It's been a bit of a quiet week here at GamerBytes, heck it's been quiet everywhere. Everyone is on holidays, I'm moving to a new state, it's all over the place.

Still, we have some bits of news that'll keep you up to date. Look forward to a lot of news starting next week though - a whole lot of articles, plus a few big announcements from major publishers. Just keep that between us - but rest assured, you'll be pleased.

GamerBytes Originals

GamerBytes Best Of 2009: Top 5 Console Downloadable Games
There are plenty of quality titles this year for all platforms, but only 5 of them can be called winners, in our opinion.

Store Updates

XBLA Update - The Maw Is The Deal Of The Week, Castle Crashers Is Deal Of The Day, No New Release This Week
NA PSN Store Update - Nothing this week.
EU PSN Store Update - Nothing this week.
NA Nintendo Update - Castlevania ReBirth, The Magic Obelisk, The Oregon Trail, Pilotwings And More
EU Nintendo Update - Tomena Sanner, Dragon's Lair And More

Microsoft (Xbox Live Arcade, Xbox Live Indie Games)

New Footage: Toy Soldiers (Signal Studios)
This upcoming real-time tower defense game gets a quick video-based look over at GameTrailers, showing off the split-screen multiplayer mode.

Sony (PlayStation Network, PlayStation Minis)

Thexder Neo Coming To PS3
The downloadable PSP game will get its own PSN version in 2010.

Nintendo (WiiWare, DSiWare)

Trailer: The Oregon Trail DSiWare (Gameloft)
An old classic returns through Gameloft. You have died of dysentery.

New Details For Legends of Exidia Emerge
Are Gameloft working on a Zelda-style game for DSiWare?

Over the weekend several screenshots of Perfect Dark on Xbox Live Arcade were leaked, new details were revealed, and somehow this all has something to do with Crackdown 2.

Along with the new screenshots, which included details on Halo 3 and Call Of Duty style controller mapping, was another screenshot of the debug menu. "Set username to 15 W's" sure, "Wipe all achievements" uh-huh, "Fake Crackdown 2 save presence"? Huh?

Apparently Perfect Dark will continue on the tradition of Banjo Tooie's Stop & Swop shenanigans with the upcoming Crackdown 2 and the Xbox 360 original Perfect Dark Zero.

What could it be? Is Datadyne behind everything in Crackdown 2? Can you get a low-poly Crackdown dude? It's not like you can jump in the original Perfect Dark, he won't be much use. Maybe unlocking a cell shaded mode? The possibilities are endless.

Thanks to Marcel for the heads up.

Gaijin Games have revealed, through their Facebook page, the first screenshot of the next title in the BIT.TRIP series - Runner.

Unlike the first three titles in the series, Runner seems to have taken a more platformer approach to the game. Nothing else is known yet, but there's no doubt the game will involve some quality music along the way.

[Over 250 titles were released on downloadable consoles throughout 2009, so it's not surprising that some fell through the cracks. Throughout this week we'll pinpoint 10 games or models that we feel were ignored over the past year, discuss why they were ignored, and try to convine you, the reader, to give them a quick look.]

Command & Conquer - Red Alert 3: Commander’s Challenge (Electronic Arts, XBLA / PSN)

Over the past decade companies have been trying to find a way of making real-time strategy games on consoles – we’ve seen Halo Wars, Lord Of The Rings and Command & Conquer take a jab at it, but there is still a lot of insecurity about whether it works on a console and not a PC.

Many people think the genre doesn't work on consoles just by looking at it. The high tier PC players will talk about their short-cut keys and elaborate strategies and already they’ve lost you.

In comes Commander’s Challenge, an XBLA and PSN version of Red Alert 3’s expansion pack. This was a set of missions that let new players slowly understand and unlock new weapons, while also ramping up the difficulty over 50 missions. For a measly ten dollars it has a lot of content – 50 missions is not a light amount, the game took me a good 10 hours or more to get through, and then I went back to try and compete old levels with my unlocked weaponry.

