Xbox Live

A few Xbox 360 Indie Games have made the transition to Windows Phone 7 games so far – Twin Blades (now sadly MIA) and Protégé Production’s upcoming tower defense game Armored Valley come to mind. We can now add Gnomic Studios’ Square Off to the list.

Square Off started its life as an entry in Microsoft’s 2009 Dream.Build.Play Competition, where it scored second place for Australian entries. Development continued after the contest, with the full game debuting on the Xbox 360 Indie Games platform in December 2009. Soon it will also be a Windows Phone 7 indie game, though Gnomic is still hoping for Xbox Live approval.

So what’s Square Off like? Its story involves a prolonged alien invasion of Earth. In order to combat the menace, a scientist implants alien DNA into cells taken from his own brain. He straps a rocket pack onto the resulting square creature and a defender is born. The lighthearted setting is accompanied by a cartoonish hand-drawn art style with 3D backgrounds and a nice soundtrack.

Square Off is a twin-stick shooter that plays like a simpler version of Rocket Riot. In both games, players use rockets to fly around closed levels, blasting away at enemies until none remain. Whereas the console versions of Rocket Riot and Square off are multiplayer deathmatch-centric, the Windows Phone 7 versions remain single-player affairs. To compensate for the lack of multiplayer, the mobile version of Square Off will include a new survival mode in addition to the full 7-level single-player campaign of the original.

Gnomic Studios’ Square Off is scheduled for an April release. Mobile gamers who aren’t too busy with the 6 Xbox Live heavy hitters announced back on February 24 should give it a look.

Head past the jump for Gnomic Studios' full press release.

One of the fun benefits of Xbox Live integration on Windows Phone 7 is that users can view and edit their avatars on the go. Some avatar items are free, while many of them cost money.

A handful of avatar goods are currently on sale for fifty percent off. These must be purchased through a PC or Mac web browser or an Xbox 360 console before equipping them to your avatar.

• Tron Blue Anon Outfit (Male)  Sale price: 80 Microsoft Points ($1)
• Tron Blue Anon Outfit (Female) Sale price: 80 Microsoft Points ($1)

A couple of avatar props are also on sale. The dual lightsabers unfortunately don't work on Windows Phone 7 due to a licensing issue, but most props do.

• Tron Light Cycle Sale price: 120 Microsoft Points ($1.50)
• Star Wars Dual Lightsabers Sale price: 160 Microsoft Points ($2)

These four items should be on sale through March 8, so grab them while you can. I’m not a fan of Tron Legacy’s foam latex suit, but I did snag those lightsabers. Do any of these catch your fancy, or would you not be caught dead paying for avatar stuff? Leave a comment and let us know.

Source: CheapAssGamer

Well…. almost.

Microsoft is partnering with two companies to let you create fully detailed 3D figurines or a 6 foot tall poster of your Xbox Live Avatar. The 3D figurine is being offered through FigurePrints and will run you $60 (including shipping). You simply go to the website, pull up your avatar and select a pose.

The 6ft tall poster comes to you by way of Fathead. Fathead has built a reputation for creating sports and entertainment wall graphics. The process is similar to ordering your 3D figure. Just pull up your avatar, select a pose and place your order. The poster will stick on any smooth indoor surface, it’s re-usable and it runs $150 for the 6ft version (3ft poster will run you $80).

The only downside to these services (asides from the $150 price tag) is that it doesn’t appear to allow use of all the avatar accessories. Some elements are not licensed for reproduction. For example, if your avatar sports an Assassin’s Creed outfit, you can’t use it. Even my Auburn University t-shirt couldn’t be used.

Regardless, either would make for interesting gifts for the "hard to buy for gamer" or for those who just can't get enough of Xbox Live.

Source: Winrumors

The last Xbox Live title we saw drop in price on Windows Phone 7 was Glow Artisan (Review) way back on February 10. I’m pleased to report that this week an astonishing three games have been reduced in price!

• Max and the Magic Marker dropped from $6.99 to $4.99.
• Rocket Riot is back to $4.99 again, down from $6.99.
• Frogger was $2.99, but now it’s just $1.99. Frogger is the Xbox Live Deal of the Week.

Max and the Magic Marker is a puzzle-platformer in which the player draws objects directly into the game world via the touch screen. Our review found it to be extremely creative, though a tad overpriced at $6.99. The new price should be just right.

Rocket Riot is a side-view shooter with retro-inspired graphics. It controls exceptionally well for a touch-screen game and is just plain fun. At $6.99 I would have recommended that readers try before they buy, but $4.99 makes it a much more compelling purchase.

Frogger is a classic arcade game that, like Pac-Man, just doesn’t control well on a touch screen. But hey, it’s cheap! And we haven’t seen the $1.99 price point on Xbox Live titles before. Maybe other $3 games will become $2 games in the future too.

Every Xbox Live game for Windows Phone 7 has a free trial (not to mention delicious Achievements). You can get Max and the Magic Marker here (opens a link to your Zune software), Rocket Riot here, and Frogger h-e-r-e on the Marketplace. These price drops may not last forever, so don’t hesitate if you’re interested!

Update: We've learned that Frogger is on sale for one week, while Max and the Magic Marker and Rocket Riot's price drops are permanent.

