Coming soon, you will be able to mix the world of RPG and pinball with the Epic Quest table. Epic Quest takes one part pinball, one part RPG stat progression, one part loot grabbing and then throws in a dash of humor to sweeten the mix to create a new game that defies logic. I mean, who would have thought of merging pinball with the RPG genre, but Zen Studios has and it looks pretty funny.

Epic Quest allows you to play pinball as you normally would, but as you play, you are slowly earning all kinds of unlockable gear for your clueless hero to wear into battle. The quests that you undertake are of the normal fare for any of the Zen Studios titles, but defeating them grants you loot and experience. When your game ends, your progression continues into the next game, keeping you in a neverending loop of loot and level grinding.

Epic Quest is set to arrive as a downloadable plugin for both Zen Pinball on the PSN and Pinball FX 2 on the XBLA. No pricing has been set, but Epic Quest is coming sometime in the near future from Zen Studios. Check out a host of screens and the announcement trailer below.

With the Creation Kit’s upcoming release, which is available in English only, we have just posted a new developer diary by Production Director, Ashley Cheng as well as a video highlighting some of the new features that will be made available to our modding community through the Skyrim Workshop on Steam. The Skyrim Workshop will allow users to easily upload, download, and install their mods, making sharing custom content easier than ever before.

To check out the latest developer diary below.

Each of the tracks will set you back 240 MS Points and will require a full copy of Dance Central 2 to work properly. Each song will come with new moves and will have three levels of difficulty, as with every song in Dance Central 2.

Dance Central 2 is developed by Harmonix, and is exclusive to the Kinect device for Xbox 360.

On XBLA we’ll be getting Puddle (800 Microsoft Points) and Quarrel (400 MSP) on 25th January – followed by Rhythm Party (800 MSP) coming 1st February. Also, don’t forget that the following week Microsoft will begin their House Party line up.

Two new pieces of DLC will also be coming each for 800 MSP – first up, The Mediterranean Traveler map pack will be arriving for Assassin’s Creed: Revelations on 24th January. Owners of UFC Personal Trainer for Kinect will be able to get the Cain Velasquez Workout Pack on 31st January.

The deal of the week running from 24th to 30th January will be 50 percent off a whole host of LA Noire content. This ranges from 40 MSP for The Broderick Detective Suit to DLC mission packs for 160 MSP. Bastion will also be 50 percent off the following week until 6th February, costing just 600 MSP.

In Games on Demand 2K’s Duke Nukem Forever will be out 24th January followed by a trio of games on 31st – these will be: Cabela’s Outdoor Adventures, Section 8 and First Templar – which will be releasing a demo also on this date along with EA’s remake of Syndicate. UFC 3 will be letting you try out your skills in the cage on 24th.

Finally you can dress up your Avatar in a host of new outfits beginning with Threadless apparel, Assassin’s Creed: Revelations and Ninja gear on 24th January. Then on 31st January you’ll be able to get your hands on Microsoft’s Deluxe Collection and Darkness 2 wear.

That’s a lot of stuff over the next couple of weeks. I’ll be looking forward to trying out Syndicate next week and if you haven’t already would urge you all to pick up Bastion.

Yes, you can now groove to the hit “Gonna Make You Sweat” by the C&C Music Factory. It is one of those songs that you kind of hate, but when it comes on the radio, you keep it on for reasons unbeknownst to you. The new track comes with three difficulty levels, and new dance moves that are custom to the song.

“Gonna Make You Sweat” will set you back 240 MS Points and the full version of Dance Central 2 is required to play all DLC content for the game.

Downloadable content is meant to expand on the player experience. Some studios might see this as an opportunity to introduce whole new worlds (a la Fallout 3‘s Point Lookout), or a simple expansion. “RAAM’s Shadow” falls into the latter category, and while some gamers might find that it falls short, it’s a must have for diehard Gears fan.

It packs a lot of multiplayer punch, giving players willing to shell out the MSP (or for free, if you own the Gears Season Pass) new multiplayer characters, and the “Chocolate” weapons set.

Of course, the main focus of RAAM’s Shadow is the single-player campaign. With over 3 additional hours of gameplay, you might wonder why exactly did Epic not include any collectibles in the campaign. A bit of a let-down for any collector junkie, but the campaign delivers nonetheless.

Harken back to the days of the first Gears of War. Back in 2006, when gamers first stepped into the world of Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago, we didn’t know what to expect. Who the hell are these grumbly guys? Why was Marcus locked up, and what the HELL are these Locust things? While Gears of War 3 delivered the epilogue of the entire series, “RAAM’s Shadow” takes us back, way back, to a time before the first game happened. It’s a prequel, and gives us a look at the events that led up to the Locust Invasion of Sera, and what exactly was “E-Day” and the Hammerstrikes.

It's like Bill. Except with COG armor.

Players assume the role of Barrick, a member of Zeta Squad, and a former Stranded who was plucked off the streets of Sera, had a Lancer shoved into his hand, and enlisted with the COG. Gamers who have taken the time to read all the extra Gears of War books written by Karen Traviss and the comics would know of him more than those who have not. For most of the campaign, players view the planet from Barrick and Zeta Squad’s point of view, as the Locust begin their assault on the human race.

However, a few parts of the campaign give players a chance to play as the terrifying General RAAM, and while some players may cringe at the thought of ripping apart COG soldiers, the rest of us enjoyed every last bloody second of it. It’s a great change of pace, and offers up a different perspective on the events. Remember that lovely Kryll cloak the nasty General toted around aboard the train with the Lightmass Bomb? Yeah, now’s your chance to point that finger and tear apart COG soldiers.

