WARBEARS ADVENTURE: AN A.R. X-MAS NOW ONLINE

Earlier today, I stopped in on our friends the Warbears to see how their holidays were, and was surprised to find that our favorite fighting bears had taken on a mission of sorts while we were all drinking our eggnog. That's right, there's a new short Warbears adventure available at the series' official site – Adventure: An A.R. X-Mas lets us join up with Warbears as they do a little Christmas shopping. 

If you like graphic adventure/puzzle solving games, this free web-based series is certainly something to check out. Enjoy!

• Warbears – Official website
• Adventure: An A.R. X-Mas – Warbears

XBOX LIVE ARCADE FREEBIES – UNDERTOW

Just a quick reminder to all – starting this morning at 5am EST and running through 2:59am EST, Monday, January 28th, Chair Entertainment's Undertow will be made available for free to all Xbox Live members worldwide.

"Marc announced that all Xbox LIVE members (Gold and Silver) around the world would have access to a full Xbox LIVE Arcade game to download free of charge. We’re pleased to announce that beginning next Wednesday, 2:00 a.m. PST through Sunday, 11:59 p.m. PST, Xbox LIVE members worldwide can download the full version of the recent award-winning Xbox LIVE Arcade game, Undertow." – Gamerscore Blog

Microsoft has also been very clear that they are not leaving out those of you who have already purchased this title. If you've already bought Undertow, simply contact Xbox support at 1-800-4MY-XBOX during the promotional period and they will see to it that you get credited the 800 Microsoft points you spent on the game.

Regardless of what you may think of Undertow, free is still free, so I'd definitely suggest downloading this one regardless of whether or not you feel Microsoft could have chosen a better title to offer Live members to make up for all the problems of late. 

• Undertow – Product page at Xbox.com
• Undertow Free of Charge Next Week on Xbox LIVE Arcade – Gamerscore Blog 

Q ENTERTAINMENT GIVING AWAY CODES FOR XBLA REZ HD

Yup, you heard me right – while the game is going to set most Xbox 360 owners back 800 points ($10) when it hits the Xbox Live Arcade, a select few are going to get their grubby mitts on Rez HD for the low low price of free. I'll let that sink in for a moment… freeeee.

Okay, now that you've been properly prepared, here's the deal – I came across this little tidbit over at Kotaku earlier tonight, and figured this is something most of you with a 360 would probably want to know about. All you have to do is register at Q Entertainment's official website for Rez HD by 11:59pm PST on January 27th AND make sure to click the box that says you want to be participate in the drawing for the free download codes during the registration process. That's it. Pretty easy, huh?

According to the site, within 72 hours of the above deadline, 50 winners will be notified by e-mail that they've won and will receive their codes. Good luck all!

• Rez HD – Official website
• Want Rez HD Free? – Kotaku

TWO MORE CLASSIC EXIDY ROMS FOR MAME RELEASED

If you remember, awhile back H.R. Kaufmann, the president of Xidy (formerly known as Exidy), began making all the titles in the company's classic arcade lineup freely available for use with MAME via the official site of the MAME development team.

Although it's been awhile since the last set of ROM releases, it appears that Mr. Kaufmann is still following through on his generous gift to classic game enthusiasts everywhere, as the ROMs for both 1980's Spectar and Targ can now legally be obtained via MAMEDev's ROM page.

Once again, I'd like to extend a huge thank you to Mr. Kaufmann for his generosity.

• New ROMS from Exidy – MAMEDev.org
• Spectar – Information page at KLOV.com
• Targ -Information page at KLOV.com

MICROSOFT CONFIRMS FREE GAME COMING TO LIVE SUBSCRIBERS

If you remember, last week we reported on a rumor that Microsoft was considering compensating Xbox Live members for the recent string of outages and issues with the service by giving away a free game – as it would turn out, that rumor has now been partially confirmed by Microsoft. 

In a recent post on MajorNelson.com, Xbox Live General Manager Marc Whitten confirmed that the company does plan on giving away a free Live Arcade title to Live subscribers.

"During this past holiday season you helped us break a number of Xbox LIVE records.  This included our largest sign-up of new members to Xbox LIVE in our 5 year history and just yesterday you broke the record for the single biggest day of concurrent members ever on the service. 

