[We round up the top console digital download news of the last week from GamerBytes, including brand-new game announcements and scoops from the world of Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, WiiWare, PSP Minis and DSiWare.]

This was a big week for console and handheld digital download as a whole - not so much for news, but for the releases. A huge amount of games came out for the Xbox Live Arcade, the PSP Minis store finally opened with ten or more high profile releases, and a giant selection of PSP classics have made their way onto the PlayStation Network.

Here's the top stories in the digital download space over the last seven days:

XBLA Update - Military Madness, Bust-A-Move Live!, Football Genius, And Bubble Bobble Neo! DLC
NA PSN Store Update - Digger HD, UNO, PSOne Classics
NA PSP Minis Update - Tetris, Fieldrunners, Alien Havoc, Thexder Neo and more
EU PSN Store Update - Ninja Turtles Re-Shelled, Cheap Blast Factor, Rub 'a' Dub
EU PSP Minis Store Update - FieldRunners, Vempires, Kahoots, Thexder and more
NA Nintendo Update - DRiiFT Mania, Arkanoid Plus, Altered Beast, Dragon Quest Wars and Art Academy 2
EU Nintendo Update - Aha! I Got It!, Art Style Intersect, Super Empire Strikes Back

GamerBytes Originals

EarthWorm Jim HD Developed From The Ground Up, Includes Special Edition Features
"To know more about the remake of EarthWorm Jim, we asked a couple of questions of a Gameloft representative."

In the latest of Serious Sam HD's bizarre and frankly frightening trailers, Croteam have revealed the Super Happy Fun Time mode.

Blow up your favourite headless zombies with no fear of blood splatter - you will instead be showered with delicious candy. Sure, why not?

"From the team that re-imagined The Secret of Monkey Island, comes Lucidity, an addictive puzzle platformer set in the surreal childlike dreamscapes of the little girl Sofi. In this challenging puzzler, keep Sofi safe as she drifts deeper into the strange new world of her dreams. Featuring stunning hand-illustrated visuals, a spellbinding original score and unique puzzle platformer gameplay, Lucidity challenges your wits, tests your reflexes, and mesmerizes your senses. "

Lucidity will be out this Wednesday for 800 Microsoft Points.

Click here for the official Xbox.com splash page.

"Play as Stan, Kyle, Kenny, Cartman, or any number of your favorite South Park characters in South Park Let's Go Tower Defense Play! It's the fast-paced action/strategy game, where you play to save the town of South Park. Combining snowball-throwing action with tower defense strategy, the game is designed for players of all skill levels. Unlock special content and new characters throughout the game for your in-game scrapbook. Play locally with up to four players or team up on Xbox LIVE in the story-based campaign or the extra-demanding Challenge levels."

South Park will be available this Wednesday for 800 Microsoft Points.

Click here for the official Xbox.com splash page.

Last week Melbourne, Australia was host to the Digital Distribution Summit, a collection of speakers for whom would discuss the future of digital distribution.

David Edery, former worldwide portfolio manager for the Xbox Live Arcade and now Manager at Fuzbi - a consultant firm for digitally distributed games, was the keynote speaker at the event and has a lot to say about the future of this platform.

He speaks across Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network and WiiWare - how to get funding, how to pitch your game, and how to not waste your time. It's a fascinating look into his years at Microsoft and for any developer looking into the Xbox Live Arcade, this is a great wake up call for them.

One of my favorite parts of this keynote was the discussion of the agendas that the platforms flow through throughout the development a game. For example, at the beginning of the XBLA's life Microsoft were green lighting small, bite-sized games, while Sony would only green light games that showed off the system.

Throughout his 3 years at Microsoft David was reorganized numerous times with new managers heading the Xbox Live space, and each one had a different idea on what they wanted for the platform. Just look at where we are right now - we're now seeing a lot of games coming out on XBLA with extraordinary art styles - Lucidity, Axel & Pixel and Fez are just some of the games that would have been green lit about the same time.

Another great part is about the pitch - specifically, making your pitch sound fun. David was able to show 'Splosion Man's pitch as an example, which was simple and to the point. As an added bonus David also had on hand 'Splosion Man's video pitch, showing a simpler 'Splosion Man showing off the games mechanics at the very early stage of development.

It's a fascinating watch and I highly recommend watching the whole thing. Over the next few days we will post the other participants in the DDSummit.

