Something for the Weekend: Free PS3 games and an Xbox Live sale are go

End the week in style with our recommendations

This week ushers in one helluva sale on Xbox Live. Weā€™ve been tracking the daily announcements all week and you can find more in-depth information on them allĀ here,Ā here,Ā here,Ā Ā here,Ā hereĀ andĀ hereĀ if you like. ThoughĀ some might have already expired. However, weā€™ve gone ahead and picked our favourites below for you to enjoy this weekend.

But itā€™s not just an Xbox 360 love-in, no maā€™am, weā€™ve also plucked the best PlayStation games you can grab on PSN right now. Oh, and if youā€™ve ever fancied trying out the premium PlayStation Plus subscription weā€™reĀ giving away free 30-day trials right now, so help yourself . Youā€™re welcome.

Xbox Marketplace

GRID | Price: Ā£2.69

It might be nearly four years old, but this racer from Codemasters still speeds ahead of most driving games of late. Each race feels intense and the courses and cars still look incredible after all this …

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Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara ā€“ Dwarf trailer is full of beard

New character video for Capcomā€™s XBLA, PSN, Wii U eShop adventure

Ooh, we like these ā€“ itā€™s another character trailer for Capcomā€™s XBLA, PSN, and Wii U eShop sword-and-magic side-scrolling adventure, Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara. This time itā€™s the turn of the bearded powerhouse ā€“ aka the Dwarf ā€“ to show us his mettle:

Dwarf is the fourth (it rhymes!) character trailer, following behindĀ Elf,Ā Cleric, andĀ Fighter. By our calculations, that leaves Thief and Magic-User still to come.

Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara is scheduled to arrive in June for PSN and Wii U eShop, priced Ā£11.99/ā‚¬14.99/ $14.99, and Xbox Live, priced 1200MSP (Ā£10.28/ā‚¬14.40/$15).…

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Dead Island Riptide pre-orders come with two different DLC packs

Survivor and Fashion Victim expansions are free for early birds

Pre-orders for the upcoming zombie splat-fest, Dead Island Riptide will come with two separate DLC packs. The Survivor (available at all good retailers) and Fashion Victim (exclusive to GAME in the UK) expansions contain all this lifted direct from the press release, hence theĀ gratuitousĀ use of exclamation marksā€¦

Survivor DLC Pack

    • Ā A BBQ Blade! This special pre-order pack contains an exclusive weapon only available here! How better to dispose of the wretched zombies than with a sharp blade? Add in some workbench-modifying and hook it up to a few fuel tanks to bring some heat to a zombieā€™s heart! The so-called ā€œBBQ Bladeā€ lets you wade through zombie hordes with ease!
    • An XP/stats booster! Want that extra edge to level up faster than your peers? Hereā€™s your chance!
    • A special shop! The Survivor Pack will grant you access to a shop offering a special discount on weapons and items!
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Tomb Raider Underworld: LaraŹ¼s Shadow DLC Review

Spooky expansion will leave you feeling cold. For all the wrong reasons

Ah, the difficult second DLC. As a dev, do you play it safe, farming out another slice of fan-pleasing content? Or you do play a wild card and shoot for something a little more off-the-wall? This question faces Crystal Dynamics with Laraā€™s Shadow ā€“ and itā€™s one that seems to have gone unanswered.

Set during, and after, the events of the main game, you play as the goth-styled clone of Lara Croft ā€“ the Doppleganger. Being a brand new-ish character youā€™d assume this is a wild card DLC package? Alas, youā€™d be wrong.

The Doppleganger manages to sum up the whole DLC in one painful statement ā€“ a brief glimpse of a good idea that doesnā€™t work. Rather than realise the potential of a supernatural Lara Croft, the devs do nothing more than casually add a few effects to an already existing set of moves. So that 800MS …

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Tomb Raider Underworld: Beneath the Ashes DLC Review

A new adventure for Lady Croft that feels like a fitting tribute

Poor old Laraā€™s had a rocky old trip through gaming history. Sheā€™s gone from being the iconic face of a console generation, to just one of many gun-wielding heroines gracing our disk drives. And while Tomb Raider Underworld almost took the original tomb raider to new fabled heights, its first DLC, Beneath the Ashes, does just that ā€“ and makes Lara Croft as relevant as anything this generation has to offer.

