#buy xbox 360 live

[thelegendaryloaf]

WHY ARE SECONDHAND GUITAR HERO CONTROLLERS SO FUCKING EXPENSIVVEVCCFH

[sometipsygnostalgic]

Video game console and case design

Today's hyperfixation is on the PLAYSTATION 5. Because I want one, but I really shouldn't buy one, so I am just looking up everything to do with games consoles and burning my brain out.

I used to be a proper xbox player, until I got my PC, then I never really touched by xbox again. I got a PS4 to play Persona 5 and since then it's been a blu ray player for my Adventure Time boxset, not much else. But the current gen - PS5, Series X - is arguably more powerful than my gaming PC, and I still have a lot of friends stuck on PS5, so I am considering investing in a unit.

Anyway is it me or did they really shit the bed with design in this generation?

Look at these chunky fuckers! They do not fit smoothly under your television at all. There is no detail or decoration breaking up their unnecessarily large faces, which makes them look bland and ugly. They look like they're made of cheap plastic, with the two controllers being the highest quality thing about them. I can attest the xbox controller is unbeatable, but playstation really made their shot this generation. A shame I can never get used to the dualshock joystick positioning.

The Series S and the PS5 Slim are almost NO improvement on the base designs.

For some reason they made the Series S look like a speaker???

The new PS5 slim FINALLY has a line across that massive faceplate, but the half matte half glossed finish is not doing it any favours. I think it would've looked much better if, for example, the matte and gloss plates were different colours. Like black and white! It also has an even MORE out of place disc drive, which I think is part of Sony's agenda to go digital only, and the two tiny "feet" for its horizontal positioning are pathetic! Personally I like this more than the original but not significantly, disappointing since I was really looking forward to it.

I want you to compare these nasties to the previous generation - the PS4 and the XBOX One.

....Now, what's hilarious about this image is the consoles look ALMOST IDENTICAL from this angle. And, I guess, that would be why Sony and Microsoft decided to make such a departure with the space heater PS5 and the fridge Series X.

But they both look very premium and advanced, and they fit very nicely in your living room.

The companies tried to look a bit more distinguished in their followup versions in the previous gen too. The white PS4 Pro looks a lot closer to PS5 with its quirkiness, but without the atrocious shiny plastic. Sony tended to add or remove a layer whenever they altered the PS4, I wonder what they would look like all stacked on top of each other.

It's not just the games console designs that suffer - Look at the game cases! I know that the companies want to incentivise you to go digital, but Xbox Series X cases are just awful.

So if you're confused - You should be!!! Microsoft have two kinds of case for the Series X. One of them is the EXACT SAME CASE as Xbox One, but with Series X printed on the front. The second newer version foregoes the sexy Xbox logo entirely and just has Xbox Series X printed in some default font. Awful awful awful.

Playstation is doing better, but barely.

They are reusing PS4 cases with a different print on them. It doesn't look as horrible as Xbox's, and it at least has a different colour on the logo, but damn, the jump between PS3/360 and PS4/One was really impressive, and now they've stopped bothering because they want everyone to go digital. If your game cases look like shit, why bother with physical?

I want to contrast with physical media kings Nintendo, who did an outstanding job in 2017 with designing the case for the Nintendo Switch.

These bad boys are mine. They're super thin, easy to stack, decent quality, and F U N. The red colour pallette makes them pop out. You can see one from across the store and go, "damn, that's a Nintendo Switch game".

I just want a thousand of them.

I would say a disadvantage, especially compared to the Gamecube games next to them, and even compared to 3ds, is that you can't tell what game you're looking at without going right up to them. These cases are TOO uniform, and really tiny, so i have to triple check I am picking up Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and not Tony Hawk Pro Skater. Meanwhile you can tell exactly what Gamecube games I have by colour pallette alone. Like, you can instantly tell that's Windwaker.

The switch in general is a very fun looking games console, much nicer looking than its predecessor the Wii U, though I'm not sure how I feel about the white of the OLED. But every time I see a Switch Lite in stores, even though I know it's worse than my Switch, I want to buy one. It just looks so FUUUUUN.

And finally a special mention to the 3DS and its games case. The console itself was pretty stylish, if... rudimentary for its release period, but the games cases are high quality and almost make me want to have 3ds games just so I can have the cases.

[puppetboysx3]

South Park Games (Info Post)

this is a blog post about the official South park games , this will include some general info on the games , plus where you can play/buy them , some of these are not games you can play on their original platform so ill include emulators for what I can

South park ( December 21, 1998 ) 

Developed by Iguana Entertainment/Appaloosa Interactive

Published by Acclaim Entertainment

Distributed by Comedy Central 

came out for Nintendo 64 in 1998 

came out for Windows and PlayStation in 1999

first-person shooter , it has both a single player and multiplayer mode 

 N64 emulator 

 PlayStation emulator

South park : Chef's Luv Shack  (October 12, 1999)

Developed by Acclaim Studios AustinPublished by Acclaim EntertainmentDistributed by Comedy Central

came out for N64 , Dreamcast , PlayStation , and Windows in 1999 

Game show style party game 

N64 emulator

PlayStation emulator

South Park Rally (January 5 , 2000)

Developed by Tantalus Interactive

Published by Acclaim Entertainment

Distributed by Comedy Central 

came out for N64 , Dreamcast , PlayStation and windows in 2000 

Simple Racing game 

N64 emulator

PlayStation emulator

 South park Lets go Tower Defense Play (October 7 , 2009) 

Developed by Doublesix, in collaboration with South Park Digital Studios and Xbox Live Productions

Published by Xbox Game Studios

came out only for the Xbox Live Arcade which was a service on Xbox 360

Tower Defense game 

very little info of this game exists online 

South park : Tenorman's Revenge (March 30 , 2012) 

 Developed by Other Ocean Interactive, in collaboration with South Park Digital Studios

 Published by Xbox Game Studios 

came out for Xbox Live Arcade 

Platformer 

South park : The Stick of Truth (March 4 , 2014) 

Developed by Obsidian Entertainment, in collaboration with South Park Digital Studios

Publishing rights purchased by Ubisoft due to THQ filing for bankruptcy, resulting in the game's release being delayed 

Came out for Windows , Playstation 3 , Xbox 360 in 2014

came out for Nintendo switch, Playstation 4, Xbox one in 2018

South park : The Fractured But Whole( October 17 , 2017 ) 

 Developed by Ubisoft San Francisco, in collaboration with South Park Digital Studios, Ubisoft Osaka, Massive Entertainment, Ubisoft Annecy, Ubisoft Reflections, Blue Byte, and Ubisoft Quebec. 

came out for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One in 2017 . came out for Nintendo Switch in 2018

South park : Phone Destroyer (November 9 , 2017) 

Developed by Ubisoft RedLynx, in collaboration with Ubisoft Pune and South Park Digital Studios 

Came out for IOS and Android in 2017 

South park : Snow Day (March 26 ,2024) 

Developed by Question, published by THQ Nordic, in collaboration with South Park Digital Studios 

Comes out for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch , PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S 

and an honorable mention to

South park : pinball (1999?)

this is an add-on/DLC to PinballFX 2 & Zen Pinball 2 . also made into a stand only phone game during somewhere around 2014 but was removed due to legal issues 

[randomisedgaming]

Final Xbox 360 sales is now live on the service before the store closes on the 29th!

Yes, it really is your last chance now to download, any apps, games and add-on content for the Xbox 360. This final sale is very disappointing it has to be said no more games will be getting their prices cut and next to no DLC has been discounted. So the Koei DLC for games like Samurai Warriors 2 is still very expensive.

The excellent website Delisted Games has done a full news store and list on all the price drops here, so do check it out: https://delistedgames.com/the-final-xbox-360-price-reduction-update-underwhelms-but-hey-theres-hoodies/

The art Delisted Games has been using for the shutdown does indeed show the Xbox 360 sun has all but set now.

