The Xbox LIVE Summer of Arcade titles announced

This year’s Xbox LIVE Summer of Arcade is nearly upon us and the list of 5 titles that are part of the promotion have been announced. Read on to find out what they are!

There is even a cool promotion where if you buy any three of the five Summer of Arcade hits you will get 400 Microsoft Points as Microsoft’s way of saying thank you. The points will be automatically added to your account at the conclusion of the promotion, so that’s an added bonus.

Deadlight

In an apocalyptic world where existence is futile, a solitary man treks the American west coast. Survival is the measure of all. In an alternate vision of the 1980s, a mysterious disease has decimated mankind, transforming people into killer automatons. During his odyssey, Randall Wayne will find other survivors, men and women who are no more than ghostly
remnants of a fading society, a flame in the desert fighting extinction.

• Deadlight is a narrative driven puzzle platformer set in the postapocalyptic 80s devastated by a zombie epidemic.
• A unique graphical approach with 3D backlit silhouettes increasing immersion with a continuous notion of danger.
• Survive above all and face your fears.
• Solve obstacles, dodge zombies, set traps and manipulate the environment. Escape any way you can!
• Combat is always an option, albeit a poor one

Dust: An Elysian Tail

Immerse yourself in a gorgeous hand-painted world on a search for your true identity. As the mysterious warrior, Dust, your action-packed journey will take you from peaceful glades to snowy mountaintops and beyond. At your disposal is the mythical Blade of Ahrah, capable of turning its wielder it into an unstoppable force of nature, and the blade’s diminutive guardian,
Fidget. Battle dozens of enemies at once with an easy-to-learn, difficult-tomaster combat system, take on a variety of quests from friendly villagers, discover ancient secrets and powerful upgrades hidden throughout the massive, open world, and uncover the story of an ancient civilization on the brink of extinction as you fight to uncover your own past.

• Explore, platform, and fight your way through the world of Falana to uncover Dust’s story!
• Fast-paced empowering combat that flows as you move from enemy to enemy.
• Meticulously hand-animated and painted visuals.
• Mash-up of light and deep RPG structures including a level system, loot, and crafting.
• Hidden challenge Arenas to compete against you and your friends’ score.

Hybrid

In 2032 a newly built Hadron Supercollider imploded, obliterating Australia. The world was sent into turmoil as an alternate reality collided with our own and from it emerged a species known as the Variant. Chaos ensued and world war broke out between the Variants and a group of rebel humans known as the Paladins. Hybrid is a pioneering third person shooter that strives to give players a completely new gameplay experience never seen before in the genre.

• Join two factions across hundreds of thousands of players in an on-going battle against each other for supremacy over the world.
• Revolutionary and intuitive flying based cover-to-cover movement creates a fast paced, arcade-like experience allowing players to focus first and foremost on combat while en-route.
• Drones are an innovative new take on adding AI bots to the mix. Instantly call Drones types to the player’s location to turn the tide of battle.
• Silky smooth gameplay running at a locked 60FPS.
• In-depth character customization through unlockable weapons, abilities, and upgrades over 10 different maps and 7 unique game modes

Tony Hawks Pro Skater HD

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD is a downloadable title for consoles that takes the best elements of the classic THPS games and gives them a fresh update to create an all new skateboarding experience. Tapping into fans’ muscle memories, the gameplay in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD returns to controllers and focuses on the satisfaction of linking sick tricks for maximum points. Combining sharp visuals with the best controls ever in a Tony Hawk game, the feel is cutting edge yet timeless.

• HD Upgrade: Game was rebuilt and polished by Robomodo using Neversoft’s original code.
• Classic levels: The style and feel of the best 7 levels from THPS and THPS2 (Warehouse, School 2, Mall, Phoenix, Hangar, Marseilles and Venice) refreshed for today. Tony Hawk himself put a call out to his fans on Twitter during the summer of 2011 to decide the final levels.
• The Top Pros: Today’s biggest skate pros round out the cast including: Nyjah Huston, Chris Cole, Eric Koston, Andrew Reynolds, Rodney Mullen, Lyn-z Adams Hawkins (Pastrana), Riley Hawk and, of course, Tony Hawk himself.
• Refined controls: The skaters’ animations, tricks and combos reflect the evolution of the THPS games. For example, you can do manuals in levels from the first THPS, a trick that didn’t enter the franchise until THPS2. However, reverts are not part of trick combos, as the scoring system is based on THPS2.
• Endlessly fun objectives: Players pursue the same global and level-specific goals as the original games, including S-K-A-T-E, Secret DVD (used to be VHS tape!), and many more.

Wreckateer

Wreckateer uses Kinect for Xbox 360 to put you in control of a massive castle-wrecking ballista. With the help of Wreck and Tinker, travel the land and destroy 60 castles infested with Goblins using six magical projectiles. Aim and fire each shot and then control it in mid-air, activating special powers and guiding them toward their target. Utilize an arsenal of Flying, Explosive, Splitting, and rocketing Speed shots to explore the infinite ways you can wreak havoc with Wreckateer’s fully-dynamic destruction.

• Wreckateer features physics-based destruction allowing every structure on the field to be demolished down to dust. Hitting a structure a different way will result in a different break.

• Take advantage of fully-dynamic destruction to improvise with each shot. Blow a hole through the castle wall, then fire an explosive shot at the castle’s base, or use a Flying Shot to glide over the wall and into the castle to pinpoint the weak point and bring it down.

• See real-time updates of your friends’ scores, from the high score holder to the score just above yours. Get level-specific challenges and updates to push you on to beating your friends’ scores.

• Two player turn-based local multiplayer also supported on every level.

• Custom playlists allow you to select from our 60+ levels and play through your favourite moments in any order you choose.

Wreckateer was part of Microsoft’s E3 press conference and having played it at E3 I have to say it’s a lot of fun. Lovers of a certain game involving rather unhappy birds will love it!