XBLA Summer of Arcade games dated, priced

At the height of the Electronic Entertainment Expo this month, Microsoft revealed the lineup and starting date of its 2011 Summer of Arcade promotion. Today it detailed exactly when each game would arrive and how much players could expect to pay for them.

Kicking things off July 20 will be Supergiant Games' Bastion. The role-playing game relies heavily on storytelling, offering more than 40 hand-painted environments that gamers explore to uncover the origins of Calamity, a civilization-destroying event.

Ubisoft's From Dust will follow that up on July 27. Originally announced at Ubisoft's E3 2010 press conference, the game is a new take on the God game genre designed by Another World (Out of This World in the US) creator Eric Chahi. Players will control a tribe as it grapples with a primitive world, full of ancient artifacts and lost mystical powers.

August 3 will see the release of Fuelcell's Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet. The side-scrolling 2D action adventure offers an imaginative look at worlds that play home to surreal environments and deranged enemies.

Fruit Ninja Kinect is the penultimate release in the campaign, arriving August 10. A motion-control-enabled version of the popular title for mobile platforms, Halfbrick's latest version of Fruit Ninja challenges players to slice up airborne produce while avoiding bombs.

Bringing the summer promotion to a close on August 17 will be Signal Studios' Toy Soldiers: Cold War. A sequel to the 2010 Block Party hit Toy Soldiers, Cold War has players again controlling plastic army men in strategy-action hybrid gameplay set in the ironically heated geopolitical climate of the '80s. Cold War also includes a co-op campaign, as well as a Survival mode and minigames.

All of the Summer of Arcade games will sell for 1,200 Microsoft points ($15), except for Fruit Ninja Kinect. That game will be available for 800 Microsoft points ($10).

Additionally, Microsoft has said those who purchase all of the Summer of Arcade titles will receive a sixth game, Certainy Affinity's Crimson Alliance, for free. Set for release September 7, Crimson Alliance is an action-RPG that lets players work together in specific roles to take down a nefarious cult. For those who want to buy Crimson Alliance but aren't interested in the Summer of Arcade promotion, the game will sell on its own for 1,200 Microsoft points ($15).