Is that headline a bit critical of Band Hero? No. Is that headline very critical of Band Hero? Absolutely.

The demo for Band Hero hit the Xbox Live Marketplace a few hours ago, and though it’s getting rather mixed impressions, through and through, Band Hero is a family game, with family songs, targeted at a family market. Of course, with artists such as Taylor Swift, Maroon 5, and Jesse McCartney heading up the set list, you didn’t need me to tell you that.

But that’s not to say the setlist is a stinker; In fact, I really like it. Obvious mainstream appeal aside, songs like “Black Horse And Cherry Tree”, “Let’s Dance”, and “Kung-Fu Fighting” make me want to at least give the game a try, when it comes out Nov. 3rd. If this seems like your type of thing, or you’re just looking to quench your music game, button-mashing thirst, hit up XBLM and download the 3-song demo now.

Eidos Interactive has announced today that the Xbox 360 console version of Tomb Raider: Underworld will be benefiting from nearly 6 hours of additional gameplay time in the form of two additional chapters titled “Beneath the Ashes” and “Lara’s Shadow”.

The DLC will be available via the Xbox Live Marketplace, with the first chapter (Beneath the Ashes) expected to hit this Christmas, and the second (Lara’s Shadow) unloading in early in 2009.

Eidos promises that both chapters will provide a unique experience, and Sean Vesce, General Manager for Crystal Dynamics, adds that the “retail release of any videogame is just the start of the player experience.”

It seems that Microsoft has bought into Sean’s philosophy, as they appear to be buying up exclusive content left and right. While it may be extend the life of a game, it remains to be seen whether or not it will drastically improve a console manufacturers bottom line.

You won’t have to hold your breath till December though, in addition to the DLC, it was also announced that a demo of the game will make its way on to XBL in October.

Full press release available after the jump.

EIDOS AND XBOX ANNOUNCE EXCLUSIVE DOWNLOADABLE CHAPTERS FOR TOMB RAIDER: UNDERWORLD

First New Chapter Rolls Out in Time for the Holidays with Game Demo Available in October

Redwood City, Calif. – October 6, 2008 – Eidos Interactive, creator of some of the world’s leading video game properties, today announces an agreement with Microsoft to release two brand new downloadable chapters in the continuing Tomb Raider adventures of Lara Croft. Containing up to six hours of new gameplay and content for Tomb Raider: Underworld™, the chapters will be available exclusively on Xbox LIVE® Marketplace for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft®. A demo for Tomb Raider: Underworld will also be available on Xbox LIVE Marketplace in October.

Offering entirely new content specifically designed to extend the Tomb Raider: Underworld experience, Tomb Raider: Underworld – Beneath the Ashes and Tomb Raider: Underworld – Lara’s Shadow will deliver two very different single player gameplay experiences. Tomb Raider: Underworld – Beneath the Ashes takes place after the Underworld story has finished and will feature an incredible new environment to explore, additional secrets to unlock and different enemies to fight. Tomb Raider: Underworld – Lara’s Shadow will introduce players to a new kind of playable character and create a unique Tomb Raider experience.

The first new chapter, Tomb Raider: Underworld – Beneath the Ashes, will be available for download exclusively on Xbox LIVE Marketplace this Christmas. Tomb Raider: Underworld – Lara’s Shadow will follow in early 2009.

“We are constantly looking at ways to extend our franchises, whilst developing a deeper relationship with our players. The retail release of any videogame is just the start of the player experience, from there it all depends where you want to take the player in terms of ideas and innovation,” said Sean Vesce, General Manager for Crystal Dynamics. . “With these additional chapters and the online reach of Xbox LIVE, we are able to deliver exclusive content to millions of gamers worldwide.”

“We’re thrilled that Xbox owners will be able to extend their Lara Croft adventures with exclusive Tomb Raider: Underworld episodes,” said George Peckham, General Manager of Global Third Party Publishing for Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business. “We look forward to continue working closely with our great publishing partners to deliver the most robust gaming experiences, only on Xbox 360.”

Check out the gobs of stuff added today to the Xbox Live Marketplace. In addition to the abundance of Spiderwick Chronicles videos, there are also some free History Channel customizations, a very interesting Alone in the Dark Video, and a bunch more stuff. Full details following the breakage.

Themes

The History Channel Ax Men Theme
Price: Free
Availability: United States

Trailers

No Doubt Track Pack Trailer (HD)
Price: Free
Availability: All Xbox LIVE regions

Frontlines: Fuel of War – Official Trailer (HD)
Price: Free
Availability: All regions except Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland

Lost: The Video Game Interview
Price: Free
Availability: United Kingdom

Spiderwick Chronicles – Behind the Scenes Trailer (HD) – Sarah Bolger as Mallory Grace
Price: Free
Availability: Not available in Japan and Korea

Spiderwick Chronicles – Behind the Scenes Trailer (HD) – The Making of the Game
Price: Free
Availability: Not available in Japan and Korea

Spiderwick Chronicles – Behind the Scenes Trailer (HD) – Freddie Highmore as Jared and Simon Grace
Price: Free
Availability: Not available in Japan and Korea

Spiderwick Chronicles – Behind the Scenes Trailer (HD) – Characters & Creatures
Price: Free
Availability: Not available in Japan and Korea

Spiderwick Chronicles – Behind the Scenes Trailer (HD) – The Spiderwick Universe
Price: Free
Availability: Not available in Japan and Korea

Gamer Pictures

The History Channel Ax Men Picture Pack
Price: Free
Availability: United States More…

Videos

CP & CJ’s At-Home Challenge Video HD
Price: Free
Availability: All Xbox LIVE regions

Alone in the Dark Tech Demo Ep1 (HD)
Price: Free
Availability: All Xbox LIVE regions

Frontlines: Fuel of War – Multiplayer Video (HD)
Price: Free
Availability: Not available in Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland

In-Game Content

Guitar Hero III – No Doubt Track Pack
Price: 500 Microsoft Points
Availability: All Xbox LIVE regions

Maybe I’m spoiled. Maybe my expectations are too high. Whatever the reason, the most positive thing I can say about Conflict: Denied Ops is that I was not physically injured by how horrible it was.

