Downloadable Content Features New Costumes, New Characters and New Quests in a Whole New Level

Fans of the critically acclaimed Halloween themed arcade game get a treat today as THQ debuts Cotume Quest: Grubbins on Ice, all-new downloadable content for the Xbox Live Arcade game. Grubbins on Ice will be cost you 400 MSP,  and PS3 owners can look forward to downloading this new DLC on December 22 for $5.00.

Costume Quest has also been nominated as Best Downloadable Game in the Spike Video Game Awards, and the Grubbins on Ice DLC pack will introduce a brand-new level with new adventures, costumes and new characters.

The brand new downloadable pack extends Costume Quest with features that include:
• New costumes with special abilities:
o A pirate costume with a zipline ability that allows players to slide down wires using their hook hand
o An eyeball costume that has a zoom-out ability letting players see more of the environment and potentially find secrets
o A Yeti costume with the ability to shield the entire party in battle
• New characters, including the new boss Araxia; new monsters such as the Repugiarchs; and new neighbors – non-player character monsters with unique outfits
• Eight new battle stamps and 18 new “Creepy Treat” cards to collect
• All-new storyline and quests filled with Double Fine’s trademark humor and charm

For more information on the game you can visit the following links:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/CostumeQuest
Twitter: http://twitter.com/costume_quest

For more DLC news and info you can follow me on Twitter @The_GeekJock

Related articles

• The Costume Quest Adventure Continues With Grubbins On Ice (godisageek.com)
• Costume Quest’s ‘Grubbins on Ice’ on PSN Dec. 21 (joystiq.com)
• Costume Quest Goes On Extended Holiday With ‘Grubbins On Ice’ [Double Fine] (kotaku.com)
• Preview of Costume Quest: Grubbins on Ice – XBLA/PSN (brighthub.com)

Players Will Compete for Top Standings Against the Film’s Iconic Drivers and Take On Up to 11 Players Online

This news is a few weeks old but for the Tom Cruise fan in all of us, I figure it’s worth mentioning.

Paramount Digital Entertainment and Piranha Games have announced the development of Days of Thunder: Arcade, which will be making its way to the Xbox Live Arcade Marketplace next month.

The game – obviously inspired by the iconic film - will be pedal-to-the-metal, adrenaline-fueled arcade racing that lets players experience the thrill of life behind the wheel of a stock car.

“This year marks the 20th anniversary of ‘Days of Thunder,’ and the film continues to be one of the most popular racing movies of all time,” said John Kavanagh, Senior Vice President of Paramount Digital Entertainment. “What better way to celebrate the film’s enduring impact on racing in popular culture than by putting its iconic drivers, Cole Trickle, Rowdy Burns and Russ Wheeler behind the wheel again in Days of Thunder: Arcade.”

Days of Thunder: Arcade will team players with Rowdy Burns as the latest recruit to hit the stock car racing circuit. With Rowdy as their coach, players will learn to drop the hammer, hit the pit and trade paint with other cars.

Michael Rooker will return to voice his Rowndy Burns character, as racers advance in the game they will compete against other character form the film, each with AI designed to math their driving style and personality seen in the film.

Players will have to perfect the games focus feature, drafting and dropping the hammer as they race across a variety of tracks, both in single player and multiplayer. Road challenges will also be available, letting players hone their skills in races outside the speedways, in addition to up to twelve player online races, leader boards and four different modes – Quick Race, Time Trial, Career and Derby Mode.

Days of Thunder: Arcade will be available this winter on Xbox LIVE Arcade for Xbox 360. The game is rated E10+ by the ESRB. For more information please visithttp://bhimpact.gamespress.com/.

For more DLC news and info you can follow me on Twitter @The_GeekJock

Related articles

• Days of Thunder: Arcade Headed to XBLA This Winter (1up.com)
• Days of Thunder: NOTNASCAR Edition coming to XBLA ‘this winter’ (joystiq.com)

Clean Sweep is a free multiplayer elimination mode that will be playable over two new maps: Bagram Hanger and Khyler Caves, as well as revamped versions of Shaikhot Base and Helmand Valley Base.

Hot Zone is an intense multiplayer mode that features “King of the Hill” gameplay and playable on two all-new maps called Kindukush Pass and Korengal Outpost as well as redesigned versions of the popular Shahikot Mountains and Helmand Valley maps. Hot Zone is available on the new Xbox LIVE Marketplace for 800 MS points, on PlayStation Network for $9.99USD and on PC exclusively via the EA Store for $9.99USD

The free DLC is only available to those who have purchased new copies of Medal of Honor and have redeemed their one-time-use code included within; owners of used copies will have to purchase a code from the XBLM or PSN. PC gamers need only look for a new patch that is available now.

