One of the best tower defense games, Defense Grid: The Awakening, hits Xbox Live Arcade on September 2 for 800 MSP ($10 USD), according to a press release issued from Hidden Path Entertainment, the developer.

For those of you unfamiliar with the game:

Defense Grid: The Awakening on Xbox LIVE Arcade features 10 different tower types that can each be upgraded twice. These towers all have unique tradeoffs that affect ideal placement, such as line-of-sight attack or ballistic trajectory fire; a large area of effect or damage over time; and minimum and maximum ranges. Over the course of the game’s 10 hours of story play, players battle 15 different types of enemies, each with unique capabilities and strategies, across 24 unique environments. To ramp up the challenge even more, Defense Grid: The Awakening now includes an additional 100 unlockable challenge modes.

The Xbox Live Arcade version will also have the Borderlands mission pack, containing four new advanced levels and 12 challenge modes.

Click “Read more…” for the full press release and XBLA launch trailer.

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Merscom has announced the release of The Mystery of the Mary Celeste for the PC. The game is available on all of the big casual game download sites and will be available in retail stores later this year.

The Mystery of the Mary Celeste challenges players to solve a real life mystery as they solve the puzzles in the game. The Mary Celeste was a ship in 1872 that just disappeared. It was later found fully intact and with all of the items on board still in place. The crew and passengers on the ship were no where to be found. They had disappeared. No one has figured out what happened to the crew and passengers of the ship and it remains one of the greatest unsolved mysteries to date.

Players take on the role of Mary Morehouse, an ancestor of the person that found the original Mary Celeste. They set sail and as soon as they are out of port strange things start happening on the new ship. Players have to figure out what is going on in this adventure game and will put theories about the disappearance of the real Mary Celeste to the test.

If you a fan of adventure games, check out The Mystery of the Mary Celeste.

Legacy Interactive has announced the upcoming release of The Lost Cases of Sherlock Holmes, Vol 2 for the PC. This game is a sequel to the original hit, which had players searching for hidden objects and solving puzzles and mysteries on their adventure. The game touches on a few different casual game genres and appeals to a vast audience.

Sherlock Holmes heads back to 221b Baker St to solve a set of sixteen new mysteries. The mysteries are all different types such as murder, theft, forgery and even a mystery that deals with the supernatural. The game play stays familiar in The Lost Cases of Sherlock Holmes, Vol 2 as players will have to locate hidden objects, piece together tricky puzzles and track down their suspects in the mysteries to solve the case.

“We are thrilled to be developing the first game that is endorsed by both the Conan Doyle Estate and the Sherlock Holmes Company,” said Ariella Lehrer, President and CEO of Legacy Interactive. “We take our commitment to quality very seriously, and hope to exceed the expectations of the millions of fans worldwide of this beloved license. The Lost Cases of Sherlock Holmes, Vol. 2 will provide hours of entertainment for Sherlock Holmes, puzzle, and mystery fans alike.”

The Lost Cases of Sherlock Holmes Vol 2 is set to be released in the first quarter of 2010.

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Little White Bear Studios has announced the release of Pentanimals a puzzle game for the iPhone/iPod Touch. Pentanimals is a puzzle game a bit different from other puzzle games because it is aimed at children from ages 5 – 9.

The goal of the game is to form the bigger picture using the provided smaller pieces. The pieces have to be arranged in such a way that they complete the bigger picture. All of the pieces have animal pictures on them. There are seventy two different levels to play through. The game has been simplified for a younger audience and even if you get stuck there are plenty of hints to help you along.

If your children love to play games on your iPhone/iPod Touch, now is your chance to pick up a game specifically designed for them.

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Polyhedra is a puzzle game for the iPhone/iPod Touch. The goal of the game is to fill the screen to 66%. Players have an option of filling the screen with different objects, squares, circles, pentagons, hexagons, octagons or a medley of the available shapes.

Initially, users are challenged by the circle shapes. Once, they have made it through those levels, the square levels are unlocked. Each shape is unlocked by beating the shape before it. The way to complete a level is to fill the level up to 66%. Players use the circle or current shape to fill the screen by touching the screen to cause the object to grow and taking their finger off the screen to drop the object down. The objects fall using real physics. Objects will stack on each other and players can tilt the iPhone/iPod Touch to get the stack to tip over, provided there are not objects stopping the stacked objects from tipping over.

Polyhedra sounds like an easy game, but besides stacking the objects players have to watch out for the enemies. If the enemy shapes hit your objects before the object falls to the bottom of the screen, the game is over. Of course, as the levels increase there become more enemy shapes and the enemy shapes get tougher and tougher to avoid. Players can trap the enemy shapes under the objects they are creating to help keep them out of the way.

The music and graphics in Polyhedra are great. Players have the option of listening to no music, the in game music or choosing their own music to listen to. The in game music is worth listening to. The graphics are nice too. The backgrounds for the boards are pastel type colors. The music and the graphics make playing the game enjoyable and relaxing.

Polyhedra is a challenging by fun game. Players have to avoid the floating enemy shapes and fill the screen, but if the shapes are too big, the screen will fill and the 66% will not be reached and the game will be over. Players have to manage the size of their objects and the screen real estate. If you like puzzle games, Polyhedra is definitely worth checking out.