Forza Motorsport 2 features authentic simulation physics, bone-jarring damage, photo-realistic graphics, 300 of the world’s hottest cars for you to collect, and licensed tuning and plenty of customization options. As promised, Microsoft has released a 691mb playable demo for 10Turn's racing sim Forza Motorsport 2, featuring the Mugello Short track and 24 cars.

Forza Motorsport 2 features authentic simulation physics, bone-jarring damage, photo-realistic graphics, 300 of the world’s hottest cars for you to collect, and licensed tuning and plenty of customization options. 10Turn's community rep Che Chou announced the demo will be on Xbox Live Thursday at 2AM EST, featuring the Mugello Short track and 24 cars.

The legendary arcade classic that introduced gamers to co-op street-brawling action is back and looking better than ever. Team up with a friend or prepare to go it alone, because Double Dragon is hitting Xbox Live Arcade Wednesday, May 9, at 9 a.m. GMT (2 a.m. PDT).

The Xbox Live Arcade library continues to expand and provide every type of gamer with accessible, pick-up-and-play game experiences. An electrifying lineup of racing games, card and board games, and both original and classic action games will be coming to Xbox Live Arcade in the future.

Empire Interactive announced that it will bring the furious excitement of the classic Speedball II: Brutal Deluxe to Xbox Live Arcade. It will include the original version, as well as a remade HD edition with more teams and downloadable content.

In honor of the 25th anniversary of Tron, Disney Interactive Studios today announced the classic arcade games Tron and Discs of Tron will be re-released this summer through Xbox LIVE Arcade for the Xbox 360.

Experience frantic cooperative gameplay in Monster Madness: Battle for Suburbia, an Unreal Engine3 powered top-down shooter. Four players can team up on one Xbox 360 to slash, shoot, and drive through a menagerie of monsters in the campaign mode, or take battle onto Xbox Live for networked cooperative play. There is an auto update now available that takes care of some of the matchmaking issues.

D3Publisher of America announced it will bring three titles to gamers through Xbox LIVE Arcade later this year. Mad Tracks, a racing game, RocketBowl, Xbox LIVE Arcade's first bowling game, and its recent PSP/NDS puzzle hit, Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords.

Three great games will become available on Xbox LIVE Arcade for Xbox 360 this Wednesday, May 2 at 0900 GMT (2:00 a.m. Pacific): Catan and the two-for-one Atari combo of Centipede and Millipede.

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance features total team customization, the ability to create your own team name, icon and vehicle, as well as team reputation as you play throughout the story. Activision has released the DLC containing 8 new playable characters, each with new signature powers, skins, dialog, conversations and achievement points.

Two additional games will become available this Xbox LIVE Arcade Wednesday: Eets: Chowdown, mixing 2D puzzle game elements with a surreal sense of humor, and Pinball FX, combining the arcade thrills of traditional pinball with enhanced gameplay and exciting, innovative features not found in any other pinball game.

Adds layers of strategy to your gaming experience by building mobile bases, wielding the power of terrifying Ion Storms on the battlefield, or customising your armies by combining units. A day later than expected, EA has released a 1 Gb demo for CnC3: Tiberium Wars on Xbox Live, allowing you to try out a tutorial and 2 missions.

Microsoft has released the spring backwards compatibility update, adding 38 original Xbox games that you will be able to play on your X360. At the time of writing it is not yet available on Xbox Live, so you need to download it here, and burn it to DVD. Titles of note are Call of Duty 2/3, Jet Set Radio Future, Mercenaries, Oddworld Munch's Oddysee, Panzer Dragoon Orta, Tiger Woods 07, Republic Commando and plenty more...

Two great games will become available this Xbox Live Arcade Wednesday. Gyruss (400 points) is Konami's classic tube-shooter, while 3D Ultra MiniGolf Adventures (800 points) is an all new mini-golf experience with mind-bending courses and animated 3-D characters. Both titles will be available Wed., April 18 at 0900 GMT (2 a.m. PDT)

Microsoft and the New York Television Festival today announced the Xbox Live Originals contest, granting aspiring television producers the opportunity to create a pilot that could be chosen for the first original series developed specifically for Xbox Live.

Guitar Hero II arrives with a new track list, new venues and additional play modes – including the ability to transform the original Guitar Hero SG Controller into a rhythm, lead or bass guitar. Various gamers reported an issue with GH II's whammy bar on the guitar controller, which Red Octane recognized, and now the issue apparently has been resolved through an auto-update.

Experience frantic cooperative gameplay in SouthPeak Interactive and Artificial Studios' Monster Madness: Battle for Suburbia, an Unreal Engine3 powered top-down shooter. Four players can team up on one Xbox 360 to slash, shoot, and drive through a menagerie of monsters in the campaign mode, or take battle onto Xbox Live for networked cooperative play.

Boom Boom Rocket is a hypnotic rhythm music game conceived by EA’s casual games design team and Bizarre Creations, known for the Project Gotham Racing franchise. Boom Boom Rocket will be available for download on Xbox Live Arcade beginning Wed., Apr. 11, at 0900 GMT (2:00 a.m. PDT).

Shrek The Third will take players on an all-new adventure filled with fun and exciting new challenges, never-before-seen characters and environments, plus the same humor we've come to love from Shrek and the gang. After the PC edition earlier, Activision has now released a 760 mb demo on Xbox Live Marketplace, allowing you to play the Far Far Away levle as either Shrek or Puss.

The ESRB has been the revealing source of various titles coming to the Xbox Live Arcade, and today a listing was spotted for id Software's multiplayer sci-fi shooter Quake III: Team Arena. If the listing is true, the Xbox Live Arcade version is being ported to the Xbox 360 by Texas-based Pi Studios, known for various Activision titles (Call of Duty) and currently working on the Halo 2 Vista Editor as well as porting Pandemic's Mercenaries 2 to the PS2.

A recent 1UP podcast with editor Shawn Elliot included an interview with Epic Games founder Tim Sweeney, revealing that Microsoft is not letting them release free Gears of War maps. "We already released two (maps) and we have four more maps that we've built. We've been wanting to give them but actually Microsoft has been pushing back on us. They're trying to build this business model around selling additional content for games and that's a valid idea, but we would definitely like to release more stuff for free, and we haven't been able to do so yet."

UPDATE: According to Epic's Mark Rein, both parties have made a compromise. The maps will be sold at first, then made free after a few months, much like the previous Halo 2 map pack.

Lost Planet is a sci-fi action shooter set within the merciless frozen tundra of a hostile planet. As promised, Capcom has release the 2nd multiplayer map pack (Hive Complex and Trial Point), coming in at 161mb, and setting you back 400 Microsoft points.

Armored Core 4 will allow you to create your own mech from a few hundred components, including color, to give it an exclusive looks. Successfully completing missions, and purchase even more powerful parts to make your mech stronger. SEGA has released a playable demo on Xbox Live Marketplace, featuring 3 full levels and a handful of mechs to customize and test drive.

Why just walk like an Egyptian when you have a mystical winged scarab at your disposal? The smash-hit action puzzler, Luxor 2 will be available for download on Xbox LIVE Arcade for X360 beginning Wednesday, Apr. 4, at 9:00 a.m. GMT (2:00 a.m. PST).

Crackdown is an action-driving hybrid introducing a 3-dimensional persistent playground, highly innovative co-op gameplay and an extensive prop interaction system all while taking place in a massive and stylized urban center. Microsoft has released a new patch through Xbox Live improving the online gameplay experience, and increasing the number of ambient gang vehicles that populate Pacific City.