Xbox 360

Xbox Windows Phone Deal of the Week returns with Assassin's Creed, plus Microsoft Studios Sale news

By Paul Acevedo, Thursday, Apr 4, 2013 at 12:06 pm

Does anybody remember the Xbox Deal of the Week for Windows Phone? It started quite humbly back in March 2^nd, 2011 with a sale on Konami’s so-so port of Frogger. The sales rolled on in the weeks to come, typically discounting $5 games down to $3 and $3 games down to $2. Only holiday event sales would grant larger discounts, until the fateful day when Gameloft’s UNO HD became the first 99 cent Deal of the Week on November 14, 2012.

Xbox 360: Capcom bringing Dungeons & Dragons and Ducktales to XBLA

By Paul Acevedo, Saturday, Mar 23, 2013 at 10:52 am

It’s been a while since we brought you Xbox Live Arcade news, other than announcing the Ascend: New Gods closed beta signups and that fun little Zombie Driver HD interview and contest we held last month. But XBLA games remain a passion of mine, and our Xbox 360-owning readers who have embraced digital downloads likely feel much the same.

Okay, GDC starts on Monday but a little consumer gaming event called PAX East is taking place right now. And on the first day of the show, a little publisher called Capcom made a couple of announcements that had pretty much the whole console gaming world abuzz. This summer, Capcom will release both a remake of NES platforming favorite Ducktales as well as a collection of the Dungeons & Dragons arcade games, both for XBLA and other digital platforms.

Read onto find out why folks in the know are so stoked for these titles!

Doors open for the Ascend New Gods Xbox Live Arcade closed beta

By Paul Acevedo, Thursday, Mar 21, 2013 at 7:05 pm

We’ve been anxiously following Signal Studios’ Ascend: New Gods since its announcement back at E3 last year. The XBLA/PC game looks like a vast action-RPG while the Windows Phone companion game is the closest thing to Infinity Blade that we can expect for some time. Both versions are free-to-play and connect to each other in satisfying ways, hence much excitement from Xbox 360 and Windows Phone owners alike.

The XBLA game features some innovative asynchronous components that will make the single-player game feel like part of a massive online world. Such a bold undertaking requires lots of testing. Luckily for us, Signal has just announced public signups for closed beta access!

Nike Kinect+ Training Review: Keeping fit with Xbox 360 and Windows Phone

By Paul Acevedo, Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 at 6:17 pm

While the Kinect’s suitability for gaming is sometimes a subject of debate, nobody can deny that the Xbox 360’s motion peripheral is perfectly matched for workout games. Of all the consoles, only the Xbox 360 with Kinect can track a user’s entire body positioning with any real degree of accuracy. Gamers who aspire to get into better shape without leaving the home have many options thanks to these Kinect workout games.

Microsoft has thrown its hat in with Nike and developer Sumo Digital (makers of the awesome Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing Transformed) to produce the most definitive fitness game to date: Nike+ Kinect Training. We know they’re serious about it because they announced it on-stage at E3 (to a generally Kinect-apathetic crowd) and produced a terrific Windows Phone companion app to go along with it.

The Xbox 360 Ultimate Game Sale offers crazy-low Games on Demand prices

By Paul Acevedo, Tuesday, Feb 26, 2013 at 2:58 pm

Many console gamers out there are abuzz about the Playstation 4 right now, and an official announcement of the next Xbox probably won’t happen until April. How can Microsoft maintain the Xbox hype? Why, by announcing a big sale of course!

The Ultimate Game Sale starts today and runs through March 4^th. 15 different Games on Demand titles have their prices slashed to $3-5 for the duration of the sale (discount varies by region). There will be daily sales every day too. In fact, three Halo games are on sale for ten bucks apiece today – awesome prices if you’re looking to get into the series.

Read on for more Ultimate Game Sale and Xbox 360 Deal of the Week details!

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Sony's Playstation 4 announcement and what it means for Microsoft and Xbox

By Paul Acevedo, Thursday, Feb 21, 2013 at 9:15 am

Here at Windows Phone Central, we are focused on Windows Phone and other Microsoft platforms. We also like to keep our eyes on the competition, such as the upcoming HTC One Android smartphone. To that extent, the Xbox 360 and its successor will have a new competing videogame console later this year in the form of the Playstation 4. Last night, Sony officially announced the console, which is due for a holiday 2013 release.

Read on for our impressions of the Playstation 4 and how it will affect Microsoft's next Xbox console!

