Is there a concerted effort from Microsoft and major publishers to curb the flow of independent games on Xbox Live Arcade? Several 'concerned' developers have noted that Microsoft has in fact "dramatically reduced" the number of indie games on the said online games service.

Plants vs. Zombies, released for PC and Mac a couple of months ago, is a quirky little tower defense game from PopCap Games that has players using plants to defend their house against a zombie invasion. If that sounds right up your alley, then here's some good news.

Serious Sam creators Croteam, along with Devolver Digital and Majesco, are bringing Sam "Serious" Stone's first adventure -- Serious Sam: The First Encounter -- to XBLA sporting some seriously upgraded HD graphics.

We reported earlier that some modders have spotted a new Jasper-based Xbox 360 Arcade with 512MB onboard memory. The published images are from a Japanese Arcade SKU made on April 9th 2009 which features a larger internal memory unit rather than the standard 256MB of the original model. Now Microsoft has finally confirmed the news that all new Xbox 360 Arcade models are now shipping with 512MB of onboard memory as standard.

You've got the release date and the theme on the XBL. Now it's time for you to get more details on Rare's Perfect Dark coming to the Xbox 360's online one-stop shop service. Thanks to Xbox.com's listing, we finally get confirmation that it will be having online play for it as well.

The PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade launch of Sega's online-enabled downloadable version of Gunstar Heroes has been dated for a post-E3 appearance along with the XBLA-only Sega Vintage Collection 2. Details after the jump.

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 Sega's not only targeting Xbox Live Arcade for another Gunstar Heroes re-release. Ratings from both the ESRB and PEGI have hinted at a possible PlayStation Network stint for the Genesis shooter.

You may have already heard that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time is getting a refresh by way of a remake for the Xbox Live Arcade. Pics of the remake have been floating around the 'Net for a while now, but here's what is probably the first footage of the upcoming game. We've also come across some reports saying that Turtles In Time is also heading for the Wii.

Things are definitely looking up for Xbox Live Arcade as Square Enix and SNK Blast announce that they'll each be throwing their own stuff into Microsoft's online service. The two publishers have set dates and margins for their Xbox Live releases, so we'll be seeing more life at Live in the coming months. Hit the full article for the release schedule and vids for the Squeenix releases.