Also, for those looking to get a little trigger-happy with the development team this week, Medal of Honor Play with Dev sessions will be held on November 6 from 1 – 4 pm PST on Xbox 360 and November 7 from 1 – 4 pm PST on PlayStation 3.

For more information on how you can get involved visit www.medalofhonor.com.

For more DLC news and info you can follow me on Twitter @The_GeekJock

Related articles

• Medal of Honor: New Modes Available NOW! (godisageek.com)
• EA’s Medal of Honor Clean Sweep and Hot Zone Modes Now Available (devicemag.com)
• EA’s Multi-Platinum Hit Medal of Honor Expands with New Multiplayer Maps and Modes (eon.businesswire.com)
• New Medal Of Honor “Hot Zone” Multiplayer Mode (godisageek.com)

The week long event will serve as a reveal for new information and a chance to show off some pristine content from Monday Night Combat’s upcoming free DLC – which is scheduled to be released next month. In addition to the greasy details about the free DLC, Uber will also be handing out some mouthwatering Halloween eye candy throughout the week.

Ekanayake started things off by revealing the balancing changes that will be in the new DLC. Clearly Uber loves listening to their fans, as almost all of the balancing updates have been taken straight from the comments and suggestions on the MNC forums.

Here are some of the changes that were revealed:

Balance Changes

Assassin

• Reduced damage done by the dagger to the Moneyball.
• Increased the damage Assassins do after both dagger and sword lunge.
• Normalized multipliers for both dagger and sword when doing damage from behind an enemy.
• Reduced recovery time on Assassin’s alternate fire grapple on the Dagger, Sword and Shuriken Launcher.

• Fixed an issue that caused Assassins to do too little damage from front facing, alternate fire, Shuriken face slap grapple.

Sniper

• Reduced the damage the Moneyball takes from a sniper rifle.
• Reduced the skill drain rate of Sniper Traps.
• Reduced the amount of juice gain from the sniper rifle damaging targets.

Support

• Reduced juice gain from healing with the Heal/Hurt Gun.
• Increased skill recovery time of level 2 and 3 of the Support’s Air Strike.

Gunner

• Reduced minimum damage on Gunner’s minigun, making it less effective at long ranges.

Tank

• Reduced the damage the Moneyball takes from the rail gun.

Other Balance Changes

• Decreased effectiveness of Lazer Blazer Turrets vs players.

• Increased effectiveness of RockIt Turrets vs bots.
• Reduced cost of all levels of RockIt Turrets.

• Greatly increased the cooldown time for Juice machines in Crossfire.

All in all, the changes seem to be relatively agreeable and should leave most Monday Night Combat fans impressed. However, some may find that the Sniper class is being nerfed and many may take issue over the decreased effectiveness of lazer blasters.

As the week goes on the Uber team has promised more tricks and treats to be unveiled, including bug fixes and gameplay changes, new features and additions, as well as a wallpaper contest winner announcement. Stay tuned here at DDGW for more updates, follow me on Twitter @The_GeekJock or you can visit Uber’s site here.

***UPDATE***

Uber has released Part II of their Halloween Unmasking and in it they reveal two MNC wallpapers that were chosen by members on their forums.

The first wallpaper features the Assassin taking off her mask while the entire MNC crew looks on in horror. The second wallpaper was created and chosen from Forum Member “SixZaxxon”, who suggested: “I’d love to see the Tank with his tongue stuck to a shave-ice turret.”

In their post Uber also announced a list of new bug fixes and gameplay changes that will be included in their upcoming DLC:

Bug Fixes and Gameplay Changes

Arenas

• All Arenas:
  • Added game clocks to spawn rooms.
  • Added new opening and closing cinematics.
  • Added heat vents to top of spawn room tunnels.
  • Changed all jump pads to be non-enabled at the start of a match.
• Steel Peel Arena
  • Added glass walls to break some long lines of sight.
  • Moved turrets in each base.
  • Moved some jump pads to help getting ‘stuck-in-jump’ loops.
  • Added game clocks to the inside of the dome.
• Ammo Mule Arena
  • Added bridge supports to better protect turrets.
  • Fixed issue that caused AmmoMule to show up less often than intended.
• Lazer Razor Arena
  • Added extra jump pads to get to the top level of the left side of both ends of the arena.
  • Fixed Bot Spawners showing usable by wrong team.
  • Fixed jump pads not lighting up green when active.
• Grenade Arena
  • Reduced the number of juice machines so there are the same amount as other arenas.
  • Fixed Bot Spawners showing usable by wrong team.