Zombie Driver HD XBLA Interview and Contest [Updated]

By Paul Acevedo, Thursday, Feb 14, 2013 at 12:38 pm

Seeing as how we don’t have a new Xbox Windows Phone release to talk about this week, it’s a perfect time for some Xbox 360 discussion. Zombie Driver HD - one of my personal favorite XBLA games of 2012 is on sale to Xbox Live Gold members for only 400 MS Points/$5 this week. It regularly sells for 800 Points, which is already a fair deal given the trend towards pricing XBLA titles at 1200.

To celebrate the sale, we’ve got Zombie Driver HD gameplay impressions and an interview with the game’s developer. Oh, and did I mention we’re giving away Zombie Driver avatar clothing and props as well? Find out how to win one after the break!

Microsoft announces WSOP: Full House Pro for XBLA and Windows 8 but not Windows Phone

By Paul Acevedo, Thursday, Jan 17, 2013 at 7:02 pm

We dished out praises like crazy to the original Full House Poker game for Windows Phone. It was the first Windows Phone 7 game to have proper avatar support and is still the only one, really. A picture of the user’s avatar on their stats screen like AlphaJax and Wordament have doesn’t really count; users want to play games as their avatars.

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Microsoft reportedly putting Skype at center of communications for all devices and services

By Daniel Rubino, Thursday, Jan 17, 2013 at 4:46 pm

We can file this one under “saw it coming from a mile away” but Computer and Video Games (CVG.com) has quoted an unnamed source who states Microsoft will be "consolidating all their communications technology" around the Skype platform. That includes the next generation Xbox, PCs, Tablets and in a way, even on our phones.

Leaked demo of Crimson Dragon for Xbox 360 shows a game worth waiting for

By Paul Acevedo, Thursday, Jan 3, 2013 at 3:02 pm

We recently discovered that Crimson Dragon: Side Story has become Windows Phone 8 compatible, but it’s been a while since we had a chance to talk about the upcoming Xbox 360 Crimson Dragon game. Over the weekend a playable demo leaked onto the Japanese Xbox 360 Marketplace before being quickly pulled down. Thankfully we now have YouTube footage of Crimson Dragon to dissect, plus DLC news for the upcoming Kinect game.

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Cloud in your living room: SkyDrive launches on Xbox 360

By robert brand, Tuesday, Dec 11, 2012 at 6:41 am

Microsoft has announced today that a SkyDrive app is finally being made available for the Xbox 360 console, further extending the machine's usefulness in the living room. The SkyDrive service shouldn’t need much introduction for Windows Phone users, providing cloud connected storage for photos, videos and documents of all types.

Currently apps are available for Windows, OSX, Android and iOS devices but today the essential ability to access your cloud storage across all your Microsoft devices is now a reality.

Xbox 360 Impressions: Sonic & All-Star Racing Transformed and SVC: ToeJam & Earl

By Paul Acevedo, Tuesday, Nov 27, 2012 at 1:40 pm

In case you hadn’t noticed, your friendly neighborhood Windows Phone Central gaming editor is a big fan of SEGA. While the publisher only operates at a fraction of the size it once did, it continues to produce numerous quality digital titles, plus a fair quantity of worthwhile retail releases.

Last week, we gave the Xbox Windows Phone version of Sonic CD a well-deserved glowing review. This week, we’ve got two mini reviews of SEGA’s latest Xbox 360 offerings: the retail release of Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed and Sega Vintage Collection: ToeJam & Earl for Xbox Live Arcade. Read on to learn about one of the best kart racers ever and a collection of unique Sega Genesis classics.

Sonic CD Achievement Guide - Xbox Windows Phone and XBLA

By Paul Acevedo, Thursday, Nov 22, 2012 at 2:37 pm

Sonic CD is quite a unique entry in the Sonic the hedgehog series. It’s got everything players loved about the Sega Genesis Sonic games, such as fast movement, deep backgrounds, great music, and plenty of personality. But it also adds new time travelling mechanics to learn, a strong focus on exploration and side goals, and another unique set of Bonus Stages. Check out our review for an in-depth discussion of these features.

Getting all of the Achievements could be hard for players new to the game, but we’re here to help! Head past the break for our Achievement Guide, complete with maps that actually label important locations. You’ll have the full 200 GamerScore in no time!

