Here’s a taste of what’s heading your way, as usual, check your region for additions and changes:

Xbox Live Arcade

• From Dust (1200 Points) – July 27
• Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet (1200 Points) – August 3

Game add-ons

• Dragon Age II: Legacy (800 Points) – July 26
• Homefront: The Rock Map Pack (400 Points) – July 28

Sales and Specials

• Microsoft Studios Add-ons (160 – 400 Points each): Halo, Fable, Gears, Forza, Alan Wake, Crackdown franchises.

Deal of the week

• Mass Effect 2: Kasumi – Stolen Memory (280 Points) – July 26
• Mass Effect 2: Lair of the Shadow Broker July 26 (280 Points) – August 1
• Mass Effect 2: Arrival July 26 – August 1 (400 Points) – August 1
• Change your Gamertag discount (560 Points – 30 percent off) – August 2 – 8

Games on Demand

• Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit – July 26
• Shaun White Skateboarding – July 26
• 2Record of Agarest War – August 2
• Pure Futbol – August 2
• World of Outlaws Sprint Cars – August 2
• Adrenalin Misfits – August 2

Avatar marketplace

• Peggle – July 28
• Ancient Times – July 28
• Jersey Shore – July 28
• Rage – August 4
• Warlords – August 4

Additional content

• Avatar Kinect – Free to Gold Members – July 25 (already out)
• Kinect Sparkler (240 Points) – July 28

The simulation game places players in the role of El Presidente, the newly appointed leader of the island nation of Tropico.

Players are charged with building the island’s economy and helming its path in the world through alliances and strategic decisions.

The game’s sequel, Tropico 4, is currently in development and is scheduled for an August 30, 2011 release in the US and EU.

Tropico 3 is available for download at £14.99 ($19.99 in North America.)

• Some lucky fans got to play Star Wars: The Old Republic. Apparently, they liked it.
• BioWare marketing director David Silverman has asked Twitterati whether they’d like a trailer featuring FemShep trailer for Mass Effect 3. Hash tag, @, and cast your vote!
• While you’re there, give your opinion on the possibility of a FemShep trailer competition.
• One of The Gunstringer’s bonus features will be Mystery Science Theatre-style commentary. Cool.
• Nexus has announced a new thief class for Dungeon Fighter Online, which is headed to Xbox Live Arcade some time soon.
• Here’s a genuinely awesome browser adventure game written, voiced and illustrated by a five year-old girl.
• Sonic Free Riders is now available via Games on Demand.

Today’s unrelated street art.

There’s also dates for the Gears of War 3 beta in there, as well as Deals of the Week, Games on Demand, and Avatar goodies.

Get the full thing below and through here.

Thanks to StolenGlory for the heads up, and Joystiq for its organizational skills.

Gears of War 3 beta dates

April 18: Bulletstorm purchasers gain entry
April 25: GameStop pre-orderers gain entry
May 15: Beta period ends

Sales and Specials

April 15

• Limbo – 600 MS Points ($7.50)
• Castle Crashers – 600 MS Points ($7.50)
• Shadow Complex – 600 MS Points ($7.50)
• Trials HD – 600 MS Points ($7.50)
• Monday Night Combat – 600 MS Points ($7.50)

April 12 – April 18

• Halo: Reach Noble Map Pack – 400 MS Points ($5)
• Halo 3 Mythic Map Pack – 200 MS Points ($2.50)
• Halo 3 Mythic II Map Pack – 400 MS Points ($5)
• Halo: Reach Emile SPARTAN 239 Armor – 200 MS Points ($2.50)
• Halo: Reach UNSC Marine Armor- 200 MS Points ($2.50)
• Gears of War 2 All Fronts Collection – 400 MS Points ($5)
• Gears of War 2 Locust Drone Armor  – 160 MS Points ($2.50)
• Gears of War 3 Ticker Pet – 160 MS Points ($2)
• Forza 3 Community Choice Classics Pack – 200 MS Points ($2.50)
• Forza 3 Sidewinder Proving Grounds – 200 MS Points ($2.50)
• Forza 3 Hot Holidays Car Pack – 200 MS Points ($2.50)
• Crackdown 2 Premium Toy Box Pack- 280 MS Points ($3.50)
• Crackdown 2 Premium Deluge Pack – 280 MS Points ($3.50)
• Alan Wake: The Writer – 280 MS Points ($3.50)
• Fable 3 Warrior Helmet (male and female) – 120 MS Points ($1.50)
• Toy Soldiers – 800 MS Points ($10)
• Perfect Dark – 400 MS Points ($5)
• Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers – 400 MS Points ($5)
• Trials HD: Big Thrills – 200 MS Points ($2.50)
• South Park: Let’s Go Tower Defense Play! – 400 MS Points ($5)
• Braid – 400 MS Points ($5)
• Splosion Man – 400 MS Points ($5)
• Snoopy Flying Ace – 400 MS Points ($5)
• Uno Rush – 400 MS Points ($5)
• Duke Nukem 3D – 400 MS Points ($5)
• Duke Nukem Manhattan Project – 400 MS Points ($5)

