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With only two days of daily holiday deals left, it looks like Microsoft decided to make today's a doozy. Like the headline says, today's deal is Castle Crashers for a mere 560. That's six earth dollars and, more importantly, a substantial savings over the usual 1200 ($15) price tag. If you haven't experienced the co-op glory, now is the time. Trust us, people like this game. They like it so much that they build costumes of their favorite characters.

If you don't have it yet, you need that kind of joy in your life.

Shortcut: Add Castle Crashers to your 360 download queue [Via Xbox.com]

Now that Darwinia+ has passed Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade certification process, you likely have your passport ready for the upcoming trip to Darwinia's action RTS battlefields. According to Xbox 360 Achievements, lending a helping hand to your stick brethren in need won't just net you the warm fuzzies, but will also reward you with some Gamerscore.

There's 200 to be had in total, rewarding players for things like saving Darwinians, crushing invading ant hordes and winning matches on every map in the game. It's a nice, varied list that doesn't look like it encourages too much grinding -- well, except for the Stick Man Slaughter Achievement, which requires you to kill 65,536 enemies.

We've all seen screens here and there from Rare's upcoming high def-ified Perfect Dark port for XBLA. Today, we're happy to report there's a whole bunch of new media out there to sift through, courtesy of Gamertag Radio.

Head past the break for video of Perfect Dark's Carrington Institute level or, if you're one who worries about a sudden outbreak of motion sickness, check out some stills from the game over on GTR's flickr page. Perfect Dark is currently scheduled for a "Winter 2010" release.

Source - Screens from Perfect Dark
Source - Carrington Institute level video

For $5, you could probably buy a value meal fit for a king -- but you know what you couldn't get? A delightfully charming action platformer starring a purple, omnivorous and gelatinous blob. No, wait! This week -- and this week only -- you can get a delightfully charming action platformer starring a purple, omnivorous and gelatinous blob. The price of Twisted Pixel's The Maw has been slashed from 800 MS Points ($10) to 400 MS Points ($5). And here we thought Christmas was over.

Additionally, today's holiday XBLM deal is a Rolling Stones live track pack for Guitar Hero 5. It can be yours for only 360 ($4.50), half the usual 720 ($9) price.

Shortcut: Add The Maw to your 360 download queue [Via Xbox.com]
Shortcut: The Rolling Stones Live Track Pack [Via Xbox.com]

Yearning for a hearty adventure, but struggling to get by on the pathetic wages of a Caribbean flooring inspector? If so, today's advertised Xbox Live Deal of the Day (part of an ongoing promotion) should float your cup of tea -- right onto the shores of Monkey Island. The Xbox Live Arcade version of The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition has been marked down by 50 percent to 400 MS Points ($5).

Some readers reported having some difficulty obtaining yesterday's deal at the advertised price. If the reduced price doesn't reflect on the Xbox Live Marketplace yet, be sure to try again later today. And if you're the good sort that's already completed this classic bout of pirating, perhaps you should join us later today as we taste pies and assign numerical scores to them.

Add The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition to your Xbox 360 download queue

Microsoft has posted Japan's top ten Xbox Live Arcade games of 2009. It's unclear whether it's a list organized by sales or critical response, but the top title is Virtual-On: Oratorio Tangram -- you know, the classic robot fighter from ... no? Just play along then. The rest of the list, scrawled down by Siliconera, features many titles that found a lot more success in the west.

Battlefield 1943, Castle Crashers, Marvel vs. Capcom 2 and Trials HD (another surprise) take spots two through five, respectively. Check out our XBLA in Brief on Virtual-On after the break if you'd like to know what all the Japanese fuss is about.

We'll make this one quick: Today's Xbox Live deal has cut the cost of Live Arcade's recommended skip-reverse-plus-4 sim, Uno Rush. Microsoft has taken 50% off the top, leaving a mere 400 MS Points behind. That's $5!

Also, did you see what we did there at the beginning? "We'll make this one quick." Uno Rush. Pretty amazing stuff. Maybe you should give the $5 to us for our fabulous wordplay.

Add Uno Rush to your Xbox 360 download queue

You may not have to wait too long after Christmas for Darwinia+ on Xbox Live Arcade, because Introversion Software says the game has passed Microsoft's certification process. It's been a long time coming and you can bet we're glad to finally see those little stick men at the end of the tunnel.

If you're wondering what all of the hubbub is about, then we suggest you check out this free demo of the PC version over at Big Download.

Now this, this is a deal. This isn't Avatar glasses or an episode of Stargate (seriously, that was yesterday's deal). No, this is a very good game at a very good price. Today, and today only, you can pick up Marvel vs. Capcom 2 for only 560, that's seven bucks. That's slightly more than fifty percent off the usual $15 price. So yeah, good luck resisting that.

