As our small way to helping to make your buying decision this week a little easier, we bring you a cornucopia of screens from Tempest. Some are fancy, some are old-school, but all should give you an idea of what's in store.

At the top we have 3 comparison shots demonstrating the differences between the original and the enhanced graphics. After the break, peek at as many screens as we could lay our hands on. Give everything a look, and let the commenting commence.

Comparison Shots: Enhanced version on the left (if that isn't obvious)

Last week we told you about Asteroid Cowboys the game that received a grant from the Nordic Games Program. Details were scarce at that point but Digital Out has finally released a few more details about the game and even some images. Now, I don't speak Danish (despite my favorite author being Danish) but luckily we've got a reader that does. Cue Lars Soerensen.

Digital Out says:

Når spillet er færdigt, vil op til fire spillere kunne dyste samtidig enten alle-mod-alle eller i hold. Og her kan alle være med, for den realistiske simulering af lassokast og asteroidernes flyvebaner giver et unikt og umiddelbart medrivende gameplay, der passer perfekt til et uhøjtideligt casual-game – små enkle, hurtige og overskuelige spil, der i øjeblikket stormer frem på verdensplan.

Lars roughly translates this as:

When the game is done, you will have 4-player deathmatch and team deathmatch. Realistic simulation of lasso-throw and asteroid trajectory gives unique and exciting gameplay. Perfect for casual gaming.

Realistic lasso throwing and 4-player deathmatch, huh? I can see potential here but there is still little to go on. You've got me intrigued Digital Out, don't blow it.

If you are still not sold, take a peek at these concept images.

[via Digital Out, HUGE thanks to Lars. Who knew Danish to English machine translation was so hard to find.]

Axiom: Overdrive maintains a high level of mystery as of yet. Luckily, Reflexive Entertainment has been kind enough to give us some new screens of the game. Then I realized that I had asked Russell Carroll (Director of Marketing, Reflexive Entertainment, Inc.) some brief questions about the game back in October that I never had the chance to post. Between the screens and the mini-interview we might just be able to piece together what this game is all about.

So, enjoy the screens now and (intentionally cryptic and vague) answers to my questions after the break. Then, let me know what you think about this game's potential in the comments.

Today, you will all likely be downloading a demo to Chair Entertaiment Group's freshly released game Undertow. The game has garnered quite a bit of attention for an XBLA game -- probably stemming from their use of Unreal Engine 3 to create some beautiful bubbles as well as delivering the first ever 16-player XBLA multiplayer experience.

To get a peek at how Undertow was born and what Chair has in store for us (now and in the future) I pounced on an opportunity to interview Donald Mustard, Creative Director for Chair. We discuss the future of Undertow as a game (and possibly more), the upside of the 50MB XBLA limit (yes, some developers like it), and how unbelievably quickly Undertow went from pie in the sky to a fully playable prototype.

Hit the jump for the full interview and to get Donald's top tips to help you get your Undertow experience off on the right foot. (Oh, and click on any of the concept images here for the bigger version.)

A game whose main characters only goal is to blow up the hard work of an evil empire? Mixing free-falling with explosions? The chance of getting the game for free? What's not to love?

With Screwjumper! coming out on Wednesday, our friends at Frozen Codebase have been kind enough to set us up with two free codes for the game. Leave a comment on this post between now and Monday night at 8pm (Eastern Time) to be entered into a random draw for one of the codes.

Before anyone asks, no this does not mean that you get the game before it comes out to the public.

Not only were Frozen Codebase nice enough to send us the codes, but they've also sent the very first screen shots showing off some sweet split-screen action!

A short time ago we broke the story that Reflexive Entertainment (Wik: Fable of Souls)was hard at work on their latest XBLA game. That game, Axiom: Overdrive, now has a fully functioning site (as promised before) and gives us a better look at the game. Go check it out and sign up for the sweepstakes too. Dunno what you might win, but free stuff is always a good thing. Or if you'd prefer to work for what you get, apply for a job (hope you have mining experience).

And in case you didn't believe us when we announced the game, the official announcement of the game's existence is after the break.

[via AxiomOverdrive.com, thanks Russell]

A couple of weeks ago THQ released a press release mentioning their four upcoming titles. Of the four titles we knew about Screwjumper! and heard mention of the upcoming SponeBob game, but Elements of Destruction and Rocket Riot were new announcements. Unfortunately very little other details were given about these titles with the exception of Screwjumper!

