If you enjoyed the last Nordic Game conference and are looking forward to this year's event, we've got some news for you. Quite a number of big name speakers will be sharing their thoughts at the Business and Production part of the program. To find out who will at the event, head on over to the full article.

This console generation sees the melding of next-gen titles and old-school games making comebacks. It's going along nicely and another icon is set to join this party. Lode Runner has been shown off in CES 2008 and it features a lot of cool touches. Whether you loved it or hated it back in the day, you have to admit that seeing this blast from the past hop aboard the Xbox Live arcade is a welcome sight.

More details are at the full article.

Ross Erickson, former Worldwide Games Portfolio Manager of Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade, will transfer over to Vivendi's Sierra Online Division. Joystiq received an e-mail from him announcing his plans to move.

In the same week, Vivendi Games announced the acquisition of Wanako Games. Surprisingly, Wanako Games created the XBLA hit Assault Heroes with some help from Sierra Online.

The online division at Vivendi looks to be priming up for more console download products, including 3D Ultra Minigolf Adventures for XBLA. Notably, however, Erickson counts as the second one to leave XBLA.

XBLA General Manager Greg Canessa also left a couple of weeks back. But because of uneventful XBLA game releases every Wednesday, counting the XBLA version of Pac-Man, it's probably not surprising at all.

Fans have been up on their feet lately because of the rumors spreading about Katamari Damacy. It has been reported on numerous occasions before that the series is headed to all next-gen consoles and that it is being ported to the Xbox Live Arcade. Well, we don't know about new games but it seems that the port is already out of the picture.

Over at the forums of online site XBLArcade, Microsoft's Worldwide Xbox Live Arcade Games Portfolio Manager Ross Erickson and posted this rather short and uncharacteristic message: "Total crap. Not happening."

Regardless of the validity of the rumor, we believe that such a big official wouldn't randomly sound rude on public forums, lest he wants to taint the name of his company he works for. On the other hand, the administrator of the said forums claimed that he checked on the authenticity of the post and found out that it indeed came from the Microsoft official.

If that's the case, then, no Katamari for us for now. We hope that The King of all Cosmos will soon grant our deepest prayers.

For avid gamers, Ross Erickson must have one hell of a job. His work revolves around gaming, as he is the Worldwide Games Portfolio Manager for the Xbox Live Arcade.

Wait a sec. The what?

(Clears throat) We said, he is the Worldwide Games Portfolio Manager for the XBLA. Basically, what he does is decide which games will be put up for the Arcade. This is one man you need to look for if you are in search for some professional gaming opinion. He also ooks out for customer responses regarding the XBLA, and says that not only do they want to cater to the hardcore gamers, but to all members of the household as well. Of course, he also needs to keep his creative juices constantly flowing, regarding game selection.

So exactly what are his criteria for selecting game titles? One is game playability. Games should be fun, but not that hard. Another is eye candy. A game should have a visual bar that screams 720p or 1080i resolution. Erickson says that it's not like they're forcing game developers to be at par with the Xbox's mind-blowing specs. It's just that they want games that are quick and easy ports for other platforms. Another factor to be considered is how multiplayer may be engaged in a title, as the growing gaming community shouldn't be overlooked. And lastly, he also looks into what kind of extensions to the game can be built in terms of downloadable content through Marketplace.

Whew. That was quite a mouthful. His work sounds quite a lot of fun, but entails quite a lot of responsibility too. Still hankering for his job? Well, we suggest that you brush your gaming connoisseur skills up...

According to Xbox Live Arcade worldwide games portfolio manager Ross Erickson, a new game on Xbox Live Arcade every week is very much a possibility for Microsoft, with the Arcade Wednesdays being just the beginning.

"We certainly have enough games in the pipeline - more than enough, in fact - to achieve that goal on a weekly basis," said Erickson.

Including XBLA games, Microsoft aims to have 160 games available for the Xbox 360 by Christmas. Galaga was released today, on August 2 it will be Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting, followed by Pacman on August 9.

Titles included in the line-up are Texas Hold 'Em Poker, Sonic the Hedgehog, Alien Hominid and Castle Crashers. Companies like Capcom, Namco and Midway have huge arcade back catalogues, which could make for significant numbers of new XBLA games.
Not every developer, however, understands the 50 MB limitation Microsoft has put on XBLA titles. This is to allow 360 owners without a hard drive to store games on their 64 MB memory units.

While Sony hasn't revealed many details regarding their own online service, Microsoft's restriction could prove as an obstacle when the two companies will be competing head-to-head. Should Microsoft consider making bigger memory units, the 50MB limitation might become obsolete as well. According to Erickson "certainly those memory units are not available yet. And when they become available we'll re-evaluate".

Tetsuya Mizuguchi and Q Entertainment's genius will now transcend the PSP as their world famous game Lumines goes Next-Gen via the Xbox 360. Lumines Live! will be harnessing the power of the Xbox 360, as it will have additional downloadable content via Xbox Live Marketplace, including new puzzles, skins and music with artists such as the iconic Madonna. What's better news is that according to Xbox Live Arcade's Ross Erickson, the multiplayer portion of Lumines Live! will only be 1200 Microsoft points or $15 USD.

If you want to have a closer look at how Lumines' crossover to the Xbox 360 looks like, you can download the video by clicking on the link below the article. You'll see familiar frenzied action, dynamic backgrounds and images plus wonderful music.

Download: [Lumines Live! Gameplay Video]