Gamerscore Blog

Puzzle fans, get ready to take on a colossal brain challenge in "Puzzle Arcade," the most expansive online jigsaw puzzle to ever hit Xbox 360. The title is making its way to Xbox LIVE Arcade this Wednesday, December 24 at 9 a.m. GMT (2:00 a.m. PDT).

Full details here.

Oh the weather outside is frightful – so grab a cup of cocoa and enjoy this year’s biggest hits on Xbox LIVE Arcade. Gamers and critics agree that 2008 was a stellar year for Xbox LIVE Arcade, which saw record numbers and the most impressive line-up of titles ever.

Full story can be found here.

Today we've released a title update for Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts over Xbox LIVE that improves players ability to read the text on standard definition televisions.  Game players will need to login to their profile on LIVE and place their Banjo disc into their Xbox.  At that point, they will be automatically prompted for the title update.

More than 1.5 million people were drawn to “Gears of War 2” on Xbox LIVE during its first weekend, logging over 15 million gameplay hours and driving a new record for concurrent users. Now, the online experience has become even more explosive with the release of the Combustible Map Pack, a collection of three new maps for Gears of War 2 available now on Xbox LIVE Marketplace for 800 MS Points.

Debuted during the SPIKE TV Video Game Awards on Dec. 14, where Gears of War 2 took home the Best Shooter and Best Xbox 360 Game awards, Microsoft Game Studios and Epic Games unveiled exclusive footage from the Combustible Map Pack with Marisa Miller (Sports Illustrated’s 2008 Swimsuit Issue cover model) and “Gears of War 2’s” Augustus “Cole Train” Cole (played by Lester Speight) presenting the first look at the new maps.  Read more...

On December 15^th, 2008, you will be able to download and play Sega Soccer Slam and Raze's Hell™ on your Xbox 360.

From Xbox.com:

Xbox Originals on Xbox LIVE Marketplace brings you original Xbox games to play on your Xbox 360. Relive your favorites or find games you missed the first time around.

Sega Soccer Slam

SEGA®
ESRB E (Everyone)
1200 Microsoft Points
(NA only)

Have you ever taken on a deranged kilt-wearing Scotsman in a wild, no-holds-barred soccer match? Each character in this anything-but-ordinary soccer game wields special powers and moves that, if executed properly, earn the big score. In Quest Mode, you can unlock secret stadiums and uncover hidden items to improve your already stellar performance. 

Raze's Hell ™

Atari®
ESRB M (Mature)
1200 Microsoft Points
(Europe and NA)

The Kewletts’ colonization efforts have taken a turn for the vicious ... until the newly transformed Raze shows up. As Raze, you must vanquish the twisted princess and her invading force of Kewletts by any means necessary.

Get suited up and ready for deployment! On March 3, “Halo Wars,” the action-based strategy game set in the iconic “Halo” universe and created exclusively for Xbox 360, will be available in stores nationwide. Internationally, “Halo Wars” will be available on the following dates:

• Japan and Asia Pacific: Feb. 26
• EMEA: Feb. 27
• Americas (US, Canada, Mexico and South America): March 3

Pre-orders for “Halo Wars” are taking place at participating retailers nationwide now. Fans who pre-order will receive an exclusive in-game Warthog with flame decals. The Limited Collector’s Edition is also available and includes a special in-game “Honor Guard” Wraith, a graphic novel, six Leader cards and a “Spirit of Fire” patch. As an additional exclusive, LCE owners will get early access to the in-game “Halo 3” Mythic Map Pack for exciting new multiplayer action.

The Limited Collector’s Edition retails for an estimated retail price of $79.99, while the standard edition is available at $59.99. A first for a “Halo” franchise game, “Halo Wars” is rated “T” for Teen.

More information on “Halo Wars” can be found online at www.Xbox.com/HaloWars or www.HaloWars.com.

The gang over at Games for Windows - Live have launched a new sweepstakes to coincide with the PC launch of Grand Theft Auto IV.  They're giving away great prizes daily as well as an Alienware laptop every week.  One lucky winner will get a sweet grand prize - a trip for two to San Diego Comicon and an Alienware Area-51 m17x gaming laptop to take with you... *drool*

It's pretty simple, just register your gamertag here, then log in and connect to Games for Windows - Live titles for your entry.  You get one entry per day you log on, so there's no need to log on to all your games every day.  But hey, don't let me stop you!

If you have a yearning for some old-school gaming, this week's Xbox LIVE Arcade release might be for you.

Rare's original Banjo Kazooie is coming out this Wednesday, December 3. Banjo and his Breegull (I got it right this time) friend Kazooie have to learn to work together to save Banjo's little sister, Tooty, from Gruntilda the wicked witch.

The game is a platformer and you will learn to run, jump, swim, fly and fight as a team as you collect your jigsaw pieces, or "Jiggys" in all of the different worlds.

Banjo Kazooie will be 1200 MS Points and is rated E10+ by the ESRB.

We've asked your questions in the past with Community Q&A for Fable II, Gears of War, Dead Space, and several other games, but we are excited to be going a little deeper for the upcoming Xbox 360 game Halo Wars.

We want to know the types of things you are curious about with Halo Wars - especially skeptical PC RTS gamers, and folks in Halo-Nation who aren't necessarily fans of strategy games.

While we can't reply individually, post your comments and questions here, and we'll try and get these burning issues answered!

Because of all the awesome games during the holiday season I feel like many of my posts lately have been "Did you guys see this thing?"

Continuing that tradition, have you guys seen the Community Games on Marketplace?  Specifically - have you seen Colosseum?

The game is a 3rd person cell-shaded arena combat game, and it reminded me of a stripped-down version of The Mark of Kri.

video removed due to autoplay issues - visit their site

There's a free trial, so there's no downside to checking it out. I'm pretty impressed with ShortFuse Games (the developer) and I can't wait to see what other gems the Community Games bring us.

Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku (more commonly known as Tornado Whirlwind Foot, Helicopter Kick, or Hurricane Kick) is not as well-known as the Shoryuken or the Hadouken.  This is true, not just according to me, but also according to wikipedia (which we all know to be 100% true, 100% of the time).

I wanted to show off my Street Fighter knowledge and I didn't know how else to do it.

Anyway, as a huge Street Fighter fan *drool Cammy* I just wanted to share my excitement that SSF2THDR is dropping tomorrow.

There will also be some other marketplace content (premium theme, gamerpics, etc) for the die-hards out there.

Special thanks to figuephoto for the Cammy action figure shots!

You may remember back at TGS, a <sarc> little </sarc> game called Halo 3 had some news to share about a new chapter to the Halo story. Today, it was announced that the name "Halo 3: Recon" has been placed on a back shelf in favor of "Halo 3: ODST". ODSTs  or "Orbital Drop Shock Troopers" will be featured in this fresh installment of the Halo series and will give players a new perspective to the epic battle.

Stay tuned as new info on the ODSTs and their search for answers on the Covenant's attack on New Mombasa is released.