A couple of Xbox 360 news this morning. First up, indie game developer and award-shows darling, SpikySnail has announced that the highly promising physics-sensation, “The Splatters”, is bound to be published by Microsoft Studios on Xbox LIVE Arcade in North America, Europe and Asia in 2012.

The Splatters is a cheeky little game. There’s no princess to save here, only a bunch of ever-smiling, semi-suicidal master acrobats (aren’t all of they) with one purpose in life: to blow themselves up. Slam them against walls, crash them into spikes, ride the slides and chain spectacular stunt-combos to rack up massive scores.

Players will need to get creative to make the most out of every setting and put on the best show in town by trying to live up to the game’s unofficial motto: “Life’s short. Die with style!” Participants at PAX Prime in Seattle (August 26-28)  can get their hands on an exclusive demo version of The Splatters at the coveted PAX10 Conquerors area of the show, just look out for booth #6301.

Understandably, the developers are stoked:

“We are thrilled to see Microsoft bring The Splatters to hardcore gamers worldwide. Splatters is a challenging game that redefines the term replay value. We couldn’t think of a better venue than XBLA for our creation”, said SpikySnail co-founder, Sagi Koren.

“This is a very exciting month for us. We can’t wait to pass the controller around and hear what people have to say about their personal experience with our Splatters”, co-founder Niv Fisher stated.

OK, onto something that has just been released on Xbox LIVE Arcade, Halfbrick Studios’ Fruit Ninja Kinect. This was kinda expected given that the gameplay style would give a good account of itself with motion controls of the Kinect. According to the developers, this allows players to swing their arms, jump and high kick (!) to cut through an endless cascade of flying fruits while trying to avoid dangerous bombs.

Just don’t hurt your partner during co-op games ok? There are three single player modes along with local multiplayer mode. With over 40 million downloads worldwide on mobile devices and top sales chart rankings in more than 60 countries, Fruit Ninja is already an international sensation, and the Kinect version adds a whole new dimension to the frenzy.

Fruit Ninja Kinect is rated “E for everyone” by the ESRB and is now available for download through Xbox LIVE Arcade for 800 MS Points or $10. For more information about Halfbrick and Fruit Ninja Kinect, visit: http://www.halfbrick.com. To download Fruit Ninja Kinect via Xbox LIVE Marketplace, visit: http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/Product/Fruit-Ninja-Kinect/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d80258410b79

Have you seen those Nyan Cat videos on the web? Well, look ‘em up on YouTube if you have not done so already. Personally, I find Nyan Cat a little creepy, going Nyan, Nyan, Nyan all the time. Anyways, it’s about time the darn cat made its way onto an iOS game, with Elite Gudz announcing the version 1.2 update for their popular Techno Kitten Adventure iOS game, featuring what else but the Nyan Cat.

The Nyan Cat update is the first of many kitteh (don’t shoot me for the spelling, I copied it off the PR) treats in July. Players will have a chance to compete in the presence of Techno Kitten himself at the San Diego Comic Con next week for the convention exclusive Techno Kitten Adventure mini-comic.

The free update for iPod, iPhone and iPad includes Nyan Cat as a playable kitteh on the Dream Level along with new achievements and leaderboards. Check out the PR below for more details:

New York, New York – After many passionate fan requests, Elite Gudz released an update today to include Nyan cat, internet sensation also known as Pop Tart Cat, as a playable character in the iOS version of Techno Kitten Adventure. The free update for iPod, iPhone and iPad includes Nyan Cat as a playable kitteh on the Dream Level along with new achievements and leaderboards.

“NYAN NYAN NYANNYAN NYAN NYANNYAN NYANNYANNYAN,” said creative director Brian Ferrara. “NYAN NYAN NYAN NYAN NYANNYAN, NYAN NYAN NYANNYAN NYANNYAN NYANNYANNYAN NYAN.”

