Fruit Ninja slashes its way to Windows Phone 8 on Xbox, though previous owners will have to buy again

The popular game Fruit Ninja, which has taken the Kinect and Xbox 360 by storm, has not had an update in so long we though the game was dead. More specifically, the previous version had not been updated to support Windows Phone 8’s HD graphics or other advanced features like rapid resume, making the super fun game less exciting.

Seemingly out of nowhere, Halfbrick Studios has just published a new 1.0 version for Windows Phone 8 devices, which includes the aforementioned additions. That’s the good news, because truly Fruit Ninja is one of the best quick-play arcade games for mobile these days, even if it’s a few years old. The bad news is you’ll have to plonk down another $0.99 for the game, even if you have previously purchased it.

We suppose paying a combined $2 for both versions of an Xbox LIVE title with very high replay value is a fair gesture, though clearly by some of the tips we’ve received, it makes some of you peevish (either that or only cheapskates tend to tip us, which raises all sorts of fascinating socio-economic questions!). Regardless, we’re actually “ok” with the re-purchase because as we said before, super high replay ability. Plus, for you Achievement hounds out there, you get to relive the experience again.

We’re just excited that Fruit Ninja is back on our modern 2013 hardware and while it evidently still lacks multitouch support, we’ll take the other benefits that this updated version brings. No formal changelog was given, though we have noticed it now includes ‘Gutsu’s Cart’, a place where you can “buy” cheats and shortcuts in the game, which means yes, this supports in-app purchases (it’s all the rage these days). Like always, you don’t need to buy those things, though it does make the game a little more interesting if you do (and it gives Halfbrick some more revenue).

Pick up the new version of Fruit Ninja for Windows Phone 8 here in the Store. All devices (incl. 512MB). $0.99/27MB.

Thanks, everyone, for the tips!