Following a quiet summer, the downloads are back out in force this week, with a wealth of DLC, especially on the PS3 front. Of course, that’s not to say all of it will be particularly welcome, but perhaps it’s better to have plenty of choice than nothing at all? Maybe not.
Xbox 360
Starting off with Microsoft’s DLC offerings, headline status has to go to Minerva’s Den, new single player content for Bioshock 2. It weighs in at 800 points, and sees loneplayers heading back to Rapture for perhaps the last time. It manages to beats off the arrival of Crackdown 2‘s Toy Box add-on (560 points or a free teaser version), primarily for the fact that the latter has apparently been causing people’s game to freeze.
A trio of new add-on packs have emerged for Kane & Lynch 2, these being an Alliance Weapons Pack, the Doggie Bag Multiplayer Maps and Weapons, and the Multiplayer Mask Pack. These are up for 240, 560 and 160 points respectively. Also gaining new content is Split Second: Velocity, with a couple of free updates, and a car pack for 160 points.
That’s the good, but then we have the simply shocking. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 throws out three updates this week. The Fantasy Courses Pack for 800 points, New Courses Pack for another 800, and the Favourite Courses Pack for 1600. That’s right, three updates at a total cost of almost £20, roughly half of the price many paid for the game. In fact, when you add up all the DLC available for the game, the cost is frankly astronomical. Still, not to worry, it’s not like they release the games every year…
Moving on to the full game front, XBLA offers up Dead Rising 2: Case Zero, the 360-exclusive prequel to Capcom’s forthcoming zombie slasher. It’s 400 points, and pretty good fun, if you like the series. To coincide with this Back-to-School time of year, Bully: Scholarship Edition (aka Grand Theft School) shows up on Games on Demand for £14.99. Oh, and there’s a demo for Sega’s Vanquish, plus a shovel full of Zombie Games…sorry, Indie Games, too.
PS3
There’s a lot of repeat items here, but some exclusives two. As mentioned, you’ve got Minerva’s Den for Bioshock 2, weighing in at £6.29, plus the Kane & Lynch 2 add-ons. Sony players can grab the Alliance weapons for £2.39, the Doggie Bag pack for £4.79 and, in a bonus, the Multiplayer Mask Pack for free.
The Split Second updates are here too, again with a couple for free, plus the car pack for just £1.59. Then there’s those Tiger Woods updates mentioned before, two of which are £6.29, with the other at £11.99. Not that you should even entertain buying it. A much better value option would be the Resident Evil 5 Lost Tales double pack, which is on offer at £4.79.
You want exclusive DLC? Well how about new character slots for MAG? Character Slots B and C can be opened up for 30 days for 79p each. Elsewhere, ModNation Racers adds the L’il Tinker Pack for £1.39, while Trinity Universe gets five new packs – a couple for free, one for 79p, and two for £1.59.
Alien Breed: Impact is your full, new game offering for the week, at £11.99, while the original Tomb Raider joins the PS1 Classics range for the piss-taking price of £7.99. At the much more acceptable £3.99, Front Mission 3 also joins that range. The Vanquish demo is up, alongside one for RUSE too. For details of this week’s Minis, see the PSP section.
PSP
We’ve got two new titles in the download queue this week, both of which begin with V, not that this means anything. Valhalla Knights 2: Battle Stance arrives for £15.99, while Valkyria Chronicles 2 shows up for the more pricey sum of £27.99. They’re backed up by new DLC for Little Big Planet, in the form of a free King Arthur costume, and the King Arthur level kit for £2.39.
There are four (technically five) new minis this week, with Actual Crimes: Jack the Ripper and the double pack of Dynogems and Tehra: Dark Warrior displaying the £3.49 price point, while Paper Wars: Cannon Fodder and Caterpillar at the slightly higher £3.99 mark.
Wii
With Super Mario All-Stars now coming to the Wii, I can no longer moan about it not being on the Virtual Console. Therefore, Nintendo can feel free to fill it with as many NEO-GEO fighting games as they like, and I won’t complain (much). They’re starting this week with Samurai Shodown 3, at 900 points. It’s backed up by the hilariously named, but probably quite dumb, Fishie Fishie on Wii Ware for 500 points.
DSi
The Go Series arrives on DSi, in the form of 10 Second Run for 200 points. It’s backed up by Where’s Wally Travel Pack 2 for 500 points (two in as many weeks, we’re so lucky), My Farm for 200 points, and Jazzy Billiards for 500, which sounds more like an 80s rapper than a game.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is your lot for yet another week. Join me next time for more exciting downloads, and another £100 worth of Tiger Woods nonsense.
