With Microsoft already putting them on their Xbox Live Arcade game page, I am sure we will see them in the Marketplace soon, if not today.

What will you see when you go there?

• Astropop: Match four bricks, use combos and powerups to score big points! Two different gameplay modes, coupled with 33 challenging bonus rounds, offers hours of extraordinary replay value for players of all ages.
• Marble Blast Ultra: …navigate your marbles through moving platforms and dangerous hazards, or go head-to-head in ultra blast multiplayer mode, racing to collect gems to see who ultimately wins all the marbles.
• Crystal Quest: The 1987 classic is back. This updated and enhanced version allows you to pilot your ship through 60 waves, collect crystals, and evade baddies.
• Feeding Frenzy: Eat anything that’s smaller than you and swim clear of everything else. The more you eat, the bigger you get, and the bigger you get, the closer you come to taking on the fearsome Shark King.

Over at TeamXbox they have a wealth of new information on the characters of TimeShift, a highly anticipated game for the Xbox 360.

In it they go over some major characters, giving information on the story, and on the personality of some of the people you will no doubt meet and deal with in the game.

One of them I will feature here is Colonel Michael Swift

Colonel Michael Swift (recently retired) has a unique combination of brains and brawn that have helped him to rapidly rise to the top ranks of the Air Force. An all-state running back in high school, Swift passed up on athletic scholarships from some of the country’s best universities to join the Air Force Academy where he majored in military strategic studies. After graduating from the Academy at age 21, Swift spent ten years as a combat and recon pilot, flying thousands of sorties. In the year 2004 during a secret mission he was shot down over hostile territory. He spent three months navigating the treacherous terrain of the enemy’s land, avoiding capture and battling the elements before successfully reaching the border of an ally. His resurfacing became the stuff of legend and the Air Force soon promoted him to the rank Colonel.

He soon became a specialist in the research and development of advanced weaponry for future combat. Upon the death of his wife he retired from active duty and became a full-time father.

IGN has created a list of the highest selling Xbox Live Arcade games, and the more I look at the list, the more I personally disagree with it, but who am I to say that everyone else is wrong?

Here is IGN’s list:
1. Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved
2. Gauntlet
3. Smash TV
4. Bejeweled II
5. Zuma
6. Bankshot Billiards
7. Outpost Kaloki
8. Mutant Storm Reloaded
9. Joust
10. Wik: Fable of Souls

Here would be my list:
1. Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved
2. Outpost Kaloki
3. Smash TV
4. Bejeweled II
5. Bankshot Billiards
6. Zuma
7. Wik: Fable of Souls
8. Gauntlet
9. Joust
10. Mutant Storm Reloaded

Not too many changes, but some major ones. I don’t get why Gauntlet is so high up on the IGN list, nor why such an original feeling game as Wik: Fable of Souls is at the bottom, and so as much as popular demand says otherwise, I think my list is a better one for those looking for the most fun games to the least fun games, despite what might be the top selling or not. One think I don’t like about Bankshot Billiards that the folks at Xbox 360 Fanboy will agree with me on, is the price premium on a pool game with it costing an amazing $15 USD to purchase. But no doubt some companies would like to charge even more for their products.

It makes me wonder though where it would be in the top sellers list if it was only $5, and where Geometry Wars would have come in, if the title was double or triple its current price.

Eurogamer sits down with the folks at Climax to talk about their new MotoGP title coming soon for the Xbox 360.

One of the best parts of the interview is the specs on how they are pushing the Xbox 360:

Climax: We started off on one processor and then we’ve spread out as we’ve gone along. By the time our game comes out, we’ll be using all of the processor threads at least some of the time. There will still be a lot more untapped power to be had though. We’re gunning for 4x anti-aliasing with 20 bikes at 60 frames per second so we’re having to push quite hard.

I am not one for motorcycle racing games, as I feel they are not as dynamic as the car racing games, but if the screens are any indication of actual gameplay, then it should be a very realistic game, and hopefully that will translate into a fun experience.

For all of you Medal of Honor fans, rejoice, as the Xbox 360 will be getting the next in the series, Medal of Honor: Airborne. EA has recently announced the game saying that it will bring in a brand new element to the game, the airborne experience.

Airborne will be breaking out as the first next-gen installment of the series on the Xbox 360 and PS3 (don’t forget PS2, Xbox and PC) during Winter ’06.

Step into the boots of Boyd Travers, Private First Class of the 82nd Airborne Division and engage in battles throughout Europe. From rocky beginnings in Sicily to war-winning triumphs in Germany, each mission begins behind enemy lines, with an intense and fully interactive airdrop. Your ability to determine your own starting point dramatically changes the way each mission plays out. View the entire operation from the air, and then control your parachute to choose your landing spot. On the ground, gather your senses and assess the terrain. A wide variety of authentic, customizable weapons are at your disposal, each with distinct characteristics. Choose your path in this free roaming FPS environment. Medal of Honor Airborne will also feature exceptionally photo-realistic characters, adding to the intensity of the cinematic, story-driven game.

