Arcade

Konami’s announced the official release date for their downloadable zombie slaughterfest, Zombie Apocalypse. Anyone with a hankering for killing hordes of the walking dead will want to mark September 23rd and 24th down on their calendars. Xbox 360 owners will be able to download the title one day earlier than their PS3-owning brethren for some reason. When I last saw the game, it looked a lot like Smash TV with zombies. Since I happen to love Smash TV, this got me very excited.

Rolling the Ball (Rolling!). Them Heavy People...

HIGH I was really happy to see a bowling mode included; this was a ton of fun for me in Super Monkey Ball.

LOW Why isn't the camera following my Xorb?

WTF What the hell kind of name is a Xorb, anyways?

Making something old feel very, very new

HIGH Masterful reinvigoration of a tired subject.

LOW Nothing... it's all good.

WTF Where can I buy this soundtrack?

Sunshine is for losers! We spent our summer vacation indoors, enjoying the offerings of the Xbox Live Summer of Arcade. Well…”enjoying” might be too strong a word. We rundown all five games: Splosion Man, Turtles in Time, Marvel vs. Capcom 2, Trials HD, and Shadow Complex. Plus, Mike and Tim red ring within 12 hours of each other! Believe it! Featuring Chi Kong Lui, Brad Gallaway, Mike Bracken, and Tim Spaeth.

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Topic and Game References:

• Shadow Complex
• Splosion Man
• Trials HD
• Turtles in Time
• Marvel vs. Capcom 2

Please send feedback and mailbag questions to podcast (at) gamecritics (dot) com.

Lots of polish and clever thinking go a long way

HIGH Highly polished, highly playable.

LOW Never shakes that been-there, done-that feeling.

WTF Missiles open... red doors.

An expansion of Microsoft's XNA Creator's Club initiative, the Community Games area (now known as Indie Games) is a place for creative individuals, independent developers and small studios to have their work seen by the 360 audience at large. Anyone who thinks they've got a great idea can enter a submission through the Indie process and eventually have a game ready to be sold and downloaded to hard drives all across the world. It's a great opportunity, and the only program of its kind to be available on a home console. Unfortunately, Microsoft has given this area of Live very little attention, and despite being an incredibly exciting and innovative feature, very few players know the first thing about it.

With any luck, this article will help change that.

'Sploding with brilliance

HIGH The game is elegance incarnate.

LOW Players might be fooled into thinking it's as amiable as The Maw.

WTF The ending is ridiculously (and I mean that literally) awesome.