On Xbox Live Arcade today: Poker Smash and a Crystal Quest update

6 February 2008

Posted by:Ferry

From today, at 9AM GMT (2AM PDT), you can play Void Star Creations’ Poker Smash on Xbox Live Arcade for Xbox 360. Poker Smash will be available worldwide for 800 Microsoft Points (that’s US$10 / €9.60 / £6.80 / CAN$12.40 / AU$13.20).

In Poker Smash you experience seven unique game modes, eleven immersive environments, next-gen 3D graphics, original music, and innovative gameplay. Hone your skills, earn achievements, show off your Poker Smash prowess in LIVE multiplayer tournaments (Poker Smash Play & Win Sweepstakes), compete with your friends, and see how you stack up in the Poker Smash community! This game requires the Xbox 360 hard drive or the 512MB Memory Unit for storage.

Key game features include:
* Innovative gameplay: Match-three gameplay with a twist. Create poker hands and form chains to rack up the big score.
* Seven game modes: Intense game modes include action, timed, puzzle levels (55 of them), practice, custom playlist, split screen head-to-head, and multiplayer tournaments.
* Multiplayer experience: 2-player offline and 2-4 multiplayer over Xbox Live is featured.
* New leaderboards: In addition to the traditional leaderboards, Poker Smash features never-before-seen rivalry tracking and even movie recording with shared playback.
* Immersive environment: The next-gen 3-D graphics feature eleven different highly detailed environments and background themes, coupled with thirteen new original soundtracks for play.

Also, Crystal Quest will receive a free gameplay update this week. To quote the update details:

“Developer Stainless Games has added a fresh twist to the puzzle action by incorporating a score multiplier. This update will make the game slicker and faster than before and opens up the possibility of even higher scores!

The score multiplier increases every time gamers pick up a crystal, but failing to pick up a crystal or getting zapped negates the multiplier. To keep a level playing field, old Leaderboards will be retired after the update, but will still be viewable for posterity’s sake. The update also includes improvements to downloadable content, which is part of Stainless Games’ ongoing commitment to constantly improve the player experience.”