Last week the Housemarque website finally updated with the fact that Golf: Tee It Up exists, as well as their downloadable PSP title Super Stardust Portable.

On the site they've also added a tidbit about their downloadable content - New downloadable content is coming in September 2008. Hopefully this is the Desert Course mentioned in press releases early on, and not just the downloadable clothing packs.

Housemarque have been very good at keeping their PSN title Super Stardust HD consistently updated with new content. Golf TIU should be getting the same treatment.

Source: Housemarque - Golf: Tee It Up Page.

[Every week, GamerBytes.com editor Ryan Langley. will be summing up the top 10 news tidbits from the past 7 days, including brand new game announcements and scoops through the world of Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network and WiiWare.]

Xbox Live Arcade

"Quake Arena" For XBLA Canned - "Sad news folks - id games have confirmed to Eurogamer that 'Quake Arena' for the Xbox Live Arcade has been canned in favor of the upcoming Quake Live project for PC."

"R-Type Dimensions" Coming to Xbox Live Arcade! - "The Australian classification website has just updated with a whopper of a scoop - 'R-Type Dimensions' is coming to the Xbox Live Arcade!"

New Screenshots for "A Kingdom of Keflings" - "Despite showing it off all over the place last week - 'A Kingdom for Keflings' has been officially 'announced' for Xbox Live Aracde via press release by NinjaBee."

Team Xbox Preview "Shred Nebula" - CrunchTime Games have been working on their Xbox Live Arcade title Shred Nebula for quite some time now. It's officially completed and now just waiting for release - which will be on September 3rd!

"Smarter Than a 5th Grader" Announced for Xbox Live Arcade - "THQ have officially announced Are Your Smarter Than a 5th Grader for the Xbox Live Arcade, which popped up on the ESRB website as a rating a week or so ago."

"Braid" is out, along with "Ticket To Ride" and "Marathon" DLC - "The highly awaited Xbox Live Arcade title Braid is now available for 1200 Microsoft Points."

PlayStation Network

New Preview of "Wipeout HD" - "The past few weeks have been quite difficult for Wipeout HD. The game has been delayed a tad because it failed some necessary seizure tests. Now PS3 Fanboy have gotten their grubby hands on a near final build."

"SOCOM: Confrontation" Priced, Dated - "While SOCOM Confrontation got its release date a week or two ago, the prices were still up in the air.

But now Kotaku has now been able to confirm that the PSN download version of the game will cost $39.99US."

Guest Analysis: A Curmudgeon's Review Of "Qore - Episode 03" "Matt Matthews of Curmudgeon Gamer wishes to inform those without Sony's new Qore initiative to just what exactly 'Qore' is. With each episode, he will kindly educate the GamerBytes masses."

WiiWare

New "Alien Crush Returns" Webpage Opens, New Details Emerge - "Hudson have opened the website for their upcoming WiiWare pinball title Alien Crush Returns - apparently it's scheduled for August!

The game will contain a story mode as well as an arcade mode - Story mode has 6 different tables, while Arcade mode specifically uses 3. The additional 3 in Story are probably boss tables."

Psyonix Studios today announced Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars, an arena-based online vehicle sports game for PlayStation Network.

Psyonix have actually got quite a history - they've been contractors for some of the last few games by Epic Games - including Gears of War and UT 2004 and Unreal Tournament III.

The game features vehicles with incredible physics-based maneuverability, including boosters for launching high into the air or accelerating at break-neck speed on the ground. In the air, cars can roll, flip, jump, dodge or spin. In this team-based soccer-inspired game, the vehicles maneuver to perform breathtaking saves, awe-inspiring shots on goal, and gruesome demolishes of opponent cars. These abilities, combined with the players' own creativity, create a unique and thrilling experience every time.

Wide-ranging community involvement is supported through team and league play, as well as extensive statistical tracking, rankings, and rewards for individuals and teams. The game features mini-games and single player matches as well as team and league matches and scrimmage matches online. Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars will also feature PlayStation 3 trophies and players will be able to upload videos of their most exciting games to YouTube.

"It takes a pretty special game to carry such a lengthy title and be able to hold its head high amongst games with much shorter names," commented Dave Hagewood, Director of Development at Psyonix Studios. "Thankfully, we don't have to worry about fitting this title on a package."

It will be interesting to see how this plays out - it looks like a better Novadrome. While there are plenty of driving games coming out for the PlayStation Network, it is missing a straight up multiplayer blast fest. The closest thing would be Calling All Cars, or Toy Home which ended up being a disappointment.

