Terry - You might be wondering why there were so many posts on GamePro Arcade last night. I moved everything up that was scheduled for the next few days to tonight, I wanted to make sure the hard work put in by the GPA staff got the love it deserved. Why? Because just like every other Blogfaction site, we've been shut down. Yes, the old saying is true. Shit does happen.

I've been working for GamePro for almost 2 years and I plan on doing some freelance work with them again as it arises but I'm not going to lie, losing GPArcade hurts. It was my baby, I've been running it since its inception, giving it tons of love and watching it grow. So to get the phone call I got telling me that we were shut down and having to tell my staff we were done was gut wrenching. Sadly that's just the way this business seems to be going, so its time I bid adieu. 

But before I go, I want to give thanks because I have so much to be thankful for. First and foremost I'd like to thank our loyal readers. You've been great! I'm sorry I won't be around any longer to pass out freebies every Wednesday. I'd like to thank GP staffers Will Herring, McKinley Noble, and Dave Rudden for their frequent assistance. And I'd like to give a big shout out to my editor Tae Kim. He's one of the best guys in the biz. Thank you for trusting me with this responsibility.

And finally I need to give some love to my great staff. Joe, you might have recently joined us but your talents are obvious. You're one hell of a writer. My boy Jay, you've continually improved, have always been reliable, and have great skills. And finally there's Scarecrow. I think I'll miss you most of all. Oops, I meant Sean. Sean, you've been with me the longest and you've held out through thick and thin. You're an excellent writer and a good man...even if you like country music.

Even though GPArcade is closing shop you haven't heard the last of the GPA team. We're still scheming and trying to figure out a way to keep pumping out great content. Be sure to follow us on Twitter to see just how far the rabbit hole goes.

Follow me on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/terryterrones  

P.S. It wouldn't be GPA without a giveaway. Congrats to xAluru, you've randomly selected by the GPArcade Super Computer (and yes I'm taking it with me, I'll be renaming it soon) as the winner of our final giveaway. Email me with your GP login name and password to collect your prize.  

Hit the jump to read the final adios from the rest of the GamePro Arcade staff. 

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The Indie section of Xbox Live Marketplace just got a bit hotter with Weapon of Choice—an early favorite of the service—dropping its price to only 240 MS points, or $3 in real money. This Contra-esque 2D platforming ‘splod-em-up turned many a head when it was released last year, offering magnificent boss battles, a ton of weapons, and seven weird-yet-awesome characters.

While it might be difficult to sort through the heaps of massagers and screen savers that populate the XBL Indies section, Weapon of Choice is just one of the many truly solid titles that exist in there. Though the service had a bit of a rough start, titles like Johnny Platform’s Biscuit Romp, Angry Barry, and Jump! have really stood out as unique experiences that you just can’t find in the traditional Arcade. WoC features similar action to both Shadow Complex and Bionic Commando: Rearmed, meaning that fans of either of those titles should at least give the free trial a download. Weapon of Choice is also the highest rated XBL Indie game on Metacritic, a tremendous accomplishment indeed.

Interested actioneers can check out the developer’s official website here, or just head straight to the Xbox Live Marketplace to give Weapon of Choice a shot. You really should. Just sayin’.

Wolfmother, a newer band from Australia, will rock you until your face melts off with their heavy metal/hard rock style and badass persona. The Sydney trio has been making a splash at Australian MTV events and is slowly transforming into an American sensation too.

Their three-song track pack consisting of, "Pilgrim," "California Queen," and "Cosmic Egg," is ready for download Thursday at the Guiter Hero Store. If you're into that, check these guys out and then throw another set of shrimp on the baaaarbie.

Hit the jump.

Related Links: We're giving away 2,000 Wii points. And here are the Rock Band songs for the week, too.

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My name is Terry Terrones and I'm an Achievement whore. Of course I'm not alone, not even close. There are so many people like me that I should start some kind of support group. Despite the fact that I have a healthy 67K Gamerscore, there are plenty of other gamers whose scores are in the hundreds of thousands (and my brother thinks I have a problem).

Collecting Achievements and hearing that little popping sound when I've accomplished something just feels good. Its a fun thing to do and can often lead to exploring parts of a game that might otherwise be ignored. As I often say when reviewing DLC for console games, anything that can extend the life of a game is a good thing.

But for a long time now, I've been wondering if I'm becoming one of those people who has taken Achievements, and to a lesser degree PS3 Trophies, a little too seriously. I've played a lot of games I normally wouldn't just to boost my Gamerscore. I've also kept playing titles I didn't like just for the points. When you've picked up the promotional games from Burger King just to get more Achievements (Pocketbike Racer wasn't that bad), you might just have a problem.

Naturally this leads to our latest question of the week. Are Achievements and Trophies a good thing or a bad thing? Tell us what you think by answer our poll. Don't our choices? Write your thoughts on the comments section of this post. Have a question you'd like to have asked as the question of the week? Email it to me at tterrones@gamepro.com.

Follow me on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/terryterrones 

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Congrats to WKProvost, spawn100, skemo, killquick, and chokochokorito, you have been randomly selected by the GamePro Arcade Super Computer as the winners of our latest giveaway prize - an XBLA download code for Zombie Apocalypse. Email me at tterrones@gamepro.com with your GP login name and password and I'll send you your code. 

Didn't win this time? Get over it. Another contest is right around the corner. 