It’s the perfect setup for anyone who’s been afraid of trying a console RTS, but it seems like it was still ignored. Having not played an RTS since Warcraft 2, I was able to jump in and enjoy the hell out of this game, and now I’m looking to go back and grabbing Red Alert 3 and C&C3 on the Xbox 360.

The biggest thing holding it back is the file size – 2GB is a large chunk for anyone who still has a 20GB hard drive on the Xbox 360, but for anyone else – if you’ve even thought of trying a console RTS at some point, download the demo of Commander’s Challenge.

Mushroom Wars (Creat Studios, PSN)

To fans of the PlayStation Network, Mushroom Wars looks like a knock off of PixelJunk Monsters. While the art style is certainly similar, the gameplay is completely different, and a lot of fun.

Mushroom Wars is a real-time strategy of sorts - you must direct little men from one house to the next, taking over neutral points and finally overwhelming the opposing team of. Regular houses can regenerate new men, and upgrading houses leads to making more soldiers in a quicker time. You can also turn any point into an attacking tower which shoots canons at the incoming team.

For those with an itch for rushing the enemy, this game is for you. It’s quite exhilarating to watch some 200+ of your dudes run across the map and decimates the opponent’s final mushroom.

The game is quite short, but I got my $10 worth out of it. Online multiplayer would have made this game a must, but local play is quite fun too.

Death Tank (Flat Games / Snowblind Studios, XBLA)

I was a huge fan of Death Tank on the Sega Saturn – a game developed by Lobotomy Software that you unlocked in a copy of Saturn Duke Nukem 3D by having a Saturn Quake save file. I had 7 Saturn controllers with a multitap and had a blast with friends trying to kill each other in small multicolored tanks.

When it was announced for the Xbox Live Arcade I was extatic, and when it was released I played it a ton, but the reason for it being ignored it pretty evident – the price tag.

Due to the success of games like Castle Crashers and Braid on the Xbox Live Arcade, Other developers thought that the $15 price point was now viable for downloadable console games, which began a tirade of poorly priced games.

Death Tank is not a $15 game, it really should have been $10, but it is still a ton of fun, and the addition of new weapons a few months ago added to the carnage. Hopefully a permanent price drop down the line can bring the game back from obscurity. Check out the trial at the very least - you get 30 minutes of online play for free.

[Tune back in tomorrow for more games you may have missed this year]

Way back in early December, just before the Spike Video Game Awards was another show - The Next Great Game Gods, a nod to upcoming independent developers. During the show they visit Twisted Pixel, and show a split second of footage from their upcoming Comic Jumper game.

The first thing you'll notice is the game is super early. That teaser you saw was actually done by the people behind the opening and ending credit scene from 'Splosion Man. They're in grey box development at this point in time. The game appears to be a sidescroller with shooting elements, much like Shadow Complex, but more level based, and a little kookier.

The show only showed about 2 seconds of footage from a handy cam, but we should expect to see more in the next couple of months.

Source: SPIKE - The Next Great Game Gods

To bring in the new year we have a single release this week, along with a new Deal Of The Week. Matt Hazard: Blood Bath and Beyond is available this week for 1200MSP - will it live up to Shadow Complex and other side scrolling shooters? You'll have to find out Wednesday.

This week's Deal Of The Week is A Kingdom For Keflings, the popular outing from NinjaBee. For this week Gold members can buy the game for just 400MSP - 50% off the regular price. Download the demo here.

Trejectile, aka Reflect Missile, aka "We're Nintendo and for no good reason we rename our digital games across all territories", is now available for those of you in North America for 500 Points. It's Arkanoid meets Puzzle Bobble, and looks great.

Also on DSiWare this week is Animal Puzzle Adventure for 500 Points. Despite the horrifically bland name, it looks like a nice puzzler. On the back end this week is Hell's Kitchen Vs. for 800 Points.

For WiiWare this week there's Heron: Steam Machine, Pub Darts and Fast Draw Showdown
all for 500 Points each.

Finally, the Virtual Console release is Final Fight 3 for the Super Nintendo for 800 Points. I hear it's best of the SNES 3, but Streets Of Rage will always be better in my heart!

