Ikaruga Touted for Xbox Live Arcade
Treasure's hard-as-nails shooter could be gracing the service soon.
Is Microsoft working with shooter developer extraordinaire Treasure on a version of its hit Dreamcast and GameCube shooter Ikaruga for the Xbox Live Arcade? Neither company has said anything specific about the matter, but reports this week have the game popping up on a test version of the online service.
According to reports online, Ikaruga went up on PartnerNet - a closed version of Xbox Live limited to developers and the press - as two separate downloads, each less than 10 MB in size. The game is reportedly unplayable right now, but its appearance in any form on PartnerNet would seem to be confirmation that it is coming.
Microsoft is being characteristically coy about the matter and didn't respond when we approached them for comment on the game's existence. The company recently revealed 10 games coming to the Xbox Live Arcade and Ikaruga was not on that list.
Treasure's Masato Maegawa told 1UP last year that he was "really interested in Live Arcade". The studio is also working on an original vertical shooter for the Xbox 360.
Note: This article was updated on 15 February 2007 to respect Microsoft's non-disclosure guidelines.
Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo
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