Rainbow Islands: Towering Adventure, which just got released on WiiWare this week in Europe, appears to also be coming to the Xbox Live Arcade according to the German USK rating board.

This will be the second Taito WiiWare title to be ported to the Xbox Live Arcade, following the announcement of Bubble Bobble Neo! would also be making its way over. The recently released Space Invaders Extreme and Arkanoid Live have also begun to fill up the Taito catalog on XBLA.

While it's unlikely that Space Invaders: Get Even would make its way over to the Xbox Live Arcade, since it has a reliance on the Wii Remote control, it would be an easy bet to assume Puzzle Bobble Wii might also make it over in one form or another.

What should we expect next from Taito? I'm hoping for a new Elevator Action Returns and New Zealand Story.

Source: German USK website

Databox Interactive have revealed 4 new screenshots of their upcoming game Penalty Of Heroes -- a classic hack 'n slash styled game coming to the Xbox Live Arcade.

You can check out new screens, as well as their detailed, daily blog at their website. Definitely check it out. Penalty Of Heroes is set to be released in the Fall of this year.

Family Pirate Party

Wii Points: 500
Game Type: Board Game
Control Type: Wii Remote
Players: 1-4
Publisher: Aksys Games

"Daddy, Mommy, Sarah and Billy make their return as pirates sailing the seas and skies. Roll the dice and sail through the islands to gather the treasures each island holds. The person with the most gold at the end wins. Family Pirate Party shines with its appealing cel-shaded graphics and endearing music. Challenge up to three other players (friends, the CPU or both) for some four-player board-game fun. Do you have it in you to defeat your opponents and become the king of Family Pirate Party!?"

Galaxy Force II

Format: Sega Master System
Wii Points: 800
Game Type: Shooter
Players: 1
Publisher: Sega

"Galaxy Force II is an arcade shooter with a 3-D view from behind your spaceship. Fly through five different planets, taking on enemies in environments that range from a peaceful garden to lands made of fire or ice. Navigate treacherous landscapes by flying low over the planet’s surface and blowing up enemy robots, ships and turrets, then flying through a tunnel to destroy the alien stronghold on each planet. It is your duty as part of the Galaxy Force to defend against the alien invasion and maintain peace in the solar system."

Last week, Ezmuze+ Hamst3r edition was released on the XBL Community Games section of the Xbox Live Marketplace. Ezmuze was one of the original titles released for the platform back when it began in November last year - but was a fairly simple and quite ugly music editing tool.

Developer Madninjaskillz has gone back to the drawing board to make a far more complex and far more interesting application for the Xbox 360. You can now set numerous effects, levels and a lot more. The Hamst3r component of the program is The Hamster Alliance, a one-man music project to produce diverse music without any restrictions. This means over 500 different loops are available for you to mix yourself.

Check out the trailer here and click here to download the trial. The application costs 800MSP.

In other news, Biology Battle, one of the first great titles on XBL Community Games has now had a price drop. You can now buy Biology Battle for 400MSP. If you were at all into Geometry Wars, definitely give this game a go.

Click here to download the trial of Biology Battle via web marketplace.

"Star Trek: D-A-C is a fast-paced, top-down space shooter inspired by the new motion picture. This pick-up and play game allows you and your friends to choose starships (from a list that includes the all-new U.S.S. Enterprise) and battle it out online!

Enlist in Starfleet or join the Romulan Empire as you battle with up to 11 friends in game play modes including Solo Play, Online Versus, and Online Co-op. Command the powerful Flagship, the nimble Fighter or the devastating Bomber, each with their own unique capabilities. Choose your side, fire your weapons, boldly go where no man has gone before!"

Star Trek D-A-C Will be available this Wednesday for 800MSP.

Click here for the official Xbox.com splash page.

"It's not whether you win or lose … it's about how far you can bend the rules without getting caught. In Texas Cheat 'Em, that's pretty darn far. Play casino-themed mini-games to activate one of 15 cheating abilities—then make your own luck. Turn a bad hand into a sure thing. Send your opponent's Royal Flush right down the drain. Steal chips, fold for free, or know the community cards in advance. Cheat strangers out of their fortunes over Xbox LIVE … before they do it to you. Remember: glory is forever, but broke is only funny when it happens to someone else."

