If there's one thing better than Space Invaders Extreme, it would have to be Space Invaders Extreme in high definition with Space Giraffe creator Jeff Minter in charge of the trippy music and visualization combos. And if there's one thing better than that, it would be throwing in a bunch of multiplayer options.

Space Invaders Extreme on Xbox Live is shaping up to be to Space Invaders Extreme on the Nintendo DS and PSP what Space Invaders Extreme on the Nintendo DS and PSP were to Space Invaders. Which is just a confusing way of saying the developers at Backbone Entertainment seem to be doing a fine job of making this more than just a port of an already awesome game (if you don't believe me about Space Invaders Extreme being awesome, consider that some dude actually wrote a strategy guide about it).

The multiplayer options include support for up to four players, including splitscreen games in the same living room, some where each player has his own field and some where everyone's in the same area. There are cooperative modes in which players have the same score and lives, as well as score-based modes where players try to get the highest scores while fighting on the same screen. Then there are the splitscreen competitive modes where players can stock up aliens and then drop them onto their opponents by shooting down a passing UFO.

Space Invader Extreme is supposed to be available on Xbox Live "in a few weeks".