Final Fantasy

Format: NES
Nintendo Points: 500
Game Type: RPG
Control Type: Wii Remote
Players: 1
Publisher: Square-Enix

"The world lies shrouded in darkness. The winds die. The sea rages. The earth decays. But the people believe in a prophecy, patiently awaiting its fulfillment. "When darkness veils the earth, four Warriors of Light shall come...." After a long journey, four young travelers did at last appear, and in the hand of each was clutched a crystal."

Thorium Wars

Nintendo Points: 1,000
Game Type: Shooter
Players: 1
Publisher: Big John Games

"In Thorium Wars, you must stop the Thorions, a super species of Thorium-based machines, from destroying mankind. Blast through waves of Thorions by controlling an arsenal of tanks, skyfighters, hovercrafts, gunboats and starfighters with either the standard or touch-screen controls. In 12 exciting missions, navigate through a variety of combat environments while viewing 360 degrees of the battlefield, fully rendered in 3-D. Toggle between first- and third-person views to destroy the terrifying army of Thorium beasts, from swarms of Redeye Drones to the bone-crushing Manticore Walker. This man-versus-machine battle proves to be the ultimate test for the survival of the fittest."

Word Searcher

Nintendo Points: 500
Game Type: Puzzle
Control Type: Wii Remote
Players: 1
Publisher: Digital Leisure Inc.

"You'll need a sharp eye and a quick mind to complete 100 themed word-search puzzles. Word Searcher contains fun words from multiple categories including anatomy, world cities and U.S. presidents. With a huge assortment of subjects to choose from, there's sure to be a puzzle for everyone to enjoy. Help improve your vocabulary, memory and problem-solving skills with these engaging puzzles. Track and try to beat your own play-through times again and again—words are scrambled every time you play."

With the smashing success of Trino at the Penny Arcade Expo, the team behind the game have decided to drop the price down 40%. The game is now 240MSP ($3) instead of the usual 400MSP ($5) price point. It's a great little top down puzzler which has gotten a lot of recognition in the press, so now is the time to give it a shot.

Click here to add Trino to your queue via Xbox web marketplace.

Alongside Trino, the team at Funkmasonry Industries have lowered the price of their musical shooter Groov, now down to a single dollar from its original 200MSP ($2.50) price point.

Click here to add Groov to your queue via Xbox web marketplace.

We have also been given a couple of Groov codes which we'll be handing out through Twitter over the next 24 hours - so start following us and good luck.

[In this opinion piece, digital console game website GamerBytes' editor Ryan Langley examines Sony's PlayStation Network for PS3 and PSP, suggesting notable feature and usability improvements that might help the digital network boost its success.]

With the release of the PSP Go, all eyes are on the Sony and the PlayStation Store to provide for the first digital-only console, and to make it a good one. Unfortunately, at least in my opinion, there are still a lot of problems with the PlayStation Store - both on PS3 and PSP.

There are mechanics that are clunky, broken or hinder the buying experience which, 3 years after the PlayStation Store's launch, you would have hoped they would have been fixed by now. Many of these points are relatively small, but when grouped together, help to showcase a significant possible problem with the Store.

Here, we take a look at what I think is the 10 main problems with the PlayStation Store, and what Sony and game publishers can do to make the experience better for consumers and help boost digital console gaming:

The Problem: The Separation Of Games And Territories

One thing Microsoft has been good at is worldwide releases. Outside of a few exceptions, all games come out in most Xbox Live regions, and all on the same day. This is because Microsoft has a single submission process for XBLA games – you only have to submit the game to the Microsoft office, and they will test it for all the regions that the publisher want to release it in.

Sony on the other hand has gone for 3 major submissions – North America, Europe and Japan. A game might get through the submission process in America, but will get stuck (or be submitted later) in Europe. Therefore the European process has to start all over again, which can mean a month or more of waiting for the game to come out.

With a single worldwide Xbox Live Arcade release, publishers can concentrate on a single campaign. They can build hype, have competitions and release trailers or screenshots in a timely manner. If a game has a staggered release, the hype dissipates, and causes potentially disgruntled would-be customers to care less and less about a game.

Take Trine for example. The game came out in Europe two weeks ago, after 2 months of being out on the PC. The game will finally hit the U.S at the end of October. But by the time is comes out, people will be already be over the peak of interest, publisher Nobilis may have exhausted all of their press budget, and any sort of post-release buzz from other territories will be gone. That’s a terrible way to run a business.

The Solution: It sounds like it would be impossible to make a single system now, since Sony is quite adamant that they want to keep SCEE, SCEJ and SCEA separate. What needs to happen is for the three territories to start talking to each other and organize dates, so that we can get consistent releases.