Select SEGA games will also be  discounted 50 percent from April 19-25: Crazy Taxi, Sonic 4: Episode 1 and Outrun Online Arcade, and more.

Xbox Live Arcade

• April 13: Might and Magic Clash of Heroes – 1200 MS Points ($15)
• April 20: Section 8 Prejudice – 1200 MS Points ($15)
• April 20: Fancy Pants – 800 MS Points ($10)

Deal of the Week

April 12 – April 18

• Marvel vs Capcom 2 – 600 MS Points ($7.50)
• Mega Man 10 – 400 MS Points ($5)
• Final Fight Double Impact – 400 MS Points ($5)
• Bionic Commando Rearmed – 400 MS Points ($5)
• Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix – 600 MS Points ($7.50)
• Your Shape: Fitness Evolved Toned Body DLC – 160 MS Points ($2)
• Your Shape: Fitness Evolved Bollywood DLC – 200 MS Points ($2.50)
• 3D Ultra Minigolf Adventures 2 – 400 MS Points ($5)
• Peggle – 400 MS Points ($5)
• Peggle Nights – 400 MS Points ($5)
• Plants vs. Zombies – 800 MS Points ($10)
• ilomilo – 400 MS Points ($5)
• Avatar Egg Hunt – 80 MS Points ($1)
• Avatar Bunny Outfit – 120 MS Points ($1.50)
• Monkey Prop – 120 MS Points ($1.50)

Games on Demand

April 12

• Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing ($29.99)
• Toy Story 3: The Video Game ($29.99)
• Raven Squad ($19.99)

April 19

• Fallout: New Vegas (price TBA)
• Mafia 2 (price TBA)
• Lost Planet 2 (price TBA)

Xbox Avatar Marketplace

• April 19: South Park; Mortal Kombat

“No one retailer has the lowest pricing for every product, and our program is about giving people 24-7 convenience and selection when shopping for Xbox 360 games,” a Microsoft spokesperson told Eurogamer.

“We’re incredibly excited about what Games on Demand means for digital distribution, and will continue to evaluate and evolve the service to meet market and consumer demands.”

Halo: Reach is one of a small number of Games on Demand releases with price tags far higher than retail equivalents; Modern Warfare 2 is another egregious example.

Eurogamer reports you can grab the phenomenally successful shooter for £49.99, while retailers are offering new copies from as low as £24.99.

In Australia, the download version will set you back $99.95, around the same price point as chain and major retailers.

The download weighs in at just over 6.5Gb.

Prices vary wildly between territories, with no explanation to be found in currency discrepancy.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is priced at $59.99, £39.99 and AUD $109.95, while Aliens vs Predator is going for $29.99, £14.99 and AUD $29.95.

CVG reports that Sega has announced Platinum’s Bayonetta will join the games-on-demand catalogue next week, but has not revealed pricing.

Thanks, thesixthaxis.

Earlier in the month, Major Nelson posted the AvP news, but didn’t have Bayonetta listed at the time.

The action game from Platinum featuring a witch with magical hair will arrive on February 22. No price was listed.

We may have wound down for Christmas and New Year, but the news motored on, dropping a winceworthy headline for Deus Ex: Human Revolution and plenty more.

Deus Ex gets delayed into FY2012 by Square

Square announced in its recent batch of financials that it’s delayed Deus Ex: Human Revolution into fiscal year 2012. It was originally scheduled for a early 2011 release.

Square Enix’s next financial year begins on April 1, 2011.

