Busy Gamer News

• WiiWare: Alien Crush Returns ($8) pinball and Home Sweet Home ($10) interior design game
• Virtual Console: Space Harrier ($5) for Sega Master System
• DS Demos: Dragonball: Origins and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, plus the usual repeats
• Game Videos: Alien Crush Returns, Animal Crossing: City Folk, Ben 10: Alien Force, Brain Challenge, Chrono Trigger, The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels, Guitar Hero: World Tour, Home Sweet Home, Monster Lab, Nerf N-Strike, Wii Music and Zenses: Ocean

"There is currently a work around that may allow you to bypass this issue. Since you have the first 19 characters of the code already, you can basically try "guessing" the last character. To do this, simply enter your existing code, and then for the last character, try the letters A-Z, and then the numbers 0-9. You should eventually get the right combination, and be able to play the game."

• LittleBigPlanet Halloween Mask and Spaceman costumes (free for a limited time)
• EndWar FirstWar Enlistment Pack (free for one week) with three unit upgrade unlocks
• Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm Pack 3 (free) with Shizune and a new Ultimate Mission
• Guitar Hero: World Tour Oasis Track Pack ($5.50, or $2 each) with "Bag It Up," "The Shock of the Lightning" and "Waiting for the Rapture" plus "Another Way To Die" by Jack White & Alicia Keys ($2)
• Rock Band/Rock Band 2 Presidents of the United States of America Pack 01 ($5.50, or $2 each) with "Dune Buggy," "Feather Pluckn" and "Ladybug" plus "I Don’t Care" by Fall Out Boy and "Use Me" by Hinder ($1 each)
• BUZZ! Quiz TV Comedy Pack (not sure of the price; can't get on PSN at the moment to check)
• Qore Episode 06 ($3) with a PlayStation Home preview but absolutely NO access to be the closed beta
• Demos: Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots and NCAA Basketball 09
• Game Videos: Bayonetta, EndWar, FIFA 09, Guitar Hero: World Tour, Killzone 2, MotoGP 08, MotorStorm: Pacific Rift, Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm, NBA 2K9, Resistance 2 and Tomb Raider: Underworld
• Themes: High Velocity Bowling, PixelJunk Monsters and Tomb Raider: Underworld (all free) plus Bikini Fashion Show ($1.50), Sexy Ninja Girls ($1.50), University of Alabama ($2) and University of Wisconsin ($2)
• Movie Trailers: Sleeping Beauty, Standard Operating Procedure and Tinker Bell

• Arcade: Vigilante 8 ($10)
• EndWar FirstWar Enlistment Pack (free for one week) with three unit upgrade unlocks
• Guitar Hero: World Tour Oasis Track Pack ($5.50, or $2 each) with "Bag It Up," "The Shock of the Lightning" and "Waiting for the Rapture" plus "Another Way To Die" by Jack White & Alicia Keys ($2)
• Rock Band/Rock Band 2 Presidents of the United States of America Pack 01 ($5.50, or $2 each) with "Dune Buggy," "Feather Pluckn" and "Ladybug" plus "I Don’t Care" by Fall Out Boy and "Use Me" by Hinder ($1 each)
• Demos: Call of Duty: World at War multiplayer beta, Lego Batman and NCAA Basketball 09
• Game Videos: Bayonetta, Call of Duty: World at War, FIFA 09, Gears of War 2, Left 4 Dead, Midnight Club: Los Angeles, Mirror's Edge, Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, Tomb Raider: Underworld and Vigilante 8
• Themes: Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway ($1.25 and $1.88), Gears of War 2 (one free, the other two $3.13 each), plus HAWX, Tomb Raider: Underworld and Vigilante 8 ($1.88 each),
• Pictures: Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe ($1.25 each), Tomb Raider: Underworld ($2) and Vigilante 8 ($1 and $1.88)

