This week Xbox Live Gold Members can save on a variety of games and add ons.

• Limbo 600 MS Points
• The Dishwasher : Vampire Smile 400 MS Points
• Skeleton Costume 200 MS Points
• Death By Cube 400 MS Points

Around Retailers

Amazon.com Deal of the Week

• Limited selection of Buy 2 Get 1 Free
• L.A. Noire $19.99
• Homefront $19.99
• $50 Amazon credit with purchase of 4GB Xbox Kinect Bundle

Best Buy

• Free $50 gift card with 250GB Xbox Holiday Bundle purchase
• Dark Souls $49.99
• Driver : San Francisco $29.99
• X-Men: Destiny $49.99
• Spider-Man : Edge of Time $49.99

K-Mart

• Lord of the Rings: War In the North with $20 gaming coupon $59.99
• Sonic Generations with $15 gaming coupon  $49.99
• Driver San Francisco $29.99
• Dark Souls $39.99
• Madden 12 $39.99
• FIFA 12 $44.99

Target

• All Games Buy 2 Get 1 Free

The Digest: With the fate of the impending NBA season looking doubtful, NBA 2K12 provides a respite from the monotony of the disastrous and plagued labor negotiations. NBA 2K12 is graphically pleasing and it contains an easy learning curve to hold you over for missing a few, yet too many, games; however, it isn’t refined adequately enough to relieve the pain of the absent NBA. Plus, the lockout punishes this game by restraining the rosters to those of last year.

THE FACT SHEET

RELEASE DATE: October 4, 2011
PUBLISHER: 2K Sports
DEVELOPER: Visual Concepts
ESRB RATING: “E” for Everyone
GENRE: Sports

PRODUCT OVERVIEW:

With over 5 million copies sold worldwide and over 20 Sports Game of Year awards, last year NBA 2K11 allowed you to BECOME THE GREATEST with MJ & the Jordan Challenge mode. This year the NBA 2K franchise is back and bigger than ever, providing fans with the opportunity they’ve always dreamed of – to finally END THE DEBATE as to who are the best teams and players of all time with the ALL-NEW NBA’s Greatest mode. Featuring 15 legendary players such as Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Dr. J, NBA’s Greatest let you relive some of NBA’s most celebrated careers and rivalries, painstakingly recreated in historical detail. In addition, several innovative gameplay features have been added putting fans center court of an unprecedented basketball experience.

PRODUCT FEATURES:
• NBA’s Greatest – Experience 15 of the NBA’s most celebrated careers and rivalries, painstakingly recreated in historic detail. Featuring such legends as Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Dr. J,
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and more.
• Most Accurate NBA 2K Game Ever – Building o! NBA Today’s real-time stats, rosters, schedules and ratings, NBA 2K12 now delivers the most visually accurate NBA game as well. From shoes to player models and even court floors – every graphic detail of the game can now be dynamically updated. Broadcast style gets a boost as well with player interstitials promoting their upcoming games and dynamic pre-game highlight reels set to 2K Beats music.
• Enhanced Gameplay  – NBA 2K12 adds +1,000 new animations this year and delivers all-new control mechanics for post play and ball control to make the game more intuitive to play than ever before

Seeing as I haven’t played a basketball game since the original Xbox, I jumped at the opportunity to play the only basketball franchise available. Living in Chicago, the eclectic disappointment I’ve felt from other sports has led me toward the Bulls because my other favorite teams have failed to do anything notable, albeit the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup. Whether the Cubs or the Bears, it has been the same story year after year. Now, Chicago stands behind Derrick Rose; we are thirsty for another championship (and to beat the Heat).

NBA 2K12 suggests that Chicago doesn’t have a chance because the Bulls are lacking an offense, which is a real problem in the game: it undervalues defense. Unless you are the defending World Champion Dallas Mavericks, whom can block nearly every shot because of their massive size, the defensive rating of your team doesn’t seem to matter. While the game does make it easy for one to play defense, by presenting an arrow towards the man you guard, the game is wholly based off of your corresponding player’s streak. Once they get hot, they’re unstoppable. Once they get cold, they can’t make a shot.

Since I haven’t played a Basketball game for years, I wasn’t expecting to do particularly well. The game contains a learning curve, but it is well executed. I was initially destroyed in my first game because I didn’t know what I was doing. However, I went into the Training Camp mode and became proficient in shooting and dribbling. Although I haven’t mastered shooting with the right stick, the game lets me use the X button in place which reduces the difficulty of the game immensely.

