Xbox Live Marketplace has some new downloadable content up, featuring new Basic Combat Training Videos from the cooperative project between Microsoft and the US Army. If you remember, they teamed up to present the first Halo 3 Championship tournament this April. Details on the update in the full article.

D3Publisher of America announced that a theme and picture pack of its hit game Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords (Nintendo DS, Xbox Live Arcade, PSP) is now available for download  at Xbox Live Marketplace.

The theme pack is currently available for 150 Microsoft Points while the picture pack can be purchased for 100 MS Points.

For those who haven't tried the game yet, this RPG/puzzle title has players scrambling across the lands of Etheria challenging all in your path with your puzzle skills in an effort to stop the Evil Lord Bane.

When you're tired of the story mode, you can practice your skills in Instant Action mode which allows you to fight against enemies you've encountered in your previous adventures or get a little PvP action via the Multiplayer option.

If you're already hooked on the game (like this blogger is) and would like to spruce up your system, go download the theme pack or picture pack for Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords.

 

As the countdown to the big Halo 3 launch begins, Bungie Studios and Microsoft are upping the ante even more with the announcement that Xbox Live Gold members will receive Halo 3 goodies free of charge. These goodies include a Halo 3 Dashboard theme, a Halo 3 Gamerpic, and two documentaries about the video game.

You'll have to stay up pretty late tonight because the Halo 3 theme and picture pack will be available when the clock strikes 12:00 a.m. The documentary, Inside Bungie: Halo 3 - The Story, will be yours for the taking on Friday. Discussions of new game features as well as Bungie team member interviews will be on the video, so don't miss it.

With all the activities going on, focusing on the game itself will be a task. If you plan to get Halo 3 at midnight, remember to take extra caution to steer clear of trouble. Tell us how it all goes down by posting your comments right here on QJ.

While our Japanese friends have the Beautiful Katamari Damacy demo to look forward to this August 22, Xbox 360 fans in the United States and Canada can have an overdose of the movie Balls of Fury and a little bit of Madden NFL 08 as several downloadable items have popped up at the Xbox Live Marketplace.

We won't keep you any longer as we try hopelessly to lengthen this article because quite frankly, these releases are kind of lacking in our own opinion. Oh well, maybe next week is going to be better. We hope you enjoy these freebies:

• Balls of Fury Theme: Free theme from Balls of Fury, courtesy of Rogue Pictures
• Smart QB and Smart Defender Tutorials for Madden NFL 08: Video tutorials on how to utilize Smart QBs and Smart Defenders
• Balls of Fury Picture Pack: Free Gamer Picture Pack from Balls of Fury, courtesy of Rogue Picture

Connected to your 360's Xbox Live at the moment? If that's a yes, we're letting you guys know about a recent barrage of downloadable content that have been made available for your perusal.

The first downloadable set you guys may want to check out are a couple of new Worms swag, including Music, Picture, and Theme packs to round out your growing collection of related paraphernalia. Gameplay-wise, two new maps have also been made available: Retro Landscape: Desert, and Retro Landscape: Manhattan. Music Pack 2 free, Picture Pack 3 will cost 100 Microsoft Points, while the Theme Pack 3, and two new maps will cost 150 MS Points each.

There's also a new map pack available for guys who own FEAR, labelled as the Nightmare Pack. This collection will cost Xbox 360 owners 500 MS Points, and will feature four new multiplayer maps: Heliport, Spill Kill, Asylum, and Cafeteria. This pack is not available in Asia or Mexico.

And last, but not least, there's new Fallout 3 swag available. Included for this upcoming game is a game teaser (HD), which goes out for a lowdown 0 MS points (it's free). Also not to be missed is a new Fallout 3 Picture Pack (100 MS points), and a Theme pack (150 points). These packs are not available in Korea.

In case you're among the guys readying up to download Xbox Live Arcade's Band of Bugs today, we've picked up word of more goodies you may want to free up some space for on your Xbox 360's HD. Aside from the game, Microsoft has also released two picture packs and a heroes theme. Here are their details.

Name: Band of Bugs - Picture Pack 1
Price: 50 Points
Availability: All Xbox Live regions
Dash Details: This pack includes three gamer portraits from Band of Bugs.

Name: Band of Bugs - Picture Pack 2
Price: 50 Points
Availability: All Xbox Live regions
Dash Details: This pack includes three gamer portraits from Band of Bugs.