You can check out more new screenshots here.

Colosseum was one of the titles being shown off at the Microsoft Press Conference during E3 - but what exactly IS the game? Destructoid have tracked down Swedish developers Shorfuse Games and discuss what the game is, and what their plans are for the XNA developer community.

DESTRUCTOID: Was it always intended as an XNA game, or was this something that was in development before Microsoft revealed their grand plan?

Badylak: When we started re-designing Colosseum, XNA had just been announced, but wasn’t released until a few months later. During those months we were constantly looking for a fitting game engine, but didn’t find one. We read that XNA would be fully compatible with the consumer Xbox 360, got very excited and very eager to get our hands on it. Once we tried it we were pretty much convinced.

Source: Demonoid - Destructoid interview: Colosseum developer Shortfuse Games

Destructoid have gotten their hands on the Microsoft XNA developer kit and had a look around what is currently available for play in the Xbox XNA Community games, and have made a list of 5 titles you should definitely be interested in being a part of.

The games they're telling you to have a look at are Megachile Pluto, City Rain, Colosseum, Gymnast, and Little Gamers. Read all about them in the full article.

Source: Destructoid - Five XNA games (and developers) to watch for

After a few delays, it's finally here - you can now buy the first episode of Strong Bad's Cool Game For Attractive People Episode 1 - Homestar Ruiner for 1,000 Wii Points on the Wii Shop.

Check out screenshots of the game here.

Along with the release of Strong Bad are two new Virtual Console additions - Star Parodier - a top down parody shooter for the Turbografx CD for 900 Wii Points, and Break-In - a Pool game for the TG-16 for 700 Wii Points.

For more info about Strong Bad, Angry-Gamer.net have it as the focus of their new Focus Test Podcast. Ignore the fact that they get the name of the game wrong right off the bat, of course.

"Angry Gamer Focus Test 11: Strong Bad's Awesome Game For Cool Game Episode 1: Homestar Ruiner

Download the Angry Gamer podcast here or join the Angry Gamer RSS feed."

New information about the upcoming Taito WiiWare game Space Invaders: Get Even have popped up on the Japanese site Watch.Impress, including how the game will be released.

The game will initially cost 500 Wii Points for what they are calling the "Starter Pack". The Starter Pack will only include one city. The game can then be upgraded with 3 new expansion packs, each containing 2 new levels and a new kind of main vehicle to control. These expansions will cost an additional 500 Wii Points each.

It's a bizarre way to release a game, but Sony themselves are doing a similar kind of game with The Last Guy. Whether it will pay off is up in the air. The game is set to be released in Japan this month.

Source: Watch.Impress - Space Invaders - Get Even Preview

This week's episode of The 1UP Show is all about downloadable games - it's all the rage! They have a long look at the recently released Braid for Xbox Live Arcade, Bionic Commando Rearmed for the XBLA and PlayStation Network, and Siren: Blood Curse for the PSN.

Ignore the man in the tin foil suit.

With the announcement of a date for Shred Nebula on GameSpot's On The Spot show last week, Crunchtime Games have released the first official trailer (not teaser) for the game.

Look out for its release just outside the "Summer of Arcade" on September 3rd.

Pirates Vs. Ninjas Dodgeball has had a rough time. Originally slated for April, then delayed until July - now finally they've been able to slate a definitive release date.

360Sync are stating that PVsN Dodgeball will be released on September 3rd, 2008 - The same day as Shred Nebula.

The extra development time has allowed them to add new modes such as an original Dodgeball mode, enhanced mode, and several new options for players to tinker with.

Source: 360Sync - Pirates vs. Ninjas Dodgeball Gets A Date!

TheBBPS.com is reporting that both PixelJunk Monsters and Eden will be getting additional patches down the line - featuring new modes for old and new players.

PixelJunk Monsters will be receiving a new patch which will add Easy, Hard and Expert levels of play, but players will be unable to use these new modes while using the online ranking system. This patch will be free.

PixelJunk Eden will get a patch or expansion allowing more swing mechanics - as it is "much too fun to waste on just one set of game rules". They also may include a easier mode for those who just aren't very good at the game.

Source: TheBBPS - Expansions Coming for PixelJunk Monsters & Eden

While this interview does not mention the Xbox Live Arcade version at all, GameZone has had a chat with Ben Wilkins about Pipe Mania for every other platform.

