GamePro Arcade

This week gamers get eight (8!) new arcade titles to download. Starting today Nintendo fanboys can pick up Art Academy: Second Semester (800 DSi Points), Dragon Quest Wars (500 DSi Points), Arkanoid Plus! (600 Wii Points), Driift Mania (800 Wii Points), and Altered Beast (1,000 Wii Points).

On Wednesday Xbox 360 owners get yet another three-pack, with Bust-A-Move, Football Genius: The Ultimate Quiz, and Military Madness: Nectaris all selling for 800MS Points/$10 apiece. I was geeked at first about Football Genius, but then I realized its European Football, not American.

What about PS3 gamers? You'll be getting quite a bit of downloadable content this week. Fallout 3's The Pitt and Operation Anchorage will be available on Thursday, as will PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe. The original PixelJunk Monsters came out over a year ago on PSN, this new version contains more levels and towers and is specifically designed for PSP and PSPgo players. I've also heard a few rumors that Military Madness: Nectaris will be available for the PS3 as well, but I wasn't able to confirm it. 

Hit the jump for all the fine print on this week's downloadable games. 

Follow me on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/terryterrones 

Nintendo DSiWare

Art Academy^™: Second Semester
Publisher: Nintendo
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 800 Nintendo DSi Points
Description: Art Academy is a portable art course that anyone can enjoy. Art Academy: Second Semester provides new and returning students with a larger set of tools and in-depth lessons designed to encourage the creation of more complex artwork. By gaining an even deeper understanding of colors and techniques used by famous impressionist artists, you will be ready to take on more challenging themes that include moving objects, and vast landscapes with distant objects. The openness of Free Paint mode offers plenty of opportunities to hone your skills and boost your confidence as an artist.

DRAGON QUEST^® WARS^™
Publisher: SQUARE ENIX
Players: 1-4
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone) – Mild Cartoon Violence, Mild Language
Price: 500 Nintendo DSi Points
Description: DRAGON QUEST WARS is a grid-based strategy game featuring all of your favorite quirky DRAGON QUEST monsters. Choose from several modes and get ready for battle. While the rules are simple, strategy is the key to victory. The game features single-player and DS Wireless Play, as well as battles with foes worldwide via Nintendo^® Wi-Fi Connection. (Broadband Internet access is required for online play.)

WiiWare

ARKANOID Plus!
Publisher: TAITO
Players: 1-2
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone) – Mild Fantasy Violence
Price: 600 Wii Points^™
Description: ARKANOID Plus! is an updated version of the original arcade blockbuster. Players must destroy colored blocks by guiding an Energy Ball around the screen using a spaceship called a VAUS. The game features a host of new modes and settings that radically alter the experience: Arcade Mode consists of 61 rounds divided into left and right versions, with two types of boss characters appearing in the last round; VS Mode lets players face off against a friend or the CPU; and the unfailingly frantic Time Mode challenges players to clear rounds within a strict time limit. With the subtle differences arising from the choice of “Lives” or “Barrier” rules, plus a plethora of exciting items, you’re in for hours and hours of block-busting fun.

DRiiFT Mania
Publisher: Konami Digital Entertainment
Players: 1-8
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone) – Comic Mischief
Price: 800 Wii Points
Description: DRiiFT Mania is the ultimate top-down multiplayer racing experience. Challenge your friends in fast, exciting races and some totally crazy game modes. You’ll need to adapt your driving skills to the different racing environments if you want to succeed.

Virtual Console

Altered Beast^™
Publisher: SEGA
Players: 1-2
ESRB Rating: E10+ (Everyone 10 and Older) – Fantasy Violence
Price: 1,000 Wii Points
Description: “Rise from your grave!” When legendary Greek god Zeus brings you back to life with those famous words, you set forth on a mission to rescue his daughter, Athena, from the wicked God of the Underworld, Neff. To survive the gauntlet of mythological foes, you must hunt down the three-headed wolves that inhabit each stage and collect the Spirit Balls that they release. The Spirit Balls increase your strength and allow you to transform into a variety of forms, including a Werewolf, Weredragon, Werebear, Weretiger and the ultimate form, the Golden Werewolf. Each creature possesses powerful attacks to help bring an end to Neff's scheme.

XBLA

 

 

BUST-A-MOVE, sometimes known as PUZZLE BOBBLE, returns in BUST-A-MOVE ™ Live!, with all of its exciting pick-up-and-play gameplay intact. Dazzling graphics and a surreal soundtrack create a unique fantasy world enhancing the ultimate BUST-A-MOVE experience!

Classic gameplay: Fire bubbles at the bubble clusters on each stage to destroy them. It's easy to play, challenging, and fun. Multiple game modes: Clear 135 stages in Single Player mode, play against 8 colorful opponents in CPU Battle mode, or take on the Infinity mode featuring a never-ending cluster of bubbles to destroy. Online gameplay: Multiplayer mode offers frenetic competitive play that can be enjoyed at home or over Xbox LIVE, with or without Voice Chat. Even more stages: Extra Packs 1 and 2 will offer an additional 270 stages for download.

 

 

Are you a Football Genius? Test your football knowledge in Football Genius — The Ultimate Quiz! The game features six questions packs covering International, English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish football with over 3500 questions about your favorite teams, players, and tournaments!

Football knowledge: This gripping general football knowledge trivia quiz features more than 3,500 trivia questions and visual puzzles. Something for everyone: Get in on the fun with nine diverse game modes, multiplayer mode for up to four players, and Big Button controller support (for you Scene It? fans).

 

 

The Military is back for a new generation of recruits! The classic turn-based strategy series Military Madness: Nectaris is exploding onto Xbox LIVE® Arcade. With an all-new graphical barrage, an all-new commander unit, online team and vs. multiplayer, and a platoon of other new features, this is the maddest game in the series yet!

Four-person online multiplayer: Coordinate strategies or taunt foes in team or vs. multiplayer modes for up to four people. All-new Commanders unit: Select a commander to lead your forces in multiplayer and choose from 20 unique abilities. Multiple command views: Plan out strategy in the overhead map view and watch glorious battles unfold with cinematic camera action. Detailed stat-tracking leaderboards: Increase your rank as you march up the leaderboards on your mission to prove you're the top general around.

 

PSN

PixelJunk fans … brace yourselves.  The time has finally come to introduce your PSP's and PSPgo's to PixelJunk™ Monsters Deluxe.  Just in time for the launch of the brand new PSPgo, PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe will be available for download onto your PSP or PSPgo this Thursday, October 1, directly from the PlayStation®Network (PSN). 

Creators of the award-winning PixelJunk series for PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3™) system and PSN brings one of the industry's most popular and addictive tower defense games to the PSP and PSPgo with the newest addition to the PixelJunk series, PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe.  Inspired by the popular and addictive “tower defense” genre, PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe brings all the content from the original and Encore PS3 PSN versions to the world of the handheld.  The game features a new island with more than 10 stages, new enemies, music tracks and special bonus features.  With two new unique towers available, players can enjoy all the original Monster stages with fresh new gameplay. 

In PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe, the player controls a defender-of-the-forest character in a lush 2D environment.  The player's goal is to strategically defend the pathway to his homebase from an onslaught of various threatening monsters.  In between waves of monster attacks, the player scrambles to reinforce his defenses by collecting gold coins and jewels from fallen enemies to finance new towers and research deadlier weapons.