Robert Bowling, community manager for Infinity Ward, announced today that there is going to be a double XP weekend from April 2-5.  Timed to coincide with the Stimulus Package, this is the first of hopefully more double XP weekends to come.

[Via FourTwoZero]

Inside MGC has put up a list of the achievements that will be accompanying Microsoft’s new Game Room.  Set to release on March 24th (the same night as our Community Playdate!), they’re really making an effort to get people to participate.  The list totals out to 1,000 achievement points, so all of you achievement hunters get ready.

[Via Inside MGC]

Get your Level 50 Hunters, Sirens, Berserkers and Soldiers ready for a new challenge, as the newest Downloadable Add-On for Borderlands, The Secret Armory of General Knoxx, is about to be released tomorrow! With it, arrives a shiny new level cap, raising the current cap to Level 61 (Sorry, OCD players…), a fresh batch of ultra-rare and powerful weaponry, multiple new vehicles including one all four players can ride in, and new enemies and evil antagonists to eliminate with your acid rocket launchers.

Don’t expect the enemies to be pushovers when you’re a level 61. The AI has been tweaked, meaning, that’s right… even tougher enemies for you to take out. That is, if you can. Pricing will be the same as past content packs, that being 800 MSP, or $10 USD.

One thing is for sure – despite the delectable awesomeness that was the first Bioshock, there never existed much available in the way of DLC for the grand romp through Rapture. A few extra plasmids that were redundant by their release wasn’t enough to establish any credible content to add to the game.

2K is doing things right the second time around and has already announced they plan to release an extensive lineup of DLC for the sequel. A statement released today by 2K held the following information:

“2K Games announced today an aggressive post-launch downloadable content plan for BioShock®2 that extends and enhances the single and multiplayer experiences by adding more glimpses into the award-winning world of Rapture. Downloadable content will be made available soon beginning with the Sinclair Solutions Test Pack, available this March from the Xbox® LIVE Marketplace for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and Games for Windows-LIVE for 400 Microsoft Points and from the PlayStation®Network for $4.99. Future expansions into the world of BioShock 2 are slated to arrive over the coming months and will continue to expand on the stories of the denizens of Rapture.

“The fans who waited in the snow, rain and cold for the midnight launch of BioShock 2 have spoken and their message is that Rapture still has many fascinating stories to tell,” said Christoph Hartmann, president of 2K. “Downloadable content is a key part of our efforts to continue to entice the fans that have made 2K a household name – we intend to deliver single and multiplayer content that respects and expands upon one of the greatest fictional worlds ever created.”

The first bit of scheduled content, called the Sinclair Solutions Test Pack, is due out in March for 400 MS points and will focus on the multiplayer aspect of the title. Featuring a rank increase to level 50 with additional rank rewards, additional masks, a third upgrade for each weapon, 20 new trials and two new playable characters, the DLC seems to be starting off strong.

Single player DLC scheduled to follow plans to “include more narrative, new tools and new challenges that extend the lore and fiction of the failed Utopia under the sea.”

All in all, the announcement of such expansive DLC is great news and exactly what Bioshock fans have been longing for.

Ever wonder how much you could earn by quitting your job and making sweet indie games for XBL? Using Major Nelson’s 2009 ranking, the guys in the XNA forums did a little digging and posted the results (cleaned up in this handy chart by the guys at gamerbytes.com). While most Top 20 games earned around $20,000, Jamezila’s I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES!!!1 pulled in an astounding $112,000.

Developer Reedake2, whose Aquarium HD made #10 on the list, and whose new Creed Arena (reviewed by our own Allen Kim here) promises to do well in 2010, warned would-be designers not to get the wrong message. “Please don’t take this to mean that apps are an easy way to make money,” he said on the XNA boards. “We put an immense amount of time and polish into Aquarium HD (more so than a lot of games get), and that has been reflected in sales.”

If you can get 2 or 3 solid games a year out, the answer to the opening question may well be “quite a bit”. Of course if you are a clever marketer and can leverage that success into a little celebrity time on Jimmy Fallon and some invites to X11, then it’d definitely be worth while.

Denmark may have knocked the U.S. out of curling contention this Olympics, but the battle’s not over yet. Dadoo’s new indie game, Curling 2010, allows you to compete in the shuffleboard-cum-billiards ice event against snarky northlanders all over the world via 2-4 player XBL multiplayer.

The intuitive, arcade-style controls and local or online multiplayer make the game a great buy at 240 MSP. The rules of the game and a guided tutorial are included; Swedish curling cuties Sara Carlsson and Lotta Lennartson are (sadly) not. Held og lykke!

If you’re one of the, um… zero people that still plays Def Jam: Icon on Xbox Live, listen up! EA plans to shut down online support for a few of it’s older titles. If you play any EA games more than around two years old, you might want to check this list of Xbox and Xbox 360 titles that will soon be losing any online capabilities. Read on to see the list of games being killed off.

Read more…

At today’s MCW 2010 Press Event, Microsoft announced what may be the most important announcement of the year for Xbox users: full Xbox LIVE integration with Microsoft’s new Windows Phone 7. Players will now be able to achieve the same functions as most of the  Xbox 360 Dashboard, including: spotlight feed, looking at achievements and gamer profiles, marveling (or mocking) other players’ avatars, and even… *drum roll* being able to play certain Xbox LIVE Games. Check out the video and links below for more information.

[Via Joystiq and Engadget]

XBox Live Gold members listen up! Your XBox wants to be your Valentine, fly you 1st Class across the country, put you up in a swanky hotel, and give you gobs of money and MS Points. Interested? I thought so. Here’s the do:

1) Download the “I Heart XBox” tag from your Gamer Pics (on your PC, hit xbox.com).

2) Win.

Okay, so to win you need your name to be pulled in the sweepstakes. To get your name in the sweepstakes, follow at least Step 1 from above and you’ll be elligible. Then you earn drawings every time you:
* Purchase and download any of the eligible Arcade games, game add-ons, or movies listed in the rules.
* Play a multiplayer session of any game title listed in the rules.
* View any Netflix streaming content on your Xbox 360.

So get on it already, and don’t forget to send us a postcard!

As of April 15, 2010 it looks like Microsoft will discontinue the Xbox LIVE service for all Original Xbox consoles and Original Xbox titles available on the Xbox 360.  See below from Major Nelson’s blog.

Xbox LIVE being discontinued for Original Xbox consoles and games

I wanted to let you know that on April 15, 2010 Microsoft will discontinue Xbox LIVE service for original Xbox consoles and games, including Xbox 1 games playable on Xbox 360. Our first step in this process will be to turn off auto-renewals for those members who only use Xbox LIVE on a v1 Xbox. While I can’t comment on the specifics, this change will allow us to continue evolving the LIVE service with new features and experiences that fully harness the power of Xbox 360 and the Xbox LIVE community. We did not make this decision lightly, but after careful consideration and review we realize that this decision will allow us unprecedented flexibility for future features. 

Xbox LIVE general manager Marc Whitten (Gamertag Notwen) has posted this letter to the community which provides additional context.

The best is yet to come, and we look forward to sharing more details in the near future.