1P Start

It seems SEGA has announced that we will be experiencing the craziness and gore that is the Happy Tree Friends very soon. Happy Tree Friends False Alarm is going to be a downloadable game available for the PC and Xbox Live Arcade. Here’s what players can expect from this game:

• Playable Happy Tree Friends characters: For the first time in 3D, play as the rescue squad of Flippy, Handy, and Lumpy to save other Happy Tree Friends such as Cuddles, Toothy and Flaky from life-threatening disasters!
• Unique twist to the action genre: Using physics-based reactive environments and problem-solving elements control a rescue squad with unique abilities such as hurling concrete, spraying water, or throwing nitroglycerin to augment the dynamic 3D environments creating a variety of unpredictable outcomes.
• Disaster levels made exclusively for Happy Tree Friends False Alarm: SEGA and the creative minds behind Happy Tree Friends have teamed up to create 10 original and engaging disaster scenarios such as the Mine Shaft, Candy Factory, and Museum.
• Gameplay true to the franchise: Experience the non-stop hilarious action Happy Tree Friends-style where their accident prone universe means destruction and mayhem are inevitable.
• Xbox Live® Arcade features: Xbox Live® Arcade will feature leaderboards to compete with friends, earn achievement medals, and track your progress as you advance through Career mode.

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To celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the awesome movie Tron, Disney has announced they will be introducing enhanced version of Tron and Discs of Tron to Xbox Live Arcade. Although the movie was great, the games were not so awesome. I did like the original Tron game for it’s time, but Discs of Tron was rather boring when it came out.

It’s possible with enhanced graphics and sound that these could end up being a great addition to the arcade. We’ll just have to see how many enhancements are made. The trailer above is from Tron Redux.

[Via Destructoid]

Disney, Interactive, Tron, Discs of Tron, XBLA, Microsoft, Xbox 360, Tron Redux, Movie Trailer

The Xbox Live releases keep on coming, as arcade classic Double Dragon will be available next Wednesday. This news comes from Clive Kabatznik, CEO of Silverstar Holdings, who mentioned the specifics in a recent press release. While Microsoft has not given the official word, all evidence points towards Wednesday as the release date.

While I am sure that this game will have some heavy nostalgia factor, it remains to be seen if the online-cooperative play and enhanced graphics will make the game worth the money. Just be cautious, this game is probably just as hard if not harder than you remember it. Expect to get kicked in the face, like every 3 seconds.

Double Dragon, Xbox 360, Live Arcade

A few weeks ago, Capcom announced they are going to be bringing Super Street Fighter II Turbo to the XBLA and PSN with new artwork and a promise to bring the franchise into the HD era (1080p anyone?)

As you can see from the picture above from Racketboy, the attention to detail in the enhanced version of Super Street Fighter II Turbo is simply amazing. When the game is released later this year, no more will the word “sprite” be used for this series.

I personally embrace this much needed upgrade. I’m all for nostalgia, but there is nothing much left to do in the 2D fighting market. The only logical thing now to do is give 2D fighters the complete graphical upgrade they so rightly deserve, not a game with 80 characters who’s character models are obviously outdated. If Capcom pulls off this transition, I forsee a rebirth of the “2D” fighting series.

[Via Racketboy]

Microsoft, Xbox 360, Sony, PS3, Playstation 3, PSNetwork, XBLA, Capcom, Super Street Fighter II Turbo

The possibility of NeoGeo games coming to the Wii’s virtual console has been reported here before, but today SNK sends out the official word that they have signed a deal with Nintendo to bring NeoGeo games to the virtual console.

But that’s not all. In an interview with IGN, President of SNK Playmore USA Ben Herman mentions the Wii virtual console isn’t the only place SNK is hoping NeoGeo games can be found.

“We will have content on Xbox Live Arcade as well, and we are talking with Sony about getting some of our properties onto their new Home network.”

Herman goes on to say SNK’s games are also going to be converted to take advantage of HDTV sets.

“We have things right now that we’re developing for the arcade that are in full high-def,” he claims. “Obviously that opens the possibility of bringing HD to the appropriate next-generation systems as well.”

One thing Herman did not clarify was the price points. He said for the Wii virtual console, gamers should expect a price point a little bit above SNES games ($8).

[Via GamePro]

Nintendo, Wii, Virtual Console, Microsoft, Xbox 360, Sony, Playstation 3, PS3, SNK, NeoGeo

Sierra Online has announced the first release details for it’s upcoming Xbox Live Arcade game Carcassonne (“Carcass-on”), based on the widely popular board-game. Carcassonne is part of what is considered the european-produced “holy trinity” of board games, which also includes The Settlers of Catan and Alhambra. (Both scheduled for a release on Xbox Live) At it’s core, the gameplay involves players starting with a single tile, and then drawing from a pool of tiles, amassing territory until a winner is declared.

The release date has been revealed for June 2007. A welcome relief to fans everywhere, who have been waiting since Carcassonne was announced for Xbox Live a year ago. Carcassonne will feature multi-player action for 2-4 players on a single Xbox360, or groups from 2-5 players over Xbox Live.

Carcassonne, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Arcade

Yesterday, Capcom announced Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo was going to be re-created and made available for the Xbox Live Arcade and Playstation Network as a digital download. Capcom also released a video that shows off how the upgraded graphics will look.

