As expected, the nextGTA IVepisode is now. The downloadable version of Grand Theft Auto: “The Ballad of Gay Tony” is live on Xbox LIVE Marketplace. Weighing in at a modest 2 GB and priced at 1,600 Microsoft Banana Bucks, the latest episode brings new vehicles, new weapons,new game modesand, more importantly, a fresh narrative starringLuis Lopez, a protector of sorts for the nightclubs owned “impresario” Tony Prince. AsMajor Nelsonpoints out in his post, this episode is available on as a stand-alone retail disc, coupled with its predecessor downloadable “The Lost and the Damned....

Wondering what to get for the Holidays this season? Then check out our Holiday Gift Guide 2009. Destructoid, saving your ass on a daily basis. Amazon has some good Black Friday deals, take a look at the DSi LL, three more characters get revealed forSuper Street Fighter IV, tell us what your top ten games of all time are and more happened on 11/24/09. Destructoid Originals:Game Debate to the Death!...

It’s the last day in June, which means our Monthly Music topic is about to get replaced. We got a lot of fantastic submissions throughout the entire month. Next month’s topic will be going live tomorrow, and I encourage everyone to participate. (Participate early! It’s hard to promote your blog for the month when you post it at 11:00pm on the last day.) Below the jump, you can see a list of all the submissions we got for The Great Escape....

I’m sure many of my countrymen have heard by now about theLondon Games Festival, a week-long event that celebrates our favorite past-time in the capital of this rotten island. Running from the 22nd to the 26th of October, a vast range of events from the musical to the thought-provoking are going to be on offer. I just received the full itinerary of the week’s events and I have to say that I am excited....

Half-Life 2: Episode Two Have you ever gasped out loud while playing a videogame? Even better, have you ever been so surprised by a moment that you have looked over and expressed your shock to someone that wasn’t even there? I can’t even tell you how many times my couch pillows have heard me scream “Oh my God, did you just see that?!” while gesturing their way, as if expecting some kind of response....

Before I go any further, let me say this right now: European Wii owners have been able to download the Famicom version ofSuper Mario Bros 2from the Wii Shop Channel, since last Friday. That’s the only time I’m going to say it, but let it be known that my North American bones are quaking with disappointment. Available today for the Wii Virtual Console areYoshi’s Story(Nintendo 64, 1 player, 1,000 Wii Points),Super Thunder Blade(Sega Genesis, 1 player, 800 Wii Points),World Class Baseball(TurboGrafx16, 1-2 players, 600 Wii Points)....

THQ has entered into a deal with distributor Sumthing Else Music Works to have soundtracks released for their latest and greatest games. THQ’s music catalog has been licensed for release on CD and on sites like Amazon and iTunes. With the announcement today comes a list of titles we can expect to get soundtracks for in the coming months: It’s always great to see more game music soundtrack releases here in the US....

And that doesn’t includeInsect Armageddon! It turns out thatEarth Defense Force: Insect Armageddonis just one of four titles that D3 Publisher has in the works, one of which is an officialEDF 4. We don’t know whatEDF 4will include, all we know is that it’s in development and it’s a separate thing from Armageddon. As well as that, we also haveEarth Defense Force 2 Portablecoming to the PSP, andEarth Defense Force Legendfor mobile phones....

2009 looks to be the year ofSpore. On top of theexpansion pack coming out, three newSporetitles are on the way for the Wii, DS and PC. Spore Herois going to be the much talked about Wii version ofSpore. The game takes place on one planet and is more of a story driven game compared to its counterpart. Players will need to forge alliances, battle other creatures and utizlie motion controls to play through the game....

The second add-on forToy Soldiers, dubbed “Invasion!,” is bananas. The core game is about World War I army miniatures battling for supremacy, but with this pack, it suddenly becomes a conflict involving towering robots and alien forces. As described by Signal Studios, you’ll encounter: “Chivalrous Knights, antique Bothell Fire Trucks, powerful Space Tanks, cunning Spacemen Infantry, and dodgy Flying Saucers.” I love it when a developer decides to go all out like this....

Toys R Us is today rolling out its huge nationwide videogame trade-in program, a new initiative that will allow customers to sell back all manner of games, including classic titles that retailers such as GameStop have long-since forgotten. If you want an idea of just what sort of games are acceptable, be aware that Toys R Us will accept Atari 2600 games. Yes, you read that correctly. Trade-ins will be exchanged for gift cards that can be spent at any store or used online....

When I think of what makesTrackmaniawhat it is today,YouTube runsof inventive user-made tracks immediately come to mind. This teaser forTrackmania 2is a decidedly more typical video, but it’s been so long since anyone’s mentioned the game in an official capacity that I’m fine with it. Still, not much to go on here. Let this serve as a reminder that this new installment hasn’t been secretly canned, if nothing else. According toUbisoft’s sitefor the teaser, more on theTrackmaniafront is heading out “around May 12....

Tuper Tario Tros.is a Newgrounds Flash game that takes theSuper Mario Bros.formula and gives it aTetristwist. The level you’re playing on starts off as world 1-1 typical does, but you quickly find out that there are large empty spaces that will make you think of thoseSuper MarioFrustration videos. So how do you move forward? By summoning the powers ofTetris! By pressing the space bar, you’ll be able to switch toTetrisand summon Tetriminoes resemblingSuper Mario Bros....