WINNERS ANNOUNCED: Congratulations to the winners! Streets of Rage: @Navarin. Golden Axe: @hestar69. Monster World: @aznxchunky. Alex Kidd & Co.: @ninjarturtle. Thanks for playing, and good luck next time!

Every day this week, leading up to this contest, we’ve had the opportunity to review each of the recently released SEGA Vintage Collections on XBLA. First, and my favorite, was the Streets of Rage collection. Golden Axe, Monster World, and Alex Kidd & Co. followed, and now four lucky people will each win one of these four SEGA Vintage Collections. To be perfectly clear, we have one extra XBLA code for each of these packages, and will be giving each code out to a separate winner. Read the full story

I enjoy fighting games quite a bit, ranging from Street Fighter to Soul Calibur, and Marvel vs. Capcom to the recently released XBLA/PSN title Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown. For those of you unfamiliar with fighting games, they are not all the same, and they are not all created equal. The basic concept may be the same, but the techniques used to execute that concept can be wildly different. How does Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown compare to both past Virtua Fighter iterations and to other fighting games as an XBLA title? Read the full story

Everyone wants to improve their video game performance. There are all kinds of things that you can do to improve your accuracy, reaction times, and more. Some people buy controllers built for certain genres or even certain specific games. Some people buy accessories that modify existing controllers. Some people buy things that actually modify the display in some way. There are a lot of things in the market that end up being total crap, while others are perfect for most gamers. Maybe you already use some of these methods, and have noticed impossible shots lining up with ease?

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I happen to enjoy all types of Tycoon titles. Who wouldn’t? I personally started on the game called Transport Tycoon during my younger years. I spent so many hours on that game that even today I can remember how to play it. Since then Tycoon games have branched to games such as Roller Coaster Tycoon, Airline Tycoon, and much more.

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Just the other day, PlayXBLA announced that a major set of bugfixes and feature addons would be patched in to Minecraft 360 soon. Today, they announced that Minecraft 360 players will receive the update tomorrow, June 15th, when they load up their game on Xbox LIVE. I don’t think this is a full 1.7 update, since it doesn’t include many of the updates, addons, and fixes that 1.7 included for PC, but it does cover some important bases. See the full list of addons and fixes below: Read the full story

Of the four SEGA Vintage Collection packages, the Alex Kidd & Co. package is the only one that contains non-related titles. The Streets of Rage collection consists of Streets of Rage, Streets of Rage 2, and Streets of Rage 3. The Golden Axe collection consists of Golden Axe, Golden Axe 2, and Golden Axe…3. The Monster World collection consists of Wonder Boy in Monster Land, Wonder Boy in Monster World, and Monster World IV. Then you have the Alex Kidd & Co. collection, which consists of Alex Kidd in Miracle World, Revenge of Shinobi, and Super Hang-On. Not quite the contiguous set that the other SEGA Vintage Collections offer, but not an overall bad set, either. Read the full story

I’ve always been a fan of fantasy style video games, and the Monster World series fits that mold very well. In the SEGA Vintage Collection: Monster World package, SEGA has given us three (arguably) great titles, one of which has long resisted the voyage to our shores from its native Japan. Wonder Boy in Monster Land, Wonder Boy in Monster World, and Monster World IV provide consecutively better gameplay quality and entertainment in one convenient and cheap package. Read the full story

When Ubisoft pushed out PowerUp Heroes last year, I immediately saw it as a shovelware title. There was little promotion in the lead-up to it, and it was just suddenly released at a budget price point. When the title showed up at my door, I gave it a try, and found myself pleasantly surprised. I immediately felt like I was back on the playground during recess, running around pretending to be super heroes fighting each other. The mechanics were good, the graphics were fun, and the game as a whole was an unlooked for success. Now, Ubisoft is bringing the same concept of PowerUp Heroes to a AAA property: Marvel’s Avengers. Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth is scheduled for a Fall 2012 release, and will be available for the Wii U and the Xbox 360 Kinect. Read the full story

At last year’s E3, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier was one of the highlights of the titles Ubisoft had to offer. To be perfectly fair, most of the titles that Ubisoft had to offer last year were the highlights of what Ubisoft had to offer, but this review is for Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, so for the purposes of this review, it was totally one of the more impressive highlights. For me, at least, it was definitely the most surprising. Ghost Recon games have never been my forte, but here was a Ghost Recon game that not only could I play (and play well), but that I enjoyed playing. It was this aspect of Ghost Recon: Future Soldier that highlighted it for me, and made me look forward to its release. Read the full story

Two years before Streets of Rage introduced us to adventures atop astonishingly angry avenues and alleyways, Golden Axe brought us side-scrolling beat’em-up action in arcades and on the SEGA Genesis with a wonderfully fantastical presentation. SEGA, realizing that releasing a Streets of Rage Vintage Collection without releasing a Vintage Collection for its genre predecessor, Golden Axe, has…well….released a Vintage Collection for the Golden Axe series, including Golden Axe, Golden Axe 2, and Golden Axe…wait for it…it’ll shock you when you see it…you’ll never guess it…3! Read the full story