This week's Xbox Live "Deal of the Week" discounts a set of action-focused Arcade titles, most down 50% from their original price. The Action Arcade promo (via MajorNelson) includes:

• Mega Man 10 - 400MS Points (50% off from 800MS Points / $10) Read more »

Although Major Nelson has listed the online-only shooter Blacklight: Tango Down for a July 7 release on the Xbox Live Arcade, an Ignition spokesperson confirmed to Shacknews that title has "not received a release date" and can only confirm the game is "coming soon." Blacklight: Tango Down is priced at 1200 MS points ($15). Read more »

Pre-ordering Monkey Island 2 Special Edition: LeChuck's Revenge on Steam nets you The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition for free, LucasArts has announced.

Both games are revamps of their respective beloved adventure game originals, featuring full voice acting, remastered scores and redrawn graphics--and plus option to switch back to the old style. MI2: SE, however, also features a creator audio commentary track and the ability to mix and match the new voices with the old art style. Read more »

Poor Gibberish Driftwood is stuck in Monkey Island 2 Special Edition's classic mode in the E3 trailer for LucasArts' adventure game revamp but luckily the LucasArts Games Hint Line is on hand to explain how to switch to the snazzy redrawn graphics mode.

Meanwhile, a batch of screenshots show more comparisons between original and revamped graphics--which can be switched between with a single button press, as Gorbush learned--plus a peek at its fancy bonus "Art of Monkey Island" gallery. Other bonuses include an audio commentary track by series star developers Ron Gilbert, Tim Schafer and Dave Grossman. Read more »

Mega-publisher Electronic Arts has issued a breakdown of the games it will display next week at E3 2010, offering new release dates and windows for a few titles in the process.

RISK: Factions, the downloadable Xbox 360-exclusive revamp of the classic board game, will arrive on June 23, 2010.

Meanwhile, EA SPORTS NBA JAM--a Wii exclusive--will hit in October alongside the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 editions of the recently renamed NBA ELITE 11. Read more »

The annual instalment of EA's FIFA football--"soccer," to some--series will once again be released in the traditional fall slot, the developer and publisher announced today.

EA claims that FIFA Soccer 11 "reinvents player authenticity" with a feature dubbed "Personality+," which uses "a database that evaluates and grades each player's skill-set over 36 attributes and 57 traits" collated by 1700 footie fans worldwide. Read more »

As Ubisoft continues to expand upon the success of Just Dance--nearly three million copies have been sold worldwide--the company has now announced Gold Gym's Dance Workout.

The second Wii-exclusive dancing game to be announced by Ubisoft in just as many days--the first, Longtail Studios' Dance On Broadway, was revealed two weeks before its retail debut--Gold's Gym Dance Workout is being developed by Landho Co. and is due to hit North America in August 2010. Read more »

Monkey Island creators Ron Gilbert, David Grossman, and Tim Schafer discuss the series along with the development team for Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge: Special Edition.

Like the Special Edition of the original Secret of Monkey Island, the updated version will include new graphics, music, voice acting, and commentary from the creators. In Monkey Island 2: SE, players will be able to listen to the new voice work, while playing the old-school grahpics version of the game. Read more »

The complete first season of Telltale's episodic adventure game Tales of Monkey Island is on offer now in a $19.95 discount double-pack with LucasArts' own 'Special Edition' revamp of its game that began it all, 1990's The Secret of Monkey Island.

Tales of Monkey Island typically costs $34.99 on its lonesome while The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition will run you $9.99. The offer ends on Friday, May 7, so ye scurvy dogs best be heading for shore 'fore the treasure's lost forever. Read more »

Online gaming provider InstantAction today launched the latest facet of its service, allowing full-featured games to be embedded on a web page thanks to its streaming technology.

"InstantAction makes embedding video games as easy as embedding a standard video or photo, and at equivalent speeds," the company claimed in today's announcment, explaining that the "embed code will also work on any webpage that allows HTML editing, and supports Javascript and iframes." Read more »

LucasArts wasn't joking around when it said that the enhanced re-release of Monkey Island 2 would feature commentary from "the game's creators," as it today revealed that the in-game commentary features contributions from Ron Gilbert, Tim Schafer and Dave Grossman.

"Ron, Tim, Dave will be lending their trademark wit and humor to select areas in the game," said LucasArts." When playing, players will be able to hear the three's insights into key areas of the game and get insight into making the original game as well as their thoughts on the new Special Edition treatment." Read more »

Another batch of screenshots from LucasArts' enhanced remake of Monkey Island 2 have arrived, once again comparing the newly redrawn visuals with the pixelated original.

As with the Special Edition of the original Monkey Island--already available on PC, Xbox 360 and iPhone, due on PlayStation 3 and Mac soon--Monkey Island 2 SE will allow players to switch between the revamped and original visuals at any time. This time around, players will be able to hear voice-overs regardless of their graphical choice. Read more »

LucasArts has released a new round of Monkey Island 2 Special Edition screenshots, comparing the 1991 original's graphics with the 2010 revamped and redrawn edition.

Of course, they could also be showing how players can switch between the new and original graphics with a single button press while still benefiting from the re-mastered score, full voice recording and in-game audio commentary from unspecified "creators." Read more »

A prettied-up and enhanced version of Capybara's fantasy puzzle-RPG Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes (DS) is coming to PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 as a digital download.

Along with all the content from the Nintendo DS edition, the Critter Crunch dev is adding HD visuals plus online and local multiplayer.

Both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 iterations of Clash of Heroes are expected in the summer, with the Nintendo DS version having hit retail in December 2009. Read more »

Nexon's crazily popular Korean action-MMORPG Mabinogi Heroes will be coming to the United States later this year as Vindictus, the company tells Shacknews.

Based on Celtic mythology, the Source-powered game focuses on environment interactivity, teamwork, and fast-paced action. Large monsters require coordinated teamwork to defeat and almost anything in can be destroyed and used as a weapon. Read more »