We learned what titles would compose 2011's Xbox Live Summer of Arcade lineup, but dates and prices were previously unavailable. Now Major Nelson, Xbox's resident mouthpiece, has let slip the dates and points pricing for each of the five available titles. Thanks, Larry.
Supergiant Games' stylish action RPG Bastion will lead off the pack on July 20th, followed by Ubisoft's peculiar-looking god game, From Dust, on July 27th. August begins with Michel Gagne's kitchen sink side-scroller, Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet, dropping on the 3rd, followed by the Kinect-enabled version of Fruit Ninja on the 10th. Finally, rounding out the pack is Toy Soldiers: Cold War, which closes out the summer on August 17th.
All of the titles under the Summer of Arcade banner will retail for 1200 points ($15), with the sole exception of Fruit Ninja Kinect, which will go for 800 points ($10).
As an added bonus for those who really like spending Microsoft points, anyone who buys all five of the Summer of Arcade titles will get free access to Microsoft Game Studios and Certain Affinity's action RPG Crimson Alliance when it releases on September 7th. That game will retail for 1200 points when it launches.
So, which among these are you planning to pick up? I'm sure Microsoft is banking on you just buying all of them all willy-nilly, but c'mon. Let's be realistic here.