Tell us about the new gameplay features. How is this game different from the original, and what makes it better?

BW: It's a little difficult talking about the original Pipe Mania because it came out in so many guises and on so many platforms. It was kind of different on every one. Generally the original Pipe Mania had an arcade mode. What we've done with the new Pipe Mania is add some new modes. We have competitive play now. A story mode, which is probably the best introduction to the game's learning curve. New characters that hopefully are entertaining in their own right but also have a gameplay purpose to hinder the character. And new pieces, new mechanics, many more different types of Flooze, and many more levels. I think the original was at 64, maybe 128 levels. The new version, depending on platform, has between 250 and over 300 levels.

Source: GameZone - Producer Ben Wilkins Talks Pipe Mania, the Revival of a Classic Puzzler

Hooray, the Street Fighter HD Remix BETA has been patched - with some well needed fixes attached to it.

The fixes include:

- Ken's Shoryuken shenanigans are fixed.
- The title no longer crashes when joining games. So all online functions should work normally, including quick match and custom match.
- Netcode optimizations have been made. Overall, the online experience should be about 50% better. While we can't do anything about high ping times, we've optimized the gameplay experience so that it's less noticeable and smoother. For example, playing someone with a ping time of 200 with the patch, should feel something like playing someone with a ping time of 100 before the patch.

So now the game won't crash when trying to get online! Remember - you've got to buy Commando 3 in order to play it.

Source: SF HD Remix Open Beta patch is up today!!!

Bionic Commando Rearmed will finally be making its way to the Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network this week. In addition to this, those who are looking forward to Fable II will be able to buy Fable II Pub Games as well.

Bionic Commando® Rearmed sees a return of the intense 2-D side-scrolling, shooting, and grappling action from the much-loved 1988 Bionic Commando. Bionic Commando Rearmed brings the amazing gameplay up to date with stunning new visuals, new weapons, online rankings, and a reworked musical score just for starters.

Bionic Commando Rearmed delivers two-player co-op, a frenetic multiplayer mode for up to four players, and a series of over 50 devious challenge rooms to test your swinging skills.

Wire-tapping the enemy communication in Bionic Commando Rearmed will give you access to information about weaknesses for the newly-designed Imperial bosses in the game. Play Bionic Commando Rearmed to unlock the original NES character costume and use it in Bionic Commando.

* Classic gameplay: Experience the classic Bionic Commando gameplay focused around the use of the bionic arm.
* Multiplayer modes: Team up or go All vs. All in multiplayer modes, including Last Man Standing, Death Match, and the intriguingly named Don't Touch the Floor.
* Updated graphics: The game has received a total modern visual revamp, including dynamic shadows, particle effects, and environmental damage.
* Cross-game interoperability: Complete specific parts of Bionic Commando Rearmed to unlock new content and hints for the Bionic Commando sequel.
* Visual style: The in-game art was designed by one of Capcom's most talented artists, Toshiaki Mori.

For screenshots in Bionic Commando Rearmed, click here.

For the Xbox.com splash page, click here.

While not exactly the Xbox Live Arcade version of Darwinia+, Introversion have released a trailer for Multiwinia, the multiplayer version of Darwinia being released onto PCs, and supposedly one half of the XBLA title.

Simple enough - use your little stick figure Darwinians to kill the other coloured Darwinians. Shoot at them, grabbing powerups, and take over territory. The game is looking quite interesting, having never played the PC original. Something about little stickmen running around and killing each other intrigues me

Capcom and IGN are working together to bring readers more information about the upcoming WiiWare, PSN and Xbox Live Arcade title Mega Man 9. This week, they've released information about three of the six new robot masters in the game - Magma Man, Tornado Man, and Concrete Man.

Along with the information came a ton of new screenshots of their respective levels, as well as artwork for each robot, as well as Mega Man using their respective weapons.

Source: IGN.com - The Bosses of Mega Man 9

Over at 1UP.com, Billy Berghammer was able to have a chat with the over the top, lovable Ben Judd about Bionic Commando Rearmed, the series in general, and how he was able to get into the industry while living among the Japanese culture of Capcom HQ.

1UP: There were talks earlier this year that the PlayStation 3 version of Rearmed would be better than the Xbox 360 version due to size restrictions. Do you think it was because of Bionic Commando that Microsoft upped the size limits on Xbox Live Arcade games?

