As February comes to a close, Microsoft has revealed the free games that will be coming to Xbox Live Gold members in March. This is part of its Free Games With Gold promotion and only applies to Xbox Live Gold users on Xbox One and Xbox 360.

Xbox One players will start the month off with Trials of the Blood Dragon, a spin-off of the Trials franchise which incorporates more action elements. It will be available from March to 31st. On March 16 till April 15, Superhot will become the next free game. This indie first person shooter features the novel concept of time only moving when you do, allowing for complex plays of bullet-dodging, kitana throwing and outright massacre.

For Xbox 360 gamers – which are also available to Xbox One players with backwards compatibility – there’s Brave: The Video Game, an adaptation of Disney’s film. This will be available from March 1st to 15th. Quantum Conundrum, a puzzle title from Kim Swift of Portal fame, will be out on March 16th till 31st.

Airtight Games, which recently developed and released Murdered: Soul Suspect for current and next gen consoles, has reportedly closed down according to Geekwire. The latter visited the Redmon office of the studio and discovered that only was office equipment being sold off at discounts but that a sign outside indicated that it was shutting down.

GameSpot and Geekwire both tried to reach the studio by email for a statement but received a “mail delivery failed” message on doing so. As of now, Airtight Games has not released an official statement on the same, though it did release 14 employees in the past few months as part of restructuring.

The studio has also worked on Soul Fjord with Kim Swift (before she departed to work Amazon Game Studios). Other well known games from the studio include Dark Void and Quantum Conundrum. Are you bummed about Airtight Games closing down? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

According to a recent Steam Community page – which has since been taken down but a picture of which can be viewed below – Quantum Conundrum 2 reportedly on the way.

Swift and her crew haven’t provided any indication since the first game’s release that they were working on a sequel. So take this with a grain of salt for now. But considering the great critical reception, it should be a no-brainer.

Released for Steam, Xbox Live and Playstation Network, Quantum Conundrum had players exploring a mysterious mansion with a dimensional device for shifting between dimensions to correct an experiment gone awry. Check out our review of the game here.

Source: OnlySP

Swift now feels that her fellow devs should work to make themselves more visible in today’s industry, to both eradicate prejudice and inspire the next generation.

On her blog, Swift wrote, “We need to change the make up of our industry, because games are a reflection of their creators. I see the solution to this problem coming not a year from now, not five years from now, but twenty. When this current generation of kids sees the good example that we should be setting now. And though we may not be able to tell it completely like it is just yet, there’s still plenty we can do to help future generations of game developers.

“Be everything that the younger versions of us could’ve pointed to and proudly said: ‘Girls make games too.’…So when I blather endlessly about a game I’m working on until my eyes bleed, in the back of my head, I hope that there’s a little girl out there that realizes her dreams are achievable.”

Source: GIBiz

***Please note this walkthrough was not uploaded by GamingBolt.com.

Special thanks to Youtube user TheMediaCows for uploading this walkthrough.

Check out more video game walkthroughs here.

Without further ado, let’s begin!

You play nephew to the self-proclaimed genius that is Professor Fitz Quadwrangle. Through heavy implication and sarcasm, Quadwrangle outlines his disdain for his nephew’s sudden visits, but there’s no malice in his intentions. Just a well to-do dude who wants to do what he loves to do: inventing. His newest experiment, however, sends the manor into disarray and makes the Professor amnesiac of what happened prior to the experiment. With the help of the IDS, a special glove for switching between different dimensions when “rifts” are detected, you hence set about to free your uncle. Perhaps in the process, solve the mystery of just what happened earlier.

A simple story, told as light-heartedly as possible yet played totally straight. The manor itself isn’t the most gothic place, coming off as a playhouse more often than not. That doesn’t excuse the danger present, though. Your objective is to reactivate the four generators within the house, and get the main power back online. Easy, right? Unfortunately, dimensional rifts have been opened up everywhere, and you have to make use of your glove to survive. Which is no easy task when you have to pitch safes across rooms, leap across boundaries, manipulate lasers and just all-around not die (sound familiar?).

The difference here is your dimensional switching glove. It allows you to enter dimensions where the properties of reality change. There are four different dimensions you can shift to: Fluffy, Heavy, Slow and Reverse Gravity. Fluffy makes everything 10 times lighter so you can chug heavy objects (often needed for the bigger switches) with ease. The Heavy dimension does the opposite, making things 10 times heavier. With this, even ordinary objects can be used to hit the switches required due to their increased weight. Slow renders everything 10 times slower than you, thus helping you move at bullet-time-esque speeds. Finally, Reverse Gravity does just that. Everything that’s not tied down will go flying.

Positioning is extremely important here, and the split-second timing needed to engineer that even more so. It’s never over-complicated or over-bearing. Often puzzles require elementary understanding of the dimensions at hand, and the environment you’re in. And since you can only use one dimension at a time, it’s even more vital to be patient and analyze the situation before charging in at it. Prof. Quadwrangle will often chime in over the intercom to tell you what’s happening, and at times provide subtle hints as how to proceed. Nothing is too overwhelmingly challenging, and you won’t be scratching your head for long.

