OH MY GAWD!!!

Maybe in a move to compensate for the cancellation of Scalebound, Microsoft has updated the backward compatibility service on Xbox One with a whopping seven games today. Announced through Twitter by Major Nelson, gamers will be able to experience some older Battlefield titles along with Live Arcade games I've honestly never heard of. Note that Battlefield 3 is disc only for the time being.

According to some previous tweets, it seems like January is going to be quite the month for backward compatible games on Xbox One. Maybe we can finally knock out the rest of the missing Call of Duty games so they can leave the list of the most requested titles. Really, I just want DJ Hero on Xbox One, as impossible as that may be.

Major Nelson [Twitter]

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Physics-based puzzler The Splatters was enjoyable on Xbox Live Arcade, and it sounds as if SpikySnail Games is going about making additional versions the right way. The game is headed to Windows and Mac (Steam), in addition to Linu?x. Better yet, those latter two versions will be offered free of DRM.

"After we've given this a lot of thought we decided against simply porting the game over to PC, even at the cost of delaying the PC launch," writes SpikySnail. "It wasn't an easy decision to take as it has financial implicatio??ns. But knowing what we now know, the urge to change things around and try to improve the experience is stronger than anything."

It's not clear when this stuff will be released, but the team believes "it won't be that long and we're pret?ty confident the result will more than make up for the delay."

While there are notable XBLA games that haven't made it over to PC (yet), it feels like now more than ever console exclusivity is only ??a temporary setback for PC gamers. With the potential for success,  ??it only makes sense that developers would support the platform when time and budgets allow.

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Action-puzzle game The Splatters is now half price on Xbox Live Arcade, and since this isn't a Deal of the Week, you won't need to be an Xbox Live Gold member to partake.?? The game will be 400 Microsoft Points from July 10 - 16. Find it under the Sales & Specials section of the dashboard, or use that link.

I really dug the game, as did most of the people I know who bothered to play it, but The Splatters hasn't yet managed to reach the wider audience it would especially appeal to. If they only knew how fun it is to do the Flip stunt. You can't go wrong at this price.

At the last minute, I noticed that a few other titles published by Microsoft Studios are also on sale. They are Toy Soldiers: Cold War, Hydrophobia, Section 8: Prejudice, and Hydro Thunder Hurricane.

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There are times ?in life when I have to pause, if only for a moment, to contemplate whether or not my neighbors just heard the (in retrospect very loud) noises that escaped my mouth during a particularly involved gaming session.

This can usually be attributed to a short temper, but for a game like The Splatters, it's not always moments of frustration. Although those come up frequently, don't g?et me wrong, so too do the narrowest of narrow come??back victories that compel one to cheer like a maniac.

Sorry about that, neighbors.

The Splatters (Xbox Live Arcade)
Developer: SpikySnail Games
Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
Release: April 11, 2012
MSRP: 800 Microsoft Points

In The Splatters, you really only have one goal: remove all of the bombs on screen. This ??is done using adorable little goo creatures who don't seem to mind death. Launching these smiling splatters across the room will inevitably cause them to ??explode, wiping out any bombs their ooze comes into contact with.

Although that pro?bably sounds easy, you don't directly control their movement; instead, you aim them in a general direction and let physics do the rest. Granted, access to further abilities comes before long, and winning isn't enough -- you've got to look good while doing it and, of course, keep your combo meter up. No time to rest.

For instance, your splatter can perform a second, mid-air "jump" should you have an object to maneuver around. Depending on how you go about it, the poor critter will either outright explode upon hitting something solid, or it'll split in half, leaking some bomb-destroying ooze and letting you get another shot in. Describing the subtleties of The Splatters in text is likely a lost cause, so I'll finish by simply saying that the developers sure do get? a lot of mileage out of using essentially only the A button, l??eft trigger, and analog stick.

Conceptually, there isn't a whole lot to The Splatters, but that's not to say it can't be surprisingly deep. You'll realize this immediately after browsing the leaderboard, which includes full game clips. Some of the top-scoring runs are baffling to see play out on your television. Better yet, loading these clips takes no time at all, so there's little reason not to pic??k up some tactics from the most skilled pl??ayers.

One of the moves in your arsenal, the flip, initially looks like a time-rewind ability, but it's better described as reversing the direction of moving obje?cts (e.g., splatters and bo?mbs). The end result is an extra layer of control and the potential for absurd chain reactions. It's at this point when the game goes from being an all-around great physics puzzler to an incredibly enjoyable one with a unique hook.

