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This Week in Downloadable Content

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the money-can-be-exchanged-for-virtual-goods-and-services dept.

Both the Virtual Console and Xbox Live Arcade have some interesting offerings this week, and Microsoft has released word of a lot of new things to come via their community service. The day before yesterday saw the release of Punch-Out!!, Virtua Fighter 2, and Bonk's Revenge for the Wii's download service. No Mike Tyson in this version of Punch-Out!!, but it's still (as Kohler puts it) one of the 'best videogames of all time.' On the Xbox side, today sees the release of a 'double header' of games: Gyruss and 3D Ultra MiniGolf Adventures . Gyruss is a Konami arcade port, while Minigolf includes a course editor to distract you from the simple gameplay. As far as new XBLA content goes: The Daily show is already available on the service, along with The Colbert Report, Carcossonne will join Settlers of Catan and (apparently) Talisman in boardgame-to-Xbox ports, and Microsoft is looking for pitches for a television show to be shown exclusively on Xbox live. If you win the TV contest, you get to make it for them.

17 of 56 comments (clear)

  1. Punch-Out without Mike Tyson by EveryNickIsTaken · · Score: 4, Funny

    is like a slashdot article without a swipe at MS. Occassionally entertaining, but clearly lacking.

    1. Re:Punch-Out without Mike Tyson by timster · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's more like a Slashdot discussion without a metaphor. Maybe you'll miss it, but did you really need it anyway?

      --
      I have seen the future, and it is inconvenient.
  2. Settlers of Catan online makes me tingle by coug_ · · Score: 2

    :o

    I own a copy of the board game, but haven't played it for years, mainly because nobody I know anymore knows how to play it and I'd teach my wife but that still leaves us at least one player short, and two players short for a decent game.

    1. Re:Settlers of Catan online makes me tingle by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      It's the same in most marriages. Sure you can teach your wife to do it but you always feel a player short and you definately need two more for a great time.

  3. Settlers may be cheaper than board counterpart. by hal2814 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    After buying the Settlers of Catan, Seafarers of Catan, the 5-6 Player expansion and all the other odds and ends, it may be cheaper to just buy a 360 and play it online. Does the XBox Live Catan have a decent AI? I wish the Pioneers (formerly Gnocatan) AI could use their darn ships. Fish in a barrel...

    1. Re:Settlers may be cheaper than board counterpart. by LordNimon · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Klaus Teuber was impressed with the AI:

      "I had no doubts that Brian Reynolds would do a great job, and the first version of the game exceeded my highest expectations. The AI is so clever that I even lost several games in a row! Hands down, this game for the Xbox Live Arcade is an amazing achievement."

      --
      And the men who hold high places must be the ones who start
      To mold a new reality... closer to the heart
  4. Carcasonne? Catan? Talisman? Sweet! by somnambulant · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The board games they're offering may actually persuade me to pick up a 360 someday... I own and play all these board games, but it's tough to find the time/players the older I get.

    Online play would mean I could play whenever I want.

    One thing I'm wondering though is will they put in the random endings for when you reach the middle of the board in Talisman?

    After surviving the wandering dragons, ghouls, giants, trolls and a devil... after surviving your friends many assassination attempts and finishing the quest for the crazy wizard to get the Talisman so you could survive the Inner Layers and then you climb your way to the Crown of Commands room... you flip the random card and....
    you get sucked into the Horrible Black Void.

    Then you endure the endless mocking of your friends.

    I hope they keep this in the game... i need to take this out on random people over the internets.

  5. Eventually got to fight a noncitizen? by tepples · · Score: 3, Funny

    Ok, I'm not sure if this was real or not, but there was a rumour going around that if you beat Tyson, you went onto more fights and eventually got to fight an alien. Except for Sandman, Macho Man, and Tyson, aren't all the opponents aliens?

    I doubt it was true though. There is an "Another World Circuit" password. I don't know if you can earn that password within the game, but it was printed in Nintendo Power and you may be able to find it on GameFAQs.
    1. Re:Eventually got to fight a noncitizen? by skimmer · · Score: 2, Informative

      After you beat Tyson, you can fight a new circuit which has harder versions of some of the old fighters.

  6. Wii Boardgames by Rolgar · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I really think the Wii needs to open up to boardgame development. I know that the primary way the system is to be used is to have the player up and moving. But the Wii-mote is the most mouse-like interface a console has ever seen, and would be great for rolling dice by shaking the controller, adding on a small hand held screen in place of the Nun-chuck for hidden information that other players shouldn't know, like cards for poker or Risk, etc. I plan on getting a system, and I'd love to have some board game type games that the family could play in the living room.