We expect online play of many Xbox 360 games to be sunset after the store closes as well.

So grab all the free content on the service and any games you want while you can. There is quite a few games on the service. We just added Mars Rover Landing for Kinect to our soon to be removed games, it's a free one, but missing from the A-Z listing now and has to be search for. Our list is here: https://randomisedgaming.tumblr.com/post/755899330566684672/xbox-360-xbla-titles-without-xbox-one-series-x

Follow Randomised Gaming on Tumblr, YouTube, Twitch & Twitter for video gaming & video content! Buy us a tea on Ko-fi

[desk-drawerr]

Mall Dreams

i have these recurring dreams about a mall. it's similar to my local mall but much bigger and extremely different in layout. I seem to find new locations every time i dream about it, and i just wanted to put it into words so i don't forget. It feels liminal despite being full of people. the people themselves are always in my peripheral vision, like blurry shadows that seem to disappear when i get close, or stay if they're impeding my progress somehow. sometimes i speak to them, but i never remember what exactly they say. the whole style of the mall appears to be similar to the actual mall i go to. mostly white and beige, tiled floor, and glass ceilings to let the light in on the upper floors.

some key locations are: - the 2 floor gaming store: a shop with a red and white colour scheme that sells mostly xbox 360 games and accessories, with a dark bottom floor i don't recall ever going to. - the giant arcade: bigger than the arcade in my actual local mall (which is pretty big). large entrance with glass windows spanning almost the whole arcade. often extremely dark, a cafeteria type area on the far left side, crane and prize games on the right. in the middle is assorted skill based or leisure games like basketball, and some other weird unknowable games only understandable in a dream. this arcade always features at least 1 version of DDR, usually multiple machines. i am almost always much worse at DDR in this arcade than i am when i'm awake. crane machines once had moomin merchandise inside. one time it was closed and the whole place was pitch black save for a few spotlights. - the clothing store: a store that sells clothes. brightly lit with high ceilings and a black and white mid 2000s chic look to the logo and walls, whatever my brain thinks that means. thin black lines and flower designs. sells makeup stuff, clothes, and sometimes giant stuffed animals. has an escalator going to an upper floor - The ice cream shop: an ice cream shop. darkly lit with a mostly red colour scheme, sells ice cream and milkshakes too, although i have never been able to acquire anything from this store due to lack of funds. - The window: the back entrance of the mall, always brightly lit with sunlight coming into the mall through the window. i think there's a pretzel shop around here somewhere, but i can't find it. banks and other back of the mall places live here. the exit leads to a car park. the car park has no cars parked. reminds me of an airport. - The platform: somewhere in the middle of the mall. a circular platform one can walk on on the second floor. tiny escalators allow access from the main mall floor to the platform. there are no railings to stop you from falling through to the bottom floor. very unstable. it shifts under your weight.

Key characters: the gaming store guy: works at the 2 floor gaming store, very friendly and lets me look around even if i'm not buying anything. offered to show me the lower floor. i can't remember if i went down there or not. the ice cream shop worker: works at the ice cream shop. a stickler for dream rules as evidenced by my inability to buy ice cream with insufficient funds. the pursuer: i don't know who this man is. in my most recent dream he stalked me through the mall. i don't recall anything becoming of it but it made me uneasy. the guy on the DDR machine who just won't leave: actually this is more like multiple people, but in my mall dreams that have featured DDR, more than once has there been someone playing on the machine making me unable to play myself. when i do get a chance to play, the Dream Anti-Gravity™ kicks in and i suck at the game.

I really like my mall dreams. Would probably make a good game.

[sonic-adventure-3]

auuuuugh i keep trying to buy sonic 06 and sonic the fighters on my 360 but xbox live won’t fucking sign me in and xbox marketplace won’t recognize my payment methods!!! the xbox 360 digital store is shutting down really soon, so while i can probably maybe find a super overpriced physical 06 copy, i don’t think i’ll be able to get sonic the fighters for 360 any other way. is anyone else having similar problems or have any solutions?

[ask-zaukodar]

For those who don't particularly follow gaming, there's currently a hot new game out in the field called "Helldivers 2" and it is making hype train waves like very few games have before. There is also a lot of discourse about why it's doing the kinds of numbers and having the popular support that it currently has, and while I know this may not reach a lot of people I still want to drop my thoughts on things.

Just to recap briefly: "Helldivers 2" is the sequel to the titular PC/PS4 game "Helldivers" where you play satirical Starship Troopers waging a war of aggression pre-emptive strike on alien powers who were content to be left alone dangerous enemies of humanity and democracy in the name of subjugating these powers to steal their resources and technology liberty, freedom, and defending our way of life. It was developed by Arrowhead games, who in addition to the original Helldivers previously made Magicka (not Magicka 2) and Gauntlet (2014), and the devs very clearly knew what they wanted to make in regards to all three games and hyperfocused on making those elements work to make the game the best possible experience.

Yes, there are live services aspects such as a rotating armor shop and a "seasonal pass" in the form of something called a War Bond, but the game has gone to impressive lengths to ensure that you aren't pressured into buying stuff through old tactics like FOMO and the like. And yes, the dev team has been in crisis mode addressing the server issues and fixing bugs and (hopefully) addressing the cheater problems, but they have a clear vision and have been working hard to make sure everyone can enjoy it. But it isn't the no-pressure live service, or the on-the-up-and-up dev team in and of itself, or even the chaotic and satirical nature of the game itself I spotted after playing as long as I have.

Helldivers 2 is a perfect (and perfectly-timed) B-game.

For anyone who never owned a console before the seventh generation (Playstation 3, Wii, and XBox 360) I'll explain briefly: every console had its "big title" (later known as AAA) games: Mario, Zelda, Final Fantasy, Battlefield, Call of Duty, Metal Gear, and all of the other ones an elder millennial can name off the top of their heads. But there also used to be games that very explicitly weren't that big-named that were still amazing games in their own right, like the Legacy of Kain series or Jak & Daxter series or Wild Arms or Guitar Hero or Pikmin or Overlord or Saints Row, there's lots of examples of "great games that didn't have mega-bux budgets". These games were the backbone of any console you owned, ever, and some of the best times you had with friends. They were not priced or marketed like AAA games were, but were the kind of game that kept you going back to any video game store of your choice.

For reasons I still don't fully comprehend these types of titles started drying up in the seventh generation, I don't know if it's because of the always-online culture that started appearing in gaming or if it had to do with the emergence of "indie games" or if it was manufacturers wanting bigger slices of the pie or whatever, but for whatever reason these games eventually fell into obscurity, and everything started to fall into "indie dev" or "AAA studio" with little exception. The few games of this category from this time period that were saved in PC ports are old and clunky and not as enjoyable to play, so people don't appreciate just how satisfying these games could be.

The thing about B-games is that they were incredibly solid. Yeah they might have reminded you of other games that were more mainstream or older games that you played on lesser graphics, but even if you didn't always enjoy the game you couldn't deny that it was decently made and it was the kind of game the devs wanted to make so you could play it. They weren't always the flashiest, highest-poly-count, or biggest marketing budget titles ever, but it still left an impression on you that could make you think back to it even now.

Flashing forward back to the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand and Twenty-Four and the landscape has changed so radically that the concept of a mid-level game that sets out to do something it wants to do is almost alien. But this is what Arrowhead started doing back in the 2010's when they made a dopey magic game where spells were based on your controller input that could friendly-fire (or outright troll) your friends. They used to be indie, but now they've grown enough to be a legitimate mid-level developer making the kind of games they know they want to make.

And because the gaming community is starved for something remotely original or fun they piled on it like sharks on bloody meat and they are eating it up wholesale. Which is great for the devs! And hopefully great for the gaming community at large, because maybe we'll get a return of some of these "not quite AAA games but still very solid and definitely not basement-developed" games.