• WiiWare: Brain Challenge ($10) and Yummy Yummy Cooking Jam ($10)
• Virtual Console: Mega Man 3 ($5) for the NES
• DS Demos: Kung Fu Panda: Legendary Warriors, TouchMaster 2, plus a number of repeats including Dragonball: Origins and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
• Game Videos: Animal Crossing: City Folk, Brain Challenge, Call of Duty: World at War, The Clone Wars: Jedi Alliance, Guinness World Records Game, Guitar Hero: On Tour Decades, Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia, Quantum of Solace, Rock Band 2, Shaun White Snowboarding, Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World, Wii Music, WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 and Yummy Yummy Cooking Jam

• Xbox 360: Mostly freezing and graphical glitches. Clearing your hard drive cache seems to help (if you don't mind wiping out all of those game patches), and reports indicate that saving the entire game to run from your hard drive (one of the features of the new dashboard update due next week) helps even more. Also, littering the countryside with objects could be an issue. Best to leave things alone that you can't carry and dispose of extraneous objects by selling them or placing them in containers/corpses. These tips should tide you over until the inevitable patch - unless you red ring. If that happens, it's not due to any game glitch but because you played too much and your 360 overheated.
  
  
• PS3: Mostly frame rate, stuttering and texture loading problems. Receiving messages from friends during games may cause freezing, so you may want to disable them and, while you're at, don't access the XMB. Also disconnect all other game controllers and make sure the one you're playing with is set to Controller 1. There are also reports that you may not be able to cancel the VATS targeting or shoot if all parts of a target are at zero percent. If this happens, see if you can switch to another target.
  
  
• PC:This version was patched, and some report it worked better without the update. So if the game is crashing, you might downgrade - at least until the next patch. Other suggestions that people claim have helped: updating audio and video drivers (K-Lite codecs in particular have been called out) and removing SecuROM protection installed by another game such as BioShock that may be causing a conflict.

• Age of Booty ($10)
• Pain Movie Studio expansion ($6) and The Hoff (David Hasselhoff) character ($2)
• LittleBigPlanet costumes: Sack-Eating Plant (free) plus MotorStorm Stormers ($2) and Animal Costume Bundle ($3 or $1 each) with Frost-E Penguin, Great Blue Shark, Hugo Gorilla and Lilly Pad Frog
• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed character pack ($5)
• Hot Shots Golf Out of Bounds costume pack ($3)
• Civilization Revolution multiplayer map packs Elemental (free) and Terrestrial ($1.25)
• Guitar Hero: World Tour Hendrix Track Pack ($5.50) with "Fire (Live from Woodstock)," "If 6 Was 9" and "Little Wing" by Jimi Hendrix and R.E.M. Track Pack ($5.50 or $2 each) with "Horse to Water," "Man-sized Wreath" and "Supernatural Superserious"
• Rock Band/Rock Band 2 album "The Colour and The Shape by Foo Fighters ($20 or $2 each) with "Doll," "Monkey Wrench," "Hey, Johnny Park!" "My Poor Brain," "Wind Up," "Up in Arms," "My Hero," "See You," "Enough Space," "February Stars," "Walking After You" and "New Way Home" - note: if youi want :"Everlong," you'll need Rock Band 2
• Need for Speed: Undercover cheat unlocks ($1.75 to $10 - but don't encourage EA by buying these!)
• Demo: Neverland Card Battles (PSP)
• Game Videos: Alpha Protocol, Guitar Hero: World Tour, Soul Calibur IV and WWE Smackdown vs RAW 2009
• Movie Trailers: Prince Caspian, Wall-E and a BD-Live demo

