It looks like those ongoing Marketplace errors haven’t stopped this week’s Xbox Live release from making it out on time, unlike last week when we got the game a day late. That’s right, Little Acorns from Chillingo and Electronic Arts is now on the Marketplace!
Little Acorns is a traditional 2D platformer starring a squirrel who reportedly enjoys acorns. In fact, the goal of each level is to recover all of your stolen acorns and then reach the exit. That’s just a ‘basic clear’ though. To fully clear the level, you must also gather five fruits that appear after the acorns have been collected plus finish under the speedrun time.
The fruits unlock four types of clothing and accessories for your squirrel (head, face, body, and ropes), which can be equipped as soon as each level ends. Some levels also require the player squirrel to gather up his children. Jump while catching a falling kid squirrel on level 5 to nab your first Achievement, ‘Nice Catch!’
One area of concern with mobile platformers is that of controls. With no physical d-pad or buttons to rely on, developers basically have to choose between either virtual or tilt controls. Little Acorns relies on touch-screen buttons for movement and jumping. I’m pleased to report the controls function very well – with only left, right, and jump to worry about, it’s not hard at all to keep your fingers in place during gameplay.
Little Acorns costs $2.99 and there is a free trial. Grab it here on the Marketplace and start gathering those nuts!
Deal of the Week no more?
Last week there was no Xbox Live Deal of the Week and this week looks to be the same. Microsoft has apparently cancelled or put the popular sale program on hold. We asked for comment and received no reply, which is even worse than 'no comment' if you ask me. It’s almost as if Windows Phone 7 isn’t a huge priority for the Xbox Live gaming division right now, but surely that is not the case. Right?
Thanks to Zebrasqual for the Little Acorns tip!
Reader comments
Xbox Live - Little Acorns is now gathering nuts on the Marketplace, Deal of the Week looks MIA though
"Last week there was no Xbox Live Deal of the Week and this week looks to be the same. Microsoft has apparently cancelled or put the popular sale program on hold. We asked for comment and received no reply, which is even worse than 'no comment' if you ask me. It’s almost as if Windows Phone 7 isn’t a huge priority for the Xbox Live gaming division right now, but surely that is not the case. Right?"
Well said, the absolute very least they could do is acknowledge that it's gone, even if they didn't say why. One could still pop up here sometime today, but I'm certainly not holding my breath.
I can easily make XBox Live gaming on my Windows Phone a low priority too. I already feel like Little Acorns is overpriced as well.
I'm not buying. Feel as tho we are being ignored in ramp up to wp8. Mebbe it is coming earlier then thought. I could be wrong and hope that MSFT proves it
I'd rather MSFT fix the marketplace issues then worry about releasing a deal of the week. And I know it will come back but at this moment in time they are busy.
Two completely different tasks, done by two completely different teams. They could do both easily if they chose to. As I;ve said many times beofre, M$ are very good at sucking money out of users but are utter shite at marketing to customers.
It is a big deal for me if MS neglects to fix the marketplace issues. I have little desire to play a game on my phone if it does not accurately connect to the gamertag. I also refuse to buy any more games until this is fixed. For me, this is may impact future purchases. Also no dotw, not a good move.
So which game did you have a problem with. Sally's spa? I'm pretty sure all the recent ones before and after that have been fine
Sally's spa, and plants vs zombies. On other forums others mention same issues with multiple games-titles.
It's been happening with all WP7 Xbox Live games since Wednesday the 8th. Many of us are choosing not to play until the problem is fixed.
It's there
Why couldn't I crack this app? It tells me Invalid package. LOL
I take it you are the grandchild of Razor1911 then ;)
What a shame. Xbox live is one very important feature for me on windows phone since ios and android have way better and way cheaper games. No dotw and not even a statemant is just really bad.
I agree. There is a reason I buy more games on my phone than my ios and android devices. I hope this does not change, but I refuse to pay more for games with bugs and broken achievements. Very irritated.
I might down load the demo on it but, no more apps for me till WP8 hits...
Looks cool tho... I have WAY too many games on my phone that I have not finished the achievements on...
Prerty good game liking the look and the controls;-)
The comment on the DOTW seem a little more pessimistic than I would expect. Have we not gone a week or two without a DOTW since the program started? Also, are there issues with purchased games not connecting to XBL correctly? I
This is actually the first time since the program started that there hasn't been a sale game.
And yes, as I've said in other comments, there are ongoing Xbox Live syncing issues right now.
I don't know if it's related, but I'm guessing this is related to the move from live to Microsoft accounts. They seem to have a lot of irons in the fire. My live account email (using my company email) is also an Office 365 account, ever since the move to outlook.com I can no longer access my hotmail content because both hotmail and office 365 are handled through one site. Sigh...
This game is neither Sonic CD nor Sonic 4 Episode 2.
How very disappointing. If it is being held until Windows Phone 8 is released and is exclusive to that platform, I shan't be purchasing another Windows Phone in the future. I would like for a company to actually meet its self imposed deadlines and promises and these can't seem to be held on Windows Phone.
Irritating game, later levels are just to piss the gamers off. Last game i bought here, i want some "proper" game already