[ding-dongie-dami]

I feel like I live under a rock. What submarine, what's happening? I'm so lost

It's alright, hun! The submarine news has been all over American media (including Tiktok) so I've been super invested in the story.

So, basically, 5 people are currently trapped in a submarine that was being used to explore the wreckage of the Titanic up close. Apparently, they are going to run out of air this morning (in US timezones), so if they're not located before then... 😬

The deeper you dive into the story, the more interesting and convulted it gets. Here are some highlights that I've discovered.

Apparently, it cost 250K (USD) in order to get a seat on this submarine. There is (at least) one confirmed billionaire on board. All five people on board are billionaires.

In case the wealth gap seems out there, 250K for a billionaire is like buying three Subway sandwiches for someone who makes 80K a year.

The submarine was controlled by (and I'm not joking) a Logitech Xbox 360 controller.

Before boarding, everyone had to sign a contract stating that they knew that the vessel was not up to regulations and that they could possibly die on this expedition.

The CEO of Oceangate, the company who own this submarine, is one of the five passengers on board.

A son of one of the trapped passengers went to a Blink-182 concert because "my family would want me to be here" (which is completely valid and people are acting like this man should grab a life vest and start swimming towards the submarine himself)

[victim2autopsy]

Forgot they closed the 360 marketplace and i'm met with this hideous layout

WHERE IS THE BIG BOX TELLING ME TO BUY XBOX LIVE GOLD????? AND THERE'S ONLY 3 TABS NOW???

this is gonna take a long time to get used to. . .

[theinfernalcollective]

Trying to play call of duty black ops 1 sucks currently.

Like what do you mean this account cannot connect to xbox LIVE.

Omg well yay, as typing this its actually let me in. Thank fuck and thank you reddit. From what I had found if you buy a new gamepass on xbox one with 360 games you need to wait for it to kick in.

Nostalgia for the win - Vesper

[robotpussy]

?? I'm trying to buy some games off the Xbox live store (Xbox 360) and 😭😭 the servers are down looks like I'll just download trials until the store closes down forever

[demonfox38]

Completed x2 - Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (Sega Saturn version)

Madness may be doing the same thing over and over again, but hey. At least I'm having fun doing it.

If economics were indicative of what my favorite video game of all time is, "Castlevania: Symphony of the Night" would win bar none. Just off of the top of my head, this is how many times I've made purchases of this title alone:

US PlayStation Copy - $6.00 (disc only from a now defunct GameStop location in 2006, so don't get too optimistic)

Japanese PlayStation Copy - $38.00

PSP Copy of "Dracula X Chronicles" (contains a unique SOTN variant) - ~$40.00

PS3 Digital Copy - ~$5.00

Xbox Live Digital Copy – Free (promotional; probably was a tie-in to "Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night" being released)

Additional copies for friends - ~$5.00

US PlayStation Copy for my sister - $50.00

Sega Saturn Copy - $140.00 (2016 in Akihabara; keep the date/place in mind)

This probably isn't even the sickest I could be in collecting copies of this game. Hell, I've been hung over at a stranger's house with access to their Xbox 360 and thought about purchasing it there as well just so I could distract myself from being sick.

For this particular situation, we're going to talk about the Sega Saturn variant of "Castlevania: Symphony of the Night." While I had heard about this one before, I hadn't thought about hunting it down. Content differences aside, I didn't have a Sega Saturn, nor has the Sega Saturn emulation scene been particularly stellar. But, on the one time (and hopefully not last time) @jeannettegray and I were physically in the same place, she happened to find this in the retro game store we were in. At first, I protested. It'd be irresponsible to buy something like that, right? And then I caved because, as established above, I'm kind of a bitch (submissive) for this game.

Fast forward to 2023. I've gotten into the anime series "Lupin the Third" (again, thanks JG!) I've been accumulating some "Lupin" games because they're fairly uncontested in the grand scheme of video game hunting. Considering that at least one is a staple on the bad/weird video game tournament Kusogrande, that should tell you about how well they normally go. But, I did happen to watch a match for the Lupin the Third game "Sage of Pyramid," which seemed to be generally well received! So, I found a copy of it on eBay in a three-pack with two other "Lupin" archive titles. To make a long story short, I ended up with a Japanese Sega Saturn, plus a few extra games.

I know. Between this and the Nintendo Wii U purchases this year, you've really got to ask what's wrong with me.

"Castlevania: Symphony of the Night" is a title I have previously reviewed, so I’m not going to bang too much about the shared properties here. Game good; game great; game arguably one of the best games ever made. The Sega Saturn port occurred about one year after the original PlayStation release by Konami Computer Entertainment Nagoya (KCEN), a branch office (and notably, not the original developer pool from KCET.) While KCEN mostly made either portable versions of console-based Konami games or movie-licensed games, KCEN is notable in "Castlevania" development for both this and "Castlevania Legends," the GameBoy title with female lead Sonia Belmont. Which means that they:

Chugged women-respecting juice like water.

Got everything they did chucked into a historical/narrative paper shredder.

Given this development, the Sega Saturn version of "Symphony of the Night" is in a weird place. It has more content—particularly, in additions to Maria Renard's presence and playability—but is often looked down as an inferior product. In particular, some of the most ridiculed items include load times, transparency implementation/workaround issues, and sprite quality. And boy, did I see some actual, verifiable hardware issues. But, despite that, I do think this variant has some serious charm to it. At least, I'd be way more likely to come back to this version than the PSP version.

Look, if I buy a Sony PSP, you have the right to hit me…up for donations for a charity.

Before we can talk about this game, I think we need to talk about the Sega Saturn itself. Like, the poor bastard only seemed to have success in Japan. (Being $100.00 more expensive than its competitor will do that to you.) It was the kind of non-successful entity that when I heard the Nerve Tower recommending the Sega Saturn version of "Baroque" above all other versions of the game, I felt nothing but mockery for the sentiment. My opinion on the console changed somewhat after tending to a minor memory issue for the console. See, with old consoles or games dying, I'm used to having to buy oddball components and then getting help from my dad in resoldering them into place. With the Sega Saturn? It was simple as buying a new CR2032 battery (from a Wal-Mart! Imagine that) and just popping it into place.

Let's just say I have a lot of appreciation for a console that is easy to manage.

Now, if it were as easy to program as it was to fix, I doubt the Sega Saturn would have floundered as much as it did. I haven't done a great, deep deal of reading into coding for this console, but it seems like working with it required a great deal more knowledge than just popping in some C++ and plugging away. I suppose comparing programming for the Sega Saturn and Sony PlayStation is somewhat like the difference in operating a racecar versus an average sedan. In the right environments and with the right skill level, the former will out-perform the latter. But, at the end of the day, whatever is easiest to handle and cheapest to purchase will be used by more people.

Granted, "Symphony of the Night" should have been a natural slot-in for the Sega Saturn's library. While its best-selling titles were in 3D, a significant chunk of its library contains 2D sprite-based fighters. Weirdly enough, "Symphony of the Night" could qualify for this with its visual presentation and its control style. It's just…well…from what I can tell, this was KCEN's second and last Sega Saturn title. I don't think the experience or confidence was here for a perfect port. Hell, even notes from the developers themselves are frequently lamenting development delays.

Also—Yoshinori Suzuki is the realest for having a reference to Goblin music in his note. I'm more team Suspiria when it comes to Goblin music, but I have full faith that band could slay a "Castlevania" composition.

Okay. Enough sympathy for the devil! Let's get down to the game itself.