It's been a while since we heard from Curve Studios, the developers behind the the upcoming Explodemon! for the PlayStation Network, but the Design Director Jonathan Biddle has begun to discuss the early history of the game at his personal blog, and it's a fascinating story.

Explodemon began life in Game Maker, using sprites from Game Freak's Pulseman for the Sega Megadrive. The above video is from a 2006 prototype of the game, so it's been in the works for quite a while now.

You can find even more about the game over at his blog. HIs next update will delve into how it became an internally developed game at Curve, and hopefully end with new, in-game footage of the game in action.

Block Cascade Fusion is a new puzzle game coming to the PlayStation Minis courtesy of Gamelion. It appears to be a mixture of Capcom's Puzzle Fighter with a bit of Lumines thrown in.

You throw gems down onto the board to create large clusters, then every 20 seconds "fusion" occurs and the clusters disappear.

While there are already plenty of puzzle games out on the Minis line, this one looks like fun. It should pop out fairly soon, so keep a look out for it.

EnjoyUp have revealed that their WiiWare follow up to their Europe-only NDS title Chronos Twin DX will be available next week in North America.

The game has an interesting mechanic - the screen is split into two parts, one the present and one the past, but you exist in both. This allows you to traverse large jumps by jumping on a platform in a different time period, or moving a rock in the past to continue on in the present.

It's a neat idea and the game looks alright, personally I find the main character really goofy looking, but you'll be able to make your own decision next week.

[Over 250 titles were released on downloadable consoles throughout 2009, so it's not surprising that some fell through the cracks. Throughout this week we'll pinpoint 10 games or models that we feel were ignored over the past year, discuss why they were ignored, and try to convine you, the reader, to give them a quick look.]

Lode Runner (Tozai Games, XBLA)

Lode Runner XBLA is a great revitalization of the series – it’s has a ton of levels to complete, numerous modes to play, online cooperative play and you can create your own levels. It’s got everything you’d want in a Lode Runner game.

Unfortunately its release was a troubled one – the game was announced at being a $15 title, a little expensive but it had a lot of content to back it up. But due to a screw up on Microsoft’s behalf it was accidentally released at $10 for the first 10 hours of release, and was then hiked back up to $15 once the problem was fixed.

This caused an instant backlash on the developer and Microsoft, and basically made a lot of people not want to pick up the game, and wait for a price drop at a later date. It’s sad to see a mistake like this causing such a problem. There was a price drop later on, but few people picked it up as the newer titles got top billing.

Definitely give the demo a go though, it's still tons of fun and perfect for some coop play with the missus.

Rocket Riot (Codeglue / THQ, XBLA)

A twin stick shooter of sorts, Rocket Riot is a game with a funny premise, cute character designs and is a lot of fun to play. So what happened?

Basically, Rocket Riot just took an awful long time to come out. With a lack of promotion of THQ’s behalf (alongside the Major Nelson blog not announcing it for its week of release), few people knew it came out. The only thing it had was buzz from some website editors who had been playing it on a development system, and absolutely loved it.

The game had been done for an awful long time, it just had to come out, and in a week that included several other high profile titles , it got thrown under the bus.

It's still quite fun to play, you may not find much of an on-line audience anymore, but grab a few friends around an Xbox 360 and you'll have a blast. Download the demo here.

Axel & Pixel (Silver Wish Games / 2K Play, XBLA)

With the event of Secret Of Monkey Island: Special Edition on XBLA, you’d think that more point-and-click adventures might be viable on the platform, but it seems there might be a ways to go before that happens. Case in point – Axel & Pixel.

The journey of a nonsensical artist and his dog companion, Axel & Pixel is a mixture of point-and-click adventure and a hidden object game, wrapped in a bizarre and fascinating art style. The game is filled with character and was plenty of fun to play through.

Its problem was getting out just what it was. The game didn’t have a trailer until about a week before it came out, and the 2K Play label never really had much dealings with the gaming press either with their previous titles being Dora The Explorer or Carnival Games.

