Harmonix today confirmed earlier reports that Lenny Kravitz was showing up on the Rock Band platform, with four of the rocker's songs slated to hit the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 next week.

The company is also releasing a pair of tracks from Harmonix-lead bands.

The Lenny songs will run $1.99 apiece, or $6.99 for the pack. The Harmonix tracks will set you back $.99.

The list:

• "Are You Gonna Go My Way" -- Lenny Kravitz
• "Freedom Train" -- Lenny Kravitz
• "Let Love Rule" -- Lenny Kravitz
• "Mr. Cab Driver" -- Lenny Kravitz
• "Megasus" -- Megasus
• "Entangled" -- Honest Bob and the Factory-to-Dealer Incentives

As always, the songs will be released next Tuesday on Xbox Live, and Thursday on the PlayStation Network.

When it's released in March, the PC and Xbox 360-exclusive "Broken Steel" downloadable content for Fallout 3 will raise the action-RPG's level cap from 20 to 30.

"We plan on raising it to level 30 - but it will be a long, hard climb to get there," Bethesda lead DLC producer Jeff Gardiner informed Eurogamer. Previously, the developer had promised the level cap would be raised, but offered no specifics.

"We felt there's no harm in letting the player enjoy the game as long as they'd like, and so along with removing the game's 'ending' with Broken Steel, we figure raising the level cap would allow them to do that," he explained.

The first DLC pack, dubbed Operation: Anchorage, arrives later this month, allowing buyers to re-live the liberation of Anchorage, Alaska through an... Read more

Developer Relic Entertainment has no qualms admitting its shortcomings with the original Dawn of War, especially as the studio hopes to address them in the sequel, which hits PCs on February 23 following a public multilayer beta later this month.

"Our support of [Dawn of War] wasn't up to snuff. We did that to ourselves by making a very difficult patching pipeline, so one of the first things we did was make it very easy to patch [Dawn of War II]," lead designer Jonny Ebbert told Strategy Informer.

Ebbert explained that the "it took us months to create a patch and get it out to the player, which sucked because we couldn't react quickly enough to developments in the community, you know problems and things breaking the game, so our new patching pipeline allows us to respond very quickly which is huge."

Along with delayed patches, Relic was unhappy with the original's... Read more

Electronic Arts will bring several more Hasbro properties including Scrabble, Battleship and Connect Four to gaming platforms this year, the publisher announced today.

In North America, Scrabble will be released for Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable, while under the banner of Hasbro Family Game Night, Xbox Live Arcade will receive Scrabble (North America only), Boggle, Battleship, Yahtzee, Connect Four, Sorry! and Sorry! Sliders.

The DS and PSP releases of Scrabble will feature six levels of difficulty, and three game modes: Classic, Speed and the Scrabble Slam card game. Both versions come with wi-fi multiplayer support, and will retail for $29.99 this March.

Meanwhile, the Hasbro Family Game Night titles will start appearing on the Xbox Live Marketplace this spring. The games will feature classic and new game modes, mini-games, online support, and customization features where players can earn "virtual trophies, furniture and themes to decorate their personal virtual game rooms."

Europe will not see the new Scrabble games, as the license outside of North America is held by Mattel and not Hasbro.

Xbox 360 owners can today march play along to a different tune, as new Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero World Tour tracks are now available through the Xbox Live Maretplace.

Rock Band 2
• Snow Patrol - "Take Back the City"
• Deep Purple - "Space Truckin'"
• James Gang - "Funk #49"
• Jethro Tull - "Hymn 43"
Guitar Hero World Tour - European Track Pack 2
• Backyard Babies (Swedish) - "Degenerated"
• Fito Y Fitipaldis (Spanish) - "Por La Boca Vive El Pez"
• Di-Rect (Dutch) - "Johnny"

As is normal, each downloadable song sells individually for 160 Microsoft Points ($2). The European Track Pack 2 for Guitar Hero is also available in a 440 MS Point bundle, which translates to $5.50--a savings of $0.50 over buying each track separately.

PlayStation 3 owners are expected to receive the above tracks on Thursday, January 8, as Sony is taking a seasonal two-week break from PlayStation Store updates.

While Harmonix has yet to say what's next for Rock Band and Rock Band 2 owners, publisher Activision has already announced Guitar Hero's January DLC schedule, including country tracks, Wolfmother, and a full Oasis album.

Solid details on the first batch of Left 4 Dead downloadable content should be out "shortly," according to Valve writer Chet Faliszek. But, in true Valve tradition, it appears the announcement has already been postponed, as it was expected "before Christmas." Though details are light, Faliszek confirmed that the upcoming download will bring new scenarios, as "what we want to do is just deliver more content you can play at this point." These new scenarios will be released on the "[Xbox] 360 at the same time as the PC," instead of receiving a later Xbox 360 release a la Valve's Team Fortress 2.

