The Xbox 360 version of Xbox Live Arcade breaks the century mark this week with a licensed family oriented game and a new IP from Frozen Codebase and THQ. The games are Shrek-N-Roll and Screwjumper! respectively.

Are you more excited for puzzly family fare or base jumping while blowing stuff up?

Both games come in at 800MSP and will be available everywhere (except Korea and Japan) this Wednesday.

[via Gamerscoreblog]

Apparently Street Fighter 4 wasn't the only thing at Capcom's Gamers Day in London. They also quietly announced the development of Commando 3 for (you guessed it) XBLA and PSN.

Backbone Entertainment's Emeryville studio (jeez, Backbone, give some other devs a chance) is on development duty. Apparently the game will be based on the 80s quarter-guzzler. But this time we'll have 3-player online co-op so you don't have to smell your gaming partner. Thank you broadband!

And there was much rejoicing. Yay...

[via Eurogamer, thanks Dirty Whirlwind]

[Update]: A video added for your viewing pleasure. It does look very Assault Heroes and twin-stick contol seems like the only likely control method they implemented. (thanks, prym3)

 

Everyone is shocked. Rumor proved true. Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords, everyone's favorite match-three roleplaying game mashup (okay, only match-three RPG mashup), will be arriving in just two short days.

And what's tagging along beside it in the trip from vaporware to gaming reality is the little promotional car game that could: Yaris. Oh, and it's free. Yaris just went from your "whatever" list to your "download now" list, didn't it?

Oh, and Puzzle Quest is indeed 1200MSP. Let the debate begin!

Full details after the break.

Screens on Gamerscoreblog's Flickr for: Puzzle Quest or Yaris

[Update 2]: Apparently Yaris is only free/available in the U.S./Canada North America. Mexico may commence rejoicing.

John Porcaro of Gamerscoreblog says:

The Yaris game isn't available worldwide because the game's portrayal and model options of the Yaris aren't available in all global markets, and the specific brand positioning of the Yaris is unique to the U.S. and Canada.

[via Gamerscoreblog]

Foundation 9 Entertainment has just announced that they have now released 20 games for XBLA. Not sure how they arrived at that number as I count 23, as of today. Could this bit of PR be in response to PopCap's fightin' words about being the "#1 XBLA Developer"?

Perhaps you do not recognize the name Foundation 9. Most likely that derives from the fact that the company consists of "11 proprietary development studios around the world". However you probably know of Digital Eclipse (their downloadable game brand) or Backbone Entertainment (one of their development studios). Both are integral in the XBLA strategy of Foundation 9.

Whether they have 20 games or 23 games on XBLA in immaterial. Either number brings Foundation 9's contribution to around 25% of all XBLA games. They are a driving force in the retro gaming space and have now begun branching out into new games with Bomberman Live. No doubt their support and successes will continue as XBLA grows.

The full breakdown of their XBLA portfolio after the break.

Our trusty tipster JDUDE11 has been holding out on us. Seems SPFIITHDR isn't the only unreleased game with its very own Xbox.com page. In fact, there are at least five others. If your appetite for XBLA teasers (and delays) has yet to be satisfied, feast your eyes on these.

Fatal Fury, War World, Tron, GEON, and Undertow

Of course, I should have realized that there were easier ways to find these pages than trying to type in every game title as an URL. All I needed was to go here and scroll. Stupid me.

Foundation 9, the developer behind the Digital Eclipse brand, has announced last week that they will be going through some changes. Backbone Charlottetown (now Other Ocean Interactive) will be spun off into a new developer unattached to Foundation 9. The reason for this is due to Foundation 9's "need to focus on larger studios, both our current ones and potential future additions to the company." There is no information on how this will affect the stream of retro titles to the Arcade other than that press release mentions that Other Ocean continues to work on the Tron games and future downloadable distribution titles.

[Via Develop]

Another rumor smashed by a press release. And by smashed I mean totally confirmed.

Hudson Entertainment confirmed Bomberman will be hitting XBLA sometime this summer, sport a fresh HD coat of paint, and (most importantly) support 8 player online matches. If they know what's good for them they better have offline multiplayer too. Also present, 4 player local multiplayer (phew). You will also have full bomberman customization powers via downloadables. Let's hope they avoid nickle and diming us.

Backbone Entertainment is handling the development and the release should be sometime in June.

Check out the link on Kotaku to the Belgian site X-Power which sports tons of pretty pictures.

Choose your flavor: [via Joystiq] or [via Kotaku]

[Update]: Apparently, the Kotaku story was based on the info from X-Power and was posted a full 5 days ago (dunno how we missed that) but the Joystiq story alludes to an official Press Release which is more "official".

[Update 2]: I guess I should skim a little slower. 4 player local multiplayer is confirmed as well.