PopCap Games announced today that its hit PC game Heavy Weapon will be showcased in the Microsoft booth at E3 in LA next week. This is the first time in PopCapÂ’s history that the company has publicly unveiled a game prior to its official release date. A new multiplayer mode added exclusively for the Live Arcade version of Heavy Weapon highlights a bunch of new features and enhancements to the game on MicrosoftÂ’s hugely popular Xbox 360.

In Jason Kapalka’s (Chief Creative Officer at PopCap) own words: “As a kid, nothing was more fun than playing collaborative-style arcade games like Contra, where you and a friend could play together as a team, working together to blow the daylights out of everything on the screen. Few things are more satisfying than total mayhem with you in the thick of it. When we first considered putting Heavy Weapon on the Xbox, it was instantly clear to us that this would be the perfect multiplayer collaborative game, and the first playable prototype totally confirmed that expectation. We haven’t been able to stop playing the prototype, and expect this to be a great Xbox Live Arcade game.”

• High-Definition Graphics – All titles will support the Xbox 360Â’s HDTV display output and widescreen resolutions.
• Leader-boards – Online scoreboards to compare against other Xbox Live players.
• Achievements – Merit badges awarded for predefined accomplishments earned in the game that players can proudly display as they navigate the Xbox Live environment.
• Gamerscore – A meta-score spanning all Xbox 360 titles, whereby cumulative accomplishments across different game genres/categories are in one “uber” score
• Enhanced Play Controls – Using the new wireless controllers that come standard with Xbox 360 System, players can now ‘feelÂ’ the weight of the space bricks as theyÂ’re swapped in Astropop and sense the “kick” of the balls.