Bad Company 2's Map Pack 3 Drops June 9th

Coming this Wednesday, June 9th your Battlefield Bad Company 2 disc will express its love for you by pushing a couple of "new maps" your way so that you may last until the real expansion of the game -- Onslaught mode.

I am not saying that I am not grateful to be able to play Squad Deathmatch on Nelson Bay or Squad Rush on Laguna Alta, I am just saying that I would be willing to drop ten dollars on three new maps -- not just the rehashing of the same old maps.

These maps will be free to, and only accessible by, those who have a VIP code (it came with the game or you can purchase one from the Xbox LIVE Marketplace for ten bucks).

Here, a video for your pleasurable enjoyment:

Free DLC Today on the Cerberus Network

Shocking.

More Mass Effect 2 news.

Today, February 9th of the star date 2009, when you boot up Mass Effect 2 (if you are anything like me, this happens at least once per day), you will find that there is new, free content up on the Cerberus Network. While it is nothing as cool as a new mission it is still nice to receive something that is always keeping Shepard in fresh new duds.

The following is a description from the Bioware community forums:

Cerberus Assault Armor
Cerberus assault armor is designed for shock troops, turn the tide of battle against creatures or forces that would decimate normal soldiers.
Increases heavy weapon ammo capacity by +10%
Increases shields by +10%
Increases health by +10%


M-22a Eviscerator Shotgun
The M-22a Eviscerator Shotgun is a longer-range shotgun with armor-piercing loads. This design also violates several intergalactic weapons treaties, so the M-22a is not distributed to militaries.

I am eager to get my hands on the shotgun and the armor does not look bad either.
Another one posted by Kara for Nate.

Mass Effect Pinnacle Station DLC Released!

I had not made a post about this but Mass Effect has been expecting a piece of DLC since the Bring Down the Sky mission. Today along with the new avatar clothes and a new theme, the oft rumored Pinnacle Station DLC has finally been realeased!

At this point I honestly do not know what to say about it other than I am severely torn as to what to do right now. I just brought home Batman: Arkham Asylum last night but this is a fresh piece of ME DLC.

Advice, NOW, in the comments!

L4D DLC Announced; or, Hey Valve! 'Sup wit you these days?

The other possible title for this post was "God DAMMIT, PC Users!"

By now you've certainly heard the good news. Valve has announced some brand new DLC for Left 4 Dead! Remember when we all thought Left 4 Dead would be neglected now that they're working heavily on Left 4 Dead 2 with plans to release it within a years time of the original? We were clearly wrong! Hahaha, silly us! Check out the press release:

Entitled "Crash Course," the latest DLC delivers new single-player, multiplayer and co-operative gameplay to both platforms. Targeted for release in September, "Crash Course" bridges the gap between the end of the "No Mercy" campaign and the beginning of "Death Toll" in the original game, expanding the game universe with new locations, new dialogue from the original cast, and an explosive finale

While containing both Survival maps and a Co-operative Campaign, the primary goal of "Crash" is to deliver a complete Versus mode experience in just 30 minutes, resulting in a streamlined version of the game's existing Versus campaigns. A recharge timer for infected teammates has also been added, and item spawn behavior has changed for more balanced gameplay.

-Source

That sounds good to me. You can be sure that I'll be downloading this for free, just like the Survival Mode and 2 new Versus modes they gave us a while ago.

Wait. Hold on. I didn't finish reading the press release:

Left 4 Dead: Crash Course is targeted for release in September and will be available free of charge on the PC and for 560 Gamer points on Xbox Live.

...what?

Alright, let's cut to the chase: I'm the resident cynic and I realize this. I'm the one that points out the flaws over everything else. But let's be real here for a minute. The reason people love Valve is because they are constantly giving back to the fans that support all their crazy schemes. Since the release of the Orange Box, they've improved Team Fortress 2 ten-fold with new weapons, additions to characters, map updates, new achievements, and all of it has been free. All of it has only been on the PC as well. The 360 gamer sees nothing of this, and it looks like we never will (despite my reporting on it a while ago). Then, Valve decides to rush out Left 4 Dead 2 because it's "too big for DLC." That may be so, but it's still a slap in the face to those of us who can't pay $59.99 every time you decide to put out a new game a year (I'm looking at you, every sports game ever). And now, after giving us the Survival pack (which, all things considered, was a BIG update) for free, us folk with a 360 have to now pay for this new campaign, and the PC kids don't? How is this fair?

