After the abomination that was Double D dodgeball, I can’t imagine anyone getting too excited over this; but for lovers of pirates and ninjas, they’ll be dodging balls on XBLA this coming September 3rd. Read more after the break. Read more…

Who says gamers are cheap and/or tasteless? Despite sizable Internet uproar over its 1,200 Microsoft point asking price, the artsy puzzle-platformer Braid has managed to win the credit card digits of over 27,000 downloaders, earning it a gross of $405,000, according to a recent glance at the game’s leaderboards. That makes it the 2nd best selling XBLA game in its first three days, no small feat for a game like this, especially considering the paltry fate of similar indie-grown titles like N+.

Strong word of mouth, an awesome demo and some extremely positive reviews (the game has a 92.4% on GameRankings) most likely drove the game’s sales. And it’s not hard to imagine that the publicity from the pricing controversy eventually ended up doing more good than bad, as it visibly increased the game’s profile. I’m sure plenty of people went from “WTF is Braid?” to “what the hell could be worth 1200 points” after which they tried the demo, loved it, and bought the game.

Creator and lead designer Jonathan Blow had previously defended the game’s price as a necessity:

“There is a significant possibility that Braid would have been the next Psychonauts or Beyond Good and Evil (critically acclaimed but nobody played it), even at $10. If that happens at $10 then I am in debt and have to get a job and can’t make games any more. If that happens at $15, maybe I can still make games.”

Guess you can make games, and buy a new car, eh Jonathan?

Though the game was announced for an August 6th release at E3, it seems that Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 has already sped through certification for a July 30th release. Yeah, that’s next week.

This morning, Bizzare Creations’ community leader Ben Ward let loose that 6 days from now, the sequel to Bizzare Creations’ hit XBLA SHMUP will be available for purchase on Xbox Live Arcade.

Ward also announced that the game’s trial is not as limited as other XBLA trials, as it will feature the full version of the game’s Deadline mode, in which you score as many points as you can in a limited amount of time. This mode also has 4-player local multiplayer support, in both the trial and full game.

Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 will be available for purchase on Xbox Live Arcade for 800 points ($10).

If Ikaruga and Geometry Wars exchanged drunken looks at a bar after-hours and stumbled into eachother’s arms, only to later regret their cheap hotel-room fling and the fact that they forgot to use protection, the result might look something like Schizoid.

A co-op game where the red and blue ships can only destroy their own types of colors, Schizoid also has the glory of being the first game pushed out the door via Xbox Live Arcade’s hot new development community, XNA. Read more…

Got the (deep breath) Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix Beta (phew) up and running on the 42 in LCD and roped my roommate, Josh–a gamer and game programmer–into sharing his thoughts along with mine.

It’s really barely a taste of what the final product will be like, but you at least get a sense of what the shiny HD will look like. Click through so you know what you are disagreeing with before you post nasty comments. Read more…

Today is the day, all you proud Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3 owners. Buying that unrelated Capcom-published shooter on Xbox Live Arcade has also bought you into the Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix beta, which will last for about 8 weeks. That should be plenty enough time to get a decent re-handle on the two included characters, Ryu and Ken, during both local and online matches (including tournaments!) Check the jump for Capcom’s detailed instructions to getting off some early hadokens. Read more…

Those of you who were wondering about the price-point of a project like Bionic Commando: Rearmed need not fear. Producer Ben Judd has confirmed that the price will be $10 (800 Microsoft Points) across all platforms – Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and PC. Read more…

In an attempt to get you more excited about Fable 2’s release, Peter Molyneux and the studly geniuses at Lionhead are giving you an early taste in the form of an Xbox Live Arcade game. Read more…

As you may have noticed, Day Three exploits are going up a little later than usual. Unfortunately, we had a run-in with the Blaznatz chewing up our bandwidth, so we were unable to get a good connection. Damn him and his chainsaw bayonet…

We’ve decided to combine our day three info with day four, which would officially make this Ripten’s GDC 08 Coverage: Day Seven. Read on for all the goodness. Read more…

Xbox Evolved claims that in talks with very reliable sources evidence has presented itself in the form of, well, we don’t know what form of evidence they saw. They just won’t show us, but what they did is tell us all about is what may be headed to our XBLA. Banjo, Ms. Dark, or dare we say, Bond? Read more…

It’s the elegant, immediate control system of Sensible Soccer that makes it so enduring and influential. To play soccer, you need to kick, so give them a “kick” button. Oh, and we should let them run too. Finished. Read more…