This Wednesday's Xbox Live Arcade updates are Xevious and Rush 'n Attack. Made by Konami and set in the cold war, Rush 'n Attack is the "Rush'n" (Russian) game you'd expect it to be, with you playing an American special forces soldier on a mission to infiltrate a Soviet base. The goal of the 2D sidescroller is to find and free all of the American war prisoners in all four stages, and it even offers co-op play. Xevious is Namco's "Are you devious enough to beat Xevious?" vertical scrolling shooter that we've all seen before, and challenges players to fly through combat zones with enemies all around and even on the ground. With many hidden bonuses it should be fun to play through again after all these years.

I think I'll pass on a Japanese game about American patriotism with crappy graphics, although the two games have received the typical HD graphical upgrade. Both games are 400 Microsoft Points, and both come with leaderboards, twelve achievements, and 200 Gamerscore points.

Microsoft has an Xbox Live Arcade update for us today, for 400 points ($5) you can get the classic game with these additional features: Two player co-op multiplayer locally or over Xbox LIVE, choice between the original graphics or new high-definition graphics, all new music, hints and tips, three leaderboards, customizable button configurations, and the ability to earn up to 12 Achievements and 200 Gamerscore points.

That should keep you busy for a while, but they've also announced six new games that will be coming soon to their Xbox Live Arcade selection library:

Mad Tracks: This 3-D racing party game from Load Inc. and D3Publisher recalls all the fun of playing with toy cars from childhood. Up to four players can race micro cars in a variety of gameplay modes in familiar settings such as a living room, a restaurant and a toy store.

Rush 'n Attack: Also known as "Green Beret," from Konami Digital Entertainment Inc., this is a faithful next-generation update of this classic coin-op arcade title where the player assumes the role of a special forces agent sent behind enemy lines to infiltrate an enemy military complex and free captured prisoners of war.

Soltrio Solitaire: From Silver Creek Entertainment, this is a collection of 18 different solitaire games, offering co-op and competitive two-player solitaire game modes.

Spyglass Board Games: From Strange Flavour Ltd. and Freeverse, this offers classic versions of the world's most beloved board games, including chess, checkers, mancala and reversi, as well as the ability to enjoy video chat with friends via the Xbox LIVE Vision camera.

Street Trace:NYC: This is a hover board racing and arena battle game from Gaia Industries Inc. set against the urban wasteland of future New York City. Make your mark on the leaderboards in intense eight-player action over Xbox LIVE, or battle at home through split-screen or single-player tournaments.

Undertow: This is a fast-paced action shooter from Chair Entertainment Group that thrusts players underwater as they battle for control of the oceans, and features a robust single player/co-op campaign and up to 16-player multiplayer action over Xbox LIVE.

I'm going to be all over online chess like AIDS on Uno.

Earlier this month news spread that Castle Crashers was delayed to 2008, and caused more complaints than was probably necessary for a small Xbox Live Arcade game. Once Microsoft increased the maximum XBLA file size limit, The Behemoth decided to push back the game's release and add more levels and gameplay mechanics. Since then, The Behemoth has announced that the delay doesn't necessarily mean it's delayed to 2008. But it might be.

This new GDC 2007 video shows off gameplay against a Barbarian boss, and it makes my "Zelda: Four Swords meets Gauntlet Legends" comparison from the past look even more close to the truth. Once the boss is defeated he's squashed by a giant treasure chest that spews a fountain of gold onto the level for you and the others to race around collecting as quickly as possible. I didn't notice any new gameplay abilities, but there were four ladies tied up above the enemy crowd - perhaps the story will revolve around their rescue from time to time. The video below is just more typical Castle Crashers gameplay, but I think it might be the opening level of the game, as the barbarians storm your castle.

 

Last week was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on Xbox Live Arcade, and now we get Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - I doubt we'll ever have a better two weeks in a row. Castlevania: SotN is up for download now for 800 Microsoft points (ten bucks), and offers twelve achievements and 200 Gamerscore points. And for those of you with big screens, you can choose between the original graphics or enhanced visuals for when the game is played in high definition.

