At its CES keynote last night Microsoft announced that House Party, the Xbox Live Arcade promotion that debuted last year, is to return next month.
The campaign kicks off on February 16 with the release of Konami’s side-scrolling shooter Hard Corps: Uprising. Microsoft has not confirmed the release dates of the other four games in the promotion or any pricing details, but one will be released on Live Arcade as usual each Wednesday.
Heading the list are Ubisoft’s upscaled re-release of Michel Ancel’s 2003 action-adventure, the logically-titled Beyond Good & Evil HD, and a port of Runic Games’ 2009 PC action RPG Torchlight.
PopCap is releasing Bejeweled Blitz Live, a reboot of its match-three gem puzzler with a 16-player online party mode that sounds equal parts amazing and terrifying.
Filling out the list is Full House Poker, which features two-player heads-up poker as well as 30-player online tournaments.
Last year’s Live Arcade House Party took place in March and saw the release of Toy Soldiers, Scrap Metal, Perfect Dark and resounding retro non-success Game Room.