The reason for the delay is due to “weak sales performance of console game titles that have been newly released during the current fiscal year as well as harsh market feedback regarding a key title.

“We therefore have decided to spend additional time to further polish our upcoming game, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, resulting in a shift in release timing from our prior plan of the current fiscal year to next fiscal year.”

Get the most recent trailer for it here.

LA Noire video shows off mo-cap tech

Rockstar released a new video of LA Noire, showing off the game’s mo-cap technology, MotionCap.

The 40s-inspired Team Bondi title uses the tech to bring out realism and facial detail as never before seen in a game.

Get the video below.

Respawn’s West admits not playing Black Ops

With things getting increasingly heated just before Christmas in the countersuit between Activision and ex-Infinity Ward heads Vince Zampella and Jason West, perhaps the fact that West’s failed to even look at Black Ops shouldn’t come as a big surprise.

West, who went on to found Respawn Entertainment with Zampella following the pair’s layoff at IW last March, told 1UP at the VGAs that he hasn’t touched the shooter.

“I haven’t actually played it,” he said.

As for what Respawn is currently making, West admitted some early concept stuff is already up and running, but said the project is still far out.

“We got some things cooking now, and I saw some awesome stuff last week,” he said.

“I think announcements are going to be a ways off.”

Watch the interview below.

Drs Ray and Greg added to AIAS Hall of Fame

BioWare co-founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk will be inducted into the AIAS Hall of Fame when DICE takes place next month, its organisers have confirmed.

It’s the first time a pair have been added into the Hall of Fame, and the honour comes in a year that will be BioWare’s biggest ever, thanks to 2011 releases of Dragon Age II, Star Wars: The Old Republic and Mass Effect 3.

Muzyka and Zeschuk will also speak at an AIAS talk at DICE.

“Driving BioWare’s success past, present and future are the amazing family of people we have been privileged to work with over the years and our shared core values of quality in our workplace, quality in our products, and entrepreneurship in a context of humility and integrity,” said Muzyka.

“We’d also like to thank our wives and the families of our employees for their continuous support over the years, which together with the hard work of our great teams continually enables BioWare’s success,” added Zeschuk.

The pair’s awards will be given by Epic president Mike Capps.

Dissidia 012: Final Fantasy dated for March 3 in Japan, new trailer released

Square Enix confirmed at Jump Festa it’ll release Dissidia 012: Final Fantasy on March 3 in Japan.

The publisher also confirmed a PSP hardware bundle for the game.

The title will cost ¥6,090 for the UMD version, and ¥4,980 as a download.

Square also said that the story from the original Dissidia will be unlocked in Dissidia 012 once its campaign is finished.

Its inclusion is due to the addition of a new 3D map system, according to Tetsuya Nomura in Famitsu (thanks, Andriasang).

Get the new trailer from Festa below, via Joystiq.

Conduit 2 gets February 15 US date

The Conduit 2 will release on February 15, developer High Voltage Software told IGN.

We’ll get onto Sega about a UK and European date.

Dragon Age II video shows off combat styles

BioWare’s released a new video of Dragon Age II on PC, featuring the game’s two combat stances.

You can either go for the action-RPG approach DAII’s been heading towards, or you can take the tactical route, where you can pause and give out orders.

Video’s below, via Big Download. Dragon Age II releases on March 8 in the US and March 11 in the UK for PS3, 360 and PC.

Demon’s Souls’ online servers to remain live until October

Atlus has confirmed it’s to keep live the online servers for RPG Demon’s Souls until at least October this year.

It had previously said it would keep the servers open until March at the earliest.

“We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again. We will support the online servers for Demon’s Souls as long as we possibly can, and we’ll be as transparent about the entire process as possible, hence us constantly updating folks as to what to expect,” said Aram Jabbari of the publisher.

Crysis 2 trailer shows off Nanosuit

EA released a new trailer of Crysis 2, featuring what’s possible in the game with the revamped Nanosuit.

It’s very slick stuff, as you’ll see below.

Crysis 2 releases on March 25 for PS3, 360 and PC. Thanks, D’Toid.

Need for Speed World passes 3 million users

EA confirmed over the holiday break that Need for Speed World has passed 3 million users.

It also announced the addition of a day-and-night cycle for the MMO.

Developer BlackBox will handle the second of two iterations from the Need for Speed series next year, the other being Shift 2: Unleashed in spring.

