nukoda.com

Microsoft’s theme o’ the season for summer –albeit a pretty late start– is focused on the XBLA this year, with the Summer of Arcade event kicking off with the release of Geometry Wars 2 this week, set to release on Xbox Live Arcade on Wednesday, July 30th for 800 Microsoft Poinits. The new edition of the game features four player same-screen co-op and a seizure inducing graphical upgrade. We’re stoked as hell about the new neon shooter, but as expected, it’ll probably dominate our lives.

Aside from the announcement of an early release for GeoWars2, release dates have been revealed for a hefty amount of upcoming XBLA games that everyone and their grandmother have been looking forward to for too long.

The often delayed Bionic Commando Rearmed will finally see a release on August 19th (a Saturday…) but not before the head-trip platformer Braid hits a week prior. Following Capcom’s swinging remake is Galaga Legions, a game Microsoft has been touting as “the sequel” to Galaga — not unlike Pac Man Championship Edition. And capping off the epic summer of excellent releases is Castle Crashers, a multiplayer hack-n-slash from The Behemoth. The Alien Hominid crew has been hard at work for what feels like a decade, but we’ll finally get to chop up nasties in all of their bloody, cartoon glory.

The early word on all of these titles is incredibly positive… It looks like the late-summer drought will be moistened with delectable XBLA titles all around.