It helps that The Splatters has a great level of polish to it. Though I don't know if this was the case or not, it seems plausible that the core mechanics were mostly figured out early on and the bulk of development time was spent making sure everything else -- from?????????????????????????? sound design to fluid dynamics, and all aspects in between -- was the best that it could be to support the gameplay.

While the majority of levels are a blast to play through? and deliver feelings of sheer pleasure to your brain, I encountered a handful that f?elt finicky. As in, I would have a solution in mind and try doing it essentially the exact same way repeatedly until finally, countless attempts later, the plan worked.

Obviously, something must have changed to bring about victory, but from my perspective, these situations can ?come off as frustratingly inconsistent and arbitrary. This was not a widespread issue by any means, and to be fair, it was almost exclusively the lat?er levels that gave me trouble.

The only other qualm I had was that The Splatters reuses level designs. While the placement of bombs, splatters, and other eleme?nts change so you aren't playing the exact same puzzle twice, ?you'll definitely start to feel like you've been treading across familiar ground by the time you near the end. This was clearly a tradeoff used to extend the game's length, so I can't complain too much.

Given its intuitive control scheme, easy-to-grasp premise, and satisfying execution, The Splatters is one of those games that just about ?anyone can pick up and have a good time with. As an added bonus, it's also remarkably entertaining ??to watch someone else play, even if they're not very good.

Despite a few nitpicks here and there, I can't compliment it enough. The Splatters is a truly wonder?ful game, one that reminds us how terrific a platform Xbox Live Arcade was during its prime and still has the potential to be. Go add points t?o your account and download this immediately.

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On the surface, The Splatters might look problematically straightforwar??d. But that r??eally isn't the case, and thankfully, SpikySnail Games has a new video to help prove this point.

With the "Flip" mechanic, you're able to reverse directions. At first glance, it looks like a mere time rewind, though it's more complicated than that in practice. Watch the video to see what I mean. Or read SpikySnail's blog post, which delves into ?so?me of the design theory behind the move.

I'm still greatly anticipating this game, and hopefully more of you will join in as we move closer to The Splatters' release this spring.

The post This new trailer for Th??e Splatters makes it look so easy appeared first on Destructoid.

After getting some hands-on time with The Splatters, I can confirm that it is indeed quite a?wesome. But you don't need me to tell you that?? -- not when it was already an Independent Games Festival finalist and selected to be in the PAX 10, neither of which are easily accomplished.

Coming to Xbox Live Arcade at some point down the road, The Splatters is an action-puzzle title from a developer based out of Israel by the name of SpikySnail Games. In it, you control little blobs of goo not unlike the stuff you used to make as a kid us?ing borax.

You fling these cheerful guys arou??nd the level in an attempt to make them explode. When they die, they turn into a more liquid-y goo that can wipe out bombs. Getting rid of every single one is how you win, but there's more to the game than that.

You see, the ?motto for this game is "Life's short. Die with style!"

By going after bombs in the most direct, obvious fashion, you can probably still "win." In order to do well in the final scorin?g, though, you'll need to get creative in your approach and build up combos by not taking a break between moves.

The attached video gives you a very basic idea of where The Splatters can go. At one point during my demo, I had SpikySnail's Niv Fisher take the controller and rock one of the more difficult levels of the build. He was doing all sorts of crazy stuff I couldn'?t wrap my head around, like subtly rewinding time to get the most out of every last splatter.

He did help make the game, after all. It may not look particularly complex at first glance, but just know that it gets pretty wild. Niv wasn't even able to earn the level's full three-star rating, and although he said they'd likely tone down the difficulty, I have a feeling The Splatters will be intensely compet?i??tive if you want it to be.

It was the mo??st instantly gratify??ing game I played at PAX.

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Israel-based indie developer SpikySnail is getting its game The Splatters published by Microsoft Studios for release on Xbox Live Arcade in 2012. Previously, this title was called Confetti Carnival w??hen it became a?n Independent Games Festival finalist for technical excellence.

It looked like a ton of fun back then, and it still does today. I wouldn't have expected Microsoft to pick this up, but if the end result is more exposure for The Splatters, sounds good to me. Those attend?ing PAX Prime later th?is month can get their hands on a playable build at booth #6301.

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