BJ: Yes and no. I think Bionic Commando: Rearmed and Street Fighter HD Remix -- both of those -- I think may have made that a fast decision. I do think Microsoft is constantly planning on increasing the size as time goes on. I think that, naturally, the Core users are going to decrease as the hard drive gets cheaper and cheaper and a new set starts to buy that. I think that you'll still be able to shoot for a big enough piece of the pie and still have a game that's bigger than the Core unit's memory card. Already, it's above that right now -- it comes in at 256MB, and the limit is 350. I think eventually it'll be a gig, two gigs, whatever. So, maybe they weren't ready to do it just yet, but in the end, I think it was coming.

Source: Capcom's Ben Judd Interview

I just got this in the ol' inbox and thought I would forward it onto some other Aussie readers here.

As a valued Xbox LIVE® Arcade gamer, we're giving you this exclusive offer.

When you purchase any two Xbox LIVE® Arcade games between 7 August 2008 and 21 August 2008, you'll also receive a BONUS* game: Heavy Weapon: Atomic Tank (worth 800 Microsoft points).

How to get your BONUS game:

• Connect to Xbox Live®, navigate to your Xbox 360® Games Blade;
• Choose the Xbox LIVE® Arcade option;
• Select "Download Games" and purchase any two arcade games from the more than 120 titles;
• Then register below by 5pm, 21 August 2008**

So take on some great classic arcade games and get your BONUS game now!

You can check out this Australian Xbox e-mail here. As far as I can tell this does not work for anyone outside of Australia. It's a little confusing too, since after registering it says you'll "Get 400 Points" and not Heavy Weapon (which is 800 Points).

Give it a go anyway, I guess.

Our Sister Site Gamasutra, along with Game Developer Magazine, has had Hothead COO Joel DeYoung write a post mortem of their first Xbox Live Arcade title Penny Arcade Adventures Episode 1. It discusses what worked, what didn't, and what they're doing to better their first effort in upcoming episodes.

"Since virtually no one at Hothead had worked on adventure games before, it was like the blind leading the blind with no one having intuition about how the current story translated into game length. This was one of the factors that led us to work with LucasArts adventure game veteran Ron Gilbert.

"A final issue was managing who was in charge of certain decisions. As we progressed, it became clear that the dividing line between their responsibilities and Hothead's was blurry.

"For example, the nonlinear dialogue trees in the game are all script: Jerry wrote every word. But finding your way through the dialogue is gameplay, and the type of information that gets revealed, reiterated, or emphasized during each dialogue encounter is key to making a solid adventure game and to ensuring that the player is always aware of what she or he needs to be doing."

Read the entire article at the link below.

Source: Gamasutra - Exclusive: Behind The Scenes of Penny Arcade Adventures

You have absolutely no idea how happy I am that finally, after 10 years of being the best multiplayer experience on the SEGA Saturn, that Death Tank is making its way onto the Xbox Live Arcade.

Death Tank is a 2D multiplayer experience that rocked the Saturn to its core - a 2D, incredibly simple game where you aim and shoot. Think Worms, but in real time.

Death Tank was in fact my first "What Needs To Be On XBLA?" feature, which you can read here.

I am so happy right now!

Source: USK Rating Board

Tik Games has finally announced the 'sequel' to a classic Windows game with Minesweeper Flags, and both Team Xbox and IGN have gone hands on with the game.

The game comes with several modes, including a campaign mode, a classic mode, and a new flags mode.

Campaign Mode is a series of 140 of these terrain-based boards spread across the seven continents. You start with North America, which gives you boards surrounded by wildlife (such as bears and deer), a lake with a boat and similar views. When you get to South America, the boards have grass that’s a bit more scarce with such visuals as stone statues, cactus and grazing llama. When you get to the last puzzles in Antarctica, the whole terrain is covered with snow, with buildings, penguins and snowmobiles dotting the landscape.

It also includes a multiplayer variation of flag mode, playable offline and over Xbox Live.

Check out the Team Xbox preview here, which includes the games achievements.

Check out the IGN preview here, which includes several gameplay videos.

The achievements for the upcoming Mega Man 9 have been release. And... good luck getting them.

When they wanted to make Mega Man 9 hard, they meant it. Sure, there are some simple achievements, such as completing the game and beating the 6 robot masters, but they're worth next to nothing. How about beating the game 5 times within 24 hours? Or beating the game without dying? Or never getting an energy tank?

Brutal stuff.

