What's been happening this week on the Xbox? Well, there are the usual XBLA releases which was a addictive little game this time around. And I also gathered a bit of news about upcoming XBLA projects.

Shadow Complex

The latest release for XBLA – Shadow Complex – is getting rave reviews from most folks. If Metacritic gushes about it, you know it is worth checking out. Developed by Chair Entertainment, this games boasts fast-paced action with generous doses of adventure-style exploration. The background story itself gives the game enough street-cred: it is the heavily inspired by an Orson Scott Card book called the Empire and the game script itself was penned by Peter David of the Trekkie fame. Do note the plot is not very deep and thus, you don't have to immerse yourself in the storyline.

The game itself unfolds in a somewhat linear fashion. The main protagonist has to rescue his girlfriend from a nasty militia group. Incidentally, the unfortunate 'where did my girlfriend go' incident took place in a cave meaning that the poor guy starts from scratch. It's finding yourself locked out of the house which is sieged by flesh-eating zombies and all you have on yourself is a measly ballpoint pen.

As the game progresses, you can upgrade your power suit, get tons of weaponry and a bunch of blood thirsty enemies. Quite an impressive amount of detail for a side-scrolling game.  Go check it out – it's available for 1 200 MS points.

Upcoming games and features

There were a lot of exciting news about XBLA so I figured I would throw them in. If you want a heads-up, I'm touching up Earthworm Jim, Football Genius, Brutal Legend and of course, The Guild.

I've been hearing a lot about Earthworm Jim this past week. And every news item builds up on the rumor and thereby, heightens my expectations. It looks like Earthworm Jim will be made anew as a downloadable game for XBLA as well as a few other consoles. Exciting news, right? Well, that was until I read this rather worrying article about the game developer in charge of building a new look for Earthworm Jim – Gameloft. Granted, they don't say the guys are all-out bad, it's just that their names have been linked to somewhat questionable events. I'm going to be optimistic and wait to see how this panes out.

Then there was a funny little tidbit about Football Genius. It's self-explanatory, isn't it? It's a quiz game about football. While I might find it a bit amusing, given my aversion to sports games, I am sure it will appeal to football lovers out there. Apparently there will be around 3,500 questions bundled into this quiz. As it is, the timing is perfect. The World Cup is around the corner and surely, there will be a greater focus on football in the following months. Incidentally, the game is developed by a Jo'burg-based game company called I-Imagine Interactive. It's a nice link, considering World Cup 2010 will be held in South Africa.

Grab your viking helmets, folks: the Brutal Legend demo will be dropping by into your XBLA content sometime in September! In case you haven't heard, this is one of the most eagerly awaited games of this year. Developed by Double Fine Productions, this action-adventure  boasts a wonderful mix of fantastical elements and the heavy genre. Think guitar and axes! Hardcore music and an army made of your own little fan group! Did I mention that there will be legends of the metal genre lending their voices to this game? There's Rob Halford, Lemmy Klimister, Ozzy Osbourne not to mention the lead character being voiced by Jack Black.  Keep an eye out for this one!

Finally, there's an update about The Guild. The Guild is the popular webseries that revolves around a group of dysfunctional gamers. Well, the folks behind the show recently released a music video on XBLA. It was called “Do You Want To Date My Avatar” which stars the main cast of the show in their WoW attire. The music video is well-done (directed by Jed Whedon, one of the geniuses behind Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog) and the lyrics are hilarious. It was co-written by Felicia Day and Whedon and the lyrics will appeal to gamers out there. This is a nice little promo for the upcoming third season which will hit XBLA on 25th August. Check it out, you know you want to!