The Nyan Cat update is the first of many kitteh treats in July. Players will have a chance to compete in the presence of Techno Kitten himself at the San Diego Comic Con next week for the convention exclusive Techno Kitten Adventure mini-comic. The DIY comic encourages fans to add speech bubbles over colorful artwork to create their own Techno Kitten Adventures.

Visit booth 1737 during San Diego Comic Con for a chance to grab up Techno Kitten Adventure Comics, T-shirts & Toys.

Pricing and Availability:

Techno Kitten Adventure 1.2 is free and available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Games category (click here). It is also available on Xbox Indies for 240 MSP (click here). An update for the Xbox Indies version of the game, including the addition of Nyan Cat, is expected later this summer. For more information visit Elite Gudz online.

What happens when you take Eminem, dressed up as Robin from his “Without Me” music video and then add in some bad-ass Shaolin monk kungfu-vibes? Well, you would get Robin from the upcoming Batman: Arkham City video game. According to IGN, he’s an exclusive pre-order character to play in the game’s Challenge Maps through Best Buy in North America. And in case you are wondering, this IS Eminem Tim Drake:

The following details are also skimmed from the IGN page:

While supplies last, pre-order the game for an exclusive downloadable Robin character. Robin is a fully playable character in the new and improved challenge mode in Batman: Arkham City. The Tim Drake Robin pack is available exclusively to fans who pre-order the game from Best Buy on Xbox 360, PC and PS3.

Robin comes complete with his own unique gadgets and special moves, and will be playable in all challenge maps in the game, as well as two additional challenge maps that are included with the pack: Black Mask Hideout and Freight Train Escape. The pack will also contain a bonus Red Robin character skin.

Raptr, the popular game tracking and social platform for gamers has released some pretty interesting playtime stats for Marvel vs Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds (MvC3). In over a month since it’s release, the game remains the top fighting game on Raptr’s playtime charts. Based on gameplay data for the first month of release for this popular fighting game on Xbox 360, here are some noteworthy stats:

• 12% of gamers have beaten the game on the hardest difficulty setting
• 11% of gamers have won 5 online matches in a row
• 9% of gamers have completed the game with every character
• < 1% have unlocked all Achievements. The average playtime to unlock all Achievements is around 40 hours.

Raptr also discovered that within the first week of MvC3, 40% of gamers who bought the XBLA version of Marvel vs Capcom 2 also went on to buy MvC3 on Xbox 360. This is a remarkably high degree of conversion, especially compared with some recent games Raptr has been tracking. As an example, earlier tracking saw a conversion of 24% of gamers who played Madden 10 and then Madden 11, and a 22% conversion of gamers who played Dead Space and then Dead Space 2 within the first week of the new game release.

In addition, the report shows that there is a distinctly loyal fanbase for Capcom’s fighting games. The report indicates that Marvel vs Capcom 3 pulled in plenty of Street Fighter IV fans (35% conversion from SFIV), but few of these gamers own such popular fighting games like Tekken, Soul Calibur and Mortal Kombat, suggesting that gamers who play a particular type of fighting game are loyal to a specific brand.

Other interesting stats in the report:

• Average playtimes for completion of several notable milestones
• The most popular MvC3 character combinations
• Percentage of players who were able to surpass the highest ranks in multiplayer

While I’m not covering Shift 2: Unleashed like how I covered the first game (read: that means I don’t have high-res preview videos to show off), it’s still pretty interesting to keep tabs on the game. Like check out the new Huayra supercar from Pagani which is available exclusively on Shift 2. That’s one cool, 1 million USD, cat..I mean, car.

In conjunction with the Call of Duty: Black Ops launch, Raptr is giving out up to USD 5,000 worth in prizes to players just by playing the game. Check out the press release below for further details:

Raptr Giving Away $5,000 In Prizes To Call Of Duty: Black Ops Players: Raptr promotion creates extra incentive for gamers to play the hit game and unlock prizes

Mountain View, CA – November 9, 2010 – Raptr, the social platform for gamers that allows you to track your gaming stats and see what your friends are playing, is proud to announce Raptr’s Call of Duty: Black Ops giveaway. Just for playing the hit game, gamers can unlock up to $5,000 in prizes as total hours accumulate. The contest begins today and lasts until Sunday, November 21st at midnight, PST.

