Lumines Live! Rockin' Holiday Pack Preview

Released nearly a year ago now, Lumines Live! took the successful PlayStation Portable puzzle game and transported it to the Xbox Live Arcade. Downloadable content soon followed, and the latest content to make an appearance will be a set of 20 new skins with a 'holiday' theme. They'll cost 400 Microsoft points when they land on October 17th 2007, but we managed to score a quick look at some of them on a recent visit to Q! Entertainment in Tokyo.

The first new skin that we saw featured a halloween-themed background with spinning pumpkins as well as witches who flew by on broomsticks. Halloween is a big deal out in Japan, with many downtown stores already selling items for October 31 ahead of TGS in mid-September. The skin featured a hardcore dance music track, pretty much in keeping with many other levels in the game. The other new skins that we saw were just as crazy, with one featuring spinning turkeys roasting above a fire for Thanksgiving, and another one with Santa Claus in a tropical setting accompanied by a Jamaican musical number. The only thing that this content will be missing is new achievements to unlock.

One of the most exciting pieces of news to come out of our visit is that another new skin will be released for free for owners of the game with an Xbox Live Gold account. A new Genki Rockets single called Heavenly Star will be making its way to the network in October, but it is likely that it will be available for a limited time only. We really liked the song, an upbeat but quite mellow dance number, and the music video used some cool rotoscope effects.

The new holiday pack for Lumines Live! had a very playful feel to it, and we can't wait to see some of the 17 other skins that will make it into the package. It's also good to see Q! Entertainment supporting the community with free content this long after the game's release. Expect to see all the new content arriving on Xbox Live Arcade in October, along with another of Q!'s puzzle games in the form of Every Extend Extra Extreme.