In NBA 2K12 it’s the little things that count. Obviously it looks beautiful as demonstrated by the pictures included in this review. From the reflections of the score monitors on the wood floor, to the tattoos on the players, NBA 2K12 is there to strive. The players also hold their own facial expressions. The game feels mostly like a television broadcast; however, it can, like any other sport’s game, contain repeated dialog.  Where NBA 2K12 excels in presentation, it fails technically. Throughout my numerous hours of play through, I encountered way too many glitches. Teams can be displayed twice in the league standings, players kick the ball before the inbound pass and waste 25 seconds, and I still haven’t played a lag-free multiplayer game. In terms of player ratings, they can  largely be unrealistic. Perhaps this will all be fixed from an upcoming roster update though. For example, Lebron has a 90 for 3 point shooting. Yeah right.

The game mode I spent the most time in is My Player. NBA 2K12 allows you to pick your position; then you are thrown into a game that will determine your future. For each game you play, you are given a grade that is continuously updated. Particularly frustrating are the penalties that affect your grade. Such actions as “calling for a bad pass”, or “allowing your man to score”, negate any positive progress that you might have made. And giving the ball to your teammates is anger-filled. They take bad shots. They don’t pass. They lose the ball.

In order to progress into the playoffs or into the next season, you must play “key” games. There are around 30 key games that you have to play each year. Nearly every game I played was against another masterful  point guard. But that didn’t stop me. In my Rookie season for the Golden State Warriors, I led the league in scoring. Luckily, I picked the Warriors in my pre-season interviews. You are interviewed by 3 teams, and depending on your answers, you will be drafted by one of them. Knowing that the Warriors suck, and that I had the best opportunity  to start with them, I poorly interviewed with the other 2 teams. When draft night came, I sat around for 5 minutes (because you cannot skip through the earlier rounds) while I waited for the Draft to reach the 12th pick. From there, my NBA career began.

After providing a glimpse of the greatest in NBA 2K11 through Michael Jordan, NBA 2K12 combines 15 different legends. After playing as Scotty Pippen, Patrick Ewing, or Larry Bird, and winning, you unlock their respective team and can use those teams to play against the normal NBA teams. I found a great amount of joy taking the ‘92 Bulls and beating the overpowered Heat by a large margin. Hopefully you will too.

From my brief online play, I was immensely dissatisfied. There are 2 different modes: you can play against one opponent, or with 5 teammates and against 5 opponents.  I can see the potential in both game modes, but the combination of the 2K servers being down near launch, the long time it takes to find a match, and the lag associated with the 5 v 5 games have led me away from the online play and into the other modes. Hopefully 2K will pick up the slack when the NBA season starts because the NBA Today mode has promise. It allows users to reenact the daily games with updated rosters, stats, and streaks.

Conclusion: NBA 2K12 is a great game. Although it contains glitches and seems to be just a minor improvement upon last year’s game, it is still the best (and only) NBA game on the Xbox 360.

Single Player: 9/10 | Multi-Player: 7/10

Special thanks to 2K Games for providing us with a copy of the game for review.

This week Xbox Live Gold Members can save on Halo Reach add ons.

• Halo Reach Defiant Map Pack 400 MS Points
• Halo Reach Noble Map Pack 400 MS Points

Around Retailers

Amazon.com Deal of the Week

• Deus Ex: Human Revolution $35.99
• Call of Duty : Modern Warfare $14.99
• Nail’d $9.99

Best Buy

• Buy Batman: Arkham City get Robin Character + 2 bonus maps + Save $20 on Power A Batarang Wired Controller

K-Mart

• Batman : Arkham City with $30 gaming coupon $59.99
• Bioshock 2 $9.99
• Driver San Francisco $39.99
• Dead Island $44.99

Target

• The Sims 3 Pets with free $10 gift card $49.99

Toys “R” Us

• Buy 2 get the 3rd free on all video games and video game accessories

This week Xbox Live Gold Members can save on “Saints and Shadows”.

• Shadow Complex 600 MS Points
• Perfect Dark 400 MS Points
• Saints Row 2 1200 MS Points
• Saints Row 2 : Corporate Warfare 280 MS Points
• Saints Row 2 : Ultor Exposed 400 MS Points

Around Retailers

Amazon.com Deal of the Week

• Hunted : Demon’s Forge $13.99
• Duke Nukem Forever $18.99
• Brink $9.99
• Wipeout : In The Zone $24.99

Best Buy

• Dead Island $49.99
• Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood $19.99

K-Mart

• Dead Rising 2 : Off the Record with $15 gaming coupon $39.99
• Ace Combat : Assault Horizon with $20 gaming coupon $59.99
• Forza 4 with $20 gaming coupon $59.99
• Just Dance 3 with $15 gaming coupon $39.99

