Microsoft has announced this week's Xbox Live Arcade release schedule, confirming that SNK's The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match will hit the Xbox 360's online marketplace alongside Team17's Worms 2: Armageddon this Wednesday, July 1. Both are priced at 800 Microsoft Points ($10), with Worms 2 offering a number of new weapons and options while King of Fighter '98 updates the classic fighter and its 64-character roster with support for two-person online multiplayer over Xbox Live.

Continuing its unrelenting dedication to the long-running invertebrate battle series, developer Team17 has announced that Worms 2: Armageddon--the official sequel to the 2007 Xbox Live Arcade edition of Worms--will be available on Xbox 360 come July 1.

Carrying a price tag of 800 Microsoft Points ($10), the downloadable sequel brings a number of new weapons, additional landscape styles and more to Xbox 360 owners.

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For more on the multiple new features and weapons, just keep on reading... Read more

Update: Serious Sam HD is due out on PC this fall, publisher CDV has revealed, with the game due in both retail and digital download form. It'll hit worldwide, Russia excluded.

Original: A downloadable revamp of Croteam's frantic shooter Serious Sam: The First Encounter is due on Xbox 360 in late summer, publisher Majesco announced today.

Dubbed "Serious Sam: The First Encounter HD" and packing online co-op for up to four players, the game is being developed by Croteam with Devolver Digital--a new Texas-based "production and publishing company"--aiding in its production.

"The fans have lobbied us hard to do this, so we are stoked about bringing Sam back as big, bold and bad as he ever was," noted Croteam CEO Roman Ribaric.

"You've waited forever but Serious Sam is back from the nether with its award-winning game play that will remind you why you play FPSs in the first place," Majesco added in the press release, before slyly telling Eurogamer that it'll sell for 1200 MS Points ($15).

SNK's 2D fighter Fatal Fury: Garou - Mark Of The Wolves and Blitz Arcade's aquatic puzzler Droplitz will hit the Xbox 360 this Wednesday, June 24, Microsoft has revealed.

Enhanced over its earlier Dreamcast, PlayStation 2 and arcade releases, Garou - Mark Of The Wolves now sports online multiplayer for two combatants. Meanwhile, Droplitz is a single-player affair focused on routing an unspecified liquid to the bottom of the screen.

Both of the downloadable games will sell for 800 Microsoft Points ($10).

A downloadable expansion pack for Backbone's neon-tastic Xbox Live Arcade revival Space Invaders Extreme will arrive tomorrow, June 17, during the night-time hours.

With the download priced at 240 Microsoft Points ($3), publisher Taito tells us that it will pack three new stages, new enemies and new bosses, along with "emulators of the original black-and-white Space Invaders and 8-bit color Space Invaders 2."

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Publisher THQ has confirmed that Codeglue, traditionally a developer for mobile devices, will see its debut Xbox 360 title Rocket Riot released on Xbox Live Arcade tomorrow.

An explosive side-scroller, Rocket Riot packs 80 single-player missions set in a destructible pixel-styled wonderland, with 4 eight-person multiplayer modes in tow.

Priced at 800 Microsoft Points ($10), Rocket Riot will be downloadable alongside this week's other Xbox Live Arcade releases--Sam & Max Save the World and Magic: The Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers--come the morning of Wednesday, June 17.

Telltale Games has announced that the freelance police will spread their downloadable reign of terror and justice to Xbox 360 on June 17 via Sam & Max Save the World.

Collecting the first season of Telltale's episodic adventure games, Sam & Max Save the World has been smartened up with widescreen, achievements and updated controls.

Not content with saving one former LucasArts adventure series, Telltale announced Tales of Monkey Island at E3 this year, continuing the praised piratical point-and-clicker. Unfortunately, the new Monkey Island games are only coming to PC and Wii at this time, though Xbox Live Arcade will soon receive a revamp of the original Monkey Island.

Sam & Max Save the World will run you a tidy 1600 Microsoft Points ($20).

The bulk of the second "SEGA Vintage Collection" arrived in the Xbox Live Arcade today, offering six classic SEGA games--Gunstar Heroes, Altered Beast, Shinobi, Comix Zone, Phantasy Star 2 and Sonic the Hedgehog 3--at 400 Microsoft Points ($5) a pop.

Each has been updated with support for high definition displays and leaderboards, with Gunstar Heroes, Altered Beast and Sonic 3 also getting online multiplayer.

Excluding Gunstar Heroes, the remaining five games can also be found on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 retail compilation Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection, though the versions found in that bundle don't pack online multiplayer.

While most of the downloads are exclusive to Xbox 360, with Ultimate Genesis Collection reject Sonic & Knuckles due later in the summer, Gunstar Heroes will also be making its way to the PlayStation 3 through tomorrow's PlayStation Store update.

While the artificial size constraint on Xbox Live Arcade titles has been steadily increased since the platform's launch, Microsoft now tells us that no Xbox Live Arcade game can exceed 2GB in size due to technical limitations.

The current "limit" stands at 350MB, but several Arcade games already exceed that boundary, including Portal: Still Alive (629MB), Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (368MB) and Watchmen: The End is Nigh (1GB).

"Our technical constraint is 2GB," said Microsoft director of digital distribution Scott Austin. "If there's a quality reason to go over 350MB, [then we will]."

The original limit was set at 50MB at the console's launch, and then increased from 150MB to 350MB last year.

Chair's upcoming action-platformer Shadow Complex, announced last week at E3, is expected to weigh in around 800-900MB, according to studio creative director Donald Mustard.

