Announcements

Sad that this Wednesday lacks the current trend of two-fers? Getting another retro title this week left you cold? Don't despair. Prepare for things to "heat up" very soon. The games coming out soon are "sizzling". Or so Microsoft would have you think.

The good news:

• Ecco the Dolphin, Hexic 2, and War World all coming out this month.
• GEON: Emotions, Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords, Space Giraffe, Streets of Rage 2, and Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix all arriving "in the coming weeks".

The bad news:

• With three Wednesday's left in August and three games listed, kiss your two-fers goodbye.
• No word on Sensible World of Soccer, Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe, Street Trace:NYC, and many other games starting with the letter "S".
• A personal note: Where is my Mutant Storm Empire?!?

Feel free to add your own angry, sad, or psychotic, "where is _____?!?!?!" comments below.

Full "Media Alert" (cough*press release*cough) after that clicking thing you do below.

[via Gamerscoreblog]

Do you like futuristic racing titles like Wipeout? Did you share the disappointment with the Fatal Inertia demo? Well, I might just have a game for you.

Lexicon Entertainment has just announced Voltage, a (you got it) futuristic racing game. Of course, they also tout "real-time strategy elements" but how they work within the game is still a mystery. What isn't a mystery is how the game will look as TeamXbox has over forty screens at which to gawk in awe.

From my perspective, if this game is any good and comes out within the usual XBLA price range (i.e. $5-15) then Fatal Inertia is gonna have a tough sell on their hands.

[via TeamXbox, thanks JDUDE11]

[Update]: As noted by McLean78 the destined platform for this game may *not* be XBLA. I can't track down any corroborating evidence beyond TeamXbox's classification and I may have jumped too early. I'll let you know if I can uncover anything else.

File this one under: I couldn't make this up if I tried (nor would I want to).

Game Shastra (apparently India's largest game services provider, whatever that means) has signed a deal with Freeze Tag (a Californian casual games pub and dev) to make an Etch A Sketch game. It will start with PC, Mac, and web versions and possibly make its way to XBLA.

Huh?

They've totally lost me at this point, so I'll just refer you to the press release while I quietly shake my head.

Full Press Release after the break. Now with added emphasis for easy skimming!

[via Destructoid]

PlayFirst, Inc., publishers of the popular Diner Dash series and critically adored Oasis, are teaming up with Hudson Entertainment to bring their stable of games to consoles in 2008. PlayFirst has been very successful creating platform agnostic casual games (read: PC, Online, and they even appreciate Macs) and this new venture will likely be just as successful. No specific games or platforms have been announced but something appearing on XBLA seems like a safe bet.

To get a good look at all the games that fall under the PlayFirst banner, check out their site. Diner Dash and Oasis appear to be merely the tip of the iceberg. And besides those games already released, you can only imagine what will come out of the imaginations of all their development partners.

With Hudson's copious amounts console development experience and the profusion of games from PlayFirst, this match is made in gamer heaven. Look at the quality of Bomberman Live! as an indictation to what we can expect and you cannot help but giggle like a schoolgirl. But only on the inside. Because you're totally hardcore. I mean...dude!

[via GamingTalkHQ, thanks Measure]

We knew about Wing Commander: Arena (thanks to EA) and we knew about Super Contra (thanks to some PartnerNet Speculation) but we certainly did not expect them to arrive together. But unless those pesky press releases are merely yanking our chain, we can now safely assume that this Wednesday will be filled with a lot of shooting. Some at felines, some at aliens but shooting all the same.

Press Release after the jump.

Skipping directly over that whole Microsoft press release step in the journey to XBLA, representatives from Electronic Arts have confirmed with xbox360fanboy that their baby, Wing Commander: Arena is set to launch this week. Then again, thanks to Skeptical gaming, we already knew that (and we shouldn't have doubted you. We've learned our lesson.).

Gaia Industries (also responsible for the puzzlingly absent Street Trace:NYC) have crafted the largest online multiplayer experience currently available on XBLA. With up to 16 players, it's bound to get a little crazy.

With Bomberman Live! this past week and WC:A coming this week, there seems to be a glut of XBLA multiplayer action. Anyone complaining?

[via x360f]

Alex Seropian, formerly of Bungie and currently of Wideload, has a crack team of coding hippopotami (always wanted to use that word in a post) focused on bringing a digital nugget of gaming pleasure to XBLA.

He spoke with Brandon Sheffield of Gamasutra earlier this week and admitted (under duress, mind you) that Wideload "[has a game right now that is destined for Live Arcade."

This announcement comes at an interesting moment considering the recent announcement of Marathon: Durandal. The original Marathon was co-designed by Seropian, who also helped give birth to the Myth series as well as that little game called Halo: Combat Evolved. But Seropian is not one to linger on the past as he left Bungie in 2003 to found Wideload and develop Stubbs The Zombie.

Hopefully, that irreverent sense of humor over at Wideload appears in their XBLA game (humor is majorly underused/absent in games). But, the real question on my mind is this: how could this game possibly live up to the sheer brilliance of the tease on Wideload's home page:

COMING SOON! Project: Hot Sauce And The Rainbow Space Car

[via Gamasutra]