Xbox Live Arcade To Host PS1 Castlevania Version

According to a report by U.S. video game magazine EGM, Konami are planning to release a version of cult PlayStation game Castlevania: Symphony of the Night on Xbox 360 download service Xbox Live Arcade early next year. A follow-up report by associated website 1UP.com points out that the appearance of Symphony of the Night on Xbox Live Arcade is not an exclusive deal, implying that it could also appear on the Wii’s virtual console, the forthcoming PSP emulation service or any similar offering on the PlayStation 3. Regarded by many as one of the highlights of the franchise, the game would be one of the first retro Xbox Live Arcade releases not to be a coin-op conversion, and is interesting in that it helps herald an expansion in the complexity of titles that are being considered for Xbox 360 digital download conversion. Until recently, most of the games announced or debuted from firms such as Konami, Midway, and Namco have been conversions of classic arcade games, including Gauntlet, Pac-Man, and so on. But with developer The Behemoth apparently announcing an Xbox Live Arcade version of its previous console release Alien Hominid (which actually made a retail appearance in Europe), and Konami's new announcement, it appears that firms are starting to consider newer and more sophisticated titles - albeit 2D and still clearly differentiated from full-price games. The game has only a vague release date of the first quarter in 2007 and will appear alongside fellow Konami titles Frogger, Contra, Super Contra, Track & Field, Time Pilot and Scramble – all of which are standard coin-op conversions. No pricing details for the game have yet been announced.