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Wizards of the Coast -- the company, not actual wizards -- has sent word that the previously revealed Magic: The Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers DLC will hit Xbox Live Marketplace on October 21 (next Wednesday, to be specific). The expansion will include three new decks, three new cards for each of the original decks, new co-op levels and three new challenge levels. The DLC also contains a new single-player campaign. Those who wish to partake of the expansion will have to summon 400 ($5).

Duels of the Planeswalkers was released at the beginning of summer on Xbox Live Arcade, and it's a surprisingly competent take on the traditional Magic card game. The XBLA game is immediately familiar and also easy enough for first-timers to jump in and learn the ropes. There's a robust tutorial, all of the cards are real Magic cards, and the multiplayer features multiple modes of play, including four-on-four battles and "Two-Headed Giant," where a team of two faces off against another team of two. In short, it's addictive.

We recently spoke with Worth Wollpert, senior business manager for Magic Online, and Mark Purvis, associate brand manager, both at Wizards of the Coast. The subject at hand was all things Duels of the Planeswalkers: there's some DLC on the way, and possibly other changes to the game -- but no deck customization (boo!). For now, the team is happy to let the game bring lapsed players back into the fold, and to introduce new players to the tapping and shuffling of Magic: The Gathering. Continue reading for the full interview.

This week, Xbox Live Arcade gets not one, but two genres that rarely see the light of day on consoles. First, we've got the collectible card game, Magic the Gather: Duels of the Planeswalkers. Unlike the weird Magic title on the original Xbox -- which played something like a weird monster summoning / volleyball hybrid -- Planeswalkers sticks to the traditional card game, which should make fans mighty happy. The game will deal 800 ($10) damage to your wallet.

Next, we have the XBLA debut of the Sam & Max adventure series, Sam & Max Save the World. Save the World is actually the first season of the Sam & Max episodic series that has been available on PC and Wii for some time now. That's six episodes of comedy gold for 1600 ($20). For those keeping score, that's the same price as the PC version and $10 cheaper than the Wii version.

Wizards of the Coast has announced that Magic: The Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers will finally release on Xbox Live Arcade this month. Specifically, the game will launch on June 17. Have no fear, Magic fans, unlike the Xbox version of Magic: The Gathering, Duels of the Planeswalkers is a straight-up card game. And, based on our time with it at PAX last year, it's a pretty good one.

Unfortunately, we still don't know how much green damage the game will deal to your wallet.

Update: We now have the price. Duels of the Planeswalkers will cost 800 ($10).

This week, XBLA in Brief takes on Happy Tree Friends and Ticket to Ride. One of them is a pretty good board game about building railroads. The other one is a weird game that doesn't really seem to take advantage of the cartoon upon which it's based. We'll let you figure out which one is which.

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This week's Xbox Live Arcade releases (yup, plural) will both make your inner violent self cheer with bloody enthusiasm and your inner train conductor toot with excitement, because both Happy Tree Friends False Alarm and Ticket to Ride are releasing this Wednesday, June 25th to an XBLA near you.

This XBLA twofer will be a nice mix of variety seeing that False Alarm is more along the lines of "cartoon violence adventure game of blood, guts and survival" whereas Ticket to Ride is more "card game of choo-choo traveling fun". Though, there is one similarity, both will available for purchase this Wednesday for 800 Microsoft points. Now go and practice the elite art of video game screenshot viewing using the elite screenshot galleries below.

[Source, Happy Tree Friends: False Alarm]
[Source, Ticket to Ride]

[Thanks Jonah]

We've been down this road before haven't we? Indeed, we have. This time should a bit more reliable though, as the date came from Sega themselves. The new release date for Happy Tree Friends: False Alarm is June 25, the week after next. The game itself is a menagerie of differing gameplay types and focuses, strangely enough, on trying "to save the characters from gruesome demise." After being jerked around a bit with this title it's good to know that it'll be seeing the light of day sooner rather than later. Though we wish we could say the same about some other XBLA games that have yet to see release.

XBLA in Brief takes a look at Warlords and Buku Sudoku this week. On the one hand we've got yet another Atari "classic" and on the other we have ... Sudoku. It turns out that Warlords is actually surprisingly fun, though we're not sure we'd be willing to plop down our 500 MS Points for it. Buku Sudoku is ... Sudoku. It does its job well enough, and if you really need some Sudoku that doesn't fit on your lap, then Buku Sudoku might be just the ticket.

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It doesn't take a crystal ball to see that six months from now Warlords will be plenty eligible for delisting. Let's just say that deathmatches have come along way since 1980. But if you choose to respectfully disagree, you can pledge your feeble support to give this Atari classic a permanent home in the XBLA catalog by plunking down a five-spot (400 Microsoft Points). Just remember, some games are better left to memory -- and paddle controllers!

As for Buku Sudoku? Well, there's a reason this is the "first and only" Sudoku game on XBLA. Leave the number crunching to the pencil and paper, and go shoot some more hookers.

Microsoft just announced tomorrow's Xbox Live Arcade releases and finally, after a mild drought, we are getting an XBLA twofer with both Buku Sudoku and Warlords seeing a release on Wednesday.

Available for purchase off the XBLA for 800 Microsoft points is Merscom's Buku Sudoku, a puzzle word game featuring over 1,200 puzzles, online multiplayer, co-op and well ... lots of Sudoku puzzles. Over fifteen Sudoku books of puzzles ... or so we're told. The other half of this week's XBLA twofer is Stainless Games' 400 MS point Warlords, a remake of the classic Warlords but in prettified HD and four player Xbox Live support. Though, if you want to be all old-school, they've generously added a pixel-perfect remake of the classic. Browse the screenshots below and ponder an XBLA purchase.

It might not occur to all of our readers when they see the average episode of XBLA in Brief but, let us assure you, it is a public service. We play awful, awful games so that you don't have to. Rocky and Bullwinkle is just such a game. It is -- if there can be such a thing -- the perfect storm of bad game design. The license is used horribly, the graphics aren't good, and the game employs awkward (and unresponsive) vision camera controls. The misuse of the Rocky and Bullwinkle license is perhaps the worst offense. We hate to see a classic cartoon turned into something this awful.

Check out our video of us checking out Rocky and Bullwinkle (along with Battlezone) and be glad it wasn't you.

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Thanks to a recently distributed press release from Sega we now have the first teaser trailer of the XBLA version of that violent flash cartoon, Happy Tree Friends: False Alarm. Considering the fact that this is a teaser, its understandable that there is no gameplay. And besides, with an art style like this one, the only way we might even differentiate gameplay shots would be some sort of HUD or something. Other than that, the video reaffirms the fact that the game will not be cleaning itself up in comparison with the rest of the series, and that the game will be seeing release sometime this Spring. No word on the supposed "week of the 21st" release date though.

The flash-animated, internet-cult phenomenon, known as Happy Tree Friends is getting it's XBLA release (with a subtitle of False Alarm) next month. As an extremely violent flash cartoon that it is, every entry features blood, gore and violent deaths, and as such should fit right in with the 360 crowd. On the HTF website, there is a confirmation from the staff that the game is set to go live on April 21, strange part is, (as you likely already know) XBLA games only release on Wednesdays. Now assuming that they are simply unfamiliar with that pattern, then it's likely that the game will see release the week of April 21 (its a Monday). Either way, the devs have gotten word that Happy Tree Friends: False Alarm is releasing soon, and from the looks of the rumors swirling, April should end up being a great month for XBLA.