Daily Bits is a collection of all the gaming news that has happened for the current day that we deem as interesting and relevant to our readers. Check back daily for more news round-ups and feel free to send your suggestions to dailybits@everydaygamers.com

Release Date List: 7/18-7/25

This week the Summer of Arcade promotion kicks off on Xbox Live with LIMBO.  Also Need for Speed: World on the PC and Alien Swarm. Check out the full list of titles in the link below.

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Madden NFL 11 Demo Tackles XBL and PSN

Football season is right around the corner people, and with that usually means another EA Madden NFL game.  On July 27th you can download the demo that pits last years AFC Championship game between the Indianapolis Colts and the New York Jets.  The demo will have 5 minute quarters and give you a option to choose between four select difficulties: Rookie, Pro, All Pro, and All-Madden.

A lot of people are upset with EA for there Ten dollar online pass tactic, and rightfully so.  Will you be picking up the new Madden this year?

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XBLA Breach Gets Delayed

The Xbox Live title that had a lot of people excited at E3, Breach will be getting a pretty significant delay.  Instead of dropping this year, the game will release in January.

Atomic President Peter Tamte says the delay will give the studio the time they need to add a “hardcore” mode to the game to mimic the real life military situations.

Luckily there were features we had been thinking of adding to the title, and now we have the opportunity to do just that. Unlike with Six Days in Fallujah, which was delayed indefinitely when Konami pulled out, we are publishing Breach ourselves, and it will be out in January… I’ve always said, we don’t make simulations for the public and we don’t make games for the government. However, we have come to realize there is a growing segment of the gaming population that wants to test these simulation systems out for themselves, which is why we’re adding features, like a Hardcore mode, to Breach.”

Breach will now release day and day with the Xbox 360 version and will still carry a $15 price tag.

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Netflix Streams Over the Border

It is a happy day today for the Canadians as Netflix have announced today that their streaming service will be coming to Canada later this fall.  It may not be a big deal for people in the US because we have been spoiled with streaming content for quite some time now, but people across the northern border couldn’t be more happy.

The Canadian version of Netflix will have its first ever separate package that allows customers to choose a streaming-only package instead of having to pay for a DVD bundle.

No other details have been mentioned including pricing information, but we imagine that to surface shortly.

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Have you ever had a dream that felt so real but you couldn’t remember it enough to explain it?  That’s kind of how my experience felt while playing Limbo.  The masterminds behind the eerie world that is Limbo, are a company called “Playdead” who is based out of Copenhagen, Denmark.  While this may be the teams first project together, it definitely does not show.  Playdead is now a studio that I’ am a fan of and I look forward to whatever else they bring in the future.

LIMBO takes you on a beautiful and dark journey of a boy who is uncertain about his sisters fate.  The entire game is set in a black and white atmosphere that you will soon discover is a place you would never want to be.  My time spent with Limbo was nothing short of amazing.  The game starts off with you waking up in the middle of a forest not knowing where you are or what your in store for.  I refer to the main character as “the boy” because the game doesn’t have voice actors, nor does it have character development.  Only thing that matters is that you overcome the dangerous objects that await you, so you can find your sister.

As you progress through Limbo, you are challenged by mind bending puzzles that actually do take some thinking.  This is where the game absolutely shines.  It is almost impossible to be perfect and stay alive for a long period of time.  You will be electrocuted, drowned, and pummeled by the dangerous tools that surround Limbo.  You will die, respawn, maybe die again but then hopefully realize where you went wrong.  This may sound frustrating and even game breaking but it’s almost the opposite.  Playdead did an excellent job at making sure when you die you don’t feel like chucking the controller across the room.  When you fail at a specific puzzle you are put almost exactly where you left off right before you attempted it.  I also felt a sense of accomplishment when I figured out a way to get past a section that kept me engrossed in wanting to play for just “5 more minutes.”  The puzzles vary and never get old because they change up through out the game.  I never felt bored or felt like I have been doing the same thing over and over again.  Towards the end of the game your encounters with certain elements will get harder and the puzzles will challenge you more and more, but not once did I feel fed up with the game.  It’s just a beautiful display of balance and forgiveness.

