Xbox Live House Party and must have games 2012

If you’re up on your leaks and rumor, you might remember that last week a rumored release date for some higly anticipated XBLA games was floating around in the ether. Well, the ting about rumors is that sometimes they’re true.

Launching this February 15th, Xbox Live House Party 2012 will be dishing up some very hot new games. And what are those new games? In no particular order:

• Alan Wake’s American Nightmare (Microsoft Studios): In this brand-new stand-alone experience, Alan Wake fights the herald of darkness, the evil Mr. Scratch. A thrilling new storyline, hordes of creepy enemies, serious firepower and beautiful Arizona locations, combined with a fun and challenging new game mode, make this a must for Alan Wake veterans, and the perfect jumping-on point for new players. Can you survive until sunrise?
•  I Am Alive (Ubisoft): One year after a worldwide cataclysmic event has wiped out most of human civilization, a man struggles for survival. Faced with an insecure, decaying and hazardous world, he scours a desolated city, searching for his long-lost wife and daughter. Survive the suffocating, murky streets covered in dust. Climb the teetering remains of last-standing skyscrapers to reach breathable air and find untouched resources. Explore the crumbling ruins of a once-thriving metropolis. Discover a changed human condition, punctuated by distrustful survivors, dangerous armed gangs and victims in need.
•  Nexuiz (THQ): For centuries, the Kavussari and the Forsellians have waged war. They have a fragile truce but, because of their seething disgust of each other, still pit warriors against each other in arenas rather than on the fields of war. These episodes of lethal combat are broadcast throughout the galaxy as entertainment — a spectacle known as The Nexuiz Competition — an arena-based first-person shooter where you can alter the rules of the match and the laws of physics while dominating opponents in ever-changing hostile environments.
•  Warp (EA): “Warp” is a puzzle-based stealth action game where you play as Zero, a lovable-yet-lethal orange alien with a big score to settle! Captured by the villainous Commander and imprisoned in his underwater facility, Zero must plan his ultimate escape using his arsenal of alien abilities — warp, frag, echo, swap and launch.

That’s a pretty solid lineup. Alan Wake and I Am Alive alone make for some extremely tempting purchases and it looks liek XBL is going to be getting into gear early in 2012. But I was talking about two events right? Well, don’t get too excited because where House Party is all about the Xbox, Must Have Games is strictly a Win Phone 7 affair.

Which is not to say it doesn’t look pretty good all by itself, it’s just that… Win Phone 7. Oh well, at least you can still collect some ‘cheevos. That’s always a bright spot.

• BulletAsylum (Microsoft Studios): Annihilate invaders with a wall of firepower in this insane arcade shooter. With an insane amount of firepower at your fingertips, vibrant graphics and an all-you-can-shoot buffet of alien hordes to destroy, “BulletAsylum” will blow you away! 

  Chickens Can’t Fly (Microsoft Studios): Join the ranks of our scientists and see what chickens are capable of! Countless hours of fun await you: fall down an experimental pit, avoid obstacles, use power-ups and power-downs, gather corn, and make it through to the end. Use the skills you learn to get a high score in Survival Mode and show off to your friends on the Xbox LIVE and global leaderboards.  

  Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit (Electronic Arts): It’s time to fulfill your need for speed. Drive up to 20 precision-performance cars in adrenaline-fueled showdown across 24 day-and-night tracks. Take it to the limit in 48 total Cop and Racer Career Events, collect bounty, and rise to the top of the ranks.

  Splinter Cell Conviction (Gameloft): Unleash the ferocious skills of renegade agent Sam Fisher, a highly skilled Special Forces operative, and fight a corrupted secret agency to get your daughter back. Run, jump, fight and shoot using a handgun, a shotgun, an AK-47 assault rifle and a bazooka, or maintain stealth by improvising with nearby objects. You are now a renegade spy agent; you don’t follow any orders except for your own rules of engagement.

   Toy Soldiers: Boot Camp (Microsoft Studios): Wage war on a tiny scale in “Toy Soldiers: Boot Camp,” which brings the fun and addictive shooting gallery mini-games from Xbox 360’s “Toy Soldiers: Cold War” to your Windows Phone.