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 love playing games that claim to make you smarter. It makes spending hours playing games seem like a self-improvement task, where you end up becoming a better person after all the button mashing. Blitz Arcade probably had the same thought that’s why it is launching the Xbox Live Arcade game Encleverment Experiment.

Encleverment Experiment is a new game that its developer is claiming to really challenge your brain cells. The game will reportedly carry challenges that will test your memory, reflexes, and even your dexterity. Garnering fast response times and accuracy will be rewarded with in-game currency called Noodles. The goal of the game is to amass the most Noodles, but of course, beating your friends is really the best part of the game.

Encleverment Experiment will have two game styles — the Take-a-Test mode, which is for single players and Game Show Mode, which is the multiplayer mode where 1 to 4 players can compete.

Usually, when we talk about games, the usual topics that are discussed revolve around new releases, how awesome or bad a game is, or how much a game developer has earned from a hit game. Topics about charity is as alien as talking about talking about games that teach moral values (those will definitely be boring games). But OneBigGame is about to change this.

OneBigGame, a non-profit game publisher that was formed in 2007, recently introduced a game that will be published under the OneBigGame label. Chime is a pro bono creation by Zoe Mode, who is a music game specialist. The game is a unique block puzzle that has an accompanying music creation element and also contributions from other famous musicians. The innovative game will come out this winter on Microsoft’s Xbox Live Arcade.

Chime puts a great spin on both the music and block puzzle game with the player being asked to cover different grids with different shapes that have a connection to a sound effect from other music tracks. The objective is to form rectangular bricks that are called quads.

The great thing about Chime is that the profits OneBigGame will get will be funneled to a number of children’s charities it is supporting. I like the idea of buying a game that will help other people. It eases the guilt of throwing money at a hobby not many people can afford. And it also feels good knowing that even while you’re sitting like a blob in front of your TV, you’re actually making a difference in the world.

A month ago, I talked about the release of the robot badminton game Blazing Birds. Now that it’s been released how does the game fare?

On paper, Blazing Birds does sound exciting. The thought of robots playing badminton sounds like a cute and quirky idea. But unfortunately, the reality is far from impressive. First of all, graphics wise it pales in comparison with other games released on XBox Live. The reason is that Blazing Birds was developed using XNA tools. It just doesn’t cut the mustard when compared with games like Braid. The badminton based gameplay is also quite shallow so don’t expect a lot of replayability here. On the upside, Blazing Birds is just $5, which will certainly attract gamers with a tight budget.