2100 MS Points £16.63
Peggle - 800MSP
Review by Will Templeton
Peggle on PC, for the uninitiated, is the poster child for the casual game that can break through to the hardcore (or vice versa). It's Positive Reinforcement: The Game, essentially a mash-up of Breakout and Pachinko wrapped up in pretty colours, classical music and characters based entirely on puns.
Each level has a certain amount of pegs, twenty of which are orange. Clearing all of the orange pegs completes the level. Levels progress in difficulty, achieved with placement of pegs, obstacles and restrictions. And to be honest, I'm probably over-explaining it.
Unfortunately, now you know that, there's not much new to say about Peggle on Xbox Live Arcade; It's Peggle, and it's on Xbox Live Arcade. For eight hundred moon pounds you'll get the same adventure mode and challenges as the PC version, with the added bonuses that you'd expect from a Live Arcade title - leaderboards and online multiplayer.
As well as the local hotseat multiplayer of the PC version, Peggle XBLA now has an online 'Peg Party' mode, where four people play simultaneously to achieve the best score. This is essentially the same thing as single-player mode, just with a real-time competitive element - nothing you do affects other people's boards. While it's a nice addition, I would have enjoyed a mode similar to that available in most versions of Tetris, that allow you to mess with your opponent's screen or whatever.
There's also the suspicious absence of Peggle Nights, an expansion that is entirely included on the DS version of the game. Yes, it's an expansion of equivalent size to the main game, and it would perhaps be unreasonable to expect it, but the reason it's so stark an omission is that there's really nothing new about Peggle on XBLA. The single-player and challenge modes are exactly the same, the online mode is essentially single-player again, and there isn't even a score comparison to your closest friend on each board in the style of Geometry Wars 2, which is a glaring oversight.
For some people, Peggle again will be enough. It is and always was an incredibly addictive game. But if you own neither and are deciding between which to pick up, I would have trouble recommending one over the other.
(Apologies for the lateness of this review. I was distracted by Peggle.)
2100 MS Points £16.63
Peggle - 800MSP
Peggle, Xbox Live Arcade - Review
ATTN ShopTo customers - possible credit card leak
It appears that a German hacker community has discovered a leak in ShopTo's security certificate, and as a result several credit card numbers have been leaked online. Anyone who has used ShopTo in the past should take a look at their bank balance and take the appropriate action to minimise any loss.
ShopTo's official statement on their forums is that the issue is external, and that if you have only ever entered your information on ShopTo's website that you should be okay. We've contacted ShopTo for a statement.
UPDATE 5:29 PM
It appears that this leak may be related to an earlier incident from late March. Details are very sketchy at the moment but it seems that the ShopTo security certificate weakness may not be related to the leak of 19,000 credit card numbers. However, if you are in any way unsure about the security of your details, contact your bank or card issuer to take the appropriate action. ShopTo have updated their security certificate today to eliminate this weakness.
Source: Virenschutz via NeoGAF
Competitions at RPS
Rock Paper Shotgun have 2 competitions on today.
The first is to win a boxed copy of EVE Online.
The second is to win a copy of Zeno Clash.
Good Luck!
Cheap MS Points! Go go go!
HMV are selling MS Points for £9.99. I am 99% certain that these are 2,100 points cards, since apart from the special edition ones, like the Lost and Damned ones, that is the smallest size they come in. And they are reduced from £17.99, the rrp for 2,100 points.
MS Points - £9.99
They are in stock, and ready for shipping in 24 hours. Also, if you've been to McDonalds recently and got some of the HMV vouchers from there, they can also be used online for this purchase.
UPDATE 8:30PM: Looks like these were a misprice, as they are now adding to the cart at £17.99. Hope you got in there while you could if you wanted some, and here's hoping they'll honour it.
UPDATE 22:44PM:
HMV.co.uk:
Xbox 360 Accessory - Official Microsoft Points Card - Completely shipped. Shipped Date - 20/04/2009 £9.99x3. £29.97
Looks like they are honouring at least some of them. Let us know if you get them too.
Lost Planet: Extreme Condition, Xbox 360 - £4.99
Lost Planet: Extreme Condition, Xbox 360 - £4.99 delivered
Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction, PS3 - £7.99
Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction, PS3 - £7.99 delivered
Dead Space, Xbox 360 - £9.99
Dead Space, Xbox 360 - £9.99 delivered
Excellent action-horror game. Pisses all over RE5.
Weekend Special Roundup 17/4
Steam:
Football Manager 2009 - £14.99
GamersGate:
Kane & Lynch: Dead Men - £13.99
or get it for £6.42 from Amazon
Kudos 2 - £5.99
Good old Games:
Stronghold and Stronghold: Crusader - $11.98
Direct2Drive:
Zeno Clash - £6.95
When it releases next week, you will get a serial, which you put into Steam, and it will be added to your Steam account.
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