Wee Hours Consoling

EA Sports games on Xbox 360, like many other titles on the system, have long featured downloadable gamer pics and themes available for purchase via Xbox Live Marketplace. Now, EA plans to start offering more practical content for sale on Marketplace, including in-game content and strategy guides. Today, content for EA Tiburon's Madden NFL 07 and NCAA Football 07 went live.

Four Madden video strategy guides are on sale, each available for 160 Microsoft Points ($2). The four guides are dedicated to passing, running, pass defense, and run defense; they are available in 720p. Similarly, there are four video guides available for NCAA at the same price, focusing on the same subjects as the Madden guides. Classic stadiums of the former LA Rams and the Seattle Seahawks are also available to purchase for Madden at 300 Microsoft Points ($3.75) each.

Both IGN and GameSpot have interviews with EA VP of online commerce Chip Lange, discussing EA's plans for purchasable game content. The company promises that it will bring more content for further games, with examples such as classic jerseys for Madden and NCAA, or courses and pro shop items for Tiger Woods PGA Tour.

Eidos has revealed a new action game for PSP from developer Deadline Games. Entitled Chili Con Carnage, the game puts players in the role of Ramiro Cruz, who must avenge his father's death by exacting a particularly extreme brand of mayhem on drug lord Cesar Morales and his cronies. It will also include a local wireless multiplayer feature of some kind. The game appears to be a port of last year's Total Overdose: A Gunslinger's Tale in Mexico (PS2, Xbox, PC), as it features the same main character and storyline, and is made by the same development team. Eidos also used the phrase "Chili Con Carnage" as a marketing tagline for Total Overdose. Oddly enough, today's announcement made no reference to that game. - Screenshots.

"The blend of exaggerated over-the-top action, diverse environments and comedy make Chili Con Carnage the best choice for a PSP action game," said Eidos associate marketing manager Mike Schmitt. "The variety of game modes allows the game to be accessible to a wide variety of gamers, allowing them to enjoy both a single player and multiplayer portable experience."

Deadline Games' Chili Con Carnage is set to ship in spring 2007.

Citing "retail reports out of Japan," IGN is reporting that Sony Computer Entertainment's series survival horror series Siren will be getting a third entry. The Siren development team had been recently ramping up staff for next generation development, suggesting another game in the franchise. Those speculations were confirmed with this current news.

The original Siren was released in North America in 2004, but its sequel shipped only in Japan and Europe. No details or release estimates were revealed regarding this upcoming Siren title.

IGN has a breakdown of the latest installment of "Iwata Asks," a series of interviews published by Nintendo between company president Satoru Iwata and the core development team on the Wii console. In an article overloaded with the words "Wii" and "Mii," IGN's summary has exceprts detailing the system's Wii Parade, an online community inhabited by the Mii caricature characters created by owners of the system.

Microsoft has released a playable demo of EA Black Box's Need for Speed Carbon for Xbox 360 via Xbox Live Marketplace. The free demo is a monstrous 1.06GB, and offers a sample of the game's autosculpt customization feature as well as the chance to try out Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 1X MR Edition, Chevrolet Camaro SS, and Lamborghini Gallardo in various game types.