The premise of Fishing Girl is just that - you're fishing on a 2d plane. What makes this game interesting however, is its upgrading mechanic. Think Miner Dig Deep, but fishing.

At first you've only got a small lure and limited throw range, but the more fish you catch, the bigger the lure you can buy, the bigger the fish you can catch and the further you can cast your line. It's a cool and soothing experience if you're just looking to relax in front of your TV.

The game retails on Xbox Live Indie Games for 80MSP - a single dollar. Click here to download the trial game via Xbox web marketplace.

One of Konami's most well remembers series from the 16-Bit Days is back, and courtesy of 1UP's Retronauts collective we'll be seeing a whole week worth of content.

Rocket Knight is a new title in the Rocket Knight Adventures / Sparkster series, finally getting a sequel after 15 years of silence. It is being developed by Climax Studios, who have been hard at work on various Silent Hill properties over the years. Now they're getting a crack at the armored rodent.

Full preview and screenshots can be viewed here. Currently it looks alright, I'm a little worried by the art direction but I won't make any conclusions until I see the game in action, which we'll see this Friday. 1UP's Jeremy Parish seems positive in his preview, which calms the nerves a little.

Across the week 1UP will also be blasting through the original games, having a look at the Rocket Knight's new design and have a new podcast with the producers of the project. Keep an eye out for it over the coming days.

2Bee Indie Games Competition brought some fascinating Indie developed titles to the table, and while Auditorium won it appears that the Community Favorite Storm was also picked up, and will be coming out for everything.

The premise is simple - get the objects (in the XNA prototype's case - white balls) to the end of the level, but in this game's case you control the weather. You must use rain, wind and thunder to push them along - think Blow mixed with Flower.

It's got a ways to go for now but Joystiq haa a quick interview with Storm's creator Terence Lee about bringing the game to XBLA, PSN and WiiWare, worth checking out if you're interested in the very early parts of a games' development process.

Lucidity

Developer: LucasArts
Publisher: LucasArts
Genre: Puzzle and Word
Price: 800 Microsoft Points ($10)
Availability: All Xbox Live Regions
File Size: 399 MB

Click here for the official Xbox.com splash page.

Click here to add the trial to your queue via Xbox web marketplace.

South Park LET'S GO TOWER DEFENSE PLAY!

Developer: Doublesix
Publisher: Microsoft
Genre: Action
Price: 800 Microsoft Points ($10)
Availability: All Xbox Live Regions
File Size: 882 MB

Click here for the official Xbox.com splash page.

Click here to add the trial to your queue via Xbox web marketplace.

Madballs Babo:Invasion: Versus Weapons

Price: 80MSP
File Size: 2 MB

"Expand your arsonel with the latest in Babo and Scorched technology! New versus mode weapons - Slicer and Striker."

Click here to add this to your queue via Xbox web marketplace.

According to a consumer survey, discovered by a Joystiq tipster, it looks like Xbox Live will be getting its own Virtual Arcade space for your Avatar.

The screenshots above, taken from the survey, show multiple player Avatars playing some old titles. While they appear to be playing on Arcade cabinets, you'll spot that an Atari 2600 is attached to the hood, and the player appears to be playing RealSports Basketball.

Atari games don't appear to be the only console available - one of the banners at the back suggests that Shark! Shark! is playable, which is a Intellivision game.

What the actual survey does ask is - what name would be most appealing to you? Some suggestions include Game Room, Tower of ROM, Classics LIVE and RetroCade. Personally I'm a fan of the last one - it's the most descriptive of the lot, at least.

When Microsoft started out the Xbox Live Arcade, all we ever saw was classic Arcade titles, but 4 years later its been taken over completely with original content. Could this be a new section of the dashboard where we'll be seeing old classics to combat Virtual Console and PSOne Classics?

What say you readers? What would you pay on Xbox Live for an old Atari 2600 or Intellevision game with Achievements?

Source: Joystiq - Survey shows Xbox Avatar 'RetroCade'

A few weeks ago Team17 revealed Worms: Battle Forts for WiiWare, but fret not PSP owners as it's also coming your way.

According to the German USK rating system, along with Team17's Facebook page, work has begun to bring Battle Forts over to the PSP. Where it will be a PSP minis or a PSN Exclusive is unknown - it's all up to whether they decide to include online multiplayer in the PSP version. Hopefully they do.

More as it develops.

