Lost in the press bucket thanks to all the hype from Microsoft’s simultaneous release of Microsoft’s XNA Game Studio Express, Garage Games announced the beta release of their complimenting TorqueX games engine for the Xbox 360. Though an early beta, TorqueX does not support source or 3D yet, but it’s one of the most powerful 2D games engines on the market and hey, you can create small games (or prototypes) for the Xbox 360 making use of sprites, scrolling backgrounds, 3D objects, lighting, physics, and collision detection. I must admit, this is a great move on the part of Microsoft (and great for Garage Games), which I rarely give props to.

Read more: TorqeX product page | TorqueX beta goes live