Yesterday, Bethesda released their long-awaited Creation Kit, which gives every owner of Skyrim on the PC access to modding tools. Not just any modding tools, but the same ones used by Bethesda to create the game. If you’ve already messed around with the tools for earlier Bethesda titles, then you should feel right at home here. Otherwise, you might check out their official YouTube channel, where they have already uploaded three tutorials on how to use the kit.

Also released was the Skyrim Workshop. Despite only having been up for less than 24 hours, there are already over 300 mods available. Most notable is one that was designed by Valve. This particular mod involves everyone’s favorite personality core, the Space Core. You will be able to watch him crash land, and listen to him babble on and on about the place he loves the most.

Last but not least, we have Bethesda’s super secret surprise. This one is a real treat. They’ve given us a High-Res Texture Pack. This takes their already beautiful game, and makes it look even better. Just be aware that with higher resolution textures comes greater hardware demands. The company recommends “a minimum of 4GB of system RAM, and a DirectX 9.0c compatible NVIDIA or AMD ATI video card with at least 1 GB of RAM.”

We’ve been keeping our eyes on Gotham City Impostors for a while now. The idea of a game set in Gotham City that doesn’t star The Dark Knight himself seems like a bold move. After all, what’s a Batman-themed game without Batman? Well, the game has finally gone live, along with some DLC.

When I say “some” DLC, I actually mean a shit-ton. If you try and browse the “new” section on your 360,  it will be full of Gotham City Impostors stuff. According to the official Xbox Live Marketplace listing, there are currently 105 pieces of downloadable content. Thankfully, it’s all cosmetic, and has no bearing on the game.

What’s really interesting is that while the content costs money, you don’t actually have to pay to unlock it. This can be accomplished simply by playing the game and completing certain tasks. The content on the Marketplace is simply there for those that are too impatient to wait.

The DLC for Dungeon Defenders on the PC, the smaller set that came out via Steam, won’t be available to those who own the game on consoles. If you’ve been fortunate to pick up the game on either the PlayStation Network or the Xbox Live Arcade, unfortunately you’ll be left in the cold. The Steam-only DLC includes the current and future Holiday DLC, the Barbarian character, Assault Mission Pack, Nightmare Mode, the New Heroes Pack, Shops, and much more.

On the Dungeon Defenders forums, Trendy posted an official statement on the decision not to bring the DLC to consoles. “After much thought and investigation, we’ve decided it’s unfeasible from both a technical and business standpoint to bring the PC-only content… to the console versions. This is for a variety of reasons including the massibe restructuring of the current console game that would have to take place, the QA process necessary to prepare for submission, patch size limitations, patch stacking requirements, and the opportunity cost of pursuing other projects.”

The post also goes into a bit of explanation on how the developers thought processes when first idealizing DLC. “When we were making Dungeon Defenders, we knew we wanted to make DLC. At the same time, we couldn’t afford to pretend Dungeon Defenders was going to be Minecraft (or hell, even Magicka) when it released. We couldn’t dedicate our small tech team (3 people!) to spend a large chunk of precious development time on DLC when we still had a lot of work to do on the core game.” This makes their take on the situation understandable, especially when considering that the team put so much work into the PC version of the game. The bottom line? Don’t be looking for the Steam-only DLC on consoles in the future. If you want to jump into the extra stuff, you’ll need to grab the game on PC.

When a new installment to a popular franchise comes out, it’s not surprising to see tie-in products like books, comics and figures. With the upcoming release of Mass Effect 3, it looks like we’ll be seeing a number of collectible figures. What’s interesting is that each one will come with a code for DLC.

By now, it’s commonplace to see small DLC available with promotional products. However, They are usually nothing more than cosmetic items, which have no real effect on the game. Unfortunately it doesn’t appear to be the case with these. Here’s the text from the product page:

These products contain codes that can be redeemed for a downloadable content pack for Mass Effect 3 multi-player. They are slightly randomized during the registration and could include powerful new weapons and new characters. The pack could also include character boosters, weapon modifications, and weapon upgrades to make your multi-player squad stronger. (Only supported on XBox360 and PC.)

So not only are you able to get powerful upgrades for purchasing figures, they’re randomized. Why the need for a random piece of DLC? To get you to buy more, naturally. I don’t care if BioWare wants to give out special gold guns and upgraded suits to those that fork over money for figures. However, when you start handing out power-ups in exchange for money, you start to break a game’s multiplayer functionality.

