XBL Wednesday: Minesweeper and Sudoku (for FREE!)

It's Wednesday and do you know what that means? New Xbox Live games for Windows Phone!

This week’s new Xbox Live games are Minesweeper and Sudoku by Microsoft Game Studios. This week is a special treat for all of you Xbox Live gamers, as both of these titles are 100% FREE to download. Not only do you not spend a penny of your hard-earned moolah, you're also getting some free Achievements and GamerScore points out of it. Icing on the cake. These two join Flowerz as the only free Xbox Live-enabled games, so let's hope this trend continues Here is the official description of the Minesweeper:

Minesweeper, the classic puzzle game, is now available on the Windows Phone! The goal is to clear random minefields using flags to safely mark potential mines. One wrong move will detonate the entire board. Sweep your way through Classic and Speed modes, each with as many as 4 different levels of difficulty. Play your way through and earn powerups to help you navigate the board and unlock achievements for your LIVE account.

Here is the official description of Sudoku:

You’ve seen Sudoku in the newspaper - now bring it to your Windows Phone! Sudoku, a numbers based logic game comes with Classic and Lightning modes containing hours of entertainment. With the addition of powerups and LIVE achievements you will have new and innovative ways to show off your impressive intellect. Put your brain to the test with Sudoku!

Minesweeper and Sudoku are available in the Marketplace for $FREE.99.

Click on the tile below to get the game (opens Zune).

	Minesweeper Microsoft Game Studios FREE Version 1.0
	Sudoku Microsoft Game Studios FREE Version 1.0

XBL Wednesday: Cro-Mag Rally

It's Wednesday and do you know what that means? New Xbox Live games for Windows Phone!

This week’s new Xbox Live game is Cro-Mag Rally by Pangea Software. For those who don't know, this prehistoric kart racing game has been around for a long time now. Since its debut in 1998 on the Mac the game has become quite popular and is now making the transition to Microsoft's newest platform. Here is the official description of the game:

Cro-Mag Rally is the wildest racing 3D game since man invented the wheel! You are a speed-hungry caveman named Brog who races through the Stone, Bronze, and Iron Ages in primitive vehicles with primitive weapons! By far the most entertaining and original game for Windows Phone 7!

Cro-Mag Rally is available in the Marketplace for $2.99 along with the standard free trial.

Click on the tile below to get the game (opens Zune).

Cro-Mag Rally Pangea Software $2.99 + Trial Version 1.0

XBL Wednesday: Sally's Salon: Luxury Edition

It's Wednesday and do you know what that means? New Xbox Live games for Windows Phone!

This week’s new Xbox Live game is Sally's Salon: Luxury Edition by GameHouse. Looks like the exclusive titles are over and now we're back to hand-me-downs from other platforms. The Diner Dash-esque has definitely been on more than one platform and certainly hasn't been limited to smartphones. However, this Windows Phone port is two dollars more expensive than its iOS counterpart so you may want to get the trial first. Here is the official description of the game:

Enjoy the ultimate makeover of Sally’s Salon in the brand new Luxury Edition of the hit time management game for high-end devices. Sally’s Salon has just received its very own makeover and is ready to dazzle you with classic fun and fresh surprises. Enjoy fantastic features new to mobile, including 5 additional locations with exciting challenges, more customer types, extra trophies, upgraded graphics, enhanced visual effects and more! Join Sally in this fabulous fight to beautify little old ladies, punk rockers and impatient celebrities with the hairstyles they want. From humble shopping mall beginnings to superstar status in Hollywood, you’ll help her wash, dye, cut, style and much more! Use your earnings to hire helpful employees, purchase salon upgrades and to keep clients happy with soothing accessories. Can you be a cut above in this fashionably fun mobile game?

Sally's Salon: Luxury Edition is available in the Marketplace for $4.99 along with the standard free trial.

Click on the tile below to get the game (opens Zune).

Sally's Salon: Luxury Edition GameHouse $4.99 + Trial Version 1.0

Xbox Live Wednesday: Tentacles

It's Wednesday and do you know what that means? New Xbox Live games for Windows Phone!

This week’s new Xbox Live game is Tentacles by Press Play. For those who don't remember, this game was actually announced at this year's E3 alongside a slew of other games (which included last week's Beards & Beaks). Another thing worth pointing out is that Tentacles is 100% exclusive to Windows Phone! Just make a sandwich while it's downloading: the game is an enormous 158 MB. Here is the official description of the game:

Tap the screen in Tentacles and experience 40 finger breaking levels, amazing boss fights and marvel at the truly ground breaking and intuitive gameplay.