The objectives for this port of "Symphony of the Night" match up to the original base game. If you've got SOTN down 200.6% elsewhere, you'll easily hit 210% here. Does the math not add up? Well, it never really did. But, in this case, the first noticeable change is the addition of two new areas per map side. These new areas are respectively dungeon and garden-flavored, both of which make sense in terms of an addition. Neither add a great deal of room content to the game (capping at about 6 rooms for the garden and 3 for the dungeon), but they do provide some benefits, including:

A bridge piece between the Marble Gallery and Underground Caverns

New enemy types

A new boss fight

Access to the Alucard Spear (which, granted, is more important for Lecarde family lore than anything. But it's nice to pick up!)

These areas (and the castle's entrance) also sport some new tunes. Okay, maybe just "Chaconne C Moll" and "Guardian" are wholly originally. But, it does contain pairs of dance and jazz mixes for the "Vampire Killer," "Bloody Tears," and "Beginning" themes. Sure, they're the most 90s-sounding compositions on this planet. But, goddamn if that isn't exactly what I wanted from a "Castlevania" game.

I know. Real trash-core behavior on my part. At least give the "Beginning" remixes a shot before you take another one at me.

Item distribution and placement has also been slightly tweaked from the base PlayStation game, although it is generally in the player's favor. (For example: the Sword familiar is just below the save room of Orlox's Quarters instead of being in a hidden ceiling space.) About the greatest addition of note here is a cape called the Rainbow Robe, which cycles through palettes to create a constant color swapping effect. Very cool. There are also some different familiars than what is present in the US PlayStation version of the game, but about all that is unique there is getting a Half-Faerie that sings if you get her some lyrics. Which…thanks? I guess?

Honestly, the big content augment to the game is Maria Renard. Not only does she become a boss for Alucard to fight (having him prove his strength to her), but she's also playable! And holy shit, does she kick ass! Like, she generally kicks ass, but my God. Literal ass kicking here! Kicked my ass as a boss. Kicked everyone else's ass when fighting them in her mode. I'm not kidding when I say that only three bosses posed a threat to me while playing her. (For those of you that want to attempt this playstyle: it was Orlox, the "Castlevania III" trio, and Galamoth that gave me the most trouble.) If you've got Alucard's Dark Metamorphosis and Soul Steal input commands down, congratulations. You can absolutely slaughter the game as Maria.

It's wild. In her mode, she's got:

A chargeable magic attack as her primary attack

A triple and high jump

An evasive somersault (while Alucard doesn't even have a slide mechanic, so LMAO)

A base kick attack (for when you're storing up magic)

Access to standard "Castlevania" subweapons

Combo commands for summoning all four Celestial Beasts whenever you've got the MP (granting on-the-go healing, two massively damaging attacks, and a limited-time familiar)

A variety of martial arts attacks, and

Access to a full invincibility-granting move! (Like, you've gotta do a full clockwise input + a charge to do it, so it does require some serious skill to use. But still!)

Talk about a power fantasy! Like, no wonder people talk about the reset to Maria's move pool in the PSP version of "Symphony of the Night" being a downgrade. She's an absolute beast here.

Begrudgingly, I can see why Maria's abilities were augmented in later releases. To some extent, I think the IGA team was trying to keep in lockstep with the "Rondo of Blood" version of her, especially considering that the PSP game is primarily a remake and re-release of that game. And, okay, yes. She was originally designed as a tiny Belmont alternative. But in the Sega Saturn SOTN version? With her input pool and abilities? She's an Alucard alternative. Hell, her heal move maps to one of his recovery abilities (Genbu to Dark Metamorphosis), and her primary devastating spell is also the homewrecker in his (Seiryuu to Soul Steal.) She wasn't designed out of nowhere. She was just pulled from a different man's ribs.

I guess if nothing else, the PSP sprites of her are prettier. So…there's that.

Oh! Prettiness. Guess that leads back to the overall aesthetic quality of the game (or potentially lack thereof, depending on who you ask.) Personally, the biggest issues I had here were not so much with sprite distortion, but with load and lag. This game doesn't have the same load-in grace going between new areas or loading in boss fights as the PlayStation version does. It seems like it struggles greatest with particle effects, although bosses with multiple chunks and entities to them can also cause severe rendering delays. Hoo boy, does it not like a bunch of stuff on screen all at once! The Beelzebub and Legion fights in particular bring out the greatest lag in the system, so be prepared for that when/if you tackle them. Even Galamoth has some lag (although, I was using that to my benefit when possible.)

In terms of transparency compensation, the Saturn version does well enough to skirt around some issues. The trailing movement sprites are still following you, so A+ there. Some magic spells were altered to use white instead of using transparency, which honestly? I thought that made some look very pretty (Tetra Spirit in particular!) About the only place I could point at and scold was the hidden cavern behind the waterfall in the Underground Caverns section. In the PlayStation version, it is smoothly revealed as the player steps into it. In the Saturn version? It's like someone flicked a light switch on. Honestly, it would have just been better to let the player always see it, if that's what revealing it was going to look like.

Also, killing Fire Demons is particularly ugly in this game. It's just a lazy, nonsensical sprite swap (as opposed to the color cycling in the PlayStation version.) The Marionette deaths are pretty funny, though!

There was one point where the lack of full implementation actually impressed me. Anti-spoiler at this point, but the final boss fight with Dracula has a much different feeling in the Saturn version. Not that the move cycles he has have even remotely changed. It's the background! In the PlayStation version, it's a bit psychedelic—maybe more like something you'd see in an "Earthbound" or "Star Fox" ending fight. In the Saturn version? 100% black. Cheap? Sure. But, considering Alucard is fighting his father in a realm between the living and the dead—in a complete abyss—it honestly grew on me. Like, yeah, ha ha! The devs couldn't figure out how to do the funky color/texture cycling! But also? Absolute darkness works, too.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the bodily injuries I'm currently nursing post playthroughs as well. Like, my left thumb was taking some abuse from the default controller's D-pad, so I ended up playing through portions of Maria Mode using an HSS-0104 Virtua Stick. (Like I said—I spent some stupid money on this console.) I just ended up pushing the injuries from my thumb to my shoulder blades. 😅 I can't completely blame the game on that, though. I should know better than to do 8+ hours of gaming in a day.

By the way—I did confirm something switching controllers. It seems like this "Symphony of the Night" variant likes to pick up on Up button presses more than in the PlayStation version regardless of the controller used. At least, I was pulling the Fireball / Byakko spells more than intended. I also found myself thinking less in terms of hitting every button in a combo, instead just smearing into cardinal directions. Like, the Saturn seems to have more of a slide detection to it than I anticipated? It's the difference from going down + down-forward + forward to down and forward while smushing your thumb up. You just kinda go legato, not giving a thought about the intermediate inputs.

Okay, verdict time!

Did I enjoy the Sega Saturn port of "Castlevania: Symphony of the Night?" Absolutely! While it has its oddities, I hesitate to call this product inferior. It's definitely not as tight of an experience as the standard PlayStation version, but what is here is cool. I would put this in the same category as "Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow" in that if you can't vibe with the main game for some ridiculous reason, it's got awesome side-modes to back it up.

Would I recommend other people play this game? Of course!

Would I recommend other people buy this game?

Look. I know when I'm being ridiculous. This experience personally cost me somewhere between $300.00 to $350.00 USD. Like, what the fuck. Madness! It would have been worse, had I actually bought this game this year! I mean, as of writing, this game, complete in box, is trending at $219.15 USD on PriceCharting.com! Shit, I might as well tell you to buy an arcade cabinet for how ridiculous this could get! And then you've got to weigh the pros and cons of taking systems out of their native countries, what international buyers are doing to the Japanese video game market, the risks of transporting stuff that far, and so on. It's not something you can just say, "LMAO, do it!" about.

But, what I will say is that BizHawk has a pretty good Sega Saturn emulator. And also, I might have written some documentation on how to get BizHawk set-up for Sega Saturn emulation. Chances are you're smart enough to figure out the rest.

