Still on the fence wether to get Ikaruga or not? What about free Ikaruga? Xbox360Fanboy and Joystiq are running giveaway contests to 1 and 3 redemption codes for Ikaruga, respectively. All you have to do is leave a comment At either XBox360Fanboy or Joystiq stating your favorite Treasure-develop game, the contest ends 12pm ET on Friday, April 11th.

Xbox360Fanboy and Joystiq

[UPDATE] We are not running the contest, so don't enter here for the contest.

It's been a few weeks since we found out that Marathon: Durandal will be getting the downloadable content loving and apparently along the way we missed just what that downloadable content was. The 2/28 episode of 1up's Retronauts included a teaser to the fact that Freeverse is currently planning on releasing both single player and multiplayer downloadable content for the title. It will be interesting to see if this actually winds up in the marketplace, or if it will go the way of the Marble Blast Ultra downloadable content.

My eyes are not deceiving me. Snuck in at the bottom of this week's press release was one sentence about Pinball FX receiving new downloadable content. There is also zero information about the table(s); however, due to the wonderful world of the internets we know that there is an animal themed table on the way in addition to two (?) other tables. Who knows which one this week we will get, but we will let you know when we do get an update on this.

According to the Gamerscoreblog, Xbox Live Arcade this week won't see any new release (*sad panda face*), instead we'll be treated to 2 new titles being added to the Xbox Live Arcade Hits program, namely Assault Heroes and Doom.

• “Assault Heroes” (Sierra Online). Become the only surviving member of an elite special forces unit searching for a secret underground lab. Play the mission alone or fight side-by-side with a friend in the two-player cooperative mode. The winner of IGN’s Xbox LIVE Arcade game of the year for 2006.
• “DOOM” (id Software). Originally released in 1993, “DOOM” introduced millions to the white-knuckle excitement of the first-person shooter (FPS). Relive the classic demon-blasting action with up to four players over Xbox LIVE*, complete with 5.1 surround sound and smoother graphics.

Both of these titles will be available from now on for 400 Microsoft Points.

Are you picking any of these or would you rather have a new title this week?

Devon Kofsky (aka DaKing240) has the XBLA skinny from GDC.  How?  Well, he's there.  I'm not jealous.  I swear.

Moving on!

GDC Day 1 brings news that NinjaBee's Doritos game will be light on the advertising.  And thankfully, they decided to code in the fun after previous complaints.  Also, Freeverse mentioned that DLC is on the way for Marathon.

And apparently the best advice for those getting stuck on levels in N+ is go and have a beer and come back later.  Law willing, of course.  Oh, and DLC is coming for N+ too.  Without further ado, here's the N+ interview.

One of my biggest pet peeves about XBLA is the way in which Title Updates and DLC is treated by Microsoft. It seems that if the developer doesn't push it as hard as they can, it gets regulated to the bottom of the weekly what's coming out this week press release. Even when we actively attempt to get information out of Microsoft sometimes we hit a brick wall (like with just about every XBLA title update).

Ok enough of me bitching and complaining...

Luckily, in the case of DLC, the developers are happy to talk about what's coming out, as can be seen in these fantastic screen shots for the recently released Nightmare Mansion table for PinballFX:

In other Hudson Entertainment News, Bomberman Live! is still a hit and is still getting DLC. Just announced in Bomb Up Pack 3 which include 10 new characters, 2 new levels, 1 new game mode, and 2 new leaderboards for good measure.

All this goodness will arrive December 26th so you won't have to pine for very long.

All the details can be found in the press release after the break.

[via Hudson Entertainment]

Today, you will all likely be downloading a demo to Chair Entertaiment Group's freshly released game Undertow. The game has garnered quite a bit of attention for an XBLA game -- probably stemming from their use of Unreal Engine 3 to create some beautiful bubbles as well as delivering the first ever 16-player XBLA multiplayer experience.

To get a peek at how Undertow was born and what Chair has in store for us (now and in the future) I pounced on an opportunity to interview Donald Mustard, Creative Director for Chair. We discuss the future of Undertow as a game (and possibly more), the upside of the 50MB XBLA limit (yes, some developers like it), and how unbelievably quickly Undertow went from pie in the sky to a fully playable prototype.

Hit the jump for the full interview and to get Donald's top tips to help you get your Undertow experience off on the right foot. (Oh, and click on any of the concept images here for the bigger version.)

Well, we told you about it last week, but the download is finally here. As of today, if you head to Xbox Live Marketplace, a free Pinball FX table will be awaiting everyone. The Buccaneer expansion table will feature an obvious pirate theme, multiple new game modes, and a new achievement. I'm quite surprised about that last bullet point as we previously hadn't known about the "Ball Madness" achievement worth 10 gamerscore.

What did you think of the table?

Want more content for Band of Bugs? (If you're like me you need it.) Then check the arcade this Wednesday because a new single-player campaign expansion will be there to greet you.

The new campaign is called Ninja Sticks of Fury. (Which is a name fills me with shocking awe.) Details as follows:

• A full new campaign, with new characters, environments, and scripted event-filled levels.
• There's even more content for the map editor! (The snowy tileset is my personal favorite from when I saw it months ago!)
• The new pack includes a new achievement, and the levels in the Ninja Sticks campaign count toward the Gold Star achievement.

For those hardcore players out there this set of missions is purportedly tough. Mega-tough. But I know you are all up for a little challenge, so go get it. If all that is not enough to convince you, check out the trailer -- embedded below to combat your laziness.

[thanks to dezombie, Dan of VGToys.com, and also the Ruler of NinjaBee Nation -- Steve Taylor]

After the break, another NinjaBee t-shirt contest (courtesy of VGToys.com) and a personal note about Band of Bugs.