While gamers of the female gender may be considered a rarer site than their Y-chromosome-bearing counterparts, it would seem that there are enough of them around that making blind assumptions about a gamer’s identity would be viewed as a bad idea. But apparently, Microsoft disagrees.

Microsoft is now offering Beta codes to select Xbox 360 users. Those selected will receive the software and hardware early, and be able to play with the new system without having to wait in lines at demo kiosks!

With the release of Madden NFL 11 this week, the fall release schedule officially begins and this first week ain’t too bad for gamers. Of course, there’s Madden NFL 11, but there’s some great downloadable games coming out this week such as Scott Pilgrim vs. the World for PS3, Monday Night Combat for 360 and, um, Enjoy Your Massage! for the Wii.

That’s right, already.  Images have been leaked showing new levels and familiar characters already in the works and getting set to be downloaded onto XBL any day now.  All of this with the game only being released a few days ago!!

Crystal Dynamics has announced today DLC plans for the upcoming release of the downloadable Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light with five different DLC packs.

Microsoft has been pushing their Games on Demand service recently, releasing such great titles as Mass Effect and Batman: Arkham Asylum to download straight to Hard Drive. These are not arcade titles, but full-fledged games that were already released to disc, and are re-released for download. At the same time, the Xbox 360 keeps coming with larger and larger Hard Drives to store the games. The trend isn’t only with Microsoft, either; Steam makes its business completely from selling downloadable copies of games…

First and foremost, we must inform you that we literally had to stop playing Harmony of Despair in order to write this review. In fact, we’ve been playing Harmony so much this past week . . .

Microsoft has been doing a lot to expand their On Demand library recently. Many great games have made their way to my download queue and given me a reason to have a 250GB hard drive…

Even better than getting hands on with their new game, we got to spend some time with The Behemoth Co-Founder Tom Fulp and lead artist Dan Paladin. They gave us the lowdown, and then some.

The first week of August 2010 doesn’t give us much to be excited about in terms of new game releases, however, there are a few good ones on the list including Castlevania: Harmony of Despair for the 360 and Earthworm Jim HD for the PS3.

The guys at High Moon Studios, developers of Transformers: War for Cybertron, are hosting another double XP multiplayer weekend starting 6:00pm PST, Friday, July 30th through 12:00am PST, Monday, August 2nd.

Since it was announced, we’ve known that Dead Rising 2 would feature a new protagonist, Chuck Greene, and a new setting: the Las Vegas-inspired setting of Fortune City. However, that was not the original fun-filled family destination the developers had in mind when they set out to follow up on Executive Producer Keiji Inafune’s 2006 romp through the zombie-filled Willamette Mall.

As reported previously, new characters and multiplayer “Escalation” maps are on their way to Activision’s Transformers: War for Cybertron on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 (sorry, PC and Wii owners).

Downloadable content has been a sticky-subject among gamers since its inception, particularly when it involves money changing hands. And while that alone is able to draw a divide between gamers, things can get really heated if a company is so bold as to release downloadable content on the same day a game is to arrive in stores.

Canadians are used to getting the short end of the stick when it comes to video services, Netflix included. This has no doubt been a point that has brightened the day of many a Blockbuster Canada and Rogers Video executive. Today, however, some clouds have rolled in over that spot of sunshine as the video provider has announced plans to move up into the territory of moose and maple leaves, and in a unique fashion at that.