As of this morning, you can download Rez HD and Chessmaster LIVE from Xbox LIVE Marketplace for 800 points each.

Rez HD has been highly anticipated, and it seems that it just might live up to the hype. 1UP.com has given the game a 10/10, saying it’s “…one of the best games ever made…”

Link: Arcade: Rez HD | Arcade: Chessmaster Live

This week’s Xbox Live Arcade releases have been revealed by Major Nelson. Come Wednesday morning, we will be graced with Rez HD and Chressmaster LIVE for 800 points each.

Link: This week on Arcade: Rez HD and Chessmaster LIVE

Just a reminder to make sure you download Undertow today for free. After today, no more free Undertow.

Don’t forget, as of this morning you can download Undertow from Xbox LIVE Marketplace for free. It will remain free until Sunday @ 11:59pm PST.

Link: Reminder: Undertow is now free

To promote the upcoming release of REZ HD on Xbox Live Arcade, Q Entertainment is holding a little giveaway in which you can win a free copy of the game. Between now and January 27th, simply register on the official REZ HD website (and check the necessary checkbox) and you will be entered into the giveaway. At the end of the promotion, 50 lucky people will be randomly selected to receive a redemption code to download the game.

Link: REZ HD [Via Joystiq]

Microsoft has announced the game they will be giving away free to users that were affected by the Xbox Live outages. That game is Undertow (an 800 point value).

As you can expect, the comments on the Gamerscore Blog post are already asploding with posts saying things like, “what if I already purchased Undertow?” According to a comment from John Porcaro, those people should call Xbox Support which is “prepared to take care of you.”

I have to say, I’m pretty disappointed for a couple of reasons. First, a lot of people have probably already purchased this game. Now they’re all going to have to deal with Xbox Support, which I can personally tell you is huge hassle. Second, I didn’t care for the trial version of Undertow, so I don’t know that I really want to play it.

I think MS is handling this situation all wrong. They need to give away a new game to everyone when it’s released and they needed to say that when they announced they would be giving away a free game. That would solve several of the issues they will now be dealing with. First, you don’t have to worry about the people that already purchased it. Second, it would prevent people from not buying games until they heard which one was going to be free. Third, you wouldn’t have to worry about people saying, “I already played the Trial version and it sucked.” It would have been a great way to prevent a lot of the fires they’re now going to have to put out.

I’m just saying…

IGN has a full-blown preview of the Bionic Command remake for Xbox Live Arade. The revamp of the 1988 classic is cleverly titled “Bionic Commando Rearmed” and appears to be much improved, while still retaining all of the things that got us hooked on the original. I won’t go into too much detail, as IGN’s preview is pretty comprehensive. All I will say is it looks freaking sweet! Watch the video below and prepare to be addicted to this classic all over again.

Link: Bionic Commando Rearmed Preview [Via Xbox 360 Fanboy]

On his Twitter page, Major Nelson has made a very brief comment regarding GoldenEye. You may recall the rumors surrounding the game and it’s alleged port to Xbox Live Arcade. Well, apparently Major Nelson has been hearing a little bit from the community about it. As a response, the good Major simply states:

My inbox has a lot of ‘Save Goldeneye’ emails. I will be sure topass them on to the right people.

I guess we can’t ask for much more than that.

Link: Twitter / Major Nelson (Larry) [Via Digg]