• Sprintz Arena
  • Added game clock to spawn room.
  • Added multiple round displays in the arena.
  • Added two more digits to round displays so that they show up to round 9999.

Tank

• Fixed Rail Gun from being able to shoot through nearby walls.
• Fixed various issues with the Jet Gun.

Sniper

• Sniper Traps will now only freeze enemy Pros caught in the initial freeze trap explosion. An enemy Pro entering the area while the effect is active after the initial explosion will only be slowed. Traps work the same on bots as they did before.
• Changed Flak visual effect to include team color and to have better performance.
• Fixed issue where Sniper’s Flak would damage players inside their spawn.
• Fixed Snipers disappearing in the other view port in split screen when they are zoomed in with the Sniper Rifle.
• Using bot spawners as a Sniper will now spawn two Scrambers.
• Fixed issue where the sniper rifle, in certain instances, could shoot through walls .

Gunner

• Fixed Minigun getting stuck with no ammo and not reloading.

Assassin

• Assassins no longer make an audible hum to allied players.
• Fixed an issue with the cloak sound not going away when the Assassin dies.

Support

• Fixed an issue with Firebases that caused them to focus on a Moneyball they can’t hit.
• Reworked Heal/Hurt Gun code to make it more reliable.
• Fixed griefing with Firebases: Firebases placed on an active jump pad or activating a jump pad with a Firebase on it will now destroy the Firebase.

Other Fixes and Changes

• Fixed GapShots in Blitz from moving on clients when they are stopped on the host.
• Reworked reload to greatly reduce the occurrence of having to restart reload when the reload animation was interrupted near the end.
• Reworked the death UI so that it now displays the endorsements of who killed you.
• Fixed players assisting in their own death.
• Fixed Tank’s and Gunner’s jump jets staying on after a jump.
• Fixed getting charged multiple times when using hazards and juice machines in high lag situations.
• Changed money, kills, assists and deaths font in the scoreboard to add more emphasis on money making.

• Fixed new round music riff and crowd cheer to play during Crossfire.
• Changed formatting of numbers in the ticker to make them more readable.
• Fixed seeing two Moneyballs in the end-game cinematic if the game ended without one being destroyed.
• Fixed Bouncers playing their grapple animation when they charge at a player but hit a Blackjack.
• Fixed Moneyball sometimes showing its shields when it has none.
• Fixed players recovering health very quickly while juiced.
• Various audio tuning for frequency and balance of sounds and voices.
• More improvements to host migration to make it faster and more reliable.
• More improvements to the party system when joining games and after host migration.
• Reworked how random maps are chosen to be less repetative.

The UnderGarden is a new-style puzzler exploration experience developed by Vitamin-G, the creators of Aces of the Galaxy. The UnderGarden is a casual zen-like game that challenges players to explore beautiful underground caverns filled with strange life forms; physics based puzzles and plenty of hidden secrets to be discovered. The environments come alive and the games music evolves as players get deeper into the world. It will feature local co-op gameplay and 20 different levels.

• – Use different types of fruit to help solve brain-teasing physics-based puzzles.
• – Watch the world around you bloom and come to life.

• – Pick up musicians to enhance the soothing audio tracks.
• – Unlock new looks for your character as you progress through the UnderGarden.
• – Explore a variety of different levels.
• – Solve tricky puzzles.
• – Gather pollen to make your world blossom with plant life and colour.

For more DLC news and info you can follow me on Twitter @The_GeekJock

Images courtesy of Game Press

Radiangame announces release of their fourth game, Fluid.

Radiangames was formed in early 2010 and in a short time has created a highly-rated portfolio of Xbox Live Arcade titles including: Crossfire, Inferno and JoyJoy. Today, they announced the release of their fourth title, Fluid, which is available for download on Xbox Live Indie Games for 80 MSP ($1).

Fluid will require players to race quickly and precisely to collect all the dots on the screen while trying to avoid the growing swarms of killer jellyfish. The initial levels and may seem mundane and elementary but the difficulty will quickly increase as you progress. Players will need to utilize powerpills, vortices, speed pads and teleporters to perfect their scores and times across 30 levels and 5 extreme levels.