The answer is probably pretty simple: a while ago, Valve stated that the reason the XBOX 360 users weren't getting any TF2 updates is because Microsoft wouldn't allow them to give out such a large amount of additional content for free. Valve said, "Ok, fine, then we'll wait until we have something big to unload on the console so, if they have to pay, at least they're getting bang for their buck!" Thanks guys. It's appreciated, really. If I have to be aggressive towards someone, I at least like to know who I'm being aggressive to: Microsoft! Those cheeky devils. I would call Microsoft out on this if this weren't a system they had been doing consistently for years. Microsoft almost ALWAYS charges for it's new DLC. It doesn't matter if it's TF2, Halo Wars, Gears of War 2, you name it. You want it, you buy it. I see this as perfectly fair. And since Valve is an independent company now, they can do whatever they like when it comes to the internet. If they want to give away a Sandvich for free, they'll give that Sandvich away for less than free! So that's the logistics of it: Microsoft has rules and Valve has to comply (and I knew that without having to ask Valve for an explanation).

But is it fair? No. Not in the slightest. Look, I will still be cross at Valve for Left 4 Dead 2 because I don't see it as worth $59.99 and nothing I've read has changed my opinion on that (and I've stated my opinion as such on multiple occassions). I'll pay the $7 for a new level and other tweaked updates because I see it as worth that price, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. It is entirely unfair that one medium will get free updates and the rest of us either don't get the updates or pay for the few we do get. We don't get anything, really. As far as a community goes, the 360 is screwed. Do we get to play L4D in the Winchester? No. How about the Mall from Dawn of the Dead? If you want that, go buy Dead Rising and have someone sit next to you in order to fake a multiplayer experience. Let's face it - we're getting the raw end of the stick, and it sucks. As good as L4D is, and as fun as it is to run around and shoot zombies, the fact is we have 5 maps (soon to be 6) and all we can do is play them over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and you see where I'm going with this, right? While you can't really fault Valve here (who swear they love us but can't do anything about it) or Microsoft (because it's not like this is a weird change for them and we all knew what we were getting into when we bought a 360), we still get less than half the experience that a PC user gets.

And that, my friends, is what Penn and Teller would decree as bullshit.

Bioware's Twitter hints at more ME1 DLC (finally)

If you did not know that I have an unhealthy obsession with Mass Effect by now (I just beat the game for a fourth time yesterday and already started a new character) then you:

1. Don't care.
2. Don't really read this blog or more specifically Mass Effect posts.
3. You are a new reader.

So naturally when some nameless company mentions on Twitter that a Mass Effect DLC announcement could be forthcoming in the next week I might be inclined to be excited. I was going to save another playthrough for later this year but it looks as though it might be coming later this week.

This is really a long rumored piece of content and I really hope it is worth all of the hype (does anyone remember when Bioware added a planet to KOTOR as DLC but never did anything with it, well this is feeling the same way). If it is this fight club thing that has been talking about, I do not know how I will feel about it. I do think that I will probably end up being disappointed but in the end I'll just have another excuse to play Mass Effect again sooner - which for me is never a bad thing.

Gears of War 2: All Fronts Collection Coming to Retail in July

Epic Games and Microsoft Game Studios are going to be doing the right thing by me on July 28, 2009 by releasing the All Fronts Collection. Here's why:

The collection includes all of the Gears 2 DLC to date, along with Dark Fronts, a collection of seven new multiplayer maps...

In order to make the pack worthwhile to those who've already downloaded the majority of the Gears 2 DLC, the package also contains an introduction from Cliff Bleszinski for "Road to Ruin", a collectible poster, a strategy guide, and a custom Xbox Live theme.

As you may or may not know I have not yet made the leap into GOW2 DLC. It has come out too rapid fire for my tastes and I have not played in a while so I was just waiting until I was ready.

Like I said, I will be ready on July 28 when I can have all that is listed above for only 20 bucks. In my opinion that is a steal. Is anyone else excited by this?

[Via Kotaku]