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!

Capcom's E308 Press Conference wrapped up about an hour ago and the company decided to focus its attention on bringing Lost Planet to the silver screen. In production from Arad Productions, the team that brought us the Spider-Man films, Lost Planet is expected to land in theaters around February 2011. Penned by David Hayter, voice of Solid Snake of Metal Gear fame, the film promises to stay close to the original vision planned out by game producer Keaiji Inafune. From discussion during the panel, it appears that both the Capcom brass, who were in attendance, and the father-son duo from Arad Productions are geniuenly interested in creating a legitamate action film without completely changing everything about the game.

A funny, and confusing moment, came when Capcom CEO Haruhito Sakamoto claimed Capcom saw great success from film adaptations of Resident Evil and Street Fighter. "We've had success with both of those," Sakamoto told the thin crowd of journalists.

Street Fighter? Really? Well, you know what that means. Jean-Claude Van Damme will be in the Lost Planet film. You heard it here first.

With big budget action flicks making all sorts of money this summer, and with Hollywood's constant searching for the next big thing, we shouldn't be to surprised to hear that another videogame movie could be coming our way. Honestly though, this time our surprise has less to do with that fact in and of itself, and more to do with the details surrounding it.

Over at the Evil Avatar forums, the news was posted that David "Solid Snake" Hayter is currently in talks with Warner Bros. to write a movie based on, of all things, Lost Planet. While we shouldn't forget that Hayter does have writing expierience, (X-Men 1 & 2) we just can't imagine that there's enough meat on a Capcpm third-person-shooter's bones to actually flesh things out into a feature film. Plus, if this ends up getting off the ground, what kind of significance will the IP have by the time the movie is actually released? Oh well, in Solid Snake we trust.

First we should get this out of the way, I'm not Richard. As our American readers know it's Memorial Day and our fearless leader is spending time with his family so he asked Dustin or myself to take care of his weekly "Shipping This Week" post. Considering how well received it was the last time Dustin did one of Richard's regular features, I took the reigns. As a Canadian I'm not entirely sure what Memorial Day is. Okay, you can pretty much guess what it is based on what it's called. According to Dustin it's a day when American's memorialize stuff, but that just makes it sound like there's a lot of scrapbooking involved. Either way, Happy Memorial Day!

This week brings us two new, yet old, games. id Software and Splash Damage's class-based PC shooter, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, hits the Xbox 360 in a port by Nerve Software. While the PC version landed at retail around heavy-hitters like The Orange Box and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Quake Wars finds itself on the Xbox during a gaming release lull and hopes to catch a wider audience the second time around. Also hitting the Xbox 360 is Capcom's definitive version of Lost Planet with all new content including the ability to play as the evil Akrid. Lost Planet Extreme Condition: Colonies Edition, a game with a name so long I had to eat a sandwich in the middle of typing it for fear of losing strength, lands tomorrow for the price of a platinum release. So there you go, two new/old titles hit the Xbox. Planning on picking up either?

And yes, we promise Richard will be back to tell you about the games of the week next time.

There are two things we know for sure about Lost Planet: Extreme Condition - COLONIES Edition. First, someone at Capcom needs to fire the guy who makes these names up, for serious. Second, the Xbox 360 and PC exclusive is almost here.

Yesterday Capcom announced the platinum release of Lost Planet, which includes new missions, multiplayer maps and modes (including the ability to play as the evil Akrid), has gone gold. So throw on your parka and make a warm cup-o-coffee, it's about to get chilly up-in-this 'ma.

Lost Planet: Extreme Condition - COLONIES Edition *sigh* hits retail on May 27.

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]

IGN has the scoop on a few things that makes Lost Planet: Colonies' single player different from its predecessor and no friends, it isn't new levels or a beefier story. Instead, Colonies will add four new player modes to the Lost Planet experience including a Halo 3'esque Score Attack mode, a Trial Battle mode, a First-Person mode and a not-unlocked-from-the-get-go Off-Limit mode. And out of all four, we don't know what to think about the First-Person mode. Playing Lost Planet as a FPS just sounds weird. Doesn't it? Make the hop over to IGN to get your Colonies single player mode information fix and be sure to watch the weirdness that is Lost Planet FPS in the video above. Weird ...