• Arcade: No new full games this week, but there's a new Pinball FX Street Fighter II table ($2.50) and discounts on Feeding Frenzy, Worms and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (now $5 each)
• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Character Pack ($5) with Anakin, Obi-Wan, Luke, Darth Sion, Ki-Adi-Mundi, Kit Fisto and Imperial Commando, plus costumes Hooded Combat Gear, General Starkiller and Sith Assasin
• Dead Space add-on packs ($1 to $4 each)
• TNA Impact! downloadable characters Mike Tenay (free), Curry Man ($1.25) and Petey Williams ($1.25)
• FIFA 09 commentary packs with various commentators in different languages (all free except English 2, which is $5)
• Civilization Revolution multiplayer map packs Elemental (free) and Terrestrial ($1.25)
• Guitar Hero: World Tour Hendrix Track Pack ($5.50) with "Fire (Live from Woodstock)," "If 6 Was 9" and "Little Wing" by Jimi Hendrix
• Rock Band/Rock Band 2 album "The Colour and The Shape by Foo Fighters ($20 or $2 each) with "Doll," "Monkey Wrench," "Hey, Johnny Park!" "My Poor Brain," "Wind Up," "Up in Arms," "My Hero," "See You," "Enough Space," "February Stars," "Walking After You" and "New Way Home" - note: if youi want :"Everlong," you'll need Rock Band 2
• Rock Revolution Bemani track pack ($5.50, or $1.50 each) with "Chimera," "Death Real," "Model DD8," "My Only Shining Star" and "Progressive Baby"
• Demo: Bolt and Left 4 Dead
• Game Videos: Call of Duty: World at War, EndWar, FIFA 09, Gears of War 2, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, Mirror's Edge, Need for Speed: Undercover, Soul Calibur IV, Shaun White Snowboarding and Tomb Raider: Underworld
• Themes: Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3, HAWX and Naruto: The Broken Bond ($1.88 each) plus Punisher (free)
• Pictures: Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 ($1.25), Mirror's Edge ($1.25), Naruto: The Broken Bond ($1.25 each), Shaun White Snowboarding ($1.75), New Xbox Experience (free; enters you in a sweepstakes) and Punisher (free)

• WiiWare: Strong Bad Episode 4: Dangeresque 3 ($10) and Target Toss Pro: Bags ($7)
• Virtual Console: Space Invaders: The Original Game for SNES ($8) and Forgotten Worlds for Sega Genesis ($8)
• DS Demos: Bolt, Personal Trainer: Cooking Lasagna, Prince of Persia: The Fallen King and several repeats including Kung Fu Panda: Legendary Warriors and TouchMaster 2
• Game Videos: Animal Crossing: City Folk, Club Penguin: Elite Penguin Force, Helix, Personal Trainer: Cooking, Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party, Rock Band AC/DC Live Track Pack, Skate It, Strong Bad Episode 4, Target Toss Pro: Bags and Wii Music

• The most common issue is access to Xbox Live Marketplace, which was non-existent much of the day and is now spotty at best.
• The new capability to select and buy downloads directly from the Web version of Marketplace has been down much of the day and now seems to throw more errors than results. I was told that a demo of a new community game was not for my region, though it was more than happy to sell me the full version for $10. And some featured content links are just dead.
• New premium themes priced at $3.13 each are optimized for the new dashboard layout, which is good since many of your old themes are now mostly obscured or just plain silly. There are a few new ones preloaded in your theme selector (Xbox 360, Spectrum, Day and Night), so at least those can tide you over while you save up for the more expensive themes that you can see less of.

• The downloadable Netflix channel - one of the few things that seems to be easy to get - now requires a mystery update, which is blissfully quick. This feature is free for Gold members who already have a qualified Netflix plan, and you can activate up to four "instant" playback devices a year. As mentioned in yesterday's First Look, all of the Sony movies are gone but at least Netflix labels them so you can remove them or bump them to the end in case they ever come back or you get the opportunity to watch them on a PC or non-Xbox 360 device. I lost eight titles overnight: Spider-Man 3, Gattaca, Steamboy, Reign Over Me, Ghost Rider, Jumanji, The Water Horse and American Pop (the last one I have on laserdisc, but this would save me from having to dig it out of the basement).
• Access to the Photo Party channel, another free bonus for Gold members, also seems to be readily nabbed if you use the big dashboard ad to find it.
• Pictures of your avatars can be downloaded and shared easily, except the site that provides these isn't working too well. Just replace GAMERTAG with your gamertag in the following URL: http://avatar.xboxlive.com/avatar/GAMERTAG/avatar-body.png - if it works, be sure to save a local copy rather than link direct (which is probably what is causing the access problems).
• Microsoft announced more avatar outfits are coming in the form of clothes theme packs, which will probably be mostly for pay though we can hope for some free and sponsored content. And can we get some more noses, chins and ears, please? And what's with all of the realistic skin colors? My son wants a blue alien tint; he was good at school all day, so why can't he have it?