“More than any game I’ve made in the series, Fluid has to be played to be properly appreciated,” said Luke Schneider Founder of Radiangames. “The fluid controls, intuitive gameplay, and flowing graphics combine to form a gameplay experience that feels unique and familiar at the same time.”

To add Fluid to your XBLM Download Que – click here

For more DLC news and info you can follow me on Twitter @The_GeekJock

Atlus and Frozenbyte released a few new screen caps and a new teaser trailer today, which can be seen below. Enjoy.

Also, ShackNews is reporting the confirmation that Trine 2 will not only be released on PC but will also be coming to the Xbox 360 and PS3 as downloadable games when it’s released in Spring 2011.

For more DLC news and info you can follow me on Twitter @The_GeekJock

Related articles

• Trine 2 confirmed for PC release in spring 2011 (news.bigdownload.com)
• Trine 2 Coming To A Trio Of Platforms [Video] (kotaku.com)
• New Trine 2 Trailers, Screens, and Co-op Details (1up.com)

The pack will contain three new online multiplayer maps: Tempest, Anchor 9 and Breakpoint.

Here is the breakdown for each map.

Tempest – “Though we may never fully understand these devices, it is not our nature to leave ancient stones unturned.” This abandoned shoreline facility bends both sea and sky to an unnatural purpose, but the ground itself has quickly become another all too familiar battlefield. Though the two opposing symmetrical bases may never reveal their ancient purpose, both now offer makeshift shelter and access to strategic routes perfectly suited for small and large scale skirmishes alike. Tempest supports 8 – 16 players and offers a variety of modes including Free for All, Team Slayer, Team Objective and Big Team Battle. Tempest also provides players with a huge Forge palette, allowing them to create new custom map variants that can be shared with the community-at-large.

Anchor 9 – “Orbital dockyards provide rapid refueling and repairs for a variety of UNSC vessels.” Within the confines of this low orbit dry-dock, UNSC craft undergo rapid repair and rearmament in support of the enduring war effort. But for the small squads of infantry who now fight over the mirrored interior hallways and open central hangar bay, this platform no longer provides any safe harbor – whether the close quarters combat is occurring inside or out of its artificial gravitational field. Anchor 9 allows 2-8 players to face off in game variants including Free for All, Team Slayer and Team Objective.

Breakpoint – “ONI officials believe the data buried within this artifact is key to our survival.” Atop this icy precipice, the Invasion continues. These modular archaeological labs were never intended to withstand such a large scale onslaught of Covenant military power, but the information being extracted here may prove vital to humanity’s survival. In response to the imminent Covenant threat, UNSC ground and air assets have been deployed to bolster entrenched Spartan countermeasures. This dig site must yield salvation, or it will become a grave. Breakpoint offers multiplayer mayhem for 8-16 players, and supports the Invasion and Big Team Battle game variants.

For more DLC news and info be sure to follow me on Twitter @The_GeekJock

Related articles

• Reflecting On Multiplayer In Halo: Reach [Clips] (kotaku.com)
• Watch a full match of Team Slayer on Halo: Reach’s Reflection map (joystiq.com)
• Noble Team – Meet the Cast of Halo: Reach (brighthub.com)
• Halo: Reach History – Before the Fall of Reach (g4tv.com)

The update will download the next time you start up the game on Xbox Live. Among numerous fixes and gameplay balances, the Uber team has increased Trial time to 60 minutes. Which means if you already have a Trial and have used up your 30 minutes, you’ll be getting 30 more for free. Shazam!

In honor of this update Uber will be giving away a ton of free code giveaways for full versions of Monday Night Combat for the rest of the week, via their Twitter account: http://twitter.com/uberent

So what took so long?

Uber Entertainment’s Ekanaut was up in the late/early hours last night/this morning to deliver the message on the official Monday Night Combat forum and took the time to explain to MNC fans why the update took so long:

Our general philosophy on Monday Night Combat is that it is a service based model of game. For a multiplayer game like ours to be successful, we need to adjust balance, fix exploits, and add new content based on feedback from our community and do it quickly. Unfortunately for the our first Title Update, which was handed off to Microsoft for certification over a month ago, got caught up in a perfect storm of software changes and tons of new games coming out. This caused our Title Update to get backlogged along with other digital titles. They tell us this won’t happen again in the future so our first free DLC should be out sooner than later. We’ll have announcements of what’s in that DLC in the coming weeks.