Click here for the official Xbox.com splash page.

The Deal Of The Week for this week is GameLoft's Brain Challenge Gold users can now buy Brain Challenge for 400MSP - 50% off for this week only.

Click here to download the trial version via the Xbox web marketplace.

This week, the NPD Group will reveal the top retail sales of April 2009, and at GamerBytes, we take a look at what they don’t cover -- Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Network.

We're analyzing the weekly Top 10 Xbox Live Arcade game purchase list released by Microsoft through the Major Nelson weblog, checking out leaderboard data for games when available, and seeing what new releases have done well, and ones which have fallen off the map.

For April, there were 7 new digitally downloadable game releases for the Xbox Live Arcade on Xbox 360. All but two of them were released at the new premium prices (1200 Microsoft Points [$15] or more), but as we’ll see, it worked for some, and not for others:

Sega have made it official - Sega Vintage Collection Volume 2 is on its way.

The second collection of Sega classics will include Sonic The Hedgehog 3, Comix Zone, Shinobi, Altered Beast, Phantasy Star II, GunStar Heroes, and Sonic & Knuckles. As leaked previously Sonic & Knuckles will include lock-on functionality with all previous Sonic games on XBLA.

In a strange twist, all but one of these are Xbox Live Arcade exclusive. The PlayStation Network will also be getting GunStar Heroes complete with online play.

All the games are set to be coming out in Summer of this year.

Sony's SCE Japan Studio, well known for their work on Ape Escape, Loco Roco and Patapon, have revealed Qruton -- a new puzzle game for the PlayStation Network and PSP.

Qruton has players empty a board of numbered blocks by creating a 2x2 square with the number 1, 2, 3 or 4 on it. Once a square is complete the number on those will increase by 1 and it will allow you to combo additional squares onto it based off of the new number. You can continue to chain combos until it finally explodes on the board.

It's a mixture of Lumines' combo ability with a bit of Bejeweled Twist and Yosumin for good measure. It's got a strange art design, certainly compared to the light hearted work from Japan Studio previously, but it's looking quite nice.

The game is currently only set for release in Japan, but I wouldn't be surprised to see it come to North America at some point in the future.

Source: Siliconera - Sony Makes Another Cross Platform Puzzle Game

Nathan Fouts of Mommy’s Best Games, best known for their hit XBL Community Title Weapon Of Choice, has revealed their next title – Grapple Buggy.

Grapple Buggy is a mixture of sidescrolling driving and swinging mechanics made popular with Bionic Commando and Worms. The new trailer shows the game looking quite similar in style to Weapon Of Choice, but also looks like a hallucinogenic Blaster Master, -- which can only be a good thing.

Players will be able to upgrade your buggy with new wheels, jumping abilities and arms and, much like Weapon Of Choice, the game allows for several multiple endings.

The game is set for release later this year, so continue to watch this space for the latest updates on Grapple Buggy. In the meantime check out the official website.

Capybara have revealed that their addicting mobile and iPhone title Critter Crunch will be making its console download debut exclusively on the PlayStation Network.

Critter Crunch is a game all about the food chain. Players must remove critters from the trees and then spit them back out at a larger enemies and eventually pop them and causing a chain reaction. with their respective critter.

And of course, they spit up rainbows.

The game will include single player adventure and puzzle as well as online and local multiplayer in versus and cooperative play. Check back to GamerBytes in a days time for our interview with the developers about this game.

Texas Cheat 'Em

Developer: Wideload
Publisher: D3Publisher
Genre: Card and Board
Price: 800MSP
Availability: Not available in Portugal

Click here for the official Xbox.com splash page

Click here to add to the trial version to your download queue

Star Trek D-A-C

Developer: Naked Sky Entertainment
Publisher: Paramount Digital Entertainment
Genre: Action
Price: 800MSP
Availability: Not available in Japan or Korea

Click here for the official Xbox.com splash page

Click here to add to the trial version to your download queue


The Deal Of The Week for this week is GameLoft's Brain Challenge Gold users can now buy Brain Challenge for 400MSP - 50% off for this week only.

Click here to download the trial version via the Xbox web marketplace.

