The LoadDown - 12/13/2010

The holidays approach, and the new downloadable games keep on coming... here's what's new since our last update.

WiiWare -- Three new games this week. lilt line (free demo also available) is a rhythm game challenging the player to keep on beat with a dubstep soundtrack by 16bit.  Family Games is a collection of classic public-domain pencil-and-paper games, like Tic-Tac-Toe and Hangman.  Violin Paradise is an orchestral music game for up to four players with a classical soundtrack.

Wii Virtual Console -- Taito rewards our patience with the classic shooter Darius Twin, in its Super NES incarnation, with single-player and cooperative modes.

DSiWare -- Three titles this week.  The T-rated Little Red Riding Hood's Zombie BBQ returns in downloadable form, after its late-2008 retail release vanished into undeserved obscurity.  Jam Space: PocketStudio is a portable musician's tool with a full MIDI editor.  Just SING! Christmas Songs is a DSi karaoke title featuring classic holiday tunes.

XBox Live Arcade --  One, two, or three new multiplayer action games this week, depending on one's opinion of advergaming.  The "real" title is Hudson Soft's Bomberman Battlefest, latest in the long-running series of multiplayer maze games with comical carnage.  The other two games are free, sponsored by Doritos: the oddly unpunctuated Harms Way is a multiplayer racing/combat title with driver/sniper team-ups, while Doritos Crash Course features comical obstacle course racing with Avatar support and multiplayer XBox Live as well as local split-screen support.

Game Room -- Three games this cycle.  Konami leads the way with two more of its vintage coin-ops:  Pooyan, the wolf-shooting mama pig game that's a longtime personal favorite of mine, and Detana!! TwinBee, sequel to last week's cute shooter.  Also, console fans get to play Activision's unreleased-at-the-time (but seen in recent Activision anthologies) Atari 2600 action game Thwocker!

PS3 on PSN -- One title this week: Qlione Evolve, porting two trippy 2-D PC shooters to the PS3.

PSOne on PSN -- All right, Sony.  Ante up with the PSOne Classics or I'm going to drop this coverage just as quickly as I picked it up.  Erm... which is to say, a couple of years later than I really should have.