Well, maybe that’s a bit harsh. There’s nothing really fundamentally wrong with the game — it’s just so underwhelming in pretty much every aspect that’s supposed to make games fun.

Browsing the Xbox Live Marketplace, it seems the developers spent a lot of time trying to make people think this game was going to be cool. Developer diaries and trailers showcase the “destructible environments” and cooperative elements — both of which, in practice, suck ass.

In one of the videos, the player blows a hole in a wall with a shotgun and then shoots through the newly formed hole with his sniper rifle. Seems like that should be awesome, but it’s not. The most destructible thing I encountered was a wooden guardrail around some stairs, which splintered in a very impressive N64-era kind of way.

I shot plenty of things with my shotgun in an attempt to destruct the environment. A television screen shattered (not impressive) and I put a dent in a table (also not impressive). While it is a step up from the flat, untextured decals that represented bullet holes in the past, it is not the mind-blowing feature they try to make it out to be.

As far as co-op, it’s just garbage. Playing this game with a buddy is like when you eat something disgusting and then say “Dude, this tastes like shit! Here, try it!” It’s nice to have someone to share in the experience, but it would be more fun to just take turns stabbing each other in the brain.

Then the characters themselves — wow. You have your choice between generic white guy and generic black guy. Whitey has a sniper rifle with a shotgun attachment, as well as a silenced pistol. Blacky has a light machine gun with a grenade launcher attachment and a rocket launcher. Their interactions with each other remind me of Padmé and Anakin from Star Wars Episode II — more irritating than a sandy vagina.

The shooting is pretty bland. The sniper rifle has absolutely no kick and barely makes any noise. I kept shooting a wall when I first loaded the game up, and I couldn’t tell that I was even shooting. The wall didn’t deform like I expected either, adding to my uncertainty as to whether or not I was actually firing. Maybe I was just confused because of how bad the graphics are…

The overall impression I get from this game is that it sucks. It’s either poorly designed by people that don’t know what fun is, or it was targeted at 3-year-olds that don’t quite understand all the intricacies (the few that exist) of tactically shooting people in the face. In either case, I think it’s in your best interest to only play this game if you hate yourself.

For all you masochists out there, the demo is available now for download on the Xbox Live Marketplace and PSN.

The Capcom representative replied to a comment along the lines of “Why the hell won’t it be on PSN!?” with this:

“Wait a little while longer and the demo strategy will be clear.
I’ll say this: The information printed above and in that article as written is incorrect.
The news you’re looking for is not far off... a little more patience please.”

The implication here seems to be a simultaneous release of a demo on both the PSN and XBLM in December. Exciting stuff, since we’ve been waiting for this beauty for so long. At least Playstation3 owners have, for the game was only revealed to be coming to the Xbox360 earlier this year.

Whether the demo will just be released in Japan like the original article suggests, we can’t say. Still, this wouldn’t be a problem for PS3 owners, since they are able to download content from other countries.

The Official DMC4 website is said to be updating on December 5th with news of this demo, so we shall keep you posted. In the meantime here are some pictures of the demo mission from the PS3 version, alongside some notes about the mission.

(Please click on the images to enlarge: Source Ruliweb.com)

Notes on the demo:

*90% chance the demo will be the same demo as seen since January. A quick walkthrough of Fortuna. After you beat that area you get to go straight to the icy level and fight a group of Frosts. The final mission in the demo will be the fight with Berial. This type of pacing/level design is not at all a representative of the final game as the demo seems to be snippets of 3 missions worked into one package as a bare bones demonstration of Nero’s capabilities.

*These mini-missions are selectable from the start and you can choose whatever you want. The first image illustrates this.

*Do not expect Dante to be playable and do not expect the new jungle areas with Blades and Echidna or the new Lucifer/Gilgamesh weapon.
*No story driven cutscenes will be shown in the demo aside from perhaps the first cutscene of the game. Capcom is keeping the story underwraps very heavily.
*Nero will not have any abilities outside of Snatch, Buster, Exceed, his gun and sword combos.

Via Neogaf. Thanks goes to LordMe.

A demo of Half Life 2: Episode 2 has hit the Xbox Live Marketplace. There’s no excuse for not trying out this beauty now, and maybe just maybe the demo will tempt you into buying The Orange Box this weekend. Details about the demo after the link.

Demo: The Orange Box: HL2 Episode Two
Content: The Orange Box: HL2 Episode Two Demo
Price: Free
Availability: Not available in Germany, India or Japan
Dash Text: [ESRB: M (Mature) ALCOHOL REFERENCE] Download the demo.
Size: 723.93 MB