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.

Microsoft (via Gamerscoreblog) has declared that Coffeetime Crosswords is a lock for the E3 week release this Wednesday.  Cue the complaining about how this isn't a "worthy" release followed by crossword fans snapping the game up in droves.

But could it be that Coffeetime will be sharing the E3 spotlight?  X360F speculated that Shred Nebula would be starring alongside the puzzler but have since updated their post.  I guess not every E3 mystery will be solved before breakfast.  We'll have plenty of answers in a few hours though.  Stay tuned.

Oh, I almost forgot.  We'll also be getting some Buku Sudoku DLC (It's out now and includes 1200 New Puzzles for free!) and Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords will be hitting the Arcade Hits library with a price drop down to 800 MSP.

PR post break.

[via X360F]

NinjaBee, the developers of such awesome titles as Outpost Kaloki X or Band of Bugs, announced earlier that they're developing a new XBLA title.

While the details are scarce right now, A Kingdom for Keflings will be a city-building sim with "light-hearted gameplay and graphics". The game will feature the titular 3-foot tall Keflings, supposedly, as your helpers building while you build your kingdom.

A Kingdom for Keflings is expected to hit XBLA this Fall.

From: Kotaku and Xbox360Fanboy

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!

It's Memorial Day here in the United States, which means that no one is working (for the most part).  According to the latest Major Nelson podcast, that also means that we will have to wait until tomorrow to hear what this week's Xbox Live Arcade game will be.  Although, remember that last week we reported that Xbox UK stated that Commando 3 will be this weeks (5/28) title.   We'll let you know tomorrow morning if this does turn out to be correct.

Forum goer tancredo sends us a tip of the next two releases for Xbox Live Arcade being Commando 3 on May 28th and Roogoo on June 4th.  It'll be interesting to see if these release dates actually pan out.  The word on Commando 3 comes from the Xbox newsletter; where as, the Roogoo release date comes to us from a preview on IGN Xbox 360.  Keep your fingers crossed.

[Update]: Image of the UK newsletter with visual proof circled in red added.  Thanks Tim.

After releasing a slew of classic Arcade titles, Namco looks like having a new aproach to the XBLA service.

In what can be the best game announcement for XBLA since Rez HD and Ikaruga, Namco revealed that Soul Calibur (!!!!) and a new twin-stick shooter called Infinitum will be coming to XBLA this Summer.

Soul Calibur is a series of weapon based fighters that started on the Dreamcast (actually the series started with Soul Edge on the PS1), being considered one of the best fighters ever made (and the highest rated console fighter ever). July 29th is the expected release date of the new title of the series, Soul Calibur IV, so I think it's safe to say that Soul Calibur XBLA will arrive around that time. The XBLA version will feature HD graphics but unfortunately no online play (maybe no online play is better than awful online play) Btw, Soul Calibur will be XBLA exclusive, maybe because PSN already has Tekken.

The other Namco title, Infinitum is a twin-stick shooter in the vein of Geometry Wars and the upcoming Schizoid, in Infinitum your ship will grow as you kill enemies "revealing even more massive and powerful enemies that were previously too large to see".

This week on XBLA we see the arrival of 2 new games (something that didn't happened in a lot of time), namely Rocky and Bullwinkle and Battlezone.

Rocky and Bullwinkle will be available for 800MSP, while Battlezone will set you back 400 MS.

Both titles will be available this coming Wednesday, April 16th, at 9:00 am GMT.

The Gamerscore Blog brings word that this week's release is the much anticipated classic shmup Ikaruga. Originally released as a Japan-only title for the Dreamcast it was later ported for the GameCube for a worldwide release, and this Wednesday, April 9th, it arrives to the Xbox Live Arcade service.

Officially announced back in September 2007 (rumored existence since February 2007), Ikaruga is known for the nerve-inducing mechanic of your ship having 2 color schemes, which you have to manage in order to deal maximum damage and shield yourself from the enemy fire.

Costing the standard price of 800 Microsoft Points (~10$USD), Ikaruga on XBLA will feature 2-player coop (offline or over Xbox Live), HD graphics, video replays and online leaderboards.

Full press release and some screenshots after the jump:

Press release:

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!