So it's speculated the Worms for Xbox Live Arcade is out in January and there's only 2 Wednesday's left!!!

Obviously due to people having to rate the game, thats who we have to blame for the delay now, but when do you think the game will be released???

This Wednesday? (24th Jan)

Next Wednesday? (31st Jan)

Wednesday After? (7th Feb)

Or the week after for Valentines Day (wouldnt a pink heart filled map for Worms be great?!?! lol)

I'd love it to be out at the end of this month as I've got 1000 MS points left on my account and ive been holding them for sooo long waiting for this game and i'm not sure what other XBL titles are ahead, but i dont want to be tempted to buy these other games before.

I have heard it was pushed back. My guess would be early March.
It would be nice to know a date and the points cost.

No dates have ever been mentioned. It's fair to say that we slipped a little bit due to some stuff cropping up right at the last, we hope to have an announcement soon.

According to Wikipedia, it will cost 800 points, which I think is acceptable, and will also be called Worms: Defeat. Apparantly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_Live_Arcade#Upcoming_games

Nope, it's called "Worms".

I have no idea where this name "day of defeat" came from, other than a musing on a blog by someone.

So many people really attribute Wikipedia to cold facts, but anyone can add that stuff and it's invariably "almost right".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worms_HD

Hehe, i was the one to create that Wiki page months ago. Look how theres been loads of contributions to it. Loadsa info!!!

Be be honest, i dont see why Team17 or Microsoft dont just give us an 'estimated' (as in the month) date to when its coming out. As with retail games, you know in advance to when they are released. Means we can save our pennies in advance.

It's not quite as simple as that. Once a title is certified, it's about getting a slot for it, since MS only release on Wednesdays.

I need info soon the fact that i have points and cant spend em is killing me. There are lots of good games coming but worms is my favorite. The WAIT is killing me

Sorry fella.. as soon as...

Sorry fella.. as soon as...

as soon as it gets out of certification, you guys will annouce it. I understand it is completely out of your hands when the game gets launched. It has to finish Certification and then get an open slot.

I think this game doesn't exist at all.
The screenshots are just stretched WOW ones.

You will all die bitterly with millions of points unspent points and no games on your X-Box.

now that's some conspiracy theory. and you forgot to mention beer.

Nope, it's called "Worms".

I have no idea where this name "day of defeat" came from, other than a musing on a blog by someone.

So many people really attribute Wikipedia to cold facts, but anyone can add that stuff and it's invariably "almost right".

Good, I thought Defeat was a rubbish name. Almost as though you'd admitted that it was rubbish.

"Worms: Stamping on Lumines LIVE!'s Face" would be a much better suited name.

now that's some conspiracy theory. and you forgot to mention beer.
Nope, no beer.
Might be a prove that this conspiracy is true.

How many bugs can this game possibly have that it's waiting this long just to pass certification? I've been supporting Worms for a while now but my patience has been tried very hard with the last few Worms games. Please don't let me down.

How many bugs can this game possibly have that it's waiting this long just to pass certification? I've been supporting Worms for a while now but my patience has been tried very hard with the last few Worms games. Please don't let me down.
But what's better? That the game gets delayed (is that possible, since an official release date hasn't even been made??) and is released practically bug-free, or that it is released nice and early and loaded with more bugs than, well, a very buggy thing.

How many bugs can this game possibly have that it's waiting this long just to pass certification? I've been supporting Worms for a while now but my patience has been tried very hard with the last few Worms games. Please don't let me down.

Considering that Spadge said in December that the game was in certification, being held back by a 'very small issue', I'd guess that the game is 99.9% bug free. It sounded more like a bug that could appear in very unusual circumstances. Team 17's games overall have a very good track record for bug-free or nearly bug-free releases, so I don't expect they would submit something for certification if they weren't confident that it was well polished.

XBLA is a new process for them, and from appearances it's a bit more lengthy than they expected. It certainly does not seem as if this product is something Team 17 wanted to rush out for a quick buck. I'm dissapointed to not have the game already, but I have confidence that the final product will be worth the wait.

As for the 'last few Worms games', to be fair I don't think they were poorly designed games. There is an industry standard of 3D games now, and 2D games seem to get out of the gate with an automatic strike against them because 2D seems 'dated'. The Worms games that most of us have come to love just do not translate to 3D well, despite their best efforts.

The longer you test something, you find stuff, golden rule.