Follow me on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/terryterrones 

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Terry: This week I've spent time with NHL 2K10 (very arcadey, which I like), NHL 10 (super realistic, which is cool too), South Park Let's Go Tower Defense Play! (very average, for diehard South Park fans only) and Batman: Arkham Asylum (frickin' sweet). I also received a copy of Brutal Legend on Tuesday. I haven't had a chance to play it yet but I'm looking forward to it.

I've been playing Arkham for awhile and finally finished it. As of right now its a game of the year candidate in my opinion. Simple yet brilliant combat, cool gadgets, a great story, fantastic voice acting - what more could you want? It gives me hope that superhero games aren't dead and buried. Which is exactly what I thought after playing Superman Returns.

Sean: I'm really going through a tough situation right now, bored out of my mind with my collection. Sure, I have GoW2, Halo 3, NCAA 10, Tigers Woods 10 and many others that get played in constant circulation. But like I said before, I need the next guy that I can't put down. The game that semi-ruins my life because I dedicate my entire being to it.

When I'm not reviewing games for you guys, I'm playing the same old stuff. Do I really have to wait for Modern Warfare 2 until I'm happy again? Help me. What Xbox 360 games will I love? You guys know me, I'm an avid sports fan and a lover of shooters as well. Suggestions? I need to actually be able to contribute to my own weekly post, Games We Play. I'm such a let down to you. I apologize.

Jay: First, there is Word Searcher, my review game…let’s not get into that one just yet. I have also been playing lots of PSP. I never owned a PSP before, and became an early adopter of the Go. It’s all about the PSOne Classics (FFVII and MGS) for me right now. I also played some of the Peace Walker demo, but because I cannot read and understand Japanese, I have no idea what is going on. Aside from that, it seems pretty rockin’ so far.

I played a bit more of Drake’s Fortune, nothing significant, but I will finish the game eventually, even if I have to do it 30-minutes at a time!

Joseph: Another eventful week for me, packed with pirates, poltergeists and the extraction of dead space. I reviewed Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 3: Lair of the Leviathan for GamePro Arcade, which is yet another whimsical journey to the world of rubber chicken ziplines and talking skulls with dreams of world domination. I also finished off Wolfenstein, which ended up being utterly depressing. No, the story wasn’t emotionally-charged, but the antiquated shooting mechanics and dull environments sent me dashing towards the fridge looking for some comfort food.

Much more enjoyable was Dead Space: Extraction, a Wii exclusive “guided experience” that delivers just as many thrills and chills as its predecessor. I expected nothing but heartbreak and disappointment from it, as it seemed like nothing but a quick cash in, but the guys and gals at Visceral shut me up by cranking out the best light gun shooter since Sega was in their prime and my favorite Wii game of 2009. Whoda thunkit?

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South Park co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone are big gamers. They reference video games on their show too often not to be. From World of Warcraft to the Nintendo Wii, there is no show on TV that gives gaming more love than these two. 

Sadly a love of gaming does not a great game creator make, as Parker and Stone have previously demonstrated with the disappointing console titles Chef’s Luv Shack and South Park Rally. It was with some trepidation that I took on the recently released South Park Let’s Go Tower Defense Play!, but the Colorado duo seem to have found a more appropriate venue for their unique brand of humor in the downloadable game market.

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Authenticity in gaming always catches me off guard. Whenever I pop in a new title, I almost expect to be able to slow down time, jump cars over canyons or roll the entire population of Japan up into a giant ball of garbage. So when I try a realistic flight-combat game like IL-2 Sturmovik, my brain just doesn’t let me play them right, and I usually resort to hurling my plane at enemy battleships yelling “KAMIKAZE!” until my voice goes faint. I feel sorry for my cat.

Despite my incompetence, the recently released PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 title IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey has been receiving rave reviews for its brand of high-impact air-based combat, and the developers have just announced that a new downloadable content pack has hit each console’s marketplace today to celebrate its success. This $5/400 MS point pack introduces six exclusive single-player missions from several theaters of World War II, as well as an all new plane to toy around while painting the sky red with fire from your enemies’ decimated aircrafts. Barrel roll the jump for the full press release, pilot.

Normally, developers will wait until a game has been out for awhile before deluging the marketplace with DLC. This seems to work for everybody, as gamers who have grown tired of the game have an excuse to go back, and that title will get a bit of extra attention from the press after most have forgotten about it. Turn 10 studios, developers of the upcoming Forza Motorsport 3, have apparently decided that only pansies wait that long to release downloadable goodies, and will instead be spinning 10 new tracks and 2 exclusive cars onto Xbox Live Marketplace on October 27th, the same day that the game hits store shelves. It's called the Motorsports Legends Car Pack, and while its name might not roll right off the tongue, its price easily makes up for any and all shortcomings: it will be completely and totally free. Speed through the jump for more details, including the full press release and a list of included cars.

 

Another week, another chance for you to win a prize from GamePro Arcade. Up for grabs this time? Five (5!) XBLA download codes for the recently released Zombie Apocalypse. How do you win? So glad you asked. All you have to do is write a comment on this post telling me what one person, what one weapon, and what one food item you want once the zombie apocalypse hits. Keep in mind you get unlimited ammo and your one food item is limitless as well.

What would I do? I'd take the gorgeous and physically tough (at least in movies) Kate Beckinsale, a Halo energy sword, and pepperoni pizza (yes, very Ninja Turtle-esque, I know).

Now its your turn. Feel free to post as many entries as you want, just remember that posting multiple times does not increase your chances of winning. On Sunday the GamePro Arcade Super Computer will randomly select five lucky gamers. 

Good luck!

Follow me on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/terryterrones 

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