Whaddaya Buyin’? Five Resident Evil Titles Discounted on Xbox Live

Welcome!  Got a fine selection on sale, stranger!  Marking Day 3 of Xbox Live’s Ultimate Game Sale, every Resident Evil title available for download through Games on Demand has seen a significant price cut.

Whether you’re just breaking into the series or have been looking for crazy deals on your horror favorites (Code: Veronica’s five-fucking-dollars?!), Xbox owners would do well to check out the sales below:

• Resident Evil Code: Veronica X HD - Was: $19.99/Now: $4.99
• Resident Evil 4 HD - Was: $19.99/Now: $9.99
• Resident Evil 5 - Was: $19.99/Now: $9.99
• Resident Evil 6 - Was: $39.99/Now: $19.99
• Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City - Was: $39.99/Now: $19.99

Unfortunately, the closest Xbox fans can get to the key hunting, backtracking days of retro Resi is in Code: Veronica which, admittedly, has not aged gracefully; HD coat of paint and all.  Still, even if it sits dormant on your harddrive, it’s difficult to feel buyer’s remorse over $5.

The rest of the collection features more modern examples of RE and their gun-toting glory, including RE4 at just $10, one of the best and most influential games of the last decade (not owning it can be called a “constant mistake” or an “everlasting D’oh!”).  For the same price, you can grab its co-op clone, RE5 (still love it, but I call ‘em like I see ‘em)

And, yes, its poor performance means you’re able to snag the utterly reviled Resident Evil 6 at an all time low of $20 — if you’re asking me, it breaks into the top five of my series favorites; hell, the superior Mercenaries Mode — and the hundred hours I’ve sunk into it — is worth that cost alone.  Hmm, what’s that?  What about Operation Raccoon City?  Personally, I think free-to-play would be too high of an asking price on that clunker, but if you’ve got a strong constitution and a blinding love for everything Resident Evil…you should still stay away.  Far away.

All deals, forthcoming and currently standing, end on March 4th, so jump on them before the prices become unreasonable once more.  [Over, out, and done with.  The Res Evil sale ended the same day it started, but you can catch many more sales until the 4th.]

Jet Set Radio Dated For September, PS Plus Members Get to Vandalize Early

Kudos to Sega for not only pooling together 100% of the original Jet Set’s soundtrack, but also offering the full game download for an agreeable $9.99 (800 points in 360 currency).  I’ve received a lot less than a top notch blast from the past for that price point and we won’t go into the crashing disappointments I’ve hunkered down with for way more than ten bucks.

You can expect this Dreamcast dinosaur to arrive on PSN Sept. 18th with XBLA and Steam receiving it the next day on the 19th.  But if you’re impatient — and I hope you are so that I don’t feel like I’m alone in the universe — and also happen to be a PlayStation Plus subscriber, you can treat yourself to Jet Set Radio as early as Sept. 11th.

PS Vita owners, unfortunately, will have to be a little more zen with the upsetting wait between now and the game’s availability for the handheld on October 16th.  Assuming that your ownership of a portable system means you’re outside and on the go, might I suggest taking up real life rollerbladed graffiti tagging?  It’s a valid, wheeled art form.  An art form technically considered vandalism and could get you into legal trouble, but on rollerblades, the amount of exercise your body’s getting will make up for all the, uh, rollerblading away from cops you’ll be doing…Okay, fine, wait for October.

Sorry, Guys, the Fez Patch Isn’t Getting Patched

“It wasn’t an easy decision, but in the end, paying such a large sum of money to jump through so many hoops just doesn’t make any sense. We already owe Microsoft a LOT of money for the privilege of being on their platform. People often mistakenly believe that we got paid by Microsoft for being exclusive to their platform. Nothing could be further from the truth. WE pay THEM.”

Polytron Games explaining why 1% of you are going to continue experiencing save problems with Fez.

The initial patch that fixed a mess load of bugs in Polytron’s standout title Fez has been put back online after being removed once it was found out that a vicious little save glitch paired with the update would delete players’ entire progress.

