
Eagerly anticipating the August 31st release of Dead Rising 2: Case Zero? At 400 Microsoft Points ($5), it’s a steal. Or is it?
This is a continuation of the assault at your wallets, dear gamers, that has been happening slowly and surely since the introduction of micro-transactions to console gaming.

Carlos writes "Today adds more value to the Xbox Backward Compatible scheme, with four new arrivals making their way to Xbox One. But whilst we’ve seen our fair share of titles arriving on the program, not all have been the triple-A blockbusters that fans have craved the return of. So, with that in mind, here’s our thoughts on the latest backwards compatibility titles and if they are worth the return."
Full appreciate the frequency of new BC titles, but surely I'm not the only one who doesn't ever use them? I've got tons of native XO games to play rather than going back over the old stuff.

Carlos Writes "With Dead Rising 4 now out the door, and our playthrough finalised, we decided to take a look to see how it stacks up with the rest of the series entries. So here we are...ranking the full Dead Rising series from god damn worst, right up to the best zombie bashing offering that we've ever seen."
I played the first, and I bought #4. Other than that, strangely haven't played any of the others. I'll get round to it one day though I guess.

Hardcore Gamer: In game development terms, a “vertical slice,” is a gameplay segment of finished or near-finished quality that showcases all the planned features of a game to potential investors. At the start of a project, these are a massive sink for time and effort, since they essentially involve doing all the hard parts of finishing a game to complete one 10-minute section. Generally, they’re seen as a bad practice. However, toward the end of development, it’s a lot easier to pull assets together for a vertical slice. Of course, if you’re shopping your game around to publishers at that stage, you’re probably in a lot of trouble, but a standalone “vertical slice” can also serve as a strong alternative to a traditional demo.
Totally agree. It's so nice being able to try out a game without spoiling any of it. Bravely Default was genius in doing this and sold me on the game.
Doing a vertical slice as a VC/Publisher demo is an extremely risky move but it really is the best way to show off the talent of your studio and show a strong proof of concept. I believe SOF is doing this with H-Hour...
A vertical slice as a consumer demo really is a great way to show off a game and drive sales. Too many publishers would rather the advertising do the work and show only enough to lure people in. They seem to have it in their heads that demos will hurt their sales. (which it does... if you make a bad game/demo)
Publishers are so pathetic and risk adverse these days... how are consumers supposed to be confident in your games if you aren't confident enough to truly show them off in there purest form?
Looking at the achievements for Case Zero its a steal. Its something that can be enjoyed by people that aren't even buying the game, but have $5 to spend.
$5 for a game especially one like DR2:CZ is a really good deal considering not to many games are that cheap and even ones that cost more are usually crap.
Compared to many of the XBLA games also priced at 400 points I think it sounds pretty worthwhile. Looking forward to it, being a big fan of the first game.
Paid-for DLC sucks, but...I'm pretty sure that the basic Case Zero is free, but if you want to carry over your achievements and other bonuses into Dead Rising 2, you need to shell out the cash.
The basic Case Zero acts as a demo for DR2, but if you pay for it, it's longer with more unlockables. In the long run it's probably work your $5.00. And of course people will bitch that all of this stuff should be free, but...why should the company just give it to you? Cause you're a fan? There are some instances where it's very obvious that it's a piece of the game just ripped out of the middle of it and thrown in to make an extra buck or two, but Case Zero really doesn't seem like the case.