Thanks to Hasbro, your favourite board games are coming to Xbox Live  and it sounds like there’s something to keep everyone entertained.

Under a Hasbro Family Game Night banner, games such as BOGGLE, BATTLESHIP, YAHTZEE, CONNECT FOUR, SORRY! and SORRY! Sliders will begin to roll out in Spring 2009. EA will showcase the highly anticipated lineup at the Consumer Electronics Show on January 8-11, 2009 in Las Vegas.

All games will feature both original and new ways to play, including a Party Mode that features multiple mini-game versions of each title. Additional customization features will allow players to earn virtual trophies, furniture and themes to decorate their personal virtual game rooms. The Hasbro Family Game Night lineup will take full advantage of Xbox Live community features such as online play, Achievements, the ability to launch new games without leaving the environment, and sharing customized space with friends. The EA Hasbro virtual game closet is slated to open in Spring 2009 with multiple games followed by additional releases throughout the year.

Although the press release only mentions Xbox Live, various sources such as 1Up are reporting that it could infact be a seperate games channel - much like the delayed Primetime channel that was due to be available when the New Xbox Experience update was released in November.

No doubt this will be clarified during CES which starts this week.

Well if this isn’t a blast from the past! Witness the revival of 80’s mini-sensations the Madballs, the grotesque balls that… well, didn’t really do a lot. Still, the license to coincide with their modern day revival has been picked up by Playbrains who are bringing them to the Xbox Live Arcade some time in 2009.

Playbrains partnered with American Greetings Properties, who recently re-launched the 80s classic Madballs toy and entertainment brand, to develop the game featuring the hilariously grotesque Madballs characters. In the game, two Madballs characters crash land on a planet in the middle of a civil war between the peaceful Babos and chaotic Scorched forces and join the fray. The game features a dozen characters, each with special abilities, fighting with many different weapons across multiple landscapes. There is a deep single-player campaign and many different co-op and multiplayer modes of gameplay.

Nintendo rub in the fact that it’s bloody freezing at the moment by releasing Sandy Beach for today’s US WiiWare Update.

Sandy Beach - 500 Nintendo Points

Enjoy a fun day at Sandy Beach as you build elaborate sand castles. You can work peacefully on your sand castle or enter into a battle with invading crabs in Crab Battle mode. Players will strategically build their sand castle and use cannons to defend it against an army of destructive crabs. After successfully defending your sand castle, discover beach treasures and additional cannons with your metal detector to customize your castle even more.

Now all you need is some sand in your pants and the illusion of summertime is complete!

Bad case of the Monday Blues? Why not cheer yourself up* by reading our review of Lumines Supernova for the PlayStation Network? You can find it HERE.

* Not a guarantee.

Today, the first update of 2009 for Europeans brings:

Fun! Fun! Minigolf - 900 Nintendo Points

Play minigolf with your friends in beautiful environments. Choose a character and turn your Wii Remote controller into a golf club. With its easy-to-use controls, all you need to do is aim, swing and see who’s the best putter. Play 27 holes spread across America, Asia and Europe. Enjoy exotic locations all over the world. Go for gold in single-player mode, or invite your friends. Fun! Fun! Minigolf supports up to four players. You can use one to four Wii Remote controllers. Fun! Fun! Minigolf is the ultimate party game for everyone.

Strong Bad Episode 5: 8-Bit Is Enough - 1000 Nintendo Points

Trogdor, the beefy-armed dragon of legend, has shaken free from his video game and is running through the countryside, “burninating” everything in sight. With a dragon on the loose and 8-bit classics leaking into the real world, it’s all fun and games until the proud land of Strong Badia falls to Trogdor’s fiery wrath. Now Strong Bad must take back the night by sending this scorching menace back into his arcade cabinet once and for all. Just one problem: Does anybody know how to kill a dragon?

Best known as a browser based flash game, Square Enix (yes the same one that produces  the endless tide of Japanese  RPG’s ) are bringing  Yosumin Live to the Xbox Live Arcade.

The game involves moving the adorable puzzle pieces around to make shapes in order to clear the board - a cross between Hexic and Bejewelled. Hardly the most original concept but bright and colourful all the same.

The information hasn’t been officially released yet, instead having been revealed by a Spanish site before making its way to Destructoid - they have an inside source who confirmed that it exists. That means there’s no launch date as yet (although multiplayer has been confirmed). Hopefully there’ll be more details whenever they decide to make it official and in the meantime you can check out the link below for some screenshots.

Source: DESTRUCTOID

It’s the end of 2008 and in our concluding part of our feature this week, here’s our top five games of the PSN. Read it HERE and once again be sure to let us know what were your highlights.

All that remains is for us to wish you a Happy New Year and all the best for 2009 wherever you are and whatever you’re doing.

If you aren’t too busy getting ready for the usual New Years celebrations then you may be interested in today’s XBLA release.

Merv Griffin’s Crosswords - 800 Microsoft Points

From the Emmy -winning creator of Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy, and hosted by Ty Treadway, Merv Griffin’s Crosswords combines over a thousand unique and challenging crossword puzzles with fast-paced game show action in an incredibly entertaining game for the whole family. Step up to the podium and become a word wizard!