Max Payne 3 info “in the coming months,” says Rockstar

It’s been a ridiculous age since we’ve heard anything on Max Payne 3, but it’s still in development, and there’s more info inbound.

The sequel, being made by Rockstar’s Vancouver studio, was left out of Take Two’s provisional FY 2012 line-up after slipping out of the back-half of its FY 2011 line-up.

“We’re still working hard on Max, and we’ll have more news in the coming months,” a Rockstar rep told Kotaku.

Bulletstorm dev diary has a lot of [duck]ing swearing, has profanity filter

EA released the first dev diary for Bulletstorm, featuring producer Tanya Jessen and lead writer Rick Remender talking about the People Can Fly shooter and its story.

It also features the term “dicktits”. That is why you will watch it below. Thanks, Evil Avatar.

PCF producer Adrian Chmielarz has also confirmed the game will have a profanity filter to block out any swearing, although specifically how it would work was not mentioned. The filter works for both subtitles and voice-acting.

inFamous comic will bridge gap between inFamous 1 and 2

Sony, Sucker Punch and DC Comics are to release a six-part series of comics based on inFamous.

The comics will bridge the gap between inFamous 1 and the upcoming inFamous 2, explaining how main character Cole moved from Empire City to New Marais.

The series will be written by William Harms, with illustration done by Eric Nguyen.

More on the US PS Blog.

GT5 gets massive update 1.05

Polyphony released the massive version 1.05 update for Gran Turismo 5 just before Christmas, with the main inclusion being GT Academy for the US.

New seasonal events were also included, as was a “hot car dealer,” improved rewards whilst playing and more.

There’s details on the update at GT Planet.

DiRT 3 video shows off Gymkhana

Codemasters has released a new video of DiRT 3, showing off one of the new additions to the game: Gymkhana.

The video has rally driver Ken Block talking about how it works, as well as some gameplay footage.

Get it below. Thanks, D’Toid.

Dragon Quest VI remake launching in US next month

Nintendo’s announced it’s to release the DS remake of Square’s Dragon Quest VI in the US on Valentine’s Day, February 14.

Its release comes seven months after releasing Dragon Quest IX in America.

Hunted: The Demon’s Forge gets first trailer

Bethesda released the first trailer for Hunted: The Demon’s Forge over the break.

The clip of the inXile dungeon crawler shows off the world within the game, with its two main characters, E’lara and Caddoc, shown at the end.

Hunted’s out next spring for PS3, 360 and PC. Trailer’s below. Thanks, D’Toid.

Tales of Xillia announced, detailed

Namco said before Christmas that the all-new Tales game it announced for PS3 last August is called Tales of Xillia.

It’s the third Tales game that’ll appear on PS3 following ports of Vesperia from 360 and Graces from Wii, but the first to be developed for the console from the go.

As far as producer Hideo Baba is taking it, Xillia is a new era for the RPG series.

“Our goal here is to pool all the know-how we’ve built over the past 15 years and show off a new frontier in the Tales series,” he told Famitsu (via 1UP).

“That’s all there is to it. You might see that even now in the graphics, which are meant to be a contrast in light and shadow. Tales of Vesperia was always meant to have anime-like graphics, so everything’s incredibly bright and colorful.”

Baba continued: “With Xillia, on the other hand, we’re deliberately placing light sources to play up the size of a room and the feeling that the characters are really there.”

For the first time in the Tales series, there will be two main characters, a male named Jude and a female called Mira.

Other details: the game’s world is called Liese Maxia, its battle system is known as the Double Raid Linear Motion Battle System – or DR-LMBS for short – and its viewpoint is behind the back and over the head. Exciting.

No date yet.

Activision has made “horrific mistakes,” says Riccitiello

EA CEO John Riccitiello has told IG that Activision has made some “horrific mistakes”.

“No, I don’t actually feel sorry for the other guys,” he said. “I think they’re making some really horrific mistakes.

“Without being too directly negative about a particular competitor, I would say that what often happens is a scenario where you’ve lost your customer, so you lean on your employee to do evermore impossible things which generates profitability for two or three years where you sort of live off past success.”

While Activision may be the lot under scrutiny, EA was once seen as the “Evil Empire”. But Riccitiello explained how it got that monkey off its back.

“Three years ago, we were not making any money and we’d lost the support of our shareholders, and we had lost the support of our gamer, and our attrition was at an all time high.