The controls are very simplistic.  You move with the left analog stick and use A to jump and B to move objects.  It truly is another reason why Limbo could be a game for anybody who doesn’t mind using their brain a little.  One thing you should be aware of though is that your character dies in pretty horrific ways.  If he’s ripped up by a saw you will see body parts and limbs flying around.  It is hardly “graphic” because of it’s black and white art style but there is a setting to turn it off if your a bit squeamish.  One of the other elements of the game that I just have to mention is the sound.  I played the entire game with my Turtle Beach headphones on and it was very noticeable that Playdead put a lot of time in getting the sound just right.  Everything from the crackling of tree branches to the howling from the owls are heard through out your time in Limbo.  My suggestion, if you have a nice pair of gaming headphones use them and you will see what I mean.

Make no mistake, while LIMBO may be an Xbox Live Arcade title, I still consider it to be one of the top displays thus far of 2010 and I will put it up there with any of the other big boys for Game of the Year.  When a game can give you a different experience that you have never encountered before, that is something special.  For a title that costs 15 dollars, this is the biggest bang for your buck that your going to get this summer, or for that matter possibly the rest of the year.

Daily Bits is a collection of all the gaming news that has happened for the current day that we deem as interesting and relevant to our readers. Check back daily for more news round-ups and feel free to send your suggestions to dailybits@everydaygamers.com

Medal Of Honor Limited Edition Extras Revealed

EA has confirmed the Limited Edition content for Medal of Honor, and best of all it costs the same as the standard edition.  That’s right, the Limited Edition will be $59.99 and add a few more weapons to your arsenal right off the bat.  The MP7, TOZ-104, and 870MC2 Shotguns will be available day one.  Standard Edition owners will also have access to those weapons but will have to earn them through the unlock ranking system.

At E3 it was also announced that PS3 users will get a copy of the 2002 award winning Medal of Honor: Frontlines.  Which copy do you plan on picking up?

Medal of Honor will shoot its way onto store shelves October 12th for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 with a Europe release on October 15th.

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Halo: Reach Gets Down To Business With Limited Edition Bundle

You’ve dreamed, You’ve asked, You’ve waited.  Now Bungie is delivering the goods on there Limited Edition Bundle for the  next installment in the Halo universe.  The LE will cost you $80 and will include the following:

• Custom case modeled after a recovered ONI data module
• In-game Elite armor set for multiplayer
• Artifact bag, which contains the personal notes and documents of the creator of the Spartan program: Dr. Catherine Halsey
• Dr. Halsey’s ONI security badge
• An embroidered Spartan II patch

You can check out screen shots of the bundle from our source below.

Halo: Reach will come to a store near you on September 14th exclusively on the Xbox 360.

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Bayonetta Discounted On Amazon Today

Q1 of this year was a crazy time for gamers with what seemed like a new triple A game coming every week.  But in case you’ve missed out on Platinum Games “Bayonetta” today would be the best day to scoop it up.

Amazon is having a deal on the game and you can pick it up for 20$ for the PS3.  Unfortunately the deal is not running on the Xbox 360 as well, but if your looking for a great game to play before the “next big thing” then you cannot go wrong with Bayonetta.

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After 30 Years It’s Still Haunted

Atari is celebrating it’s 30 year anniversary of the 1980 classic title Haunted House by releasing a downloadable title this September.

The sequel will go back to its spooky atmosphere and return players to the Graves Mansion.  The sequel will have enhanced graphics and follow the same concept but will offer new locations and a character shown in the third-person.

Haunted House will be available this fall for the PC, Xbox Live Arcade, and the Wii.

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The Indie Puzzler from Playdead Studios has been priced at 1200 Microsoft Points (15$) when it hits XBLA as part of there “Summer of Arcade.”  We are still waiting for an official release date, but we expect a mid august release to be announced very soon.  We will keep you updated when we hear otherwise.

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http://everydaygamers.com/videos/Snoopy%20Flying%20Ace.mp4

I have to admit, I hadn’t heard anything about Trials HD until the demo was released. I downloaded it out of curiosity and was instantly hooked. I’m not a huge motorcycle fan but you don’t have to be to like this game. The formula is simple for anyone. The great thing about Trials is that it’s easy to keep trying to perfect your run. You have two options when on the track, press the back button to start over from the beginning of the track or press the B button to start from the last checkpoint. Starting from the last checkpoint counts as a “fault” which will in turn affect your overall time so it is best to start over from the beginning if you want to get the gold medal. For each track you are either rewarded a Bronze, Silver, or Gold medal. You can also compare your times with friends that have the game. For example one of my friends has Trials and we’ve been competing back and forth to get a faster time on each track. This is what makes Trials so addicting. Yes competing for Gold medals is tough enough but trying to beat your friend’s score is added incentive. I almost wish I could host an Xbox Live party to bring my friends in the game so that we could watch each other race the tracks and see who can get the fastest time. I also like how Trials loads fast, if at anytime you want to restart a track you press the back button and instantly you are at the beginning ready to give it another shot. Because of this I always find myself saying “okay, one more try” even though it really is never my last.

