It looks like the official "rumors" are wrong and Major Nelson has announced that Buku Sudoku (800 MS Points) and Warlords (400 MS Points) will be this week's arcade titles. For more information, feel free to read the entire media alert or our previous coverage of these titles. The sudoku title looks nice. I'll have to demo Warlords as it is a retro remake, which usually means shovelware. What will you be picking up this Wednesday?

Thanks Paya!

360Sync.com has confirmed the rumor with Sega that Happy Tree Friends: False Alarm will be release on April 21st. It's obvious here that they mean the week of April 21st as that is a Monday. In addition, they have gotten word from Zen Studios that Rocky and Bullwinkle will be available on April 16th for 800 MS Points. If you would like to see complaining about [Insert Game Name] not being released on those two weeks head to our comments section!

The collectible card game (CCG) Magic the Gathering is coming to Xbox Live Arcade soon. It's unknown what form this game will take; however, the press release (below) makes note that it will expand the strategy section of the Arcade. A CCG would be hard to make into a video game; however, it has been done well before with previous titles in the IP have done well with Metacritics in the 70s.

WIZARDS OF THE COAST EXTENDS ITS MAGIC: THE GATHERING IP TO MULTIPLE PLATFORMS Industry Leading Partnerships Enhance Strategy Fantasy Gaming Options for all Gamers RENTON, Wash.--February 18, 2008 -- Wizards of the Coast (WotC), the leader in strategy hobby collectible trading card, board and role playing games, and a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE: HAS), today announced its plans to extend the Magic: The Gathering® franchise to gamers on Microsoft's Xbox 360 Xbox LIVE® Arcade and the PC through partnerships with Stainless Games, Ltd. and Mind Control Software, Inc. Stainless Games will develop a game using the Magic: The Gathering IP for both Xbox LIVE Arcade and the PC, while Mind Control will develop a game for the PC and Mac. "We're excited to bring the Magic brand to new platforms and give our fans new ways to experience this great property," said Jared Gustafson, Brand Director for Magic: The Gathering at Wizards of the Coast. "It's partnerships like these that will advance the strategy games category and transform it to meet the needs and desires of today's digital gamers." Magic: The Gathering, introduced in 1993, is the premier and original trading card game that inspired an entirely new game genre. Combining the dynamics of a card game with the excitement of trading and collecting, MagicTM offers fun for casual play, as well as the option of highly competitive tournaments. Magic: The Gathering currently has a thriving online edition (Magic Online®) made up of more than 350,000 active accounts.

I have to say I am loving this whole advance warning thing that's been happening.  More power to the devs and publishers who are getting the word out there.  Of course, it does suck the suspense out of Monday.  Then again, I'm pretty bleary on Mondays anyway. 

That being said, the old news is Poker Smash.  Buying Poker Smash will set you back 800MSP.  Any takers?

The "new" news is the fact that Crystal Quest is getting a gameplay update. 

Say what?

Yes, Crystal Quest will now feature a score multiplier to make it more like the Geo Wars, Mutant Storm, and all those other twin-stick shooters on XBLA.  The best part though is the cost: free.  All thoughts of complaining about and questioning this announcement officially left me when I saw "free".  Kudos to Stainless Games for adding value for new and old consumers alike.   Anyone out there convinced that they'll buy this game due to this add-on?  Anyone dusting it off?

Check out our previous coverage of Poker Smash here. 

Fun with press release after the break.

[via Press Release]

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)

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]

It has been a whopping six months since Tempest landed on the ESRB; however, the achievements have finally been unveiled. The achievments will probably be exactly what you thought of when you heard Tempest was coming to XBLA.

And now the moment you have all been waiting for. This weeks XBLA release will be the Asteroids/Asteroids Deluxe combo game set to release for the retro standard of 400 points. I'm personally not much of a fan for the retro remakes on the arcade; however, OXM did give it a decent 7/10. As I'm pretty sure most of you know, Asteroids pits you in an arena style battle to survive by blowing apart every bit and piece of all the asteroids that are currently on the screen. Asteroids Deluxe takes the same formula and adds a bit more fluff by adding shields and more enemies. In addition to these games, the titles will have a new "throttle monkey" mode, which gives the player a "high speed" version of either title. I'm hoping this new game mode will put it more into the realm of one of the best freeware titles ever created, Echoes by Binary Zoo.

Is anyone going to pick this one up or will you be waiting for the demo?

While I may be in the minority of liking most of the stuff Stainless has put up on XBLA to date, this headline was too good to pass up.

Ben Gunstone, a Production Designer at Stainless Games, has put together a 11 step "tutorial" for making XBLA titles. While many of the steps are thinly veiled complaints at either MS or the world in general, it actually makes for an interesting read. Those looking for anything resembling a tutorial however, will need to keep looking.

One of the more interesting things of note in the piece, is that Stainless are planing on putting out a title update for Crystal Quest that will change which levels are available in the demo version of the game.

Sega has announced a new game today that is based on a popular franchise... but it's not a Sega franchise. The online flash and television series Happy Tree Friends is underdevelopment from Stainless Studios. After reading the press release it sounds like a take on recently released Eets.

[Via Neo Gaf]