“So your quality’s down, the gamer hates you, the investor’s not happy, you’ve got nowhere to go and employees are leaving.

“Since then, I think it is fair to say we’ve got most of the gamers back.”

StarCraft II gets overdue single-player demo

Five months after going on sale worldwide, Blizzard’s released a single-player demo of StarCraft II.

It features the first three missions from the campaign of Wings of Liberty. You won’t need an Battle.net account to play it.

Get it here.

Full-priced Red Dead Redemption goes live on Games on Demand

Rockstar’s put up a full-priced edition of Red Dead Redemption on 360′s Games on Demand.

It’ll set you back £39.99/$59.99, and only consists of the main game itself, with no DLC added.

If you want to pick it up on the cheap for less then £40, you can get it for just over £20 at GAME on PS3 or 360.

If for convenience’s sake you actually want to buy it as a download, the link to queue it up for your 360 is here.

Dragon Age: Awakening dated for Japan

BioWare will release Dragon Age: Origins expansion Awakening in Japan on January 27, according to Famitsu.

Awakening continues the story of Origins, adds five new recruitable members to your party and more.

Awakening launched in the west last March for PC, 360 and PS3 in the US both digitally and at retail, while it was only available for PS3 owners in Europe on the PS Store.

Def Jam Rapstar gets Kinect support

Konami’s released a new update for the 360 version of Def Jam Rapstar, which has enabled Kinect support.

The 4MM game will allow users to record videos of their rapping to the Def Jam community using the motion camera.

Fantastic. Thanks, Joystiq.

Team Meat cancels Super Meat Boy for WiiWare, explains why

Team Meat’s confirmed it had canceled the WiiWare version of Super Meat Boy, with Team Meat leader Edmund McMillen telling Joystiq it would have been “a piece of shit version”.

“We knew of the limits early on but overestimated our ability to get Nintendo to raise the file size,” said McMillen. “It’s lame that there is a 40MB cap on WiiWare games… but it was our fault for blindly assuming this cap wasn’t set in stone.

“We are sorry for that.”

He went on to add that Team Meat had talked to three publishers about a retail version for Wii, but ended up passing on it.

“Right now we have talked to three larger publishers who have passed on the title because they believe Wii retail is a bad idea profit wise. Most places we have talked to believe that only Nintendo brand games sell well on their system and don’t even understand why we want to release Wii retail.”

FFXIII 360 bombs in Japan

According to Media Create numbers, the Japanese 360 release of Final Fantasy XIII sold 22,579 units.

Media Create doesn’t release sales numbers for games that sell under 20,000, according to Siliconera.

FFXIII 360 in Japan was the international version of the game with English VOs, as well as epilogue episode and a new easy mode.

Kinect Sports gets demo release

Microsoft’s released a taster for Kinect Sports.

Pick it up here. It’s 718Mb.

Microsoft’s released Alan Wake on Games on Demand for Xbox Live, as previously promised by the company.

The digital version of the Remedy thriller will set you back £24.99.

Queue it up here.

Of course, you can pick it up on the cheap for a tenner. Find details of that here.

Miss this at your own risk. It’s a fantastic game. Go buy it.

Read our interview with Remedy MD Matias Myllyrinne about the game and its subsequent DLC here.

Major Nelson has posted a list of games heading to Xbox Live Marketplace, and along with Alien Breed 3 and Crazy Taxi, there’s some nice Deals of the Week and game add-ons listed as well.

Let’s just get right to it, shall we?

Games

• November 17: Alien Breed 3: Descent, 800 Microsoft Points
• November 24: Crazy Taxi, 800 Microsoft Points

Deal of the Week November 22 (Hasbro Family Night Titles)

• Connect 4X4, 400 Microsoft Points
• Jenga, 400 Microsoft Points
• Pictureka, 400 Microsoft Points
• Sorry! Sliders, 400 Microsoft Points
• Boggle, 400 Microsoft Points
• Sorry!, 400 Microsoft Points
• Battleship, 400 Microsoft Points
• Connect 4, 400 Microsoft Points
• Scrabble, 400 Microsoft Points
• Yahtzee, 400 Microsoft Points

Games On Demand

• November 23: Alan Wake

Avatar Marketplace

• November 16: Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood
• November 18: Mafia II

Add-Ons

• November 16: Crackdown 2 The Deluge Pack, 560 Microsoft Points
• November 17: Space Invaders: Infinity Gene Add-on , 240 Microsoft Points
• November 23: Mafia II Joe’s Adventures, 800 Microsoft Points
• November 23: 3D Ultra MiniGolf Adventures 2: Fairy Tales Map Pack, 240 Microsoft Points
• November 30: Halo: Reach Noble Map Pack, 800 Microsoft Points

There’s also an XBL Gold Membership promotion going on from November 25 (Thanksgiving)  through November 29 where Silver members will be able to experience Gold benefits for free.

