Every time there is a successful game that receives plentiful downloadable content it seems one year later we receive the inevitable Game of the Year edition. Borderlands is one such game and it has been formally announced that a Game of the Year edition is indeed on its way.

The Game of the Year edition will include the original game in all its glory as well as the codes to download The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned, Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot, The Secret Armory of General Knoxx and the upcoming Claptrap's New Robot Revolution. As an added bonus a special "comprehensive map of the Borderlands territories" will included to help sweeten the deal.

If you have never jumped on the Borderlands train or if you want an easy way to get back on then it sounds like the Borderlands Game of the Year edition is right up your alley. It will be releasing on October 12, 2010 and will cost $59.99 on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 and $49.99 for PC.

Oyez, oyez, oyez.

On November 2, the United States Supreme Court will hear opening arguments in the case of Schwarzenegger v. EMA, the latest in a long string of legal cases involving video game violence. This case in particular challenges a California law (signed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger) that would ban the sale or rental of violent video games to minors. It will be the first time that a video game-related case is presented to the highest court in the land, as all previous legal action attempting to control the distribution of video games were struck down by lower courts based on the notion that video games are free speech and thus protected under the First Amendment.

If the Supreme Court deems the law constitutional, it would essentially turn violent (or otherwise mature-oriented) video games into controlled substances with government-regulated distribution policies. You know, like alcohol and tobacco.  

With advertisements cropping up and promotions beginning it seems the Halo: Reach hype train has officially left the station. The latest part of the pre-release hype begins today as GameStop announces HaloFest. HaloFest is going to be a virtual on-line festival hosted at www.gamestop.com/HaloFest.

The idea behind HaloFest is to create a virtual space "where Halo fans can gather to enjoy videos, tips, sweepstakes, contests and more while awaiting the Halo: Reach Sept. 14 launch date."

The main item on the site is a contest to give away 18 life-sized Spartan statues to lucky fans who pre-order Halo: Reach through GameStop. You can also check out some videos including a "making of the Halo statues" and a three part Red vs Blue miniseries. They also have some tips and tricks from famed Halo player Tsquared and a section to brag about any epic Halo-related stories you might have. They expect to add more content as time goes on including details on a Halo: Reach tournament and in-game UGC contests.

TAG will be receiving a copy of Halo: Reach so be sure to look for our review and see if Bungie's final Halo game lives up to epic scale that we've been promised.

The new additions to the next full Rock Band game are the electric keyboard and vocal harmonies. With these two new items basically every song can be made anew and enjoyed different than before. With the ability to export songs and download songs on-line Rock Band 3 will launch with a potential library of over 2000 songs. However the ones that most people will dive right into is the 83 songs on the disc which include great artists like Bob Marley, Ozzy Osbourne, Jimi Hendrix, Lynyrd Skynyrd and many, many more. Rock Band 3 is arriving on October 26 in North America and October 29 everywhere else. (Well not everywhere else, sorry Antarctica) It is being released for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS.

Hit the jump to view the full setlist in all it's musical glory.

Portal 2 is shaping up to be one of the best titles of 2011. With two separate cooperative and single player campaigns and a ton of new tricks up their sleeves, Valve is ready to bring that awesome little game that came with Orange Box and turn it into a bona fide blockbuster title.

If you, like me, are highly anticipating the February 9, 2011 release date (which hopefully Valve actually sticks to) then surely you will enjoy seeing some fresh new screenshots straight out of last week's Gamescom. Hit the jump and enjoy.

DeathSpank hit Xbox LIVE Arcade and Playstation Network in the middle of July and it was quite well received (check out our review). The game brought a great aesthetic combined with a tongue-in-cheek approach to the standard loot-driven role playing game. The end of the game blatantly teased at what lay ahead for the franchise but I doubt anyone was expecting the sequel to arrive a little over two months later. DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue continues the story of the titular hero as he goes on a quest more personal and of greater importance than simple orphan rescuing and artifact discovering.

"A long time ago, nine mystical thongs were planned to bring balance and harmony to the universe, but when marketing got in the way, only six thongs were produced, and the result was disastrous. Granting great power to those who wear them, the thongs corrupted all those they touched--except DeathSpank. DeathSpank must find all six thongs and destroy them once and for all."

As teased at the end of DeathSpank (and seen in the logo) the new game inexplicably moves to a more modern era featuring airplanes and guns. The game will also introduce a new co-op partner in addition to the first game's Sparkles. The new character, Steve, will be able to unleash "ninjatastic Kung Fu moves" in order to aid DeathSpank on his journey.

DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue will release on Playstation Network on September 21 and on Xbox LIVE Arcade on September 22. The downloadable title will be $14.99 or 1200 Microsoft points.

Today Valve announced the latest DLC for the Left 4 Dead series.

Dubbed "The Sacrifice", players will be able to play the events leading up to Left 4 Dead 2's previous DLC, "The Passing". Due out in October, find out how the original L4D survivors met up with L4D2's cast and discover the events that led up to Bill's death. Don't want Bill to die this time? It seems players will have the choice on which original survivor bites the dust.

"The Sacrifice" will be playable for owners of L4D1 and LFD2. In addition, the original Left 4 Dead campaign "No Mercy" will also be updated and made available for players of Left 4 Dead 2.

"The Sacrifice" will be free on PC and Mac. No price has been announced for the Xbox 360 version.

Believe it or not guys, Guitar Hero games are still coming out. Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock is set to release September 28 and go head-to-head against Rock Band 3 this holiday. Today we get a look at the entire ninety-three song setlist for the game.