If you’re interested in the figures, and the included DLC, you can pre-order them from the BioWare store for $20 each, or $75 for a set of 4. They won’t be shipping until April/May of this year, however.

You’ve already ran amidst the horrors of Banoi Island hands on with the four protagonists in Dead Island, it’s time to put a new spin on things. In a new pack of DLC coming out for the game puts players in the shoes in someone quite different in the game’s world. The new DLC is called “Ryder White,” and players take the role of a villain.

The downloadable has hours of gameplay with a new storyline as players tear across the island as Ryder. With this comes the question of why we, as players, should care about Ryder White, and what story he brings to the game. As PR Manager Aubrey “Bad To The Bone” Norris puts it, “I always like to think of antagonist characters not as evil, but simply….misunderstood. Ryder White was obviously suffering from a massive case of beast mood in Dead Island, and I think it’s only fair we got to learn his side of the story.”

The Ryder White DLC for Dead Island will hit the PS3 first, on January 31st for $9.99. It will follow up on the Xbox 360 on February 1st for 800 Microsoft Points. No word on when it will hit for the PC, but we’re still waiting.

We already know that we can look for the first Modern Warfare DLC on January 24th, and that Activision intends to release a lot of smaller batches of content throughout the year. Well now we finally have some information on that first pack.

This first pack will include two new multiplayer maps, dubbed “Liberation and Piazza.” What we don’t know is just how much this will cost non-Elite members. (Elite subscribers will get this, and every other piece of DLC for free.) However, Infinity Ward’s Robert bowling did release some exciting news regarding the future of Modern Warfare DLC.

Not including this first pack, there will be five more packs in the next three months, and a total of 20 pieces of DLC by September. What’s more, we know that in March the company will be releasing a “Content Collection,” which will include all of the DLC up to that point (hopefully at a discounted price). We still don’t know what to expect from the new content, but it could be anything from new maps to new game types to new missions. It sounds like that extra $50 for Elite might be money well spent.

By now it’s understood that there will be a new installment of the Call of Duty series every year. We also know that there will be new map packs released occasionally, to get us by until the next game is released. However, it would seem that Activision wants to take things a step further. Rather than waiting months for new content, it may only be a matter of weeks.

The company believes that they may be able to better serve their customer base by releasing smaller, incremental updates more often, rather than bundling them all together every few months. I suppose it’s further proof that microtransactions are the future. While Activision hasn’t specified just how much they will charge for each smaller DLC, we can imagine that it will be significantly less than the $15 packs that we’re used to. Though, if you sign up for their $50 a year Elite subscription, then you won’t have to worry about buying the new content, and you’ll get it before everyone else.

According to Activision’s Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg “One of the things that was most appealing when we were researching these ideas with consumers is the idea of breaking up the DLC so that it comes more often and more regularly. We want to provide DLC to people more often and also experiment with more of a variety in the forms of playable content.”

That last part is the one I find most interesting. I’m happy to hear that they are looking to provide more than just a few new maps, but at the same time, it makes me worry. We already saw the company give an edge to players who pay, by giving double XP to those that buy Mountain Dew. Could we be looking at a future where you can buy upgraded guns for real money? I can’t say I’d be surprised if that were the case.

Infinity Ward has just let it be known that the first piece of downloadable content for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 will be arriving with the new year. It will most certainly be a map pack, and we’ll be able to grab it for the Xbox 360 on January 24th. If you are a subscriber to Call of Duty Elite, then you’ll have picked up this piece of news via the Roll Call.

Activision informed CVG of the announcement, and told readers to stay tuned: “…we informed the Call of Duty Elite Premium community that the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Elite Content Season will officially kick off on January 24 for Xbox users. We’ll have more details about the entire 2012 MW3 Content Season in early January, so stay tuned for updates.” We also found out that the pack will include some new Spec Ops missions, and new things that players have not yet seen. The picture above has been confirmed as a screenshot from a new map called “Park.”

Of course the 360 owners will receive the content first, followed by the PS3 and PC. Elite subscribers will grab the pack for free, otherwise we assume it will run the normal $14.99, though no price has officially been announced. Stay tuned for more as it arrives.