But for a simple point-and-click adventure it was great, and I had fun playing it. I hope Silver Wish Studios continue on this trend, or release a PC version onto Steam. For now, download the demo.

[Tune in tomorrow for two more overlooked titles of 2009.]

D3's Matt Hazard side project Blood Bath and Beyond is now available on the Xbox Live Arcade for 1200MSP, or $15. You can click here to download the demo.

Having a quick play of the demo, you might find it feeling a little weird. After playing a lot of Shadow Complex I instinctively tried to shoot around the screen with the second analog stick, but it doesn't work that way. If you're having trouble making the transition, try thinking that you're playing a Metal Slug game - it'll help you a lot.

Don't forget that A Kingdom for Keflings is on special this week for just 400MSP for Gold members. Check out the demo here.

[Over 250 titles were released on downloadable consoles throughout 2009, so it's not surprising that some fell through the cracks. Throughout this week we'll pinpoint 10 games or models that we feel were ignored over the past year, discuss why they were ignored, and try to convine you, the reader, to give them a quick look.]

Droplitz (Blitz Arcade / Atlus, XBLA / PSN / PC / iPhone)

There have been plenty of puzzle games this year, but Droplitz was a great spin on the genre that was unfortunately ignored by the masses.

The game involves drops of water coming from the top of the screen which have to reach the bottom. Your job is to rotate several different pipes in order to let them make their way down, while also creating several paths for one drop to create combos.

It’s quite an addicting game, but like a lot of Blitz Arcade’s titles, it drove little interest on the marketplace. I would say it‘s not really Atlus or Blitz’s fault – but instead that puzzle games involving blocks have had an incredibly rough time everywhere, much like dual-stick shooters that aren’t called Geometry Wars.

The other problem is that it faces the iPhone generation of games – there are just so many puzzle games to choose from nowadays that in the end none of them do well. Why would someone buy a $10 XBLA game when they can get thousands on their iPhone for $0.99?

Small anecdote: I bought the Steam version when it went on sale from $10 to $2. The first thing I did was check the Leaderboards – 103 people were on them. Only 103 people could muster buying the PC release of this game. That’s crazy! By the end of the sale there were some 12,000 players – certainly better than it was doing, but when you’re only selling it for $2 you’re not making a whole lot of money.

The game has been on and off sale for the past few months on the PlayStation Network, and I wouldn't be surprised to see it go on sale some time later on the Xbox Live Arcade, but do at least check the demo out.

Gyromancer (PopCap / Square Enix, XBLA / PC)

Gyromancer is the collaborative effort between PopCap and Square Enix - it seems perfect, but a few small problems and no big push from the publisher left made a lot of people seemingly ignore it.

Similar to Puzzle Quest, Gyromancer leads you on a trip to battle monsters using the power of Match-3 puzzles. While on the surface they may look alike, Gyromancer is so different in many ways - set up as 12 different levels, having to battle by removing bad blocks from the field, and just the change from standard Bejeweled to Bejeweled Twist mechanics changes the game entirely.

It does have its problems - the story is pretty dull for one, but I've had a huge amount of fun playing the game.

I feel its major problem was likely the demo itself which doesn't accurately portray the difficulty that the game gets later on. Specifically, after the first two levels you begin to get penalized for making bad turns. Without this the game seems to be pretty dull, but it really changes up the game later on. The lack of customization is also a little odd, but it doesn't stop the game from being enjoyable.

And while Square Enix have been trying hard with their downloadable games as of late, it could have been done a bit better. Not to mention that the game came out the week after some huge retail titles and was released alongside Diner Dash and Peggle Nights - fans of puzzle games were split into three for the opening week.

Still, highly recommend taking a look at the demo if you're up for some new Puzzle Quest style action.

[Tune in tomorrow for a look at some of the most overlooked models for game downloads]

Tobe's Vertical Adventure is a new 2D platformer by Singaporean developer Rayteoactive in a fitting retro style. You take control of Tobe, a young boy thrown into having an adventure to get away from video games as you search caves for treasures.

The idea behind the game is similar to that of Wario Land 4 on the Gameboy Advance - find the goal, and then escape the level before the time runs out. The game also includes a neat 2 player cooperative mode too.

The game plays fine - but for some reason only uses the D-Pad, and doesn't allow Analog stick control. Regardless, it's a fun romp for only 240MSP ($3), so download the demo today.

Microsoft have today revealed their newest addition to the Xbox Live Marketplace - Game Room, a new Arcade for your Xbox 360 and PC.

Game Room will allow you to download hundreds of emulated Arcade and console classics, from Centipede to Adventure to Combat to Space Hawk.

This will be available for both the Xbox Live Arcade and Games For Windows Live, so you can play emulated Arcade titles on the PC with ease. The emulation is being developed by Australia's own Krome Studios, so this will be a new set of emulated games built from the ground up.

I'm excited - give me achievement points and give me Sega Master System and I'll be very very happy.

Since our last news piece about the new Game Room for the Xbox 360 and Windows PCs, some new details have emerged regarding pricing and the development of this new place on the Xbox Live Marketplace.

The Price: According to the fact sheet games will be available on the platform for 240MSP - or $3USD. In a very odd way of making you pay more money, this only includes the game for one platform - either Xbox 360 or Games For Windows. If you want to buy a game to play on both platforms, you'll have to instead pay 400MSP - or $5.

It seems incredibly silly to segregate the systems like this - who knows why they're doing it. It's not like it's costing them more to bring old games to both platforms. It makes it even more confusing if they plan to continue this platform on a new console, assuming one comes out in the next 3-4 years.

Another interesting tactic is a token system for single plays. Much like original Arcade games, you can play the full version of a game for a credit for 40MSP, or 0.50USD. Whether this 40MSP includes multiple credits or not is unknown at this point. How this will work for old Atari games is also unknown.

The Development: game is being entirely developed within Krome Studios. Backbone Entertainment and other companies widely known for their emulation technology are not involved - this is a Krome only development, though are likely working with companies like Intellevision to get emulation up to the highest standards.

The Achievements: The games themselves do not have achievements, but instead have "Medals" which you can obtain. The room itself does have achievements however, which they can expand on with new releases.

The Leaderboard Battle: Every single game will have some sort of Leaderboard implementation, just like Xbox Live Arcade games. However these games will also include a new feature of sending challenges to people on your friends list to beat your score.

This is very similar to the social gaming circle of Facebook, but now with old classic Arcade games. I play Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook all the time, and this is exactly how it works. You sly devils Microsoft.

Multiplayer Is Couch Only: is specified in the document that while you can battle your friends out for high scores, you can't play the games online together, instead you can only play locally. So while you may be able to invite friends into your Game Room, you won't be able to play with or against them ala Boxing or Pong.

It's a little disappointing but I would imagine the additional resources to create a working online multiplayer mode into a $3 game isn't that feasable. The time to add it, plus the time to test it, is probably huge if they want to get 1,000 games out there. If we're lucky they may do it on a game-to-game basis.

The Game Room will be released in Spring 2010 with a starting lineup of 30 games. Expect to hear more as we lead up to the launch.

[Over 250 titles were released on downloadable consoles throughout 2009, so it's not surprising that some fell through the cracks. Throughout this week we'll pinpoint 10 games or models that we feel were ignored over the past year, discuss why they were ignored, and try to convine you, the reader, to give them a quick look.]

Anything on WiiWare And DSiWare

The Wii and DS brought more games to the digital table than the Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network this year, but actually getting interest In the platform is becoming more and more difficult by the day.

There are many people at fault for this – Nintendo themselves seem so secretive about the weekly releases that it's become a frustration for websites like GamerBytes or IGN. Just these past few weeks we’ve had 10 new titles coming out in America each week, but some we've never heard of.

When WiiWare games come out the same day they’re announced, and the only pieces of media Nintendo gives the press are these screenshots:

This is the size they release at. How am I meant to make a decision on buying a game when the only screenshots available are thumbnails? I can’t help you, the reader, know more about these games when I’m not given the tools I need.

The developers are also to blame. Most WiiWare and DSiWare games have been self published, or published by a German publishing arm who don’t have any pull in North America. A lot of these companies completely underestimate the need to do PR, which is not the way this needs to work.

Take some upcoming releases by Nintendo on DSiWare. There have been three DSiWare games in development by Q-Games and published by Nintendo, well known for their PixelJunk titles on the PlayStation Network, so having such a pioneering developer on side should be something to celebrate.

Instead the first release DigiDrive just popped up one day without an official announcement. Same thing with Reflect Missile and Star Ship Patrol which just came out in Europe. All these games are set for release in North America during January, but outside of them being named there haven’t been any press releases regarding the games.

To make matters worse, Nintendo has felt that each game has needed to be renamed for American and European territories. In the global space which is the Internet, all that does it cause mass confusion. Reflect Missile is Trajectile in North America and Intersect was DigiDrive. This causes havoc for trying to find reviews or database websites like Giant Bomb. It’s completely unnecessary.

In terms of independent games, lets look at Glow Artisan, a new DSiWare title that was released on the 28th. Prior to its release there were only two other points where the game was mentioned - it being a part of the Independent Games Mobile Festival, where the game was 1 of 172 entries, so nobody would really find it, and their personal blog where they wrote a press release a week before release. At no point does it appear that they sent the PR to Gamespress or even GoNintendo. Nobody knew of its existence.

And apparently the game is really good. I wouldn't know for only a single website has reviewed it, and they only review it because they review every single game. Nothing about the game shout that I should trust this developer of Mary Kate and Ashley games. They need to convince us, otherwise it's just another random game on the DSiWare schedule that I'll never look into.

Nintendo download developers haven’t help themselves either with a lack of real innovation. There are at least 8 Sudoku games on or coming to DSiWare. There is no reason why there needs to be so many games, but it’s easy, it’s cheap, and about 2 guys can work on it in a couple of months. That’s not really how this new medium should be used, and it makes everyone else look bad. It's like gandering into the bin of "101 games" discs at a 99c shop.

There were plenty of great games on WiiWare and DSiWare – Swords & Soldiers, NyxQuest, Lost Winds 2, Excitebike World Rally, Mighty Flip Champs and more, but I feel it’s been difficult to get the word out.

I hope in the New Year we see Nintendo man up and take both platforms in a new direction. Demos are a great start, lets just hope they continue on this path in 2010. Developers need to take charge too, just get the word out there.

A little bit of old and a little bit a new this week - Europe has received Matt Hazard: Blood Bath and Beyond day and date with North America, while they also receive Military Madness, Tank Battles and TV Show King. Odd seeing that last one - the sequel just went up on WiiWare a week or two ago.

We also get a good amount of downloadable content this week, Mae Ryder character for PAIN, the Ninja Gaiden 2 Sigma table for Zen Pinball, and a new level pack for Magic Orbz, aka the newly renamed Magic Ball.

Three PSOne titles as well, headlined by the original Guilty Gear game alongside an Extreme Pinball and Monsters Inc game.

Finally a few quick Minis this week - This is Football Management and Mots croisés, though the latter is only available in very specific regions. Beta Bloc is also available this week for PSP, and while it's not part of the Minis line it is only £2.39 / €2.99.

Two WiiWare games have become available to those in Europe today - Stop Stress: A Day Of Fury And Stunt Cars, both for 800 Points each.

For DSiWare we have three titles - Art Academy: Second Semester for 800 Points, Sokomania for 200, and Move Your Brain: Rollway Puzzle for 500 Points. The latter is very interesting - it uses the DSi camera to tilt a ball maze around. It's a fairly dull looking game, but their tech is pretty awesome.

Finally, Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi for the Mega Drive is available on Virtual Console for 800 Points.

Pretty quiet week for the PlayStation Network - Just Matt Hazard: Blood Bath and Beyond for the PS3, some PAIN downloadable content and a collection of the PSP Pinball Heroes games. There is a demo for Hazard though, which is always a plus.