You may ask yourself, “What is so hard about Trials HD?” Trials is physics-based meaning you must tilt your body either forward or backward at the right time to get the smoothest ride possible. It’s the combination of tilting your body and pressing the gas that makes this game what it is. In the later levels your skills are really tested, you must be pinpoint if you want to complete the track with a gold medal. Take for example the video below, this level requires a lot of precision:

Other tracks in Trials just look plain awesome, like the one titled “Dreamscape” that has pieces of wood floating in the air and doesn’t look like a track at all. RedLynx definitely knew what they were doing when they created these tracks. Not to mention Trials also comes with a track builder which you can use to create your own tracks and share them with friends. Check the video below to check out the “Dreamscape” track.

Overall I love the game, it was a pleasant surprise and that might be the main reason I like it so much. Trials HD is fun, simple, and addicting, everything a game should be. If you have an Xbox 360 and 1200 points I highly suggest Trials HD even if you don’t particularly care for motorcycle games.

Patrick: I too have been waiting for Castle Crashers to release for a long time now, the first time I heard about it seems like forever-ago. One of the main things that draws me in to games these days is the art-style. I was instantly hooked to CC once I saw the typical Behemoth art-style we are accustomed to. After waiting forever, Castle Crashers has finally released and it is all that I was hoping it would be. CC brings back fond memories of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time on the SNES, the hack and slash side-scroller that I grew up playing. It’s this simple style of game combined with some great RPG elements that make Castle Crashers the ultimate XBLA game.

Werner: The gameplay is very fast paced and hectic at sometimes, and other times it can also be very slow and steady and very combo driven and tactical. It all depends on how you choose to make your character grow. Before beating the game I had already created a green knight who fought using mostly magic, a grey knight who was a powerful combatant and a high speed thief whose agility was so high that he could kill most enemies before they had a chance to get close to him, or even come into the screen. I beat it with the thief, of course, so now I have to go make some sort of a tank who can take any punishment anyone could dish out.

Patrick: Unlike Werner I tried to even my orange knight out pretty evenly with an emphasis on magic. This made the game pretty steady throughout and I was thankful to have my wife beside me as a blue knight who leveled everything evenly also but with an emphasis on strength. This made the game turn out to be a standard medium difficulty game.

Werner: The game is not flawless though, and the flaws it does have are only made worse by the irony that they make this multiplayer aimed game be impossible to play online reliably, and frustrating to play offline. Online play is terribly laggy, followed by random disconnects which cause you to lose any progress gotten during that stage. Offline play requires the other players to each have their own gamertag. It only takes a few minutes to create these new gamertags, but this should really be “pick-up and play”, with the option for others to log in. Another problem with the game is a random bug which causes people to lose their saved files. This is extra annoying if you spent hours powering up your red knight to level 50 one day, and he’s back to level 1 next time you play.

Patrick: Yes, I agree. One of the main aspects of CC is the fact that it is meant to be played with at least 2 but preferably 4 people. This is also the downfall of the game. I tried to play by myself and I found it very difficult, the more people you play with the better, but this also means more chaos on the screen which makes it hard to even find your character, which brings me to my next complaint. Even though I absolutely love the art, the screen doesn’t seem big enough (even my 52″) and some of the enemies and characters are too big which makes it hard to know what is going on. I was playing with my two cousins and a friend and one of my cousins had been button-mashing for at least a minute before he realized he was already dead and had been for at least 30 seconds. This is how chaotic it can get on the screen. If you keep it down to 2 knights it keeps it pretty clean. I’ve noticed the later levels tend to me less-chaotic as well.

Werner: Castle crashers is an awesome game. Maybe my favorite XBLA game, and a game I know I will be playing on the down time in-between the Gears of Wars and Fables and Skates. Yes, the game does have it’s flaws, but these are being looked into, and fixes have been promised, so when that happens feel free to add another star to this rating.

Patrick: Yes, despite these two downfalls Castle Crashers is still an amazing game and I am still a huge fan of it. It is everything I was hoping it would be and more. With 3 different modes this game is truly a game to bring out during a party. Even non-gamers can get in to Castle Crashers. You need to buy this now.

