As Major Nelson announced on his blog, the Xbox Live section of Amazon is holding a sale. The download coupons for some Xbox Live Arcade Classics being offered by the online retailer have gone for as low as three bucks! Not a whole lot of a price slash from the original US$ 5, sure. But if you buy it by bulk and do the maths, you'll surely get more bang out of your buck.

It looks like Microsoft is pulling out all the stops in making the rest of summer feel like an Xbox Live joyride. Microsoft has announced a slew of upcoming releases, even coming out with a 100,000 MS Point promotion. Yes folks, that's 100,000 MS points. Learn more after the jump!

Microsoft's has unveiled a ton of new stuff making its way for the Xbox Live Arcade for this year over at the E3. Among other things, there's the upcoming arrival of Portal on XBLA and sequels for XBLA's Geometry Wars and Uno. Details are available in the full article.

XNA Chief Chris Satchell has just dropped a couple of bombs at the GDC 2008. He announced that Xbox Live will be getting a new service called Community Games. This feature gives developers a chance to post their games and eventually get it up on Xbox Live. For more on this, head on over to the full article.

Every kid in the neighborhood knows about Bungie Studios' Halo 3, or at least in the UK. It's almost not surprising that even the British Broadcasting Corporation, or BBC, felt the need to tell millions of people about Master Chief's final battle. What took our attention the most is when things went wrong, and the PlayStation 3's Killzone 2 mistakenly appeared on a report for the premiere Xbox 360 title.

Apparently, them lads call Halo 3 both a first-person shooter and shoot 'em up. We don't know if it's human error or some sort of miscommunication, but footage of what was supposed to be the "Halo killer" back in the day played while BBC's anchor talked about Halo 3's much anticipated release.

Nintendo's Wii Sports was also mentioned as something very simplistic yet still manage to outsell shoot 'em up games (Galaga, is that you?). Believe in pressing the play button and finish the fight entire video, then you'll see what we're talking about.

Buy: [Halo 3]
Buy: [Killzone 2]

Microsoft announced earlier today that two more classic titles will be added to its Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) lineup. Rush 'n Attack and Xevious will go live within this week as part of XBL Wednesdays and will be available for 400 MS points each (US$ 5). Did some of you submit a request for these titles to Microsoft?

Anyway, Rush 'n Attack was created by Konami back in 1985 and first appeared as an arcade game. However, the most known version was the one on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Some of the game's features on XBLA include:

• Four stages to free the prisoners of war
• Two players can play together locally or over Xbox LIVE in either Versus or Co-op mode
• Local multiplayer features split screen action with results captured on Leaderboards
• Players can chose to play with either the authentic, original graphics or with enhanced graphics which features fully rendered 3-D models
• All music and sound effects have been digitally enhanced
• Earn up to 12 Achievements and 200 Gamerscore points

Namco's Xevious, on the other hand, first appeared in 1982 on arcade systems and runs on Namco Galaga hardware. It is basically a vertical scrolling shooter that involves combat aircraft Solvalou. The new reiteration will have the following features:

• Play the 100% arcade accurate reproduction of Xevious for the first time anywhere
• Test your memory: uncover hidden bonuses that are scattered throughout the levels just like in the arcade version, where shots to the ground uncover power-ups like Sol towers and 1UPs
• Compare your high score against other Xevious players from around the world on the Leaderboards
• Earn up to 12 Achievements and 200 Gamerscore points

Like other XBLA titles, the two have been modified for HD but players will always have the option to play them using the classic visuals.

Is there any particular video game that still haunts you up to this very day? One that, if you died today, you'll be sure to be earthbound because of this one "unfinished business"? Okay, so that was morbid. But that pretty much drove the point home now, didn't it?

I first got introduced to the wonderful world of gaming consoles through the NES, otherwise known as the Family Computer in Japan. Now this little wonder brought me some very fond and special memories growing up, thanks to its wholesome and now-retro 8-bit graphics. Games like Galaga, Battle City, Twinbee, Contra, and of course, the immortal Super Mario Bros. kept me company during stale afternoons, with ignored chocolate-covered donuts sitting beside me across our living room floor.

