While it seems like everyone in my Xbox Live friends list is playing The Orange Box, I've become intently focused on completing all the races and crashes in Burnout Revenge. While my ability to unlock achievements there has, as of yet, proved fruitless, the release of Mutant Storm Empire arrives just in time to help burn off all that Halloween candy and satisfy my need to smash stuff.

The game, the successor to PomPom Games' Mutant Storm Reloaded, brings gamers into a sci-fi action experience as they crush swarms of UFOs and take down big bosses. Featuring zero load times and 16 levels over four worlds, Mutant Storm Empire also adds an offline co-op mode and head to head live support for only two. The game becomes available via Xbox Live Arcade on Wednesday, October 31 just after the clock creeps past 9am GMT / 11pm ET / 2am PT for 800 points.

While that's the only big fish game of the week, which seems depressing with Halloween happening, Microsoft did say that Sierra Online's Switchball is coming in the next few weeks. When last we play this, the game is best described as an obstacle course for a morphing metallic ball in what feels a lot like a more complex Super Monkey Ball. Early course didn't require much strategy as players just need to focus on not falling off the course. Later courses require the ball to get smaller sizes, add a jolt of electricity or get light like a ping-pong ball. While my first vibe was that the "morphing" feature presented a way of masking odd level design, the addictive quality of the gameplay challenge kept me playing longer than needed. Hopefully the final version lives up to my first impression.