Xbox Live Marketplace Deal of the Week: March 12th
This week’s deal is small, Deal featuring GTA IV and its DLC at 50% off. This deal is good through March 18th and is available only to Xbox Live Gold Members only.
In addition, seven (that’s right – seven) games have been added to the On-Demand library: Dark Souls, NeverDead, Winter Stars, F1 Race Stars, Binary Domain,Motion Explosion,and KINECT RUSH: A Disney • PIXAR Adventure.
Weekly News Roundup: Pachter Calls Out Nintendo, SimCity Servers are a Disaster
This week in gaming we got more than our fair share of controversy. The ever vocal and never subtle Michael Pachter gave his predictions on how the next generation will turn out, and he didn’t hold back one ounce of criticism against Nintendo. SimCity launched to such large numbers that EA’s servers couldn’t even come close to handling the load, leading to numerous problems. Shigeru Miyamoto, the man who practically built Nintendo with his own two hands, had a lot to say this week, including the fact that he’s thinking about retirement.
Catch all these stories and more, as well as our exclusive editorials and reviews, on this edition of the GenGAME Weekly News Roundup.
This Month’s Club Nintendo Rewards: Kid Icarus, Starship Defense, Super Punch-Out!!
Every month, Nintendo updates its rewards catalog with new games for Club Nintendo members. These games are available for about one month from their original listing, and usually consist of a good balance of classic Virtual Console games and newer indie digital-only gems.
This month’s rewards include the 3D Classics version of Kid Icarus for Nintendo 3DS, Super Punch-Out!! and Mario Tennis on Wii Virtual Console, and Starship Defense on the 3DS eShop/DSiWare store. Each will be available for 150 Club Nintendo coins apiece until April 7, so if you’re interested in any of them, you’d better act fast!
Source: Club Nintendo
Pre-Orders Open for Piston, Order Now and get $100 Off
We may still have no word on an official “Steambox” coming out anytime soon, but Xi3′s Piston, a Valve-supported gaming PC, is now available for pre-order. At $999.99, it’s a hefty sum for console gamers, but if you pre-order between now and March 17, your order will be discounted by $100.
If you’re looking for a truly Valve-powered gaming console, this probably isn’t the computer for you. However, if you’re in the market for a new gaming PC and you don’t mind paying for quality, you might want to give Piston a look. After all, it’s 10% off and Valve approved!
EA Removes SimCity From Origin Store in India
The troubles are still piling up for EA and their ill-fainted launch of SimCity. Various different server troubles have rendered the online-only game nearly unplayable, forcing EA to remove the game’s “non-critical gameplay features” to smooth things out. In the meantime, the publisher has asked all their affiliates to stop advertising the game to keep player numbers down until the servers are fixed.
Adding even more to the cost, EA is offering all SimCity buyers a free game to make up for the disastrous launch. When it looked like things might finally calm down, we’ve just learned that EA had to remove the game from India’s Origin Store. Hit the jump to see why.
Xbox Live Marketplace Deal of the Week: March 5th
This week we have a variety of XBLA games on for up to 66% off. This deal is good through March 11th and is available to Xbox Live Gold members only.
In addition, three games have been added to the On-Demand library: The Cursed Crusade, Kung-Fu,and Harley Pasternak’s Hollywood Workout.
PlayStation Plus Perks Announced for March
The best benefit of being a PlayStation Plus subscriber is the free monthly games released every month to add to your instant game collection. March brings several games, which make the PlayStation subscription service worth investing in. Remember, as long as you have the games in your downloading queue you still have access to them, even if they are removed from the PS Plus service.
Check out the list by clicking below.
Dead Space Series on Sale on Origin
Running through March 7, EA is offering discounts on the entire Dead Space series on its Origin store. Dead Space has been critically acclaimed as one of the best new survival horror IPs in years, gaining several impressive scores even back in 2008 when the first game in the series debuted. The original Dead Space garnered much excellent praise. GamePro gave the game a perfect 5/5, while X-Play gave it a 4/5. Dead Space 2 received almost all 9/10s across the board.
Free Xbox Live Gold Weekend Next Week in the UK
Next weekend in the UK, Microsoft is offering its Xbox Live Gold service free, courtesy of Bioshock: Infinite. To go along with this event, several games will have events scheduled throughout the weekend.
Owners of games like Halo 4 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 will be able to play with their friends online for free from 12:00 on Friday, March 8, to 23:59 on Sunday, March 10. There’s a series of multiplayer events scheduled for Halo 4, Borderlands 2, Tomb Raider, FIFA Ultimate Team, Forza Horizon, Far Cry 3, and Assassin’s Creed 3. In addition to this, Grand Theft Auto developer Rockstar will be challenging fans in GTA IV: Episodes From Liberty City, Max Payne 3, Red Dead Redemption, and Midnight Club: Los Angeles. This day of Rockstar challenges will begin on the first day of the free weekend, March 8, and will last from 12:00-17:00 GMT.
Xbox 360 ‘Spring Value Bundle’ Includes Darksiders II and Batman: Arkham City
Major Nelson announced a new “Spring Value Bundle” for Xbox 360 that shipped out to retailers today. The bundle includes a 250GB model Xbox 360, wireless controller, as well as a physical copy of Darksiders II and a digital copy of Batman: Arkham City, with a price tag of $299.99.
The choice of bundled games seems pretty deliberate: two games that also happened to release for Wii U, offered together with the Xbox 360 at the same price point as a Wii U Basic Set, sans games, with a much larger hard drive – over 30 times bigger than the 8GB Basic Set flash memory.
Source: Major Nelson via Destructoid
Light Blue, Gloss Pink 3DS Models Headed to Japan
The number of colors that the 3DS is available in has just grown again. Two new colors, light blue and gloss pink, have been announced for the 3DS in Japan. These two new models come with a 4GB SD card (as compared to the more standard 2GB SD card) and will launch on March 20 for the price of ¥15,000 (around $163). No official word has been given on the possibility of these models coming to the United States, but it’s likely that we’ll hear more in the near future.
Xbox Live Sale: First Four Assassin’s Creed Games are Half-Off Today Only
Today’s big Xbox Live Marketplace deal – part of the Ultimate Game Sale – features the first four Assassin’s Creed games, which are each available for half-off today only. The first three games, running up through Brotherhood, are each $9.99 today, and Revelations will be $14.99 after the discount. It’s a great chance for those who started their journey with the series with Assassin’s Creed III to dip their toes in the franchise’s past.
I started the franchise with the third numbered title myself, so I’m interested to check out at least the first two. Would you guys be interested in seeing me chronicle my experience in a “daily diary” sort of thing? Let me know in the comments!
