XBOX.com is offering a good deal to XBOX Live Arcade fans. Select games are 50% off.

Zuma Deluxe: 400 points! It takes a quick hand to unlock the treasures in this addictive puzzler. Fire magical balls to make matches, then collect coins and power-ups to clear the path.

Gauntlet: 200 points! Get ready for multiplayer fun in this retro coin-op classic. Explore mazes together, destroying vile beasts and claiming gold, as a Warrior, Valkyrie, Wizard, and Elf.

Small Arms: 400 points! Cyborg tabby cats, assassin truffle pigs, and mutant chimney sweeps come to life in this multiplayer shooter that's a "must-have" for anyone with an itchy trigger finger.

DIG DUG: 200 points! Experience the fast-paced action of this quarter-cruncher from 1982 as you take control of Dig Dug himself and vanquish Pookas and Fygars.

The wife acceptance factor keeps going up. Hexic 2 with multiplayer support will launch on XBOX Live Arcade this month along with Ecco the Dolphin. Other mediocre titles also launch this summer. From the Microsoft press release:

Hot August games also releasing this month:

* “Ecco the Dolphin” (Sega) Cool off with this fun, whimsical update of the classic undersea exploration game featuring everyone’s favorite bottlenose dolphin, Ecco!
* “Hexic 2” (Carbonated Games) The highly anticipated sequel to the popular puzzle game “Hexic HD” will have gamers racing to solve brand new challenges, including an all new two player Battle mode.
* “War World” (Ubisoft) A pure adrenaline rush, War World features powerful armored mechanoids battling head-to-head in all-out savage single and multiplayer battles that combine action and strategy.

Sizzling summer launches hitting in the coming weeks:

* “Geon: Emotions” (Eidos) Engage in the unique sport of Geon, where you must master a diverse range of emotions to best your opponents.
* “Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords” (D3Publisher of America, Inc.) Addictive and easy-to-learn, this game integrates story and character progression elements found in RPGs delivering a brand new type of game that pushes the puzzle genre to a whole new level.
* “Space Giraffe” (Llamasoft) Created by genre-defining game designer Jeff Minter, “Space Giraffe” is a psychedelic shooter that spans 100 levels, all set against vivid, pulsating backgrounds that synchronize with any custom music selection.
* “Streets of Rage 2” (Sega) One of the most popular side-scrolling beat ‘em ups of the 90’s gets the Xbox LIVE Arcade treatment, complete with enhanced graphics, sound, Achievements and multiplayer modes.
* “Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix” (Capcom) This game combines addictive puzzle action with favorite Capcom fighting characters including Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li and Morrigan.

Great news for Quake III fans (and perhaps keyboard and mouse fans). Coming out out of QuakeCon, iD made the announcement that Quake III Arena is headed to XBOX Live Arcade. Quake III Arena is considered one of the greatest first person shooters of all time. It's very fun. It's very competitive. It will be a huge hit on XBOX Live - at least, I hope it is. For (an assumed) $10, this is going to be a heck of a game. However, I have a feeling that FPS fans are going to be busy with another game.

In other news, Epic announced that the PS3 version of Unreal Tournament 3 will support keyboard and mice as NATIVE input devices. Excellent! However, Microsoft does not currently allow keyboard and mice to be used as NATIVE input devices. Shucks! Imagine if other XBOX games supported keyboards and mice. HALO 2 or 3. Command and Conquer. HALO Wars. Surely console RTS fans would welcome kb/m. FPS fans would as well. PC gamers would be more open to the platform.

Is SONY going to capture some of the PC gaming audience with this move? Will Microsoft simply not make a move and stand firm on their policy of "no keyboards and mice" on their consoles?

I for one want to see new XBOX 360 titles supporting keyboards and mice. Surely it wouldn't require much investment from the development house to get this up and running - especially considering the additional sales that such a setup would generate (not to mentioned the ridiculously over-priced keyboard and mice accessories that could be sold).

The PC versus controller debate just got a little more interesting.

Marathon: Durandal is a cult classic first-person shooter (FPS) that continues the tradition of great gameplay while remaining faithful to the spirit of Bungie lore as the predecessor to the Halo franchise.

It looks a lot like the old school FPS shooters like Duke Nukem and Doom. That's because Marathon is an old school shooter.

jayWHY finally has a use for his XBOX 360.

XBOX.com's page about Marathon: Durandal (link)

One reason why Uno had a lot of replay value was because it had XBOX Live Vision support.  Getting into a game of Uno on XBOX Live Arcade was first like being in a video chat room and second like playing a simple card game.Texas Hold 'Em FINALLY has added Vision Camera support to the popular game.  By the nature of the game, Texas Hold 'Em is a social experience.  The game is mostly played off of the table.  Adding Vision support is feature that has been missed for many many months. 

Catan is a popular board game in Europe. According to Wikipedia, some people have called it the “killer app” for board games. It is also popular on MSN Games. Catan is now an XBOX Live Arcade title. The trial version is free and will offer almost an hour of gameplay. The full version costs 800 points ($10) to unlock.