Braid is a simple platformer which means you have all the basic abilities such as walking and jumping but there is one ability that you will learn in the very beginning of the game and that is the ability to rewind time. This ability instantly shifts the focus from making sure you don’t die to something a lot deeper. Dying is no longer a concern and you must focus on the more difficult tasks ahead. The main goal in the game is to collect puzzle pieces. Each world has it’s own puzzle that you are to complete by collecting the pieces scattered about the world. There are a total of 6 worlds including your own little “house” which acts as your base where you can work on the puzzles and travel to different worlds. Even though each world introduces a new game mechanic none of these mechanics travel over to any of the other worlds and you don’t have to do any backtracking, you are given the tools you need to get the puzzle pieces the moment you enter that world. This is hard to grasp as some puzzle pieces seem impossible to get and initially you will think “oh, I am to come back to this later” but this is never the case.

Braid is one of the hardest puzzle games I have played in a very long time and I am proud of myself every time I reach a puzzle piece. As of the writing of this game I have to get 3 more puzzle pieces in world 6 and then I will have completed the game. Once you complete the game you will unlock a mode called “Speed Run.” I had my wife along for a few levels and noticed that even though it is not a co-op game per say, it is definitely a game that is fun to watch and help with. Braid doesn’t just shine with its gameplay it is also a brilliant work of art with a painting-like style that you won’t be able to put aside. I’ve noticed that recently music has been a big part of my perception of a game and this music is very relaxing and fits the game perfectly.

Braid is a game that everyone needs to play. It is a game that breaks all the rules and teaches us a totally different way to play a game. It shatters what we know as conventional and utilizes what we think as unconventional. Braid really knows how to stretch your brain and make you think in ways you never have before.

GW2′s new modes are great. They all bring something very interesting to the plate. The first of the modes is Deadline, Deadline is similar to what you are used to playing in the first GW but this mode is timed. You have 3 minutes to score as many points as possible. You also have unlimited lives. I really enjoyed this mode and it is really fun to play. The next mode you will unlock is King. King is one of my favorite modes. In King you are given safe zones, basically all they are is circles that you can enter but enemies can’t. You can only shoot when you are in these circles and the circles will disappear after a certain amount of time. I relate this mode to holding your breath. You get in a circle, start shooting enemies to clear your path and then “hold your breath” until you get to the next safe circle. I enjoyed this mode a lot because I found it was very clever. It was also one of the most intense modes for me. The next mode you will unlock is Evolved. Evolved is your basic GW right down to the core. Just survive as long as you can. After that you will unlock Pacifism. Pacifism is one of the hardest modes. You can’t shoot in this mode and you must make your way through the “gates.” These gates will explode and kill any enemies around them. You must survive as long as possible while going through gates to kill enemies. I did not have an easy time with this and my top score shows it.

The next mode is Waves. Waves is probably my favorite mode right up there with King. Waves is just like the names sounds, waves of a rockets will glide across the screen. Once that wave gets across the screen a new wave will appear. Some waves span the whole length of the “arena” and some only span half. The key is to destroy the wave before the next one comes or they just keep stacking up and then it gets hectic. Waves is a really fun mode and my wife also really enjoys it. The last of the game modes is Sequence. Sequence gives you 30 seconds to destroy all the enemies on the screen. If you do this then you are moved to the next sequence where you must destroy all of those enemies within 30 seconds. This continues for 20 levels. If you lose a life you are automatically moved to the next level. This mode is fun but is one of the harder ones. I don’t usually get very far as it gets difficult very fast. You can play all of these modes cooperatively or competitively. A new addition to GW2 other than the modes is the presence of “Geoms.” Geoms are dropped by enemies which you then collect to increase your score multiplier.

Lastly I must say Geometry Wars 2 is a work of art. Watching this game is just as fun as playing it. With all of the colors and shapes combining and moving across the screen you will never find a dull moment. It is absolutely beautiful. GW2 is a great game, it has all of the things the hardcore love about it while still catering to the newer and less hardcore crowd. With 6 new modes this game has a high replayability and will bring you back time and time again for that quick adrenaline rush. Geometry Wars 2 is truly worthy of being called a sequel.

