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Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2 Review: Rolling in the Right Direction


A new Sonic game always brings a level of uncertainty with it. Sega’s mascot has seen more highs and Read more

One Million Fans Take a Stroll with The Walking Dead Episode 1


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Kittens Spit Fire When Serious Sam Double D XXL Assaults XBLA This Fall


Take a long, hard look at you what is on your screen right now. Yes, that’s a kitten, spitting Read more

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Avatar Trivia Party is Released Just in Time for the Holiday Gatherings

Posted on December 1, 2011 by Dave Voyles in News, xblig, XBLIG News | Leave a comment

What better way to spend the holidays than surrounded by friends and family, who are then surrounded around your Xbox? Red Crest Studios, who previously developed Bonded Realities and most recently Andromium, thought exactly that and released their current XBLIG project, Avatar Trivia Party today.

Doubling as a fully-featured board game and trivia game, players race one another to arrive at the end goal first. To get there, each player is asked a trivia question on their turn, and the number of dice they are able to roll depends on whether or not the question is answered correctly, thereby relying on a combination of luck and trivia talent.

So light up that yule log (not the app, because you’ll be playing this), bring out your Menorah, or plant that Festivus pole, because the holidays are here and you’ve got the perfect game to play with those visiting folks.

You can find Avatar Trivia Party on the LIVE Marketplace today for 80 Microsoft points ($1).

Interview: Michael Ventnor of Red Crest Studios

Posted on February 7, 2011 by Dave Voyles in xblig | Leave a comment

I recently had the opportunity to ask a few questions with the founder of Red Crest Studio, Michael Ventnor. The studio has recently released two Xbox indie titles, and its most recent release is the JRPG adventure, Bonded Realities, which I reviewed last week.

If you weren’t making games you would be….

Programming something else! Programming is all I’m good for. I’d most likely be working for Mozilla or a similar Californian company. But since videogames were the reason I became passionate about computers as a child, I really wanted to give game development a go, just to see how far I could take it.

Where would you like to see your studio or games in the next 3-5 years?

At least self-sustaining. Hopefully with its own office, and more employees, making more profitable and famous games.

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Xbox Indie Review: Bonded Realities

Posted on February 3, 2011 by Dave Voyles in Reviews, xblig | 1 Comment

For a market which is generally flooded with retro 8 and 16-bit titles, I’m surprised that there aren’t more JRPG’s. The 90s console market provided a seemingly endless supply of them, and I couldn’t see a more well-suited fit for the Xbox Indie Channel. The smashing success of Zeboyd Games’ Breath of Death VII and Cthulu Save The World has at least shown there certainly is a market for the genre.

Then along comes Bonded Realities, which although is a JRPG in the traditional sense, offers a more simplified and streamlined experience than BoD or CSTW. The comedic approach is clearly visible as well, and the developer does an excellent job with delivering the chuckles when necessary. Although I found the battle system to be simple at best, the charismatic enemies with their laughable attacks had me looking forward to each battle. Along my adventure I fought fearlessly against a wooden-plank-wielding beaver donning a construction hat, a pink, one-eyed, analog telephone and a spring wearing a hat made of sheep’s wool. This is just a taste of what you’re in for.

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Bonded Realities debut trailer revealed

Posted on December 14, 2010 by Mike Wall in News | 2 Comments

We’ve all slain our fair share of ogres, orcs and spiders, but how about killer sombreros or cyclopean eye-phones? Red Crest Studios’ colorful RPG Bonded Realities thursts us into the all-too-familary role of the meandering hero, but aims to spice up the formula by injecting a healthy dose of humor. The retro RPG should be out sometime in January.