I have noticed that quite a few people on my buddy list have been playing Catan. I decided to check it out yesterday. I ended up playing for several hours. I bought the full version of the game after my second trail game.

I would describe Catan as a blend of Civilization, Go Fish, and Craps. It’s like Civilization in that you start with a board of empty land in front you. Each player can place settlements, cities, and roads on the land which is divided into hexagons. Each hexagon has a resource that it produces (wool, ore, wood, brick, or wheat).

Catan is like Craps in that each hexagon has a number assigned to it. When you roll the two dice, players with cities and settlements on the edge of the hexagon of the number rolled will get resources (cards).

Catan is like Go Fish in that you can trade those resources (cards) with other players. Need some wool to build your city? I've got some extra sheep that we could trade.

BTW: Catan is also like Craps in that if you roll a “7”, you can have a big reward (steal away a resource from a player and prevent a hexagon from producing resources) or a huge loss (being forced to discard X number of resources).

The gameplay is very deep. I definitely need to play the single-player version of the game two or three times to get the hang of it. Even then, you may not learn all of the rules.

There’s a lot of replay value in this game because you can’t master it. The random placement of the numbers or resources and the rolling of the dice introduce uncertainty and cause all players to continually adjust.

Because you can score points in a variety of ways, there are different paths to victory depending on the “hand you were dealt” so to speak.

The game can be won by accruing 10 points (perhaps you can adjust this to a higher number). 10 points will take 1-2 hours to attain. You gain points by building settlements, cities, and by achieving certain goals (building the longest connected road or having the biggest army, for example).

What makes the game fun is that the game is usually in reach for everyone. You play to just 10 points and it's easy for everyone to get 3-5 points. Battling for the remaining points is the challenge as more roads are built and more settlements and cities crowd the board.

Besides the randomness of the dice, another thing that can keep the game in reach for all players is that anyone can lose points. For instance, only one person gets the 2-point bonus for having the longest road. So, if you are behind, build the longest road and gain points for yourself while taking away points from someone else.

The game also appears to be in reach at all times because you can’t damage anyone unless you opt to not trade with them or send a robber (rolling a “7”) to their hex (preventing it from producing resources) and taking one resource. You can't necessarily "own" a player. You can't over power them.

The graphics are great, but they don’t have to be. What is surprising is the UI and the tutorials. The UI is very well laid out. It makes playing the game really easy. Stats and information are nicely tucked away in easy to access menus. The tutorials for the game are interactive and well thought out. The game did an amazing job at teaching me the in’s and out’s of the game -- adapting to what I did on in the game to teach me moves I should do. Also, the game audio will put you into a trance.

The game supports AI, so I can play against 3 other computer players if none of my friends are online. The game also supports online multi-player, matchmaking, stats, and leaderboards.

Is it worth $10? It was for me. I was looking for a simple game like this to play before the HALO 3 beta.

http://catanlive.com/ for info.

Reviews

* Eurogamer: 7/10
* 411Mania: 8.1/10
* GameAlmighty: 9.2/10
* GameSpot: 7.9/10
* Games Radar: 7/10
* IGN: 7.7/10
* Official Xbox Magazine: 8.0/10
* Team Xbox: 8.6/10
* UGO: B

Microsoft has issued some new guidelines that are sure to impact us soon. The good news is that we can earn more Gamescore points per game. The bad news is that the game developers can control WHEN they make all the Gamerscore points available and 1000-1250 total points might not be available on the retail disc. From Microsoft:

1. All regular disc-based games MUST have 1,000 Gamerscore in the base game. This means that any consumer who buys a retail game will have the opportunity to unlock the full 1,000 Gamerscore without having to pay for any add-on content. Note that a publisher may decide to deliver a portion of this Gamerscore via add-on content, but the add-on content will always be free to the consumer.

2. Game publishers will have the option to deliver another 250 incremental Gamerscore on top of the 1,000 via add-on content from Marketplace. This add-on content could be either free or paid. So if you complete a game and earn the full 1,000 GS, you could by getting new add-on content earn up to a total of 1,250 points from a game.

3. Xbox Live Arcade games will operate in similar fashion, but given the size of these titles they will allow you to earn up to 200 Gamerscore from every game and up to another 50 points from add-on content.

“A perfect example of this is the recent release of Crackdown, which has delivered 900 Gamerscore today on the retail game disc. The remaining Gamerscore in Crackdown will be made available, for free, via a future content update. A number of the title's future Achievements will likely be based on some of the amazing feats executed through the streets of Pacific City, as well as the exciting additional content that Realtime Worlds currently has up its sleeve.” – MS’s Gamerscore blog

That sounded weird at first. So, I reverted back to guideline #1 and TFA. It looks like you are guaranteed the opportunity to unlock 1000 Gamerscore points on all retail games without having to pay extra. But, the 1000 Gamerscore points don’t have to be available on the disc. They just have to be offered for free at a later time via downloaded add-ons from the Marketplace. So, Crackdown will have 100 Gamerscore points hanging out there as a free add-on made available after the release.