Banjo-Kazooie hops onto XBLA Nov. 26

This past August offered a bumper crop of Xbox Live Arcade offerings. In quick succession, Microsoft fired off a number of AAA downloadable games, including Geometry Wars 2, Braid, Bionic Commando Rearmed, Galaga Legions, and Castle Crashers.

The remainder of the year will see XBLA receive several more top titles. During its E3 2008 press event, Microsoft revealed that Banjo-Kazooie would join a handful of other previously proven winners on XBLA this holiday. Today, Microsoft announced that Rare's critically acclaimed 1998 N64 platformer will arrive on Xbox Live Arcade on November 26 for 1,200 Microsoft points ($15).

As previously announced, gamers can pick the downloadable game up for free and gain access two weeks early by preordering Rare's upcoming Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts at participating retailers. The XBLA game will factor into Rare's latest Xbox 360 exclusive, giving gamers the ability to unlock additional content in Nuts & Bolts when it rides into retail November 11. Banjo-Kazooie also features a graphical update, as well as achievement points.

In addition to dating and pricing Banjo-Kazooie, Microsoft's announcement also revealed that its follow-up, Banjo-Tooie, is slated for an XBLA revival in early 2009. The publisher did not reveal any other details on how the well-reviewed 2000 N64 sequel will be revamped for the current console generation.