Independent developer ACE Team has revealed that it is in discussions to bring its fantastical first-person shooter-brawler hybrid Zeno Clash (PC) to the Xbox 360. "We've been having conversations about a possible XBLA version of the game and we're currently talking with a publisher, but we still haven't closed that yet," studio co-founder Carlos Bordeu told Eurogamer. "But it's something we'd really like to do."

Bordeu noted that a console edition could feature "a little bit of extra content," adding that the Xbox 360 was chosen because of its compatibility with the Valve-developed Source engine that powers Zeno Clash. Alongside the possible XBLA release, the team is also working on more Zeno Clash PC DLC and a "more brutal and engaging" sequel.

Classic N64 shooter Perfect Dark is coming to Xbox Live Arcade this Winter, according to a Twitter update by Microsoft's Larry "Major Nelson" Hyrb.

The game--running in full 1080p--is on display at E3, and this grand news will be celebrated tomorrow by the release of a free Perfect Dark Xbox theme.

The downloadable Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network release of id's classic first-person shooter Wolfenstein 3D will arrive next week, Activision has just revealed.

Containing both the original Wolfenstein 3D and "Nocturnal Missions" expansion--making for a total of 60 levels across six episodes--the shooter will hit Xbox 360 on Wednesday June 3, followed by the PlayStation 3 release on Thursday June 4.

No word yet on a price, though Activision noted that those taking the challenge to defeat the twisted Nazi regime" in Wolf 3D will gain additional accolades and gold for use in Raven's upcoming revamp Wolfenstein (PC, PS3, 360)--due in stores on August 4.

Six of the seven downloadable and enhanced classic old-school titles Sega is bringing to the Xbox 360 will arrive on June 10, the company announced today, with the PlayStation 3 re-release of Gunstar Heroes due out the next day, on June 11.

Arriving under the "SEGA Vintage Collection 2" banner, each game will be sold separately at an as-yet-unknown price point, and has been updated to support high definition visuals, online leaderboards, and, if applicable, online play.

While Gunstar Heroes will hit both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, it appears as if the rest of the titles--Altered Beast, Shinobi, Comix Zone, Phantasy Star 2, Sonic the Hedgehog 3--are currently exclusive to the Xbox Live Arcade, with the final... Read more

A version of the classic football series Tecmo Bowl is headed to Xbox Live Arcade early next year, according to the company.

"For now, we're focusing on bringing Tecmo Bowl to the Xbox LIVE Arcade [in] early 2010," said a Tecmo spokesperson to G4.

Tecmo also added that the Tecmo Bowl Wii project, announced in 2007, is "indefinitely on hold" due to a focus on the recently announced Family Fun Football (Wii).

"Given the recent trend on the Wii and its target audience, Tecmo made a business decision to switch the project into a family oriented football game," said Tecmo.

Set to arrive on Xbox Live Arcade next week are the first episode of Telltale Games's adventure series Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures, Square Enix's block-matching puzzler Yosumin Live and the word-builder Hasbro Family Game Night: Boggle.

The games will be available on Wednesday, priced at 800 Microsoft Points ($10) each.

Naked Sky's top-down shooter Star Trek DAC and Wideload Shorts' minigame-filled card title Texas Cheat 'Em will both hit the online Xbox Live Arcade on Wednesday May 13, Microsoft said today, confirming recent word from the games' respective publishers. Both games will sell for 800 Microsoft Points ($10) a piece, with Star Trek offering class-based online multiplayer for up to 12 players and Cheat 'Em supporting up to 8.

PlayStation 3 and PC versions of both titles will follow their Xbox 360 debut, with Star Trek due on other platforms shortly after its Xbox 360 debut. Meanwhile, Texas Cheat 'Em arrives on PlayStation 3 Thursday May 14, with the PC release date still TBA.

More classic titles from publisher Sega will be updated and released via PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade this summer, the company announced today. The downloadable games will be sold individually, with each release being "re-worked for high definition," supporting leaderboards, and, if applicable, sporting online play.

The overall compilation is dubbed the "SEGA Vintage Collection 2." Oddly, the announcement stated that the collection would hit both PS3 and Xbox 360 this summer, though listings only show Gunstar Heroes hitting both. Details and screens follow:

Gunstar Heroes (XBLA & PSN) - Summer 2009 / Online Play

"The classic side scrolling shooter from the SEGA Genesis returns to captivate fans new and old with its non-stop action and cooperative play."

Altered Beast (XBLA) - Summer 2009 / Online Play... Read more

Backbone's Taito-commissioned Xbox Live Arcade rendition of Space Invaders Extreme will arrive next Wednesday, May 6 at 800 MS Points ($10), Taito announced today.

The neon-heavy downloadable shooter, meant to celebrate Space Invaders' 30th anniversary, packs super-sized enemies and trippy tunes along with various competitive and cooperative multiplayer modes for up to four online or offline players.

Wideload Shorts' downloadable minigame-filled poker title Texas Cheat 'Em will hit the Xbox 360 on May 14 and PlayStation 3 on May 13, D3Publisher announced today.

The Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network download is said to provide a "new take on the classic Texas Hold 'Em rules" for up to eight players. While waiting for others to finish their turn or bet, gamers can partake in various mini-games to earn "cheat attacks," such as x-ray vision, chip stealing and card swapping.

No price point was mentioned, but we've reached out to D3 for more details. Cheat 'Em is also due out on PC at some point, though the publisher has yet to say when.

Publisher Capcom today confirmed the rumored downloadable remake of Marvel vs. Capcom 2, announcing that it will hit Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 this summer.

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Brought to Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Store by Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix veteran Backbone, the re-release is based off the Dreamcast version of Capcom's fighter. Online multiplayer and two HD upscaling options have... Read more