    1. Re:Wii Boardgames by trdrstv · · Score: 2, Interesting
      The screen thing could be kinda cool though...maybe have the DS as an interface. Or a PSP (then I'd actually get use out of it). Players could hand that off when it's their turn so you'd only need one. Somehow I think that requiring two consoles to play one game might not go over so well though! Maybe have the Wii host a webserver so you could use a laptop to see your cards...who knows. I'll stop rambling...good call on the board games though!

      The DS would be perfect (as discussed on IGN) for Scrabble or Poker type games. The Wii hosts the game, and each DS serves as that player's private screen. To make the Wii+DS a requirement would be lousy. So you sell the game either in a collection with other games (or on the VC for cheap.) and offer computer AI, and Online game play.

      That way people could get their value of playing with friends online (or solo), and it solves the local multiplayer issue if these people happen to have DS's.

      Honestly though, I would be happy to get Monopoly or Risk on the Wii. If it's 'Casual gamer friendly' Board games are a natural fit...

  7. Daily Show and Colbert report at 2 bucks a pop. by kinglink · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Ignoring the fact that both shows have little to do with news and more to do with humor. The fact Microsoft is charging 2 dollars an episode for it is more than sad. There's people in other countries almost demanding Microsoft make it available for them, but look at the simple math.

    2 dollars an episode for at least 20 episodes a month is 40 dollars. My cable bill is 40 dollars a month, I also get many more channels than comedy central and with an extra 5 bucks I get a DVR which means I can get all these shows already.

    Personally the Video service Microsoft is offering needs to figure out a way to market the tv shows (unskipable advertisements at the beginning would be acceptable to me) because as it stands now it's less than a novelty, it's an insult.

    Hell the Movies you only get for a couple days, the tv shows you are overcharged for. It's just not right.

    1. Re:Daily Show and Colbert report at 2 bucks a pop. by GrayCalx · · Score: 2, Interesting

      You'd be hard-pressed to find that kind of in-depth political discussion on CNN or Fox News.

      If you're a fan of the liberal humor on the Daily Show its better to keep your mouth shut about such things. As a "comedy program" they are allowed to bring in whatever guests (read political candidates) they want. As a "news program" they'd be required by law to give equal time to both Democratic and Republican candidates.

      Meh, not that an Anonymous Coward posting on slashdot is going to change that but still, something to consider.

    2. Re:Daily Show and Colbert report at 2 bucks a pop. by GrayCalx · · Score: 2, Insightful

      If you have cable, why do you even care?

      Sure I'd like consoles themselves to be cheaper, I think $500 for a ps3 as you say "is less than a novelty, its an insult." So I don't buy it. I wish my new house cost half the price. Gas is too high. Cigarette prices keep going up. Coffee from Starbucks is $4. And you're complaining about a downloadable TV show... that you've already seen... on cable... ooooo-kay.

    3. Re:Daily Show and Colbert report at 2 bucks a pop. by bclark · · Score: 2, Informative

      They're the same price as on the iTunes store. I'm not sure if these shows are filmed in HD or if they'll offer HD version, but from what I've seen, they look better on my HDTV than tv shows do streamed over an AppleTV. So, superior product at the same price point as a competitor. Can't miss a chance to jab at Microsoft?

    4. Re:Daily Show and Colbert report at 2 bucks a pop. by LordNimon · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Maybe he'd like to cancel cable and just pay for the shows he wants to watch? I canceled my standard cable service and downgraded to basic, saving me about $40/month. The only shows I was watching on those channels were Dead Zone, both Stargates, and occasionally the Daily Show. Now I wait for the DVDs of DZ and the SGs, but the Daily Show is another matter. When I hear that they'd be available on XLM, I got excited. That is, until I saw the price: $2 per 25-minute episode. Assuming 4.5 weeks/month, and 4 episodes/week, that translates to $36/month. How can you justify that cost? For that amount of money, I could get ALL of Comedy Central and about 30 other channels.

      TV shows should cost about $1/hour. Even if you double that to $2/hour to account for lack of commercials, that still makes the Daily Show two times as expensive. And why can't we have commercials anyway? Even though most people will fast-forward through them, the price of the commercials could at least cover the cost bandwidth. That would make Microsoft's expenses almost zero.

      Microsoft needs to do something to bring these costs down. The cost of a single show *cannot* be the same as the cost of an entire cable subscription. That's just ridiculous.

      --
      And the men who hold high places must be the ones who start
      To mold a new reality... closer to the heart
    5. Re:Daily Show and Colbert report at 2 bucks a pop. by Is0m0rph · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Well you could be paying $2.08 a pop like a Guitar Hero 2 song but having to buy 3 of them at a time besides. I have bought a couple shows off the marketplace. If you were going to do your sole TV watching from there it would be expensive. If you missed an episode of a show for some reason and REALLY wanted to see it or keep it then $2 isn't too bad.