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Physics games where you actually swing something around using momentum are not as common as one might think. Gum Drop Celestial Frontier is one of these games, and combined arcade scoring with some cool physics action. Originally slated for release on the Xbox Live Indie Games market, the developer released the full version as freeware for PC gamers. Awesome!

Gum Drop Celestial Frontier revolves around a lone mining ship and its single escort fighter as they mine around, eliminating attacking pirate ships along the way. As these are mining vessels, the only weapon they can use is a tractor beam combined with an indestructible ball of death. In gameplay terms, the translates you you frantically swinging around one or more balls to collide with enemy ships. It's a great concept that is pulled off with grace, and is definitely worth a play.

Comes packaged with the XNA 3.0 redistributable, as it is required in order to play.

[Via IndieGames]

We do love a good same-screen multiplayer game, and Flock U, from TOJam #4, is definitely one of these. A simple game, Flock U has you competing against other players for the control of little flu viruses to attack each other. These flu viruses flock around you, hence the name of the game. While there's not much more to it than running around, collecting power-ups, and shooting your buddies, it's definitely a fun-filled, fast-paced arcade-style game that anybody can pick up and play.

You control your little guy through an Xbox 360 controller. You must have one, as it does not work otherwise. You then move around, collect the little purple flu people, and shoot them at the other players. The viruses also act as a shield against the fire from other players. Simple! This is perhaps the most rigorous install in the whole TOJam #4 competition, as it requires DirectX 9.0c+, Microsoft .net Framework 3.5, and the XNA Game Studio 3.0 Redistributable. You can find all of these, as well as the game itself, on the TOJam competition website.

There some games that are just impossibly fun to play with a friend. Cheese is WAR! is one of those amazing multiplayer games. Featuring some excellent use of physics, an interesting art style, and charming sound effects, it's a miracle that this TOJam 2008 competitor didn't get some kind of honors. But when you are competing against such a large plethora of other great games, sometimes it's hard to get recognition.

Cheese is WAR! is a multiplayer-only game where two rats try and topple a tower of cheese onto the other rat. The tower has weak points and reacts fluidly, making the game just as entertaining to watch as to play. The tower designs are also reminiscent of the Tower of Goo project. As long as you aren't touching cheese, you'll be fine. If you touch cheese, you lose one heart. Lose all your hearts, and the opponent wins. It's that simple! Just keep in mind that your projectiles sometimes explode and that cheese strands can be severed.

Days after announcing the expected May release of XNA Game Studio 3.0's Community Technical Preview, Microsoft has released the CTP to the public. On the official XNA blog program manager David Weller announced that programmers using XNA Game Studio 3.0 have the ability to build games for the entire family of Zune media devices as well as the PC.

The preview release of the game development software is freely available online with the full version expected to hit during the holiday season. XNA Game Studio 2.0 users should take note that the 3.0 preview does not currently support the Xbox 360. So the service will be without the freshest batch of dual-stick shooters for the time being.

XNA-based gaming could find its way to Microsoft's Zune as early as this month, according to a report on Engadget.

According to the report, Microsoft is aiming for a community technology preview of Zune gaming for release this month, and has at least four games currently running on the new portable platform: Hexic, Potato Chase, Zauri and Alien Takeover.

New details have emerged uncovering some secrets of the upcomnig device's capabilities. The Zune gives developers 16 Mb of RAM for software creation, does not support any 3D hardware acceleration and supports up to eight-player gaming via ad-hoc Wi-Fi connection.

Zune support is one of the highly touted features of Microsoft's XNA Game Studio 3.0, which is currently expected to launch by the end of the calendar year.

[via Develop Mag]