Jonesing to play Lode Runner, Castle Crashers, Galaga Legions, Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2, or Braid? Have I got some great news for you. The wait will soon be over.

One of Microsoft's many XBLA evangelists was live on E3 Live on Gamespot (thanks to being on the road with glitchy internet, I missed his name) talking up the "best content lineup" on XBLA ever and told the world that all these games would be out "by the end of the summer." And more specifically he said, "in the next two months."

If all goes as planned I'll likely be at least 4000 MSP poorer in two months time (though no price points have been announced).

After the break I'll hit on a couple of points that were covered about each of those games.

Great news for Braid fans everywhere! Further signs of a Braid release sometime in the coming months as Braid has now made it onto PartnerNet. Don't get too excited as some games are on their months... YEARS... before their releases (Ikaruga).

The Australian ratings group, OFLC, has updated their site with a few new Xbox Live Arcade entires. The interesting deal is that with this update they confirmed everyone suspicions that Geometry Wars Retro Evolved 2 will be coming soon to Xbox Live Arcade. The last time we brought up the rumor for this game was for the 100th game release, but it looks like we were off by a few months. No fears as it will be coming soon now!

Braid, Go Go Break Steady and Vigilante 8 arcade have also been placed on the OFLC.

[Via Xblah]

One of the few non-Japanese games announced at the Microsoft pre-Tokyo Game Show press conference was Braid. Now, we had a strong inkling that this game was coming but now it is official. And thanks to a visit from one Ghost Hands (aka Jonathan Blow, Braid's designer/programmer) we can now share as much as we know to this point.

A screenshot and links galore after the break.

Okay, so we all know now how wrong I was about the Brutally Fun site. However, it was not a total loss. Alongside the announcement of Ninja Gaiden 2 was a bevy of Japanese themed XBLA games that are coming.

And guess what is among them? Ikaruga. It even says "available soon."

As awesome as it is to hear Ikaruga's solidly confirmed (not that we didn't expect it), I must say the surprise story for me is the announcement of Rez coming to XBLA. Then again, maybe it shouldn't surprise me after all.

The full list of mentioned XBLA games is as follows: Every Extend Extra Extreme (Q Entertainment), EXIT (Taito), Ikaruga (Treasure Co. Ltd.), OMEGA FIVE (Hudson Entertainment), Rez (Q Entertainment), Triggerheart Exelica (Warashi), Braid (Number None Inc.), Castlecrashers (The Behemoth), and Schizoid (Torpex Games LLC).

I'm too tired to say anything else of value, so just read the details after the break and let all this all sink in.

News Flash from xbox.com after the break.

[via xbox.com]

Indie darling Braid is a game that even before the majority of the public had seen the game had a huge fan following and received critical acclaim. It's good to hear that Joystiq makes note in their E3 preview of the game that Jonathon Blow, who is the creator of Braid, is in talks with Microsoft to put the game on Xbox Live Arcade. Sadly it is mentioned that no deal has been signed, but here's to hoping.

For more information about the game head to the official Braid site or Joystiq's preview. Joystiq also currently has up a screenshot gallery.