Think fast, move smart, keep eating. Enemies stand in your way and you must rip out their eyeballs as you attempt to defeat mad scientist Dr. Phluff. Where will this final battle take place? Have a guess. Nope, not even close!!

Dr. Phluff has always meddled with the order of nature and this time he sought to create the cutest animal ever conceived. He failed. In a disastrous but not entirely unexpected turn of events his experiment was a catastrophe and he created a being of darkness. Black, heartless and with zero desire to be nice, kind, or worse of all cute. Yes, he created YOU! A slimy black blob with three tentacles, a claw, and a never ending appetite for eyeballs.

Tentacles is a completely new take on the platform genre. Use your tentacles to make your way through Dr. Phluff. Yes, that’s right, you’re actually inside him. It is a ghoulish and ghastly world inhabited by other genetically modified monsters created by Dr. Phluff’s experiments. Guess what, they’re all hungry and you just made the menu. Use your tentacle skills to outrun Dr. Phluff’s acid attacks and face off against bad-ass creatures in awesome boss battles.

Tentacles is available in the Marketplace for $4.99 along with the standard free trial.

Click on the tile below to get the game (opens Zune).

Tentacles Press Play $4.99 + Trial Version 1.0

Xbox Live Wednesday: Beards & Beaks

It's Wednesday and do you know what that means? New Xbox Live games for Windows Phone!

This week’s new Xbox Live game is Beards & Beaks. This is actually a landmark title as it is the first Windows Phone game to be created entirely by Microsoft Game Studios. Usually MGS has their hand in helping all of the Xbox Live titles from different developers, but this is the first time a game has been wholly their own.  Here is the official description of the game:

Gnome Town, an idyllic place of gnome mellow … suddenly overrun with murders of crows so audacious that even Hitchcock would take refuge behind a toadstool. Who knew the two could get so down and dirty in a turf war that knows no bounds? It’s a race of treasure heisting … a ballet of gnome flicking … and an all-out natural disaster of very unbecoming behavior. The powers of the Mushroom only add to the chaos … and the mystique … becoming your most reliable and “amusing” last-resort defense. If you think everything tastes like chicken and you’re fond of rubber ducks, gnomes and crows are gonna really blow your mind.

Beards & Beaks is available in the Marketplace for $2.99 along with the standard free trial.

Click on the tile below to get the game (opens Zune).

Beards & Beaks Microsoft Game Studios $2.99 + Trial Version 1.0

Xbox Live Wednesday: Twin Blades (Re-Released)

It's Wednesday and do you know what that means? New Xbox Live games for Windows Phone!

This week’s new Xbox Live game is Twin Blades: The Reaping Vanguard by Microsoft Game Studios. Twin Blades was actually released near the launch of Windows Phone 7 on October 20th last year, but it was pulled from the Marketplace due to the gratuitous use of blood and the lack of a proper game rating system. Fans were up in arms when the game was pulled but now it's back and essentially the same: this re-released version has pretty much turned the red blood into green blood and that's that. Here is the official description of the game:

Twin Blades is a frantic shooter game set in a medieval era with unique manga-like graphics.

Help the nun defeat evil with some heavy zombie-killing action across multiple environments, venture through the city market, the cemetery, a chapel in ruins and the city's outskirts to purge the town of all its living-dead inhabitants.

Buy new skills and powers and upgrade them as you progress day after day. Manage carefully your energy by slicing zombies with your mighty scythe in order to use the destructive powers of your artillery!

The game features:

- 6 range weapons ranging from machinegun to explosive nukes.
- Upgradable skills for your character which can be bought and trained.
- An immersive storyline with epic boss encounters!
- Different kind of zombies behaviours, shake your device to get rid of grabbers!
- 10 exclusive new environments discoverable at different times of the day or night

Twin Blades: The Reaping Vanguard is available in the Marketplace for $2.99 along with the standard free trial.

Click on the tile below to get the game (opens Zune).

Twin Blades Microsoft Game Studios $2.99 + Trial Version 1.2

Xbox Live Wednesday: Angry Birds

It's Wednesday and do you know what that means? New Xbox Live games for Windows Phone!

