Not only will we be getting the new maps, we will also be getting more Achievements worth 50 gamerpoints which will be tied in with the maps! It doesn’t stop there either. The leaderboards are also going to be reset (due to a glitch which has destroyed them) and trap launches will be no more! Will this be the rebirth of Marble Blast Ultra? We’ll soon find out.

We eventually got bored of rolling around in one map for several hours and ended up thinking of new ways to bring more fun to MBU, not a gametype, not tricks, but to hack the game so we can get access to the files. We thought we’d just share this.

We coded a program that could open up a file named “marble.bza”, this was the core MBU file which had everything packed inside it. Our program worked, so we extracted all the files within that core file. However, the problem we had was to rebuild this “marble.bza” file and keep its signature encryption the same but due to Xbox Live now being so secure we couldn’t, otherwise we would’ve been able to edit the files and then play MBU, so instead we just played around with the files to see what really went into making MBU. Below are a few pictures for your interest.

Interesting things we found:

• Unused Sound files (some used for MBP, such as tim_trance)
• Unused Images
• Some useless coding
• Some things we can’t share

We’re sorry! We didn’t get rid of our forums on purpose! A few months ago we had to move our entire website to a new server, this meant we had to change a lot of things to get it up and running. However, we forgot to make a backup of our latest forum database (very stupid of us, we know). As you have seen we run phpBB forum software. We had a backup but it was from an older version of phpBB, so it was almost impossible (we still tried!) for us to import it into the latest version of phpBB released to date. We deeply apologize for this as we know a lot of you had some very interesting discussions including, top times, routes, custom content and much more. Again, we’re sorry!

This does not mean we will not have a forum any more, we have decided to use the Marble Blast Online section within the InstantAction forum. We hope everyone from our community will start to post there and maybe also get involved with the whole forum!

We look forward to seeing you there.

Rokkitball is a fast paced first person sports action game that allows up to 8 players battle it out in an arena with goals at either end. The aim of the game is to score in the opponents’ goal using your special weapon. To move the ball around the arena, you must use your gun to pick up the ball and fire it to wherever you want. You can also shoot rockets at your opponents in order for them to fumble and lose possession. The goal consists of 3 holes at varying heights – the highest and smallest hole gives you 5 points, the middle hole gives you 2 points and the bottom hole gives you 1 point.

The idea of Rokkitball is unique and straightforward. It’s simply a mix of basketball and the lovable deathmatch seen in first person shooters – except this is third person. Come to think about it, you could argue that it is similar to the Bombing Run game type seen in Unreal Tournament. The differences are that the arena is smaller in Rokkitball and the ball is a million times bigger. This results in unstoppable rocket wars with a giant ball flying around in random directions. Sounds chaotic but how long can that be fun for? Well, if you learn to play properly, Rokkitball will keep you busy for a very long time. At first you might have your whole team chase the ball around the whole arena with no positioning and on-the-spot all-for-yourself tactics. That’s not how you win. This game is very tactical and that’s a huge part of the fun. Each team needs its set players with set positions and roles – just like real sports with defenders, attackers and anything in between. This game even has certain keys assigned to allow quick communication between you and your team-mates - tactical communication, that is. This saves you time typing out ‘I’m free’ by which then the other team have increased their lead by another three points. The only downside to this is the remembering of all the shortcuts, but that’s how it goes. Once you’re all organised and have a team knowing what they’re doing and how to communicate efficiently, you can have some incredibly epic matches.

So how do you control your player? Again, it’s very simple; you use the W A S D keys to run/strafe and the space bar to jump. To run faster than normal, hold down Shift and your desired direction, but be warned that this drains your energy so keep on eye on that. To jump even higher, you jump once then when at the apex of your first jump, press the space bar again. This is called a double jump and is in fact another similarity to Unreal Tournament games. To get control of the ball, you must be near it to ‘pull’ it in – holding down the right mouse button will keep the ball in your grasp. When in possession of the ball, it’s never a good idea to hold in to it for a long time because you will be bombarded with rockets even before you get your first touch. So it’s best to pass it to your team-mate as fast as possible and then move to a good position. To fire the ball away (hopefully in the oppositions’ goal or to your team-mate), simply click with the left mouse button – make sure you get the right angle of trajectory, though.

So now we’ve told you what Rokkitball has to offer as a new release for InstantAction, we’d now like to give suggestions of our own. There’s no doubt that new content is in the works as we speak, but we’ll list anything and everything that comes into mind.

• Firstly, there should different arenas that can be played in - perhaps even have differently laid out goals and possibly even change the gravity/physics on certain special maps.
• We’d also like to see different characters that can be chosen to give an individual identity to each person.
• Each time you score for your team, you get a special meter bar on your screen which allows you to use some special ability. For example, faster running, invisibility or greater weapon strength.

These are just a few of the simplest ideas that we, and many others would like to see implemented in Rokkitball in the near future. If you have any ideas yourself, please feel free to comment and let us know. Remember, Alex Swanson will also be able to reply to your comments so if your idea could make its way to Rokkitball itself! But for now, enjoy Rokkitball and all of the other brilliant games on InstantAction!

As of March 27, these ActionTokens can be spent on locked items in InstantAction. In the case of Marble Blast Online, this translates to:

• 10 new multiplayer maps
• Many brand new marbles and also the ones from Marble Blast Ultra
• Or if you want it all, the Bundle Pack

Aside from Marble Blast Online, in other games you can purchase various premium in-game items as well as new levels and such. You also get special site privileges, allowing you to invite a friend who does not own the premium content that you do.

If you’ve already spent your 500 free ActionTokens and you are in need of some more, then fear not – you can get some more. In InstantAction, simply go to ‘Profile’ then click the ‘Buy’ button next to your ActionToken count. You can buy 600 ActionTokens for $4.99, 1800 ActionTokens for $14.99 and 3000 ActionTokens for $24.99.

So what are you waiting for? Go get yourself some new marbles!

In this video you will see the most common and most basic tricks that are useful in a game. The rest (which I did not show) require practice and learning and are mainly for show. But if you’re a pro playing against n00bs, using the tricks for show would be best because people look up to you. I hope when you have watched this video, you will learn and use these tricks and also discover your own. In the video, you will see how I perform my tricks, the way I bounce off walls, the way I edge pop and the way I use every single object to my advantage. I only show around 70 or so tricks but there are well over 100 individual ones you can perform. So, by watching this you should be able to learn some of my tricks and maybe even discover your own tricks to use in multiplayer games.

This beautiful map was created by Alex Swanson from GarageGames - dude, like remind me to get his autograph later.

Any requests for more screenshots or videos are also welcomed.

Oh, I’ve also added the default Marble Blast Ultra techno trance, gotta love Timothy Steven Clarke’s music.