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According to BioWare, an upcoming DLC pack for Mass Effect 2 -- the Alternate Appearance Pack -- will feature new outfits for "your favorite squad members." Apparently, you don't like Miranda, Jacob, Grunt or Mordin, because this pack includes new costumes for Garrus, Thane, and Jack.

While these new outfits seem like an appropriate fit for the Cerberus Network, this is actually the second announced premium DLC offering for Mass Effect 2. Available on March 23rd, the pack will set you back $2 on Xbox 360 or PC. Let's hope the upcoming Kasumi's Stolen Memories add-on will be a bit more reasonably priced than these costumes.

[Via @masseffect2]

We have a hard time watching films where people get caught being in places they totally shouldn't be. We get no enjoyment from watching a Misery or a Rear Window, for example. That kind of scenario is the bread and butter of Heavy Rain's first downloadable chapter, "The Taxidermist," which pre-order customers of the game have already gotten their hands on. The rest of us will have our chance to grab the suspenseful scene on April 1, when it hits the PSN storefront for $4.99.

Check out the video above for a brief teaser of the chapter's events. Actually, it doesn't look that scary to us. Madison climbs in a window, walks up some stairs, and accidentally intrudes on a woman taking a bath. What's that? The woman is dead? Yes, well, that is significantly more upsetting.

Ten-hut, soldiers! HQ has just sent word that some new gear will be shipping to the front lines of MAG next week, free of charge: the Trooper Gear Pack. In this parcel, we'll finally get access to the Flashbang grenade -- which should help us confuse and outwit the enemy. But, that's not all: our supplier, Zipper Interactive, also reports it's bundled in some new LMGs (Raven's APEX 100SE, S.V.E.R.'s RTK-74 Vla, and Valor's Mk 46 Mod 1) and uniforms.

The full rundown is available via Zipper's site, where it's also revealed that double XP will be available on the battlefield throughout next weekend (March 25 - 28). It's a nice bonus for our continued service, though we consider it bad timing. Operation PAX East will be in full effect by the 25th, so we doubt we'll find time to benefit from the extra incentive to hoist the S.V.E.R. flag.

We're usually pretty competent parsers of corporate quotes, but we may need some help on this one. Referencing the publisher practice of putting free DLC in new copies of games, GameStop boss Dan DeMatteo said on an investor call today that "we have learned that the second-hand user is a value-oriented consumer ... we don't believe that a $10 add-on piece of DLC is compelling to a used game buyer." So, they care about getting the biggest bang for their buck, but they just don't care about missing out on free things?

Here's another one: "Publishers can participate in our used business by offering add-on content for the most popular used titles, creating a win-win situation for publishers, retailers and consumers," he said, according to Gamasutra. Wouldn't the win for publishers and developers be to make money every time someone bought the game they made?

It may be that the statements are unclear, but it's also possible that we're just so unfamiliar with GameStop trying to be a team player that our primitive minds can't process it. Hard to say.

If you've waited this long for Episodes from Liberty City, another two weeks shouldn't hurt, right? Rockstar Games has pushed back the PS3 and PC releases of the long-awaited Grand Theft Auto IV expansions by two weeks due to "a request by Sony Europe to make some minor content changes to the PAL PS3 version of the game." According to the press release, "the minor changes made to the game will not affect the gamers enjoyment of the games, these will not affect any gameplay elements and were not related to any local ratings requirements."

All versions of the add-ons -- including the downloadable episodes "The Lost & Damned" and "The Ballad of Gay Tony" -- have been delayed to April 13th for North America, and April 16th for all other countries. A Rockstar Games blog post further elaborated on the decision to do a global delay, ensuring that "everyone can experience multiplayer simultaneously, take part in online events together, be on level ground on leaderboards, etc."