Global multiplayer is problematic, simply because there are errors along the way with the net, routers, connections and stuff out of your control. You have to test these errors to ensure it's not game-based - and some times it is.

Add to this the fact that amidst all this you need to cater for the whims of all the stuff a 360 Live user may wish to do; sign in, sign out, send a message, pause, swap controllers, change headsets, wireless headset battery might run out, controller might run out, check messages, see achievements etc etc - this has to be tested in ALL modes (single, multi, menus). Every time we submit a build, this process starts again.

Worms may look simple. It isn't, unfortunately.

Yesterday we were very confident we were at the last build, but it seems that position has moved.

Fixing one problem can introduce several others, although we're down to a bunch of pretty small stuff that would cause some irritation if it shipped with it in.

I can't begin to express how keen we are to see this approved and out - and that goes for everyone involved, at VMC test labs and the team at Microsoft.

Although I am certainly not the most involved person to comment on these threads - I do read quite a bit of them. I must say, Spadge you are truly the only Moderator (in my experience) that has dedicated himself to keeping the community informed about the status of the game. You continue to answer the same questions time and time again with the utmost patience. I am sure you want to get that blasted game out even moreso than we want just to quell the constant bombardment of "When?" questions. Although you would only get a day or two rest (if that) before the rants would begin about "Why?" and "You should have..."

Thank you very much for your tireless efforts keeping us up to date on all the goings on of Worms. It may not be the answers we want, but we know what is going on every step of the way. Very few developers, if any, dedicate themselves to the community in this manner.

E

PS When is Worms coming out again? :D

I wished some developer would shed some light on the testing process of XBLA games. I am very curious to how Microsoft is handling it. It seems like a lot of developers have been talking about the good and bad aspects of it lately.

While I'm impatient for worms it's important that the netcode for the game is as tight as possible, even considering the game type's inherent tolerance of lag. Team 17 want good reviews and enthusiastic word of mouth through the community in the hope that the game becomes an XBLA must-own game.

I wished some developer would shed some light on the testing process of XBLA games. I am very curious to how Microsoft is handling it. It seems like a lot of developers have been talking about the good and bad aspects of it lately.

The process is fairly long and involved, it's been in there a few months and our experience seems consistent with other developers i.e. it's taken much longer than we'd anticipated and that's coming from a developer with a ton of experience at submitting console stuff.

The process is fairly long and involved, it's been in there a few months and our experience seems consistent with other developers i.e. it's taken much longer than we'd anticipated and that's coming from a developer with a ton of experience at submitting console stuff.


Well i dont mind waiting for a game that will be the must have buy on xbla.
Thanks for keeping us informed.
Cannot wait untill i wake one morning and see it there for download!!

The process is fairly long and involved, it's been in there a few months and our experience seems consistent with other developers i.e. it's taken much longer than we'd anticipated and that's coming from a developer with a ton of experience at submitting console stuff.

Guess the developers of Mad Tracks encountered the very same problems. That game should've been released last summer/autumn.

Every XBLA dev I've spoken to (around a dozen) has had a similar experience.

Guess the developers of Mad Tracks encountered the very same problems. That game should've been released last summer/autumn.

Yup, and click the links if you are interested in A. Achievements (http://www.xbox360achievements.org/home/showachievements.php?type=Arcade&gameID=167)or B. Talking to the Developer (http://www.xbox360achievements.org/forum/showthread.php?t=13563)

We have a developer answering questions about the game... hoping to get more on board soon. *Nudges Spadge*

Guess the developers of Mad Tracks encountered the very same problems. That game should've been released last summer/autumn.
Mad Tracks was close to being ready for release around October or November. But they went back to add in online multiplayer because of the overwhelming demand from the gamers. That's why it's still not finished. You should be able to find the news on that if you look around. It was a pretty big deal at the time.

Mad Tracks was close to being ready for release around October or November. But they went back to add in online multiplayer because of the overwhelming demand from the gamers. That's why it's still not finished. You should be able to find the news on that if you look around. It was a pretty big deal at the time.

I could not picture Mad Tracks without online multiplayer. I'm glad they put it in. I have not heard to much about that game, but it looks like a fun game.

I'm still amazed that the testing for these small XBLA games is so hard. I hope Microsoft is trying to address this issue, because there a lot of games that seem to be delayed as a result of it, games I really want to play. :)

Well I for one will never complain about a company having too rigid of quality control standards for their software releases, it's actually quite refreshing in today's "Retail now, patch later" mentality.