Having investigated the matter, Microsoft determined only somewhere near 1% of the people that downloaded the patch ran into the problem, which places the patch in the “good enough” category by the company’s standards.  Microsoft then gave the indie developer behind Fez two options; pay “tens of thousands of dollars to re-certify the game” or merely put the original patch back online, bugs and all.

Without the financial backing of a larger developer, and also still being reamed by the payments the dev has to make just to have their game on XBLA, Polytron took the only feasible route they saw (which was not to succumb to bankruptcy) and reissued the patch, deeming it safe for an overwhelming majority of Fez owners, putting to bed any chance of a patch for the patch.

Want to hear the kicker?  Polytron fully admits that had they released the game for Steam, the fix would have only taken two weeks to launch without a single cost to them, Microsoft being the one factor stopping that scenario from happening for 360 owners.  Yeah, with a smoking barrel of a statement like that, I doubt we’ll see another Polytron game on the Arcade anytime…ever.

My favorite moments from The Expendables 2: The Videogame trailer in order from least to greatest.  The game looks like absolute balls, but if downloading it means Terry Crews appearing to tie me down to a chair and knock my teeth out…Probably still worth avoiding.

Classic Crossover Smackdowns Return in Marvel vs. Capcom Origins

Coming to PSN and Xbox Live this September, two arcade Versus classics are being smashed into one downloadable package.  Both the seminal Marvel Super Heroes in its gem-happy entirety and its eventual successor Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes will be combined to form the Origins set.

Origins is returning with more than just arcade perfect versions of these aged fighters, though.  Modern day fighting infects the titles with an HD uplift, GCPO supported online play, savable replays, online spectating, and new Third Strike HD-like challenges to accomplish mid-bout.  No specific date in September was given, but Marvel vs Capcom Origins can be yours at $14.99 (which is a steal considering what both games are going for on eBay nowadays).

If you can’t wait until then, dust off your fightstick and head to 2012’s EVO where Capcom is debuting the remastered fighter.  Not a fan of MvC3’s shift in style?  Looks like you’re going to have a fantastic outlet for that frustration soon enough.

[Watch the official trailer hereabouts.]

Another Year, Another Xbox ‘Summer of Arcade’

It’s not hard to tell when summer has arrived in Florida.  Besides car tires melted like marshmallows, it’s tough to ignore the tremendous heat radiating from the sun when it moves within shouting distance of our state.  But there’s an upside to this season in which I’m often ignited where I stand: Xbox Live’s Summer of Arcade.

Beginning July 18th, Xbox owners will be bombarded by a slew of downloadable hits (“slew” meaning five in this instance).  Here’s your official release schedule:

• Tony Hawk Pro Skater HD (July 18th/1200 MS)
• Wreckateer (July 25th/800 MS)
• Deadlight (August 1st/1200 MS)
• Hybrid (August 8th/1200 MS)
• Dust: An Elysian Tail (August 15th/1200 MS)

Mighty interesting selection this year.  If you haven’t heard of a title listed, feel free to hit the link to view a trailer.  I know I already have my Moon Points targeted on Tony Hawk and Deadlight.  What’re you picking up this summer?

Fable Heroes Reveals Itself as a Co-op Spin-Off to the RPG Hit

A listing has cropped up on Xbox’s site for an XBLA branch off of Lionhead’s Microsoft exclusive RPG series, Fable.  Far removed from the adventure RPG elements that make up the backbone of the core games, however, Fable Heroes teams up to four players in a co-op hack n’ slasher that has you tangling against Albion’s miscreants and monsters.

Collecting as many coins as possible in the game serves you well by allowing you to upgrade your character, buy new ones, waste coin on items, and even unlock special items for the Kinect-frenzied sequel to the main series, Fable: The Journey.  Unlike a lot of gamers, I’m all for publishers dipping their properties in new genres.  But I sort of already bought Castle Crashers.  In lieu of a sequel to that downloadable classic, I suppose a Lionhead backed brawler doesn’t sound quite so bad at all so long as they maintain the humor and style of Heroes’ bigger brothers.

Stay posted for more info as Microsoft sheds some light on Fable Heroes.