Along with the "new stuff," the download will bring Versus support to the Dead Air and Death Toll campaigns, a move that will finally allow players to experience all four of the game's campaigns in the competitive mode.

Owners of the PC version can also expect the long-promised SDK at some point, which should allow for the creation of custom maps, scenarios and other mods... Read more

A week after Rock Band 2 arrived on Wii, the multi-instrument music game still has no downloadable tracks in the Wii Shop Channel, despite developer Harmonix's proimise that the Wii release would have 30 downloadable songs at launch.

The missing content is "in the final testing stages," according to a post by community manager Sean Baptiste on the game's offical forum. "Harmonix is working as fast as possible to deliver the 20 free bonus songs for Rock Band 2, plus an additional 30 songs from the Rock Band DLC Catalog to fans as early in 2009 as possible."

Rock Band 2 Wii owners will eventually be able to purchase and download the "entire back catalogue" of Rock Band DLC, which includes hundreds of songs from various artists. Harmonix has yet to confirm pricing for Wii DLC, but it's expected to be in line with the PS3 and Xbox 360, where songs are typically sold for $2 a piece.

The weekly PlayStation Store update is here a bit earlier than normal, with Sony opting to deliver seasonal cheer now instead of waiting for the usual Thursday update.

Notable additions to the PlayStation 3's online store include Q Entertainment's musical-puzzler Lumines Supernova, the promised Metal Gear Solid Level Pack for LittleBigPlanet--complete with the new Paintinator weapon!--and a downloadable re-release of Konami's PSOne RPG Suikoden, playable on both PS3 and PSP.

Of course, you've also got your regular Rock Band and Guitar Hero DLC, along with some price drops and other assorted downloads. The full list follows below:

Downloadable Games

LUMINES Supernova ($14.99)
Indulge in the fusion of puzzle, lights and music! The latest installment to the blockbuster franchise from Tetsuya Mizuguchi and Q Entertainment is packed with brand new skins and modes, exclusive to the PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system. Puzzles, block-dropping... Read more

With Christmas just around the corner, Bungie has released new screenshots from two of the new arenas found within the forthcoming Halo 3 multiplayer Mythic Map Pack.

The downloadable map pack should be available to some Xbox 360 owners by early March, as the Halo Wars Limited Collector's Edition--slated for North American shores on March 3--packs the three new multiplayer maps among its bonuses

Further proving that the addition of a vehicle that just so happens to resemble Marty McFly's time-traveling DeLorean is no joke, developer Criterion has issued a new Burnout Paradise video that's chock full of holiday cheer and the Jansen 88 Special.

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One of the four Legendary Cars coming to Burnout Paradise in 2009--along with the Cavalry Bootlegger, Manhattan Spirit and the GT Nighthawk--the Jansen 88 Special will be available for purchase within a bundle, or by itself. Pricing has not been disclosed.

Already released on PS3 and Xbox 360, the open-world racer hits PC in February.

Even though this week's batch of Rock Band DLC--the holiday track pack and some Foo Fighters tunes--has yet to hit PS3, developer Harmonix has already revealed the next wave of downloadable content for the multi-instrument music game series.

The below tracks will hit Xbox 360 on Tuesday, December 30, with PlayStation 3 owners receiving the tunes a week and a few days later on Thursday, January 8, 2009.

• Snow Patrol - "Take Back the City"
• Deep Purple - "Space Truckin'"
• James Gang - "Funk #49"
• Jethro Tull - "Hymn 43"

Per normal, each is a master track recording that will sell for 160 Microsoft Points ($2).

In case the entirety of The Colour and the Shape wasn't enough for you, Harmonix has announced that even more Foo Fighters tracks are coming to Rock Band next week.

The Foo Fighters pack will hit alongside the holiday pack next Tuesday, containing:

Foo Fighter Track Pack
• "DOA"
• "Times Like These"
• "This Is A Call"

As usual, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 owners will be able to purchase the entire bundle for 440 Microsoft Points ($5.50), or snag each track individually for 160 MS Points ($2).

Both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 can buy the tracks on Tuesday, December 23, as next week's PlayStation Store update is coming earlier than normal due to the holiday.

Sony has announced that Media Molecule's adorable physics-based platformer LittleBigPlanet (PS3) will next week gain the long-awaited variety of downloadable outfits and levels inspired by Kojima Productions' stealth-action series Metal Gear Solid. No price was named for the Metal Gear Solid Level Pack, which features 5 new story levels, 1 challenge level, 12 new trophies, and a variety of Metal Gear Solid-themed level parts and stickers along with an exclusive Gurlokovich Soldier outfit.