The graphics aren’t your typical AAA, blockbuster visuals. However it’s a well-executed case in minimalism. Maybe not as polished, sweeping or exquisite as Portal’s visuals (or with even half a brilliant soundtrack), but consider that this is an arcade title. In fact, the game’s entire existence is amazing. How did Airtight Games create such an expansive puzzler with the resources at hand?

That being said, there are many who might find the Portal similarities – and there are many – to be all too-pervasive. Some might find it hard to step down from such a high standard into a world like this. But really, that’s to ignore the genuine charm inhabiting Quantum Conundrum. It’s fast, it’s fun, it’s smart and offers a large amount of playability. It’s a tribute.

This game was reviewed on the Xbox 360.

Not having followed the proceedings and rumours leading up to E3, or even tuning into the live press conference screenings, I simply digested some of the bigger happenings. Is it possible I missed out on a couple of things? Definitely, but that’s one of the magical things of E3. Something special lays hidden, if you care to look for it. Conversely, a literal storm of suffering could be awaiting in the next booth.

However, this year’s E3 was different. The Wii U was more detailed this time around, but I was focused on the games. So it was some trepidation that some of the titles I laid eyes on seemed all too familiar. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, Medal of Honor: Warfighter, Dead or Alive 5 – there was definitely a “been there, done that” feeling (one the Call of Duty series has lucidly mastered). Do I harbour apprehension that they won’t be great games? Not at all. Did they wow me enough to do more than just move on to the next trailer? Not really.

Of course, the big names were relatively new. Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us, Quantic Dream’s Beyond: Two Souls and Ubisoft Montreal’s Watch Dogs all had the proverbial buzz surrounding them. But again, it didn’t feel like there was something compelling and fresh enough.

Initial impressions pegged The Last of Us as a mixture of The Walking Dead meets Uncharted with more nuanced character motions and expressions.  Assassin’s Creed 3, Splinter Cell: Blacklist and Watch Dogs all bore the brunt of looking a little too similar for my liking. They’re not the kind of titles that I’ll be looking back on two years down the line as the ones that defined E3 2012.

Each game in one way or another builds upon a previous generation’s mechanics, hooks and innovations. However, over the years, it’s begun to feel like a dilution in favour of cinematic and graphical immersion. But in this AAA blockbuster-hinging industry, anything less would be a disaster. Do what you gotta do, but it’s gotta be big and it’s gotta be a hit.

This is not to say this dilution and encompassing of features is hurting all titles. Look at Quantum Conundrum. On the surface, it seems like another Portal-esque switch-hitter. Deep down, it embodies a simple yet distinct art-style, a fun narrative with intelligent story writing and sense of immersion, distinguished by it’s own brand of reality-altering shenanigans. So games can be fun, innovative and familiar, without pandering too much to cinematic sensibilities. They can do more of the same but do it differently.

Heck, even something that just reaches out and grabs you, like seeing Zelda: Twilight Princess for the first time, or the Halo 2 target gameplay footage (smoke and mirrors controversy notwithstanding), or even with Uncharted 2’s unveiling. Or we can rehash the same icon-prompting kills and QTEs of years past and still be fun. Just not memorable.

I fully expect many of these titles to be on my must-play list for the year, particularly Watch Dogs and The Last of Us. And initial impressions show they’re quite strong in their mechanics and design.

The press release describes it best:

On the show, unsuspecting contestants join host Kevin Pereira and Professor Quadwrangle’s pet, an Interdimensional Kinetic Entity—better known as Ike—as they defy cosmic logic and win amazing prizes! The lucky participants are transformed and transported to otherworldly dimensions like FLUFFY, HEAVY, ANTI-GRAVITY and SLOW MOTION—real-life incarnations of the gameplay modes in the videogame, Quantum Conundrum.

Of course, if the game’s reality-defying antics aren’t enough of an indication, check out the first episode below (if you dare).

Quantum Conundrum releases on July 10th and 11th for PSN and XBox Live Arcade respectively, but you can grab it off Steam for PC today.

Quantum Conundrum, instead of harnessing the laws of physics, will now manipulate the fundamental laws of chemistry.

In chocolate dimension, players will have the following options:

• Devour your way through obstacles
• Melt-down and re-solidify objects
• Stick to the floor, the walls, & the ceiling
• Discover all-new (chocolate) Easter eggs!

“People are probably wondering, ‘Chocolate dimension? What’s that all about?’,” said Kim Swift, creative director at Airtight Games. “Chocolate is fun! Chocolate has all sorts of amazing properties! Who doesn’t love chocolate? And besides that, it looks a lot more appetizing than hummus dimension.”

The game launches later this summer.