Xbox LIVE Wrap-Up is back this week with open arms. However, it doesn’t seem like Microsoft is giving us a whole lot to work with this week. We certainly have all of the updates Xbox users have come to expect out of a week, though next week is looking like it will have a lot more punch than this week. I suppose being sandwiched in between Perfect Dark and Mega Man 10/Zeno Clash isn’t exactly an easy weight to support for Game Room, but, moving on, this week sees a high-profile demo along with a new deal of the week, Games on Demand, and more. Let’s jump straight into it!
Xbox LIVE Arcade – Game Room
There isn’t much more to say about Game Room that we haven’t already broken down in previous Xbox LIVE Wrap-Ups. Game Room is a free social application players can download. However, in order to place arcade cabinets into your personal room, you’ll have to drop 240 Microsoft Points a pop (or 400 if you would like to access these games via PC as well). Right out of the gate, Game Room will offer the following cabinets for purchase:
Adventure
Armor Battle
Asteroids Deluxe
Astrosmash
Centipede
Battlantis
Crystal Castles
Gravitar
Lunar Lander
Red Baron
Combat
Finalizer
Football
Tempest
Jungler
Millipede
Outlaw
Road Fighter
Realsports Tennis
Sea Battle
Scramble
Skiing, Mountain Madness/Super Pro
Space Armada
Space Hawk
Shao-lin’s Road (Kicker)
Star Raiders
Super Cobra
Sub Hunt
Tutankham
Yar’s Revenge
The value of each purchase is subject to the player, but if you would like for me to pick out my favorites from that list, my personal opinion would have me downloading Asteroids Deluxe, Centipede, Combat, and Tempest. I always loved those games as a kid. Players will be able to play demos of each title if they join a friend’s arcade that features the title, so if you’re lucky, you’ll be able to sample these goods before you purchase them. There is also an achievement set associated to the Game Room for those that are looking to boost their score. We’ll be sure to keep up with the Game Room to see what games are added, so keep checking back for updates.
Xbox LIVE Deal of the Week – Fallout 3 Expansions at 400 Microsoft Points each
Fallout 3’s Operation: Anchorage, The Pitt, Broken Steel, Point Lookout, and Mothership Zeta are now 400 Microsoft Points apiece for those who do not have the Game of the Year Edition. We’ve touched on these expansions a couple of times now, so if you want to get more in depth with the expansions, A.J. Hess has reports on them with a Fallout 3 DLC retrospective and reviews of Point Lookout and Mothership Zeta.
Game Demos – Splinter Cell Conviction
After all of the waiting, the game has finally been finished and is set for release and now players can get their hands on a sample of the game before it releases in April. If you are in a location where you can’t download the demo and tear into it, we do have some media for the title in Diehard GameFAN’s Splinter Cell Conviction screen shot gallery. The pictures don’t move, but they will definitely give you some Sam Fisher action to feast your eyes on. If you’ve been playing through this one, please leave a comment and tell us what you think of the game so far.
Games on Demand – Avatar: TLA, SEGA Superstars Tennis
The Games on Demand service serves up a duo of 360 titles today, pitching Avatar: The Last Airbender and SEGA Superstars Tennis to gamers for $19.99 each. We don’t have reviews on Diehard GameFAN for either title on the Xbox 360 format, but Alexander Lucard did put the Nintendo Wii version of SEGA Superstars Tennis under the microscope. Let’s face it, though. Avatar is only known as being the most infamous achievement whoring game on the system (1,000 points isn’t bad for five minutes’ work), and while SEGA Superstars Tennis is a mediocre to above average game on the Xbox 360, in my opinion, thanks to it being packaged in holiday bundles a few years back, you can pick it up used for less than it would cost you to buy a combo meal at most fast food places. I think Microsoft was aiming for the family crowd this week and it succeeds on that front, but interested buyers should study up on the games before slapping $20 down on one.
Avatar Markplace – Call of Duty, SEGA All-Stars Racing
According to Major Nelson, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing gear should be available for avatars today. Both are quite interesting games to base clothing and accessories off of, so we’ll see what the end result is. I’m hoping for Billy Hatcher’s comb.
Speaking of Major Nelson, he had posted the other day in a promotion offering free Bing shirts to interested avatar owners. You can head over to his site and see if the promotion is still valid as I do not know if shirts will be left by the time this feature prints on Diehard GameFAN.
Music Marketplace
With many music game titles receiving expansion content on a weekly basis, it may start to become hard to follow, especially with these updates usually covering up the entire line of recent updates on the Xbox dashboard. This week, new updates unfold for our usual lineup of titles:
Rock Band
X – “Blue Spark”Â
X – “The Hungry Wolf”Â
X – “I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts”Â
X – “Los Angeles”Â
Little Fish – “Am I Crazy”Â
Little Fish – “Bang Bang”Â
Little Fish – “Darling Dear”Â
Ace Frehley – “Outer Space”Â
Carrie Underwood – “All-American Girl”Â
OneRepublic – “Stop & Stare”Â
Guitar Hero
Motley Crue – “Girls, Girls, Girls”Â
Go-Gos – “We Got the Beat”Â
Night Ranger – “Sister Christian”Â
Lips
Huey Lewis & the News – “Do You Believe in Love”Â
Simply Red – “If You Don’t Know Me By Now”Â
The Archies – “Sugar, Sugar”Â
Finally, for one last tidbit before we take off for the week, Microsoft has finally released the 250 GB hard drive as a standalone item. The hard drive will cost $129.99, effectively knocking the 120 GB model down to the price of $99.99. The 250 GB should go a long way for our regular readers as the Xbox LIVE Arcade, music downloads and more suck up their hard drive space. That is all we have this week, so hit up your Game Room until we return next week with even more Xbox LIVE content.
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