Chime is one of those games that try to push the boundaries of game design. The Chime gameplay mechanic is quite simple — put shapes on a grid with the aim of making music.

Gamers will take control of one shape at a time, and then move and rotate it around the game space in order to place it on a grid. There is also a beatline that moves across the screen in time with the music being played and this triggers events when it hits the shapes.

The very interesting game will have two modes that will really feature a great opportunity to really get immersed in the game. Chime will have full leaderboard support for full bragging rights with other Xbox gamers.

If there’s one game that you should check out this month it should be Chime. The game is available at Xbox Live Arcade for 400 Microsoft Points.

Xbox 360 gamers should look forward to February 10 because that is the day Darwinia+ is going to be released in the Xbox Live Arcade.

Darwinia+, which is developed by Introversion Software Introversion, is a digital theme world for artificially intelligent polygons by Dr. Sepulveda. The world is “housed” in a network of ancient Protologic 68000 machines from the 80s. where single-poly Darwinians that possess an elementary but evolving AI grow and evolve. Darwinians live, work and grow and even die, where their virtual souls are released and then reincarnated.

Darwinia+ is one of those hard to classify games that is bound to become highly addictive once you discover its many nuances. It will cost 1200 Microsoft points.

The recent earthquake in Haiti has brought such devastation and loss of life that everyone is doing their best to try and give help to the country and to Haitians who are suffering so much right now.

The gaming community is joining in on this humanitarian effort in their own different ways. For example, The Behemoth announced that it is going to donate 100 percent of the revenue it will get from the downloadable content of two of its games on the XBLA – Castle Crashers and Alien Hominid HD. The gaming company said that all purchases of the DLCs made until the end of January will all be funneled to the Haiti disaster relief. What’s more, the company also said that it will match the total amount generated by the DLC downloads, effectively doubling the money that they will donate. The donation will be funneled through the American Red Cross Haiti Relief and Development.
With Castle Crashers being declared as Xbox Live Arcades Game of the Year, it’s expected that a lot of people will be downloading its DLCs. In fact, Castle Crashers is one of the largest games on Xbox Live Arcade’s roster of games.

NinjaBee, an independent video game developer, is kicking off 2010 with a new game that it is developing for the Xbox Live Arcade. And to mark this event, the developer is going to allot each Tuesday in the month of January to show off new art from the game in development. The artworks can be seen on the company’s blog at www.ninjabee.com/blog. The teasers all lead up to a more detailed and announcement of the project by the end of the month.

Ninjabee’s management is quite excited about 2010, saying that this is the year where things will get big for them. And a lot is riding on the as-yet-secret game. But there are some details of the game that are already made available to the public. First, it is a game that will be based on avatar experience. It will allow gamers to actually play the game as their avatar. This game mechanic is nothing new to Ninjabee, as it has already developed other avatar-based games for the XBLA, among them A Kingdom for Keflings and Band of Bugs. Add that to the fact that some of the developers currently working at Ninjabee had a hand in making the free Xbox Live Indie games Dunk Tank, Football Toss, Snawball Fight and Fireworks, and you’ve got a team that has the know-how and experience to really deliver on their promsie.

I remember Vandal Hearts from the old, venerable Playstation. It was an RPG that I enjoyed and spent hours playing. I’ve always wondered when I’ll ever see a sequel to that game.

A couple of console generations later, Vandal Hearts makes another appearance, but now on the Xbox 360, specifially Xbox Live Arcade.

Vandal Hearts: Flame of Judgement is the first iteration of the classic franchise for next gen consoles. The tactical RPG game will feature new game mechanics couple with great graphics.

Vandal Hearts: Flame of Judgement will again have memorable characters that will help propel the game and make the story so interesting. This is a quality that the original also had. The gameplay will be similar to Final Fantasy Tactics in which your characters move through a 3D isometric battlefield with grids. One new addition to the gameplay of Flames of Judgement is the ability to allow your characters to specialize in a specific task.

Look for Vandal Hearts: Flame of Judgement in Xox Live Arcade.

Show me anything zombie related and I’m 100 percent sure to get it.

I’m a huge zombie fan and this obsession with the undead extends to the games that I will play. That’s the reason why I got so excited when I found out about Zombie Apocalypse. This awesome shooter will pit you and up to four players against a horde of zombies. You won’t have a go with the zombies without any weapons though. You will se weapons like flame throwers, assault rifles, and even a grenade launcher to hack and smash those zombies. And if you run out of ammo? No worries. Your trusty chainsaw is always ready.

Zombie Apocalypse is an arcade style shooter where you will use the dual analog sticks to aim and shoot. Do you have the skills to last 55 days of brutal zombie attacks?

Zombie Apocalypse will cost 800 Microsoft points in Xbox Live Arcade.
Published by Konami Entertainment and developed by Nihilistic Software, “Zombie Apocalypse” will be available for 800 Microsoft Points everywhere except Germany, Japan or Korea and is rated M for Mature by the ESRB. For more details on “Zombie Apocalypse” you can visit: http://www.xbox.com/games/z/zombieapocalypsearcade/

If you’re a big fan of shooting games set in space then pepare to be entertained by Ion Assault.

The game is an arcade style space adventure that possesses some of the most awesome looking particle physics effects you will see in a game. The game will allow you to play on a single player mode or cooperatively through four different game modes. There are more than 20 levels that you can fight in. What’s awesome is that instead of getting the usual weapons you will use the free energy particles that you will find in huge amounts in space as your weapon in defeating swarms of invading aliens.

Ion Assault is 800 Microsoft at Xbox Live Arcade.

The new Warriors game is finally out.

Warriors: Street Brawl is based on the cult classic 70’s film that is famous for its controversial nature. The new game is a 3D side scroller with fighting mechanics. Gamers can choose to play characters like Swan, Vermin, Cochise or Rembrandt and use their fists and various weapons to battle their enemies on their way to the final battle with Luther and The Rogues.

Expect The Warriors: Street Brawl on September 23 at the Xbox Live Arcade. The game will cost 80 Microsoft Points.

PopCap Games recently announced that it will be bringing Peggle Nights on the Xbox Live Arcade.

PopCap Games has developed a sterling reputation for developing highly addictive games for the PC like Bejeweled, Zuma’s Revenge  and the recent Plants Vs Zombies.

Peggle Nights is another PopCap game that will be made available for the Xbox 360. It is actually an expansion of Peggle, which is already available on the Xbox Live Arcade. The new expansion will have 60 levels and 60 different challenges that come straight from the PC and Mac versions of Peggle Nights. The multiplayer mode is an exclusive to the Xbox Live Arcade and will also be adding three new Xbox 360 achievements that can net gamers with up to a total of 50 gamerscore.

Watch for Peggle Nights expansion pack on the Xbox Live this fall.

Sony announced last week its new Playstation 3 Slim, which is the company’s attempt to present a cheaper-priced console to meet customer requests for a price cut. With a new tag price of $300, it’s now within the price point that consumers want.

In an obvious attempt to steal the thunder from Sony, Microsoft has also decided to cut the price of its Xbox 360 Elite to $299 from its previous price of $399. The price of the Arade SKU will remain at $199. The Pro SKU, meanwhile, will be phased out.

The price cut will become effective on September 1, the same day the PS3 Slim becomes available.