It's finally here people! This week’s new Xbox Live game is Angry Birds by Rovio, which is the finale to Microsoft's Must Have Games program--talk about ending with a bang! Here is the official description of the game:

The survival of the Angry Birds is at stake. Dish out revenge on the green pigs who stole the Birds’ eggs. Use the unique destructive powers of the Angry Birds to lay waste to the pigs’ fortified constructions. Angry Birds features hours challenging, physics-based demolition gameplay, and lots of replay value. Each of the 165 levels requires logic, skill, and brute force to crush the enemy. Protect wildlife and play Angry Birds!

Angry Birds is available in the Marketplace for $ along with the standard free trial.

Click on the tile below to get the game (opens Zune).

Angry Birds Rovio $2.99 + Trial Version 1.0

Xbox Live Wednesday: Plants vs. Zombies

It's Wednesday and do you know what that means? New Xbox Live games for Windows Phone!

This week’s new Xbox Live 'Must Have Game' is Plants vs. Zombies by PopCap Games. More like 'Must Have BRAINS', amirite? Here is the official description of the game:

Winner of over 30 Game of the Year awards!*

Get ready to soil your plants — Plants vs. Zombies™ is coming to Windows Phone 7! A mob of fun-loving zombies is about to invade your home, and the only defense is your arsenal of plants. Use peashooters, wall-nuts, cherry bombs and more to mulchify 26 types of zombies before they reach your front door. The fun never dies!

Game Features

50 FUN-DEAD LEVELS
Conquer 50 Adventure levels — through day, night and fog, in a swimming pool and on the rooftop.

THINK FAST, PLANT FASTER
Defend your home with 49 powerful perennials as you battle 26 types of fun-loving zombies including pole-vaulters, snorkelers and bucket-heads.

4 GAME MODES
Dig into Adventure, 20 Mini-Games, Puzzle mode and the relaxing Zen Garden.

COLLECT IN-GAME ACHIEVEMENTS
Earn 15 in-game achievements to prove your zombie-zapping prowess.

PERUSE THE ALMANAC
Open the Almanac to learn about all the plants and zombies, including amusing “facts” and quotes.

MORE COOL FEATURES
Collect coins to buy a pet snail, special power-ups and more.

Plants vs. Zombies is available in the Marketplace for $4.99 along with the standard free trial.

Click on the tile below to get the game (opens Zune).

Plants vs. Zombies PopCap Games $4.99 + Trial Version 1.0

Click on the tile to get the app!

Xbox Live Wednesday: Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode I

It's Wednesday and do you know what that means? New Xbox Live games for Windows Phone!

This week’s new Xbox Live game is Sonic The Hedgehog 4: Episode I by SEGA. Here is the official description of the game:

The sequel fans have waited 16 years for is finally here - SONIC THE HEDGEHOG™ 4 Episode I! Featuring enhanced gameplay elements, including the classic Sonic Spin Dash, and the versatile Homing Attack, Sonic 4 picks up right where Sonic and Knuckles™ left off. Dr. Eggman’s back, and in an effort to finally rid himself of Sonic, he revisits – and improves – the very best of his creations. Get ready for the next chapter in an all new epic 2D saga built for old and new fans alike.

Sonic The Hedgehog 4: Episode I is available in the Marketplace for $6.99 along with the standard free trial.

Click on the tile below to get the game (opens Zune).

Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I SEGA $6.99 Version 1.0

Click on the tile to get the app!

Xbox Live Wednesday: GeoDefense

It's Wednesday and do you know what that means? New Xbox Live games for Windows Phone!

This week’s new Xbox Live game is GeoDefense by Microsoft Game Studios. Here is the official description of the game:

Something exciting and new in the Tower Defense genre! The geometric vector creeps are fast and intense. With 30 different maps, each its own puzzle, you'll have to work fast to keep up.

Using exciting vectorized graphics, this highly kinetic game brings a whole new dimension to the tower defense genre. Devastate creeps with blasters, lasers and missiles and watch their energy debris swirl through the gravity wells of your vortex towers. Now it's time to figure out how to put that absorbed energy to good use...

With the ability to compete for the high score with friends on the leaderboards and exclusive Xbox LIVE achievements, this is a tower defense game like no other!

GeoDefense is available now in the Marketplace for $2.99 along with the standard free trial.

Click on the tile below to get the game (opens Zune).

GeoDefense Microsoft Game Studios $2.99 + Trial Version 1.0

Xbox Live Wednesday: Doodle Jump

It's Wednesday and do you know what that means? New Xbox Live games for Windows Phone!