Daemon Hatfield over at IGN has done a little bit of sleuthing around various old Xbox Live Arcade developers and found that Klei Entertainment, who did the original version of Eets on PC, might be working on an Xbox Live Arcade title.

Klei released a preview video of their upcoming title Shank, which is still very early in development with minimal AI at work. At the beginning of the video a Xbox controller is shown, and we put two-and-two together.

It's still a long way away but the game is looking very nice, easily replicating the style of cartoons like The Venture Bros. without a sweat. Check out the teaser video above.

Source: IGN - Shank: Tarantino-esque Action for XBLA?

With the event of the iPhone app store we've seen a resurgence of the puzzle genre, and with that has brought a much needed evolution of concepts.

With a glutton of puzzle games and numerous clones pouring through the network it has allowed new concepts to shine and encourage new ideas. Critter Crunch is such a game - a puzzler with a simple yet engrossing concept that took the iPhone and mobile phones by storm.

Now Capy have revealed that a HD version of Critter Crunch is coming exclusively to the PlayStation Network. We contacted Nathan Vella and Kris Piotrowski of Capybara Games to discuss the development on the game and the new features within.

This week two new splash pages have appeared on the Xbox.com servers - Wolfenstein 3D and Battlefield 1943.

This is the first official news of Wolfenstein 3D after the many leaks over the past few weeks. What we do now know is that it is being developed by Nerve Software who did the port of DOOM to Xbox Live Arcade some years ago.

The Battlefield 1943 splash page again certifies that the game will allow 24 player multiplayer over 3 maps and will feature a detailed ranking system where you can check your leaderboards and ranks through their official website.

Zen Pinball
Zen Pinball (Demo Also Available)

Publisher: Zen Studios
Developer: Zen Studios
Category: Pinball
Price: £6.29 / € 7,99 / $12.95AUD

"ZEN Pinball delivers a variety of in-game missions, head-to-head online multi-player bouts and multi-day worldwide tournaments. In addition to the regular All-Time and Weekly scoreboards, ZEN Pinball features Score Speed, Best One Minute, and Multi-player Ranking scoreboards, letting players test their mettle against pinball players from all over the world!"

Bejeweled 2
Bejeweled 2

Publisher: Sony Online Entertainment
Developer: PopCap Games
Category: Puzzle
Price: £6.29 / €7,99 / $12.95AUD

"Experience the classic gem-swapping puzzler! Now available on the PlayStation Network, Bejeweled 2 lovers can now earn over 10 unique PS3 trophies and play Bejeweled 2 on the PSP via remote play. Swap gems to match 3 or more, and delight in four different game modes and explosive new gem types. With amazing planetary backdrops and awesome special effects in 1080p, Bejeweled 2 will dazzle you!"

Texas Cheat'Em
Texas Cheat'Em

Publisher: D3 Publisher
Developer: Wideload Games
Category: Gambling
Price: £9.99 / €12,99 / $19.95AUD

"It's not whether you win or lose … it's about how far you can bend the rules without getting caught. In Texas Cheat 'Em, that's pretty darn far. Play casino-themed mini-games to activate one of 15 cheating abilities—then make your own luck. Turn a bad hand into a sure thing. Send your opponent's Royal Flush right down the drain. Steal chips, fold for free, or know the community cards in advance. Cheat strangers out of their fortunes over PSN … before they do it to you. Remember: glory is forever, but broke is only funny when it happens to someone else."

Buzz Junior: RoboJam
Buzz Junior: RoboJam (Requires Buzzers)

Publisher: SCEE
Developer: SCEE
Category: Kids
Price: £3.99 / €4,99 / $8.45AUD

"Buzz! Junior: RoboJam features four cute robots competing in a number of ridiculous and funny challenges to become Robot of the Month. You'll need quick reactions in order to help them battle their way through a hilarious collection of great new games.

"These include dodging the rockets of top military droids on the firing range, becoming crash test dummies for the day, and dancing the night away with an enormous singing alien octopus.

"The hapless robot pals compete against each other in an every-bot-for-himself competition. Gain the greatest number of nuts for your robot by the end of the challenge to win!"