Well I for one will never complain about a company having too rigid of quality control standards for their software releases, it's actually quite refreshing in today's "Retail now, patch later" mentality.

Yeah, I can agree to that.

As soon as online multiplayer is in there, an immense amount of testing is needed, but you still cannot replicate all the cases games have when they are released and thousands of games are being played per hour. Hence patches and the like... and betas etc.

Well, I guess good things come for those who wait... Just can't wait to see how well Worms plays on my new 1080p -setup.

does the 360 support 1080p? also i doubt a 50mb game would support it also

All 360 games are in HD (I may be mistaken on the 'all' comment but I've not seen one yet that isn't) and they are upscaled to 1080p. Including XBL Arcade games.

I could not picture Mad Tracks without online multiplayer. I'm glad they put it in. I have not heard to much about that game, but it looks like a fun game.

I'm still amazed that the testing for these small XBLA games is so hard. I hope Microsoft is trying to address this issue, because there a lot of games that seem to be delayed as a result of it, games I really want to play. :)

Yeah, Mad Tracks went from a "meh, I'll check out the demo" to a "MUST BUY ON RELEASE DAY!" once they decided to add in online multiplayer.

All 360 games are in HD (I may be mistaken on the 'all' comment but I've not seen one yet that isn't) and they are upscaled to 1080p. Including XBL Arcade games.

I'm pretty sure that they are in 720p, and it's your display device that's doing the upscaling. Though I let my projector play the 720 native image, rather than upscaling.

I'm pretty sure that they are in 720p, and it's your display device that's doing the upscaling. Though I let my projector play the 720 native image, rather than upscaling.

Could be, but the 360 Settings blade has a selection for 480, 720, 1080i, and 1080p - so I assumed that the 360 was doing the upscaling. I do know that I play in 1080p, but my TV set supports that so it's entirely possible it's the TV set doing the work.

Either way, the game is in HD and I doubt there would be much noticable difference between 720 and 1080 for Worms.

All 360 games are in HD (I may be mistaken on the 'all' comment but I've not seen one yet that isn't) and they are upscaled to 1080p. Including XBL Arcade games.

Currently 1080p is only supported if you have a TV that supports 1080p through component cables or through the VGA output. I am not sure how much is upscaled. I know they talked about the back compat games haveing some 'upscale' to a degree, but not for the current 360 games. Team XBox info here (http://hardware.teamxbox.com/reviews/xbox-360/68/Xbox-360-HD-DVD-Player/p2/). Rumor has it that new version of the 360 being released in the fall that has a built in HDMI and alleged 120gig HD

IGN article here (http://gear.ign.com/articles/753/753296p1.html)

Hope that helps

E

The games run in a certain resolution, could be any, and there is a hardware scaler in the 360 that does up/down scaling to the resolution you choose in the dashboard.

If you want more info on that I suggest reading:

http://arstechnica.com/articles/headstart.ars/1

Especially the part that talks about Ana (The scaler) on the second page.

It's seems that the PS3 lacks this scaler and is causing troubles on some older HDTV's that don't support the 720p resolution, because the PS3 is not able to upscale the games like the 360 does.

:-)

Shacnknews is [reporting (http://www.shacknews.com/docs/press/013007_xbla_tengames.x)] a February release. Hoorah!

Shacnknews is [reporting (http://www.shacknews.com/docs/press/013007_xbla_tengames.x)] a February release. Hoorah!

Just to prepare you for another let down, which i sincerely hope I'm wrong. But it states the 10 titles to be release starting Feb 1. Not all released in Feb. But it's not in chrono order so i hope it's first.

Just to prepare you for another let down, which i sincerely hope I'm wrong. But it states the 10 titles to be release starting Feb 1. Not all released in Feb. But it's not in chrono order so i hope it's first.

Feb 14th, Make Worms Not Love! Perfect time for releasing it! ;)

Worms was only at the bottom of the list because of alphabetical order!!!

As soon as online multiplayer is in there, an immense amount of testing is needed, but you still cannot replicate all the cases games have when they are released and thousands of games are being played per hour. Hence patches and the like... and betas etc.

Ohh betas..sighn me up spadge.My gamer tag is same as my name here..:) I would be more than happy to help...hint ,,hint..lol
I guess I might just have to wait...:(