When Microsoft recently flipped the switch to turn Games For Windows Live into a free-for-all, several cross-platform multiplayer games apparently brought their Xbox 360 denizens with them. That's right, all three cross-platform titles (Shadowrun, Universe at War: Earth Assault and Lost Planet: Colonies) can be played online by any Xbox 360 user with a high-speed internet connection -- freeloading Xbox Live Silver account holders specifically -- according to a thread on Xbox Forums. Of course, the catch is you've got to have a copy of one of the participating game discs. So when Joystiq went to verify the reports, we realized our chest-o-games only contained the good ones. Any far less snobby readers care to shout out a "yea" or "nay" on the matter? [Update: X3F's Xav de Matos has confirmed that the Xbox 360 version of Lost Planet: Colonies can be played online using a Silver account.]

In the interim, we've contacted Aaron Greenberg, group product manager for Xbox 360, who told us we can expect Microsoft to issue an official statement shortly.

Update 7:10pm: And we've heard back from a Microsoft rep who tells us, "Last week we announced that we were taking off the Gold-only restriction for multiplayer gaming over Games for Windows- LIVE. For a limited time, we are offering free online multiplayer on Xbox 360/ Games for Windows titles that offer LIVE cross platform play. This promotion won't last, so we encourage everyone to take advantage of it while they can." You heard the man, go take advantage of it!

One way to re-sell last year's game again is to add a scantily clad babe (and by "babe" we mean "hunk") to the cast of playable characters. Capcom has done just that, importing Dead Rising star Frank West sans clothes (talk about extreme conditioning!) into the repackaged and budget priced Lost Planet: Colonies Edition. But why stop there? We can't be the only ones curious to see (strictly on a scientific level, of course) how Mega Man's unarmed body reacts to the cold.

Head into our gallery to check out all 17 new screens featuring a mysterious (and clothed) female character, plus hot and potentially gooey "Akrid Hunt" action:

If you're still looking for reasons to (re)purchase Lost Planet: Colonies, IGN has outlined four new single player modes for the game. One of those in particular raised an eyebrow: a first-person mode that you can toggle via the menu screen. Curious how the traditionally third-person Lost Planet would look as a FPS? Check out the video above.

Other bonus modes include the self-explanatory Score Attack, a gauntlet of boss fights in Trial Battle Mode and Off Limit Mode, which lets you replay levels at a much greater speed with unlimited ammo. We've embedded a video of Off Limit after the break. Lost Planet: Colonies is coming May 27 on PC and Xbox 360 (still no PS3 confirmation) for $30.

[Via X3F]

Lost Planet: Extreme Condition Colonies Edition -- known around these parts as Lost Planet: Colonies or Lost Planet 1.5 -- has finally been officially announced. The game is a repackaging of the full Lost Planet title, plus a bunch of additional multiplayer and single-player extras. The good news: It'll cost about $30. The bad news: Colonies Edition multiplayer will be incompatible with current Lost Planet games.

Scheduled for a May 27 release on 360 and PC, Colonies mainly adds new, creative multiplayer modes to the original game. Several are based on holding checkpoints and CTF variants. Our favorite, however, lets one gamer control an Akrid, with the others teaming up to try to take down the alien. Different creatures are available, and we recently saw a demo showing how a spindly, player-controlled giant can make quick kills with its swiping legs.

New playable characters, new weapons, and new levels are also added. Many of those are tuned for these alien battles, giving bunkers for humans to hide from the less-mobile aliens. Xbox 360 and PC players can play against each other using paid, Xbox Live gold accounts. Non-paying PC gamers will still be able to play online, but they'll only face other PCs.

We and our dear friends the internet have been doing a fair amount of speculation about what the recently-rated Lost Planet: Colonies could be. The most popular theory? A sequel to Capcom's third person action hit. The least popular? Ritchie's theory that it's an action game featuring Julianna Margulies as a by-the-book cop and Queen Latifah as her sassy sidekick. Now, the real word has come from Capcom via Famitsu and Ritchie got it wrong ... but so did the rest of us. Lost Planet: Colonies is a spruced up version of Lost Planet. Lost Planet 1.5, if you will.

The revamp will have a new female playable character, a new online mode that pits bugs versus humans and includes Xbox 360 and PC cross-platform play. (We don't know what that means for the PS3. Seems there won't be a PS3 version.) That info, it should be noted, checks out for the Japanese version, but we don't yet know the specifics of the North American version. We're assuming it won't be too far off though.

So, what do you think, are you ready to buy Lost Planet again?

UPDATE: Xbox 360 Fanboy has more features from LP:C including:

• 4 New maps, 2 of which are possibly a city and a desert
• New Female Playable Character
• Ten New weapons
• New Monsters
• Trial Battle and Score Attack modes for the campaign bosses

Some games seem destined for pre-announcement leaks. Add to that list Lost Planet: Colonies, the supposed next entry in Capcom's third-person action series. First came name drops by both the German ratings board and the ESRB. Now, more embarrassingly, comes a full list of Xbox 360 achievements for the game, before the game has even been officially announced.

360sync stumbled across the achievements, which they were later asked by Capcom to remove. We've confirmed that more information will be made available about the title next week, which leaves us plenty of time to speculate.

The impressive list of achievements hints at a full single player campaign, as well as a bevy of multiplayer modes, leading us to believe that this may very well be a retail title after all, and not simply a downloadable spin-off. Check out the full list of achievements after the break.

[Via X3F]

Although Capcom has yet to announce Lost Planet: Colonies (or even explain what it is), Gamespot has pointed to the Xbox 360 and PC game's existence on the ESRB's frequently revelatory database. The mysterious Lost Planet: Colonies was first discovered last year, when Germany's USK rated the game and fueled speculation regarding the game's genre and relation to Capcom's 2007 action smash.

The ESRB also lists an equally unannounced Assault Heroes 2 for Xbox 360, which logic would dictate is a sequel to XBLA's well-received Assault Heroes.

Lost Planet Colonies was today rated by USK, the German ratings board, fueling further speculation that a sequel to Lost Planet is already in the works. According to the entry, Colonies is a "3rd-person shooter" being developed for Xbox 360 and will be published (in Germany) by CEG Interactive Entertainment, a European subsidiary of Capcom.

The "Lost Planet Colonies" trademark first surfaced in late May, but Capcom would not confirm that a sequel was in development. A few weeks later, Dutch distributor Nobilis listed Colonies as an Xbox 360 and PC release due in January 2008 -- but again, Capcom remained ambiguous about the alleged title. Today's development is the most definitive evidence of a true Lost Planet continuation, but it's still weak. The USK listing could be an error, and instead of a sequel, Colonies could be the subtitle of the meaty PS3 edition of Lost Planet -- or something entirely different, or nonexistent.

Lost Planet was an early success for Capcom's global initiative (though it flopped in Japan), so it seems likely that a sequel will eventually work its way through the pipeline. Still, there are a lot of other Capcom properties that could (even, should) take precedence.

[Via X3F]