As you can see, the gems look a hell of a lot shinier than in the original game, and also the special effects such as the gems crumbling and the attacks of the characters look a lot sharper too. All in all, this was one game that needed a major upgrade and I for one will be welcoming this game with open arms when it’s released.

Microsoft, Xbox 360, Sony, Playstation 3, PS3, Capcom, Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo, YouTube, video

Today, Capcom has announced 4 games will be making their way to both the Xbox Live Arcade as well as the PS Network. The games are:

• Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo
• Super Street Fighter II Turbo
• Rocketmen: Axis of Evil
• Talisman

Director of Capcom brand marketing Jack Symon describes the reasoning behind bringing these games to downloadable form:

“Following in the footsteps of our highly successful Street Fighter II Xbox Live title, these projects represent the beginnings of a much larger ‘Capcom Digital Initiative’ focused around the limitless creativity and community development that can happen with downloadable content models.

This is great news for Capcom fans and hopefully will be a wake up call to bring the rest of their old-school catalog to become available for digital downloading. SNK would make a killing if they followed in Capcom’s footsteps. One can only dream.

Microsoft, Xbox 360, XBLA, PS Network, Sony, Playstation 3, PS3, Capcom

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*Update* All 3 Codes Have Been Found and Used

We decided to do a little Easter Egg hunt thing here at 1PStart. BB and I have inserted codes we received for free Xbox Live Arcade downloads. There are three games and three codes. The way this works is we have inserted the free game codes into some of our previous articles. All you have to do is find the codes and input them on XBL to get the game. But one code only works one time, so the fastest wins. If you find the code and use it, please comment here so we don’t have people searching endlessly for a taken code.

XBLA games, Xbox Live Arcade, 1PStart, Easter Egg

Nowadays, online petitions are highly valuable and respected tools. Petition Online currently has one up petitioning Microsoft to get GTA on XBLA. You guys probably recall the infamous Capcom petition and the petition that got Bioshock it’s limited edition. These things actually do work. Head over to Petition Online and let your voice be heard that you want GTA on Xbox Live Arcade.

To: Microsoft

This pertition was made for all the fans of the GTA series and all owners of Xbox Live, this was made to try and get GTA 1 onto the Xbox live arcade. So please listen Microsoft and try to make this happen

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

http://www.petitiononline.com/gta4xbla/petition.html

[Via Petition Online]

GTA petition, GTA, Xbox Live Arcade, XBLA

Microsoft has been taking the lead in their recent XBLA release schedule. Worms, TMNT: 1989 Arcade Game, and this coming Wednesday they’re releasing Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. At 800 points, this game is an absolute must-have for Xbox 360 owners. So make sure to visit your local gaming store, pick up some MS points, and let the goodness commence.

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What a crazy ride the TMNT arcade game has gone through. First there were the rumors of it’s existence, then trailers and pictures came out that made us think this thing could be real, then last week’s confirmation of it’s existence, and today it’s confirmed TMNT will be released this Wednesday and will be available at the low low price of 400 MS Points ($5 USD).

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade game will allow players to play as Leonardo, Donatello, Michaelangelo, and Raphael either through local play or over Xbox Live and all seven levels of the arcade game are ready for your nostalgic needs.

[Via Xboxic]

Microsoft, Xbox 360, TMNT, XBLA, arcade

Ubisoft announced today all of the recent “rumors” Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles would make it’s way to Xbox Live Arcade were all true (duhhhh!).

The real news was the price of the game and it’s expected release. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will only cost 400 Microsoft Points (US$5), which is a bargain for the amount of sheer nostalgia this game will bring. How many times have you as a kid/teen gone to the arcade and this very game be right there at the entrance, waiting for you to waste your week’s allowance on it.

But I digress, the other thing Ubisoft revealed was that TMNT will be released to the Xbox Live Arcade this month. Now, isn’t there supposed to be a TMNT movie coming out in a couple of weeks? What do you think the chances of the turtles coming out the Wednesday before the movie’s release are? Trust me, I would bet my dog that March 21st will be the day to get in on some pure side-scrolling beat-em-up action. Cowabunga dudes…cowa…friggin…bunga…

Microsoft, Xbox 360, XLBA, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, TMNT

Microsoft officially announced today that they will be making a 512 MB Memory Card (currently, only a 64MB version is available) for the Xbox 360 and in even more important news, they have stated that the Xbox Live Arcade games limit size is going to increase to a whopping 150MB (currently, the limit size is 50MB to compensate for the smaller memory cards)

Chris Early, who is the Xbox Live Arcade Product Unit Manager was quoted as saying:

The new size limit offers developers increased flexibility and continued opportunities for innovative game development, while also ensuring that the millions of gamers on Xbox LIVE can continue to easily access, download and play all Xbox LIVE Arcade games on Xbox 360

Finally! It’s about time Microsoft lifted that silly size limit. The great thing about this is that we can expect to be playing much more complex games with better graphics, sound, and just an overall better experience.

[Via Xbox360Rally]

Microsoft, Xbox 360, 512mb, memory card, XBLA

It’s about time Xbox owners got some good news pertaining to Xbox Live Arcade content. Wednesday we got Alien Hominid HD, and Microsoft has given word that next week we can expect Worms.

I believe Worms will be a sleep hit on Xbox Live Arcade. The hugely popular Gunbound is an indication that people want this kind of game with on-line multiplayer. Now the trick will be to try to keep this game as lag-free as possible, and I’m sure it’s going to be a huge hit!

Official press release follows…

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