 

As a result of this massive increase in usage we know that some of you experienced intermittent Xbox LIVE issues over the holiday break.  While the service was not completely offline at any given time, we are disappointed in our performance.  I would like to take this moment to thank each and every one of you for your patience and understanding as our team has worked around the clock to return the service to a stable state. 

 

At the same time we would like to offer a token of our appreciation to all of you in celebration of record success for the service.  And as a thank you for your loyalty during this holiday period, we will be offering all of our Xbox LIVE members around the world access to a full Xbox LIVE Arcade game that will be available to download free of charge.  In the coming weeks we will be sharing the specific details of this offer with you. 

 

Thank you again for helping make Xbox LIVE everything that it is today!" – Marc Whitten

Interestingly, the above statement doesn't state that the game is being given out because of the issues, but rather as a gift to members because of the growth of the service – something which certainly may have led to the opening several people in Texas felt was needed to file a class-action lawsuit against Microsoft for the aforementioned issues.

 

It still remains to be seen just what game Microsoft plans on giving away, though at this point anything other than a quality title that no one currently owns is certain to just fan the internet flames even more. 

• Xbox LIVE Holiday Performance – MajorNelson.com
• Xbox Live Still Recovering, Rumors of Compensation Surface – nylatenite.com
• Parasites Sue Microsoft for Xbox Live Failures – Destructoid
• Microsoft Taking Care Of It's Gold Members After Last Weeks Live Outage – The Bitbag
• Microsoft to Compensate Customers For LIVE Downtime? – Kotaku

NEW WARBEARS ADVENTURE AVAILABLE ONLINE

It's been awhile since I've had anything new to report about our crime fighting friends the Warbears, but thankfully series creator Gionatan "Ioji" Iasio has been busy working on their latest adventure – and now it's ready for the world to play. Warbears: Mission 03 – An Oceanic Problem sees the ursine quartet responding to a distress signal coming from an offshore platform with a sinister secret…

"An S.O.S. signal from the Gas Platform in the Great Ocean! A new enemy surfaced with an evil plan. Will the Warbears be able to stop them?" – Warbears.com

As always. this Warbears adventure is a free, web based game, so if you like puzzle intensive graphic adventure games, you have absolutely no excuse not to check it out! 

• Warbears – Official website 

XBOX LIVE TURNS FIVE YEARS OLD – FREEBIES HIT MARKETPLACE

Xbox Live turns five years old today, and to celebrate Microsoft is rolling out a bunch of freebies for the masses via the Xbox Live Marketplace. That's right – Xbox Live is having a birthday, but we get the presents.

"Wait… presents? What presents?", you ask – well, let me tell you all about them;

• Carcassonne
• On Thursday, November 15th and Friday, November 16th, Carcassonne – the Xbox Live version of the classic European board game – will be made available to all Xbox Live subscribers as a free download. The game is normally priced at 800 points ($10), so be sure to grab it during this 48 hour window.
• Xbox Dashboard Themes
• Microsoft will be offering the following "special edition" Dashboard Themes available as free downloads;
• Live is 5ive – A dashboard theme celebrating five years of Xbox Live.
• Return to Castle Wolfenstein – A dashboard theme based on the game of the same name.
• Gears of War – A dashboard theme based on the game of the same name.
• Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon 2 – A dashboard theme based on the game of the same name.
• Halo 2 – A dashboard theme based on the game of the same name.
• Mech Assault – A dashboard theme based on the game of the same name.
• Special 5 Year Member Bonus
• Xbox Live members who have been with the service since the very beginning will be receiving 500 Microsoft points ($6.25) and a few bits of "exclusive content" as Microsoft's way of saying "Thank You". According to the promotional page, those eligible will be receiving more details via e-mail. I've been a member since day one and haven't seen that e-mail yet, so I'm assuming it won't be sent out until the promotion is fully underway.

It's definitely been a fun five years and I think just about everyone will agree that Xbox Live is without a doubt THE defining feature of the Xbox 360. It really is amazing when you stop and think just how fast the service has grown since the launch of the 360.

Think about it – at the time Live was launched, many people said it would never work, that no one would be willing to pay for the privilege of playing their games online.  Microsoft took that challenge and presented a solid service on the original Xbox that many (myself included) felt was well worth the price and then massively expanded the concept with the Xbox 360 while raising the quality of that service even farther. If there is one thing Microsoft has done right since their entry into the console market, it would have to be Xbox Live.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY XBOX LIVE – SEE YOU AT THE 10 YEAR MARK! 

