Here’s somewhat of a head scratcher: Gamestop is currently listing a $19.99 add-on pack for Borderlands including both The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned and Mad Moxxi’s Underdome Riot DLC on a physical disc. No official word from Take-Two or Gearbox, but the box cover looks like it could be legit, but then again it could be something a webmonkey quickly threw together. The retail box is currently listed for release on Xbox 360 and PC for release on Febuary 23rd, but no word on a possible PS3 version. The big bummer for those who are internet challenged is the lack of the third and most expansive expansion: The Secret Armory of General Knoxx.

Borderlands has obviously been a huge success for everyone involved, so I’m not surprised by this new product, as the amount of effort put into it was probably minuscule. It just makes me wonder why they wouldn’t wait and put out all three in one fell swoop, since if you’re buying this you’re probably not going to be downloading the third pack over Xbox Live. I guess they’re saving that for the inevitable ‘Game of the Year Edition,’ if this DLC pack pans out that is.

All that hand wringing over whether or not digital distribution would replace retail outlets at the top of the game buying food chain seems to have been for naught, as the sales of virtual videogames has yet to impact brick and mortar retailers.

Interviewing several specialist retailers, Edge Online reports that though downloadable content is on the rise, the market just isn’t ready for a digital-only videogame console. “DLC for ‘established’ consoles has increased and, in most cases, adds value to existing titles. However, this is in regard to additional content rather than what you would term ‘games on demand’, which gamers perceive as being overpriced compared to physical media and which cannot be traded in or sold once finished with,” shared Shopto owner Igor Cipolletta.

“It’s going to be a slow transition. In terms of console-specific digital games, there’s been something of a retreat from the retail-equivalent downloads, and now most console download titles are made up of expansion packs and arcade download games,” said Piers Harding-Rolls, head of games at media analyst Screen Digest. “Spend on those types of products is increasingly strong, but it’s important to note that it’s nowhere near retail levels, with something like a single-digit percentage slice of the market.”

“Certainly throughout 2009, digital distribution hasn’t had much impact on the sales of digital media.”

Despite being a bit of a disappointment, yet one of the “best” disappointments, the DJ Hero franchise seems to be here to stay, if Mr. Kotick’s words are to be taken into account. Let alone the announcement of DJ Hero 2. That is why it’s no surprise to read about developer FreestyleGames talking with “incredible musicians” to get involved with the disc-scratching series in the future, in the forms of DLC and sequels.

When approached by CVG, commercial boss Chris Lee of FreestyleGames said they’re “getting lots of requests for specific tracks and artists, so we’ll work hard to explore what we can do. We’re already talking to some of the most incredible musicians on the planet about working together down the line, so who knows what the future holds. As for new features, we’ve had a host of great ideas and requests. Way too many to mention.”

Although these musicians remain anonymous, they’re “incredible” ones, huh? We’re not really sure what to expect here. In fact, we’re speechless.

“The first Volume of Secrets” as Burnout Paradise developer Criterion is calling it, has been revealed to the rest of the world. In a recent blog post on the official website, binned DLC packages were thrown forward and meant as a fun-fact holiday gift from Criterion. Which it actually was once you hear how far out there they were prepared to go.

With Big Surf Island out, we can already see how Criterion wanted to be different. Why release a few more cars or bikes, when you can get an entire island instead, right? But considering the discussions around the business table, Big Surf turned out to be just a mere fraction of what could’ve been. In fact, if sanity hadn’t hit the developers, we could’ve been treated with an entire archipelago, each one destined to provide us with a completely different experience such as off-road and even circuit-based racing à la Formula One. “One was going to be purely off-road based. Hence we created the ‘Dust Storm’ dune buggy in anticipation for that. Our original dreams for Paradise were to create a series of Islands, all connected to Paradise City and each would focus on a different style of racing game. One Island was going to be completely circuit based – and be all marked up like a modern Formula One circuit!”

But some of the more wackier ideas included underground racing, planes, helicopters, boats, and I kid you not, Time Travel and even the Moon. “Someone on the team said that ‘players want the moon on a stick when it comes to DLC’ We thought that was funny and thought we’d do it. The actual surface of the real Moon was modelled and it was drive-able. Lunar Challenges would have been totally unexpected – as would have been zero gravity Takedowns and Challenges.” Here’s to taking things literally!

This just goes to show the mentality behind the Burnout series and the widespread thinking from the devs, clearly being outside the box. Whatever Criterion might work with in the future, like for instance the next installment in the Need for Speed franchise, expect the unexpected.

Even though Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising was just released, it seems Codemasters isn’t wasting any time and may already be chipping away on the sequel to their open-world military sim. At least that’s the impression executive produces Sion Lenton leaves.

“The team have been eagerly reading the reviews and all your feedback on the forums and we’ve been very pleased with how the games been received, especially by console users, Lenton wrote in a note to the community. “One of my main goals on this project was to introduce console gamers to this genre and get them excited about the possibilities of actually having to think about their actions in combat. I feel we have achieved this and I feel we are at the beginning of a very exciting journey for the Flashpoint series.”

Lenton says they’re “already prototyping new features,” that the Ego engine the game runs on “moves forwards in leaps and bounds” and advises to “watch this space!” Whether that means we can expect a brand new game, DLC, or both is anyone’s guess, but chances are engine upgrades won’t be delivered via DLC.

Though Abbey Road, Sgt. Pepper and Rubber Soul will be soon be available for download in their entirety, not every album in the Fab Four’s catalog will be coming to The Beatles: Rock Band, according to Harmonix.

