Xbox.com’s Major Nelson spread the word today on what games would be included as part of Microsoft’s Summer of Arcade, as well as their prices and release dates. Without further ado:

July 22nd - “TMNT: Turtles in Time Re-shelled” (1200 MS Points/$15)
This seems a little steep, considering it’s really just the old game with updated (albiet very swank-looking) graphics. If I recall, the original adventure took about 2 hours to complete and doesn’t exactly have the level of depth as, say, “Bionic Commando Rearmed,” which released at 800 MS points.

July 29 - “Marvel vs. Capcom 2″ (1200 MS Points/$15)
“Street Fighter 2 HD Remix Extreme Ultra Megamix” had a lot of value and great netcode, so I feel like this is in-line with what we’ve come to expect for a $15 game. After all, there are dozens of characters and there’s that terrible soundtrack to look forward to!

August 5 - Splosion Man (800 MS Points/$10)
The quality of “The Maw,” this developer’s last downloadable game, was respectable. Also the hero is made of explosions. Bonus!

August 12 - Trials HD (1200 MS Points/$15)
I’ve been tooling around with this one quite a bit lately. Horribly addictive, cringe-inducing physics and motorcycles doing loop-de-loops before falling into pits of fire.

August 19 - Shadow Complex (1200 MS Points/$15)
No surprise this one comes last, but that doesn’t make the wait any less painful. It was my pick for best downloadable game of E3, having spent some additional time with it earlier this week, I can safely say that it rocks. Hard.

After a Twitter-related slip-up yesterday, EA has gone ahead and officially announced that “Command & Conquer 4″ is on the way.

According to an exclusive Q&A with GameSpot, “C&C 4″ will focus on “Kane’s Plan,” whatever the heck that is, and why he’s been such an a-hole all this time.

It’ll also takes some cues from “WarCraft 3″ and “Warhammer Dawn of War 2,” introducing RPG elements that will, presumably, allow you to max out your hypnotized squids to do your bidding even more effectively. Oh wait, that’s the other one.

There’s a lot of info in that interview, so check it out if you’re looking for a bit more meat about the forthcoming release.

My iPhone has gotten me out of a lot of jams. Like the time my subway got stuck underground for 30 minutes. Or when the doctor’s office was full. Or when I was in a meeting about the best times to have meetings. Few things in the history of the world have curtailed the spread of boredom like the iPhone. Personally my go-to “I’m bored” game is a match-three with the ridiculous moniker of “Smiles.” It’s polish, smooth and oddly compelling. But I put it to you guys! What iPhone game do you guys play to kill time?

nickchester @multiplayers Haven’t had an iPhone/iPod Touch for long, but Drop7 is a simple, polished, addictive drug.

Lisa_Mason @multiplayers I have no shame, so I’ll admit publicly that my weapon of choice is often Yahtzee. But I’m pretty good at it!

filthyvillain @multiplayers I have to go with paper toss, but zombieville USA is also really addictive.

JohnLHardin @multiplayers Jelly Car. Simple concept, maddeningly difficult.

mescalineeyes @multiplayers geoDefense made me miss my subway stop. more than once.

Cronotriggers @multiplayers Zenonia. 16-bit action-adventure goodness. Only game to get me to stop playing Peggle:)

Oh, and exciting news about tomorrow’s Lunchtime Twitter Poll! I’m gonna choose my top 3 submissions (based on cleverness/awesomeness) and send you each a code to download a free copy of “Droplitz” for XBLA. Sorry, only 360 versions available this time, but we’ll try to mix it up in the future.

Original Story: Since launch, apparently the demand for “Battlefield 1943″ is much greater than anyone anticipated. Personally I didn’t have any problems playing it, but a lot of folks are in the other camp. EA is frantically trying to get more servers for regions around the world, but in the meantime it looks like they’ve gone to other methods to bring their player numbers down…

(image via VIP0R’s TwitPic)

I’m about 3-4 hours into an early build of “Batman: Arkham Asylum,” and while I’m limited due to embargoes on what I can talk about, I wanted to call attention to a rather unique feature which is reminiscent of something that came up in last year’s “Prince of Persia.”