We know you probably flew into a rage when a recent Title Update denied you a few precious seconds of Metro 2033 play time, but we've been assured by developer 4A Games that it's all for a good cause: To prepare for upcoming DLC. On the game's official Facebook page, a spokesperson confirmed that additional content was in the works, but didn't provide much detail, saying only that multiplayer would be impossible and that "it won't be new SP narrative content, 'missing levels' or anything like that - it's something we're only just starting production on."

Wait, it won't be new single-player story bits or multiplayer, so what does that leave? While novel, we're not sure "Flashlight Hand-Cranking Time Attack" would be a huge step forward.

[Via Inc Gamers]

In case anyone is still on the fence about paying for a WiiWare version of a freeware game -- although a couple of years of anticipation have probably killed that -- this Cave Story video (after the break) shows something pretty appealing: a second playable character. And not just any character, either. Curly Brace is a fan favorite, appearing in the game in a capacity we won't discuss too much to avoid spoilers.

We're checking with Nicalis now to learn more about her inclusion -- whether she's part of the initial download or DLC, and how her presence affects gameplay. Worst case scenario: we find out on Monday when the game comes out.

[Update: Nicalis has confirmed to Joystiq that Curly mode will be included with the initial download!]

Nothing derails the excitement of playing games online with your friends quite like finding out that you don't have a certain piece of DLC required to join their game. The USPTO recently approved a Microsoft patent application (filed way back in August 2008) for a system that would enable users to seamlessly purchase and download game add-ons from the Xbox Live Marketplace when alerted by an in-game prompt, provided the content was required for a particular online game they attempted to launch.

The process would allow you to make purchases without being forced out of a game lobby you might be sharing with friends -- though, really, what kind of "friends" wouldn't warn you about your game's newfound incompatibility before inviting you in? Inconsiderate friends, that's who.

[Via Eurogamer; BrokeMyController]

Based on some leaked shots of a supposed Super Street Fighter IV theme coming to the Xbox 360 (spotted by Shoryuken), Capcom's cast of brawlers are getting some fresh threads. In the case of Dee Jay above, it looks like he's getting a time machine back to the early '90s when those pants were still cool. But, we digress.

These costumes look all well and good, but what about newcomer Hakan? How do you clothe a man perpetually covered in baby oil?

[Via Kotaku]

"A two pack?" you ask, confused by today's announcement of the Borderlands DLC retail package. "But doesn't that game have three DLC packs? And aren't there more coming?" Yeah, sure, and you might even have a point! But for now, 2K Games chose to announce the release of The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned and Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot, together on disc, for $19.99 (starting on April 6 in North America and April 9 everywhere else).

More confusing? Apparently the retail pack won't arrive on PS3, though both pieces of content are already available digitally (for the same price, no less) on the PlayStation Network. Yep, we're not really sure what to say either, but we've asked Gearbox and 2K Games for a reason why the pack isn't heading to the PS3 (or if it ever will, for that matter), and if this also be the case with future DLC releases at retail. We'll let you know what we hear back as soon as we can.

When EA DICE decided to release some downloadable armaments in the original Battlefield: Bad Company, it proved to be a fairly unpopular decision. However, the recently found a way to outfox the gaming community, releasing Bad Company 2 DLC without drawing our ire. How did the studio accomplish such a feat? Easy -- it just released the DLC in a completely different game.

Battlefield Heroes recently received a large push of content inspired by Bad Company, including six modern weapons and the outfits of George Haggard and Kirilenko. Best of all, if you log onto Heroes while using an account that's also linked to Bad Company 2, you'll receive the Battlefunds required to purchase the new gear. Check out the new equipment in the trailer posted after the jump.

[Thanks Graeme!]

Say you were to jump a sweet speedboat off an even sweeter ramp, then climb onto that speedboat and shoot a rocket at a dude in a tower (which is a real thing that happens in Just Cause 2) for 15 to 20 hours. Afterward, if someone asked you how much more time you wanted to spend doing things like that, we imagine the answer would be "a lot." Perhaps it's no coincidence, then, that that's exactly how much DLC lead designer Peter Johansson tells Eurogamer is coming to the Just Cause 2: "a lot."