Serving as an epilogue to the main gamesā€™ supernatural shenanigans, Lady Croft discovers a whole labyrinth of medieval dungeons beneath her ancestral home. And despite its ties to the main story, BTA manages to hark back to the principles of old that made the franchise so influential.

The usually pointless cut-scenes are thankfully kept to a minimum, and thereā€™s not an over-powered shadow-sword in sight. Ladies and gentlemen, this is old school Tomb Raider (with a modern …

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Weekly DLC updates for Rock Band will stop on April 2nd

Five years worth of songs is a bloody mighty effort from Harmonix

After 275 consecutive weeks and more than 4000 songs, Harmonix has announced that their weekly Rock Band DLC updates will stop on April 2nd.Ā Via the Rock Band blog, Alex Trites, Manager of Community Development, delivered the news that the final drum solo will be played soon.

Trites also mentions that Harmonix are now at work on ā€˜new projectsā€™, which weā€™re going to go right ahead and say is Rock Band 2 on next-gen consoles. But as far as commitment to DLC goes, Harmonix deserve a standing ovation for their unwavering support towards it. Bravo!…

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Something for the Weekend: Saints Row: The Third for under Ā£12 and more

End the week in style with our recommendations

Itā€™s that time of week when we trawl through the best deals that you can download and play right now. No need to change out of your breakfast-stained pyjamas or brave the outside world –Ā  just settle in, put your feet up and download these treats right now. Youā€™ve earned this rest.

PlayStation Store

Saints Row: The Third | Price: Ā£11.99

That price is superb for an open-world game that delivers a ton of stuff to do at every turn. Jet fighter dogfights, combat dildo duels in the middle of the street and missions that include taking tiger for a spin in a convertible.

Thereā€™s a plot in there somewhere, but even though weā€™ve finished it weā€™d be hard pressed to explain anything without taking a trip to Wikipedia. But our point is that Saints Row: The Third is full of distractions to entertain you for hours. Get it.

WipEout Complete Game …

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ItŹ¼s bye, bye to Rock Band DLC as American Pie marks the final track

Don McLean’s all-American anthem brings the curtain down

Harmonix has earmarked April 2nd as the day the music will die for Rock Band DLC, but are going out on a high with Don McLeanā€™s American Pie. After 4000-odd songs the developer is moving on to other projects. They announced Big Donā€™s catchy number will mark the end of their support at the recent PAX East Rock Band party.

Feels like a great song to bow out on. Sing us out, Donā€¦

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GTA IV: The Lost and Damned DLC Review

A brutal bike ride built for you

Cā€™mon, give us a little smile, Mr Klebitz. We know Niko is a tad miserable, but GTA IVā€™s amoral immigrant might as well have been sprouting candy and rainbows from his face when you compare him to The Lost & Damnedā€™s lead biker. Johnnyā€™s overall demeanour is fitting for this slice of DLC as itā€™s relentlessly bleak. Thankfully, itā€˜s also ferociously fun in patches.

The leader of Liberty Cityā€™s infamous The Lost crew, Klebitz and the rest of his posse of burnt-out bikers spend most of their time bombing about on choppers, arm wrestling and taking nefarious missions from the cityā€™s cast of criminal players. An expansion that focuses on a motorcycle gang wouldnā€™t be much crack if The Lostā€™s rides didnā€™t handle convincingly. So itā€™s a relief then that the array of hogs will make you squeal with two-wheeled delight.

Compared to the puny bikes seen in the main game, The Lost …

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Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 ā€“ Nuketown Zombies DLC Review

A great new area to blast zombies, but is it worth nearly Ā£40? Erm…

Treyarchā€™s Zombie mode has evolved from a simple, addictive add-on into a core part of the Call of Duty experience. As the series has progressed the settings have diversified, the gameplay has deepened, and the brains have never stopped spilling. The question of the day, though, is ā€œwhat happens when you combine one of the most popular modes in the series with one of the most popular maps?ā€ The answer ā€“ sheer joy.

Nuketown Zombies takes the player back to the Nevada desertā€™s familiar mannequin village from the original Black Ops multiplayer, but this time throws in the undead. Nuketown earned its reputation for being a tight, symmetrical multiplayer map designed to create some of the seriesā€™ most exciting carnage. This design lends itself to zombie gameplay superbly and the claustrophobic feel hasnā€™t been felt since the original Nazi zombie house-based map from World at War.…

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