Target

• Free $75 gift card with Xbox 4GB Kinect Bundle

Toys “R” Us

• Save $20 off the following (Madden 12, Fifa 12, NCAA Football 12, NHL 12)
• Gears of War 3 with free $10 gift card $59.99
• Forza 4 with free $10 gift card $59.99
• Just Dance 3 $34.99

The Digest:

THE FACT SHEET

RELEASE DATE: October 5, 2011
DEVELOPER: Robot Entertainment, Inc
ESRB RATING: “T” for Teen
GENRE: Strategy, Action

PRODUCT OVERVIEW:  “Orcs Must Die!” is a white-knuckle blend of action and strategy. 
Orcs Must Die! challenges players to defend fortresses under siege.  With a wide variety of traps and weapons to choose from, Orcs Must
Die! dares players to find the best ways to hack, launch, flatten,gibletize, and incinerate an endless army of filthy orcs and their vile
allies. Orcs Must Die! features a vibrant look, addictive gameplay, and a blatant disregard for the welfare of orc

PRODUCT FEATURES:  

• Play as the War Mage and defend 24 fortresses from an enraged mob of orcs and 11 other villainous monsters.
• Choose from a selection of 6 weapons and magic spells and 17 traps that hack, launch, flatten, gibletize, and incinerate your enemies.
• Upgrade your traps, spells and weapons to cater the game to your personal play style.
• Cleverly combine traps and spells for higher scores on the leaderboards.
• Expertly wield your wits and your weapons through the storydriven campaign and unlock a brutal “Nightmare” campaign.
• Replay fortresses endlessly, combining different defenses and tactics every time

    

Ahh killing orcs.  Isn’t it every mage’s passion to defend the rift and kill some orcs.  Orcs Must Die! starts you out with about as much story as you need to know.  You are a mage’s apprentice that gets called to duty and you get cool traps and you get to kill orcs to defend your rift.  Now if you want more story the developers have included a comic on their website and you can find it here.

The orcs are well dumb and what would you expect from orcs I’m sure they have small brains so all they know to do is smash through your door and charge forward trying to kill you on the way to your rift.  Now some levels have just one rift and some levels have multiple rifts.  That is where the game gets fun.  You do though get many items to help defend your rifts.

Orcs Must Die! gives you a variety of traps to help defend your rift.  You get your standard spiked floors that shoot up spikes when an orc runs over them.  You get arrow walls that will fire a flurry of arrows at any orc that is within range.  You also get spiked traps that will fall from the ceiling when an orc tries to run under them.  All of them cost a different amount of coin and each level starts you with a predetermined amount of coins.  Whenever you kill an orc you get coins.  Get a kill streak and you earn even more coins.  Not much deviation from the tower defense formula.  Until you consider our hero. 

The hero of the game is the mage’s apprentice who is thrown into action.  He is a caricature of a buff Charlie Sheen.  Throwing around terms like “winning”.  He provides a little comic relief but after a while his comments get a little stale and old.  But with the hero comes the difference of other tower defense games.  You can actually run around in third person and shoot the orcs yourself.  Or if you have some of the magical add-ons you can flame,freeze, or blow your way to victory.  My personal favorite is the flame powers.  You can basically lay down a flame wall and stand back and watch the orcs burn.  But each power you use drains your magic bar and if you are out of magic you have to switch to your trusty sword or crossbow.

The games level design is pretty good.  Most of the levels provide you with a good choke point to funnel the orcs through for easy death and destruction.  Other levels are more open and require finesse to kill all the orcs before they enter your rift.  Some levels provide free traps to help stop the orcs.  They range from a spiked log to a molten metal to free guardians.  Guardians are NPCs that will help defend your rift.  The archer guardians are very useful in defending against flying enemies.

The variety of enemies are good.  You don’t just kill orcs.  Because apparently the orcs found some buddies to help take your rift down.  You have a Gnoll Hunter who will hunt you and your guardians down and try to kill you.  And you have Ogres that are 5 times as strong as an orc.  You also have some flying dragons that can spit fire at you.  They aren’t much fun but they add to the strategy of which type of traps to choose to take them down.

The overall graphics are cartoonish but do the job well of conveying the overall fun factor of this game.  The enemies burning and getting squashed is pleasant as ever.

The game has no multiplayer concept and with the third person aspect I think it would have been a blast to co-op or play online with another person to take down some orcs.  I hope the developers can work this in if they ever create a sequel.

Conclusion: If you want to find a game that provides an addictive action and strategy together than this game is for you.  It is an arcade game at heart and great for just killing some time and taking out frustration on some orcs.  I gave it a 3 out of 5 but its probably closer to a 3.5 out of 5.

