Rainbow Islands, Inferno Pool and Sky on Xbox Live

There has been some interesting developments this week. The much-anticipated Sky Package was released, folks are talking about The Who making it to the Rockband series and of course, two more games make it to the XBLA.

Rainbow Islands and Inferno Pool

Inferno PoolAnd this week, folks can access Rainbow Islands and Inferno Pool on XBLA. Raindbow Islands, now there's a game that will cost you some street cred! Yea, you run around spitting out rainbows and your aim is to make it to the top. That about sums it up. You also get 10 areas and there is a chance of making it all the way to space. Right! This game is a remake of sorts, one of an older game. Sadly, the joy of classic arcade games is in their cheesiness and somehow, the magic is not there when you recreate it (think back to Bubble Bobble from a few weeks ago). This review pointed out that this is a port that already made it to other consoles which explains my initial reaction; when I first saw the game, it reminded me suspiciously of a Wii game. And let's face it, while it is cutesy and entertaining, possibly for your 8 year old, that look doesn't really work on the other consoles. Pick it up, if you must, for 800 MS points.

Inferno Pool might be good fun for you and your friends. However, same as the previous game, I wonder if this is more suited for the Wii. It is not so much the graphics as in the controls itself. Surely it works better in Wii's remotes? And it caters to that console's target audience, which consists of casual gamers? Well, like it or not, it is here. You can load up the game and opt for 8-ball or 9-ball pool mode. If you hoping for a few hours of fun with online buddies, check out Inferno Pool which offers multiplayer functionality. Try it out, the game is up for 800 MS points.

Xbox News

For those who were eagerly awaiting the Sky package can now cheer away. British gamers can, in theory, access the package for a hefty 15 pounds per month. I'm assuming this is on top of their Gold subscription which brings me to the next point – yes, it is only available to folks using a Gold membership account. The package itself didn't seem to offer all that much, at least not if you already have cable. Then again, maybe some folks just can't get enough of Ice Road Truckers and hence will welcome the History channel on their console. By the way, last I heard, there were some problems after launching Sky on the Xbox and the Sky Player was inaccessible until the hiccups were sorted out.

TwitterOh and if you are wondering about the features that would enable access to Twitter, Facebook and Last.fm, check out the preview on Destructoid. I am not entirely sold on the idea; for now, it seems like the PC gives you greater control in what you can do on each site. Then again, maybe, as the functionality for Xbox is enhanced, these three will start to rock? Only time will tell. For now, I should say that it is kind of pointless to read your friends' tweets on Xbox when you can check out their urls. Right!

In other news, guess what was included in the next installment of downloadable content for Xbox Live Marketplace? More Rob Zombie songs for Rockband! This includes numbers like 'Burn', 'Dragula' and 'Superbeast'! And, to be fair to all other song packs, I should also mention that there are few songs by Liz Phair, Morningwood and Wolfmother being released. Find out full details over at Major Nelson's site.

Everyone wants to follow the Beatles, apparently. The Who is the next band to rub their chin and go 'Hmmm' whilst considering the possibility of The Who:Rockband game. At this point, you hope that folks put in as much effort as the developers did for the Beatles venture. Otherwise, it could follow the drab Guitar Hero route. Of course, the one band that can pull it off, Beatles style, would be Queen. And there are rumors that this just might happen.

 Halloween Special

This week you get to check out The Guild's Halloween special. So everyone dresses up (in their outfits from Do you Want to Date My Avatar too!) and goes trick or treating. I must say Clare's kid did steal the show in this episode.