In that game, you couldn’t die. Even if you ran out of health or fell off a cliff, your friendly neighborhood mystical princess flew in and saved you. Batman obviously doesn’t have a handy helper that follows him around, but he DOES rely on gadgets quite a bit. So, say you’re zipping around the depths of Arkham Asylum and you miss a jump, falling into poison gas or spikes or whathaveyou. Before you land and perish the game will actually slow down and prompt you to hit the grapple button (in the case of the 360 version, the right bumper). Do it fast enough and Bats will shoot out his grappling hook, bringing you back to the ledge you were just on.

It’s an awesome touch that, like “Prince of Persia,” manages to avoid a forth-wall-breaking game over screen whenever you fall down a pit. After all, when was the last time you saw Batman clumsily wander off an edge and die?

That being said, you can still die from taking too much damage from enemies and that will result in a context-sensitive game over screen where the arch villain who took you down will mock you into oblivion. It’s kinda a best of both worlds, both for hardcore and more casual players.

By James Montgomery

FROM MTV NEWS: Back in the day, Green Day were pretty avid gamers. They even had a Sega Genesis on their old Book Mobile tour bus, though don’t try to ask them what they used it for — they don’t really remember.

“I think we played, like, ‘[Mike Tyson's] Punch Out’ or ‘Football’ maybe?” drummer Tre Cool laughed. “I think it was like ‘Madden One’ or ‘Madden Two’ or something … you know, state of the art. This was before the megapixel. It was just pixels.”

Read more about Green Day’s gamer knowledge and their new ‘Rock Band’ releases at MTVNews.com.

By Josh Wigler

FROM MTV MOVIES BLOG: After the divisive first “Mortal Kombat” film and its subsequently messy sequel “Mortal Kombat: Annihilation,” it felt like a foregone conclusion that the video game franchise had received it’s final film fatality. A new rumor floating around on the Interwebs is suggesting that a third movie could happen sooner than you can shout “Get over here!”

In an interview with the SGV Tribune, martial artist Chris Casamassa, who played Scorpion in the first two movies, said that he’ll be on hand when the third installment in the franchise starts shooting this September. The remark is offered rather off-handedly, and could be completely off-base for all I know. Still, the possibilities of another “Mortal Kombat” film certainly get the wheels turning.

Read on about the new “Mortal Kombat” movie at MoviesBlog.MTV.com.

“GangStar” is a 3D, open-world action/adventure game which highlights the gang life of Los Angeles, letting you explore a city and commit various crimes to get ahead in the world. Tell me when this starts to sound familiar.

This isn’t the first time a “GTA”-”inspired” title has come to the iPhone. “Car Jack Streets” and “Payback” both feature similar elements, but the main difference there is the perspective. Similar to the original “GTA,” those games play from a birds-eye view. “GangStar” appears to take the 3rd person perspective, giving you a closer look at the action.

In light of the “ghetto” nature of this game, behold this “ghetto” embed, which is, apparently, the only video of this game on the planet right now. Although the quality ain’t great, it does give you a sense of what they’re going for, and the scope is pretty impressive for the iPhone. Just don’t expect your battery to last much longer than a illicit rendezvous in the backseat of your Yugo.

Apart from being nerdy, the above video is incredibly, supremely awesome and I can’t imagine the mind that constructed it.

While folks have done lo-fi versions of “Portal” before, this is pretty much unbeatable…until someone manages to recreate the game using only clockworks. The video is quaint and the beginning, but once he reveals that you can actually look through the portals and it shows up on screen, the mind begins to boggle.

The developer’s handle is Cymon, and this isn’t the first ASCII gem he’s produced. Check out his Games section for nearly 20 different titles created using the simplest of graphics.

If director Sam Raimi’s classic Western “The Quick & the Dead” can be said to have an analogue in the video game world, it is unquestionably Techland’s “Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood.” They both serve up cheeseball stories and feature colorfully one-dimensional characters. Game and film alike also offer a helluva fun ride, building a deeply entertaining experience around the established tropes of the Western genre.