• Xbox Live is 5ive – Xbox.com 

TELLTALE GAMES OFFERS FREE SAM & MAX EPISODE!

The good folks over at Telltale Games have announced that they're offering Sam & Max: Abe Lincoln Must Die (Season One, Episode Four) for the low, low price of free. That's right gang, you too can now try out an episodic adventure of everyone's favorite dog and rabbity thing without having to shell out a single penny.

Telltale's site seems to be down at the moment (no doubt because they're gearing up for the launch of Sam & Max Season Two), but they have been kind enough to leave the download link on their "we're sorry" page as well. Be sure to check it out!

• Abe Lincoln Must Die free for all (literally!) – Telltale Games
• Sam & Max: Abe Lincoln Must Die – Telltale Games
• Telltale Games: Under the Knife – Telltale Game

TELLTALE GAMES OFFERS FREE SAM & MAX EPISODE!

The good folks over at Telltale Games have announced that they're offering Sam & Max: Abe Lincoln Must Die (Season One, Episode Four) for the low, low price of free. That's right gang, you too can now try out an episodic adventure of everyone's favorite dog and rabbity thing without having to shell out a single penny.

Telltale's site seems to be down at the moment (no doubt because they're gearing up for the launch of Sam & Max Season Two), but they have been kind enough to leave the download link on their "we're sorry" page as well. Be sure to check it out!

• Abe Lincoln Must Die free for all (literally!) – Telltale Games
• Sam & Max: Abe Lincoln Must Die – Telltale Games
• Telltale Games: Under the Knife – Telltale Game

THREE MORE LEGAL EXIDY ROMS FOR MAME RELEASED

The Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator’s (MAME) development team has announced that H.R. Kauffman, president of Xidy, Inc. (formerly Exidy) has made three more classic games from the Exidy catalog available for free, non-commercial use with the MAME. The three titles, Crash, Fire One! and Rip Cord, were all released in 1979 and while they may not represent the best of Exidy’s catalog, the fact that any ROMS have been made available at all is still something to cheer about. Here’s to hoping Exidy’s titles from 1980 – 1982 are next, as some of those are games I’d love to see everyone get to enjoy again.

• MAMEDev.org – Official site of the MAME development team
• MAMEDev ROM page – ROM images legally released for non-commercial use by their owners
• Exidy – Wikipedia Entry
• Crash – Killer List of Videogames entry
• Fire One! – Killer List of Videogames entry
• Rip Cord – Killer List of Videogames entry

TWO MORE LEGAL EXIDY ROMS RELEASED FOR MAME

As previously announced, H.R. Kauffman, the president of Xidy (once known as Exidy), has given the MAME team the rights to freely distribute many of the company’s older titles for non-commercial use. This week the team has announced that both Car Polo and Robot Bowl are now ready for download. Sure these titles are 30 years old right now, but I still think that it’s absolutely great that Kauffman has given the go ahead for the free release of any of the titles from Exidy’s catalog. The titles are available via the ROM Page at MAMEDev.org.

• MAMEDev.org – Official site of the MAME development team
• MAMEDev ROM page – ROM images legally released for non-commercial use by their owners
• Exidy – Wikipedia Entry
• Car Polo – Killer List of Videogames entry
• Robot Bowl – Killer List of Videogames entry

KINGS QUEST III REMADE BY INFAMOUS ADVENTURES

The good folks at Infamous Adventures have completely remade Roberta Willams classic graphic adventure game King’s Quest III.

“Infamous Adventures is proud to present a Remake of Roberta William’s classic 1986 hit, King’s Quest III. Remade in VGA color to match later Sierra releases, and using the AGS engine by Chris Jones, IA promises to make an enjoyable 1:1 remake of King’s Quest III. In the tradition of recent remakes, King’s Quest I and II+ by Tierra/AGDI, Infamous Adventures hopes to create a new classic of the Beloved Series.” -Infamous Adventures website

In addition to a completely updated graphics, Infamous Adventures has also completely redone the soundtrack to the game, and according to a note on the site, a full voice pack will be available for the game shortly as well.

