Vandal Hearts: Flames of Judgment Message Board

Gamasutra wasn't able to get its hands on year-to-date PSN sales data directly from Sony, but it has come up with some interesting conclusions based on an unscientific look at ... leaderboard stats. The site broke down January's new releases, as well as a few other games that sold well last month, and the big debut of the month appears to be Hustle Kings, which added over 39,000 players to its ranks. Assault Heroes only picked up 754 new players, but given that it's a game that actually came out in 2006 on the Xbox, that's not a big surprise. PSN also offered up its "10 for '10" sale in January, and Uno came away from that event with a whopping 87,000 new players on its leaderboards. Braid and Critter Crunch also did well, adding 20,000 and 17,000 new players to their leaderboards, respectively.

Keep in mind that these numbers are far from official, and not complete anyway -- Vandal Hearts: Flames of Judgment, Thexder Neo and Matt Hazard were released on PSN last month, and none of those games are included in this analysis, due to unreliable or nonexistent leaderboards. But it is probably fair to say that PSN had a pretty good month in January, especially with the games featured in its "10 for '10" sale. More of that, please.

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Filed under: X3F TV This week on XBLA in Brief, we take a brief look (geddit?) at Vandal Hearts: Flames of Judgment and Death By Cube. The two games are about as different as can be, with Vandal Hearts being a strategy RPG -- a rarity on XBLA -- and Death By Cube offering a frantic twin-stick shooter. Both games seem good at what they do, though Death By Cube may just have a little magic in its simple, hectic formula. Check out the latest XBLA in Brief episode above and see if either Vandal Hearts (1200 / $15) or Death By Cube (800 / $10) strike your fancy. Shortcut: Download the trial version of Vandal Hearts: Flames of Judgment [via Xbox.com] Shortcut: Download the trial version of Death By Cube [via Xbox.com] [iTunes] Subscribe to X3F TV directly in iTunes. [Zune] Subscribe to the X3F TV directly. [RSS] Add the X3F TV feed to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically. [M4V] Download the M4V directly.

Aside from being one of the best indie bands to emerge from Champaign, Illinois in recent years, Cubes and Vandals neatly compose this week's Xbox Live Arcade update. As previously announced and reiterated just now, Square Enix's Death by Cube and Konami's Vandal Hearts: Flames of Judgment join the Xbox 360's download service on Wednesday, January 20. After missing its original release target in 2009, Vandal Hearts brings the classic strategy franchise up to speed with enhanced visuals, an overhauled interface and a 1200 ($15) price tag. Those less enthused by moving squares on a grid might prefer mowing down cubes on a plane -- that's what you'll do in Death by Cube, available for 800 ($10). It's also what you'll do at a Cubes on a Plane concert. They're just terrible live.

Konami breaks down updated characters and skills for upcoming downloadable title.