• BioShock Challenge Rooms ($10) with three new challenges
• LittleBigPlanet costumes Sack in the Box (free) and LocoRoco ($3)
• Dead Space add-on packs ($1 to $4 each)
• Guitar Hero: World Tour The Raconteurs Track Pack ($5.50 or $2 each) with "Consoler of the Lonely," "Hold Up" and "Salute Your Solution"
• Rock Band/Rock Band 2 Mission of Burma Pack ($5.50 or $2 each) with "Mica," "That’s How I Escaped My Certain Fate" and "That’s When I Reach for my Revolver"; the Dead Kennedys Pack ($5.50 or $2 each) with "California Über Alles," "Holiday in Cambodia" and "Police Truck"; and Century Media Girls of Metal Pack 01 ($5.50 or $1-$2 each) "Gone" by Crooked X, "Closer" and "Swamped" by Lacuna Coil and "Forever" by In This Moment
• Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Encore 2 tracks ($1.50 each) "(I Just) Died In Your Arms" by Cutting Crew, "September" by Earth, Wind and Fire, "It’s Not Unusual" by Tom Jones and "Black Hole Sun" by Soundgarden
• Mirror's Edge and Linger in Shadows MP3 game music (free)
• Demo: MotoGP 08
• Game Videos: EndWar, FIFA 09, Lord of the Rings: Conquest, Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe, MotorStorm: Pacific Rift, NBA 2K9 and more Dew Tour clips
• Themes: NBA 2K9 and Hancock (both free), GunGirls ($1), Darklight Fractais, Mrs. Claus and Shadowy Graves ($1.50 each) and Timea Mojorova and University of California ($2 each)
• Movie Trailers: Hancock, Incubus: Look Alive, Sara Bareilles: Between The Lines, Tenacious D: The Complete Masterworks and This Christmas

1. You may not be able to get to Marketplace at all, or (now that traffic seems to have slowed and server capacity has no doubt been buffed) suffer long load times
2. You can access Marketplace on the Web and remotely queue/purchase downloads, which will automatically come in the next time you boot your console.
3. There's this new thing called a Premium Theme. These themes have not been well defined, but as best I can tell they cost more but offer only a single background image (unlike the traditional four with the previous Blades dashboard themes). But they do seem to contain new matching tableaus that appear behind your friends when you visit the new Friends avatar section. Contrary to early reports, there are no avatar costumes bundled with premium themes, which is a shame since it would probably help improve the value proposition and sales for both.
4. Community games are now launched with 45 released at this writing. New titles have been added every day so far, and these generally less polished though often fun games are priced starting at $2.50 up to $10. Unlike with Xbox Live Arcade, trial versions are all time limited (you can only play a few minutes) and the games do not have achievements. Some noteworthy titles include Audiball (can be played with a Rock Band or Guitar Hero guitar), In The Pit (audio only game) and Easy Golf Course Architect (includes course editor and level sharing)
5. A handful of games have in-game avatar support. So far, they include the newest Xbox Live Arcade game A Kingdom for Keflings and updated games Bomberman, Hardwood Hearts, Hardwood Spades and Uno
6. There are free Netflix and Photo Party channels for Gold members only.