Single Player: 3/5 | Multi-Player: N/A

Special thanks to Robot Entertainment for providing us with a copy of this game for review.

The Digest: The Gunstringer is one of, if not the best Kinect games around.  It’s fun, it works, and comes with so much at a budget price.  You’d be stupid not to give it a try.

THE FACT SHEET

RELEASE DATE: September 13, 2011
PUBLISHER: Microsoft Studios
DEVELOPER: Twisted Pixel
ESRB RATING: “T” for Teen
GENRE: Shooter

PRODUCT OVERVIEW:
The Gunstringer has you playing a marionette cowboy skeleton who is looking to get revenge on his old posse who betrayed him.  Using nothing but your hands and arms, you can shoot your enemies down, punish them with your fists, and avoid obstacles in a very unique adventure.  The Gunstringer is priced at $39.99 and includes a free download code for Fruit Ninja Kinect and access to The Wavy Tubeman Chronicles DLC.

PRODUCT FEATURES:

• Budget price of $39.99
  
• Variety of different enemies, bosses and weapons
  
• The first Kinect game that can be played sitting down
• Two player co-op throughout the whole game
• Comes with Fruit Ninja Kinect download code and free Wavy Tubeman Chonicles DLC

Microsoft’s innovative sensor has seen a lot of hatred from hardcore gamers since its release back in November.  Sure, the technology is cool but there really have not been many games that appeal to that hardcore market Microsoft has lured to their system.  Twisted Pixel, the genius studio that bought us hits on Xbox Live Arcade such as Splosion Man, Comic Jumper, and most recently, Ms. Splosion Man hope to remedy this with The Gunstringer.  The Gunstringer is Twisted Pixel’s first ever retail title.  It was originally slated to release on Xbox Live Arcade but after Microsoft saw it, they helped to make it much bigger than originally intended.  Does The Gunstringer deliver as the first must have Kinect title for hardcore gamers or does it fail to live up to the hype?

In The Gunstringer, you take control of a marionette cowboy skeleton that has mysteriously come back to life after being betrayed by his posse.  The Gunstringer is after revenge as you will travel far and wide to kill The Gunstringer’s posse.  The game’s story contains four acts along with a prologue and epilogue.  Each act has four levels and a boss battle while the prologue and epilogue each contain one level.  The Gunstringer’s time in the west is a pretty nice length for a forty dollar title, five to six hours for your first playthrough.  You’re definitely gonna want to play through the game multiple times as you can use in game cash to unlock behind the scenes videos and extra modes such as a hardcore difficulty mode and even commentaries by the game’s developers and Rooster Teeth.  With all of this bonus content on top of the core experience, there definitely is a lot to see and do in The Gunstringer.  Each act in the game has its own unique environments, obstacles, and enemies, forcing the game to never feel repetitive, even if you are doing the same actions in each level.

In order for this game to ork well, the controls have to be completely spot on.  This is the first Kinect game one could play sitting down which makes it not as physically intense as other Kinect games.  You hold your left hand up to control the movement of the Gunstringer and your right finger acts as a pistol which you can aim at enemies by pointing at the screen.  These controls are used through the majority of the game and they work pretty well for the most part.  They are accurate enough to make the experience work.  It was not one hundred percent accurate though.  Peaking out of cover by moving my body sometimes didn’t work so well as I had to thrust my body a few times for it to notice me.  The pistol is not the only weapon you use throughout the game.  There is also a shotgun, flamethrower, and sword which you are able to use for small portions of different levels.  Your body really is part of the experience and I can definitely say it works.  Multiplayer, which allows one other player to aim and fire at the screen during the campaign is fun but I would have wanted to see more from multiplayer.

For the price you are paying, you are getting plenty of content.  You get The Gunstringer, Fruit Ninja Kinect, and the Wavy Tubeman Chronicles DLC which is a 40 minute interactive movie and is one of the oddest experiences you’ll have on Kinect for a long time coming. It’s still a blast to play however, and it’s free.  You’ll definitely need to play it, it’s an experience.

The Gunstringer is easily the best Kinect game I have ever played.  The controls work well for the most part, I can play sitting down, and the game has enough variety and personality to keep me interested the whole way through.  Twisted Pixel did an incredible job to craft a game with characters, settings, and gameplay which stands out from the majority of games released this year.  The Gunstringer with all of its bonuses represents the best value for a new game this year.  It has enough content to keep you busy longer than many sixty dollar titles.  If you have a Kinect and are looking for a great game, do not even hesitate to pick up The Gunstringer.  No matter who you are, you will enjoy it.

Single Player: 5/5 | Multi-Player: 3/5

Special thanks to Twisted Pixel for providing a copy of this game for review.

