It is once again GameTap Thursday, and what a great week it is! Not only is a new episode of American McGee’s Grimm Volume 2 now available to play free for the first 24-hours, but subscribers can also download Gothic 3 and Kingpin. Metal Slug fans who have signed up on GameTap are in for a treat because Metal Slug X is the latest free game to be added to the growing roster (145 free games total).

Here are the details for each game added this week:

• Grimm Volume 2, Episode 14: Iron John: A strange iron man living in the forest befriends a young man hoping an act of kindness will free him from his iron curse. With Iron John’s help the boy marries the princess and lives happily ever after—well, not really because Grimm hates that sort of thing.

• Gothic 3: Piranha Bytes’ third in the series of fantasy-themed role-playing games. In this installment, The Nameless Hero arrives on a continent overrun with orcs, who have enslaved most of the humans in the area. The Gothic series thrives on choices and reputation, and this installment is no different – players can side with the orcs, save the humans, or both. Gothic 3 also boasts a beautifully-rendered open world, with lush jungles, deserts and intricately detailed icy tundras.

• Kingpin: Life of Crime: Publisher Interplay and Redneck Rampage developer Grey Matter Interactive present Kingpin: Life of Crime, a first-person shooter set in a gritty, crime-ridden city. Players enact their revenge against drug kingpin Nikko Blanco using whatever weapons are available. Gameplay includes weapon modification, interactive conversations with non-playable characters, and the ability to hire gang members to join in the fight.

• Metal Slug X: (Free to play for one week only) Morden’s Army is at it again, and only the Metal Slug team can stand in its way. But taking down Morden and his troops won’t be easy. Fortunately what the team lacks in wits, it makes up for with ordnance: they’ve got about ten zillion bullets and grenades, plus the ultra-advanced (and stylish) Metal Slug super vehicles. Released in 1999, it is something of a remixed, upgraded, “director’s cut” version of Metal Slug 2. Gentlemen, start your war.

December 11 will see the release of Grimm Volume 2, Episode 15: The Pied Piper which like all Grimm episodes, will be free to play for the first 24-hours. In it, the Piped Piper uses his siren call (or flute if you will) to lure a kingdom’s children to a watery grave. Just how much more horrible can Grimm make such a tale? Tune in next week to find out.

In the meantime, to play Metal Slug X for free or any of the other games in GameTap’s wide variety of free titles, head on over to the website and sign up. While you are there, if you decide to become a subscriber, you can sign up for that too.

The PlayStation Portable Store is a no-show this week, but there’s more than enough good stuff on the PS3 to make up for it. (Assuming you have a PS3, of course, otherwise you’ll just be left envious of those console-playing folks.)

PixelJunk Eden is the obvious highlight, making it the third PixelJunk game from Q-Games to be released on the PlayStation Network. Eden is a bit more abstract than the previous two games, which you could easily identify as a tower defense and racing game. $10 is the price for the full version of the game, or you can check out the demo that was released last week and read 1UP’s review.

LEGO Indiana Jones joins Madden 09 and FaceBreaker as the three new game demos this week. Madden’s demo is disappointingly short, letting you only play through the Madden IQ test and then a single trip down the field as you try to score a touchdown with the Giants in the closing moments of this year’s Super Bowl. It doesn’t really give you a great look at the game while the FaceBreaker demo does let you try out the create-a-player mode with your camera and play as many 90 second bouts as you wish.

Check out the full list of content after the break, including four new Rock Band tracks and some Soul Calibur music, which isn’t the slightest bit cheap.

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It’s Monday morning; time for another Wii-kly update. This week gamers can train for fraternity hazing with the WiiWare title, Pong Toss-frat Party Game. Toss your balls into cups of what assuredly would be root beer for an E for Everyone rating.

The virtual console offerings are ART OF FIGHTING 2 and Chase H.Q. giving gamers a variety of genres to choose from. A full description all these titles follows the break.
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Survival horror finally has finally made an appearance on the PlayStation Store with yesterday’s release of Siren: Blood Curse. The Sony-developed episodic game can be bought in its entirety for $40, or you can buy the three episode packs (each including three episodes) for $15 each.

A small selection of downloadable games on PSN have been temporarily discounted as part of a summer game sale. PAIN, PixelJunk Monsters, High Velocity Bowling, High Stakes on the Vegas Strip: Poker Edition and Rocketmen: Axis of Evil have had their price cut in half, from $10 to $5, for just one week. $5 for PixelJunk Monsters is an absolute bargain, and most PAIN owners would probably say that $5 is what the price should have always been.