“Medal of Honor Airborne is a step in a new direction for the franchise. While integrating our state-of-the-art, next-gen technology into every aspect of the game, we are introducing innovations that will redefine the series and impact the genre as a whole,” explained Patrick Gilmore, VP and Executive Producer at EALA. “By fully controlling the airdrop from your very first step through landing, Medal of Honor Airborne adds a new dimension of player choice by letting you decide where every mission begins and how it plays out.”

Hattip: Xbox 360 Fanboy

Joystiq has a little article up talking about what they would like to see in a Geometry Wars sequel.

Some of the features they would love to see added include:

• Spectator mode!
• Multiplayer!
• More guns!
• Stats!

In my opinion the biggest one there would be multiplayer. It would be great to hook up with a friend and team up to take on all the bad guys. It would change the way the game is played, and add a totally different dynamic to the game. You could even introduce it as more of a two player competative by hindering the weaker player until they finally are overrun by enemies. So the better player gets all the normal abilities, and as one player does worse, they become slower and maybe have to wait to shoot, or something. You could do the reverse and make the game harder for the top player, who would then have to rely on the lesser player more and more until their scores balanced out, and maybe shifted the other way.

There are so many great things they could do with Geometry Wars, and I hope they really work on a sequel soon.

I have been craving some Star Trek for a while now, and it looks like there might be a game for the Xbox 360 called Star Trek: Legacy: A New Frontier.

Speaking to Game Informer magazine, Mad Doc CEO Ian Lane Davis said: “We’ve always wanted to do a Star Trek game that captures the core Star Trek fantasy.

“When you look at the history of Star Trek games, there have been some good games, but we felt we haven’t had the chance to make the game the Star Trek fans want until now.”

The game will focus on ship versus ship combat, and you’ll start off in charge of the Enterprise NX-01. As the game progresses you’ll get more ships to command, eventually controlling up to four units (a unit is comprised of one capital ship and two smaller crafts).

Each time you win a battle, you’ll be rewarded with “Command Points” which you can use to buy new ships or upgrades, including stronger shields and photon torpedoes.

“When a ship dies, that’s a big thing in Star Trek. It only happens a few times in the whole 700-plus hours of the whole Star Trek cannon where you see the Enterprise get destroyed. It’s a big thing and it should mean something.”

The game will take place over the time periods of three of the more popular shows, including Enterprise, The Original Series, and The Next Generation. You can expect to face off against the Klingons, Borg and Romulans. It should be great fun ,except for dealing with the NX-01.

Source: Eurogamer

The group manager in charge of Live, Greg Canessa has said that the trial of Geometry Wars has been downloaded over 200K times and sold nearly 45K copies adding, “Geometry Wars has been our Halo.”

Geometry Wars’ developer, Stephen Cakebread of Bizarre Creations, originally planned on having mazes and multiplayer functionaltiy in the sequel to the original Geometry Wars, which appeared in Project Gotham Racing 2. (Tip from Cakebread: the game stops getting harder around 5 million points, the only challenge then is staying alive as long as possible!) MTV says, “Developers interviewed for this story estimated that the cost to create a Live Arcade game could run between $10,000 to $100,000.” Let’s take the extreme example and say Microsoft takes 50% of the sale from the game and that Geometry Wars cost $100,000, Bizarre has still made a 12.5% profit in under two months!

Source: Xbox360Fanboy

That’s right folks, you might have read about it a little before in the interview with Louis Castle, but here are the details on The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II for the Xbox 360.

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Jan. 13, 2006–Electronic Arts (Nasdaq:ERTS) today announced that the highly anticipated PC game, The Lord of the Rings(TM), The Battle for Middle-earth(TM) II will make its exclusive console debut when it ships in Summer 2006 on the Xbox 360(TM). Players can now command epic Middle-earth battles presented in spectacular high-definition from the comfort of their very own couch. To add to the intensity of the experience, The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth II for the Xbox 360 is the first game in The Lord of the Rings(TM) series that will be playable over Xbox LIVE(TM)(1). Players will be able to challenge friends online and engage in intense, action-packed real-time battles.

“Living these cinematic battles in high-definition with stunning surround sound, all from the comfort of your living room couch on the Xbox 360, is an extraordinary experience,” said Louis Castle, VP of Creative Development at EALA. “Adding the ability to battle it out with friends via Xbox LIVE is also really exciting.”
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