Electronic Arts will be shifting to a higher gear this December with the release of the first downloadable add-on pack for Need for Speed: Shift's PS3 and Xbox 360 versions. Even better, it's gonna be free.

Here's a quick follow-up to the rather detailed Resident Evil 5: Alternative Edition (PS3 and Xbox 360) post we recently put up. We now have a North American launch schedule for the DLC. Hit the jump for details.

Bioware is looking to replicate the success of the Warden's Keep DLC with a new Dragon Age: Origins downloadable pack coming this winter. Details past  the jump.

Genesis Coupes are invading Forza Motorsport 3! Microsoft and Turn 10 have announced the arrival of the "Hyundai Genesis Coupe Car Pack," now available for free on Xbox Live Marketplace. They've also announced a new car pack coming in December.

GameStop may not be threatened yet by digital distribution, but they're certainly taking steps to profit from it as soon as they can. The retail giant has revealed that they plan to start selling console DLC in-store starting next year. Details after the jump.

Major Nelson has announced that by next week, all Xbox Live users will be able to start enjoying the new social networking apps being added to the Dashboard. More after the jump.

When Square Enix and PopCap Games combined their strengths to create a new game, the result was Gyromancer. The puzzle RPG was announced in TGS 2009 back in September and redefined the tried, tested, and often cloned Bejeweled. But what we didn't know was that there were other games on that negotiating table - among them, Zuma and Peggle.

More reports are coming in, which all seem to verify the unconfirmed word we received yesterday regarding Microsoft's standing order of 1 million banned Xbox  consoles on XBL. InformationWeek has now reported that Microsoft has in fact already effectively locked out as much as one million Xbox 360 owners. MS, for their end, has finally released an official statement regarding the bannings.

The casualty statistics so far of the banned Xbox Live is at an uncool 600,000. Yep, that's 600,000 miserable souls with modded Xbox 360s, and inaccessible XBL accounts. What's more, word has it that Microsoft's out to target another 400,000 more.

Inspired by the classic arcade basketball game of the 90's, TECMO together with developer A.C.R.O.N.Y.M. Games has announced NBA Unrivaled, a retro styled arcade basketball game for the Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Network.