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PS3 feeling Pain, 360 GripShifts

Idol Minds' slingshot simulator hitting PSN this week, while GripShift invades Microsoft's downloadable service before year's end; Atari classics hitting XBLA "soon."

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Most gamers will undoubtedly be rocking out with toy guitars or blasting some manner of alien scum when they're not putting in the requisite family time this holiday season. Luckily, for those idle minutes, or hours, sitting around with relatives, developers are still filling the downloadable channels with a steady stream of quick-fix games.

Pain will arrive this Thursday for the PlayStation 3's PlayStation Network. Developed by Idol Minds (My Street, Cool Boarders 2001), Pain is a physics-based slingshot simulator where unfortunate bystanders are flung across highly destructive cityscapes to their most uncomfortable landing. The game offers a number of single- and multiplayer modes, with the developer promising more content to be available for download through the PlayStation Store. Pricing information for Pain has not yet been announced.

Originally released for the PlayStation Portable in 2005, GripShift was remixed and released for the PS3's PSN in early 2007. Now, Sidhe Interactive is again tweaking the formula of its hot-rod puzzler for a newly revamped, "definitive" version of GripShift for Xbox Live. Published this time around by Microsoft Games Studios, GripShift will include updated graphics and controls, as well as new single- and multiplayer content, a deathmatch mode, and leaderboards. While no price or release date was specified, the year-old PSN version ran for $9.99, and Sidhe noted that the game will be available this year.

In other XBLA news, it appears Atari will finally be getting around to releasing Battlezone, Tempest, and Warlords. The arcade classics were initially announced alongside Centipede/Millipede, Missile Command, and Asteroids/Asteroids Deluxe in November 2006. With the Asteroids double deal hitting XBLA this week for 400 Microsoft points ($5), the publisher noted that the three remaining games would be "following through this holiday season." As with the first three titles, Battlezone, Tempest, and Warlords will come with classic and "evolved" versions, as well as leaderboards and achievements.

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