Ubisoft has always been an aggressive supporter of new hardware, and the trend continues for the upcoming PlayStation Vita. The company announced six titles in development for the handheld: Asphalt, Assassin's Creed, Dungeon Hunter Alliance, Lumines, Michael Jackson the Experience, and Rayman Origins.

Lumines' return to Vita, however, is extremely noteworthy--that is one of the few PSP franchises never to be made available digitally on the PlayStation Store. Assassin's Creed will be a "brand new" game for Vita -- although details are non-existent at this moment.

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Valve announced today that Q Entertainment's acclaimed music-based puzzler Lumines is now available for purchase on Steam, Valve's digital distribution platform.

Created by designer Tetsuya Mizuguchi, Lumines features block-dropping puzzle gameplay in which music plays a key role, similar to other Mizuguchi-developed titles Rez and Every Extend Extra. The game originally appeared in 2005 as a launch title for Sony's PSP, and later as a downloadable game for the Xbox 360 and PC. Read more »

Q Entertainment and WildGames have joined forces to bring Tetsuya Mizuguchi's music-based puzzle title Lumines to PC players.

Offered on the applicable WildGames site, Lumines includes five modes of play and an online leaderboard. The game is free to download, with a short ad playing before it launches. The advertising-free version can also be purchased for $20. Read more »

Q Entertainment's Every Extend Extra Extreme and The Bitmap Brothers' Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe mark this week's Xbox Live Arcade releases, arriving on Wednesday, October 17 alongside some Lumines Live! content and news of an impending price drop for the musical puzzler. Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe, billed by Microsoft as "the legendary futuristic sports game" created to combat gang violence, carries an 800 Microsoft Point ($10) price tag. As with most retro upgrades, the download includes both the original 2D graphics as well as an HD reimagining. An explosive shooter in every sense of the word, Every Extend Extra Extreme updates the PSP game, itself based on the PC freeware original, and once again puts players in the role of suicidal space ship bent on causing as much havoc as possible. Built around chain reactions, the game requires skill, timing, and a little luck to create the big combos. Along with the expected Main and Time Attack modes, Every Extend Extra Extreme packs a versus game type, along with something Microsoft describes as "a genuine shooting mode." There's also the infuriatingly named Wiz Ur Muzik mode, which encourages gamers to jam to their own tunes. Announced back in March--during my first day at the Shack, no less--Every Extend Extra Extreme will run 800 Microsoft Points ($10). This week also brings with it two free skins for Q's trance-inducing Lumines Live!-- "Breeze" and the "Heavenly Star" re-release. These are accompanied by the release of the 400 Microsoft Point ($5) Rockin' Holiday Pack and the title's drop from 1200 Microsoft Points ($15) to 800 Microsoft Points ($10).