Halo 4 launches on Xbox 360 today

By Paul Acevedo, Tuesday, Nov 6, 2012 at 8:26 pm

Among Windows Phone owners, a great many also have Xbox 360 consoles. And the most popular first-party franchise for the 360 is undoubtedly Halo. We first caught a glimpse of Halo 4 in motion during Microsoft’s E3 keynote earlier this year, and today the game has arrived at last. That’s right, you can walk into a store right now and pick up Halo 4. If you’re a dedicated fan, you probably did so even before reading this article. Everyone else, read on to learn about the latest (and likely final) Halo release of this console generation.

Dance Central 3’s SmartGlass companion app gets detailed

By Daniel Rubino, Monday, Oct 15, 2012 at 3:10 pm

Oooo...is that Usher?

We’re not big Dance Central fans around these parts but it’s kind of neat to see how the new game, launching tomorrow, will take advantage of Microsoft’s SmartGlass coming to the Xbox 360.

The companion app, which will launch on iOS, Windows Phone and Android (in addition to tablets) will augment the dance experience by letting users control the music playlist and difficulty settings when in “Party Time” mode. When dancing the night away and being forever alone, you can use the app to keep track of calories burned and a challenge tracker to help keep track of your progress during sessions.

Happy Wars and Worms Revolution come to Xbox 360 Live Arcade next week

By Paul Acevedo, Friday, Oct 5, 2012 at 12:08 pm

Xbox Live Arcade is heating up to a boiling point lately, with top-shelf titles coming out pretty much every week (sometimes more than once a week). We’ve just posted impressions of SEGA’s latest releases, and the quality train doesn't look to be stopping anytime soon.

So what’s in store for next week? Well, on Wednesday, October 10^th Team 17’s Worms Revolutions comes along, continuing the awesomely addictive Worms series. Even more exciting, Happy Wars (the first freemium XBLA game) launches Friday the 12^th for all Xbox Live Gold members. Head past the break for details of both titles!

Xbox 360 Impressions - SEGA's Hell Yeah and Jet Set Radio

By Paul Acevedo, Thursday, Oct 4, 2012 at 12:55 pm

Many Windows Phone gamers are familiar with French developer Arkedo’s WP7 launch title, OMG: Our Manic Game. It’s not their best work, but still a pretty little shoot-em-up. Fast forward to this year and Arkedo has actually just released their best game yet (with the help of SEGA as publisher): Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit for Xbox Live Arcade.

We’ve got full impressions of both Hell Yeah! and Jet Set Radio after the break, plus more SEGA XBLA news!

Reminder: Watch the US Presidential debate tonight live on Xbox 360

Xbox 360

By Daniel Rubino, Wednesday, Oct 3, 2012 at 3:42 pm

We’re just throwing this little tip for you folks out there in the US who are into the Presidential election. If you have an Xbox 360, you can watch the debate live tonight (9PM ET) in unfettered HD right to your TV and without all the political “noise” from commentators.

It’s all part of this new experiment in politics that Microsoft is spearheading, using the Xbox 360 as a medium for political awareness. See, not only do you get to watch the debates but you can participate in live polling via your Xbox controller.

Xbox Music and free streaming coming on October 26th

By Daniel Rubino, Wednesday, Oct 3, 2012 at 11:11 am

It looks like the 26^th will be a major day for Microsoft as Windows 8 gets released, Surface RT tablets reportedly go on sale, third-party Windows 8 Pro tablets become available, Holiday Stores open and new services launch.

That last one is the focus here with Xbox Music aka Zune Music for days of yore. As of right now, most of the core of Xbox Music looks to be just a re-brand of the current Zune offerings but Microsoft is building off of it. Some of those new features that will come with the launch is a free, ad-supported music streaming service and utilizing SkyDrive for playlists with cloud storage of music.

New Xbox Music Pass info leaked or just the same old Zune Pass?

By Daniel Rubino, Wednesday, Sep 26, 2012 at 10:50 am

Looks like the same old Zune Pass to us

Engadget managed to get their hands on some Xbox Music Pass screens from the Xbox 360 beta program.

The images supposedly reveal the new pricing program and feature set though to our eyes, we’re not actually seeing anything different here besides a little more control over content. In the images, clearly from the UK, we can see the pricing of £8.99 ($15) for a month, while £89.90 ($146).

But does that carry over to the US? We have a few screenshots too sent in to us and the US pricing is exactly the same as the current Zune Pass: $9.99 a month or $99 a year, masking the implied price jump here.