Source: Team17 Facebook

For a while we've been making a case that Zen Pinball and Pinball FX need more tables based on hot game franchises - now our prayers have been answered.

via the PlayStation Blog, Zen Studios have announced that Ninja Gaiden 2 Sigma will be getting its own table in Zen Pinball, and will be available sometime this October.

The table will boast numerous multiball missions, "killer action-packed" missions (as much as pinball can get action-packed, at least), and much more. Unlike the previous Street Fighter II table, this one looks like it will be a PlayStation exclusive.

Now where's the Uncharted, Little Big Planet and Motorstorm tables?

Digger HD

Category: Classic Arcade
Publisher: Creat Studios
Players: 1-2
Price: £7.99 / €9.99 / $15.95AUD

"Digger HD, a remake of the classic PC game from the early 1980s, has received a major facelift for the new millennium, while staying true to its classic gameplay. Players control a little construction vehicle that must make its way through an underground maze. Gamers dig through the dirt horizontally and vertically to create their own path while collecting power-ups, jewels, coins and other bonuses while avoiding the pursuing monsters."

Click here for the official trailer for Digger HD.

Comet Crash
Comet Crash

Category: Action
Publisher: Pelfast
Players: 1-4
Price: £6.29 / €7.99 / $12.95AUD

"Real-time strategy is taken to a new level by blending classical tower defense gameplay with offensive counterattacks and dynamic AI. Defend your territory with a variety of weapons. Use specialized units to fight off attacks and rush your enemies with massive armies.
Fight your way through action packed levels in the Campaign or challenge your friends in Battle mode. Stunning 1080p graphics with music by Synaesthesia."

Click here to learn more about Comet Crash.

Magic Carpet (PS One) (£3.99/€4.99)
Populous (PS One) (£2.39/€2.99
Sim City 2000 (PS One) (£4.79/€5.99)
Theme Hospital (PS One) (£2.39/€2.99)
Theme Park (PS One) (£2.39/€2.99)
Blast Factor (£3.99/€4.99)
Ape Quest (PSP) (£3.99/€4.99)
The Little Mermaid II (PS One) (£2.39/€2.99)
Disney’s Action Game feat. Hercules (PS One) (£3.19/€3.99

Mahjongg Artifacts: Chapter 2

Publisher: G5 Entertainment
Price: £3.49 / €3.99 / Not Available In Australia

"Mahjongg Artifacts: Chapter 2 is a highly addictive tile-matching game that takes mahjong games in an exciting new direction! Pair up tiles to dismantle hundreds of layouts. Utilize a selection of ground-breaking powerups, earn trophies, and enjoy the game's beautiful graphics and rich audio. There's more than enough tile-matching action in Mahjongg Artifacts 2 to have fun for months!"

Yummy Yummy Cooking Jam

Publisher: Virtual Toys
Price: £3.99 / €4.99 / Not Available In Australia

"Yummy Yummy Cooking Jam is a frenetically-active cooking game in which you have to serve the food your customers order as quickly as possible.This could be a simple task, but the customers aren't very patient and you'll find a multitude of annoying insects that make the noble mission of satisfying your small gourmets' stomachs much more difficult"

"Put on your chef's har, sharpen your knives and turn up the heat on the stove, because you have to show the entire world who the fastest, most skillful chef is."

Sudoku

Publisher: Electronic Arts
Price: £3.49 / €3.99

"Simply smart and elegant, Sudoku for the PlayStation Portable is a beautifully polished and truly addictive game. Play Sudoku on your PSP today! Beware: the soothingly atmospheric interface could have you playing for hours! Enjoy our best Sudoku, ever."

A Bug's Life

Price: £3.99 / €4.99 / $9.45AUD

"Save the Ant colony from the greedy grasshoppers, find the wacky insect circus troupe and help Flik the ant win the heart of Princess Atta. With astounding graphics, a thrilling storyline and bonus clips from the movie, it's an epic adventure of miniature proportions."

Critter Crunch

Category: Puzzle
Publisher: Capybara
Players: 1-2
Price: $6.99

"Critter Crunch is an award winning, arcade-style puzzle game, starring the loveable Biggs. Using his long, sticky tongue to grab critters from vines, he feeds them to each other until they burst, dropping tasty jewels. Players will eat their way through a smorgasbord of levels and gorge on a feast of modes, including Co-op and Versus multiplayer."

Pandemonium!

Price: $5.99

"Travel through a colorful world of magic, adventure, and danger as you cast spells, change shapes, and cause all kinds of Pandemonium!"

