Have you ever worried that there aren’t quite enough ‘match three’ puzzle games on Xbox Live? With only Bejewelled 2, Hexic HD and Jewel Quest to choose from, I feel my colourful icon matching needs aren’t being properly catered for. Thank god then that Poker Smash is heading to Xbox Live Arcade this year, which promises a bit of “extra depth” to the tried and tested formula by using poker hands as a matching predicate. It also has the added advantage of not letting you lose money to some faceless internet card shark.

The usual array of modes are promised as well, including action, puzzle, practice, theme playlist modes, as well as split screen head-to-head and multiplayer tournaments.

This is developer Void Star Creations’ debut title, so it’s a bit of shame its starting with such a saturated genre. However, Microsoft’s assault on the casual gaming market appears to be going very well with XBLA. Poker Smash is also combining two extremely popular game types in one – match three puzzling and poker, which has had a bit of a gap in the market since the new restrictions on online gambling in the US came in last year. It should be interesting to see how well it does when it launches.

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