If you didn’t get exactly what you wanted for the holidays, this week’s Xbox LIVE Arcade sale is your chance to settle up, settle in, and find a few new ways to play. Save up to 50% on engaging arcade titles like Gatling Gears, Shank, and Risk Factions, or pick up some discounted DLC for your favorite EA games.

EA’s Xbox LIVE Arcade sale, which continues all the way through Monday, January 9, puts 24 unique pieces of content from BioWare, EA Sports, and more up for download through Xbox Live. Dig up the dark truth behind Hawke’s lineage in the Legacy expansion for Dragon Age 2, reclaim a powerful and bacon-y Artifact in DeathSpank, or give new shape to your nightmares with the Severed expansion for Dead Space 2.

They haven’t announced a deadline for when the deals expire, but they are listed expressly as limited time. To read the entire list of deals, click here.

Gearbox Software (@GearboxSoftware) will be Duking it out for your MS points next week, offering a variety of Xbox 360 Avatar items for sale, along with an Xbox 360 Dashboard theme. You can Duke-ify your avvie with signature items from the first man of FPSes, like a red beater, Duke-branded gloves, and a slick pair of shades that would look at home on Rowdy Roddy Piper.

Here’s the text as it appeared on their site:

Next Thursday, May 5th,  a variety of Duke Nukem Forever goods will land in the Xbox Live Marketplace, including free gamer pictures, a premium theme, and premium avatar items like Duke’s iconic outfit, throne, Freeze Ray, a shrunken Octabrain pet, a Pig Cop mask and more.

Images Copyright Gearbox Software 2011, Used under Fair Dealing

From the official site, here’s a quick look at the upcoming game:

Half a century after the Red Faction resistance and their Marauder allies freed Mars from the brutal Earth Defense Force, harmony on Mars is again threatened but this time by a lethal force shrouded in mystery.

When the massive Terraformer that supplies Mars with its Earth-like air and weather is destroyed, the atmosphere turns to chaos, super-tornados and lightning storms engulf the planet. To survive, the Colonists flee to the underground mines and build a network of habitable caves.

Five years later, Darius Mason, grandson of Martian Revolution heroes Alec Mason andSamanya, runs a lucrative business from Bastion, underground hub of Colonist activity. Mining, scavenging, mercenary work–if the job is dangerous, Darius is your man. Few sane people now venture to the ravaged surface, aside from contractors like Darius and the smugglers who run goods between the settlements.

When Darius is tricked into reopening a mysterious shaft in an old Marauder temple, he releases a long-dormant evil and unleashes Armageddon on Mars. As Colonist and Marauder settlements are torn asunder, only Darius and the Red Faction can save mankind. The battle will take them across the storm-blasted planet–and below it, to the very heart of the unspeakable threat.

• Risk Factions – 50% off @ 4oo pts
• Banjo Kazooie – 50% off @ 600 pts
• Centipede/Millipede – 50% off @ 200 pts
• Street Fighter II Hyper Fighting – 50% off @ 200 pts
• Contra – 50% off @ 200 pts

That should keep those who aren’t busy with Call of Duty: Black Ops Escalation occupied for the next week or so. See you in SFII online – Hadoken!

Let’s face it, AC Brotherhood has strong roots and a great foundation to build on; the Assassin’s Creed Series has sold millions of copies, garnering high marks from gamers and critics alike. While the first was a little rough around the edges–if you spent the time to find all of those flags I’m impressed, you’re a better gamer than I–the second game was a masterpiece. Everything from combat to movement to plot was improved, making it a must have game for both PS3 and Xbox 360.

Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood takes the characters of ACII, specifically Desmond Miles and his ancestory, Ezio, and picks up precisely where the second game left off, just as the second picked up moments after the first. This continuity is a great move for gamers who are enjoying the story. The complexity of the plot isn’t extreme, but it’s twisted enough to provide some phenomenal intrigue, and some of the best “whoa!” reveals I’ve experienced in gaming.

While the game begins with a brief tutorial, AC Brotherhood puts more trust in the fact that you’ve played a previous Assassin’s Creed game. If you haven’t, don’t worry, the on-screen prompts are perfectly placed to get you going, but really, it’s $20 for ACII. Go buy it. The visuals retain the flair and fluidity of ACII, with voice acting that oscillates between good and great. Cutscenes both large and small are frequent, but they’re so seamless that they work really well.

Gameplay

Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood is still an AC game, which means all of the great free-running, climbing, and hang-time shanking that made the first two games awesome is still here. The great thing is that Ubisoft has taken the time to fleshing things out again, giving us even more to do than we had in ACII (which in turn had expanded on AC by a large degree). There are some great Uncharted-like moments (that’s one of the highest compliments I can give a game) which has really helped to flesh out the Assassin’s Creed world, taking it into the territory where I feel like I’m playing a movie. Don’t take that the wrong way, I’m doing much, much more playing, but the character and story interaction during those times is perfectly balanced. Collection quests return – notably the features we saw in ACII, and flags from AC. I can’t say yet whether the flag quest is going to be arduous as the first Assassin’s Creed, but  there is an achievement for collecting them all. For those with OCD: enjoy.

