Let's admit, the first Zeno Clash was fairly bonkers—but, by the looks of things, the sequel raises the bar on the insanity quite a bit. You get to suplex hairy dudes, punch bird people, and talk to some guy with a palette for a mouth. Just like in other first person beat-em-ups! But seriously, go watch the trailer, it's great.

Zeno Clash II is landing on the 360, the PS3, and the PC sometime in 2013.

Like Zeno Clash? With Zeno Clash II, the first-person melee brawler is getting a sequel that promises a bigger world, populated with crazier enemies and more punches.

The open world game features a new "lock-on" function during fights as well as role-playing elements to gain more strength or defense. Zeno Clash II will also feature drop-in/drop-out online cooperative multiplayer.

Zeno Clash II is headed to Xbox Live Arcade, the PSN, and PSN in early 2013. Read Kotaku's review of the first Zeno Clash.

Since we ran a feature on Duncan Harris, the groovy "video game photographer" behind the website DeadEndThrills, I've been sharing some of his work each week here.

This week Harris was really on fire—a whole grab-bag of games, with some spectacular shots from Zeno Clash, Fuel Total War: Shogun 2s. Let's dig in.

First up, up top we have:

"The Far Side"

Hot damn, that is an awesome shot of the desert in Fuel. Wow.

Tools and tricks: 2160p rendering (windowed), antialiasing (4xMSAA, 2x transparency supersampling, injected FXAA w/ texture presharpening), restored developer menus, vignette effect disabled, no-HUD, free camera.

"An Unexpected Journey"

Another great wide-angle shot from Fuel. This game really does deserve the benefit of a good cameraman.

Tools and tricks: 2160p rendering (windowed), antialiasing (4xMSAA, 2x transparency supersampling, injected FXAA w/ texture presharpening), restored developer menus, vignette effect disabled, no-HUD, free camera.

"It Follows"

Yeah, it follows that we'd get at least one more great Bioshock shot after last week. Don't look so glad to see me, Little Sister.

Tools and tricks: antialiasing (FXAA), Post Process Injection DLL w/ pre-sharpening for texture and post-sharpening for image, high-performance ambient occlusion, 2160p rendering, no-HUD, custom FOV, noclip, timestop.

"The Friendly Ghost"

A great shot from Zeno Clash, a game I know unfortunately little about.

Tools and tricks: no-HUD, viewmodel removed, Valve demo recorder, custom FOV, 2160p rendering, antialiasing (8x MSAA + 2x transparency supersampling).

"His Honour"

The first of several epic shots from Total War: Shogun 2.

Tools and tricks: unrestricted camera, 2160p rendering, antialiasing (injected ‘ultra-quality' SMAA), HUD removed in Photoshop.

"Beached"

Another shot from Zeno Clash that actually reminds me of a level I just played in Resident Evil: Revelations.

Tools and tricks: no-HUD, viewmodel removed, Valve demo recorder, custom FOV, 2160p rendering, antialiasing (8x MSAA + 2x transparency supersampling).

"Red Arrows"

Another kickass shot from Total War: Shogun 2. As Harris puts it, "RTS rendering has reached a point where zooming out to anything remotely playable feels like a retreat."

Tools and tricks: unrestricted camera, 2160p rendering, antialiasing (injected ‘ultra-quality' SMAA), HUD removed in Photoshop.

"Firefall"

Here come death, in Total War: Shogun 2.

Tools and tricks: unrestricted camera, 2160p rendering, antialiasing (injected ‘ultra-quality' SMAA), HUD removed in Photoshop.

"Lone Star"

A nice-looking one-off shot from Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit 2010.

Tools and tricks: 2160p rendering, antialiasing (4xMSAA + 4xSGSSAA), Racer_S camera and HUD hack, in-game Photo Mode.

Ready the Microsoft Points, Xbox 360 owner, for this week's Xbox Live Arcade update promises to be a big one, with first-person brawler Zeno Clash and top-down shoot 'em up Raystorm HD arriving this Wednesday.

ACE Team's quirky Zeno Clash gets its "Ultimate Edition" after a brief delay. The Xbox Live Arcade release brings with it new attacks, weapons, enemies and a new game mode, hopefully addressing some of the concerns we had with the PC version of the game, released last year. Zeno Clash: Ultimate Edition is yours for 1200 Microsoft Points.

Square Enix and Taito's high-definition update of PlayStation shooter Raystorm also checks in Wednesday, also for 1200 Microsoft Points. You can read our hands-on impressions of Raystorm HD from Tokyo Game Show 2009 right here.

Perhaps you noticed that today Zeno Clash: Ultimate Edition was supposed to release on Xbox Live Arcade. Perhaps you noticed that it did not. "It's been pushed back a tad," says the developer.

"Sorry about that to everyone," wrote Andres Bordeu on the ACE Team forums. "It should come out early April. Atlus will be releasing more info through one of the next press releases. Just a little more patience, it'll be out really soon. As soon as we have new info we'll post it somewhere here."

The open world fighting game's Ultimate Edition adds new attacks, weapons, enemies and a new game mode. There is no word yet on pricing, but based on the price tag of its PC version, it could be around 1200 Microsoft Points.

Zeno Clash on XBLA Release Date? [ACE Team Forums via Eurogamer]