And then came a whole new generation of gaming consoles. Handhelds like the Game Boy and its successors, and even the simplistic Game & Watch, to the more powerful modern consoles we have today, all played a part - no matter how minute - in my formative years. They certainly kept me off the streets, for sure. I guess I only have them to blame for my not having developed that "streetsmart" gene in my system.

Even after all those games and gaming machines, however, I still couldn't let go of that one NES game that I never got to finish: Adventure Island.

Not that I didn't find the adventures of Master Higgins interesting or exciting enough for my own amateur taste, back then. But with the onslaught of newer game titles coming along, and with the irrational, almost neurotic desire of finishing a level without any scratch or bruise or diminished life for my Master Higgins, I did not realize that I had slowly and unwittingly pushed it to the back of the game shelves.

And then I got busy with other things - Tetris, Metroid, school, dates, friends, sneak-outs at night, the X-Files, Castlevania, high school prom, college admissions, Need for Speed Underground, Sex and the City... and good ol' Master Higgins remained in the webbed corner of my consciousness. Not to be disturbed, and more importantly, never to disturb me. Until we met again, that is.

Read on to see if we share the same hang up experience over that one unfinished game, and to see what else is on QJ's list by clicking on Full Article!

And it seems like we just might get off the LOST island faster than any of the characters will, in terms of information on its game version. Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof, executive producers of the highly popular ABC TV Show and podcast hosts, have revealed some pretty interesting bits on the LOST videogame.

Of course, you can't expect it to be enough to drench the info thirst we all have regarding this title. But what they did reveal certainly is enough to confirm that there is, indeed, a light at the end of the tunnel.

First off is the revelation that the LOST game will actually be a multiplatformer, to find its way through the jungles of the Xbox 360, the PS3, and the PC. As for how far along is the game in development, Cuse and Lindelof said that the Ubisoft Montreal team has in fact already presented to them the game demo. The guys even went to the LOST studios themselves.

So were the producers impressed? Well, Carlton said it "will actually be a really cool game", while Damon concurred, albeit with a little dissent: "Not as cool as Galaga, but what is?"

To find out more about what the LOST exec prods had to say in the podcast, just click on Download below.

Download: LOST Podcast

The controls for this game made with the Microsoft's XNA Environment are relatively simple. For PC users, you can use space-bar to fire, arrow keys to move, P to pause, Enter to start new game when 'game over'. Alternatively, you can use the Xbox 360 gamepad to move and A button to fire.

The game definitely hearkens back to the days of Galaga and Space Invaders. You know, those games where you lose hairs on moving left and right in as agile a manner as you can. Even if the ship design may look a bit weird, the images look decent enough.

This shooter is Johan Hiemstra's first C# app, so be nice people. After he gets some comments about his code, he says that he hopes to expand the game to add in more enemies. Well, the game certainly looks promising and we hope that Johan continues to work on it. Kudos dude.

Download [XNA - Shooter]

We could simply use phrases like "a blast from the past" or "good old times." But it definitely felt more than those when it comes to Microsoft's pre-TGS event. The recent months saw Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) being overwhelmed by possible game pitches. Well it seems today, they've gotten over the feeling and are once again ready to roll.

As proof, a sort video, or should we call it a montage, was released. The more than 1 minute clip showcases classics such as Pac-man, Galaga, Marble Blast Ultra, Bejeweled and a whole lot of others. The montage actually is so fast, we missed quite a few title. We're making the video available for download and we are kind of hoping, you guys can help us determine some of the games.
 
After seeing the montage, you'll be joining us in saying that above mentioned phrases wouldn't just suffice. We were thinking for an appropriate description and we couldn't come out with any save for "happy days."

Download: [XBLA Arcade Montage]