And that's on top of all the content already on the game disc, which, by all external signs, is pretty darn imposing. Johannsson claims that his 60-percent-complete save file is about 55 game hours worth of playtime, which, if you let the math play out, means that if you were to play all 100 percent of the game, it would take roughly 73,000 hours. Roughly.

If there's one thing Dante's Inferno lacked, it was originality. Lacking the "holy sh–" impact of God of War III, Visceral Games' hack-n-slash felt incredibly pedestrian. That changes with "The Trials of St. Lucia," an upcoming premium DLC pack that introduces the game's first bit of originality.

The DLC add-on is made up of three new features: online co-op, user generated trials, and St. Lucia, a new playable character inspired by Christianity's Saint Lucy. Like Dante, Visceral's reimagining of her character is rather far-off from biblical canon. The playable martyr looks like an angel, and dons a move set that's completely unique from Dante's. (The differences between the two characters are comparable to those between Dante and Nero from Devil May Cry 4.)

The basics of her offensive powers are familiar: light and heavy attacks, and grabs. However, St. Lucia also has the ability to fly. Flight enables a brand new move set for players. I was able to quickly fly to the other side of a comabt arena, sweep multiple enemies, and then slam one of the larger enemies with a quick combo. The new flight dynamic is a lot of fun and, because St. Lucia's controls are so similar to those of Dante, it's easy to pick up and play.

During a one-on-one conversation with writer Frank Rose at South by Southwest titled "The Emotion Engine: Can a Video Game Speak to the Heart?," Lionhead's Peter Molyneux offered some early details on the episodic potential of Fable 3, citing the serial nature of Charles Dickens' novels.

He began by comparing Fable 3's industrial setting to the mid-19th century setting of Charles Dickens' London, calling it a "brilliant time to set a game." "You look at the characters and the world that someone like Charles Dickens developed and you think, 'Well, it would be brilliant to feel like you're walking through that Dickensian version of London with a little bit of darkness.' Those novels, if you don't know them, are very, very dark," Molyneux explained. "They're written in a way that breaks the story up into these episodes. So why don't we do a similar sort of thing?"

Though Molyneux told Joystiq just last week that Fable 2's episodic experiment had been "massively successful," he stopped short of promising similar functionality for Fable 3; however, yesterday, he seemed to suggest they would be doing just that. "So what we're thinking with Fable 2 to start off with, and with Fable 3, we're going to give you the first big episode and then allow you to continue to download new episodes," Molyneux said. "And that's analogous to the way Charles Dickens wrote his books."

Asked if he would be developing these episodes "as you go along," Molyneux responded, "This is the new world of computer games where in fact, a lot of us are now saying, is, 'If we can have a really strong digital relationship with people then that means you don't have to entirely finish your game or your universe or your experience on release.'" Now, before you get upset, appreciate that Molyneux knows how "strange and bizarre" that sounds, so he's got two examples to help you better understand.

As revealed during this year's Consumer Electronics Show, tormented writer Alan Wake will continue his dimly lit journey in the form of post-launch downloadable episodes. After the internally episodic thriller hits shelves on May 18, Remedy Entertainment will expand it with at least two episodes in 2010. The scope of subsequent episodes and the duration of DLC support will hinge on the audience, of course, but Remedy managing director Matias Myllyrinne envisions a substantial engagement.

"I think it'll depend a lot on the audience, but certainly we want to -- if we're successful -- we want to do a large 'Season 2,' if you will, at some point," he said in an interview with Joystiq. "Right now, I'm not allowed to say what we're doing exactly this year. But we're going to have more than one episode come out this year."

Once the full game is complete and the team has a chance to gauge acceptance and feedback, Remedy Entertainment will shed some more light on its plans. We'll share ours with you right now: Expect to see the full Matias Myllyrinne interview on Joystiq later this week.