Next week’s Xbox Live Arcade Wednesday will finally see the release of fabled Texas Hold’em: the most overdiscussed XBLA game even before its release. One of the main reasons why Texas Hold’em was in the news was its price: it was announced as an entirely ad-supported affair, to be available for free on Marketplace, but that became very uncertain after an interview with Greg Canessa. The final word is out now though.

Today Microsoft announced that Texas Hold ‘em will be free for the first 48 hours after its release on August 23.

Major Nelson also commented to clear things up:

Just to be clear, anyone who downloads this game during the free period, will get the full unlocked version of the game to play. There will be no time out on the version (in other words…you can play as long as you want..whenever you want) as long as you download it during the first 48 hours. After the free period is over, then it’s Arcade business as usual - there will be a demo, and the option to purchase the full game.

So when you download the game within the first 48 hours you will have Texas Hold’em the full unlocked version. That seems a nice deal from Microsoft after all.

Additionally, it seems we won’t need to expect a weekly new XBLA game anymore: although they will stick to the Wednesdays, some of them may see 2 releases, some none. This week we’re only getting “premium downloadable content” for example. The full list for the coming weeks:

• August 16: 4 new Cloning Clyde picture packs at 100MP each
• August 16: New UNO Theme Deck at 100MP
• August 23: Texas Hold’em Poker at 800MP after the first 48 hours
• August 30: Time Pilot for 400MP
• September 6: Scramble for 400MP

Thanks to j0k3r360, Tim, Studley and YLA G for submitting the news.