This coming January Gears fans will be up to their Lancers in new playable content. On January 7th players can pick up the new “Fenix Rising” DLC pack which includes new maps, new skins, and an all-new leveling mode that’s brand new to the series. It’s seriously got everything.

The new leveling mode is known as the Re-Up system, and it essentially lets players prestige after they’ve hit the level cap. Once a player hits level 100, they can then gain new rank icons and jump back to level 1, able to start on the leveling treadmill once more. You can re-up three times and you’ll get Bronze, Red, and Gold rank icons for rewards. Re-upping will also grant some sweet weapon skins such as glowing plasma, Crimson Omen, electrical sparks.

As for the specific maps and skins, here’s a list:

Maps

• Academy –The lineage of the Fenix family can be traced back along a distinguished line of military officers. Officer training at the Oracle Academy was simply the expected path for Marcus, and he had visited the grounds many times in expectation that he would walk the same path as his ancestors. But it was not to be, and Marcus broke with tradition to be with his best friends Dom and Carlos. Like any number of fine Seran traditions, the Academy is now lost to the invasion of the Locust Horde.
• Anvil – The fortress of Anvegad was called Anvil Gate because its impenetrable walls were forged in the fires of war. Huge cannons sat atop battlements that guarded sprawling walls running the line of the UIR borders. Marcus went there to find Hoffman, and they both thought that Anvil Gate would offer protection from the incoming forces of Locust and Lambent. They were wrong, and little remains other than the ruined shell of a once mighty fortress.
• Depths – The excessive opulence of Azura defied all normal reasoning. But Adam Fenix could see the cracks in the veneer of splendor from the moment he arrived at this underwater processing center. And all that beauty mattered not at all once he was held captive by the Locust. Out of options, he had to find a way to contact Marcus, and finally reveal the truths he’d been keeping to himself for all these many years.
• Escalation – Haldane Hall has been the home of the Fenix family for countless generations. But the only history that matters to Marcus’s are his memories of warm summer evenings spent with his mother, Elain, relaxing in the estate’s gardens. Sadly, all the estate’s history and beauty was lost when the Locust destroyed it in an attempt to kidnap his father.
• The Slab – Convicted for insubordination and treason, Marcus was incarcerated in Jacinto Maximum Security Prison. Known as “The Slab”, this prison is not a correctional facility – it’s a place where Sera’s worst offenders are locked up and forgotten. The inmates are brutal, parole is not an option, and the average life expectancy is about two years. But that was before the Locust showed up, and what couldn’t get worse, suddenly did. Now your life expectancy there is around 2 minutes.

Skins

• COG:
-Recruit Clayton – Clayton was born a Gear, grew up a Gear, and on the very day he became eligible, he signed himself up to become the capable, confident, and devoted Gear he’d always known he could be.
-Thrashball Cole (Limited Edition) – The Cole Train prefers to take the most direct path to the Locust Horde in any situation. What he lacks in finesse, he makes up in raw energy.
• Locust:
-Savage Marauder – Locust Marauders were the first to form any sort of organization outside of the Hollow – if their brutal infighting and bloodthirsty raiding parties could truly be called organized.
-Savage Kantus (Limited Edition) – The Savage Kantus were profoundly impacted by the loss of the Hollow. They have reverted to a primal, shamanistic state, and their battle cries have taken a dark, melancholy turn. Few sounds are as terrifying to human ears.

The Fenix Rising pack will cost you 800 Microsoft points to pick up. Those who have the season pass for Gears of War 3 need to just wait for the pack to drop and snag it at no cost. This looks like a great addition to the game, and the content just keeps coming.

For a game that came out a little later than expected, it’s no surprise that the DLC would follow suit. Of course, that just means it must be filled with more muscle and action than you can handle. Seeing as the Duke is the epitome of both of those things, it seems only fitting that he’s cloned in this recent addition.

The DLC is appropriately named “The Doctor Who Cloned Me.” Dr. Proton has taken Duke to Area 51 and made more, slightly less awesome versions of him, which was not a wise decision. It’s not safe for the world to have more than one Duke Nukem, so obviously, your mission is to destroy the copies.

For the multiplayer side of things, this DLC also adds four new multiplayer maps: Sky High, Command, Drop Zone, and Biohazard. Sit down, strap in, and enjoy.