14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has announced the release dates of the titles that will be launched under this year's Summer of Arcade promotion on the Xbox Live Arcade. Xbox 360 owners will have the chance to purchase and download quite an impressive lineup of games, including Limbo, Castlevania HD, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light or Hydro Thunder: Hurricane.
The Summer of Arcade program on XBLA offers the following two deals: if players buy at least three of the titles under the promotion, they will get 400 Microsoft Points, which is around five dollars, back and if they buy all five of them, they will get 1,200 Microsoft Points, approximately 15 dollars, as a refund. All titles will be priced at 1,200 Microsoft Points, so the latter deal translates as five for the price of four.
The first of these launches is the long awaited Limbo, a two-dimensional side-scrolling puzzler with a very interesting black and white aesthetic. It will become available for download on the 21st of July. The second Summer of Arcade game that will see the light of day is Hydro Thunder: Hurricane, a follow-up to the well-known arcade rocket-boat racer that will be released on the 28th of July.
The third title coming to XBLA under the Summer of Arcade program is Castlevania: Harmony of Despair, or Castlevania HD as it is better known, a multiplayer two-dimensional side-scrolling action game developed by the creator of the series, Koji Igarashi. It launches on the 4th of August. The fourth release is Monday Night Combat, a third-person multiplayer shooter, which comes out on the 11th of August. The last to arrive under the Summer of Arcade promotion will be Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, a Tomb Raider spinoff that focuses on isometric cooperative platforming and puzzle solving. This latest Crystal Dynamics title is going to hit the Xbox Live Market place on the 18th of August.