[mikothehunter]

The Final Shape

A bit of a birdwalk, and a potentially spoilery screenshot. I remember firing up my old Xbox - I honestly think it might have been a 360 - and checking out a little public preview for a game that looked cool, and was made by the people who made Halo. Destiny.

I lived in a tiny room in a small home with three roommates, and my desk with my console was crammed in to an even tighter corner behind the foot of my single bed. There was a lot in my life that felt new and exciting, but this game -- this felt...special. That little intro where a solemn-voiced companion told me I didn't know it yet, but I could do some real good if I could just get to someplace special. Running around and learning to spring lightly across a chasm, throw flaming knives, and spend bullets to buy myself time to learn what to do next felt fluid, seamless, fun. As I started to pick up bits and fragments of the fiction, and learned more about the people and the struggles of this strange new world, I was enthralled. When my jumpship warped through space the first time, I half-wished that mesmerizing loading screen of promise would never end. It grew, it changed. I grew too. Yeah, I had to take breaks - sometimes I felt like this game demanded too much of me, and I didn't have enough to give it. Even then, when someone would ask me what my favorite game was (and this was a shockingly common question), Destiny was my first answer. I came back and left a multitude of times, trying to find a balance I could maintain. But as soon as it got better - by that I mean my thing, it got better - I jumped back in with both feet. I'm so glad I did. I found a game that had matured by trying new things, then keeping the good bits and working out the tough bits. More excitingly, I found the game unleashing some of the most creative uses of a first-person-shooter-platform as it worked towards the conclusion of a story it started to tell me almost a decade ago.

This was a beautifully executed closing chapter. The adventure was swaggering and boisterous and fun spirited. It resolved flawlessly. Each moment was written and performed with deliberate purpose. Care. This tremendous portion of my life and attention resolved with gravity, dignity, and a glimmering promise.

I sat on this screen for a long time, half-wishing I could loop this moment forever.

But...I personally can't wait to see what's next.

Thank you, Bungie.

Finally understanding why some people like crying during hallmark movies, - Miko

[randomisedgaming]

A list of of the Xbox 360 DLC still up to buy in the store! Along with all delisted DLC we are aware of.

With just over a week list we've put together a quick list of every game where the DLC is still up to buy in the UK store. They may be delisted in your region however. This list was made using the all search list, which is still up at present expect it to disappear on the 29th of July.

Link here: https://marketplace.xbox.com/en-GB/Games/All?SortBy=Title&PageSize=90

Change the letters GB to the letters used for your region of the website North America is US for example.

All the games listed have at least one of their DLCs still up in the store, some DLC content may be delisted already and a few still show in the store and can't be purchased as we found out with the Map Pack for Ninety-Nine Nights II yesterday when we tried to buy it.

This is a full list and includes all games, some have the DLC on Xbox One / Series others do not. Some games like N+ and Lost Planet 2 have DLC on Xbox 360, but not in the Xbox One Store.

Some games like Fallout 2 and Star Wars The Force Unleashed have complete version. Others like Mass Effect, Borderlands 2 and Two Worlds have version with some of the DLC on disc, but not all.

I've tried to list free DLC and Compatibility Pack for games, but as I've done this in a hurry I haven't labeled them all. Hopefully I didn't miss any from the official marketplace webaite, but let me know if I did.

I've tried to list all games with their full name, but the shop's A-Z has some odd listings, something they list them by the word "the" but not others. Some games are just initials, some use the full name like Tony Clancy's etc.. others skip the author name and just use Splinter Cell.

Example Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes turns up in the C listing.

I've included a very rough list of delisted or unobtainable DLC at the bottom which is a work in progress. At some point in the future, I might try and turn this into a full list of games with DLCs.

All Xbox 360 Games With DLC in UK

0-9 Numbers

0 Day Attack On Earth

0D Beat Drop

3D Ultra Minigolf

A

A Kingdom For Keflings

A World Of Keflings

AFL Live

Alan Wake

Alice: Madness Returns

Alien Hominid HD

Alien Spidy

Alien: Isolation

Aliens Vs Predator

Aliens: Colonial Marines

Anarchy Reigns

Ancients Of Ooga

Arcana Heart 3

Arcania

Arkanoid Live!

Armored Core V (Has Compatibility Pack)

Armored Core: Verdict Day (Has Compatibility Pack)

Assassin's Creed Brotherhood

Assassin's Creed II

Assassin's Creed Revelations

Assassin's Creed III

Assassin's Creed Rogue

Assassin’s Creed IV

Assault On Dark Athena

Asura's Wrath

B

Band Of Bugs

Banjo Kazooie: N N B

Bastion

Batman: Arkham City

Batman: Arkham Asylum

Batman: The Telltale Series

Battle Vs Chess

Battlefield 3

Battlefield 4

Battlefield Hardline

Battlestations Pacific

Battlestations: Midway

Beautiful Katamari

Bellator: MMA Onslaught

Binary Domain

Bioshock

Bioshock 2

Bioshock Infinite

Birds Of Steel

Blazblue Continuum Shift Extend

Blazblue Continuum Shift (Has Compatibility Pack)

Blood Bowl

Blue Dragon

Bomberman Battlefest

Bomberman Live

Borderlands

Borderlands 2

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel

Brink

Brütal Legend

Bubble Bobble Neo!

Bulletstorm

Bulletwitch

The Bureau

Burnout Revenge

C

Command & Conquer 3

Command & Conquer Red Alert 3

Command & Conquer Kane's Wrath

Caladrius

Call Of Duty 2

Call Of Duty 3

Call Of Duty: Advanced Warfare

Call Of Duty: Black Ops

Call Of Duty: Black Ops II

Call Of Duty: Black Ops III

Call Of Duty: Ghosts

Call Of Duty Modern Warfare

Call Of Duty Modern Warfare2

Call Of Duty Modern Warfare3

Call Of Duty World At War

Call Of Juarez: Bound In Blood

Capcom Arcade Cabinet

Carcassonne

Carnival Games: In Action (Subtitled: Monkey See, Monkey Do In North America)

Cars 2: The Video Game

Castle Crashers

Castlestorm

Castlevania HD

Castlevania: Lord Of Shadows

Castlevania: Lord Of Shadows 2

Champion Jockey

Child Of Light

Choplifter HD

Civilization Revolution (Three DLCs are not available for purchase on Xbox One)

Conflict: Denied Ops

Costume Quest

Crackdown (Game And DLC Is Free To Download)

Crackdown 2 (Game And DLC Is Free To Download)

Crazy Machines Elements

Crimson Alliance

Crossboard 7

Crystal Quest

D

Dance Central

Dance Central 2

Dance Central 3

Dance Evolution

Dante's Inferno (Trials DLC Delisted)

Dark

Dark Souls

Dark Souls II (Has Compatibility Pack)

Dark Void

The Darkness

Darksiders II

Darkstalkers Resurrection

Dragon Ball: Raging Blast

Dance Dance Revolution Universe 3

Dead Island

Dead Island Riptide

Dead Or Alive 5

Dead Or Alive 5 Last Round

Dead Rising

Dead Rising 2

Dead Rising 2 Off The Record

Dead Space

Dead Space 2

Dead Space 3

Dead To Rights Retribution (DLC is free, but only in North America, delisted in Europe)

Deadfall Adventures

Deadliest Warrior

Deadliest Warrior: Legends

Deathspank: Thongs Of Virtue (Achievement DLC)

Defense Grid

Destiny

Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Diablo III: Reaper Of Souls

Dirt 2

Dirt 3 (All bar Online Pass delisted, needed for online play and only sold in Xbox 360 Store)

Dirt Showdown

Dishonored

Disney Infinity 3.0

Disney Universe

DmC

Dark Messiah Might & Magic: Elements

Dogfight 1942

Dollar Dash

Domino Master

Doritos Crash Course

Dragon Age: Origins

Dragon Age 2

Dragon Age: Inquisition

Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen

Duke Nukem Forever

Dungeon Defenders

Dungeon Siege III

Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires (All Free)

Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2 (All Free)

Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 3

Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce

Dynasty Warriors 7

Dynasty Warriors 8

E

Earth Defense Force 2025

Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon (DLC not sold in Xbox One store)

Enemy Front

Enslaved

Escape Dead Island (All Free DLC)

Exit (All Free DLC)

Exit 2

F

F.E.A.R. 2

Fable Anniversary

Fable II

Fable III

Fable: The Journey

Fallout 3

Fallout: New Vegas

Fantastic Pets

Far Cry 2

Far Cry 3

Far Cry 4

Fight Night Champion

Final Fantasy XIII-2

Fist Of The North Star: Ken’s Rage

Fist Of The North Star: Ken’s Rage 2

Front Mission Evolved

Frontlines: Fuel Of War

Frozen Free Fall: Snowball Fight (Free Game With £40+ Worth Of DLC)

Fruit Ninja Kinect

Full House Poker

Funtown Mahjong

G

Guilty Gear Xx Accent Core Plus (Free DLC Upgrades Game To R Revision)

Game Of Thrones

Gears Of War

Gears Of War 2 (All Free)

Gears Of War 3

Gears Of War Judgement

Get Fit With Mel B

Ghost Recon: Future Soldier

Ghostbusters: Sanctum Of Slime

Gin Rummy

Goat Simulator

Golf: Tee It Up!

Gotham City Impostors

Grand Theft Auto IV

Grand Theft Auto V

Grid Autosport

Gripshift

Gyromancer

H

Halo 3

Halo 4

Halo Wars

Halo Reach

Hard Corps: Uprising

Hell Yeah! Wrath Of The Dead Rabbit

Hitman: Absolution

How To Survive

Hydro Thunder

I

IL-2: Birds Of Prey

Ilomilo

Infinite Undiscovery (All Free)

Injustice: Gods Among Us

Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet

Iron Brigade

J

Joe Danger Special Edition

Joe Danger 2: The Movie

Just Cause 2

Just Dance 2014

Just Dance 2015

Just Dance 3

K

Kameo

Kane & Lynch 2

Kane And Lynch: Dead Men

Killer Is Dead (One DLC Smooth Operator Pack not sold on Xbox One)

Kinect Fun Labs (Air Band, Avatar Kinect, Battle Stuff, I Am Super!, Junk Fu, Kinect Rush: Snapshot, Musical Feet,

Mutation Station) (All Free) (Some Expansion Delisted)

Kinect Party - Base Game

Kinect Sports

Kinect Sports: Season Two

Kinectimals

Kinect Joy Ride (All Free)

King’s Quest – Ch. 1

King's Quest

King Of Fighters XII, The

King Of Fighters XIII, The

Kung Fu Panda: Showdown of Legendary Legends

L

L.A. Noire (Complete retail edition features all DLC and the PS3 exclusive case not sold on Xbox 360. It also restores the DLC quest back to their intended place in the story making for a far better version of the game, than the base one)

Lara Croft And The Guardian Of Light

Left 4 Dead

Left 4 Dead 2

Lego Batman 2

Lego Batman 3 Beyond Gotham

Lego Marvel

Lego Movie Videogame

Lego Rock Band

Lego Star Wars II

Lego Harry Potter: Years 5-7

Lego Jurassic World

Lego Marvel's Avengers

Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Life Is Strange Episode 1

Lightning Returns Final Fantasy Xiii

Lma Manager 2007

Lococycle (Free DLC Is Required To Play Game, So Download It)

Lode Runner

Lost Odyssey

Lost Planet 2 (One Pack Not Sold In Xbox One Store, Map Pack 1)

Lost Planet 3

Lumines Live! (Two free DLCs are only up for download on Xbox One)

M

Madballs Babo: Invasion

Mafia II

Magic 2015 (Free DLC Magic 2015—Garruk’s Revenge Must Search For As Game Is Delisted DLC isn't)

Marathon: Durandal

Mark Of The Ninja

Marvel Puzzle Quest

Mass Effect (Pinnacle Station DLC Only On Xbox 360)

Mass Effect 2

Mass Effect 3

Max Payne 3 (All Free Compatibility Packs Needed For Online)

Medal Of Honor

Medal Of Honor Warfighter

Mega Man 9

Mega Man 10

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Metal Slug XX

Meteos Wars

Metro 2033

Metro: Last Light

Middle-Earth: Shadow Of Mordor

Might & Magic Clash Of Heroes (Achievements)

Mighty No. 9

Mindjack

Mirror's Edge

Monday Night Combat

Monopoly Plus

Moon Diver

Mortal Kombat [9] (Most DLC Is Delisted Only Compatibility Packs Remain Up, Must Use Search To Find)

Motionsports: Adrenaline

Motogp13

Mud

MX VS ATV Reflex

N

N+ (Still Up, DLC Is Only Up On 360 To Buy, One Is Free)

Naruto Storm R

Nat Geo Quiz! Wild Life

Naughty Bear Panic In Paradise

Need For Speed Most Wanted

Need For Speed Carbon

Need For Speed Rivals

Need For Speed Undercover

Nier

Ninety-Nine Nights II (3 DLC's The Map Pack Said It Is Delisted In The Uk When You Try To Buy It And Errors. Use Search To Find)

Ninja Blade (Free DLC, Use Search To Find)

Ninja Gaiden II

Ninja Gaiden 3

Ninja Gaiden 3 Razor's Edge

Novadrome

O

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Wizard's Tower DLC Errors When You Try To Buy On Xbox One)

Omerta - City Of Gangsters

Onechanbara

Orcs Must Die!

Outpost Kaloki X

P

PAC-MAN Championship Edition DX+

Painkiller Hell & Damnation

Payday 2

Peggle

Perfect Dark Zero

Photo Party (Free Game / App For Xbox Vision / Camera)

Pinball FX2

Plants VS Zombies Garden Warfare

Port Royale 3

Portal 2

Prey (All Free DLC)

Prince Of Persia (2008 Retail Title)

Prison Architect: Xbox 360 Edition

Project Sylpheed (Free DLC, New Missions)

Prototype 2

Puzzle Arcade

Puzzle Bobble Live!

Puzzle Quest

Q

Qix++

Quantum Conundrum

R

Rabbids Invasion: The Interactive TV Show (Warning Do Not Buy Ubisoft Season Pass As It Doesn't Work)

Race Pro

Rage

Raskulls

Red Dead Redemption

Red Faction: Armageddon

Red Faction: Battlegrounds

Red Faction: Guerrilla

Remember Me

Renegade Ops

Resident Evil 0

Resident Evil 5

Resident Evil 6

Resident Evil Operation Raccoon City

Residen Evil Revelations

Residen Evil Revelations 2 (Digital Edition)

Ride To Hell: Retribution

Ridge Racer Unbounded

Rise Of The Tomb Raider

Risen 2: Dark Waters

Risen 3 Titan Lords

Rock Band

Rock Band 2

Rock Band 3

Rock Band Blitz

Rocksmith 2014 Edition

Rugby League Live 2 (Has Compatibility Pack)

Rumble Roses XX

S

Sacred 2 Fallen Angel

Sacred 3

Sacred Citadel

Saints Row

Saints Row 2

Saints Row IV

Saints Row: Gat Out Of Hell

Saints Row: The Third

Samurai Warriors 2 (Xtreme Legends Upgrade, Expensive DLC)

Sanctum 2

Scarygirl

Scene It? Box Office Smash! (DLC Is Called Award Winners)

Sesame Street: Once Upon A Monster

Skate 3

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Sleeping Dogs

Small Arms

Sniper Elite 3 (Has Compatibility Pack)

Sniper Elite V2 (Has Compatibility Pack)

Sniper Ghost Warrior

Sniper Ghost Warrior 2 (Has Compatibility Pack)

Soltrio Solitaire

Sonic & All-Stars Racing

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed

Sonic Adventure

Sonic Adventure 2

Sonic Generations

Sonic The Hedgehog (2006)

Sonic Unleashed

South Park The Stick Of Truth

Space Invaders Extreme

Space Invaders: Infinity Gene

Spelunky (Game Delisted DLC Still Up To Buy Two Items)

Spider-Man 3

Split/Second

Splosion Man

SSX

Stacking

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II

State Of Decay

Steel Battalion Heavy Armor

Stranglehold

Strania

Street Fighter III: Online Edition

Street Fighter IV

Street Fighter X Tekken

Stuntman: Ignition

Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition

Supreme Commander 2

T

Tom Clancy's Endwar

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2

Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Blacklist

Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Conviction

Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Double Agent

Tekken Tag Tournament 2

Test Drive Unlimited 2

Texas Hold'em

The Crew (Bonkers I Know As The Game Has Had It's Servers Turned Off, But You Can Buy The DLC For This Dead Game!)

