Originally released in 1989 on the home computer Amiga with the title of Pipe Dream, and having seen release on more platforms than you can shake a stick at, Pipe Mania is now on it's way to Live Arcade. Now we've commented before on the tendency of developers to use the Arcade to make a quick buck. And this one seems just a bit obvious, as anyone who owns Bioshock already has played Pipe Mania to death; it was the hacking mini-game. Now the idea of paying more money to play that via the Arcade (especially when there are freeware versions of the game) just feels strange.
Even if Empire Interactive makes good on their promises of new game modes, new themes, new play mechanics and new pipe pieces, the underlying gameplay is still rather played out. There will still be the folks who buy it of course, but if it wants any kind of large scale success Empire Interactive needs to price this one right, say ... 200 points maybe, we'd definitely buy it as that price.
According to a very official looking press release sent out by Empire Interactive, Speedball II: Brutal Deluxe will be hitting the Xbox Live Arcade next Wednesday, October 17th. And Speedball II fans will be pumped to know that there will be additional features in this 800 Microsoft point XBLA edition of the game including more teams, improved graphics, a 3D option, online versus and an improved upgrade system too. We don't think anyone can deny that futuristic Speedball has ever played so good.