“Bound in Blood” is all the more impressive for being a sequel that completely eclipses its predecessor. The original “Call of Juarez” had its high points, but any fun was marred by a slavish adherence to Techland’s shooter/platformer/stealth vision for the game. “Blood” abandons the latter two gameplay styles, focusing instead on tightening up the core experience of forging a trail across the Wild West with your guns blazing.

The Basics

In “Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood,” published by Ubisoft, players take control of brothers Ray (the preacher from the first game) and Thomas McCall. Soldiers of the Confederate Army in the twilight days of the Civil War, the brothers desert and flee to Mexico after tragedy strikes at their family home. The McCalls eventually set out on an quest to locate the Lost Treasure of Cortez, all while staying one step ahead of pursuing demons from their past.

The Highs

Great Gunplay
There’s no other way to parse it: gunplay in “Bound in Blood” is flat-out fun. There are many different types of firearms, and each feels like it packs a unique punch. Reloading is time-consuming, as one would expect of Civil War-era weapons, but the process can be interrupted so that any of the individually loaded bullets can be fired immediately. There’s a contextual cover system that’s a bit wonky at times, but at least the feature can be turned off.

Character Variety
Once the initial set of tutorials is finished, players have the option of choosing between taking control of either Ray or Tom at the start of each chapter. Ray can dual-wield his pistols and throw dynamite; his excels at scrapping at short and medium ranges. Tom is the more nimble brother; with his rifle, his lasso and his bow & arrows — not to mention his stealth-friendly throwing knives — Tom is ideal for more tactically-minded players who like to hang back and choose their shots with care.

Quick Draws
Throughout “Bound in Blood,” players must participate in a reflex-based quick draw minigame. The camera hovers just behind the gun hand of the character you control. The idea is to keep your enemy in focus by circling around while keeping your hand hovering as close to your gun as possible without touching it. When a bell rings, you can grab your weapon and fire when a rising crosshair turns red… hopefully quicker than the other guy does.

The Lows

Inventory Management
Money collected in each chapter can be spent in any of the weapon stores that the McCalls come across in their travels. While it’s great that owned guns are carried over from chapter to chapter, there are a few missteps to the game’s upgrade mechanics. You can’t sell off old weapons, nor can you trade purchased or found ones between the two brothers. If you’ve been looking to upgrade Tom’s “Rusty Scoped Rifle” but you’re controlling Ray when you come across a store that has something better… well… you’re s–t out of luck.

Uneven Terrain
The gameplay in “Bound in Blood” is surprisingly varied in spite of Techland’s re-branding of the series as a focused shooter. There are solo and cooperative (one player only) on-foot sections, escort objectives, open-world exploration (complete with side quests), on-rails action and more. Even a smattering of stealth. Unfortunately, the presentation is incredibly uneven. There’s no common thread to tie everything together; “Bound in Blood” delivers a series of admittedly cool though disconnected Western-themed set pieces, and it makes for a jarring gameplay experience.

Terrible Voice Acting
Given the “Quick & the Dead” analogy, this particular low point could be taken as a positive. As silly and far-fetched as the story is in “Bound in Blood,” the voice acting is more ridiculous by many degrees. Ray’s voice in particular sounds like a hilariously bad Charlton Heston impression. And don’t even get me start on the Native Americans….

No Co-op?
“Bound in Blood” offers what appears to be some cool online multiplayer functionality (which I unfortunately did not get to test), including persistent elements in the form of unlockable classes and weapons. Unfortunately, the MP is competitive only; despite the fact that Ray and Tom are together for much of the adventure, there’s no option for co-op play. It’s not a deal-breaking omission, but it is definitely a surprising one.

Final Thoughts

“Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood” is great fun to play, and that’s really all you need to know. Techland deserves major kudes for acknowledging their previous effort’s shortfalls and leaving them out of “Bound in Blood.” The low points are few and far between, especially if you can appreciate the so-bad-it’s-good story and voice acting. The varied, if uneven, gameplay at least keeps the experience feeling constantly fresh and the action — both the pace of it and the visceral thrill — is nothing short of superlative.