Lost Winds - Winter of the Melodias

Nintendo Points:1,000 (Not available in Australia)
Game Type: Platformer
Control Type: Wii Remote, Nunchuk
Players: 1
Publisher: Frontier

"LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias is the follow up to 2008’s best-selling, award-winning WiiWare launch title ‘LostWinds’. In this new adventure players are able to instantly transform Mistralis between Summer and Winter, harnessing the brilliance of nature: frozen Winter ponds and waterfalls become deep, teeming Summer pools and chambers in which to dive and unlock secrets, enemies can be frozen or doused, and the very air itself used to form snowballs or moisture-laden clouds. Other amazing new abilities include the cyclone, which can be used to transport Toku, smash powerful enemies and even drill through the rocks of the Mistralis’ diverse, richly interactive Chilling Peaks and Melodia City areas"

View the teaser for Lost Winds - Winter of the Melodias here.

Happy Holidays Halloween

Nintendo Points:500
Game Type: Application
Control Type: Wii Remote
Players: 1
Publisher: 505 Games

"Planning a Halloween party? Want to get creative with the invitations? Then here is the solution. Happy Holidays lets you make fun, spooky-themes e-cards complete with characters, costumes, decorations and music - and send them straight to friends' Wii consoles!"

Final Fight 2

Original Console: SNES
Nintendo Points:800
Game Type: Beat-Em-Up
Control Type: Classic Controller
Players: 1-2
Publisher: Capcom

"After taking a beating at the hands of Haggar and co. in the first Final Fight, the Mad Gear gang is back for revenge! Play solo, or team up with a friend in the new cooperative two-player mode, as Haggar or two new fighters, each with the own unique signature moves.

Wonderboy III: The Dragon's Trap

Original Console: Master System
Nintendo Points:500
Game Type: Action
Control Type: Wii Remote
Players: 1
Publisher: Sega

"Following on directly from the events of Wonder Boy in Monster Land (also on Virtual Console), the final Wonder Boy adventure on Sega Master System sees a heroic youngster scouring the land for a mystical artifact, to rid himself of a curse that transforms him into different animals."

Dragon Quest Wars

Nintendo Points: 500
Game Type: Strategy
Players: 1-4
Publisher: Square Enix

"Dragon Quest Wars is a grid-based strategy game featuring all of your favorite quirky Dragon Quest monsters. Choose from several modes and get ready for battle. While the rules are simple, strategy is the key to victory. The game features single-player and DS Wireless Play, as well as battles with foes worldwide via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection."

Photo Clock

Nintendo Points: 200
Game Type: App
Players: 1
Publisher: Nintendo

"Photo Clock allows you to enjoy the photos taken with your Nintendo DSi Camera application in a brand-new way. Watch your images appear on the top screen of your Nintendo DSi system according to your chosen display settings (specific photos or all photos; in order or randomly shown). Select from either an analog or digital clock, utilizing the system’s internal clock or offsetting the time however you like. Program up to three alarms (with snooze functionality for those that need it) and assign them a preset ring or use a sound created in Nintendo DSi Sound. Experience all the enjoyment of a photo album while still guaranteeing that you won’t lose track of the time!"

As announced earlier this week, the first Rocket Knight trailer has now been released via Gamevideos.

Now I'm usually not very opinionated in these news posts... but this doesn't look good at all. It looks horribly slow and boring, and have very little that looks even remotely like the original games. The preview discussed how "expressive" Sparkster is in this new incarnation, when it couldn't look more bored in the world they've shoved him in. The incredibly low poly environments are a sham too.

I've got to say that this game has completely gone off my radar now. Not only does it not remotely look like the original games, it doesn't look like it's a very good game. What are Konami doing?

In an off-the-cuff answer to a recent Gamasutra interview, 5th Cell Co-Founder Jeremiah Slaczka revealed that the development house is currently working on a title for the Xbox Live Arcade.

5th Cell, who have previously only worked on the Nintendo DS with Drawn To Life, Lock's Quest and the recent Scribblenauts, have yet to move onto the console space. When Game Developer Magazine's Brandon Sheffield asked about the scope of game they were looking for on a console, Jeremiah said "We're doing an Xbox Live Arcade title next, and it's going to be pretty big."

However, don't expect the game to be coming out anytime soon. "It's totally not ready to be announced. It's far away.", says Jeremiah.

I was a big fan of Lock's Quest, but not so much Drawn to Life and Scribblenauts. Hopefully whatever they're working on will allow them to expand their abilities, and help them make a worthy product.

Source: Gamasutra - Fountain of Scribbles: 5th Cell's Jeremiah Slaczka Speaks