The US end us also getting a contest celebrating the arrival of ESPN to the service with a “five-month long Download, Watch & Win Sweepstakes” where you can win weekly and monthly prizes starting November 16.

Hit up The Major for more details on the lot.

Nelson’s announced the content line-up for Xbox Live Marketplace for up to the week ending November 1.

Confirmed is the release of Borderlands and Splinter Cell: Conviction for Games on Demand.

The 2K RPG will appear on the service on October 19 – that’s today FYI, with Conviction appearing on October 26.

There’s a full list below:

Games on Demand

October 19:

• Borderlands
• F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin
• Virtua Fighter 5
• Cabela’s Big Game Hunter

October 26:

• Splinter Cell: Conviction
• The BIGS 2
• Cabela’s Alaskan Adventures
• Lost: Via Domus

Avatar Marketplace:

• Halloween costumes – October 21
• DJ Hero – October 21
• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed – October 25
• Red Dead Redemption – October 25

Game Add-ons:

• Borderlands DLC half-price – October 19-25
• Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare – October 25
• Hydro Thunder Hurricane Tempest Pack – October 27

There’s more over at the link.

Is money no issue for you? Are you insocial? Want it in an instant? Then you’ll have no excuses now.

Gears of War 2 has made its way to Games on Demand on Xbox Live, as previously promised.

The cost? £19.99. The download size? 6Gb.

Buy this and let it do you as you wait for Gears 3 next fall.

Queue it up here.

Epic’s announced Gears of War 2 will be making its way to Games on Demand on Xbox Live on October 12.

The sequel is the second to appear on the service, with the first Gears appearing on GoD at Christmas last year.

Epic announced last week it had delayed Gears of War 3 from April next year to fall 2011, with the company confirming the move as a “business decision.”

You probably should pick this up. It’s a good game, innit.

Microsoft has published its Deals of the Week and Games on Demand schedule for July 20 – August 2, which includes a mark-down on DLC for Borderlands.

Here’s the schedule in full:

Deals of the Week

• July 26: Borderlands DLC – 400 MSP – Secret Armory of General Knoxx; Mad Moxxi’s Underdome Riot;The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned
• August 2: Forza 3 Cars and Track Packs – 240 MSP – AutoWeek Car Show Pack; Hot Holidays Car Pack; Jalopnik Car Pack; Nürburgring GP Track Pack; Road & Track Car Pack.

Add-ons

• July 27: Alan Wake – The Signal- 560 MSP
• July 27: Skate 3 – After Dark Pack – 400 MSP; Super Street Fighter IV Costumes Pack – 1200 MSP

Games on Demand

• July 20 : Facebreaker, NFL Tour, Stuntma: Ignition
• July 27: Lord of the Rings Conquest; WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008; WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009

Avatar Marketplace

• July 22: Dragon Age Origins
• July 23: Halo Reach
• July 29: Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light

Don’t forget about the Summer of Arcade either, which officially launches tomorrow with Limbo.

Get more details on the entire schedule through the press release here.

Microsoft’s Major Nelson has posted a list of what to expect via XBL Marketplace next week.

Hit the page jump for the rundown.

Xbox Live Deals of the Week

• Defense Grid, 400 Points
• PB Winterbottom, 400 Points
• Rocket Riot, 400 Points
• Darwinia+, 800 Points
• Chime, 240 Points
• Poker Smash, 400 Points

Games on Demand (pricing to be determined)

• June 29 – Tomb Raider Underworld, Command & Conquer 3

Xbox Live Arcade

• June 30 – Puzzle Quest 2 (1200 Points); Ancients of Ooga (800 Points)

Avatar Marketplace

• July 1 – Crackdown 2

Hit the link for more information.