Source: Inside MyGamerCard - Achievements For Mega Man 9 Reward the Hardcore

Ratchet & Clank: Quest For Booty is coming out next week, and other blogs and websites have had a go at playing through it early. The game looks just like Ratchet & Clank: Tools Of Destruction, but just how large is it?

PS3 Fanboy has confirmed that the game will be 2.3GB in size when it lands on your console. Quite the hefty download - to put it in perspective, the initial release of Warhawk was just under 800MB, while Fatal Inertia EX was just a tad over 900MB. Episodes of 'Qore' however, have roughly been 2GB in size.

While not much for some, countries like Australia have download limits still intact. For example, I'm on a 50GB limit each month. It may seem like a lot, but images and HD video fill up that quota very quickly - it's roughly 1.6GB a day. Thankfully, Quest For Booty is also giving itself a cheaper Blu-ray edition for sale in some countries who can't get it otherwise.

Source: PS3 Fanboy - Ratchet & Clank: Quest for Booty clocks in at 2.3GB

Bionic Commando Rearmed
Developer: GRIN / Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Genre: Action
Price: 800 Microsoft Points
Availability: Worldwide

For screenshots in Bionic Commando Rearmed, click here.

For the Xbox.com splash page, click here.

For the official NeoGAF forum topic, click here.

Fable II Pub Games
Developer: Xbox LIVE Productions
Publisher: Microsoft
Genre: Card and Board
Price: 800 Microsoft Points
Availability: Worldwide

Click here for the official Xbox.com splash page

Click here for the official NeoGAF forum thread.

Bemanistyle.com, a website dedicated to all things Beatmania and all music games, has gotten a hold of some new information about Konami’s secret XBLA title Beat’n Groovy.

According to their source, the game is essentially a Pop’n Music game for the western market. It will feature a similar bright and colorful style of the Pop’n games, but does not appear to feature the characters from that series.

The game will feature 3 modes – Arcade, Versus and Endless. The anonymous source also claims that there are at least 9 songs in the game including “Moon by DJ Taka, 100 sec. Kitchen Battle, Beyond the Earth” and many others. Whether there are more to unlock later down the line is unknown, as they have yet to complete all the songs.

Finally, the game is actually made to be used with the controller, and not some pad. Difficulty can be expanded on based on either 3 button or 5 button game styles, so it’s a little like Boom Boom Rocket or Go! Go! Break Steady sans the puzzle part of the game.

Check out more information over at Bemanistyle.com

Source: Bemanistyle.com – More Beat’n Groovy Details

With the many new game ratings popping up on the German USK rating system due to the upcoming Leipzig Games Convention, something is bound to pop up. Death Tank for XBLA popped up yesterday, and now a new PSN title has as well – Savage Moon.

Nothing is known about the game outside of what appears on the rating – seemingly a Military based strategy game, and that it is being published by Sony Computer Entertainment themselves. Along with this rating was The Last Guy and Crash Commando, further cementing the fact that this is a PlayStation Network title.

Source: USK, thanks to Vic Viper on NeoGAF for pointing it out.

PlayStation LifeStyle have tracked down Jim Mummery, creative director of Doublesix games to discuss what their current plans for games on the PlayStation Network. Notably their two leaked titles Burn Zombie Burn and Underfire.

While both games are still not officially announced, they are quite open with what the games are, but aren't willing just yet to show them.

Can you tell us anything about Underfire?

d6: Yes, a little – Underfire is an accessible turn-based tactics game that takes place in a modern setting. We have a lot of experience at the studio with turn-based tactics games and we feel it’s a versatile genre that can be made for a far wider audience.

Underfire is a project designed from the ground up with that simple premise. Everything is designed to be immediately recognizable, understandable, and accessible. It sounds easy but it isn’t.

Check out the whole interview at the link below.

Source: PlayStation Style - Interview with Doublesix Games

The casual PC puzzler Tumblebugs has been announced for WiiWare via original creators Wildfire and Indian game creators Gameshastra.

From the press release:

“We are strong believers in console based casual games,” says Prakash Ahuja, CEO of Gameshastra, “especially given the recent transformation of consoles from historically teen focused gaming devices to now becoming family entertainment hubs in many living rooms across the globe. We are very focused on titles that satisfy this new, broad demographic.”

Darren Baker, CEO of Wildfire Studios says “We enjoyed working with Gameshastra on Tumblebugs 2 PC, and are excited to collaborate again to bring our games to the emerging realm of console casual gaming. The broad consumer appeal and high production values of Wildfire’s tit