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A new weapon, the Paintinator, is also included in the level pack. However, those who don't buy the pack will still be able to experience it, either by joining... Read more

Activision has announced the next month's worth of downlodable content for Guitar Hero World Tour, showing that December 23 will bring more than just a free reggae pack.

PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 owners will have the choice of buying songs individually for $2 or snagging the bundle, while Wii owners will have to buy each track individually for $2 as the Wii Shop Channel does not yet support bundles.

Untitled Track Pack - December 23 / 440 Microsoft Points ($5.50)
• Hinder - "Use Me"
• Nickelback - "Because of You"
• Rev Theory - "Light it Up"
Coutry Rock Track Pack - January 8 / 440 Microsoft Points ($5.50)
• Rascal Flatts - "Me and My Gang"
• Brad Paisley - "Ticks"
• Brooks & Dunn - "Hillbilly Deluxe"
Travis Barker Track Pack - January 15 / 440 Microsoft Points ($5.50)
• Blink 182 - "What's My Age Again"... Read more

Harmonix has announced that a holiday track pack will make its way to the Rock Band store on December 23.

The "Rockin' the Holidays 2008" track pack will include the following songs:

• "Hanukkah Blessings" - Barenaked Ladies
• "Christmas Is The Time To Say I Love You" - Billy Squier
• "Blue Christmas" - The Pretenders

The songs will cost 80 Microsoft Points each ($1) or 240 Microsoft Points ($3) for the full pack.

The songs will hit the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 next Tuesday. No mention of a Wii release was made by Harmonix in its official post.

In addition to a tax on iPod purchases, the recently proposed New York state budget could impose a tax on downloadable games or game content.

GamePolitics notes that the budget includes a provision for "downloaded music and other digitally delivered entertainment services," which would include digital videogame-related content.

The budget excerpt follows:

Close Digital Property Taxation Loophole: Imposes state and local sales tax on purchases of prewritten software, digital audio, audio-visual and text files, digital photographs, games, and other electronically delivered entertainment services to achieve tax parity. For example, with the passage of this bill, a book, song, album, or movie would be subject to sales tax no matter if it was bought at a brick and mortar store or downloaded online.

Many states already tax purchases of digital content, including: Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Nebraska, New Mexico, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington and West Virginia.

Sony today announced a new form of LittleBigPlanet downloadable content: level packs, which group thematic content into a single priced package.

Level packs don't actually include levels. Instead, the first pack--the Festive Level Pack--will feature two costumes, one create material, two objects, six decorations, and multiple stickers. For that, users will be asked to fork over $2.99.

Sony notes that the holiday-themed pack will be removed on January 8, 2009, so if you're keen to slap bells and bows to your online victims, line up at the PlayStation Store this Thursday.

The full pack details follow:... Read more

Now available for 800 Microsoft Points ($10) on the Xbox Live Marketplace is the Combustible Map Pack for Gears of War 2 (X360). As noted last night, the DLC offers three new multiplayer maps: Flood, Gold Rush, and Fuel Station. Here's a trailer:

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Update: In a backstage interview at the Spike VGAs, game journalist Geoff Keighley confirmed that Pearl Jam's "Ten" will arrive as Rock Band DLC in March 2009.

Update 2: The downloadable album will hit on March 24, 2009--"day-and-date with the re-issue of the album in stores"--Rock Band developer Harmonix has announced.

Original: The entirely of Pearl Jam's album "Ten" will be released as downloadble content for Rock Band and Rock Band 2 come March, claims Primotech.

The site apparently learned of the news during a rehearsal of the Spike Video Game Awards, which the network has been heavily promoting through promises of exclusive announcements. It's set to air live beginning tonight at 9 PM EST.

As Rock Band 2 already features one song from the album, "Alive," the downloadable album will not include that track. Previous downloadble albums for the franchise have not included songs contained on the Rock Band 1 or 2 game discs.

The remaining tracks from "Ten," which is Pearl Jam's debut album, follow:

1. "Once"
2. "Even Flow"
3. "Why Go"... Read more

Update: Mere moments into the Spike Video Game Awards, supermodel Marisa Miller announced that the Gears of War 2 "Combustible" multiplayer map pack will be indeed released tonight at 12 AM PST / 3 AM EST. No pricing was mentioned.

One of the new maps, Flood, was previously unveiled in a batch of leaked screenshots. Two other maps, Fuel Station and Gold Rush, were named tonight as well.

Update 2: The Combustible Map Pack is now available for 800 Microsoft Points ($10).

Original: A new downloadable map pack for Gears of War 2 will be... Read more