Microsoft has announced that Games on Demand for Windows will soon be getting day-and-date game releases from the likes of 2K, Capcom, Rockstar, THQ, Ubisoft and of course, Microsoft.

New non-Live titles will be released via GoD every week, and more than 100 new titles are promised by the end of the year.

Also, to celebrate the launch of Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands on the service, MS is offering Prince of Persia: Warrior Within and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time for 75 percent off at 200 MSP/$2.49.

Non-Live titles now available include:

• Age of Empires III
• Assassin’s Creed 2
• Borderlands
• Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
• Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne
• Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Conviction
• S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl

So, there ya go.

Microsoft has added MOH Airborne and Soulcalibur IV to its Games on Demand service.

You may wish to check pricing and availability for your area before getting too excited, as MOH is just being shown for North America, and SCIV for all locales except India.

Looks like those in Canada, Mexico, and the US will be paying $19.99 for each.

Via The Major.

Microsoft has released its schedule of DLC for the month of May, along with Games on Demand and the Deals of the Week.

If you happened to click the link in the Dragon Age DLC post, you may have noticed the schedule already.

Just in case you are not a DAO fan though, or just don’t wanna do the clicking, we’ve got the whole thing for you below.

Games on Demand

• Today: Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway; Prince of Persia
• May 11: Tom Clancy’s EndWar
• May 18: Command & Conquer 3
• May 25: Battlefield 2: Modern Combat [Europe, Australia and New Zealand only]

Deals of the Week

• May 17: The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition – 400 MSP/$5; Avatar items: LeChuck Pirate Hat – 40 MSP; Avatar Cotton Swab – 80 MSP

Xbox LIVE Arcade

• May 5: Zeno Clash Ultimate Edition – 1200 MSP; RayStorm HD – 1200 MSP
• May 12: Rocket Knight – 1200 MSP
• June 2: Snoopy Flying Ace – 800 MSP

Add ons

• May 4: Rock Band – No Doubt’s “Tragic Kingdom” – 1600 MSP
• May 7: LIPS – Miley Cyrus Song Pack (whoohoo!) 400 MSP
• May 11: Forza Motorsport 3“Exotic Car Pack” – 400 MSP
• May 13: Super Street Fighter™ IV: “Super Shoryuken Pack” – 320 MSP
• May 18: DAO: Darkspawn Chronicles – 400 MSP
• Spring 2010: Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers “Expansion Pack 2” – 400 MSP

Xbox Avatar Marketplace

• May 6: Final Fantasy XIII and Game Room items
• May 13: Army of Two; A Kingdom for Keflings

Get the full thing here.

Microsoft’s put up a couple of big past actioners onto 360′s GoD service.

Both Far Cry 2 and Kane and Lynch: Dead Men are now available on Games on Demand. Far Cry 2, especially, is an absolute must-play. Sort it out if you’ve never “been there”.

The Africa-based shooter costs £19.99 in the UK and will take 4Gb of HD.

Kane & Lynch’s first foray into killing a lot of people with guns will cost you £19.99 and 5Gb of space.

Go on, then. Don’t look outside. Sun’s for the weak.

As promised two weeks ago, Halo 3 is now available on Games on Demand for 360.

The Bungie shooter will cost £19.99 and weighs in at 6Gb to download. If you’re interested, queue it up here.

The game is the last in the main Halo trilogy from the Seattle developer, with Chief promising to “finish the fight” against the Covenant.

Go get it. May as well, what with the Halo: Reach multiplayer beta up in a couple of weeks on May 3.

Nelson’s announced that Tomb Raider: Legend and Devil May Cry 4 are now available on Games for Demand for Xbox Live.

Both the Eidos and Capcom titles are available at £20 a pop.

Add both of them to your download queue here and here.

Next week: Halo 3 and Saints Row!

Nelson’s announced Halo 3 will be coming to Xbox Live on April 20 via its Games on Demand service.

The Bungie blockbuster is one of several games to come to the service this month, including Devil May Cry 4 and Tomb Raider: Legends.

The shooter’s digital release comes nearly two and a half years after its retail release, six months after the release of its sequel (or prequel, whatever way you look at it) ODST and before the developer’s last attempt at the Halo series, Reach, which is coming this fall.

Catch the full schedule of what’s coming to Live this month here.