The first of the titles was Culture. Culture was a flower themed game. Surely the people who developed this were Botanists or something. Culture had 3 mini-games included in it. The first was called “Bloom Game.” Bloom Game was the funnest out of the 3. Basically you are given a little planet/sphere and you must defeat the weeds on it by planting flowers around them. You press A to plant and just move the sphere to “draw” the flowers around the weeds. Weeds will grow if you don’t take care of them fast enough. It was an interesting game. Next was “Paint With Flowers” which I didn’t understand much. You have a plot of land broken into cells each with different numbers. You place a certain flower in the cell and any cell with that number will also have that same color flower. I’m guessing by the name this is basically Color By Numbers but with flowers that create different colors when they are fully grown. It wasn’t very interesting to me so I moved onto the next game. The next game was titled “Flower Garden.” Flower Garden wasn’t much of a game at all but more of a garden where you experiment with breeding flowers. The more flowers you breed into existence the more you will have to use in the other two mini-games. Culture was interesting but it was time to move to the next game.

The next XNA title that I played was Jelly Car. Jelly Car is a basic racing game where you have to get from the start to finish but the path isn’t necessarily from left to right either, the goal can be located anywhere. This game made me laugh when I first started it as the sound effects are made by human voices and the graphics are very “kids and crayons.” I had fun with it and at this point realized that XNA could change the future, no longer do the developers have the pressure on to create these Triple-A titles, they can just create something as simple and fun as Jelly Car and the customers will be satisfied. If it flops, then no big deal. Jelly Car was good squishy fun but it was time for the next game.

Next up was a title called Little Gamers. Little Gamers was my favorite title of the pack and I’m sure it will be a favorite of everyone else. Little Gamers is a side-scroller where you use a wide array of weapons to get the job done. The art of LG reminds me a little of South Park, friendly and innocent. It’s a little surprising though the first time you pick up a shot-gun or a knife and finish the enemy. LG is a great game, very fun and I love the huge selection of weapons. LG also has a great variety of levels from zombies to samurai’s to secret agents. The sound effects really add to the game as well. This game is great fun and I can’t wait till the full version is released. I gave the controller to my wife and she played through the whole demo till the end. She said she knows right away if she likes a game or not and this one was one that she really enjoyed. I recommend you download it now.

The next game on the list was RocketBall. Rocketball is a fast-paced dodgeball game. The wife and I played two-player and didn’t have much fun with it. It was too hectic and also the level we played was very confined and we didn’t have much room. I also didn’t like the controls that much. Luckily the game glitched in the middle and we couldn’t continue unless we restarted it and we decided it wasn’t worth it. The idea of a dodgeball game is cool I just didn’t have a great experience with RocketBall to tell you how good of an idea that is.

Next game I played was an oddly titled game called The Dishwasher. The Dishwasher is a side scroller similar to Little Gamers. It has a very dark setting and an amazing art-style. I think that the characters are all hand-drawn and it sort of has that ink and paper feel to it. The gameplay is very fast paced and will leave your fingers numb as it is definitely a button-masher. TD is a very gothic, dark, and bloody game but at the same time very addicting. The music is also very interesting. Later on I got to a part in the game where I unlocked the ability to teleport across the screen just by pressing the right analog stick. This added a whole new element to the game which made me interested to see what other features will be packed in the full version. This was my second favorite of the 7 games available.

Next on the list was Proximity HD. Prox HD is a basic puzzle game. I played this one with my wife. You place a hexagon into any of the available spaces on the screen. Each hexagon has a number. If that number is higher than the number it is touching then you will take over that spot (if it’s an enemy hex). If the number is lower than that lowers the numbers of the enemy hex’s it is touching. The whole object of the game is to take control of as many hexagons has possible. It’s easier to learn it if you just try it out. The art style was plain and we had some trouble picking the right places to place our hexagons. I would only purchase the full version of this game if it was a total of 200 ms points.

The last game that I played was TriLinea. TriLinea was not my type of game. I didn’t read the instructions so I guess that didn’t help much but I couldn’t understand it and I didn’t really care to. The art-style was very basic and unappealing. Maybe if I take the time to understand how the game works then will I learn to appreciate it but I just didn’t have the patience at this point.

All-in-all the games were very fun. The XNA Game Launcher is a big step forward for Xbox 360 and game developers. I can’t wait to see what other games people are working on. I hope that Microsoft will do regular demo releases of games created with the XNA Game Studio. I can honestly say that by playing these games I was inspired to work on my own. Knowing nothing about game creation I don’t think I will get very far. Is there an XNA Game Studio for dummies book out there? If you haven’t downloaded the XNA Game Launcher I highly recommend you do it as soon as your done with this sentence.