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.

Similar to the game's Xbox 360 incarnation, Lumines can be purchased as a standalone Base Pack—which includes a challenge mode with 21 unlockable skins and a skin edit mode—and upgraded with the Advance Pack, which adds 21 challenge mode skins, Puzzle Mode and Mission Mode.

Both the Base Pack and Advance Pack are available now on Steam for $9.95 and $7.95, respectively. Players who buy the games before April 25 will receive a 10% discount off their purchase.

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.

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 ... Read more