Boom Boom 'close to launch'

Boom Boom Rocket - Bizarre's first Xbox Live Arcade game since launch title Geometry Wars - is getting "close to launch" according to community and web lead Ben Ward.

The game's up on Xbox 360's "Partnernet" service - which we get told off for mentioning every single time - allowing developers and the likes of us to play it. "As you can no doubt guess, this means we're close to launch," says Ward.

To celebrate, Bizarre has thrown up the first images of the game's "Bonus Run" mode. As you know by now (or else), BBR involves timing button presses to match explosions of fireworks to the sound of music, and when you build up a big enough streak of successes you can activate a Bonus Run. We hadn't seen one before. Now we have. Good work, Internet.

What's more, the game isn't even out yet and people are already posting videos on YouTube, showing off how good they are. Ward highlights the skills of EA producer "Joe", who appears to be able to complete a level on the hardest difficulty setting with a perfect score, while blindfolded. He's able to do this by memorising the buttons and then listening for subtle audio cues, apparently. Or was, anyway - because Bizarre has recently gone back and made the "hard" levels harder. Yay! Stamp on his dreams!

"On the flip side, we're hoping to make the easy levels simple enough for a newbie to pick up and have fun with. The game should scale to accommodate all skill levels, going from super easy to fiendishly difficult. That's been one of the toughest things to get right... but hopefully we've nailed it," says Ward.

Well, hopefully you'll know soon enough.