Shortcut: Add Marvel vs Capcom 2 to your 360 download queue [Via Xbox.com]

[Via @majornelson]

Buying games is always fun -- and we've made it easy with our Holiday Buyer's Guides -- but it's even better to receive them ... in one gigantic stack!

In that spirit, Microsoft has generously donated download codes for many of the Xbox Live Arcade games featured in our Marketplace Buyer's Guide, including 'Splosion Man, Bionic Commando Rearmed, Castle Crashers, N+, Geometry Wars 2 and many, many more. Plus, we're tossing in a one-year subscription code for Xbox Live Gold!

To enter for your chance to win:

• Leave a comment on this post telling us which downloadable games -- for any and all platforms -- you hope to buy with the cash and credit your receive over the holidays
• You must be 18 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec)
• Limit 1 entry per person
  
• This entry period ends at 12:00PM ET on Thursday, December 24
• We'll randomly select one winner at that time to receive redemption codes for Bionic Commando: Rearmed, Carcassonne, Geometry Wars 2, Castle Crashers, N+, 'Splosion Man, Puzzle Quest, Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, Alien Hominid HD, Mega Man 9, Ikaruga, Galaga Legions, Pac-Man Championship Edition, UNO Rush, A Kingdom for Keflings, Rez HD, Assault Heroes 2, TMNT 1989 and Bomberman Live for Xbox Live Arcade [Total ARV: $190] and a redemption code for a 1-year Xbox Live Gold subscription [ARV: $50] -- please check your emails!
• For a list of complete rules, click here.

Happy holidays and best of luck!

---

What is Joyswag? Since we don't keep the games and merchandise we receive for review or promotional purposes, it becomes "Joyswag," which is passed along to our readers. For more info on our policy, click here.

We're not going to say that the two games released on Xbox Live Arcade this week -- this week being Christmas -- were released as afterthoughts. However, they probably aren't games you've been dying to play. You can choose between block-pushing puzzle goodness or alien-blasting action in Polar Panic or 0 day Attack on Earth, respectively. Polar Panic will set you back 800 ($10), while 0 day Attack on Earth expects 1200 of your hard earned points ($15). Watch the latest XBLA in Brief and see if either demands your attention.

Shortcut: Download the trial version of Polar Panic [Via Xbox.com]
Shortcut: Download the trial version of 0 day Attack on Earth [Via Xbox.com]

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Interested in Resonance of Fate but afraid of being burned by another tri-Ace RPG? If you have access to a Japanese PlayStation Network account or (less likely) a Japanese Xbox 360, you can sample the game today. Sega released a demo of the gunplay RPG in Japan, with a tutorial that Siliconera reports is easy enough to follow along with even in Japanese. We were able to suss out the mechanics during TGS with little issue, but we doubt the downloadable demo includes a Sega rep, as our TGS demo did.

What won't be easy to follow along with is the story and dialogue -- but referring once again to Star Ocean 4, maybe that's not the worst thing.

We know, we know -- you've spent the better part of today searching the internet for all those Namco classics no longer playable on the futurebox of choice in your living room. Thankfully, Namco Bandai just this morning announced intentions to "increase its digital distribution presence," effectively eliminating your wasted time problem.

Aside from the news that two Katamari-based titles are headed to Xbox 360 and PlayStation Portable (Beautiful Katamari in "Q1 2010" and Me & My Katamari on December 22, respectively), today's communication did little for news on what else we can expect from the Japanese publisher on the digital front. That being said, the company specifically pointed out future titles heading to not just Xbox 360, but also a bolstering of titles in the PSone and PSP catalogs on the PlayStation Network. It appears as though we won't be hearing about other titles just yet, though, as the company said, "More titles to be announced in the coming months." But hey, at least you can stop all that internet scouring now, right?

The Australian Office of Film and Literature Classification has posted a rating on its website for the long-awaited XBLA port of Rare's Perfect Dark, which would hint that a release is just around the corner. (Major Nelson did say that it would drop "this winter.") The OFLC gave the shooter an MA 15+ for "strong violence," the toughest rating they hand out for video games.

If a release is imminent, now might be the perfect time to play through the 360 prequel, Perfect Dark Zero, and get further acquainted with Joanna Dark before you can revisit her debut adventure in high resolution.

It's very, very possible that you might have been sated solely by the new Serious Sam: The First Ecounter HD holiday trailer. It's hard not to be satisfied by the sight of Santa suit clad Sams running around and destroying everything in sight. It really calls to mind the true spirit of Christmas. That said, we could always do with more holiday cheer, so you should know that the Xbox Live Arcade version has been confirmed for a January 13 release. See, cheery, right?