Well lucky for us, that changes now.

THQ has been nice enough to send us some info and screenshots about the three new titles:

Elements of Destruction:

Developed By: Frozen Codebase

You are a force of nature. Move and manipulate Mother Nature to your design. The world is yours to control and destroy using forces of nature of your choosing. Each scenario offers unique locations, challenges and goals that cause the player to use the forces of nature in different ways.

Features:

•Start with lightening, tornadoes, and earthquakes and increase your power until you have mastered all of Mother Nature’s forces.

•Blow buildings apart, start raging fires and damaging lightning as you cause mayhem in towns, cities, and the countryside!

•Multiplayer modes include Cooperative, Competitive Destruction in both Online and Split-screen.

SpongeBob SquarePants Underpants Slam!

Developed By: Blitz Games

Yet another discovery I made while browsing the IGF entries was the identity of Reflexive Entertainment's next XBLA game. Reflexive was responsible for the game Ricochet Lost Worlds on the original Xbox version of XBLA and also for Wik: Fable of Souls (a personal favorite). As a result of their high standing in my esteem, I was intrigued when I saw their name amongst the IGF entries. And thus, I set out to do some internet Matlocking, and I struck gold.

Long story short: Axiom: Overdrive will be Reflexive Entertainment's next XBLA title, and it's coming in "Winter 2007". Want to know how I cracked the code? Want to know more about Axiom: Overdrive? Hit the Jump.

[via IGF and Reflexive Entertainment Inc.]

The guys from Frozen Codebase, the developers of the upcoming XBLA title Screwjumper!, were kind enough to not only answer some of our questions, but also send us the exclusive first screen shots of the game (click for full size!). While they wouldn't talk about any plans for DLC in the future, they describe the game in detail, and have certainly peeked my interest in what looks to be a fast paced, hectic, joyride.

XBLArcade.com:

Tell me a bit about yourself, and what you do at Frozen Codebase.

Norb:

I appear to be Norb Rozek, d/b/a Rev. Norb. I was the lead designer on Screwjumper!, and my current title is "design director," which more or less means I run around doing whatever design chore falls in my lap that day while simultaneously trying to convince people half my age that they should pay attention to my input ((try it sometime, it's great)). I write documents, adjust other people's documents, place stuff, design stuff, request stuff, demand stuff, stamp my feet and throw fits, and spend a lot of time trying to define what the problem is and how to fix it. I find myself eating animal crackers for lunch a lot.

Ben:

My name is Ben Geisler and I’m the managing partner of Frozen Codebase. Currently I’m fulfilling the role of Producer, although I served as both a Game Programmer and Technical Director on Screwjumper. As a producer, it basically means that I am the glue – or, as our developers call me, “Big Ben.” We use agile development at Frozen Codebase, so I run the scrum meetings, set priorities for our current bugs, and generally make sure everything is getting done. Finally, I am the interface to our publisher (THQ) and to Microsoft. But more importantly, last weekend “I closed Wolski’s” (in Milwaukee, WI), and I’m quite proud of it.

XBLArcade.com:

Frozen Codebase has a few former Garage Games people on the team. How has their presence and experience with Torque and with XBLA helped (or hindered) the project's progress?

Ben:

This has been a great help to Frozen Codebase. On Screwjumper!, we were fortunate enough to have artist/designer Justin Kovac, programmer James Lupiani and designer Adam DeGrandis. All three of these developers had previously shipped Marble Blast Ultra. My own experience comes from “Triple-A” development houses like Radical Entertainment and Raven Software. As such, I was used to console development, but not the specifics of XBox Live Arcade functionality or the heavy restrictions on memory imposed by the platform.

Click the "Read More" link to see the whole Q&A (and another screenshot).

Continuing the flow of media out of Microsoft's pre-Tokyo Game Show announcements comes these screens for Omega Five.

Omega Five, if you will remember, is the side-scrolling 2D shooter with 3D elements from Hudson Entertainment (Bomberman Live!) and Natsume (Harvest Moon series). The game looks to be shaping up nicely. Let's hope the control issues have been ironed out.

After taking a peek below tell me: anyone more interested now? Less?

[Update]: 1UP's preview of the game indicates the single-stick controls have been ditched for the now typical dual-stick controls. But then they have other issues with the game. Thanks, lastof7.

Here's an old screen:

And here are the new ones (notice the few visual changes since last we saw the game):