This week Xbox Live Gold Members can save on a variety of XBLA games.

• Magic 2012 400 MS Points
• Catan 400 MS Points
• Carcassone 400 MS Points
• Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s 400 MS Points
• Hasbro Family Game Night Battleship full game 400 MS Points

Around Retailers

Amazon.com Deal of the Week

• MLB 2K11 $27.99
• Nicktoons MLB $27.99
• Kinectimals $19.99
• Tron: Evolution $14.48

Best Buy

• Dungeon Siege III $39.99
• Catherine $39.99
• BodyCount $39.99
• Tiger Woods 12 : The Masters $39.99
• Warhammer 40K Space Marine $39.99
• FEAR 3 $39.99
• Supremacy MMA $39.99
• Wipeout : In The Zone $39.99

K-Mart

• Rage with $20 gaming coupon $59.99
• NBA 2K12 with $20 gaming coupon $59.99
• Dark Souls with $20 gaming coupon $59.99
• Spiderman Edge of Time with $20 gaming coupon $59.99
• Deus Ex: Human Revolution $44.99
• Warhammer 40K Space Marine $44.99
• NCAA Football 12 $44.99
• NHL 12 $44.99
• Crysis 2 $29.99

Target

• Free $10 gift card with select games (Rage, NBA 2K12, Dark Souls)

Toys “R” Us

• Save $10 off X-men Destiny
• Save $10 off Spiderman Edge of Time

• Erick Boenisch, producer
• Mike Wang, senior gameplay designer

Link: http://xbox360digest.com/audio/NBA2K12_Conference_Call.mp3 (Apologies for the late cut-in)
Look for a full review of NBA 2K12 shortly after the retail release.

All past interviews and conference calls are available at Xbox360Digest.com/Interviews or by clicking the interviews tab on the main site.

This week Xbox Live Gold Members can save on “Magic & Swords”.

• Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale 800 MS Points
• Might & Magic : Clash of Heroes 800 MS Points

Around Retailers

Amazon.com Deal of the Week

• Dungeon Siege III $29.99
• Dead Island $45.99
• Deus Ex : Human Revolution $39.99

Best Buy

• Dead Island $49.99
• Deus Ex: Human Revolution $44.99
• Duke Nukem Forever $29.99
• NCAA Football 12 $49.99
• NHL 12 $49.99
• Dirt 3 $39.99
• Operation Flashpoint: Red River $39.99
• Driver San Francisco $39.99

K-Mart

• X-men Destiny with $15 gaming coupon $59.99
• Fifa 12 with $20 gaming coupon $59.99

Target

• Buy 1 get 1 50% off select games (Gears of War 3, X-men Destiny, NCAA Football 12, NHL 12)

Toys R Us

• Free $15 gift card with purchase of one of the following (Madden 12, NCAA Football 12, NHL 12, FIFA 12)
• Free $25 gift card with purchase of one of the following (Dead Island, X-men Destiny, Drive: San Francisco, Call of Duty Black Ops, Cabela’s Big Game Hunter 2012)

This week Xbox Live Gold Members can save on a variety of XBLA games.

• GyroMancer 600 MS Points
• Portal : Still Alive 600 MS Points
• Bejewled Blitz Live 200 MS Points
• ilomilo 400 MS Points

Around Retailers

Amazon.com Deal of the Week

• Fist of the North Star : Ken’s Rage $9.99
• BlazBlue : Continuum Shift $18.18

Also Amazon.com is doing another all day Gold Box deals today 9/20/2011.  So check here today for some great deals all day long at Amazon.com

Best Buy

• Buy Gears of War 3 and get 1 year of Xbox Live for $39.99 (ends 9/21)
• Buy Gears of War 3 and get the guide for 15% off (ends 9/21)

K-Mart

• Brink $19.99
• Halo : ODST $9.99
• Halo : Reach $29.99
• Buy Gears of War 3 and a 1 Year Xbox Live Card and get $30 off
• Get a $20 gaming coupon with any version of Gears of War 3

Target

• Xbox 360 4GB Kinect console bundle with free $50 gift card $299.99
• Xbox 360 Gears of War console bundle with free $40 gift card $399.99
• Gears of War 3 $59.99 with $1 pre-order for Modern Warfare 3 get a free $10 gift card

Toys R Us

• Free $15 gift card with purchase of one of the following (Dance Central, Wipeout : In the Zone, The Gunstringer, Nicktoons MLB)
• Buy a Gears of War 3 Xbox bundle or Gears of War 3 and get the following (free Gears of War 3 action figure pack, 12 month Xbox Live card for $39.99)