Hit the break for the full list of content, which includes 1942: Joint Strike, new Guitar Hero III and Rock Band tracks, and a demo of PixelJunk Eden.

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One of the genres that hasn’t really been explored on PlayStation 3 is survival horror. With the mother of all survival horror, Resident Evil, not set to release its next game until next year, fans will have to look elsewhere in the meantime.

Siren: Blood Curse looks to fit right in that gap as a small TV crew heads to a Japanese village to shoot a documentary. Here’s a brief rundown from PlayStation.Blog of what to expect:

An American TV crew sets out on a journey to Japan in hopes of shooting a documentary piece about a mysterious village that supposedly disappeared under a mud slide 30 years ago. Upon arrival in this village, they immediately stumble across a disturbing ritual taking place. In the midst of the confusion and terror, a siren screams out. It’s a spine chilling sound. Is it a warning to stay away? What is the meaning of it? Why do the inhabitants keep coming back to life? What is going on here?

As the player, you get to experience the unique sense of fear this game delivers as you control 7 different playable characters, each character witnessing a different part of the horror and the mystery. And of course there is the unique sight jack system, which lets you see things from the perspective of your friends and even of the deadly Shibito undead, which I think really adds to the kind of horror you can experience with this game.

In a bit of a twist, the game will be available either as a full game for $40 from the PlayStation Store, or in three separate packs, each of which contain four episodes. If you opt to buy it in packs, you’ll end up spending a few dollars extra, as each pack will run you $15. Of course, if you end up not liking the game, you’ll be able to save some cash if you opt for the episode packs.

A demo of game, as well as some wallpapers and a theme, will be released today alongside the game. I’m more interested in the game than I thought I would be, so I might end up buying it if the demo is any good.

If you decide to buy the game, will you be going for the episode packs or the full game?

As promised, even more content was posted on the PlayStation Store yesterday, including a downloadable game I’ve never heard of (Fantasy Football: Draft Day Application?), all kinda of new trailers and videos — including part one (of three) of Sony’s E3 press conference — and some themes and wallpapers.

If you’ve been watching Gaming Today, you’ve likely come seen a number of the trailers already, but it’s nice to see them in all them glorious “P”s on your TV screen.

Hit the break for the full list of new content, and don’t forget to let us know what trailers you’ve enjoyed most.

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I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.. if anyone ever invites you to visit a sleepy little lake town called Silent Hill, run  screaming in the other direction because you’re probably dead or have some serious baggage in your past that will soon come back to bite you.

While from the initial impressions I can’t give you an overall sense of the story in this latest version of Silent Hill, I can talk about some of the changes that Konami and its development partner Double Helix Games are making to freshen up the long running horror series.

Silent Hill: Homecoming features a bit of a different protagonist for the series. Previous games always focused on the “everyman” characters in horrible situations, a staple of the survival horror genre. This time out the main character, Alex Shepherd is a former Airborne Ranger who is returning home and apparently is looking to discover the fate of his younger brother Jacob.
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What is it with horror movies (and games for that matter) that feature demented looking kids? Since when did little kids become scary anyway, and petite, pretty Japanese women for that matter? Regardless of when this trend started (I blame The Ring) it works, and the new trailer for Siren: Blood Curse featured at E3 is no exception. This will probably be the scariest game to be released episodically for a long while, and the mere thought of blindly fighting for my life in a mineshaft just sends chills up my back.

The first episode of Blood Curse is expected to debut on PSN July 24th.

Much like the PlayStation 3’s store, you’ll find all kinds of video on the PlayStation Store for PC. A lot of it is for PS3 games, so your miles may vary when it comes to the selection, but you will get a look at Buzz PSP and Resistance: Retribution, the latter of which was certainly the biggest PSP game announced at Sony’s press briefing yesterday.

Videos

• Resistance: Retribution
• Buzz PSP
• God of War III
• Motorstorm Pacific Rift
• Xam’d Lost Memories
• Ratchet & Clank Quest for Booty
• PixelJunk Eden
• Siren Blood Curse
• PAIN Amusement Park
• Gran Turismo TV

Lots of new videos make up the majority of the first PlayStation Store E3 update. It’s certainly a nice change in pace from only having new content once a week, and because there would be an absurd amount to download if they release this much today or tomorrow.

The week’s Rock Band tracks, comprised of 12 tracks from The Who, is one of the two non-video things that have been released. The other is the Team Mode add-on for Super Stardust HD, which will run you $5.

Hit the break for the full list of content.

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