XBox 360 gamers know that the Live service they subscribe to is already quite good, so it's a nice to learn that there's another update heading our way, and will be with us sooner rather than later.

Games on Demand will allow users to download retail games straight to their XBox, allowing them to find, download and play titles when they want. Confirmed titles currently include Mass Effect, Perfect Dark Zero and Viva Piñata. NetFlix parties will allow a group of friends to watch the same movie in a virtual theatre, and game ratings will make it easier to find and seperate the quality games on the marketplace from the chaff.

There's a whole slew of other features on their way, and while it's not the eagerly-awaited update with Last.fm, Facebook and Twitter compatibilty we can't wait for, it's still a good addition to an already great service.

Find out more, and read the full press release, at Engadget.

Chillingo flew south to Brighton yesterday to announce 'Crystal', the social gaming platform for iPhone and iPod Touch and what's being touted as the mobile answer to Xbox Live. Crystal will embrace the powerful features of the iPhone OS 3.0 and provide developers with a fully integrated and transparent framework to include social networking features in their games.

Crystal will be free for everyone to use. It will allow players to create their own profile, add friends, store achievements and game histories and compete with friends via direct challenges in multiple games. It is fully integrated into popular social network gateways such as Facebook Connect and Twitter. Crystal will also allow players to discover games they like more easily.

“Crystal gives developers and gamers a bigger plus all round.” said Chris Byatte, Director and co-founder of Chillingo. “It is set to become the de-facto social gaming standard for iPhone and iPod touch.” he added.

Chillingo are opening up a host of new innovative features never seen before on a social gaming platform. If you're a budding iPhone developper, you're invited to register your interest now at http://www.crystalsdk.com

After weeks of teasers, Team17's much-loved Worms series has finally made it on to the iPhone and iPod Touch. The turn-based fighter uses much of the same engine as the recent PS3 release but ommits the odd animation sequence deemed too powerful for the handheld machine.

"We took the shaders out, but it's still got the water in there, it's still got the particle system in there, the wind system is in there, essentially this is the PS3 version... OpenGL is what we're used to working on, and a lot of our renderer on PS3, syntax-wise, was pretty much the same, and we also had our underlying engine which just needed porting to the Mac."

-Lead Programmer, Matt Bishop talking to Appgamer.net

Worms is moderately priced at £2.99 over on the Appstore, where Team17 list some of the game's top features...
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NeoGames are celebrating the launch of their 40th game Dancing Domino, their brand new multi-play game, on Scratch2Cash and Hopa.

Taking the idea of the classic dominos game, the card is as simple to play as the timeless original. 16 dominos are in play in two rows, with eight on each row with eight scratch areas underneath the bottom row. The player picks from one to eight dominos, and, since each domino represents one game, they can have up to eight games on just the one card!

Once they've been chosen, both the player and dealer's dominos are reviewed, and if any of them match, they'll boogie their little booties to the centre of the board and reveal the player's win!

With jackpots of up to £200,000, you'd be a silly Billy not to have a go!

Check out Scratch2Cash and Hopa for your chance to win.

Football champions FC Barcelona have just announced the opening of their VIP room in Empire of Sports¸ the world's first Massively Multiplayer Online game dedicated solely to the pursuit of sport. Players can switch and swap between a mix of activities including, but not limited to, skiing and basketball, but this announcement is great news for all footy fans.

The virtual club in the MMO will provide players with a space to talk about their favourite club, alongside other exclusive benefits including full strips for their avatars, reserved missions, events and competitions.

Check it out at www.empireofsports.com now.