This week’s new Xbox Live game is Doodle Jump by GameHouse Live. Here is the official description of the game:

Jump, jump, jump to the top, top, top with Doodle Jump, the #1 smartphone game of all time! Just when you thought it was safe to put the game down, Doodle the Doodler returns! Help him continue his springy journey upwards with a massive set of new features including monsters, platforms, power-ups, special bonuses, and four new unique themes. Leap from platform to platform, finding your way higher and higher using brilliant power-ups like springs, propeller hats, and jet packs. Avoid broken platforms, menacing black holes, and UFOs. Protect yourself against a variety of baddies using your nose balls! Doodle Jump multiplies the fun and excitement of one of the simplest and most addictive games that you will ever play. Experience for yourself the endless excitement that over 5 million happy smartphone gamers have enjoyed! BE WARNED: This game is insanely addictive!

Doodle Jump is available in the Marketplace for $2.99 along with the standard free trial.

Click on the tile below to get the game (opens Zune).

Doodle Jump GameHouse Live $2.99 + Trial Version 1.0

Xbox Live Wednesday: Hydro Thunder GO

It's Wednesday and do you know what that means? New Xbox Live games for Windows Phone!

This week’s new Xbox Live game is Hydro Thunder GO by Microsoft Game Studios. Here is the official description of the game:

This all-new addition to the legendary arcade hit series, Hydro Thunder GO for Windows Phone 7, features amazing dynamic water physics, transformable rocket-powered boats, gorgeous visuals and over-the-top interactive environments.


ACTION PACKED ENVIRONMENTS
Blast through the 9 specially made Hydro Thunder GO levels filled with spectacular events and challenges; ranging from tropical pirate ship battles to collapsing ice caverns on the arctic circle, from UFO invasions to lost dinosaur islands.


TRANSFORMABLE ROCKET-POWERED BOATS
Choose your ride from the selection of 12 sleek powerboats and goofball bonus boats, all with their own unique performance and handling, including classics such as Miss Behave, Rad Hazard and Tinytanic.


GORGEOUS 3D VISUALS
Fantastic detailed environments rendered with reflections, dynamic lighting and animations.


LIVE ENABLED
Earn bragging rights by competing on the Xbox LIVE Leaderboards, by battling against your friends’ Ghost recordings and by earning Xbox LIVE Achievements.


DO THE HYDRO BLAZE
Along with the unlockable bonus boats there is a new Hydro Blaze expert game mode putting your Hydro Thunder skills to the test on a special track.

Hydro Thunder GO is available in the Marketplace for $4.99 along with the standard free trial.

Click on the tile below to get the game (opens Zune).

Hydro Thunder GO Microsoft Game Studios $4.99 + Trial Version 1.0

Click on the tile to get the app!

Xbox Live Wednesday: Pac-Man Championship Edition DX

It's Wednesday and do you know what that means? New Xbox Live games for Windows Phone!

This week’s new Xbox Live game is Pac-Man Championship Edition DX by Namco Bandai Games. Here is the official description of the game:

PAC-MAN Championship Edition DX, which is a best-seller on Xbox LIVE Arcade, now appears on the scene on Windows Phone 7!

It is optimized for Windows Phone 7, but its exhilaration and addictiveness are still there!
Mazes are changing continuously!
Ghosts that follow PAC-MAN in a row!
Once you start playing, you won't be able to stop!
Why don't you give it a try?

Pac-Man Championship Edition DX is available in the Marketplace for $6.99 along with the standard free trial.

Click on the tile below to get the game (opens Zune).

Pac-Man  Championship Edition DX Namco Bandai Games $6.99 + Trial Version 1.0

Xbox Live Wednesday: Game Room - Lunar Lander

It's Wednesday and do you know what that means? New Xbox Live games for Windows Phone!

This week’s new Xbox Live game is Game Room: Lunar Lander. Here is the official description of the game:

Play the classic Atari arcade game anytime, anywhere on your Windows Phone 7. It'll take nerves of steel and a steady hand to guide the space capsule to a safe landing on the Moon. Can you earn the "Full Moon" Achievement? It's one small step for a phone, one giant leap for Windows Phone 7.

Game Room: Lunar Lander is available in the Marketplace for $2.99 along with the standard free trial.

Click on the tile below to get the game (opens Zune).

Game Room: Lunar Lander Microsoft Game Studios $2.99 Version 1.0