Monday Night Combat Message Board older than one year ago

If you still spend a majority of your evenings on the colorful, brutal battlefields of Monday Night Combat, you should brace yourself for the extremely imminent addition of two new areas for you to cover in blood, money and bacon. The "Spunky Cola Special" DLC pack will arrive on XBLA tomorrow, adding the titular Spunky Cola Arena for the game's competitive Crossfire mode, and the Survivitol Arena for the co-operative Blitz mode. Best of all, unlike the game's catalog of upgrades and turrets, the new content will be absolutely free of charge.

Check out a trailer for the "Spunky" pack, as well as a full list of the new modes, gameplay options and class changes therein, just past the jump. There's a lot to read, but make sure your eyes don't absentmindedly pass over the announcement about the new Churros power-up without taking a moment to appreciate how breathtaking said announcement really is.

#screengrab Pitgirl and Assassin bear on a banner that would illuminate any manuscript. By Jason Rainville, a regular contributor on the MNC forums. More »

The problem with reality is that you can't take a PitGirl or Assassin with you everywhere you go. Actually, you probably could, but that'd technically be kidnapping. Let's try that again: The problem with reality is that you can't lock your own PitGirl or Assassin in a room for you to ogle at your convenience. Okay, we're really bad at this.

Clean slate: Uber Entertainment is finally offering figurines based on characters in its XBLA game, Monday Night Combat. $69.99 will net you a nine inch tall statue of either PitGirl, Assault or Assasin. The Tank is a bit taller at 10 inches and a bit pricier at $89.99.

#figures The Monday Night Combat battle continues... in your home! Uber Entertainment, makers of the Xbox Live Arcade hit, have made four of the game's combatants available in resin form via the developer's online store. More »

We're sure there are plenty of Monday Night Combat fans that were pleased at all the changes implemented by the recent title update. Taking a gander at what Uber has planned for the first (and free) DLC pack -- scheduled to release this November -- there are a lot more fixes and changes where that came from. First and foremost, the 'Spunky Cola Special' DLC will add two new maps.

Crossfire mode gets the very purple Spunky Cola Arena, which offers up only one lane of attack, which should lead to some hot and heavy battles right from the start. Blitz mode also gets the new Survivitol Arena. In addition to the new maps, the DLC will introduce a whole host of fixes, changes and balance tweaks. It's not just the classes either, as the arenas themselves will be fixed and rearranged in various ways.

The most important addition, however, is still veiled in mystery. Bacon is easily the most sought after (and most delicious) power-up in Monday Night Combat, but apparently a new one is on the way. Referred to only as "tasty pickup," all we know is that it rewards players with "something awesome." Find the DLC change list after the break. Get yourself something to eat, because it's long.

#patch "Rolls on," more like, as the big update hit early yesterday for Monday Night Combat, the class-based shooter on Xbox Live Arcade. For those who don't have it, the demo time trial has been extended to 60 minutes from 30. More »

Uber Entertainment's fantastic XBLA game, Monday Night Combat, has finally received that desperately needed title update. According to the developer, the update was submitted to Microsoft for certification over a month ago and got caught up in "a perfect storm" that delayed it until now. Allegedly, the first DLC pack, which will be free, should be out now "sooner than later."

The title update fixes several technical hiccups and also addresses the exploits that plagued the game shortly after launch. We're looking forward to jumping back into the Monday Night Combat arena and really hope future exploit-fixing updates don't get caught up in cert -- losing isn't fun, but losing to cheaters is the worst. Check out the full list of changes in the title update after the break.

