Monday, October 5, 2009

The LoadDown - 10/05/2009

This week on the Wii and XBox 360 downloadable services...

WiiWare -- Not much this week - just Digital Leisure's Word Searcher, which is, you guessed it, a word search game.  This type of puzzle works better in my opinion on paper or maybe the DSi, but here it is on the Wii, for 500 points.

Virtual Console -- Also just one game, but it's Square-Enix's original Final Fantasy for the NES!  This is one of the true classics, and while the game system seems primitive compared to the sequels and remakes, it still makes for compelling RPG gaming.

DSiWare -- One game here as well.  I don't know much about it, but based on the press release description, Thorium Wars appears to be a sci-fi action game with a touch of strategy, allowing the player to employ a variety of vehicles to fend off an alien invasion.

XBLA -- 3 games last week, 2 of which are retro updates. Military Madness: Nectaris brings the classic PC Engine/Turbografx-16 hex-based sci-fi strategy game up-to-date with 3-D graphics and support for up to 4 players, online or offline.  I tried the demo version and it feels very much like classic Military Madness, so I will likely be picking this one up at some point.  Football Genius - The Ultimate Quiz provides football (i.e. soccer) trivia questions; it may do better in Europe than it will here in the US.  And Bust-a-Move Live! continues Taito's recent remake series of classic franchises for the XBox 360 and Wii.

In other news, Microsoft is releasing Fable II for XBLA download -- in five episodes.  I expect we'll continue to see this kind of experimentation as publishers try to figure out how to move distribution into the digital realm.

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