* Puzzles galore: Become a contestant and play over 1,000 new crosswords including puzzles from the game show.

* Themes: Play your favourite themed puzzles—movies, music, TV shows, and more.

* Game modes: Step up to the podium and play as a contestant on the game show, or in any of four different game modes including Timed Mode and Daily Puzzle.

* Difficulty settings: Become a word wizard and play Monday, Thursday, and Sunday puzzles in three difficulty settings.

The second day of our round up of what was good in 2008 - this time for Nintendo’s WiiWare service. You can read it HERE - again let us know what were your top five titles. Tommorow, in the third and final part, we’ll have a run down of the top PSN titles for this year.

It’s been a little while (hey, we’re busy people you know), but we’ve just added our latest review to the site - World of Goo for WiiWare.

Be sure to check it out HERE.

Today the US WiiWare service is updated with:

MaBoShi’s Arcade - 800 Nintendo Points

Featuring three distinct modes and simultaneous play across three game windows, the constantly changing environment of Maboshi’s Arcade creates an atmosphere unlike any other. Each of the modes is based on one of three familiar shapes (circle, stick and square) and offers the same goal: score a million points. Use the intuitive controls to bash enemies in Circle mode, weave your way through Stick mode or burn a path around obstacles in Square mode-all while dealing with power-up items and keeping watch on which effects the other game windows may have on your own.

CueSports - Pool Revolution - 500 Nintendo Points

Grab your Wii Remote controller and take a shot at this virtual billiard game. Enjoy match-ups, playing classic favorites such as 9 Ball, 8 Ball, Rotation and Snooker, as well as walk-through trick shots in Puzzle mode. Connect to Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection (Nintendo WFC) to go head-to-head with your friends, or even hustle opponents across the world in Nintendo WFC match-ups. This game offers two types of controls, allowing you to virtually strike the cue ball with your Wii Remote controller or use the buttons to adjust the strength of your shot and then strike. Hone your skills in Practice mode, learning all the cool techniques you need to be a true hustler. Use the edit feature to create your own challenge and nail the trick shot you’ve always dreamed of sinking. Pull off an amazing shot and show everyone who’s the biggest shark in the pool.

As 2008 comes to an end, we crawl from the wreckage of Christmas to provide you with a run down of what we think were this years top games on XBLA. You can read it HERE - be sure to take a look and let us know what were your particular favourites.

And stay tuned over the next few days when we’ll also be running down our favourite games for the PlayStation Network and WiiWare.

Seasons greeting and best wishes to all our readers! We’ll be taking a bit of a break over the Festive period while we play lots of games, eat and drink far too much, make idle promises to uphold a load of New Years resolutions and then breaking them straight away on January 2nd.

That means updates will probably be a bit erratic for a while, but be sure to check back in between now and the New Year for our features on the top downloadable titles of 2008.

Whatever you’re playing have a safe and happy Christmas and may your 2009 be full of gaming delight!

Regards

The Console-Arcade Team.

No Lumines Supernova for you yet Europe! Instead you get an early Xmas update featuring:

Savage Moon

Savage Moon sees you protecting a remote off-world mining facility from waves of ravenous space bugs, looking to consume everything in their path. Armed with a fearsome array of defensive weapons, your mission is to take your choice of the finest armaments known to humankind and keep the facility safe by strategically placing these guns which then automatically fire at their targets.

Will you select the dependable rapid-fire machine gun? The intimidating Chaos Tower? Or opt for another item taken from the range of destructive weaponry at your disposal? Choose carefully, as each one has to be manually positioned for the greatest effectiveness in destroying the increasing waves of monstrous insects.

Mahjong Tales: Ancient Wisdom

Embark on a journey of magic and discovery through ancient China! Mahjong Tales: Ancient Wisdom brings the classic game to the PlayStation Network, combining the hottest features of mahjong into a single game featuring a narrated story mode that whisks players away into a storybook adventure, enhanced with hand illustrated ancient Chinese tales.

There’s also a WipEout HD demo (why wouldn’t you have already bought that?!) and price drops on some games including echochrome, FlOw, The Last Guy, PAIN, SuperStardust HD and the full game of WipEout HD. All the more reason to pick them up if you haven’t already!

Your Christmas week game on XBLA today is Puzzle Arcade for 800 Microsoft Points.

Puzzle Arcade is the online jigsaw game with a twist! With so many jigsaw puzzles at your fingertips, you can play in multiple modes and challenge yourself differently every time. Become Master of the Jigsaw Universe all by yourself or play alongside friends. The possibilities are endless in Puzzle Arcade.

* Puzzles galore: More than thirty-five jigsaw puzzles are included, featuring photos, artwork, and illustrations. Downloadable puzzle packs will follow.

* Multiple game modes: Try Classic or Turbo mode, with three levels of difficulty, and twenty different puzzle challenges.

* Multiplayer: Support is provided for up to four gamers at the same console and over Xbox LIVE.

* Camera support: The game includes Xbox LIVE Vision Camera support allowing you to make and share your own puzzles.