Bionic Commando Rearmed
Bionic Commando Rearmed Sale

Currently on sale due to the release of the new title next week. On sale from 5/14/2009 to 5/21/2009

Was: £6.99 / €9.99 / $15.95AUD
Now: £3.99 / €4.99 / $8.45AUD




PAIN
Sore Spots Expansion Pack

Price: £3.99 / €4.99 / $8.45

Daxter Pack

Price: Free

Rag Doll Kung Fu
Rag Doll Kung Fu Free (Full Game)

"For the first time on PlayStation Network, we have partnered with Sprint to bring you the PSN exclusive game, Rag Doll Kung Fu: Fists of Plastic, for FREE in the U.S. store. That’s right. The game is free to download this week."


Zen Pinball
Zen Pinball (Demo Also Available)

Publisher: Zen Studios
Developer: Zen Studios
Category: Pinball
Price: $9.99

"ZEN Pinball delivers a variety of in-game missions, head-to-head online multi-player bouts and multi-day worldwide tournaments. In addition to the regular All-Time and Weekly scoreboards, ZEN Pinball features Score Speed, Best One Minute, and Multi-player Ranking scoreboards, letting players test their mettle against pinball players from all over the world!"

Texas Cheat'Em
Texas Cheat'Em

Publisher: D3 Publisher
Developer: Wideload Games
Category: Gambling
Price: $9.99

"It's not whether you win or lose … it's about how far you can bend the rules without getting caught. In Texas Cheat 'Em, that's pretty darn far. Play casino-themed mini-games to activate one of 15 cheating abilities—then make your own luck. Turn a bad hand into a sure thing. Send your opponent's Royal Flush right down the drain. Steal chips, fold for free, or know the community cards in advance. Cheat strangers out of their fortunes over PSN … before they do it to you. Remember: glory is forever, but broke is only funny when it happens to someone else."

Bionic Commando Rearmed
Bionic Commando Rearmed Sale

Currently on sale due to the release of the new title next week. On sale from 5/14/2009 to 5/21/2009

Was: $9.99
Now: $4.99




PAIN
Sore Spots Expansion Pack

Price: $4.99

"This Sore Spots Add-on features two new environments for PAIN! The first area is the gymnasium at Morningwood High school, where you’ll play a new mode called Mad Science. The second place is a top secret alien research facility with a twist on Fun With Explosives. Idol Minds has even thrown in some cameos by some of your PAIN favorites, and the new multiplayer PAINalympics is solid gold!. Get all of this today when you buy Sore Spots!"

Daxter Pack

"Have you ever heard that ottsels always land on their feet? Well, that’s not always the case, as you’ll see with this FREE download of Daxter for PAIN. As you probably know from his previous adventures, Daxter can dish it out as long as you can give it, so launch away, Ooch to your heart’s content, and he’ll keep coming back for more. You simply CANNOT keep a good ottsel down."

Price: Free

PSOne Classics
The King of Fighters ‘99

Price: $5.99

"Another King of Fighters tournament is on the horizon and it’s up to you and your team of brawlers to come out on top. Select your crew from a healthy roster of old favorites along with new. Battle your friends in the all new Striker match, as well!"

Spyro: Year of the Dragon

Price: $5.99

"Everyone’s favorite dragon is back, and this time he must save the Year of the Dragon Festival by rescuing the 150 eggs that have been stolen by the evil Sorceress and scattered across the Forgotten Worlds. New features include mini-games, new playable characters, and an Atlas to track your progress and accomplishments."

Swords & Soldiers

Wii Points: 1,000
Game Type: Action Strategy
Control Type: Wii Remote
Players: 1-2
Publisher: Ronimo Games

"Swords & Soldiers is a side-scrolling real-time strategy game that lets you control all the action on the battlefield easily by using only the Wii Remote. Just point at the screen and press the A Button to build new units, cast devastating spells and tear your enemy’s structures to pieces! You can tackle the game’s various modes and missions on your own, or challenge a friend in action-packed split-screen battles."

Team 17 have released 3 new trailers for Worms 2: Armageddon, showcasing some of the returning weapons as well as some new features not featured in any other Worms title.

W2A will feature the return of fire! While it may seem uninteresting to those who haven't played a Worms title since the PC games, fire has been missing for many iterations. The reason behind this is, oddly, because it's very processor intensive and has been unable to be reproduced on PSP or DS in the way it used to work. Now finally it's back -- Molotov style.

