As if a Halo roundup wasn’t enough, a load of Arcade news has flooded the headlines and filling the news queue. Rather than individual posts, you can read after the jump about new games discovered on the ESRB site; how well Mad Tracks is doing in certification; why Prince of Persia is coming to the Arcade; and find out how far along the line Space Giraffe is.

Starting with Ecco the Dolphin and Sonic the Hedgehog, both games have been spotted on the ESRB site, with both of them being listed in the same breath as the Wii. Therefore the game must be the same as the one on the Wii (except for the enhancements such as Leaderboards) otherwise both Sonic and Ecco would be listed separately from the Wii listing. This suggests then that both Sonic and Ecco seem to be coming to the Arcade for definite now, which is certainly a good thing. The Sonic news does not however confirm the screens we posted last week of a supposed Arcade version. SEGA flatly denied the shots.

Next up is Mad Tracks. It’s been in development quite some time now, however news has broken that the game has passed MS Certification and will be available pretty soon. There’s no date yet of course, but start getting excited guys, this is one game you won’t want to miss. From the official site:

Mad Tracks XBLA has passed final Xbox certification and is good to go. Microsoft, D3P and Load Inc. are still adjusting a release date. Thanks for everyone’s patience; the wait is soon over

I can’t wait to get my hands dirty in those 84 leaderboards!!!
Cheers!

As for Prince of Persia Classic, IGN got their hands on a new trailer for the upcoming XBLA game (as previously mentioned), as well as an interview with Producer Vincent Boiteau.

IGN: Why bring back the first Prince game instead of making a brand new game for XBLA?

Vincent Boiteau: The original Prince of Persia was definitely one of the best games of its time. The incredibly fluid animations were really new to platformer-style games; this is why the game has become such a classic.

There aren’t too many 3D side-scrollers out these days, and we thought the old Prince deserved a fresh, new start. The original game was very difficult. The player had to be very careful because one wrong step could mean instant death. Today, players seemingly don’t have as much patience, so it was important to make the character easy and fun to control.

We’ve done our best to make the game more accessible to the largest audience possible and attract those who played and enjoyed the original game and new gamers alike.

IGN: Is this exactly the same layout as the original Apple II game or are there some new tweaks for 360?

Boiteau: While the graphics have been largely improved, we wanted the levels to be as faithful to the original game as possible.

IGN: The Prince’s moves have certainly evolved since the original game. Are any moves from the more recent 3D versions being added to POP XBLA?

Boiteau: Of course, the new POP trilogy has been a major source of inspiration. We wanted our Prince’s moves to blend with the level design while staying realistic at the same time. Therefore, we added new spectacular abilities to the Prince’s repertoire of original moves, giving players the kind of freedom they expect from a modern POP game, while making sure they blended naturally with the original game animations.

IGN: Are you adding any story elements?

Boiteau: The story is the same, but we have made particular efforts to create an even more entrancing atmosphere. The cut-scenes benefit from modern camera angles and better animations. The icing on the cake is that we also have two alternate endings, but that’s for the players to discover themselves.

IGN: The original POP was really difficult. Are you adjusting the difficulty level or creating a more forgiving checkpoint system?

Boiteau: It’s true that players had a really hard time to beat the original POP! To soften this a bit, we’ve included checkpoints, improved controls and added moves such as the last minute grab which helps avoid death caused by one wrong move.

IGN: Is there just the main story mode or are you adding any extras like Time Trial or arena combat, previously offered in other POP XBOX games?

Boiteau: There are three extra modes in the game: normal mode, time attack mode and survival mode. In normal mode, players can revisit any unlocked level to improve their overall score. Time attack mode is most closely related to the original POP. In survival mode, players have only one life and must beat the game without dying. This mode is definitely the most difficult of the game.

IGN: Aside from the graphics, what other enhancements were made for 360?

Boiteau: The controls have been largely improved. Battles are a lot more fun than the original game and require the same skill set as the original game.

Of course, we implemented a scoring system to allow players to compare their skills on Xbox Live leaderboards. We also added a ghost feature, allowing you to race against the ghost of your best performance or try to match another player’s skill and speed.

IGN: There’s one thing everyone seems to love about Xbox 360: Achievements. What are the Achievements for Prince of Persia?

Boiteau: There are plenty of achievements in this one too! Find the sword, meet the Immortal, kill a guard in a trap, kill the guard chieftain, find all life extension potions, merge with the Dark Prince, break the mirror, be rescued by the mouse, finish the game with a single life (without dying), save the princess (beat the game), find and drink the daze potions, find and drink the float potion.

IGN: In Sands of Time, one room of the original POP was redone in 3D and included in the game. Will we see a room of Sands of Time redone in 2D?

Boiteau: It’s a great idea, however, we do not have something like that in our game.

IGN: You know, there’s more than one side-scrolling Prince of Persia game. Any chance we’ll see more POP on XBLA?

Boiteau: I really can’t say at the moment, but I certainly hope so. And I’m sure that after playing POP Classic, a lot of guys will ask for more!

To round things off, we have news of that crazy game named Space Giraffe. The game, according to Game Stooge at least, will be releasing in the next few weeks. Game Stooge’s source claims to have told them that the game is pretty much ready to be released. Do take note of the “Rumor” tag at the top: it applies here. Is anyone else thinking how awesome a Mad Tracks and Space Giraffe double header would be?!

That’s all your Arcade news for the moment. We will naturally be keeping an eye on all the games you have read about, and waiting for official confirmation of Ecco and Sonic. The Arcade really is stepping things up now.

Thanks to nofear360 for submitting.