Hasta La Gadget!

Suit up Spartan, because the Halo 4 Crimson Map Pack launches today on the Xbox Live Marketplace. At 800 MSP, this Map Pack adds three new multiplayer maps to the game, and is the first of three announced DLC map packs. It’s a part of the War Games Map Pass too, which grants you access to all three map packs for 2000 MSP – 400 MSP off the price of purchasing each one separately.

That isn’t a bad deal if you know in advance that you’re going to purchase all three DLC packs, so if you’re big on Halo 4, picking up the War Games Map Pass would be a good move. Crimson tosses the Wreckage, Covenant, and Shatter maps into the mix, along with a dedicated playlist for the three new battlegrounds so you can get acquainted with them quickly. It’s launching just over a month after Halo 4 itself released, so 343 Industries and Microsoft got right to work on the game’s DLC.

Next up we’ll have the Majestic map pack launching in February, which adds three additional maps of its own. Finally, players will have the Castle map pack to look forward to in April, rounding out the trio. Those are the only DLC packs Microsoft and 343 have announced for Halo 4, but then again, they could always choose to surprise players with more DLC if these three packs sell well.

For now, though, just plan on these three map packs hitting in a relatively short time frame. Players will also have a new multiplayer mode called Extraction waiting for them when they sign on today, which will have two teams attacking and defending player-placed beacons. Check out our story timeline below for more on Halo 4!

Halo 4 Crimson Map Pack available today on Xbox 360 is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

There are two great things about Nintendo embracing a connected future for gaming: it allows Nintendo to release DLC for its games (more on that in just a minute) and it also allows the company to track gameplay data and give us the insane statistics we all crave. For instance, did you know that 3DS gamers across the globe have collected 300 billion coins in New Super Mario Bros. 2? That’s a lot of coins, and to celebrate Nintendo has released new DLC for New Super Mario Bros. 2 that’s free for a short time.

If you’ve been a lifelong Mario fan, then this DLC is definitely for you. It takes levels from the old NES-era Mario games and remakes them for New Super Mario Bros. 2‘s Coin Rush mode. Officially dubbed the “Gold Classics Pack,” the DLC pack contains three courses inspired by levels in the original Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. 3. The first course in the pack brings together the first two levels of Super Mario Bros., while the second course will be familiar to those of us who played Super Mario Bros. 3 non-stop when we were kids. For the third course in the pack, we’re going back to Super Mario Bros. for a romp through Bowser’s castle, ending with a battle against the meanest Koopa the Mushroom Kingdom has ever seen.

Nintendo has already won major points by revisiting classic Mario level, but even better is the fact that this DLC will be free through January 31, 2013. Once February arrives, the DLC will cost $2.50, which really isn’t bad when you consider how much some publishers like to charge for DLC. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata revealed the DLC in a new Nintendo Direct Mini stream, which also you tells you how to go about downloading the Gold Classics Pack. Check out the video below.

The DLC is available starting today, so have at it. At the very least, make sure you use SpotPass to nab the DLC before it becomes a paid download on February 1, 2013. What do you think of this latest DLC offering for New Super Mario Bros. 2 – is it nice to see classic levels re-imagined, or were you hoping for something different?

New Super Mario Bros 2 DLC remembers the plumber’s past is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

For many, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion served as an introduction to DLC. Bethesda had its misses (horse armor anyone?) but it also some hits, one of which being the beyond excellent Shivering Isles expansion. Shivering Isles wowed Oblivion players when it released back in 2007, and ever since Skyrim was released, players have been asking for an expansion that’s on the same scale. So, is Skyrim‘s freshly-announced Dragonborn DLC the expansion everyone has been waiting for? There’s still a lot we don’t know, but what we do know suggests that it is.

Take, for instance, the fact that Dragonborn takes place on the island of Solstheim. The island, which lies off the northern coast of Tamriel, was already the setting of an Elder Scrolls expansion in the past: Morrowind‘s Bloodmoon. Right off the bat, we have our first evidence that Dragonborn will be a beefy expansion rather than a simple piece of new DLC – if Solstheim was big enough to take center stage is a previous expansion, it’s more than big enough to be the setting of a true-to-form Skyrim expansion.

Next we come to dragon mounts. It’s important to keep in mind that Bethesda hasn’t confirmed dragon mounts for Dragonborn, but the trailer for the DLC sure seems to suggest that players will get the chance to ride and control a dragon. If players can do so, that’s a huge feature – one that seems well-suited for an expansion but not a one-off piece of DLC like Hearthfire. That players can do something so epic is another thing that leads us to believe Dragonborn is the expansion we’ve all been waiting for.