Name: Band of Bugs - Heroes Theme
Price: 150 Points
Availability: All Xbox Live regions
Dash Details: This download is a theme featuring the world and characters of Band of Bugs.

Band of Bugs by NinjaBee is available for purchase on Xbox Live Marketplace for a sum of 800 Microsoft Points, and will use 33.8 MB of HD space. For the casual gamer who doesn't mind having a bug inhabit his 360, just head on over to XBL.

A few days back, we mentioned that Team17 is upping the ante by providing new downloadable contents for Xbox Live's Worms. Some of the new contents you could get are the Space, Hell, and Jungle landscapes and although two of them would cost you 150 MS points each, the Space landscape is free.

Checking out Major Nelson's site, we found out just what Worms add-ons you could get. Some are free while some will cause you some MS points, but let's start with the freebies.

Free

• Name: Worms - Space Landscape
• Availability: Available in all Xbox Live regions
• Name: Worms - Soundbank Pack 1
• Availability: Available in all Xbox Live regions

The other in-game contents like landscapes, picture pack, and theme packs will cost you 150 - 200 MS points. Here they are:

• Name: Worms - Hell Landscape
• Price: 150 Points
• Availability: Available in all Xbox Live regions
• Name: Worms - Jungle Landscape
• Price: 150 Points
• Availability: Available in all Xbox Live regions
• Name: Worms - Picture Pack 1
• Price: 200 Points
• Availability: Available in all Xbox Live regions
• Name: Worms - Picture Pack 2
• Price: 100 Points
• Availability: Available in all Xbox Live regions
• Name: Worms - Theme Pack 1
• Price: 150 Points
• Availability: Available in all Xbox Live regions
• Name: Worms - Theme Pack 2
• Price: 150 Points
• Availability: Available in all Xbox Live regions

Major Nelson just pointed out that even more Alien Hominid HD downloadable content packs are available in all regions. There are three new ones, two of which are picture packs (both costing 100 MS Points each), while the other is In-Game Content (150 MS Points):

• Angry Faic Picture Pack
• Boris's Revenge Series (Picture Pack - 5 Gamer Pictures)
• PDA Classic Pack 1 (includes 100 PDA levels)
  

Despite the release of the DLC, some have still been complaining asking about a patch update for the game. Project manager Emil from The Behemoth dropped by the Major's blog to let us in on some dev info. Turns out their first priority is getting to roll out the title update for Alien Hominid HD. Their current status:

It's pretty simple actually, we have submitted the update to Microsoft and are currently working with them to make sure all of the issues are A) Resolved, B) Not causing any new problems in the game.

Just sit tight, folks. We'll get the update sooner than you can say "Take me to your leader."

O snap. Someone just hit the self-destruct button on the dashboard theme seen above. Yes, it's been rejected by Microsoft, with reason being that it's too mature. The theme, called 360 Queenz, was created by Konsole Kingz and was supposed to have been available in the Xbox Live Marketplace for 150 Microsoft Points, with a matching picture pack worth 80 MS Points.

Well, the dashboard theme isn't all too revealing, but when you think about it from a parent's perspective, it really is sexually charged and provocative. The naughty bits have been strategically covered by the 360 console and controller, but some parents would still be worried for their Viva Piñata-playing children if they ever saw this on the dashboard.

Sour-graping about the rejection of the theme, a couple of people online have resorted to assuming that the girl in the picture is actually... *gasp* a guy?! Ok, now how's that for an instant turn-off?

What we want to know now though is this: is it really provocative? Especially compared to other XBL content. *coughBORATcough* What's your take on this?

Marvel fans, now's the time to check out the Xbox Live Marketplace for some nifty Marvel: Ultimate Alliance goodies. A pair of theme packs and a picture pack for the multiplatform Activision video game are now available on Xbox Live. Here's the pertinent info on the downloadables:

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance Dream Team 2 Picture Pack
Price: 80 Points
Dash Details: Download this uncanny picture pack of the X-Men you can play in Marvel Ultimate Alliance.

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance Hero Theme 1
Price: 150 Points
Dash Details: Download this theme and decorate your backgrounds with the heroes of Marvel: Ultimate Alliance.

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance Hero Theme 2
Price: 150 Points

Dash Details: Download this theme and decorate your backgrounds with the heroes of Marvel: Ultimate Alliance.

All three game downloadables are not available in Austria, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Switzerland or Taiwan. Add-on packs are also coming soon for Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, so wait for those to hit Xbox Live.