As we told you last week, Microsoft is indeed sitting on a new major franchise for the Xbox Live Arcade service. And as you'll already be aware, that franchise is Doom, id Software's beloved first-person shooter!

Doom should be released to Live subscribers within the next few hours and will cost a mere 800 Market Place Points. The rework of the PC classic will feature such new-world goodies as full Dolby 5.1 sound, split-screen co-op and multiplayer modes, as well as tagging single-player achievements to active Live accounts.

Multiplayer hosts up to four players per session - some compensation for those who would have hoped for a chance to relive their days of LAN glory with users around the world. We'll bring you further details as we get them.