In the trailer, we also get to see new enemy types, new weapons, and new armor. Naturally, that’s a no-brainer given the fact that Dragonborn takes place in an all-new setting, but the fact that we’re getting new enemies, weapons, and armor suggests that there’s plenty of content for players to devour. We also have the price to consider – 1600 MSP or $20. That certainly isn’t chump change, and even though Bethesda charged the same amount for Dawnguard, we’re thinking that the studio wouldn’t have an easy time getting away with charging much more. Therefore, $20 is about as much as Bethesda can charge for DLC, and it’s given Dragonborn such a price tag.

Finally, we’ve got the introduction of a new villain. If this were some paltry DLC offering, we wouldn’t be going toe-to-toe with the very first Dragonborn. We’ll have to wait until more details are released before making the final call, of course, but at the moment, Dragonborn is looking like the big Skyrim expansion we’ve all been hoping for.

Is Dragonborn the Shivering Isles DLC Skyrim fans crave? is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

A couple weeks back we heard that Bethesda may be plotting a new piece of Skyrim DLC called Dragonborn. Today the studio confirmed those rumors, officially announcing Dragonborn and delivering the DLC’s first trailer. Just like the rumors claimed, players will be returning to the island of Solstheim, and yes, it looks like you’ll be able to ride a dragon.

Of course, dragon mounts haven’t been confirmed yet, but the trailer posted below clearly shows the player character getting onto a dragon and then flying off. This could still be a scripted event, but due to the fact that Bethesda has mentioned dragon mounts in the past, we’re thinking that they might actually be a full-fledged feature in Dragonborn. In the DLC, players will be going toe-to-toe with the Dragon Beast, the very first Dragonborn who is now plotting a return to devour the power of the dragons in Skyrim.

That’s certainly exciting, but we have a feeling that players will be even more excited about the return to Solstheim, an island in northern Tamriel that was the focus of the Morrowind expansion Bloodmoon. The visuals seen in the trailer are certainly reminiscent of the environments in Morrowind, so that should be more than enough to get long time Elder Scrolls fans to hand over their money. We also catch a glimpse of some new armor types in the trailer, as well as some new weapons. Check it out below.

The Xbox 360 version of Dragonborn will be available on December 4 for 1600 MSP. Bethesda hasn’t given a release date for the PC and PS3 versions yet, and sadly, the chances of a PS3 release seem slim considering that Bethesda is still having issues bringing Dawnguard to the console. We’ll be sure to update you once we have more information on Dragonborn, but for now, let us know if you’re planning on picking it up.

Skyrim Dragonborn DLC officially revealed, complete with dragon mounts is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Halo 4 is on the horizon, and just like most of the Halo games before it, we can expect an offering of DLC map packs to keep us playing well into the next year. Today, Microsoft announced the Halo 4 War Games Map Pass, which is just the company’s fancy name for those DLC season passes that seem to be so popular these days. By purchasing the Halo 4 War Games Map Pass, you save 15% on the cost of buying each of Halo 4‘s three map packs separately, so this is a good idea for those who already know they’ll be buying all of the Halo 4 DLC 343 Industries and Microsoft put out.

The Halo 4 War Games Map Pass comes with a price tag of 2000 Microsoft Points ($25), which means that the individual map packs will cost $10 (800 MSP) each. Microsoft also gave us the names of these three maps packs today: Crimson, Majestic, and Castle. Crimson features the Wreckage, Harvest, and Shatter maps; Majestic includes the Landfall, Monolith, and Skyline maps; while Castle will be adding the Daybreak, Outcast, and Perdition maps to the game.

Even better is that we were given release windows for all three packs today. Crimson will be out in December, Majestic in February, and Castle in April, so we’ll begin getting DLC shortly after Halo 4‘s release. There aren’t any specific release dates for these map packs available at the moment, probably due to the fact that none of them have been finished yet.

If you pick up the Halo 4 War Games Map Pass, Microsoft will also toss in a few extras on the side. Purchasers will get the Scanner and Strider helmets to use in-game, along with a new Falcon emblem that would otherwise be unobtainable. Microsoft’s announcement originally said that the Map Pass is included as part of the Halo 4 Limited Edition console bundle, but in the time since, 343′s David Ellis has clarified that it will be bonus with the Limited Edition game only, not the console. Will you be buying a Halo 4 War Games Map Pass?

Halo 4 War Games Map Pass detailed and priced is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.