Fallout 3 and Fable II have both hit Games on Demand for Xbox 360.

The RPG pair hit the service today, and are both available at £19.99.

Both the Lionhead and Bethesda set are available to queue up on your Xbox here and here.

They’re both a good pair of RPGs, so you’d be fools to miss them. Do so at your own risk.

Via Major Nelson.

As promised, Microsoft has added Fallout 3 to its Games on Demand service.

Size-wise, expect 5Gb to be taken up on your hard drive, and all are welcome to it except those poor fellas in India, Japan and New Zealand.

It will run you $29.99 on the US side of the pond, but you may wish to check your region for currency differences.

Those who have yet to try the game should know that the GoD price is on par with retail at the moment, at least in the US, and it should get you in the mood for Fallout: New Vegas when it hits stores this fall.

The Major has revealed the March release schedule for Xbox Live Marketplace.

Looks like CoD: World at War maps will be getting the Deal of the Week treatment.

Here’s the full thing, along with a couple add-ons for late February:

Xbox Live Deal of the Week:

• March 1: Gears of War Avatar COG Armor (male) (female) 240 points & Helmet (male) (female) 80 points
• March 8: Call of Duty: WaW: Map Pack Bundle, 1600 Points

Games on Demand:

• March 2: Fallout 3, North America and Asia (except Japan, Korea and India)
• March 2: Street Fighter IV, Europe, Australia and New Zealand

Xbox Live Arcade: As part of the Block Party promotion, here is the Arcade schedule for March.

• March 3: Toy Soldiers -1200 points
• March 10: Scrap Metal – 1200 points
• March 17: Perfect Dark – 800 points
• March 24: Game Room – Free to download. Individual games will cost 240 to 400 points

Xbox Avatar Marketplace:

• March 2: Street Fighter IV
• March 4: Major League Baseball 2K10
• More to come as well

Game Add-ons:

• Feb 23: Star Wars The Force Unleashed, Hoth Bonus Level – 800 Microsoft Points
• Feb 25: FIFA 10, Ultimate Team Game Add-on – 400 Microsoft Points
• March 2:Resident Evil 5, Desperate Escape Episode – 400 Microsoft Points

Those with the Zune Video Marketplace will get Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment flicks and TV series into the mix now.

So, feel free to access stuff like: X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, Office Space, Napoleon Dynamite, 24, Bones and more.

Full thing through the link.

The Major has revealed the partial release schedule for Xbox Live Marketplace.

We have it posted for you below, and it gives a release date for that cool-looking indie title from 2K, The Misadventures of PB Winterbottom.

So far, the release schedule looks like this:

Xbox Live Games on Demand:

• Feb. 9: Street Fighter IV
• Feb. 9: Halo Wars (Europe, Australia and New Zealand)
• Feb. 16: Resident Evil 5
• Feb. 16: Beautiful Katamari
• Feb. 16: Viva Piñata: Party Animals (Japan)

Xbox LIVE Arcade:

• Feb. 10: Darwinia +, 1200 points
• Feb. 17: The Misadventures of PB Winterbottom, 800 points

Xbox Avatars Marketplace:

• Feb. 11: Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising
• Feb. 16: Resident Evil 5
• Feb. 18: Metro 2033

Deal of the Week

• Feb 15: Battlefield 1943, 800 MS Points

1v100 will also have its final shows of the season with SyFy’s Magda Apanowicz a.k.a. Lacy Rand from the Battlestar Galactica spin-off Caprica on Tuesday, February 9 at 9.00pm EST/6.00pm PST.

Full thing through here.

Nelson’s just confirmed Dead Rising is coming to Xbox Live’s Games on Demand.

The 2006 Capcom zombie game releases on the 360 service on January 26.

Earlier today, Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 made it onto GoD. The game is also on Nelson’s list.

Microsoft also said today that Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter will release tomorrow for Arcade. It’ll go on sale for 1200 MSP.

Nelson‘s confirmed that Kane and Lynch: Dead Men and Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 is now on Xbox Live, via GoD.

GRAW 2 is available everywhere except Japan, while Kane and Lynch is out worldwide bar Korea and the US.

Both games will cost £19.99.

Nothing on a new GRAW yet, other then a trademark filling, but keep an eye out on new info of Kane and Lynch’s sequel, Dog Days, this Friday.

We’re saying nothing more, kiddlewinks.