Gamerscore Blog

Pricey as heck on Chessmaster.

I'm finally glad Rez has arrived. Not because I really enjoyed the game (I thought it was okay. Only really popular because it was a victim of the final days of Dreamcast), but because it'll end the crying for the next big title.

Until next week, then it'll be another set of tears for another game.

Personally Rez isn´t a game where you don´t know what happens, it´s just a shooter with really good musical properties. Controls area really easy, just aim and shoot.

Chessmaster is a bit overpriced for me. There was a chess game months ago, with more games... I would like to see a chess game for 400 points. Anyway seems interesting, and if I like the demo, I´ll probably get it.

Well, at least we got one XBLA title this week.  Whoopee!

I guess MS figures Japanese and Koreans don't care about Western chess.  Hey, maybe you're right.

Will the members of the Microsoft Games _Global_ Marketing Team ever explain the actual reason why Korea is left out of your new release schedule nearly every week?  TIA

I know Mizuguchi said this would essentially be the unaltered Rez, but I do hold out hope that this game will see additional stages made available (and also in E4, though it's less likely there since you can make your own stages and they're far more bare-bones than Rez).

I never got into the import scene on the Dreamcast like a few of my friends did, but I knew enough about Rez to almost import the EU version, and I was heartbroken when Unity was cancelled.

It would be nice if Jeff Minter took a second shot with XBLA and resurrected Unity...

A lot of people are complaining that Chessmaster is too expensive at $10. Well a quick look on Amazon.com shows the latest version of Chessmaster sells for $40 on the PC, $30 on the DS. Older versions are understandably cheaper but even the 10th Anniversary edition from 2004 is $20 as is a new copy of the PS2 version from a few years ago.

Spyglass did have chess included but it's really simple program. Chessmaster is a big deal in the chess world and features like e-mailing a move that big brain chess players are used to. Not for most of us but I can see hardcore chess people taking pride in taking the Live leaderboard.

I know you guys have a plan for promoting Arcade games and such, but can I ask are we ever going to get some more board games like monopoly or risk?

I honestly can't understand why you guys don't ever talk about games in development.  I can understand not wanting to give a release date as that can change, but if you look at retail games you can go to a place like IGN and look at a release calender for literally hundreds of games.  Some have a estimated date, some are general and say Quarter 1,2,3,4 of 2008 and some just say 2008 or TBA.

What exactly is wrong with putting out a list of games in development?   Even if it is without a actual release date. At the very least it would be something to get excited about.  A situation where gamers can say "Oh cool they are making Monopoly" and then we can at least look foward to it.

Instead we really know nothing about any games in development until Monday of the week of release.  I can't fathom how you guys think this is a good promotion system when not everyone has auto-download set to on.  That means for those that have it off you have to hope they read about the release game on the internet in the 3 days you give notice about what games coming out.   3 days is not a very good promotional time and IMO a lot of developers have been screwed by the fact their game was never promoted and no info was ever given out about the game until release week.

It's just such a terrible promotional setup you have going on.  At least if you announced games being made earlier people would post about them and talk about them on message boards.  For instance the developers of the game Kart Racer took it upon themselves to release info about their upcoming XBLA game and it has huge threads of excited people taking about it on GAF, IGN, Xbox.com, etc..

What exactly is wrong with that?  Why do you guys not release info about games being worked on and discourage developers from talking about their games until 3 days before the games release?

@ Shamrock- Risk would be great.  

As for REZ, Im going to have to try the trial first because I've never played it before.

-I have to admit Chess looks like fun playing on LIVE

I would also like to place my vote on Monopoly for XBLA.  I have been wondering for a while if it would ever come as I had it on PC but it never felt like a game I should be sat up to a computer playing.  Now sat in a comfy chair up to the TV especially as all the players could be sat around the same TV, that would work well.  Monopoly always seems better with all the players in the same room but I do not always have the space to sit around the table.

Still, it could work quite well over Live.  The only issue is the games tend to last a LONG time when played with all humans and the normal (not the short) rules so Live would have to work RELIABLY before it was worth launching it. ;-)

I would also be interested in Scrabble again with the option for multiplayer on a single console or over Live.  Although Scrabble I would most likely play alone against AI.

With board games, card/poker games -- seems like developers are content to utilize render engines that would work just as well on a Nintendo DS as on the Xbox 360.

This chess game looks good, and I'll probably buy it, but how much more difficult would it be (with "next gen games") to create a truly compelling visual look?

I'm not talking about visual effects, but realistic rendering -- using limited radiosity and HDR in realtime.  If you go to the Mental Ray website, or Splutterfish -- a very simple image of a piece of glass or a chess piece on a table can elicit a "damn, that looks realistic!!" response.  And yet in these XBLA board games, we see hardly 20% of the 360's processing power being utilized -- to create a game that looks very similar in visual design to games we've seen on the PS1, PS2, in Flash, Gamecube, etc. etc.

If 30 seconds of Project Offset demo animation can get the gaming community in a tizzy, certainly SOME case can be made for amping up the visual quality of simpler games?  Call me crazy but it's just a thought :)

btw, Shamrock -- you raise an excellent point about seeing a list of games in advance.  I read a press release yesterday about a new Canon SLR that's coming out in a few months.  I decided that I'm going to save up for it, and by default, that makes me (the consumer) invested in the product before it even comes out.  Makes sense.

I have Rez for PS2 back when it was rare. Here goes the value of it! Oh well, it will be much better to play it on XBLA!

Can I get a hell yeah for some extra content for Catan? And Axis & Allies?

Also, CCGs too. Eye Of Judgment was a novelty because of the camera, but really, we should have M:tG on XBLA...

First Arcade game I've ever bought!!! It's amazing fun on HD!! I love stuff like this!

@Cutriss - I'd love a patch for CATAN 1st; network drops plague that game, and when one person drops, often players will quit.

There's a thread on xbox.com to which I contributed some suggestions once upon a time, but I'd love to see some of the old GW games like DungeonQuest or Chainsaw Warrior (Talisman seems all but dead, might be switching developers). HeroQuest (expansion potential) Blood Bowl seems to be a good choice too; I think I saw screenies or a video for that somewhere already, actually, so it's coming to SOME platform...

Axis & Allies would be good (and has expansion potential). Shogun. Gammarauders could be fun.

Good post Shamrock! I'd love to see a list of upcoming games and see if War World is on it. My guess is that if they do post a list, Live members would be more apt to save their points than spend them. This way they have to buy more when a title they really wanted came out, because they spent the pts. they were saving on sub-par titles.

I see Poker Smash is coming next week. How many more gem, jewel, boogying bunnies and card suit matching games are we gong to get?

I am all for more Caatan and Carcassone type board games to! Oh and some fix the Barons & Kings expansion pack. Mine keeps corrupting when I launch the game.

Hey did Media and PR decide to do a SuperBowl ad for this sunday for the XBox 360????

Sweeeeet~!!!! can't wait to flex my rook and bishop muscles.