Just to be clear, I am not a panties expert or anything.
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Apparently, Microsoft saved some of its more exciting game-related CES announcements for after their keynote presentation. Following the end of the event, a press release was sent out spotlighting a number of upcoming Xbox Live Arcade and Windows Phone 7 games, including the release of Hard Corps Uprising, Torchlight, and Beyond Good & Evil HD on XBLA starting February 16.The three titles will be joined by Bejeweled Blitz Live and Full House Poker to make up the "Xbox Live Arcade House Party" promotional event. Specific release dates weren't given for each game, but it'll kick off with Hard Corps Uprising (which, if you don't recall, is Konami's new very-Contra-like side-scrolling shoot-em-up) on February 16, with the other four titles following over the next four weeks (although, again, in what order wasn't specified).Also highlighted were a number of new games coming for Windows Phone 7, including Fable 3 Coin Golf -- and whatever money you earn in it can be transferred to Fable 3 on your 360.The official descriptions for the XBLA and Windows Phone 7 games follow below.Xbox Live Arcade: * "Full House Poker" (Microsoft Game Studios -- Xbox/Krome Studios -- Windows Phone 7): In the world's capital for card playing, Microsoft is unveiling "Full House Poker." Compete against your Xbox LIVE friends on Xbox 360 and build your bank roll on the go with a companion game on Windows Phone 7. Play a quick two-player game for some lightning action, join a big 30-player tournament, or play a round of Texas Heat, our live poker game show where you play with thousands of players worldwide and have 30 minutes to bluff, bet, and raise your way to the final table! * "Bejeweled Blitz Live" (PopCap Games): Take on friends in the brilliant gem-matching action of Bejeweled Blitz Live! Choose your favorite playing style -- Classic or Twist -- and rocket up the leaderboards! Battle your way to the top in the all-new 16-player Party mode over Xbox LIVE. * "Beyond Good & Evil" (Ubisoft): Now you can experience the thrill of the fan-favorite"Beyond Good & Evil" on Xbox LIVE in full HD. Enter the futuristic world of year 2435, a world full of deception, where nothing is as it seems and exposing the truth is the only hope of restoring freedom. Play as action-reporter Jade and capture the truth using stealth, force, and wits against a government that deceived you in this action-adventure game with elements of puzzle-solving and stealth-based games. * "Hard Corps Uprising" (KONAMI): Thrilling retro run-and-gun action is back with a vengeance in"Hard Corps: Uprising," a new 2D side scroller developed by ARC System Works that pays homage to classic Konami action series. Play as the soldier Bahamut as he begins to write his legend in this prequel to"Contra: Hard Corps." * "Torchlight" (Runic Games/Microsoft): A highly-regarded PC game with over 800,000 units sold to date,"Torchlight" is now coming to Xbox LIVE! Combat is more exciting with revamped controls and mechanics, new armor and quests! There's even an exclusive new pet for your character. Send a select goodie or two to your friends on LIVE to share the fun for the first time.
To head off the speculative questions that will almost certainly arise about the port -Control is direct - no virtual cursors ever. Combat is a little different - you move forward slightly with melee attacks and all the attack animations are redone to support this. You don't 'target' enemies - you'll get a red highlight for a 'primary' target that is in range, but for melee attacks you hit everything in your damage cone (secondary targets get secondary damage ). Feels natural and does what you expect. Ranged combat is actually in many ways easier - kiting and dodging are significantly more viable with a controller and the autotargeting for ranged attacks works pretty well. 'lobbed' skills mapped to the triggers have a default distance, but you can finesse them for longer or shorter throws by holding the trigger at a given depth. Combat pace feels 'faster' and more maneuverable. If you've played classics like Dark Alliance or Champions of Norrath, you have the general idea. ( but no jumping ) Movement speed is analog - you can move slower by easing on the stick, something you can't do at all on PC.No skills have been omitted. Some skills have had alterations to their functionality to make them feel better ( i.e. you don't select corpses to summon a Nether Imp - you just cast it and if there's a corpse around, there you go )Pretty much everything from the PC version is here. We didn't remove any features, with the exception of secondary weapon sets, because there was no way we could find that didn't feel horrible in inventory management. Socketing, enchanting, fishing, the infinite dungeon, item combination, are all represented.The UI is COMPLETELY overhauled from the ground up. Nothing works the same. All new art and navigation. The concept of item 'slots' is done away with - you just have a number of items you can hold ( 50 - ignores stack counts ). Potions and scrolls stack up to 99. Potions 'auto pick' the best potion to heal you or regen mana. You don't have to think about it or map it. We iterated on the UI a ridiculous amount.You can have 4 active mapped skills at a time, and a secondary set that you can swap between (using the dpad) for 8 mapped skills. Most of us actually find it easier to use a variety of skills on the console vs. PC, oddly enough.5) Force feedback is in for quakes, strikes, low health heartbeats, and tugs on the fishing line Feels nice.Miscellanea - we brought over some goodies from TL2 to the console version. Loading times are much reduced. Better animation blending makes combat snappier ( hard to describe, but you'll probably feel it ). Automaps are brought over from TL2's new automap system ( They are rendered out and much more readable, and icons cleave to the borders of the ring )3 new armor sets ( one for each class )Some new random quests for one of the miners in townChakawary petDownload size is nice and small - ~200 MB.
I knew it was very unlikely to have it but no co-op in Torchlight is still disappointing and is why I won't double dip.
I hope MS has another one of those rebate deals with this House Party stuff. Would be nice if you could buy three of them and get 400 pts back like in the summer of arcade. Then I'd pick up Torchlight, BG&E, and Contra fo sho.
The Xbox LIVE Arcade House Party kicks off February 16th with the release of Hard Corps: Uprising and continues into March with a total of 5 releases. Here is the full schedule:February 16 Hard Corps: Uprising, 1200 Microsoft PointsFebruary 23 Bejeweled Blitz, 800 Microsoft PointsMarch 2, Beyond Good & Evil HD, 800 Microsoft PointsMarch 9 Torchlight, 1200 Microsoft PointsMarch 16 Full House Poker, 800 Microsoft Points
I'll wait for a sale on Torchlight.
