According to the Gamerscoreblog, Xbox Live Arcade this week won't see any new release (*sad panda face*), instead we'll be treated to 2 new titles being added to the Xbox Live Arcade Hits program, namely Assault Heroes and Doom.

• “Assault Heroes” (Sierra Online). Become the only surviving member of an elite special forces unit searching for a secret underground lab. Play the mission alone or fight side-by-side with a friend in the two-player cooperative mode. The winner of IGN’s Xbox LIVE Arcade game of the year for 2006.
• “DOOM” (id Software). Originally released in 1993, “DOOM” introduced millions to the white-knuckle excitement of the first-person shooter (FPS). Relive the classic demon-blasting action with up to four players over Xbox LIVE*, complete with 5.1 surround sound and smoother graphics.

Both of these titles will be available from now on for 400 Microsoft Points.

Are you picking any of these or would you rather have a new title this week?

It's no surprise to any of us that Assault Heroes 2 is coming. It's no surprise that the game will build on the original with more of everything. It's no surprise that this video looks better than the original title. What do you guys think?

As promised, here is the Q&A our very own LunarDuality did with the makers of the recently released Commanders: Attack of the Genos. Both Terry Coleman [TC], Sr. Producer at Sierra Online, and Daniel Jeppsson [DJ], Lead Programmer on Commanders: Attack of the Genos and Technical Director at SouthEnd Interactive were kind enough to take time out of their busy schedules to answer our questions.

[XBLArcade.com] For many reasons (some more obvious than others) Sierra Online has had a very strong presence on XBLA. What drives Sierra to be a strong leader (especially in new IP) on the platform? And what keeps you coming back with more?

[TC] Our philosophy is that we make the best game we can, and put that game on the platforms best suited for it. We felt that Commanders was not only a natural fit for PC download, but that it would also work on Xbox LIVE Arcade, because there wasn’t anything quite like it on that platform. The advantage of XBLA is that you have the power of an Xbox 360, yet the platform lends itself to doing games which are less hardcore and therefore more accessible.

This in turn allows us to do a wide variety of games, and to take some chances. If you look at our portfolio, we’ve done puzzle games (Boogie Bunnies), space games (Battlestar Galactica), casual sports games (3D Ultra Mini-Golf), turn-based strategy games (Commanders), and even a Role-Playing/Adventure game (Arkadian Warriors). We’ve had a number of games which have sold well and some, like Switchball and Assault Heroes, which have even won awards. So, we’re excited to be a leader on XBLA, and we’ll continue to do games which use the platform to its best advantage.

Check out the rest of the Q&A after the break...

Let me start by thanking everyone who entered, it was certainly our biggest contest yet with 80 people entering.  We've picked the winner's randomly and here they are:

skokefoe
Shadow Kisuragi
Micks
Admiral Kirk
Homeboy
Plurre
chriswoodruff22984
JDUDE11
ephill
acidbitter

If you are on this list and haven't received an email to the address you have set up on the site, please let me know.  As for  the rest of Commanders week, due to some unforeseen circumstances, we've had to delay it.  Expect the Q&A to be out early on Monday with the "tournament" to be shortly after.

Thanks again to everyone who entered the contest.

   The hard working Rlan over at XBLAH.net was at it again and uncovered a couple of interesting entries at the OFLC.  It seems that Sierra Online has been busy little bee's and are going to be releasing not one, but two more releases to everyone's favorite download service.  Gin Rummy should be the classic card game that everyone remembers (and was single handedly responsible for at least one full point off my GPA in high school), while Sea Life Safari is described as a "Pokemon Snap styled game underwater, where you take pictures of fish and other wildlife."

While it's great to see Sierra coming out with a very diverse set of titles, when are we going to see them dip into Activision's catalog?

My magic touch strikes again.  I claim full responsibility for Discs of Tron finally arriving.  I did recently call its absence a "debacle", after all.  Apparently, someone at the top read that and said, "Get that game out, now!"  That's right.  All me.

I'm sure that I'm also totally responsible for Commanders: Attack of the Genos arriving this week but I just can't figure out how yet.  Give me some time.

While I get my brain warmed up let me explain just how we know about our Wednesday haul in advance this week.  With Discs of Tron, Disney was kind enough to go the press release route.  Riveting, I know.  With Commanders, Sierra slipped up by actually putting a (presumably) accurate release date on the game's info page.  And there you have it.

What's your poison: giving your opponents the derezzing treatment with a swift toss or methodically dismantling their armored vehicle division?

Sierra Online's Official Commanders: Attack of the Genos Site has a nice video and some screenshots to whet your turn-based appetites.

(BTW, the game's title did indeed add "of the Genos" back onto the end despite referring to it as just "Commanders: Attack!" for a while there.)

This week's game, Boogie Bunnies, gives you the opportunity to wrangle a neverending stream of cute and cuddly bunnies. Of course, by wrangle I mean match three of them together. Genius, right?

If bunnies aren't your thing (or you live in Korean or Japan), luckily you have much to look forward to in the upcoming XBLA lineup. Rez HD, Poker Smash, Brain Challenge, and Lode Runner are all "coming soon". Lode Runner will arrive "later in 2008".

What are you saving your points for?

Press Release after the break as per usual.

[via Press Release]

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]

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]