The single-player PRPG will set Xbox Live subscribers back 1200 Microsoft Points, should they care to invest in Gyromancer. If not, their other option is the ultra-popular Diner Dash, an 800 Microsoft Point download. It is officially touted as “the number one PC time-management game”, which would explain its popularity.

Both Gyromancer and Diner Dash will be available via Xbox Live Marketplace on Wednesday.

IGN reports that Electronic Arts announced its five-on-five Madden NFL Arcade will release Thanksgiving week, a time of the year in the US that already blends pigskin with parking one’s self on the couch for extraordinarily long stretches in front of the tube.

Madden NFL Arcade will release Nov. 24 (Tuesday) on the PlayStation Network and Nov. 25 on Xbox Live. It will cost $US14.99/1200 Microsoft Points.

The above trailer shows some of the reality-defying gameplay you can expect, such as throwing three passes at once, freezing defenders in place and the Washington Redskins scoring two touchdowns on offence. For a closer look at what this game’s all about, Totilo wrote up his impressions a couple of weeks ago.

Madden NFL Arcade Drops The Week of Thanksgiving [IGN via Pasta Padre, video via Padre]

The game company recently polled fans, asking them which title should get the XBLA send-up, and ToeJam & Earl took top prize. Series developer Greg Johnson tells game site Joystiq that SEGA “got ahead of themselves a little bit” with that announcement “and didn’t realise that they don’t have the rights to the property”. Johnson does, and SEGA offered “very little money” to include the characters in the upcoming Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing.

“TJ&E will not be included… and the option for including them as downloadable content is still open,” Johnson said. “Sega said they’re not ready to talk about that yet because they haven’t started making any definite plans, but they promised to give me a shout when they get there — so hopefully we’ll be able to work something out.” Ditto for an XBLA port.

Johnson hasn’t given up on ToeJam & Earl and even pitched around a DS version, which didn’t garner much interest from publishers.

“Right now my studio is pretty busy with other stuff, but I plan to get back to seeing if I can’t make TJ&E games in the future.”

Check out the concept art in the link below.

ToeJam & Earl creator says XBLA port not so certain; future games in franchise still a possibility [Joystiq]

Announced back in June of this year, NBA Unrivaled is Tecmo’s entry into the basketball video-game market since 1992’s Tecmo NBA Basketball, the basketball companion to Tecmo Super Bowl. Like Tecmo NBA, Unrivaled features cut scenes and exaggerated special moves, making it more NBA Jam and less NBA Live.

Unlike the game from 1992, however, NBA Unrivaled features all 30 NBA teams with top players from the latest rosters, full 5-on-5 arcade gameplay and full 1080p HD support.

NBA Unrivaled drops on Wednesday on the Xbox Live Arcade in North America, Japan and Europe, with a PlayStation Network version coming in the near future.

Developed by Cyclone Zero and published by Arc System Works, O-D Beat Drop is your standard block-dropping puzzle game with a rhythmic twist. Players drop their pieces to the beat of music, clearing the board with combos for big points. More than 100 stages of single-player gameplay and four different difficulty levels should keep the solo gamer occupied, while cooperative and versus online play for up to four players should ensure you never play alone.

The niftiest feature of the game, however, is the ability to import your own music. The game will analyse your tunes and let you play along to a beat you might be more comfortable with. Once again it is time for my Infected Mushroom collection to thrive!

O-D Beat Drop will be available on Wednesday for 800 Microsoft points.

This week on Arcade: 0D Beat Drop [Major Nelson]

More than a half a million unique contestants competed in the 15-week beta season of 1 vs 100, and Microsoft wants even more to show up for round two. The second season of the game show kicks off on November 19 at 5pm Pacific Time (12 noon AEDT), with 1 vs 100 Extended Play. Extended Play features new themed trivia every week night, giving players a chance to capitalise on their strengths, giving them a better chance at being chosen as one of The Mob or perhaps even The One himself.

Nearly two million Microsoft points were given away as prizes during the first season, so you might want to keep an eye on the schedule this time around. Even if you aren’t a big fan of trivia, you could win enough points to buy a game you really want to play. No pain, no gain?

Kotaku AU note: Meanwhile, we’re still waiting on a local launch.