Continuing our coverage of Capcom's Digital Day event is gameplay from the upcoming Lost Planet: Extreme Condition - Colonies Edition. Colonies is the Platinum edition of the best-selling title Lost Planet: Extreme Condition adding new characters, multiplayer maps and modes. The most exciting of which is the ability to play as the Akrid, the enemy monsters from the single-player game, in various modes along with a ton of other announced features.

Gamers who have an old save file and are thinking of pinking this one up to continue your Lost Planet adventure should be wary. Capcom has stated that the game is not compatible with the previous release. Colonies has been built for cross-platform play with Games for Windows Live in mind so we assume the code had to have been changed, sure that doesn't make sense for single-player game but anyone interested in this version would be in it for the multiplayer if they've already played the original. But on the lighter side of the news, the game will feature 1000 fresh gamer points to be acquired. Check out Akrid gameplay after the jump.

Lost Planet: Extreme Condition - Colonies Edition is set to release on May 27 on the Xbox 360 and PC.

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.

When we discovered that the long-rumored Lost Planet: Colonies would be an expansion-of-sorts to the first game, we weren't exactly thrilled, and exclaimed that it better hit at the right price. Well, we had nothing to worry about, as 1up is reporting that when the game hits in the US it'll be at the price point of $29.99. For the thirty dollars, you'll get even more than we had originally listed, and the scope of the content goes far beyond that of a game such as Ninja Gaiden Black.

The new character models include two new females, two new robots, and five other characters. The new infantry guns are Hand Gun, a Revolver, a Flame Launcher, and Hand Cannon, with the new Mech weapons being the Pile Bunker, a VS Rifle, a Rocket Pod and a Laser Lance. There are four new maps are Crossfire City, Area 921, Lost Arena, and a zero-gravity map, Assault Space. As well as all that, there are a half dozen new multiplayer modes includeing Akrid Hunter, VS Annihalator, CounterGrab, Point Snatcher, Akrid Egg Battle, and Egg Bandit. That's a lot. Plus, there's more that we didn't get to. With all this new content and an even lower price point than we suggested, you can be certain we'll be picking this one up.

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

Remember when we said that soon we'd have more information on Lost Planet: Colonies? Well we weren't lying, as this week's Famitsu confirmed a ton of information about the game. First and foremost, this is not an entirely new game, this is a remake of the original with more assets and expanded multiplayer. Think of it as similar to Ninja Gaiden Sigma, only for the same console. Hmmm, so that explains why the ESRB was able to rate it so early ... Anyway here's some of the things listed in the article as new:

• New Multiplayer modes, including Humans VS Akrid
  
• 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
• 360/PC Cross-platform play
  

Now while this all sounds great, we still have a few questions. First, price, this can't possibly be a full-retail title can it? There's new content, but unless there's still some secrets held back there's not much more than the original had. But if this hits at the right price ($40 or so) it could see a resurgence in the online Lost Planet community. That leads us right to our second question though, with this seeing release on PC and 360, why not simply make it available as DLC? Perhaps it's because so few in Japan actually have a 360 to download to, and this is seeing release there first on May 29th. No word on release dates for other territories just yet.

[Via NeoGAF]

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]

A while back, we spotted a game by the name of Lost Planet Colonies over on the infamous USK German ratings board website, which got Lost Planet fanboys worked up into a full fledged excitement tizzy. And now we're proud to say that the Colonies excitement is getting kicked up a notch.

Recently, the ESRB ratings board website reviewed and listed none other than our friend Lost Planet Colonies and even more tizzy inducing is the fact that it the ESRB lists it as a PC and Xbox 360 title. W00t to that! Seeing that there is no hiding from the fact that Lost Planet Colonies is real, IGN pressed Capcom about the ESRB listing and asked what is headed down the Lost Planet development pipeline. Their response, "stay tuned". And stay tuned we will.