The Evil Within

The First Templar

The Gunstringer (one Is Free Two Are Paid For)

The Last Remnant

The Maw

The Outfit (All Free Map Packs)

The Raven Episode 1

The Walking Dead: Michonne - Episode 1

The Walking Dead: Season Two

The Wolf Among Us

Thief

Things On Wheels

Thrillville: Off The Rails

Ticket To Ride

Timeshift

TNT Racers

Tomb Raider

Tomb Raider Underworld

Tomb Raider Anniversary

Tomb Raider Legend

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5

Too Human (Game And DLC Is Free To Download)

Trials Fusion

Trials HD

Tropico 4

Tropico 5

Two Worlds II (One Of The DLCS Is Not In Game Of The Year Edition And Has To Be Bought "Defense")

U

Ugly Americans: Apocalypsegeddon

V

Vampire Rain

Vanquish

Vigilante 8 Arcade

Virtua Fighter 5

Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown

Viva Piñata

W

The Walking Dead

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine

Warriors Orochi 3

Watch Dogs

Way Of The Samurai 3

Worms

Worms 2: Armageddon

Worms: Ultimate Mayhem

Wreckateer

Wrecked Revenge Revisited

X

XCOM: Enemy Unknown

Y

Yosumin! Live

Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Decade Duels Plus

Yu-Gi-Oh! Millennium Duels

Z

Zombie Driver HD

# - Symbols

虫姫さまふたり / Mushihimesama-Hutari-Black-Lavel (Japanese Game, DLC Listed For UK Owner Who Had The Game)

Delisted Games With DLC

Ace Combat 6

Ace Combat: Assault Horizons

Airmech Arena

Angry Birds Trilogy

Army Of Two

Army Of Two The Devil’s Cartel

Army of Two: The 40th Day

Batman: Arkham Origins

Battlefield: Bad Company

Battlefield Bad Company 2

Chromehounds

Crysis 3

Eets: Chowdown

Fantasia: Music Evolved

Final Fantasy XI: Seekers Of Adoulin (Online Only)

Forza Horizon

Forza Horizon 2

Forza Motorsport 3

Forza Motorsport 4

Grid 2

Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition

Hellboy: The Science Of Evil (DLC Was Never Released, But Achievements For It Were Added)

Hunted Demon’s Forge (Pre-order DLC Only Never Sold)

Just Dance (Need To Research Which Others Had DLC Likely Most)

Kinect Nat Geo TV

Kingdoms Of Amalur: Reckoning

Kinect Sparkler (Delisted Still In Store Won't Let You Buy It)

Kinect Star Wars (C-3P0 Background Dancing DLC Only Sold With R2d2 Xbox 360 Units.)

Kingdom Under Fire: Circle Of Doom

Kung Fu Strike

Lego Dimensions (Delisted, May Need The Lego Models To Obtain Some Of The DLC)

Lollipop Chainsaw (Pre-order DLC Only Never Sold)

Lord Of The Rings: Conquest

Magnacarta 2

Mercenaries 2

Minecraft: Story Mode

Minecraft: Story Mode - Season Two

Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition

Naruto Rise Of A Ninja

Need For Speed Shift

Need For Speed Shift 2

Persona 4 Arena Ultimax (Had Compatibility Pack)

Project Gotham Racing 3

Project Gotham Racing 4

Phantom Breaker:Battle Grounds

Pinball FX

Race Driver: Grid

Section 8

Skate 2

Skullgirls

Skydrift

Snoopy Flying Ace

Soulcalibur IV

Soulcalibur V

Syndicate (Limited Edition Version Had Gold Weapons And Scanner Never Sold)

Tales Of Vesperia

Tales From The Borderlands

Tekken 6 (Pre-order Only Content)

Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X

Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X 2

Test Drive Unlimited

The Darkness II (Limited Edition DLC, never sold)

The Lord Of The Rings: War In The North (Weapon Included With Collector's Edition)

The Saboteur

Toy Soldiers

Toy Soldiers: Cold War

Trials Evolved

Undertow

World Of Tanks

Worms Revolution

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[the-sparrow-sings]

Which Fable is your favorite and how long have you been playing? :)

I started playing when I was super young myself lol

Thank you for asking! I honestly can't remember how old I was. I know I was pretty young, but I can't remember if my brother was born yet or not when I started playing (I am SIGNIFICANTLY older than my brother, and I did a lot of his raising. If we were in a Fable game, I'd have died in the tutorial).

I do remember buying him his own copy at some point so he could play in his room when he was old enough to play it (my mom had a hyperfixation on fixing broken game consoles, so people would just give us their red-ringing xbox 360s, or she'd buy them super cheap, so even though we lived in a trailer in the woods we each had an xbox in our rooms lol).

Suffice it to say I was fairly young.

In any case, Fable 2 was my first Fable (my Great-Aunt bought it for me for Christmas when I was young because Sparrow on the cover reminded her of the characters I used to draw), and I hold it INCREDIBLY dear.

To me, Fable 2 (and Fable as a whole) had such an absolutely PERFECT aesthetic of "Fantasy that doesn't take itself too seriously", with pirates, steampunk elements, lampshades to its own plotholes/nonsensical worldbuilding, Frankensteining Lady Grey (my last name used to be Gray, so of course she was my favorite wife). NOT TO MENTION THE COMPLETE NORMALIZATION OF BEING BISEXUAL, WITH CANONICALLY LGB CHARACTERS (though transgender people weren't represented, to my knowledge. Outside of Sparrow's ability to change sex with the potion in the castle)...anyway, as a young bisexual, it meant a lot to me to see "Bisexual" in the description for random NPCs. It wasn't "playersexual" or highlighted to the point of making it seem like the developers were doing it for clout or worse, shock value. Reaver's bisexuality, while flagrant, felt natural in universe considering the fact that we could plainly see that bisexuality is common in Albion.

Though, I will say the fact that I play Fable 3 as though I'm Sparrow's ghost watching it all play out says something about how MUCH I love Fable 2 lol

Sparrow being nonverbal and having a difficult relationship with her mother figure really spoke to me too when I was young. I took the entire narrative SO personally, and it still effects me as an adult lol.

. . .

You didn't ask, but I was WEIRDLY attached to Reaver, to the point where it confused me, and then I later found out that Stephen Fry voiced an audiobook cassette I used to listen to to calm myself down when I woke up from night terrors as a child (a frequent occurrence). I was pavloved into finding Reaver EXTREMELY comforting. So I guess it makes sense that I picture Reaver as a sort of toxic unhealthy source of comfort for Sparrow in the aftermath of all that happened with The Spire. (Especially since Reaver himself suffers from night terrors)

I'm the Creative Lead at a ghostwriting agency that specializes in romance (increasingly more Fantasy Romance) and I feel like Fable 2 shaped a lot about my writing. It was just very good at having rich worldbuilding without having to make the narrative point to it like "LOOK AT MY RICH WORLD BUILDING". Spreaver was also THE first major "Ship" that I lost my mind over. So, my career as a romance writer was severely influenced by the way I ship Spreaver.

Reaver and Sparrow are T H E comfort characters for me.

ANYWAY THANK YOU FOR ASKING!!

[pistonhyundai]

Skate 2 at 15: Viva San Vanelona

Skate 2 turned 15 years old this week, and I never stopped playing it. Even when the servers slowly went to hell and made it harder (eventually impossible) for you to skate with other people or watch their clips, I'd still feel the urge to boot it up and screw around. In that eight year stretch where it wasn't backwards compatible with modern Xboxes, I kept a 360 hooked up just so I could always have a way to play it, and even afterwards only felt comfortable unplugging it after buying a digital copy on the 360 marketplace so I wouldn't even need to put the disc in my Series X.

Not many games have this sort of power over me. More recent indie efforts like Session and Skater XL don't capture that same feeling, and even Skate 3, a game with a fair share of features you could only view as improvements to the series, can't quite be as absorbing. So what is it about Skate 2 that's made it a constant for nearly half my life? I guess you can start with the obvious: how it feels to play.

When I think about a lot of my absolute favorite video games—shooters like Quake, platformers like Mario and Sonic, or even a strategy game like Worms Armageddon—the through-line between them is clear: there's a simple joy to the fundamental movement of the game. It goes without saying that platformers live and die by their running and jumping, but Quake is similarly defined by its breakneck speed and movement tech, and even with Worms (where the standard ground movement is deliberately sluggish), the high-risk-high-reward flinging granted by the Ninja Rope item is so ubiquitous to the series that a lot of fans outright ignore entries that don't get its physics right. When something as fundamental as simply getting around in a video game is its own fun, it makes it very easy to play something just for the sake of it, and the Skate series embodies that quality.

Skate's analog stick-driven Flickit trick system is a contentious one depending on who you ask, and when you think about the skateboarding games that came before it, that's understandable. The immediacy of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater's "direction + button = trick" formula came to define the genre in the series' heyday thanks to its approachable, pick-up-and-play nature (even Hawk-era games striving to be more grounded and technical like Thrasher: Skate and Destroy still rely on similar button combinations for its tricks), so of course Skate's idiosyncratic control scheme and the nuance it provides isn't going to be for everybody. Should you overcome the comparatively steep learning curve, however, Flickit becomes immensely rewarding to work with. Getting around feels incredibly natural, and you're given an unparalleled degree of control over things like the speed of your flip tricks, the height of your jumps, and the motion of your grabs—all with movements of the right analog stick. It delivers a level of finesse and a connection between you and the board that feels like nothing else in the genre.

This depth the Flickit system provides (along with the generally higher risk of outright bailing) puts a greater emphasis on landing single tricks than your average skateboarding game. A rail, ramp, or gap is usually a means to an end as part of a larger combo in other games, but like how simulation racers in the vein of Forza and Gran Turismo contrast arcade racers by finding simpler joys in hitting a corner's apex just perfectly, Skate relishes the smaller moments, treating them as setpieces unto themselves. That perfectly smooth grind down a slanted staircase railing. The clean landing of a half-pipe transfer you put that extra bit of spin to. A miraculous rooftop drop onto a nearby incline. Having any one of these things go off without a hitch after throwing yourself at them repeatedly brings a sense of accomplishment that rivals any million-point Pro Skater combo (while the ragdoll physics and crunchy sound work ensure that failure is its own entertainment without getting too graphic), and it's something that makes you look at the world with a different eye compared to other extreme sports games; one that feels a little closer to an actual skateboarder's.

Instead of thinking about how you can link your surroundings together for huge combos, you think about what looks and feels good, approaching individual landmarks from all angles to pick them apart, eventually getting off your board to drag nearby props over to either mutate the spot or slot the object in as the missing piece that makes something skatable with flair. Maybe you'll even want to edit the replay and upload it to the game's Skate Reel gallery of user-made photos and replays—or in these days of dead servers, save it manually with the Xbox's built-in recording. Each Skate game has scoring mechanics and career modes, all with the unique objectives and trappings you'd expect from them, but it's these naturally occurring, self-imposed "I wonder if I can do that?" moments that end up being the best challenges in the series.

And this is where Skate 2 really stands out from the other games in the trilogy as something special: its setting is perhaps as perfect a canvas for its gameplay as you can ask. New San Vanelona, a renovated take on the original game's city (the result of an earthquake that occurred in the Wii and DS-exclusive spinoff, Skate It), is a sprawling skate wonderland full of diverse environments, each brimming with unique opportunities to capitalize on. Every region has its own makeup that feels catered to a specific style of skateboarding: Cougar Mountain's hillside roads are made for careening down, the dilapidated buildings and rooftops of the Boneyard are begging for prop improvisation, and there are multiple skate parks and mega complexes that grant intoxicatingly big air. Proceed for a few seconds in any direction and you'll find an interesting spot to skate, an object to drag around for use in a setup, or some insane drop or steep road you can use to either set up a huge jump or simply eat shit after building up speed. Each location gracefully the flows into the next, with smaller skate spots peppered in along the way, making it incredibly easy to lose hours just mindlessly roving around the city, seeing what corners of the world speak to you at a given moment. The first game's take on the city is decent, but feels a little barren by comparison (it doesn't help that it lacks the moveable props or the ability to get off your skateboard, making it harder to set things up), and the third game's Port Carverton is segregated into three disconnected biomes that can't quite inspire the same creativity as New San Vanelona.

Skate 2's level design is so engrossing that some of its most memorable spots exist entirely by accident, never intended to actually be used. The series is no stranger to glitches, as I'm sure you've seen on YouTube, but it can be used for more than just funny highlights and bails. While they can end up spoiling the competitive aspect of the wipeout-based objectives, certain exploits can be used to bend the rules and get a little extra help in making something happen. Depending on the glitch you use, you can build up speed quickly in a tight location or launch yourself dozens (sometimes hundreds) of feet into the air, and more enterprising skaters can use this to reach new heights that give their surroundings a whole new complexion. One such spot is found by Slappy's skate park, an early-game location that's introduced to you via a roll-in drop that leads into the first major air you catch in the game. It's fun enough to mess around in on its own, but if you exploit a glitch to work your way to its adjacent rooftops, you can make it to the top of nearby hangar that just so happens to line up with the roll-in jump's landing. The result is an enormous leap that dwarfs that original roll-in gap, with a landing that grants you the kind of speed that lets you approach the nearby quarter-pipes and jumps in new ways, clearing huge spine transfers and even letting you jump from the ground to another nearby roof. It adds an extra dimension to what was already one of my favorite stomping grounds in the game, taking what was once well-worn territory over the top. Skate 2 has its own themes of anti-authority sprinkled in (an evil corporation controls the Financial District of the city and has capped rails and hired security to make places unskatable, something you deal with in the course of the career mode), but it's this kind of glitch-induced trespassing through half-finished outskirts of the game that really nails urban skateboarding's spirit of rebellious expression in a way that only video games could. That it was never intended in the first place only makes it that much sweeter.

The beauty of it all is that Slappy's is just a microcosm of what it's like to play Skate 2. It feels like every inch of New San Vanelona is littered with opportunities for all sorts of unique stunts and slams, and the result is one of the most gratifying emergent gameplay experiences I've ever had. For all the possibilities Skate 3 grants with its user-created skate parks and the ability to drop props into the world at-will, it just can't match the magic of Skate 2's four-wheeling wanderlust, and even with an upcoming new entry that has a promising focus on communal creativity (almost like some sort of skateboarding Minecraft), I wouldn't be surprised if I stuck with this game for another 15 years.