Once again, I’m absolutely in awe of those people who don’t feel the adventure game market is dead and are actively doing something to keep the interest in the genre alive. Huge kudos to the folks at IA and join me in wishing them the best of luck on their current project “Quest for Infamy” which appears to be mix of an RPG and graphic adventure game in which you get to play as the bad guy for once.

Head on over to Infamous Adventures website to check them out and download the Kings Quest III remake at this link.

INDIANA JONES AND THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH DEMO

No, it’s not the action game coming from LucasArts. The good folks of Screen7 are building a prequel to LucasArts graphic adventure game Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis using Adventure Game Studio. Screen7 describes the demo for Fountain of Youth as follows;

“Join our hero in this 10 room playable demo, featuring beautiful & original artwork in an exotic new location! Using a new separate storyline to the full game but including some relevant facts, you discover the paths to the mysterious Fountain! Don’t forget – this is just a sample of what is to come. Look out for future demo updates!

EXPLORE the island of Bimini, MEET and INTERACT with friends and foes! Find out who’s there and exactly what they are up to!

The DEMO also includes original MIDI music, animated characters and a demonstration of the fighting engine. The full game will boast many further features. There are several puzzles to solve in the DEMO, but none of these will feature in the full game.” -Indiana Jones & the Fountain of Youth Website

Huge kudos to another company looking to keep the graphic adventure genre alive, though I’m a bit surprised LucasArts hasn’t come down on them with a 10 ton hammer yet. Click here to head over to the Indiana Jones & the Fountain of Youth website, here to check out Adventure Game Studio (Freeware) and take a look at some of the other games people have made using it. For those wondering, this was also the tool used by the now defunct LucasFan Games to create Maniac Mansion Deluxe.

FREE GAME MAGAZINES

Saw these listed over at Kotaku this morning, so I figured I’d share. For the cost of your e-mail address and a bunch of spam, you can get a free years subscription to EGM, Computer Gaming World and the Official Playstation Magazine.

I know the EGM one works, as I signed up for it a few months back via an e-mail offer and got my first issue last week. I also received the Computer Gaming World link via e-mail this weekend, and it’s from the same place as the EGM offer, so it should work as well. I’m not familiar with the Official Playstation Magazine offer though, so no guarantees.

One last thing, I’m sure they’ll spam the crap put of you in return for the mags, so be sure to use your “bulk e-mail” address if you have one set up.

• Click here for the Computer Gaming World sign up
• Click here for the EGM sign up
• Click here for the Official Playstation Magazine sign up

Enjoy the bathroom reading all!

CADILLAC V-SERIES COLLECTION NOW AVAILABLE FOR PGR3

Cadillac wants you to know about their V series automobiles, the CTS-V, STS-V, and XLR-V and to introduce you to them, they’ve had Bizarre add those cars to Project Gotham Racing 3 for your downloading pleasure.

How much is it going to cost you to see this little bit of automotive advertising? Nothing, it’s a free download. Sounds like a pretty fair deal to me, they put the three V series cars on your radar, you get to drive them around in PGR3. We all win. It’s in game advertising the way it ought to be. Head on over to the Xbox Live Marketplace to get them!

FREE XBOX 360 DEMO DISC

Walmart and the TV show “The Apprentice” are offering a free Xbox 360 disc that contains movie trailers, music videos, clips from “The Apprentice” and playable demos of Kameo: Elements of Power and Project Gotham Racing 3. Sure you can get the demos in the Xbox Live Marketplace for free, but free swag is always a good thing, and since they’re on a disc, they won’t take up any precious hard drive space. Click here to head on over to the promos page at Walmart.com and sign up for the disc.

GRID WARS V5.4 RELEASED

Everyone’s favorite Geometry Wars 2 clone for PC by Mark Incitti has been updated to version 5.4. Get it here.

GRID WARS V5.3

Sure this is older news, but I felt the need to repost it for those who haven’t heard… Grid Wars is a PC clone of the Xbox 360 Arcade hit Geometry Wars 2: Retro Evolved made by Mark Incitti. If you haven’t had a chance to play the actual game on the 360, or wished that Microsoft would publish the game for PC so you could run it on an arcade cabinet, your wish has at least been partially granted. Get the latest version HERE.