Sick of people using exploits to gain the advantage in Texas Hold 'em while you do everything legit? Tired of saved games being filled with weirdness in Hexic 2? Well, let your mind be as ease. We've got title updates incoming for both games this week.

Full details after the break.

[via Gamerscoreblog]

Ever since the Uno camera update came out everyone and their mother has been waiting for Texas Hold 'em to follow suit. It wasn't a secret that camera support was coming sometime, but now almost a year after the Live Vision was released we'll finally get to eat that lovely piece of cake. Camera support has become a pivotal and important part of the social XBLA games and an important part of gloating that is required in these type of games. Gamerscore blog also mentions the following other key features coming out with this update next week:

• Improved usability such as the addition of Custom Match Lists, which allows gamers to view and select which available Custom Match game they would like to join.
• Improved rich presence in the game, allowing players to not only see what their friends are up to, but also if they just won that big pot!
• Improved matchmaking and user results.
• Scoring and screens are more readable than before.
• Multi-language support including English, French, German, Italian and Spanish.
• New premium downloadable content allows players to customize the in-game environment, and access new gamerpics and themes.
  

If you aren't a poker addict yet, you now have a reason to become one. At least for a month. If you are already an addict, let me be your enabler*.

Simply by playing Texas Hold 'em everyday, you will have a shot at winning an Xbox 360 Elite, a set of poker chips, or some Microsoft Points via the Alltel Texas Hold 'em Challenge. The best part is that you don't even have to be good at poker (I'm breathing a big sigh of relief at this point) to get in on the prizes. You get one sweepstakes entry for every day you play Texas Hold 'em from now to July 12th. Winners will be selected at random so anyone could win.

Just be sure to register your gamertag first (We don't want a repeat of the Old Spice Gamerscore Challenge now, do we?) and then get to bluffing!

[via xbox.com, thanks X360F]

*: Disclaimer -- LunarDuality and XBLArcade.com believe that gambling addiction is a serious problem and encourage addicts to seek help. We are not responsible for any monetary damages you suffer after reading this post. Thankfully, XBLA's Texas Hold 'em doesn't use real money.

Texas Hold 'em has seen a bit of news over the past day. The first of which is that XboxArchive.de has confirmed that [url=http://www.xbox-archiv.de/?p=5178]we will have to wait a "few more weeks" for the Live Vision Camera update[/url] that will allow players to see each other (ala Uno). My guess is thta when they say that they confirmed it with Microsoft it was (obviously) with the German branch, but remember that all of the Xbox Live patches have been launched globally. I would expect to see this on a no release Wednesday.

The second bit of news has to do with a [url=http://www.xboxliveconnection.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=392]Texas Hold 'em tournament over at Xbox Live Connection[/url]! The winners will receive Best Buy gift certificates. Entry is free; however, you must be over 18. Even if you don't consider yourself a card shark, [url=http://www.xboxliveconnection.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=392]you might as well join this tournament[/url].

Xboxic.com is reporting that Microsoft will be releasing a patch to fix many, many issues with Texas Hold'em. Here's the list of improvements:

[quote]

Features

• Game-play has been sped up:

o Post the blind and play right away! – Players can now, if they wish, start playing immediately when joining a table by posting the big blind, rather than having to wait for the blind to come to them.

o New ‘Away’ mode – Players can now set their status to ‘Away’. Hands will be auto-folded and blinds auto-posted until the player returns.

o New ‘Auto-boot’ mode – Players who continuously let the timer expire (more than three times in a game) will be booted from the table

o Faster overall pacing – Timers and messaging durations have been adjusted to speed up game-play among experienced players, but still allow novice players plenty of time to play.

• Improved blind structure – Initial blinds, as well as blind increases, are now more proportional to table stakes, ensuring more meaningful increases during game-play.

• Matchmaking improvements – Players are no longer matched into games they cannot afford

• Improved interface controls – Improvements to controls, such as increasing/decreasing stake amounts

• Leaderboard display – A player’s full winnings and rank are now properly displayed

• Art and text improvements – Game art and spelling issues have been addressed

• Online exploits addressed – Certain known exploits that enabled cheating have been addressed. As a result, the online multi-player leaderboards will be reset to eliminate inflated scores as a result of these exploits.

[/quote]

 

The speed of which Hold'em plays is the main reason I stopped playing it, and I'll certainly be checking this out as soon as it's available.

Finally the free, not free, free (but for a limited time) Texas Hold'em has been released for XBLA. Until 1am Pacific Friday, August 25, you will be able to download the game for free. After this time, the game will cost a whopping 800 points.

Give it a go and tell us what you think in our fourms.

OK I promise that will be the first and last rhyming headline.

Microsoft announced yesterday some new details about the future of XBLA Wednesdays including:

• Texas Hold-em will be released Aug. 23 and will be free for the first 48 hours.
• 4 Cloning Clyde picture packs @ 100 points each are available today.
• A PGR3 themed deck for UNO will be available later today for 100 points.
• Time Pilot will be available August 30th for 400 points.
• Scramble will be available September 6th for 400 pointsMajor.

Nelson later updated the free poker info with this:

[quote]

Just to be clear, anyone who downloads this game during the free period, will get the full un-locked version of the game to play. There will be no time out on the version (in other words...you can play as long as you want..whenever you want) as long as you download it during the first 48-hours. After the free period is over, then it's Arcade business as usual - there will be a demo, and the option to purchase the full game.

[/quote]

I don't know about you, but I'm interested to see what gameplay changes the PGR3 Deck will bring as Microsoft has stated in the past that there won't be any UNO Decks that are just a rebranding, that all decks will bring gameplay changes in line with the theme itself. Don't know how you would play racing UNO or Kudos UNO, but for 100 points, I'm willing to try.

UPDATE: it seems that Microsoft has removed all references to the UNO PG3 Theme pack, guess were not getting it today.

The 12 achievements for the highly anticipated (and no longer free) XBLA poker game have been revealed. They seem like a decent set...decide for yourself.

I have just received my September 2006 issue of the Official Xbox Magazine, which has a pretty nice section of Xbox Live Arcade goodness. While it shares everything that we already know, there is one part that caught my eye, as will yours:

It says that before Labor Day, which is September 4th, we will be seeing four additional arcade games released; Texas Hold 'em Poker, Time Pilot, Scramble, Lumines Live!. Other details include:

- Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 will have Live Play, (Of course?)
- Vision camera will work with Uno, Texas Hold 'em Poker, Hardwood Hearts, Hardwood Spades
- Scramble will feature side by side competitive multiplayer, for two (No co-op?)
- Lumines Live! will be 1,200 Microsoft Points

Joystiq has interviewed XBLA's Greg Canessa, and some interesting things came out of this, including:

- Texas Hold 'em Poker will not be free
- Texas Hold 'em Poker will have a 'bankroll' system
- The next batch of XBLA games will be announced in around a week
- Releases have been secretly cuing up

Visit Joystiq for the lengthy interview.