With the holiday shopping season (and many gamers' spare time) devoted to retail blockbusters like Call of Duty: Black Ops and Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, it might be difficult for downloadable offerings to get the attention they deserve. Microsoft is looking to change that later this month with an Xbox Live Marketplace New Year's Celebration sale.

　　From December 21 through December 31, Microsoft will unveil a new Xbox Live Marketplace deal each day. And just in case those surprise sales aren't to some gamers' liking, the company has already announced price reductions for nine Xbox Live Arcade games and a Marketplace add-on that will be available for the duration of the promotion. Those titles include the critically acclaimed Super Meat Boy, which sells for 1,200 Microsoft points ($15), but will go for 800 MSP ($10) for the sale. Banjo Tooie and Castle Crashers will have their 1,200 MSP tags trimmed to 600 MSP ($7.50), while titles like Carcassonne and The UnderGarden will go for half their normal price at 400 MSP ($5).

　　Cheap Meat! The full list of announced price cuts during the sale follows below.

　　Super Meat Boy (800 MSP, normally 1,200)

　　Comic Jumper (800 MSP, normally 1,200)

　　Toy Soldiers (800 MSP, normally 1,200)

　　Banjo Tooie (600 MSP, normally 1,200)

　　Castle Crashers (600 MSP, normally 1,200)

　　The UnderGarden (400 MSP, normally 800)

　　Risk Factions (400 MSP, normally 800)

　　After Burner Climax (400 MSP, normally 800)

　　Borderlands: Claptrap's New Robot Revolution (400 MSP, normally 800)

　　Carcassonne (400 MSP, normally 800)