Time to outfit your Xbox Live Avatars once again, because now we have Rock Band 3 Avatar items available!

Check out the list of ‘em, pricing and videos showing off these bad boy.

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SEGA and Platinum Games present Vanquish, the ultimate in blue blooded American wish fullfilment fantasy, in which an all American main character gets to shoot up Russian robots and soldiers alike on a space station.

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Peter Molyneux confirmed today that the upcoming Fable III will not only be released on disc, but also in episodic form on Xbox Live Marketplace. This was announced at GameHorizon in Newcastle.

This concept was tried with Fable II to great success, raking in over $15 million in revenues.

“Soon after the retail launch we’re doing episodic,” said the Lionhead boss. “We break it down in chapters. We give away the first chapter entirely free, the first hour.

“When you reach a certain point in the game it says ‘thank you for playing the pilot of Fable 3, do you want to spend an extra 2-5 or whatever dollars to buy the next episode, or buy the whole lot?’ Press ‘yes’ and you will immediately continue playing.”

Molyneux is also hopeful the game will sell close to 5 million units. Fable III releases October 26 on Xbox 360 and PC.

We’re live at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2010 covering all the breaking news and all the exciting developments – and we’re Live today at the Microsoft Xbox 360 E3 2010 Media Briefing, where Project Natal will be elaborated on Rareware will be reborn and Gears of War 3 will be properly revealed. At least, we think so – they’re just our guesses!

Check out our LiveBlog below, and get involved by sending us messages and comments!

Back in the 90’s I wasn’t much of an After Burner guy – I was always more into Hang On and Space Harrier – but part of that was because I never owned a home conversion of the After Burner games – they were always something I played, loved, but could never get good at.

Following on from the success of OutRun Online Arcade, After Burner Climax takes the classic formula of that SEGA arcade hit and puts it in beautiful high definition, 3D graphics. You take control of a fighter jet as it flies through a variety of different settings at horrifying speeds, from city skies to perilous mountainous regions and even deep in the heart of the enemy base.

OutRun and After Burner share that in common, as they both sport branching paths and simplistic transitions between areas that have wildly differing art styles. There are fewer branches in the levels here, but the presentation is the same, and still works as well in 2010 as it did back in the day. Read the rest of this entry »

Big games equal to big marketing it seems, as the Splinter Cell: Conviction demo has just hit Xbox Live Marketplace. And it’s about bloody time!

The demo clocks in at about a gigabyte, so go get it right now if you’re one of the many excited about the game. No news on what level of the game the demo will show, but we can assume sneaking, killing and Jack Bauer style interrogation techniques are involved.

PC gamers won’t get a demo, for some reason. The full game is out on Xbox 360 and PC on April 13 in the US, April 14 in mainland Europe and April 16 in the UK.

What usually comes with every big game launch? New clothes for your Xbox 360 Avatar!

According to a Tweet by Major Nelson, there’s a whole bunch of AC2 Avatar clothing available on Xbox Live. A lot of it is clothes from the game like masks and robes, but you can also get t-shirts and caps with the Assassin’s Creed 2 logo.

Pretty much the same sorts of clothes are available for your PS Home avatar as well. Enjoy!

Game’s out next week

Zombie fans rejoice! The Left 4 Dead 2 demo (which was initially only available to those who pre-ordered the game) is finally available to download from the Xbox Live Marketplace.

You’ll need to have a Gold account to download it for now.

The full game hits store shelves on November 17th.

Just a quick note about Grand Theft Auto IV: it’s not available for download on Xbox 360.

The Games on Demand version will set you back a mere £20. That’s about $30 for you Americans out there. The downside to GTAIV is that it’ll take up 7 gigs of your HDD.

So, y’know, enjoy!

If you’re a gamer willing to open yourself to new and inventive ideas, consider downloading Lucidity from the Xbox LIVE Marketplace. The main menu introduces you to a hauntingly beautiful rendition of a well-known Swedish lullaby, Byssan Lull, whose origin is steeped in mystery.

Lucidity’s composer, Jesse Harlin wrote an interesting piece recently on how this Swedish lullaby came to be chosen for the game, as well as his opportunity to work with Swedish singer Lisa Eriksson.

The LucasArts composer provided a partial translation of the lyrics on the website which are used as a starting point for the subtitles included in the video below.

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The Xbox Live Deal of the Week for Gold Subscribers this week is the Prince of Persia Epilogue DLC. Originally costing 800 MS points, it will not set you back 560 MS points if you buy it this week.

The DLC adds extra content and story past the ending off the game, closing off the cliff-hanger scene that you otherwise get upon completion of the game.

The first of five episodes of Fable II is available now on Xbox Live. And it’s free. Which is just awesome.

Fable II Episodes is the full game broken into five parts. The first will be free, as previously stated, the other four parts will cost some money.

So. Yeah. Free Fable II

The Left 4 Dead’Crash Course DLC campaign is now up on Live, and is available to download for 560MSP.

Left 4 Dead’s Crash Course starts with our Survivors right after their rescue helicopter from the No Mercy campaign crash lands on the outskirts of town. This two chapter campaign includes Co-op, Survival and Versus action, and ten new achievements.

Just remember that the PC version will be free. You can blame Microsoft’s archaic pricing system on Xbox LIVE for that one.

Harmonix has announced that tracks from Alice in Chains, Breaking Benjamin, Just Kait and Kula Shaker will be added next week to the Rock Band Music Store on September 29 for Xbox 360 and Wii and October 1 for PS3.

• Alice in Chains: A Looking in View, Check My Brain, No Excuses, Rooster, Would?
• Breaking Benjamin: I Will Not Bow, So Cold, The Diary of Jane
• Just Kait: U Suck
• Kula Shaker: Hey Dude, Knight on the Town

Alice in Chains tracks are available individually like the rest of the lot for 160 MS Points ($1.99/£.99/€1.49), and 200 Wii Points ($2.00/£1.00/€1.50).

The AIC track pack will run you 680 MS Points ($8.49/£5.25/ €6.59)

[UPDATE] It’s finally available everywhere.

Just in case you didn’t already know, a demo for Schafer’s satanic masterpiece, Brutal Legend, hits the PlayStation Store and the Xbox Live Marketplace tomorrow.

Will you be downloading it? You’d be mad not to!

Well, madder than Tim Schafer, anyway. And that’s pretty mad.