date

Feels like Fire Emblem: Awakening has been a long time coming, but the 3DS strategy RPG’s European release date is now just a few weeks away (it’s out 19 April) and today sees the arrival of the Fire Emblem: Awakening demo on the Nintendo eShop in Europe. Much rejoicing.

The Intelligent Systems developed game – they the folks behind the equally excellent Advance Wars series – came out in the US of A in February, and Fire Emblem: Awakening currently has a mighty impressive Metacritic rating of 92. So, basically, if you’ve got a 3DS, this is a reason to be excited.

Increase your excitement with a looky at the trailer.

When Fire Emblem: Awakening is released, Nintendo has confirmed that an Add-on Content Map will be free to download at launch for a limited time, and the game will be supported with new paid-for DLC beyond that. Roll …

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Twisted Pixel collection coming soon to XBLA, will be 3/4 awesome

JadeWalsh

No release date or price, but contents of bundle confirmed

Here’s a lovely little parcel of news from PlayXBLA – a Twisted Pixel bundle is on its way to Xbox Live Arcade ‘soon’. It’ll pack together all four of the developer’s games to date, that’s The Maw, Splosion Man, Ms. Splosion Man, and Comic Jumper. Comic Jumper’s definitely the weakest of the bunch, but – if the price is right – this will still be a great collection for anyone who doesn’t already own the other games.

We’ll update with a release date and price as soon as they’re announced.…

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