Defense Grid Gets Update, DLC Planned

[modeps]

http://evavhost.com/i/news/defensegrid.jpg

I've been a big fan of Defense Grid since it was released on Steam. It was released for XBLA earlier this year, and now it looks like the new fans can fire up the game to grab a new title update. It fixes some issues and changes some scoring rules as well as unlocks, but most importantly, exposes DLC options to the user. No DLC has been released at this time, but it will be... and more Defense Grid is more awesome.

Click the headline to check out the full press release.

[modeps]

Hidden Path releases Title Update for Defense Grid on Xbox LIVE Arcade

Bellevue, WA (December 30, 2009) – Those playing the award-winning Defense Grid: The Awakening on Xbox LIVE Arcade will receive an automatic title update when they launch the game on their Xbox 360, starting today.

The update addresses issues that have affected some users, and also addresses the game’s overall balance and scoring. This opens up the leaderboards to new competition for those looking to attain the highest scores and perfect their strategies across all of the maps and modes of the game.

Additionally, the ability to download DLC packs has now been exposed in anticipation of downloadable content coming in the near future. More on DLC will be announced in 2010. For more discussion on the title update, visit the Defense Grid forums at http://defensegrid.hiddenpath.com

Here are the details on the Defense Grid update:

Issues Fixed:

- A game hang on start-up that affected some users has been fixed. If a user profile was stored on an MU, there was a chance of the game locking up with a solid white screen as it communicated with Xbox LIVE to verify the profile. This has been fixed such that there should no longer be a hang, and workarounds are no longer needed to start the game for those users. The Xbox LIVE Arcade logo screen of the updated game now has a black background rather than a white background in order to make it easy to visually identify that the game has been updated to the new version.

- Surround sound audio drop-outs have been fixed. The audio stream from the game would pause for milliseconds at certain times over optical or HDMI connections, causing some models of Audio/Video surround systems to stutter when playing back surround audio. This has been fixed.

- Cannon tower firing rates during fast forward have been fixed. Previously cannon towers would fire at twice their intended rate during fast forward. This made them twice as powerful as they should have been when fast forward was held down.

- Several Leaderboard fixes. Games played, damage done, and aliens destroyed leaderboards would at times not update when the user played a game. They now will. Mission specific leaderboards would also update the number of towers and power cores even if a new high score was not attained and this has been fixed. Borderlands modes beyond campaign or campaign challenge modes did not write to the leaderboards and now do as well.

- Some voice commentary could still be heard in the game even if the voice volume was set to zero. This has been fixed.

- The resource counter in the mission summary screen now displays more than 6 digits.

Game Changes & Updates:

- Game scoring has been changed. Because the current leaderboard entries are affected by the cannon fast forward bug, the scoring system has been updated and scores going forward will be calculated giving 2000 points per saved core rather than the previous value of 1000. For many leaderboards this will significantly change the value of the highest scores.

- Game scoring has also been updated for practice and fixed resource challenge modes so that more efficient play is rewarded. Previously those modes did not reward spending fewer resources.

- Level unlocks changed. The second mission is unlocked to the first time user allowing them to skip the first tutorial mission if they desire. The Borderlands maps also now start unlocked rather than waiting for the user to complete the 16th Awakening map in story mode.

- Support for downloadable content is now exposed to the user. In-game DLC is planned and coming soon.

[Johan]

Bring more to Steam and get more of my money. Bring more to XBLA and get nothing from me.

Simple, really.

[Syl]

Is the STEAM version updating as well? I still play Defense grid on STEAM every now and then, and i love having new scores to beat.

[Johan]

Is the STEAM version updating as well?

It doesn't seem so, which was my point. I'll buy the content on Steam, but not on XBLA, so they'll get no money from me.

Too bad. Fun game.

[sixtyfps]

Johan's sentiments echo my own. There's plenty of XBLA stuff that would be welcomed with open arms on Steam (Rez HD, 'Splosion Man, Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2, N+...).

[drakkarim]

even at the 1.99 i paid for the full game on steam, i felt ripped off. the gameplay was dry, the enemy animations were not up to the quality that the background/backdrops were implying.

[ElektroDragon]

The white screen lock up bug wasn't only if you played from a MU, it was if you played the game on a console other than the one your purchased it on!

Glad my neighborhood devs here fixed it, but it took them long enough! :D

[yutt]

even at the 1.99 i paid for the full game on steam, i felt ripped off. the gameplay was dry, the enemy animations were not up to the quality that the background/backdrops were implying.
This comment is ludicrous. The gameplay you describe as "dry" is the staple of the tower defense genre, which is well established and easy to sample for free. Like, say, the demo of Defense Grid on Steam (http://store.steampowered.com/app/18510/).

The amount of animation was certainly limited by the scope of the game, but everything that needed animation was done fluidly. I am not certain what specifically you are criticizing. There were turrets, "mechs", and flying enemies, all animated quite well. I'm also not sure how the backdrops implied animation of any level. Speaking of the backdrops, however, they were remarkably well done, yet had no gameplay purpose, which is an example of the level of time and polish put into this game.

The animation could have been clearly viewed on the Steam trailer, demo, or countless other resources before purchase.

If you couldn't take 1 minute to view a video preview of the game, clearly that $2 isn't terribly valuable to you.

[bean19]

I've really enjoyed Defense Grid on my 360 (though I'm sure it is great on PC too). It is a solid tower defense game with few issues.

What I'd hoped this would fix:
- Some tower types will not fire at airborne enemies, but they do not do significantly more damage than the types that will hit both ground and airborne units. Why use towers with this disadvantage if you don't need to?

- AoE damage is nearly always trumped by direct damage. There are a few tiles obviously set up for AoE and Meteor towers (targeted long range AoE) are excellent, but for the most part these types of towers should not be used. The most frightening enemies are boss mobs that are single targets and even the large groups of mobs eventually get shields that are damaged much more by projectiles than heat (most AoE weapons deal heat damage).

These 2 things together make most layout choices rely on guns (cheapest tower for making your layout to increase travel time), temporal towers (slow enemies), cannons (long range guns), and meteor towers (high damage long-range targeted AoE). The rest of the tower types can be ignored - especially if you are going for a high score/low spending.

[RMan]

I agree with bean. In general, if you like tower defense games, and the idea of a good looking, polished tower defense game appeals to you, you'll likely dig it. If you don't like the TD game mechanic, your mind will not be changed by this one. Overall though, it's a good TD game, but mostly because the genre has few well polished entries.

[jigsawhc]

I'm all for DLC. I would prefer it on XBLA since I got a nice stack of MS Points for Christmas. :)