“Every time we do one song, it’s not like Rock Band where we wait for the masters to come in and just author them… It’s like, send people to Abbey Road, use the original tape, separate them out… it costs thousands of dollars,”  explained Harmonix PR representative John Drake in an interview with BBPS. “We’re waiting to see how things sell. We’re waiting to see how the albums do. If they sell well, we’ll have a lot more content.”

Considering the amazing amount of work that went into creating the game’s elaborate music videos, which Harmonix appropriately dubbed “dreamscapes,” I understand wanting to see how the first batch of DLC fares before making more. But if Rocky Racoon doesn’t eventually come to the Rock Band store, prepare to see me tear up like one of those hysterical Shea Stadium teens.

Square Enix’s Yoshinori Kitase has told RPGSite in an interview conducted at GamesCom that there may be downloadable content in Final Fantasy XIII’s future. While answering how the game may utilize Xbox Live and PlayStation Network, Kitase said they are exploring the option of DLC, “perhaps adding new areas, items or enemies.” But as for continuing the story with expansions to the narrative, things don’t look good. “[..]these would not be expansions to the story, only the gameplay.”

“The entire story of FF13 will be on the disc,” Kitase concluded.

The game is expected to receive a release date shortly, perhaps during PAX next week or the Tokyo Game Show later in September.

Today, EA announced a new “Boxer Pack DLC” coming to Fight Night Round 4 in late August. The last DLC  added new items of clothing for your boxer, new gameplay sliders, and even another Training Gym to practice the Sweet Science. Given the fact that that pack was absolutely free of charge, you’d expect for EA to really give us great bang for our buck-well you’d be wrong. This “Boxer Pack” includes Oscar De La Hoya, Vitali Klitschko, Wladimir Klitschko, and alternate versions of George Foreman and James Toney. Because of the fact that George and James are already in the game, you will be paying 800 MS points, or $10 for three new boxers. This means they value 1 boxer at $3.33 each, or $2 if those two alternate boxers are distinctive in any way (Grilling George Outfit, anyone?).

That doesn’t sound TOO bad at first, but considering just how far $2 can get you on the PSN or XBL Marketplace (1 or 2 songs on Rock Band, Spell Tomes, or Peggle for the whole pack), it’s a bit tough to chew. I guess that’s why they call De La Hoya the “Golden Boy.” Here’s a better alternative: go into the Boxer Share, download any of the many Oscar De La Hoyas ( and Billy Mays while you are at it), and enjoy.

For Fight Night Round 4 fans out there without a whole lot of money to burn (read: everybody), EA also announced a free companion DLC to be released later in August that not only adds new gear like additional trunks, gloves and shorts, but also the much anticipated ability to control punches with the face buttons rather than the analog stick. Also, EA will be releasing ANOTHER demo to Fight Night Round 4, featuring Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson, and the face button control options. This demo will be available by “early September.”

Techland’s rather popular Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood will be getting its first — of three, if past news pans out — piece of downloadable content this week, Ubisoft has announced. The DLC should please all online gunslingers as the Old West Map Pack will bring four additional multiplayer maps (detailed below) to the wild west shooter, all of which will be playable in every game mode the game shipped with and “will allow players to relive even more historical events of American history,” as the announcement puts it.

The maps will shoot up the PS3 and Xbox 360 this Thursday, August 6, however no mention of a price was made. PC gunslingers were left in the dark as well.

• Little Bighorn: An open terrain level reconstructing the famous battle of Little Bighorn of June 25-26th, 1876, when General Custer’s troops were obliterated by combined American Indian forces.
• Vulture Mine: Based on a theft of gold from the mine, outlaws must breach the storage facility and rob the gold stash while destroying a lift in order to Escape.
• Fort Smith: In this prison escape, outlaws must breach a jail wall, ring an alarm at a nearby Sheriff’s office and then try to escape.
• Elmira Prison Camp: The epic escape from Union Civil War Prison at Elmira, NY, on October 7, 1864 is recreated. Prisoners must blow up the camp and make their way to an armory and attempt to gain means of transport.

Last year’s Dead Space from EA’s Visceral Games (then EA Redwood Shores) can be considered a commercial success. The title sold over a million units in 2008, not bad for a brand new IP competing with big Christmas games like Fallout 3. But as happy as studio manager Glen Schofield is with the sales, there’s still something on his mind, namely the fact that the amount of people who played Dead Space compared to the people that actually bought it is around double. Weird.

Speaking on EA’s official podcast, Schofield stated, “We looked at how many we sold. We also looked at — we didn’t have online which is one of the big features that you need to have to kind of keep it in the house a little bit longer these days. But then we also did studies on sort of how many unique users there were on the PSN network and Xbox Live. And realized, you know what, there’s over three million people that have played Dead Space. Maybe we’ve only sold 1.5 million or whatever the number is. But there’s something there because that means that, ok, there were a lot of used sales. So there’s a lot of people when I go out and talk to [them]… it seems that everybody has played it or heard about it or whatever.”

Used games sales are an increasing concern for publishers and developers, especially in the current economic climate, so it sounds like EA missed out on a lot of potential sales. Some developers have tried to counter this through online modes to keep players hooked, or promise DLC so consumers hang onto their copy. Dead Space doesn’t feature an online mode or any DLC past new weapons and armor. Of course, there’s also other things to consider like multiple Xbox and PSN accounts playing through the game on the same console.

Perhaps the developer upcoming prequel, Dead Space: Extraction will churn out better results.