Mark November 18 on your calendar, and then set the rest of the week busy. That’s the date that Square Enix and Popcap bring the blend of puzzle game and RPG pioneered by Puzzle Quest to the next level, adding collectible monsters to the mix. Gyromancer has you summoning monsters to fight other monsters in Bejeweled Twist-flavoured puzzle battles. As if that weren’t bad enough, your monsters also gain levels as you fight with them, much like they do in Pokémon, and they come on pretty little cards that you’ll want to collect until you pass out dead on your couch or in your computer chair.

Maybe it’s just me, shaking with anticipation here. If I disappear after November 18, call the police. Better yet, call Dominos and have them deliver some pizza.

That stands for “F—k This Shit!”

One-hit kills (except for grenade splash damage). No continues.

The middle level of difficulty is called “Dame This Is Hard.” The easy level is called “Wussy”.

The early 2010 downloadable game Matt Hazard: Blood Bath And Beyond has that sense of humour. I played it yesterday and can confirm that it’s a game that was made to reproduce the frustrations (and joys) of old-school games while laughing at them.

Blood Bath and Beyond is an ode to Contra, an eight level downloadable title for Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Network developed by the same Vicious Cycle team that produced Eat Lead, the 2009 third-person comedy shooter that parodied a generation of video games. Eat Lead was in 3D. The new game, a throwback, is a side-scrolling shooter.

Both games put players in control of Matt Hazard, a self-aware video game character who has seen his star fade as he was (fictionally) made to star in increasingly lame games. He was a badass action star reduced to kart racing, of all things.

In Blood Bath and Beyond, Hazard is sent back into games he (again, fictionally) starred in in the early 90s as he hunts down Neutronov, the villain who has stolen Matt’s 8-bit self. A second player can join as Dexter Dare, Matt’s ’90s sidekick.

Contra fans would recognise the gameplay. The left stick moves the character across a scrolling battlefield full of angry enemies. One button makes the player’s character jump. One button fires his gun. Holding a shoulder button locks Matt or Dexter in place so they can easily fire from all angles. A pull of one of the triggers allows Matt or Dexter to shoot into the background. Weapon upgrades fall from the sky, providing temporary access to machine guns, rocket launchers, flame-throwers and guns that shoot a tall spray of bullets.

The levels are ripped from a fictional version of Hazards’ ’90s games, though you might need to be told that. While they play like a ’90s Contra, they have the more polished look of a modern game and sometimes riff on products from a few decades. For example, 2007’s BioShock gets a send-up in this level called Hate Boat:

There’s also a level that has players fighting Mounties and Moose Tanks. Anyone know what that’s a reference to?

I watched a Vicious Cycle developer play through a pirate level based on a fake game called Chest of the Pirate Queen. Pirate skeletons ran in from the sides of the screen. Some parts of the level, on a boat, swayed with the motion of the sea. Then I tried a more cutesy level with demented Pokemon-style trainers spawning colourful monsters I needed to eliminate. Another reporter and I shot our way up several floors of a big house that was full of fighters, snakes and these Pokemon-like creatures. The level felt like it was ripped, amusingly, from what I believe was the 80s Kung-Fu game I long ago played on my friend’s Nintendo Entertainment System. Surprisingly, though, it ended with a boss battle against a large mechanical rhino who had a long health bar. The fight against him was as pattern-based and tough as a lot of old-school gaming fights, the kind of thing that will make one gamer laugh, one gamer relish the throwback challenge and another run away.

Publisher D3 of America has no price to announce yet for the new Matt Hazard, but the creators promise about two to three hours of first-time play through on lesser difficulty levels, with support for local co-op, online leaderboards, and of course, that hard difficulty mode.

Want to laugh at how people used to play games? Then this one’s for you.

Two new titles hit the Xbox Live Arcade this week, both setting you back 800 Microsoft points should you choose to partake. Inferno Pool is a whole new sort of competitive pool, with players firing balls at their opponents as they attempt to domination their own tables in 1-4 player multiplayer online and offline matches.

Rainbow Islands: Towering Adventure! is a platforming game in which the player tries to climb from the Earth into outer space, harnessing rainbows to aid your ascent. Solo players can partake of Story, Time Attack and Challenge modes, with 2-player co-op and competitive online play available for those who would rather involve others.

Anything strike your fancy this week? I’m eying Inferno Pool, though I might hold out for Hustle Kings on PSN this winter.

4J Studios seems to be doing a fine job of updating the original Perfect Dark to HD for its Xbox Live Arcade incarnation. Elvis is certainly looking healthy, all spruced up and ready to rescue Joanna from the clutches of the vile Skedar. Check out the other two screens below to see how the environments and weapons are coming along.