Listen up Battlefield fans!

The second map pack for Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is available to download for the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC right now!

The map pack is available with the VIP code which is included in every new copy of Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Players that do not have a code can purchase one via the in-game store ($15), PC players will get the content as a game update.

It’s worth noting that the map pack doesn’t actually include any maps. Instead, it unlocks the Conquest Mode in Arica Harbor and Rush Mode in Laguna Presa. Hard to complain since it’s essentially new gameplay for free (unless you aren’t a VIP, of course).

The DLC was released today.

Wanna see the new maps in action? Check out the trailer below.

Bioshock 2
Developer: 2K/Digital Extremes/Arkane Studios
Platforms: Playstation 3 | Xbox 360 | PC
Publisher: 2K
ESRB: M
Release Date: February 9, 2010

Welcome back to Rapture, the Objectivist dystopia where one of the best stories in video game history takes place. Every since Bioshock changed the way people viewed FPS games, fans have anxiously awaited the sequel. The wait is over, and patience has paid off for those who wanted more.

Bioshock 2 takes place 8 years after the events of the first game. Industrialist Andrew Ryan, the founder of Rapture, is dead, as is his arch-nemesis Frank Fontaine, whose scheming brings about a civil war that caused the city’s infrastructure to collapse. In the time since the war ended, the remaining citizens have continued their decent into complete madness, made worse by the complete isolation and continued abuse of the gene-altering drug known as ADAM. ADAM grants users special abilities, but can easily be abused, resulting in a loss of sanity.

The story begins two years prior to the events of the first game, with the player as a “Big Daddy” one of the super-strong brainwashed warriors decked out in a scuba suit/battle armor. As a mindless soldier, the player only watches as they slowly lurch through Rapture guarding a “Little Sister,” a genetically modified and brainwashed child tasked with extracting ADAM from dead bodies throughout the city. While defending the girl from “splicers,” ADAM addicts whose minds have been ravaged by prolonged abuse, you are interrupted by Dr. Sophia Lamb, a psychiatrist causing a stir within Rapture. It turns out your “little sister” is Eleanor Lamb, Sophia’s daughter. Wanting her daughter back, Dr. Lamb uses mind control to force you to kill you yourself.

Gizmodo has a very interesting new article about the future of cell phones and the ever-growing technologies associated with them.

In speaking to Imagination Technologies, who created the PowerVR chip that makes your iPhones and Droids as pretty and as popular as they are, it was revealed that in about three years, we could have the capabilities to run PlayStation 3 level graphics on our phones. As with anything involving such a constantly-growing industry, companies are always working with new products, technologies, and prototypes that take time to evolve, which explains the estimated wait.

One of the most exciting things to receive as a gift on Christmas is video games. For me personally, nothing beats the morning I was given the Sega Genesis system I never thought I would possibly get, and playing Sonic’s elusive blue hide right into the ground. And even though that childlike joy will never be experienced again for me, and video game systems are a whole lot different and more expensive these days, it’s still exciting to open up a new video game you haven’t played yet.

To try and help some of you create this joy for your video game playing loved ones, we wanted to create a list of 2009’s best and most-desired game titles. These are the games that most people are going to want if they don’t have them yet, and these are the games that have made the most impact. Obviously you’ll want to make sure they don’t have specific titles in mind, but for the most part, this is where to start reading up on and shopping for video game gift ideas.

Click on over to the other side to check out our very own Holiday Gift Guide: Video Game Edition ’09 for selections to play on Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 game consoles, as well as on your PC.

And don’t procrastinate! No one enjoys last second shopping or the hell that is your local mall a few days before Christmas!

The Western genre is a 50/50 one. Many people love it passionately, and many others just can’t seem to get into it. The same goes in the world of video games: whether it was the awesome Wild Gunmen or maybe even Gun Smoke on Nintendo, up to the more recent GUN and Call of Juarez games, you either dig them or want nothing to do with them. The latest video game effort that will take us to the wild old west is a game called Red Dead Redemption, and it now has a great new trailer.

Red Dead Redemption is a sequel of sorts to one of the not-so-good Westerns of the past, Red Dead Revolver, and both are developed by the masterminds behind the Grand Theft Auto series, Rockstar Games. While the first game didn’t have a whole lot to offer, this new game is not only looking to join the party, it’s looking to take over the genre. Not much is known of gameplay and what to really expect, but if you watch this video, you will surely see that they may have gone and created the most impressive and authentic old western world that we’ve seen so far.

Click over to check out the trailer!