Since most of you are busy with holiday preparations and celebrations I'll get right to the point. Omega Five appears to be slated for January 10th. So says Hudson's Japanese site.

However, seeing as the 10th is actually a Thursday, I have my doubts about the precision of this date. But why add a specific date after listing "early 2008" previously? Hmm. Food for thought.

Previous Omega Five coverage here.

[via Hudson Entertainment, thanks FMsaziri]

It's a holiday miracle! Sensible World of Soccer (previously announced for August) will finally arrive on XBLA this Wednesday, December 19th. We told you it would, but confirmation was necessary on this one after previous hopes were dashed. Is your enthusiasm dampened by the news that this classic will cost you 800MSP?

Also on tap this week is Tempest. This version of the Atari arcade classic will be the first "true" arcade port of the game (exciting those full of nostalgic quarter sucking memories) along with the typical "enhanced" mode. Retro standard pricing here with Tempest costing 400MSP.

Neither game will be available in Korea and Tempest has bowed out of a Japanese showing, but otherwise it's a worldwide celebration. Who's buying?

Press release where it belongs (aka after the break).

[via Gamerscoreblog]

We knew Arkadian Warriors was heading our way this week, but a surprise sprung on us when it was accouned that Gripshift will also be hitting XBLA on Wednesday. Both titles will be released for 800 MS Points. More information on both titles can be found on our site or in the Gamerscore Blog press release.

The real question for this week is are you poor from all of the great releasees lately or do you still have enough cash to play these? I personally think time is my limiting factor as I still haven't beaten the sub-1 hour single-player game of Battlestar Galactica yet! Will you be picking up either of these titles?

The holiday release schedule has begun to solidify. We already knew that Sensible World of Soccer was coming on December 19th. Now comes word that Sierra Online's dungeon crawler Arkadian Warriors will be out next week on December 12th.

Check out the official site here and see the "ship date" for yourself. (Sidenote: can you call it a ship date if nothing is physically being shipped?) If this turns out anything remotely similar to Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II (which I played obsessively) then I'll be logging plenty of time in this game.

Two titles down, now how about the rest of 'em? Hopefully there are still some surprises along the way too.

[via Official Sierra Site, thanks Resnik]

This week on XBLA: The Xbox Live Arcade Hits program! Okay, so maybe that's not the biggest news for everyone (since most of you have already snagged those games). But the promise of cheaper games on XBLA over time is certainly a good thing. Mini-woo!

Since the dash update and the rollout of the Hits program seem to be taking center stage this week, Microsoft has been kind enough to tease us with their slated December and January Lineup. The XBLA iceflow will bring us:

Arkadian Warriors, Brain Challenge (ooh, a mystery title), Gripshift, N+, Omega Five, Poker Smash, Rez HD, and (say it with me now, finally!) Sensible World of Soccer.

Now let's just hope we actually get all these games in the next two months, as promised. And now that we're finally getting Sensi (December 19th) where's poor lost War World?

[via X3F, thanks to everyone that sent this in!]

Did you ever think you would live to see this day? According to Codemasters, Sensible World of Soccer has been slated for a December 19th release date on Xbox Live Arcade. If you recall the title was supposed to launch August 19th but was scrapped to rewrite the online code. Prior to that release date even it was a Q1 2007 title. Everyone cross your fingers that this is in fact the final release date for this title. If you have not checked it out yet, the achievements were revealed a few months ago. [Via The Xbox Domain]

I may not read Japanese, but I know what 2008 means. It means Omega Five has been quietly delayed. Hudson's Japanese site now lists the game for "early" 2008. But with December fast approaching, it may be only 5 or 6 weeks away.

But any delay is painful, and so I end my post here. Services will be held for the old November release date (as told by IGN) in the comments section.

[via Hudson.co.jp (translated version here), thanks FMsaziri]

Undertow will arrive this Wednesday. This, we already knew. What we didn't know was the price: 800MSP. Personally, that makes me pretty excited. Seeing the 1200MSP price tag of the other Unreal Engine 3-powered XBLA game (remember Roboblitz?) made many hesitate to purchase it (myself included).

The rest of the news this week: the release of a Halo 3 map pack (blah, blah) and a 1/2 off sale of MSN Games for Thanksgiving (US only, sorry). Actually, that second bit might just interest all of you. If you're tired of waiting for the XBLA announcement of Bookworm Adventures, perhaps you should pop over to MSN Games this Wednesday to snag some casual PC games with a decidedly XBLA-style price tag.

[via Gamerscoreblog]

Four new ratings for XBLA games have appeared on the ESRB website. Three of those games are Aces of the Galaxy, Boogie Bunnies, and Lost Cities -- all being published by Sierra Online.

Lost Cities had yet to be announced (that I know of) but it is based on the card game of the same name. It's a 2-player game of archeological competition but there is a 4-player variant. I wonder if they'll include solid AI for some solitaire-style action?

Boggie Bunnies is slated for this year, but Aces is apparently still a ways off.

The fourth game listed is Cosmic Osmo's Hex Isle from Cyan Worlds Inc. We haven't nailed down if this is coming to XBLA yet, but we'll let you know if we do. It's a 3D sequel based on the Cosmic Osmo character who starred in a game in 1989. The PC version of this game is slated for next week.

The usual list of ESRB lurkers has thinned out a bit. The full list after the short hop.

[via the ESRB]

Our crack team of investigators has turned up yet another XBLA title. This time our adventure will be guided by Bullwinkle J. Moose and Rocky The Flying Squirrel. Yes, The Bullwinkle Show is coming to XBLA.

The best part: we won't have to wait very much longer for its arrival. The Official Site proclaims the game is "Coming To Your Xbox 360 This Holiday Season".

Of course, other than that there is very little information available about the game. Heck, when we started our investigation we didn't even know if this was destined for XBLA. But with a little elbow grease we we able to nail down just what the game would encompass.

Find out exactly what this game is all about, after the break.