#screengrab Although she's reprising Mary from the Pietà, the secret is not "Pitgirl is a virgin." Having trouble divining the message inside this Monday Night Combat wallpaper? Think bigger picture. Seen via Uber Entertainment. More »

#screengrab Monday Night Combat pays tribute to the creator of many action shows, Stephen J. Cannell, who died Thursday. This wallpaper (full size) mimics this publicity shot of The A-Team. Seen at Uber Entertainment's official site. More »

#gameface Adult film actress Bobbi Starr - E3 2009's DiRT girl, remember her? - does her impersonation of Monday Night Combat's Pitgirl. Seen on her Twitter. A second NSFW pic also is available. More »

#screengrab The makers of Monday Night Combat were taking suggestions for official wallpapers; unsurprisingly, Pitgirl - the game's booty-shaking NPC - figured prominently. They're still taking requests and have turned it into a contest. More »

Gamasutra has posted its Xbox Live Arcade sales analysis for August, and the results appear mixed for the final three Summer of Arcade titles. While the piece notes that every 2009 Summer of Arcade title managed to garner 80,000 players in their respective first weeks, this year's batch is less consistent. Based on leaderboard data, Castlevania: Harmony of Despair had only 44,601 players in its first week, with sales declining each following week to close out the month with just over 75,000 players. Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light -- perhaps due to the lack of online co-op -- befell a similar fate, acquiring 44,733 players in its first week and adding 22,498 more the following week to cap off August with 67,231 players.

Meanwhile, Monday Night Combat -- which launched between Castlevania and Lara Croft -- debuted with over 86,000 players, followed by strong additions the next two weeks for a total of nearly 172,000 in August. Granted, these numbers are all culled from leaderboards and don't necessarily translate directly to sales, it seems like this year's Summer of Arcade failed to drum up the same interest as last year's event, which packed in the likes of Shadow Complex, 'Splosion Man, and Trials HD. Check out the full article on Gamasutra for more stats than you can shake a slice of bacon at.

#stickjockey What is and what isn't a sport is an endless, often pointless argument, typically involving figure skating, stock car racing, bowling and even ballroom dancing. But what is and what isn't a sports video game is rarely debated. More »

#trademarks Monday Night Combat. Evokes a sense of battle-as-primetime sport, right? Sure, thanks to a certain football broadcast. Uber Entertainment filed and owns the Monday Night Combat trademark, but it had backup plans in case the lawyer-mans raised a fuss. More »

#dlc Uber Entertainment has plans for three downloadable content expansions for its Xbox Live Arcade title, Monday Night Combat. The first DLC package will be free, according to the studio's blog. More »

Uber Entertainment has announced that a big Monday Night Combat patch has entered testing and will soon be ready for certification. The title update is set to fix several issues with the game, notably the ability for players to damage Moneyball shields, and host migration problems. Several classes will receive tweaks as well, with the brunt going to the Support and Assassin. Devious Support players will be displeased to know they won't be able to hack through walls anymore, while Assassins will be happy to hear that grapples won't take as long to recharge after a whiff.

The updated version of MNC will be playable at PAX this week, and Uber is also bringing along plenty of swag, including the T-shirts above. Furthermore, Uber will soon release the first of three DLC packs for the game that will contain "new content, gameplay adjustments, and more bug fixes." According to Uber's Chandana "Eka" Ekanayake, the studio is "very invested" in the MNC community -- as such, the first DLC pack will be free.

Hopefully we'll hear more details about the DLC at PAX. In the meantime, head past the break for the full list of fixes in the title update.

#update Not "patched," remember? Monday Night Combat carries a "Live Update System" that allows it to tune settings without rolling a full patch through the time-consuming certification channels. Here's what you get: More »

Following the trend of Summer of Arcade titles landing in the top spot on the XBLA sales charts during their release weeks, Monday Night Combat was top dog on last week's chart, which was released by Major Nelson. The online shooter also placed a respectable 11th on the Xbox Live Activity chart, leaps and bounds ahead of all other XBLA titles. Additionally, Limbo held its own with a second-place finish on the sales charts, one spot ahead of the more recent Castlevania: Harmony of Despair.

Meanwhile, Baby Maker Extreme slipped to fourth on the Indie Games chart. Now we're going to be worried about it all week. Click past the jump to see how the rest of the console's offerings fared.

#review Turrets. I can't stop building and upgrading them in Monday Night Combat. Oh, they do a great job mowing down bots and other players. But it's really because I'm a Southern boy and a born sucker for Pitgirl's saucy accent. More »

Dear readers, we understand your confusion. After all, it's obviously Wednesday and not Monday. It's very unorthodox, we'll admit, but maybe this will help: We're giving away five copies of Monday Night Combat for Xbox Live Arcade. It's pretty great -- just read our review -- and you should really enter the giveaway. Winning would be almost better than bacon. Almost.

