Ikaruga is another damn shooter coming to Xbox LIVE Arcade. Treasure’s brilliant piece of gaming is a significant step above your average XBLA shooter. And the upscrolling shooter has gotten much attention as rumors of a 2008 release rebound across the internet. Personally, I just look forward to another great Arcade title. I have no personal attachment to the game. Even if it does kick complete black and white bullet flipping ass.

Over at CVG they’ve discovered the game is up on Partner Net, the LIVE testing ground for QA and a few members of the press. Those members don’t include us at Blend Games, so we’ll take word on Ikaruga’s inclusion on Partner Net based on faith. What we do know is that something is in the works, and will probably be dropping sometime in early 2008. Of course, getting certification is no easy task. So even a complete game now may mean a release in late summer or early fall.

You can glance at a few screenshots of the game below, and decide for yourself if the high def graphical updates to Ikaruga are worth the wait. My vote is firmly in the “Yes!” column. But not too long of a wait, even with REZ HD and Lode Runner to tide me over I get antsy when I don’t have new quality XBLA titles to get me through the week.