For every 250,000 hours that Raptr tracks collectively for Call of Duty: Black Ops play time (for PC and Xbox 360 only), a new prize will unlock so that a randomly selected eligible entrant can win. Raptr is also unlocking prizes at an individual level. Gamers can be automatically entered to win more prizes based on how many hours they play individually.

To be eligible for a prize pack, gamers just need to head over to Raptr’s contest page and register at http://raptr.com/contest/codbo. Current Raptr users simply need to register to enter. New users to Raptr should also download Raptr’s award winning app to track their gaming hours.

Entrants can win one of over twenty prizes including: Alienware PC hardware, Xbox 360 Kinect, PS3 Move, Logitech gaming peripherals, Gunnar eyewear for gamers, Activision games, Splitfish Pirahna Controllers, Primal gaming headsets, and a swag bag from TheKartel.com. Residents of legal age from the United States and Canada (excluding Quebec) are eligible to enter. For more details on Raptr’s Call of Duty: Black Ops giveaway, legal rules, and prize list, head to http://raptr.com/contest/codbo for daily updates

Atari is about to release its latest downloadable game for the Xbox Live & PC, The UnderGarden, on November 10th 2010. The UnderGarden is a relaxing zen-like game with unique co-operative gameplay. Players can explore beautiful underground caverns filled with strange life forms, physics based puzzles and tons of hidden secrets!

The demo is also schedule to be released on the same date as the full game, so be sure to check out the official site for further details: www.atari.com/undergarden

PlatinumGames’ latest release on the PS3/Xbox 360, VANQUISH, takes place  in the near future, one in which Russia and the United States are vying for ownership of the world’s fast-depleting energy resources and the US has constructed a space station in order to harness energy from the sun. Russian forces capture this space station and divert its harvested solar energy into a blast wave that destroys San Francisco, aiming to force the US into a total and unconditional surrender.

In response, the US tasks its armed forces with recapturing the space station before the Russians can annihilate their next target – New York. Players get to play the role of Sam, a government agent kitted out with a futuristic battle suit making him a versatile fighter with a huge arsenal of weaponry at his disposal. Sam also has an array of martial arts skills that he can use to take down his robot enemies.

I always liked the idea of an orbital weapons platform shooting down on Earth, in a fictional context of course. The idea never gets old, and you’ve got to admit it’s almost like black comedy (cue evil genius laugh), sorta like someone yelling  “Death from Above!” and boom a laser cannon comes firing down. In any case, the guys over at Sega UK have come up with something special in conjunction with the launch of VANQUISH, a nifty Flash-based application actually (it’s just above this paragraph btw). All you need to do is key in a UK post code. I won’t spoil the surprise, but have fun

Guess who is back? Every year we hear about him coming back to the PC, but at the same time he has been a no-show and is a multi-year recipient/nominee for Wired’s Vaporware award. If he were a enterprise software project, it would have been a total nightmare that even a I.T project manager like myself wouldn’t dare touch. But guess what?  Hail o the King, baby!!! Duke Nukem is coming back in a big way.

But before you go ahead and let out a yawn (and a mehh…), read this first: Gearbox Software, the guys and gals who brought us Borderlands have taken over development for Duke Nukem Forever, and they are bringining over to the PC, PS3 and the Xbox 360. Visitors to the on-going Penny Arcade Expo 2010 were treated to playable demos of the game!! (link) This is so cool I want to get a can of beer…and the game, of course.

Like Linkin’ Park? Check out their new single, The Catalyst, from their upcoming album “A Thousand Suns” embedded in a 5 minute+ trailer for the upcoming video game, Medal of Honor. And the best part is? The video is directed by their very own Joe Hahn. Here’s the video: