XBLA

Co-founder Jasper Koning has confirmed in an email that Awesomenauts will be released this Wednesday as planned, though he was unable to go into specifics. More >

Since the game launched on Friday users have reported a range of issues, including corrupted save files, freezes, slowdown and, in some cases, the game failing to boot at all. In a post on the Polytron blog, programmer Renaud Bédard apologises and assures users that a patch is on the way. More >

Harmonix has announced a return to its roots with Rock Band Blitz, a music game for the console download services that bears a more than passing resemblance to Frequency and Amplitude. More >

2D fighting game Skullgirls will be released for Xbox Live Arcade on April 11, developer Reverge Labs has confirmed. The date was revealed by Peter Bartholow, Reverge's community manager, in a post on NeoGaf, confirming the date and admitting Microsoft had until the last minute been pushing for its release a week earlier. A recent leak on xbox.com suggested the game would be released on April 4. More >

Long-awaited XBLA platformer Fez will finally be released on April 13 for 800 Microsoft Points, developer Polytron has confirmed. More >

Microsoft has announced Arcade Next, a four-week run of Xbox Live Arcade releases published by Microsoft Studios beginning next month. First up is Trials Evolution, Finnish studio RedLynx's Trials HD followup with a heavy emphasis on user-generated content using the same track editor its designers used. It arrives on April 18, for 1200 Microsoft Points. More >

PopCap Games has announced Zuma's Revenge, a sequel to its Zuma puzzler released for PC and Mac in 2009, for Xbox Live Arcade. The original was first released all the way back in 2003, and the enhanced Zuma Deluxe launched on XBLA in 2005. Revenge adds two brand-new modes, including Boss Rush and Weekly Challenge, and its mechanics have been updated too: there are no lives, no checkpoints and no more game over screens. More >

Microsoft is set to double the number of Achievement points available in Xbox Live Arcade games, according to reports. A source told Xbox 360 Achievements that all games released on the service from June 1 onwards will offer a maximum of 30 achievements and a total of 400 Gamerscore, up from 20 and 200 respectively. More >

Lionhead has announced Fable Heroes, a fourplayer hack-and-slasher for Xbox Live Arcade. Revealed at Microsoft's Spring Showcase in San Francisco last week, Fable Heroes has been in development since early last year and is the product of Lionhead's annual Creative Day, which we featured back in E228. More >

Sega has confirmed that an HD remake of Dreamcast classic Jet Set Radio is on the way for Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network and PC. More >

Square Enix has confirmed that it is to publish Quantum Conundrum, the upcoming puzzler from Kim Swift of Portal fame, in Europe. Announced last year, Quantum Conundrum casts players as a child dropped on the doorstep of a mad inventor uncle's mansion, tasking them with solving a succession of physics-based puzzles using the Interdimensional Shift Device. More >

Fez, the long-awaited Xbox Live Arcade platformer by Phil Fish, is finally complete. A tweet from Fish's Polytron studio last night confirms that the game has been submitted to Microsoft for certification. While the time a game takes to clear certification varies, Polytron appears to be targeting an April release. More >

Dreamcast classic Jet Set Radio appears to be bound for Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network. Judging by the below teaser trailer, it will be the next Dreamcast game to be remastered for the console download services, following the likes of Space Channel 5 Part 1, Sega Bass Fishing and Sonic Adventure. More >

Prince Of Persia creator Jordan Mechner is remaking his breakout hit, 1984 Apple II game Karateka, for Xbox Live Arcade and SEN. Speaking to VentureBeat, Mechner confirmed that the remake will be his first day-to-day development job since Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time. He has spent the interim writing for graphic novels, and wrote and directed 2003 documentary Chavez Ravine: A Los Angeles Story. More >

Double Fine head Tim Schafer has said that independent developers are drifting away from the "closed" console download services because of prohibitive costs, claiming that patches alone cost $40,000. Speaking to Hookshot Inc, Schafer said that while Xbox Live Arcade and PSN were genuine options for indies when their host platforms launched, the likes of Steam and the App Store, as well as the Minecraft model, are now much better routes to market. More >

Finnish developer RedLynx has denied that it is behind the appearance on file-sharing websites of its upcoming Xbox Live Arcade game Trials Evolution. The studio once uploaded an incomplete PC build of Trials 2 SE to The Pirate Bay in a bid to stimulate demand for the game. Speaking to Develop, however, managing director Tero Virtala insisted his company had nothing to do with the leak of Evolution, which is due to be released on XBLA this year. More >