Aw, crap. A few days ago Microsoft gave us the news we were waiting for - that the Xbox Live Arcade game maximum size was raised by 100MB to a new limit of 150MB. I was glad that we'd get more in-depth games in the future, and therefore more for our money, but I didn't think it would directly affect any games that were already in development. The Behemoth  development team took this news and decided to push back their game's release date a full year and spend more time expanding their co-op fighting game. Xbox Live Arcade games aren't supposed to take longer than full disc sized games to make, I wish they'd just give us Castle Crashers now and spend the extra time on a sequel. If you're new to this game, then check out preview video here, and then join the rest of us anxiously awaiting this game's release.

Microsoft has confirmed an increase in the maximum size limit of its Xbox Live Arcade games from 50 MB to 150 MB, and the new memory unit will be 512 MB. You can expect to walk past this rip-off in stores on April 3rd for $49.99 - in other words, just get a friggin 20 GB hard drive for a hundred bucks. If you do get a new 512 MB card though, it'll come pre-loaded with a copy of Geometry Wars, but that's still not worth it. The original 64 MB memory cards should drop down to $29.99, but they're being phased out. Way to waste our time Microsoft, we better get some larger XBLA downloads that are worth the extra space.

Last month we learned that Guitar Hero 2 for Xbox 360 was going to include some extra content that wasn't on the PlayStation 2 version, and the rumors are starting to pick up Spartan speed. The extra content will be ten additional songs available for download on the Xbox Live Arcade, with one of them rumored to be the Halo theme song that was recorded on the Halo 2 soundtrack (Mjolnir Mix). This rumor spawned from the March issue of Xbox Official Magazine, so you'd think they might be privy to some inside information, but then you remember that the day after March is none other than April Fool's Day, so don't get your hopes up.

It makes sense to me though - a good amount of people who bought the Halo games in the past will probably also buy Guitar Hero 2 when it comes out. Giving them the possibility to rock out to their favorite game music is exactly the type of thing I can see Microsoft striving for, simply for  further bragging rights against the original PS2 game.

These Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles screenshots got leaked from Xbox Live Arcade's beta testing network PartnerNet, and fans said video or I don't believe it, but much to their surprise they even got a peak at what it would look like on XBLA. Microsoft tried delete the pictures before anyone noticed but the Internet was victorious at spreading the screenshots quickly. I still don't know why giant metal balls roll down staircases on the first level, but when it comes out on XBLA I'll still remember how to dodge them. I could never beat this game without Game Genie though - I'd always get stuck at the level where the Siberian tigers would come out of the paintings in the Chinese dojo area. Thanks to 1PStart for ripping the video onto YouTube for us.

The Behemoth is the development team responsible for what most people believe is the best online flash game ever: Alien Hominid. When the lead programmer is also the owner of Newgrounds, that doesn't hurt, but there's no denying that a game is designed well when it later gets upgraded and made for game consoles. Their next project looks like Gauntlet Legends meets Four Swords, which sounds like the perfect Xbox Live Arcade game. I've been following Castle Crashers for a long time, but there's still no release date announced yet. Don't let this game's cartoony style fool you, I'm looking forward to its multiplayer action almost as I am Halo 3. Hopefully it'll be out in April or May.

It's been predicted for a while, but now it's official. The new 512 MB memory card for the Xbox 360 will replace the old 64 MB cards, and it'll be in stores on March 1st. This should blow open plenty of possibilities for Xbox Live Arcade games, it's likely that their 250 MB maximum size will be raised even further to bring bigger and better games to 360 Xbox Live subscribers. I would suggest not waiting until March to try and get one though, you can actually preorder them on GameStop right now for $49.99, just ten bucks more than the old versions. I don't see why you wouldn't just buy the full 20 GB hard drive for twice the amount though.