To enter:

• Leave a comment telling us about your greatest bacon-related experience
• You must be 13 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec).
• Limit 1 entry per person.
• This entry period ends at 6:00PM ET today, Wednesday, August 11.
• At that time, we'll randomly select five grand prize winners to each receive a download code for Monday Night Combat (ARV $15). [Code requires an Xbox Live account to redeem.]
• For a list of complete rules, click here.

#xbla Sunday we reported that Monday Night Combat passed certification twice when Uber Entertainment found some things not up to snuff after it went gold. Penny Arcade learned it's because of the game's ability to tune itself without a patch. More »

We mentioned in our Monday Night Combat review (you should read it!) that the game would feature the ability to make balance tweaks "on the fly without needing to do a patch." Considering most Xbox 360 games require a full title update even for the most rudimentary fixes, this makes Monday Night Combat something of a standout. Now, thanks to Penny Arcade, we have an explanation. According to Uber Entertainment's John Comes, the magic comes courtesy of "Title Managed Storage" (TMS), an amount of storage space on Xbox Live servers that Microsoft allows for its developers.

"So what we did," said Comes, "is put a text file with all of our balance numbers up there [on TMS] and when the game starts up it overwrites the balance numbers with any numbers it pulled down off of TMS." As an example, Comes noted that if Uber were to discover that Snipers earn ability-enhancing Juice too fast, the company can easily adjust the corresponding number in TMS. The next time a player boots the game, the adjusted number overwrites the original. Voila, instant balance fix. Now, if someone would just turn the Assassin's cloak ability up to "infinite," we'd be much obliged.

It's dangerously simple to refer to a new product as an amalgam of other known quantities, but in the case of Monday Night Combat, it's the most effective sell. Here's the pitch: Imagine the class-based, team-oriented play of Team Fortress and then mix it with the escalating play of tower defense. Toss in a bright, campy sports entertainment aesthetic and you've got Monday Night Combat. And it's a blast.

#clips As just mentioned in TWiG, Monday Night Combat arrives on Xbox Live Arcade this Wednesday. This developer's diary gives a 14-minute look at gameplay, all of it under the Support class, who brings plenty of neat toys to the game. More »

#xbla Insiders noted that Monday Night Combat had yet to send out review codes, giving rise to bad-news theories about the game's release. All that's going on, says Uber Entertainment, is some post-release support pre-release. More »

While the first Monday Night Combat developer walkthrough introduced us to the Tank, today's video shows off the Support. As his name implies, the Support ... erm ... supports the team by hacking turrets, healing teammates and calling in air strikes. See him in action after the break.

Monday Night Combat, out next Wednesday, will be the penultimate game in the XBLA Summer of Arcade promotion. The video after the break features a pretty good overview of the gameplay and, well, BACON! Who doesn't like bacon? Even vegetarians love bacon. It's true.

#clips This video gives us a 15-minute taste of upcoming strategy third-person shooter Monday Night Combat with bonus developer commentary. More »

Don't sleep on Monday Night Combat's Assassin character -- aside from being incredibly quick and deadly, she has the unique ability to cloak herself, giving her ample opportunity to plant pointy things in your soft, flabby back. Sure, maybe if you worked out you'd have a tougher back, but we both knew when you bought that gym membership you'd never go. Now you see where you're at?

You may not be able to change the stabability of your back, but you can know your enemy and, remember, knowing is half the battle. So put some wrinkles in that noggin of yours and head past the break to watch the Assassin in action. Then maybe check with some doctors about undergoing a full-on stainless steel backiotomy, if you've got the cash -- your back is home to, like, 30 different vital organs. We read that somewhere once.

Monday Night Combat will be available on Xbox Live Arcade on August 11 for 1200 Microsoft Points ($15).

#clips Continuing the tour of class warfare in Monday Night Combat, Uber Entertainment today introduced us to the Assassin, the fastest character type in the upcoming class-based shooter for Xbox Live Arcade, packing both cloak and dagger. More »