As promised Epic has released a "house-hold" patch addressing various gfx and voice issues, bugs, crashes, better anti-cheat code, multiplayer adjustments and other tweaks. Logon to Xbox Live, with the game in the tray and you should be prompted to download the patch. Tomorrow Microsoft will release two new multiplayer maps...

The amiable munching yellow ball returns in this week’s Arcade Wednesday release – this time she’s sporting a big red bow on top. The classic retro coin-op from Namco Bandai Games, Ms. Pac-Man, will be available for download on Xbox Live Arcade beginning Wednesday, Jan. 10, at 9 a.m. GMT (1 a.m. PST).

Earlier it was revealed that Microsoft would be releasing two new multiplayer maps for Gears of War, but first Epic is going to be rolling out the promised patch. The patch will fix gfx and voice issues, bugs, crashes, better anti-cheat code, multiplayer adjustments and other tweaks. Read more for detailed fix list...

The celebrated arcade-style football franchise is back and better than ever with a new treatment of America's most popular sport. Blitz: The League exposes the harsh and troubling, behind-the-scenes stories of a fictional professional football league. Midway has released a 1.3 Gigb demo allowing you to try out part of its football based sports game, currently available on Xbox Live Marktplace, only for Gold members

Team17's Creative and UK Studio Director Martyn 'Spadge' Brown announced that they are in the final stages of development, and are currently hunting down the last few bugs. The lucky few people with a debug unit can already test Worms HD on Microsoft's Xbox Live developer system Partner Net. Spadge expects a formal announcement to be made early January, at the CES in Vegas. Team17 managed to get the full game into the 50mb XBLA limit, and is currently working on additional downloadable content.

New Rally-X, the sequel to Rally-X, is Namco Bandai's racing game released in 1981, featuring new courses and adjustments to the enemy cars, improving the overall game balance, as well as new graphics and BGM!

Crackdown pushes the action-driving hybrid genre into the next generation with the introduction of the first-ever truly 3-dimensional persistent playground, highly innovative co-op gameplay and an extensive prop interaction system. Microsoft will release a singleplayer demo, with co-op enabled, on Xbox Live Marketplace January 18.

Splinter Cell Double Agent reinvents the spy action genre by introducing a double agent concept and a new breed of game play that adds an exciting new dimension to the gaming experience. Ubisoft has issued a patch for the Xbox 360 version, available through Xbox Live, further fixing various multiplayer problems, such as lag, freeze issues, and the usual bug and crash fixes ..

Once a multiplatform title, Carmageddon developer Stainless Games' 3-D smash-’em-up vehicle combat racing game NovaDrome will be available for download on Xbox Live Arcade beginning Wednesday, 20th December at 9.00 a.m. GMT

Lost Planet is a sci-fi action shooter set within the merciless frozen tundra of a hostile planet, humans struggle for survival as conflicts arise between man, the surrounding indigenous creatures and the monstrous beings that have invaded. Capcom announced that the single-player and multiplayer demos have been downloaded over one million times by the global Xbox community.

After a false start earlier this week, Microsoft has released the December backwards compatibility update, with a few extra additions. This free update currently adds 37 original Xbox games that you will be able to play on your X360, although some are region restricted. Titles of note are recent games such as Scarface, Splinter Cell Double Agent, MK: Armageddon, and favorites such as Psychonauts...

Shortly after the PC patch, the Xbox 360 version of Ubisoft's tactical shooter Rainbow Six Vegas gets patched up, automatically available when you log on to Xbox Live, addressing various multiplayer issues and fixing bugs ...

EA has released a new patch for the 17th installment in its long running football franchise, Madden NFL 2007. The new update corrects lag issues that gamers were experiencing when playing the game against an opponent across a large geographical distance. Players were incorrectly aging in certain Create-A-Player/Train-A-Player situations. This has been fixed as well.

Microsoft announced that registration is now open for the first two events in the highly anticipated Xbox Live Arcade Challenge. Competitors in each event have the opportunity to win prizes ranging from a high definition plasma TV to Xbox hardware and Microsoft Points tokens.

Non-stop vehicular combat action at its best is coming to Xbox Live Arcade this Wednesday, December 13, after 0800 GMT (12:00 a.m. PST) with Assault Heroes, an innovative action combat game from Wanako Studios and published by Sierra Online.

In Small Arms, up to four players can join in the battles across many dynamic and richly detailed levels. Gamers can choose from a cast of outrageous fighters like the cyborg tabby cat, assassin truffle pig and mutant chimney sweep. While jumping from platform to platform shooting with 360° aim, gamers of all skill levels will be able to pick up and play this innovative side-scrolling action title.

All the favorite DOA girls are back and ready to battle it out in the tropical waters of Zach's Island on their high-performance personal watercraft, compete in assorted and alluring activities, sunbathe on white sand beaches, and go all-in at Zach's Casino.

If you need a break from the multiplayer mayhem, Ubisoft has now also released the Splinter Cell Double Agent singleplayer demo, while Take Two has issued a demo (only for North America) for its recently released basketball game College Hoops 2K7 (North Carolina V.S. Florida). Both demos are now available on Xbox Live, but for the time being only Gold members will have access to download them, silver membership holders will have to wait until next week, to shoot some hoops.

Sandvine's broadband network solution observed an 80% increase in the number of Xbox Live users across a sampling of North American-based broadband service providers' networks during the first week following the release of six new Xbox games, mainly due to the release of Gears of War.

RoboBlitz is a fast-paced action game featuring puzzle-solving and unique physics-based weapons. Players blast through 15+ levels of high-intensity action as Blitz, a multi-talented robot on a mission to save its factory from a band of invading mechanical brains. RoboBlitz will be available for download on Xbox Live Arcade beginning Wednesday, December 6, after 0800 GMT (1:00 a.m. PST).

Splinter Cell Double Agent reinvents the spy action genre by introducing a double agent concept and a new breed of game play that adds an exciting new dimension to the gaming experience. Ubisoft has issued a patch for the Xbox 360 version, available through Xbox Live, fixing various multiplayer problems, such as lag, and freeze issues.

Mad Catz announced today that its Arcade GameStick for Xbox Live Arcade, Xbox 360 and PC will ship to major US retailers for availability this holiday season. Through collaboration with Konami and PopCap Games, Mad Catz has introduced a joystick controller bundled with three full Xbox Live Arcade games: Frogger, Time Pilot and Astropop.

Microsoft is giving its popular Xbox Live Arcade title Texas Hold 'em a full-featured update, with new features and improvements to speed up game-play, eliminate cheating and ensure proper competition. As a result, the online multi-player leaderboards will be reset to eliminate the inflated scores that currently appear. In a future update in early 2007, Xbox Live Vision Camera support will get added as well.

Lost Planet is a sci-fi action shooter set within the merciless frozen tundra of a hostile planet, humans struggle for survival as conflicts arise between man, the surrounding indigenous creatures and the monstrous beings that have invaded. Capcom has released a 220mb multiplayer demo, allowing you to try out 1 map (unless you pre-order, then you get an unlock code for a 2nd map)

War World, aka War world: Tactical Combat, is the battleground where ancient enemies must settle age old conflicts through clashes of mechanized warriors in a unique combination of all-out action and active strategy. Third Wave Games' CEO Morten Brodersen confirmed that it received approval from Microsoft to bring its mech game, previously released on PC, to XBLA, somewhere early 2007.