Gossip Gamer

Microsoft Releases Summer Of Arcade Schedule

Summer may be painfully barren when it comes to the triple-A retail games, but Xbox Live Arcade is bursting at the seams with promising titles. Here is the release schedule for the official Summer of Arcade lineup.

Bastion
Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive
Developer: Supergiant Games
Release Date: July 20
Price: 1200 Microsoft Points
 
From Dust
Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Ubisoft Montpellier
Release Date: July 27
Price: 1200 Microsoft Points
 
Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet
Publisher: Microsoft Studios
Developer: Fuelcell
Release Date: August 3
Price: 1200 Microsoft Points

Fruit Ninja Kinect
Publisher: Microsoft Studios
Developer: Halfbrick
Release Date: August 10
Price: 800 Microsoft Points

Toy Soldiers: Cold War
Publisher: Microsoft Studios
Developer: Signal Studios
Release Date: August 17
Price: 1200 Microsoft Points

If you buy all five games, Microsoft is throwing in a free copy of Crimson Alliance, the Gauntlet-meets-Diablo hack ‘n slasher that won over several GI editors at E3.

(Source: gameinformer.com)

Report: Xbox Live Diamond On The Way

Rumors abound that another tier of Xbox Live will add subscription TV service.

Winrumors is reporting that an anonymous source has brought them news of some big changes on the way to Xbox Live. Specifically, Microsoft’s E3 press conference is said to have an announcement regarding the new Xbox Live Diamond service, which will add IPTV services to Xbox Live users.

According to the report, as of yesterday the deal was still being negotiated, so some of the key features might not be ready to announce by Monday’s briefing.

Xbox Live Diamond was also a previous program Microsoft introduced to its users in 2005. The card primarily offered retail discounts at various retailers, and the program is no longer active.

Rumors have abounded for months regarding Xbox Live’s IPTV service.

If the rumor is accurate, we’ll see Xbox Live Diamond launching this November.

Your Next Shoes: Custom Super Meat Boy Pro-keds

They may be overdoing it with the Super Meat Boy merchandise, but we haven’t gotten sick of that cute little sack of flesh yet.

Classic PRO-Keds let you design your shoes in thousands of styles, but how could you get better than this? These Super Meat Boy PRO-Keds Royal Hi sneakers are only $65 on Zazzle, so go snag a pair for yourself. You know…if you want one. No pressure or anything.

(Source: gameinformer.com)

Hulu Plus Arrives On 360 This Friday

We’ve heard rumors for several months now about when Hulu Plus would be making its way to Xbox Live. Those rumors have now clarified into an actual date: April 29, 2011.

The information comes via news in the upcoming issue of the Official Xbox Magazine. While the magazine issue has yet to reach wide release, Joystiq confirmed the news with OXM’s Editor-in-Chief Francesca Reyes.

It’s worth noting that Hulu Plus has been available on PlayStation 3 for several months now.

The Xbox release of the service should come as good news for people who pay Hulu for the upgraded service. Are you among the users who will take advantage of this new aspect of Xbox Live?

Dead Rising 2 DLC Is Half Off

Looking for an excuse to check out the extra Dead Rising 2 content? Four major pieces of content have had their prices slashed.

The 360 Deal of the Week has listed all of the Dead Rising 2 DLC at dramatically reduced rates for the week. Case Zero currently costs 200 Microsoft points ($2.50). Case West is at 400 points ($5). Plus, both the Psycho and Soldier Skills Pack cost 80 points apiece ($1).

Have you previously picked up any of this DLC? Do you think you might pick up any of these new content pieces at half-price?

[via Xbox Marketplace]

Microsoft Tweaks XBLA Game Ratings Requirements

In March, some indie developers complained that gamers could too easily manipulate the Xbox Live Arcade games rating system in order to artificially push some games up or down the service’s Indie Games chart. Now Microsoft has responded with a few tweaks to the ratings system.

Microsoft now says that only Xbox Live Gold members can rate indie games on xbox.com, whereas previously this was open to Silver members. However, Silver members can still rate titles through the 360 itself. Also, Microsoft says that it won’t roll back the number of one-star votes that some games have received.

This issue started when some indie developers complained that some gamers were deliberately giving one-star votes to titles that were threatening their favorite games in Microsoft’s Xbox Live Indie Games Chart.

We’re not sure what kind of effect banning Silver members from voting on xbox.com will have, so it’ll be interesting to see how this situation develops.

Awesome XBLA Sale Is For One Day Only

Some of the best Live Arcade games on the service are half off, but only on Friday, April 15th.

If you don’t already own Castle Crashers, Limbo, Monday Night Combat, Shadow Complex, and Trials HD, you should. They’re all awesome in their own right. The five Microsoft Game Studios’ published games are all normally 1200 Microsoft points ($15) each. Right now, each of them is instead 600 points ($7.50).

Have you been waiting to try any of those games out? If so, now seems like a pretty great time.

Bulletstorm’s Gun Sonata DLC Available Today

With a name like “Gun Sonata,” you’d think this DLC pack would have a bunch of cool new weapons. Instead, you get some new maps…though that’s pretty cool, too.

The DLC is available right now on Xbox Live, and will be on PSN later today. The PC release of Gun Sonata is still happening, but it isn’t out today. Look for that one at some ambiguous point in the future.

So, what exactly do you get for your $10? Gun Sonata includes 2 new Echoes maps and 3 new Anarchy maps. You can read the official Xbox Live listing for the content here.

Bulletstorm has been out for almost two months now…are you still playing it? If not, are these new maps enough to bring you back?