The campaign, as mentioned before, is only about 3 hours long. However, in those three hours, we’re given some great environments to shoot our way through. We move from an open space, to a parking garage, a school, and even to an orphanage at one point. And there’s none of those troublesome Lambent bastards either.

While the campaign achieves its goal of a much-needed fleshing out of certain plot points within the Gears universe, it still comes out feeling a little flat at times. No collectibles? Seriously? Searching the corners of each and every room yields little reward except for an ammo dump, which will be unnecessary to the seasoned Gears player. A few places within the campaign were also a little hard to navigate, but that could’ve just been me with directional issues.

RAAM sees shadow, six more weeks of Kryllstorm.

Of course, as a DLC pack, you can’t be expecting the longest of all campaign experiences. It’s a short, but powerful, rollercoaster ride through the fall of Ilima City as we watch the Locust begin their assault. Well, we also get to see how powerful one finger can be. And it’s not the finger you’re thinking of.

The Good

Story fleshes out the events before the first Gears of War.

Still as mechanically sound as main game experience.

Annihilate the COG as General RAAM with his Finger of Kryll Doom.

The Bad

No collectibles are hidden in those darkened corners.

Level design leaves something to be desired.

Campaign is dismally short.

“RAAM’s Shadow” is currently available for download from Xbox Live for a price of 1200 MSP, or free if you have a previously purchased Gears Season Pass.

Family Focus
With all the blood, gore, cussing, ESRB M and PEGI 18 ratings, it’s a self-explanatory no.

The maps included in this DLC are Academy, Anvil, Depths, Escalation, and the Slab – described as being inspired by the life and experiences of the series’ main character, Marcus Fenix. Characters included with this are Recruit Clayton Carmine and Thrashball Cole Limited Edition for the COG and you can also fight for the Locust as the Savage Marauder or Savage Kantus Limited Edition. These characters can be used in Versus and Horde modes.

One of the major changes is the new “Re-up” system. This will allow players already at the Level 100 cap to start again from Level 1. It gives you the opportunity to earn three new weapon skin sets, each linked to when you “Re-up”, along with your rank being coloured Red, Green or Blue to indicate your progress in this new system.

All of this is available right now from the Xbox Live Marketplace for 800 Microsoft Points or free to those who’ve purchased the Season Pass and downloaded from the games menu. The Season Pass is also still available from the Marketplace for 2400 MSP, saving you 33 percent on all DLC, and entitles you to the previous content packs “Horde Command Pack” and “RAAM’s Shadow” along with an as yet unannounced fourth piece of DLC.

Climbing to number two in the UK gaming charts this week, Just Dance 3 has already encouraged dancers up and down the country to get up off the sofa and start moving/waggling/jumping etc. There’s a greater complexity to the choreography than seen in previous Just Dance titles but the focus still remains on making dancing fun and accessible with an eclectic mix of over 50 tunes from classical to bollywood to pop presented on an unashamedly neon stage! Now you and up to three of your workout buddies can make your January workout even more effective with two new Just Sweat DLC packs.

You can already choose to sweat for fun or create a schedule to sweat once a day, which not only helps you get fit but also goes towards earning stars that unlock secret tracks and mini-games. To keep you motivated, the new DLC packs will include all new dance tracks by the Sweat Invaders: Touch Me Want Me, Dun N Dusted, Cardiac Caress, Merengue and Boomsday plus the curiously titled Beat Match Until I’m Blue.

There are also extra routines waiting to be perfected via the Just Dance stores. Tracks on the Wii include Anja’s Baby Don’t Stop Now, Studio Allstars’ Jump, Olé Orquesta’s Jambo Mambo, The Girly Team’s Twist And Shake It, U Can’t Touch This and Soul Searchin by Groove Century and In the Style of Irene Cara Fame!, each priced at 250 Wii Points. Meanwhile, Xbox360 Kinect owners can boogie on down to 19 other DLC tracks, including Cosmic Girl by Jamiroquai, Satisfaction (Isak Original Extended) by Benny Benassi and Baby Girl by Reaggaton.

With the option of creating your own playlist, the fitness-focused dance routines should give gamers looking to tone up their indulgent holiday figures, even more incentive to get sweaty!

The two new Just Sweat DLC packs will be downloadable through the in-game Just Dance stores on on January 17th on Xbox360 Kinect for 480 Microsoft Points and on January 18th on Wii for 600 Wii points. Let us know your favourite tracks in the comments below!

Check out the trailer featuring Cheapy D in all of his dancing glory. The Cheapy D download will hit on Tuesday, January 17th, 2012 and will require a full copy of Saints Row The Third to work.

Robert Bowling confirmed with Joystiq that there’s an extensive release schedule of DLC for the popular shooter. After the multiplayer maps “Liberation” and “Piazza” are released later this month, five more DLC packages will be dropping over the course of three months.

It doesn’t stop there. Bowling has also said that up to September, there will be a total of about 20 pieces of DLC dropping. A “Content Collection” releasing in March will bundle DLCs on Xbox Live for those not in the Call of Duty Elite program.

“The first pack is traditional multiplayer maps, but we want to do Spec Ops missions, missions, Spec-Ops Survival, new game types, new game modes, and really look at adding things that we’ve never done before,” said Bowling. Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer Games, and Raven Software will all have a hand in developing the DLC. The aim? To provide more than just a multitude of different maps.

“We said just do what you think is gonna be good,” said Bowling. “Do what’s fun and, as long it fits in the Modern Warfare universe, try it! Experiment with it, and we’ll take the best of the best and start polishing it up and releasing it. So that’s really where our focus has been.”

Via Joystiq.