• Need for Speed: Undercover Collector's Edition Upgrade ($10) which adds five cars, 12 track configurations and other extras
• Guitar Hero: World Tour The Raconteurs Track Pack ($5.50 or $2 each) with "Consoler of the Lonely," "Hold Up" and "Salute Your Solution"
• Rock Band/Rock Band 2 Mission of Burma Pack ($5.50 or $2 each) with "Mica," "That’s How I Escaped My Certain Fate" and "That’s When I Reach for my Revolver"; the Dead Kennedys Pack ($5.50 or $2 each) with "California Über Alles," "Holiday in Cambodia" and "Police Truck"; and Century Media Girls of Metal Pack 01 ($5.50 or $1-$2 each) "Gone" by Crooked X, "Closer" and "Swamped" by Lacuna Coil and "Forever" by In This Moment
• Lips tracks ($2 each) "The Sign" by Ace of Base, "Chasing Pavements" by Adele, "Violet Hill" by Coldplay, "No Substitute Love" by Estelle and "The Remedy (I Won't Worry)" by Jason Mraz
• Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Encore 2 tracks ($1.50 each) "(I Just) Died In Your Arms" by Cutting Crew, "September" by Earth, Wind and Fire, "It’s Not Unusual" by Tom Jones and "Black Hole Sun" by Soundgarden
• Xbox Live Arcade: A Kingdom for Keflings ($10)
• Xbox Original: Zapper ($15)
• Community Games: Alien Ambush ($2.50), Artoon ($5), Audiball ($2.50), Bad Atom Episode 1 ($2.50), Beat It! ($2.50), Being ($2.50), Biology Battle ($10), Bloc ($2.50), Blow ($5), Brain Party ($5), Colosseum ($10), Crystal Crush ($5), Cubage ($2.50), Dokee and the Musical Rain ($5), Drift ($5), DUOtrix ($5), Easy Golf Course Architect ($10), Endless Swarm ($5), Exisled ($5), Fatal Abyss ($5), Fruit Attack ($5), Funky Punch XL ($5), Fuel Depot 360 ($2.50), Galax-e-mail ($2.50), Garrett the Slug ($2.50), In the Pit ($5), Lines ($2.50), Loot, Steal 'n Destroy ($5), No Frills Sudoku ($2.50), Organon ($2.50), Pain-Ball ($2.50), Planet Delta ($5), Poker Ball ($2.50), Rift ($2.50), Satellites ($2.50), sin(Surfing) ($2.50), Smashell ($5), Snake360 ($5), SpaceCombat ($2.50), Tail Gun Charlie ($5), Totem ($5), UAV Wars ($2.50), Weapon of Choice ($5) and Word Soup ($5)
• Game Videos: Golden Axe: Beast Rider, Lips, Mirror's Edge, Need for Speed: Undercover, Sonic Unleashed, Super Street Fighter II HD Remix and Tomb Raider: Underworld
• Themes: Call of Duty: World at War, Castle Crashers, Fable II, Forza Motorsport 2, Gears of War 2, Guitar Hero: World Tour, Halo 3, Halo Wars, The Last Remnant, Rock Band 2, Sonic Unleashed, Tomb Raider: Underworld and Viva Pinata ($3.13 each) and Star Trek (free)
• Pictures: Star Trek (free)
• Movie Trailer: Star Trek (free)

• WiiWare: Boingz ($10) and Sudoku Challenge! ($5)
• Virtual Console: Boogerman: A Pick and Flick Adventure for Sega Genesis ($8)
• DS Demos: Personal Trainer: Cooking Mac and Cheese, Soul Bubbles and repeats including Bolt and Prince of Persia: The Fallen King
• Videos: Animal Crossing: City Folk, Boingz, Call of Duty: World at War, Castlevania: Judgement, Personal Trainer: Cooking, Sudoku Challenge! and Wii Music

• Assassin's Creed
• BioShock
• Burnout Revenge
• Dead Rising
• Dead Space
• The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
• Fallout 3
• Grand Theft Auto IV
• Lost Odyssey
• Mass Effect
• Mirror's Edge
• NBA 2K9
• Ninja Gaiden II
• The Orange Box (particularly Half-Life 2)
• Smackdown vs RAW 2009
• Soul Calibur IV
• Tales of Vesperia

• Gears of War 2 (small savings on load times, but adds stuttering during saves)
• NBA Live 09 (stuttering)
• Project Gotham Racing 4 (audio pops)

• Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix ($15)
• Brain Challenge ($10)
• PSP Game: PBR Out of the Chute ($15)
• LittleBigPlanet costumes Turkey Head (free) and Resistance 2 Chimera ($2)
• Guitar Hero: World Tour The Killers Track Pack ($5.50, or $2 each) with "Human," "Losing Touch" and "Mr. Brightside"
• Rock Band/Rock Band 2 The Killers Pack 01 ($5.50, or $2 each) with "Mr. Brightside," "Smile Like You Mean It” and Spaceman, Soundgarden tracks ($2 each) "Jesus Christ Pose" and "Pretty Noose" and Yngwie Malmsteen Pack 01 ($5.50 or $2 each) "Caprici Di Diablo" (no vocals), "Damnation Game" and "Red Devil"
• Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Encore 2 tracks ($1.50 each) "All My Life," "Are You Happy Now?" "Heartbreaker" and "Unfaithful"
• Demo: Dead Space
• Game Videos: Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, NBA 2K9 and Prince of Persia
• Music: Super Street Fighter II HD Turbo Remix tracks (all free)
• Wallpaper: Prince of Persia and Super Street Fighter II HD Turbo Remix (all free)
• Other Videos: Lost: The Complete Fourth Season, Punisher: War Zone and Dew Tour: Orlando

• Arcade: Arkadian Warriors ($6.25), Assault Heroes ($3.13), Boogie Bunnies ($6.25), Brain Challenge ($6.25), Catan ($6.25), Golf: Tee It Up! ($6.25) and Rez HD ($6.25)
• Crackdown Getting Busy Bonus Pack ($6.25)
• Forza Motorsport 2 March Car Pack ($3.13)
• Guitar Hero 3 Metallica "Death Magnetic" album ($12.50)
• Lips "The Remedy" by Jason Mraz ($1.25)
• Rock Band/Rock Band 2 All That Remains Pack 01 ($3.63)
• Themes: Castle Crashers, Gears of War 2 and Sonic Unleashed ($2.25 each)

• Far Cry 2 Fortunes Pack ($10) with four maps, plus weapons and vehicles
• Arcade: Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix ($15)
• Community Games: Aaron's Ping-Pong ($2.50), Abstacked ($2.50), Arriba! ($2.50), Classicard ($5), Endless Swarm ($5), A Kitchen Sink War ($2.50), Melvin's Meltdown ($2.50), MemoStomp ($5), Oh Snap ($2.50), Pastry Wars ($2.50), Planet Delta ($5), Snowmans Dilemma ($2.50), StarPilot ($5), Swords & Monsters ($2.50) and ZSX4 Guitarpocalypse ($2.50)
• Guitar Hero: World Tour The Killers Track Pack ($5.50, or $2 each) with "Human," "Losing Touch" and "Mr. Brightside"
• Rock Band/Rock Band 2 The Killers Pack 01 ($5.50, or $2 each) with "Mr. Brightside," "Smile Like You Mean It” and Spaceman, Soundgarden tracks ($2 each) "Jesus Christ Pose" and "Pretty Noose" and Yngwie Malmsteen Pack 01 ($5.50 or $2 each) "Caprici Di Diablo" (no vocals), "Damnation Game" and "Red Devil"
• Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Encore 2 tracks ($1.50 each) "All My Life," "Are You Happy Now?" "Heartbreaker" and "Unfaithful"
• Demos: Command & Conquer Red Alert 3 and Dead Space
• Game Videos: Frontlines: Fuel of War, Halo 3: ODST (formerly Halo 3: Recon), Lord of the Rings: Conquest, Mercenaries 2 and Star Ocean: The Last Hope
• Video Strategy Guides: EndWar and Mirror's Edge ($1 each)
• Other Videos: The Guild Season 1, first episode of Season 2 (with more on the way), plus bloopers and previews (free)
• Themes: Banjo-Kazooie Nuts & Bolts ($3.13), Dead Space (free), Hardwood Spades Premium ($3.13), Lips (free), NHL 2K9 ($0.63 each), Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix ($1.88 each), Aqua Teen Hunger Force Premium ($3.13) and Battlestar Galactica Premium ($3.13)
• Pictures: Dead Space (free), Lips (free), NHL 2K9 ($1 each) and Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix ($0.50 each)