Welcome to this weeks edition of XBLA Today where we take the positions of a hungry little mouse, and a greedy pirate, in two new releases to the Xbox Live Arcade. One, the first one from mainland China, the other, developed in collaboration with Max Hoberman, designer of the multiplayer game for Halo 2 and Halo 3. Lets dive in shall we?

Crazy Mouse is a simple arcade game where you do as the mice do, and collect food. That seems to be the basic premise. You can collect powerups, and there is competitive play, but that really is all there is. It looks very average, and plays average, and lucky for it, it only costs 400 points. So if you want a Pac-Man type game with mice collecting food, go for it, otherwise, lets move on.

Age of Booty is definitely the winner this week, and is a fun little distraction to say the least. Take the place of a pirate sailing the seas, and do the things the pirates do, plunder the booty. You control only one pirate ship, take over towns (those towns then gather resources for you), upgrade your ships, and destroy your rivals. It contains 25 mulitplayer maps, and a map editor as well, for you to take on up to 7 other players online. Did I mention that for a limited time you can play the trial version online! That is an excellent way to sell a game my friends. It is a fairly simple RTS style game, with deep strategies that can develop, and best of all, it’s fairly fun! Check out the demo, if for no other reason than to try the online multiplayer.

Thanks for stopping by on this weeks edition of XBLA Today, I’m off to plunder more booty. ARRR!

(Also, don’t forget that a free N+ level pack game out as well.)