List of changes and fixes in the Title Update

Trial Game
Extended trial time to 60 minutes from 30.

Connectivity and Multiplayer:
Reworked the way we handle parties in the pregame lobby to avoid splitting them up.
Fixed several issues where host migration would fail immediately.
Decreased wait time after a successful host migration.
Lobbies will now host migrate and not kick you back to the main menu.
If the host leaves during the end of match sequence, the host will migrate and players will return back to the lobby and not the main menu.
Optimized the time it takes to migrate hosts, shortening the time to migrate.
Improved weapon hit detection in high lag situations.
Fixed endorsements being incorrect after a host migration.
Fixed getting into private matches without an invite.

General Gameplay:
Fixed players being able to damage the Moneyball’s shields.
Fixed visual effects staying on the player after the effect has worn off.
Reduced the amount of increased damage the Moneyball takes in Overtime, thus reducing the effectiveness of “Juice rushing”.
Fixed Ringouts, Headshots and Grapple Kills not giving the proper amount of money. Balanced Ringout money to reflect the change. Message now displays correct total amount of money earned.
New “You Win!”/”You Lose!” UI for the end of a match.
Fixed juice benefits ending early if the player grapples during juice.
Fixed juice bar getting stuck full.
Fixed deploying on or near active jump pads.
Fixed controller sensitivity of 10 not saving.
Fixed messaging for kill streaks. Ultra and Uber streaks will now be named properly when popping up above your reticle.
Fixed an instance of the player’s skill pick UI going away unexpectedly.
Fixed an issue with bots walking by enemy turrets and bots without engaging them.
Fixed upgrading a turret that has been hacked to the opposing team.
Fixed turret collision not going away after being destroyed.
Normalized time between a grapple miss and the ability to grapple again for all grapples. The biggest change is the Assassin not having as big of a penalty for a missed grapple.
Fixed the “Team Leader” and “Team Player” highlights from being reversed.
Fixed players being able to mute themselves.
Fixed idle kicking when standing still but still looking around and/or shooting.
Fixed players who cheat and hack their profiles from being able to apply multiple gold endorsements.
Optimized main menu ticker for players with large friends lists.
Fixed HUD showing Moneyball shields as up during over time even though they are down.
Reduced announcer talking for kill streaks to help reduce the repetition of announcements.
Various performance optimizations.
Fixed players being able to switch weapons while in a grapple.

Support:
Reworked Support’s bot aura so that it doesn’t make the Jackbot appear overhealed.
Fixed Support’s Firebase skill from recharging while the Support is dead but the Firebase skill exists.
Fixed being able to use the Heal/Hurt gun while taunting.
Fixed some instances of the Support’s Firebase not appearing when thrown.
Fixed Heal/Hurt gun not being affected by rate of fire endorsements and reduced it’s overall healing/hurting ability to compensate for the change.
Fixed Supports being able to use their Hack skill through walls.
Fixed Supports being able to throw their Firebases through the wall.
Fixed Air Strikes sometimes damaging enemies under cover.
Supports can now only Hack enemy turrets at Hack level 3.
Increased the time to Hack enemy turrets.
Decreased duration of Hack on a turret for levels 1 and 2.

Assassin:
Fixed Assassins from being able to get permanent sprint and super speed.
Fixed Assassins getting a double smoke bomb allowing them to jump higher than intended.
Fixed Assassins being able to cloak during a grapple.
Fixed Assassins from being able to use her smoke bomb during a lunge.
Retuned damage done by dagger after a lunge.
Fixed Scramblers and Traps from draining the Sword and Shruiken Launcher alternate fire grapple.

Tank:
Tank’s Jet Gun alternate fire damage is now reduced depending on the percentage of ammo left in the clip. Increased the full clip damage to compensate.

Assault:
Fixed an exploit involving the Assault’s Fly.
Fixed Assault’s bomb audio lingering after bomb is gone.

Monday Night Combat Live Update System:
Pregame Lobby is now 45 seconds.
Min Number of Players to start Crossfire is now 6.
Increased player bot spawning from 5 seconds to 10 seconds.

For more news and DLC info be sure to follow me on Twitter @The-GeekJock

Judging by these preview caps, we may have to pass on this one and cross our fingers for Dead Rising 3DS. Fans of the Dead Rising series may be disappointed in what looks like, a drastically decreased zombie horde, limited weapons and a general lacking in many of the features that made the console games great.