Also on its return is the electromagnet, which was brought into the fray in Worms: Open Warfare 2. This allows a big magnet of either positive or negative polarity to be placed in the level which will either repel or attract mines and incoming rockets.

Lastly a new feature -- player reactions. Worms will now react emotionally to their current situation. If they have a mine sitting right next to them they'll scream in panic -- not much but it's surprising they didn't do it before.

You can watch the Fire trailer above, or you can continue reading for the Reactions and Airstrike trailers.

Sidhe Interactive, the minds behind the fantastic yet often overlooked GripShift on XBLA and PSN have revealed their next downloadable title -- Shatter.

Shatter is described as a "retro-inspired brick-breaking game" which appears to take on all forms of paddle-and-ball techniques. You've got your top to bottom Breakout style game, you've got your Pong styled left to right game, but each level has its own hook to it. You can see in the video that at some points the bricks might break off and float into space, or you may have to battle bricks in a circular arena.

Currently Shatter is a PlayStation Network exclusive and will be released later this year.

Source: Sidhe's Shattergame.com

In this round-up, we highlight some of the notable jobs posted in big sister site Gamasutra's industry-leading game jobs section this week, including positions from Blizzard, Blue Castle, Ubisoft and more.

Each position posted by employers will appear on the main Gamasutra job board, and appear in the site's daily and weekly newsletters, reaching our readers directly.

It will also be cross-posted for free across its network of submarket sites, which includes content sites focused on online worlds, cellphone games, 'serious games', independent games and more.

Some of the notable jobs posted in each market area this week include:

[Every week, sister site GamerBytes' editor Ryan Langley passes along the top console digital download 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.]

This week's highlights include our analysis for the Xbox Live Arcade sales for April - what went wrong and what went right. It appears that this was a month for few blockbuster hits on XBLA, despite a lot of promise behind a lot of them.

Also this week, we interviewed Capybara Games about their recently announced title Critter Crunch for the PlayStation Network. We discuss what it's like going from cellphone game development to the PS3 hardware, as well as the new improvements they've made to this addictive puzzle game that was previously an IGF Mobile winner on cellphones..

Releases For The Week

Xbox Live Arcade - Texas Cheat'Em, Star Trek D-A-C, Brain Challenge For Cheap

PSN Store (EU) - Savage Moon Demo
PSN Store (NA) - Puzzle Quest: Galactrix, Savage Moon Demo, SIREN: Blood Curse Pricedrop,PSOne Classics

Nintendo Store (EU) - Rainbow Island: Towering Adventure, Fantasy Zone II
Nintendo Store (NA) - Penguins & Friends, Tower Toppler

GamerBytes Originals

Interview: Capybara Games On Crunching Critters
We interview Capybara on their upcoming conversion of Critter Crunch for the PlayStation Network.

Analysis: April 2009's Xbox Live Arcade Hits, Misses
We look back at the Major Nelson's Top 10 lists and leaderboard stats for April to see what XBLA customers were really after.

Xbox Live Arcade

Sega Vintage Collection Vol. 2 Officially Announced
We've been talking about it for months, but it's finally been formally revealed.

XNA Roundup #17 Orbyx : Mystic Orbs of Chaos
Do you like Peggle? Than you'll like this.

Mommy's Best Games Reveal Grapple Buggy For Community Games
From the creator of Weapons Of Choice comes the ultimate in grappling car technology.

XBL Community Watch - EZMuse+ Music Editor, Biology Battle Bargain
A robust music editor makes it to Xbox Live Community Games, and popular title Biology Battle gets a price cut.

Rainbow Islands: Towering Adventure Also Coming To XBLA
Classic WiiWare arcade update also journeying to the Xbox Live Arcade.

Xbox Splash Page Update - Wolfenstein 3D, Battlefield 1943
We've been talking about if for months, but here's your final proof.

PlayStation Network

Critter Crunch On Its Way To PSN
Learn how to deal with the food chain correctly, thanks to Capybara.

Sidhe's Shatter Bounces To PSN
It's Breakout meets Pong meets everything in between - and a little more.

WiiWare

Contra Rebirth Announced, Out Next Week In Japan
Konami continues the 'Rebirth' line of titles on WiiWare.