In the present market where Castlevania games dominated Nintendo's portables and the PlayStation 2, Konami's announcement last week to release Castlevania: Symphony of the Night to the Xbox's Live Arcade service came as a surprise. However, the release date of the PlayStation classic remains a source of debate among the gaming press.

According to IGN, for example, the slated date is to be sometime this winter: between late 2006 or early 2007. 1UP has a more narrowed, but tentative margin: Q1 2007. Despite these discrepancies, it was noted that products appearing on Live Arcade have an extensive approval process. This may or may not have contributed to the lack of a concrete timeframe.

No other details were disclosed except there are to be extra features on the Live Arcade version of Symphony of the Night. Konami is to reveal more later this month in an event hosted by the company.