Darwinia evolving onto XBLA

An Xbox 360 version of Introversion's award-winning hybrid real-time strategy game Darwinia has been speculated since the game's first run on the PC in 2005. However, an edition for Microsoft's console has never actually materialized. That may change in the near future, given that the Entertainment Software Rating Board has updated its online database with an E for Everyone rating for Introversion's innovative strategy game. Introversion has been listed as the publisher for the Xbox 360 version of the game.

Originally released in 2005, Darwinia is set inside a virtual theme park in a computer network. A viral infection has broken out that you must contain to save the little Darwinians. In the game, players have to alter the status of the creatures by inputting a gesture-based command. On the PC, these gestures are achieved with a flick of the mouse, and there are currently no details on how they would be handled in an Xbox 360 version of the game.

Introversion is a small British developer whose other works include 2001's hacker simulator Uplink and critically acclaimed global thermonuclear war strategy game DEFCON: Everybody Dies. The studio is known to be working on a PC follow-up to Darwinia, dubbed Multiwinia: Survival of the Flattest, which will bring online play to the franchise.

It is unclear whether the Xbox 360 version of the game would appear as an Xbox Live Arcade offering, and Introversion had not responded to requests for clarification as of press time. However, the developer is no stranger to digital distribution; Introversion's entire lineup is available for download through Valve's online portal Steam.

[UPDATE] Introversion has confirmed in a statement that both the games will be coming in autumn 2008 to Xbox Live Arcade, with Darwinia and Multiwinia coming together in one downloadable package as Darwinia+.