Screwjumper by Frozen Codebase

A port of the upcoming Xbox Live Arcade title, Screwjumper is all about expulsions and moving fast. Following the exploits of rogue mine workers, the game has players diving into an open mine shaft and causing as much destruction as possible, chiefly by throwing dynamite and running head-first into obstacles. Though players can tuck their bodies to move faster, they have to be careful as too much velocity will cause them to catch on fire and lose health.

If players do enough damage during their descent, as indicated by a bar on the right side of the screen, they detonate the mine's core when they get to the bottom. If they fail, their in-game avatars are gassed to death. Assuming they are successful, they are then rocketed through the shaft, forced to outmaneuver obstacles and the tailing explosion in a frantic race for survival.

In addition to the single-player campaign, the game will also feature a multiplayer mode where players race to the bottom of the shaft in a competition for points, which Frozen Codebase plans to expand beyond that of the Xbox Live Arcade version.

Planet 12 by Frozen Codebase

A deathmatch game unlike many others, Planet 12 has players duking it out for survival in the 2D realm. Currently supporting up to eight players, the game features multiple character classes, each with their own attributes. Some run faster than others, some jump higher, some do more damage. The selected weapons comes into play as well, as certain guns, such as the sniper rifle, zoom the camera out for a better view of the surrounding chaos.

Toss in the standard variety of gameplay modes, including King of the Hill, and an incredibly intuitive control scheme that puts movement on the keyboard and aiming on the mouse, and you've got a game that takes seconds to pick up but should provide hours of entertainment.

Virtual Dude by GarageGames

Thought up by GarageGames co-founder Jeff Tunnel and programmed by Eric Hartman and Ben Garney, a version of Virtual Dude will be used for InstantAction avatar creation. Much like Mii creation on Wii, the title provides a ridiculous amount of shapes and parts, such as boots and black eyes, that players can drag into their canvas and bring to life through pre-set animations and simple frame manipulation. Though not a traditional game, it's definitely entertaining, and carries that same addictive, creative twinge many feel when booting up MS Paint or Photoshop.

Marble Blast Online by GarageGames

Based on GarageGames' Xbox Live Arcade offering Marble Blast Ultra, Marble Blast Online adds ten new multiplayer maps to the game and features two methods of competition. The first is an individual challenge, in which players race through a level on their own and attempt to beat the best times of their opponents. The other is a more traditional versus mode that has players facing off against one another, trying to knock each other out of the level while collecting the point shards that appear throughout.

Control is handled by keyboard and mouse, which works quite well and is easy to pick up, though that does little to help beginning players when they face off against GarageGames' expert ball handlers.

InstantAction.com is slated to launch in early 2008.