Two weeks ago, Castlevania graced Windows Phone 7 as an Xbox Live game. This Wednesday, another popular console franchise makes its mobile Xbox Live debut: I Love Katamari from Namco Bandai.

I Love Katamari is part of the Katamari Damacy series. In these games, the player is tasked with rolling up various objects, animals, and even people into a giant, sticky ball called a Katamari. This version of the game uses tilt controls to steer the ball. It also has a single Achievement worth a whopping 110 GamerScore, which has to be a Windows Phone 7 record. Just don’t expect that one to be easy: it’s awarded for rolling up every single item in the game, which will surely take a while.

Did I mention the graphics, sound, and pretty much everything about the Katamari series are completely wacky? Find out if you love Katamari too when it releases on Xbox Live this Wednesday.

Source: @KarlStricker

iBlast Moki , the Xbox Live puzzle game from Godzilabs, received an update today. We thought you might like to know about what’s been changed.

iBlast Moki v1.1.0.0 changelog:

• The controls are much better in the world and level list on HTC HD7.
• Gold medal for Mountainland/Balance can be obtained with a time less than 3 secs instead of 1.4 secs
• You can get the Achievement "Finished all levels ... " with the bronze medals
• Fixed the purple screen of confusion that you could get on some phones.
• Fixed the slowdown when unlocking the "Speed of …" Achievements
• Also added a few instructions tutorial to guide the player in the levels Pond, Bounce and Wait Hills
• Added a failed screen if the Moki falls below a certain limit

Previously, one level’s gold medal time was unattainable in the Windows Phone 7 version of the game, making an Achievement impossible to acquire. Thankfully that’s been fixed, along with the “Finish All Levels” Achievement’s requirements. The extra help text should be appreciated as the game’s puzzles eventually get quite devious. And of course, HTC HD7 owners will finally be able to run the game properly, so Samsung Focus users like me will have one less thing to gloat about.

iBlast Moki is a physics-based puzzle game for Windows Phone 7. Players are challenged with knocking one or more round ‘Mokis’ into goals using nothing but well-timed bombs to guide them. With over 70 levels and a bright, endearing art style, fans of puzzle games and Angry Birds should definitely give it a look. We’ll have a full review soon.

You can get iBlast Moki for $2.99 or try the free trial here (Zune Link) on the Marketplace.

Scoreloop has announced that they will be supporting Windows Phone 7 and will be including the platform within their cross-platform social gaming system. Why is this big news for developers? Social games developed for WP7 will have the ability to allow players to compete against Android or iPhone owners.

The basic breakdown of what features the social "middleware" offers are cross-platform leader-boards, challengers, or virtual currency that developers can implement into their games for all mobile platforms. Opening up not only a much larger audience for players to engage with (or against), this will help bring the different operating systems together and make it more attractive for developers on other platforms to bring their projects to WP7.

Platforms that are currently covered by Scoreloop include Android, Bada, Airplay and iOS (iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch). As for WP7, Marc Gumpinger, CEO of Scoreloop said, "WP7 is an important step in our goal to encourage and support connected gaming across the entire mobile landscape. As the first cross-platform social gaming ecosystem to add support for WP7 this means we can offer the largest reach, greater revenue potential and increase the impact of developers using the Scoreloop SDK," 

This is exciting news for Microsoft and Windows Phone 7 as a whole. Scoreloop is expanding rapidly, and for them to show support in the OS should hopefully hush some critics about the appeal of the software and devices to not only front-end users, but also the developer community. Currently Scoreloop are providing a limited number of developers early access to their SDK before publishing it to the public.

Source: Gamasutra

There have been a few reports and articles that have been published today about the recent questioning of Microsoft condemning Open Source to death – this isn’t true in its entirety. So, what has actually happened?

Well, without touching the horrible statement that all open source applications and games are banned, forgotten and condemned, we shall lightly pass through with Microsoft seem to be only tackling the GPLv3 and its derivatives. Neowin has reported that Microsoft is completely against Open Source (but have recently altered the title of their article) and are by no means completely correct.

GPLv3 being banned from the Marketplace is simply Microsoft taking steps in covering its back and preventing what situations Apple has found regarding licensing and Open Source (VLC in particular). Ruling out any code that falls under the license so Microsoft doesn’t violate the GPL is how it’s supposed to work. A fantastic post written up by Sasha Kotlyar (developer of WM6 Task Manager) explains quite clearly why Microsoft has chosen to disallow code that is under GPLv3.

“Because version 3 of the GPL family of licenses includes what has been dubbed the "anti-Tivoization" clause. Tivoization, from the name TiVo, is what that company did to its hardware in order to prevent unauthorized firmware modifications. In essence, they released the complete source code to the firmware that runs on TiVo boxes, but compiling such source code does not yield binaries that can run on the TiVo. That is because the authorized, official binary code is modified by TiVo to include a digital signature that must be accepted by the hardware before said code is allowed to run. GPLv3 includes a clause that prohibits this behavior.”

The Marketplace for the Xbox system and WP7 will prevent code under this license due to hardware performing Tivoization, and only Microsoft signed code is accepted. This is what the Open Source license in question goes against. Developers should take note that limited and liberal licenses (including MIT/X11) are usable for use in Xbox & Windows Phone 7 code.

What do you make of all this, and do you believe Microsoft are acting above board in complying with the license? 

Via: Neowin