The setlist includes tracks from Muse, Black Sabbath, Creedance Clearwater Revival and Linkin Park (they're everywhere!). Not only is it the largest setlist for the series, but it just might be the most diverse as well.

Check out the full list after the break and let us know which (if any) music game you'll be picking up this holiday.

Many hearts were crushed when Valve announced that Portal 2 would release in 2011 and not during this year as originally expected. Today we get word that we won't have to wait too long in 2011 to get our hands on the anticipated sequel. Portal 2 will be releasing on February 9, 2011 for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.

It is rare for Valve to put a solid release date on any of their titles. Hopefully this date ends up being concrete and the game doesn't enter the vortex of Valve Time once again. Expect to learn more details about the game on this Friday's episode of Game Trailers TV with Geoff Keighley.

Microsoft has announced the first wave of Xbox LIVE games coming to Windows Phone 7 this holiday.

"We believe that no matter where life takes you, the best in gaming and entertainment should follow," said Marc Whitten, corporate vice president of Xbox LIVE at Microsoft. "Windows Phone 7 takes a different approach to handheld gaming, utilizing Xbox LIVE, Microsoft Game Studios, leading game publishers, and innovative indie developers, to create powerful, shared experiences for everyone."

Windows Phone 7 will feature your Xbox LIVE avatars, demos, leaderboards and achievements. There will of course be mobile no-brainers like Bejeweled LIVE and UNO, but Microsoft is also promising some companion games to more "hardcore" franchises. There will be a version of Halo Waypoint, Assassin's Creed, a top-down Crackdown game, a Castlevania title and a mobile version of Splinter Cell Conviction.

"Windows Phone 7 is the launch of a major gaming platform for Microsoft," said Matt Booty, general manager of mobile gaming for MGS. "Just like we've done with Xbox 360, our charter is to push the envelope and deliver definitive games that maximize the platform. We will have an incredible lineup of MGS titles, and that's just the beginning."

Continue reading after the break for the entire launch lineup.

We've heard for some time about a downloadable title coming to the Red Faction franchise and today at GDC Europe more details about the game were revealed. The title is going to be Red Faction: Battlegrounds and it will be a top-down vehicle combat game. It will feature four player co-op and includes various achievements in the game that will unlock unique elements in the upcoming retail title Red Faction: Armageddon.

No release date was mentioned but with Red Faction: Battlegrounds aimed at being a precursor to Armageddon expect the title to hit Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network sometime this fall.

The winner for "major release of the week" goes to Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days. The sequel to 2007's Dead Men goes on sale this Tuesday for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. Dog Days takes place in the Shanghai criminal underground and IO Interactive is promising "a visually stunning experience, portrayed in a documentary perspective that will pull you deep into the action."

On the download side, Microsoft is capping off its Summer of Arcade promotion this week with the release of Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light. This is the first downloadable title to feature the popular videogame heroine and it's a top-down co-op (local only for now) adventure game. Don't be scared Tomb Raider fans because the game doesn't abandon the basic concepts of the Tomb Raider series: shooting, boss battles, puzzle solving and lots of leaping around.

Continue on after the break for the rest of this week's releases.

The momentum for the Xbox 360 continues.

After a strong showing in June, Microsoft's game system rocketed to the top of the hardware sales list with 443,500 units sold during the month of July. This is the first time since September '07 that the Xbox 360 is the best-selling console of the month, even beating the mighty DS. While most would attribute this to the new S (aka slim) SKU, it would be interesting to see how many of the older Arcade and Elite units were part of this sales surge once they went on discount.

On the software side, NCAA Football 11 took the top two spots for the month with a combined 670,000 sold on the Xbox 360 and PS3. Crackdown 2 debuted in third with 208,800 units sold. While this tops the first month sales of another recent Microsoft exclusive (Alan Wake), this figure doesn't seem so impressive to me once you factor in on how it seems Microsoft was banking on Crackdown being a franchise with legs. It will be interesting to see if there will be a Crackdown 3 after these figures.

We have to include the fact that it seems Blizzard was correct about the sales figures for Starcraft II. While not a part of the "console game" charts, Starcraft II sold 721,000 copies during its first five days at retail. NPD analyst Anita Frasier noted that this "helped the PC games category to realize a 103 percent increase in dollars over last July." That is one very impressive number.

Continue reading after the break for the complete list of hardware and top-ten list of software for the month of July.

Call of Duty: Black Ops is getting the same treatment as last year's Modern Warfare 2 by receiving both a Prestige Edition and a Hardened Edition. The night vision goggles included in the Modern Warfare 2's Prestige Edition have been one-upped with an even creepier pack-in for Black Ops.

That's right this year eager Call of Duty fans will be able to get their hands on a remote control surveillance car modeled after the in-game remote control car shown in the recent multiplayer teaser. Like its in-game counterpart the car features the ability to transmit video and audio to the controller. Unlike its in-game counterpart it does not include the ability to explode and kill enemy soldiers.

This special RC car is in addition to all the content regularly in the Hardened Edition which includes a limited edition medal, an exclusive Black Ops avatar outfit and four playable cooperative maps.

No price was mentioned although it is safe to assume that it will follow Modern Warfare 2's pricing of $149 for the Prestige Edition and $79 for the Hardened Edition. Call of Duty: Black Ops releases on November 9, 2010 so get your pre-orders in early so you can stalk your neighbor's cat on day one!