[Over 250 titles were released on downloadable consoles throughout 2009, so it's not surprising that some fell through the cracks. Throughout this week we'll pinpoint 10 games or models that we feel were ignored over the past year, discuss why they were ignored, and try to convine you, the reader, to give them a quick look.]

The PlayStation Minis

The PlayStation Minis program has been riddled with problems from the start. It’s fascinating to see it all unfold, but there are some quality titles out for it which, much like WiiWare, are completely overlooked just based on the platform hey come under.

The first problem is that Sony didn’t announce the ability to play these games on the PS3 as soon as they came out. It’s clear why – they wanted to push it out alongside the PSP Go, but this also brought confusion onto the marketplace.

Due to someodd circumstance certain Minis will only be available on the PSP, but not the PS3. Tetris from EA is the first culprit – the reason being that they have the hand-held rights to Tetris, but not the console rights. I would imagine Pac Man CE may have the same problems as Microsoft have exclusive console rights for this console cycle.

Another bizarre split is that Japan has forgone the minis program entirely – a third of the possible userbase who are all buying PSP and PS3s right now cannot go out and buy a Minis game. If your worldwide company cannot agree to allow a service to exist, something is wrong.

This means many of the “PSN Exclusive” PSP games that have come out recently, like Thexder Neo, Loco Roco Midnight Carnival and Elemental Monster TD skip the minis line and go straight to the big list of regular retail games for download. I imagine Tetris would have gone the same route had they of known at the beginning of all this.

We also now know why Minis cannot use certain functions like multiplayer – the functionality of PS3 and PSP is so vastly incompatible that it would never work, but it’s also a missed opportunity, especially with all the puzzle games coming to minis that would improve by having online Leaderboards. It also means that playing these games on the PS3 won’t allow local play, or use of the second analog stick.

So there have been several missed opportunities here, but there are still quite a few great games on the platform – Blast Off, Let’s Golf, Cubixx, Zombie Tycoon, and more to come, but due to the lack of a good PR push, plus the large amount of cheap ports of iPhone titles, websites are losing interest. They already have an iPhone, why would a website editor play a Mini when they'll be able to get the same game for 99c in a months time?

Sony’s weekly store updates on the American and European PlayStation Blogs aren’t helping either, as Minis are regulated to the end of the list, and usually without a description on what the game is. It’s hard enough to get people to open up the store on their PS3 let along check out the new minis that are available.

I hope that Minis developer’s take a stand in 2010 to create truly original content made for the minis - Not straight ports of iPhone titles, not just a myriad of puzzle games, but something truly great and cheap that works on both platforms. It just needs a good push.

[Full disclosure: I do work for Halfbrick Studios who have worked on Minis, this is an opinion piece based off my thoughts prior to joining their studio.]

In our latest employment-specific 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 Bungie, Sledgehammer Games 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 this week include:

2K Marin: Multiplayer Systems Designer
"2K Marin is looking for a dedicated, passionate and personable Multiplayer Systems Designer to join us on an exciting unannounced project. As a Multiplayer Systems Designer, you'll be in charge of taking high level goals and translating them into game systems and moment-to-moment experiences."

Relic Entertainment: Senior Director of Development
"The Senior Director of Development executes the developmental strategy of the studio in accordance with the GM and THQ’s strategic and tactical objectives. Responsible for ensuring project development achieves operating objectives and financial goals; ensuring development efficiency and product timeliness, and otherwise ensuring consistency and process improvements across projects."

Neo-Geo Battle Coliseum is coming soon to the Xbox Live Arcade, but unlike previous SNK games they're doing some extensive graphical additions to the game.

The SpekSNK blog has obtained some new screens thanks to Xbox 360's pre-release partnernet system. Battle Coliseum is now set in wide screen, and thanks to the 3D backgrounds the backdrops are now in a high resolution too - though they're not looking super pretty. In essence, this is the same features that Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 received.

The game will also include sprite filters - though whether you can turn them off is unknown. They seem to have really turned it up though, maybe too much so. The game also weighs in at 830MB - more than 4 times that of KOF '98.

You can view other screenshots here, which includes some very nice menus - hopefully they're all translated this time around.