Climbing seems to have had its difficulty cranked up slightly, as the game doesn’t feature many “Hold RT + A + left thumbstick up” buildings anymore–that’s a good thing, it makes you think and keeps you involved.

Combat is just as good as ACII; button mashing will see you in tears, but careful applications of counters, kicks, grabs, and, well, more counters will see you victorious. The tower-taking element in the game is quite cool; you’re going to need some strategy and some insight to avoid drawn out fights and losing your quarry.

All in all, the single-player game is more of the great stuff that we received in ACII, with a fantastic new layer of story on top.

The multiplayer aspect of the game is going to need more time for a fair review. It’s a fascinating concept and I enjoyed the beta on PS3. We’ll return to this in the future with some more details

Visuals

I’m playing through the Xbox 360 version after playing AC and ACII on PlayStation 3. The visuals are similar to what we saw in ACII; while there is some screen tearing (it’s rare) most of the visual anomalies that you’ll see are elements of the Animus.

The representation of both past and present are excellent. The textures are spot on, and many of the buildings feel quite unique. There are hiccups here and there, but for the most part the game is smooth as butter, even when you’re taking on large numbers of enemies.

Sound

Two things about sound: The voice work is a bit odd in surround sound; my home theatre made voices sound quite echo-y. No idea why.

Second thing? The music is great. I’m going to have to go back and play more Assassin’s Creed II, but I don’t recall it having the same action-movie feel that ACB has pulled off. It’s really, really great.

Conclusions

If you liked ACII, you’re going to love ACB; Yes, you get Metroided early in the game (that’s not a spoiler if you’ve got an ounce of common sense) and then you’re off on another Assassin’s Creed quest. That sounds repetitious; it’s not. There’s a lot to do, and a ton of fun to be had, making this a great value for your cash.

Thank you to Ubisoft for providing a review copy. A second thank you to Ubisoft for making a great game that I’m actually really enjoying. Makes the whole review thing a lot more fun.

What is Ewing’s Sarcoma?

Ewing sarcoma is a malignant round-cell tumor. It is a rare disease in which cancer cells are found in the bone or in soft tissue. The most common areas in which it occurs are the pelvis, the femur, the humerus, and the ribs.

Because a common genetic locus is responsible for a large percentage of Ewing sarcoma and primitive neuroectodermal tumors, these are sometimes grouped together in a category known as the Ewing family of tumors. The diseases are, however, considered to be different: peripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumors are generally not associated with bones, while Ewing sarcomas are most commonly related to bone.

Ewing sarcoma occurs most frequently in male teenagers, with a male/female ratio of 1.6:1

BUNGIEDAYATHON?

Yup, Fyrewulff is going to be playing Bungie games for two days straight, starting with the classic FPS Marathon and heading right through to ODST and Halo Wars.

To make things more interesting he’s going got some achievement markers and “skulls” in place for money raised:

• If he can raise $343, he’ll bump the the difficulty from normal to Heroic.
• $777 is the BUNGIEDAYATHON’s goal, bumping the challenge to Legendary.
• $1170 is extra credit, with a surprise for old Bungie fans if that goal is hit.

What’s even better? He’s streaming it all, live! So if you’re interested in helping out a good cause and getting some free entertainment as you do, you can donate here to the BUNGIEDAYATHON here!

Defense Grid is another tower defense game, with a high tech twist. It looks good and plays well. Great deal at 50% off.

Defense Grid
Place your defenses in this hi-tech tower defense game, now 50% off for Gold members.

P.B. Winterbottom doesn’t share the charm of braid, but it does have excellent art direction, and the mechanics behind it are fun. It tugs on Internet memes for its hook, but don’t let that deter you.

The Misadventures of P. B. Winterbottom
Create your own paradox for the love of pie at 50% off for Gold members, only 400 points.

Rocket Riot on sale appears to be an answer in-kind to the Doujin deluge from the PSN a few weeks back. If you like sideview shooters this is a good deal.

Rocket Riot
Strap on your bazooka in this stylized side-view shooter, now half off for Gold members.

Chances are you already own Darwinia on another platform, but if you don’t this digital-life RTS is a great game. For 800MSP it’s a steal.

Darwinia+
Lead the peaceful Darwinians into battle to reclaim their lost world, 50% off for Gold members.

It’s hard to argue against the price, but I didn’t like Chime. It has an interesting mechanic but I’ve felt like I’ve done this before.

Chime
Place blocks against the clock for only 240 points, a 40% discount for Gold members.

Poker Smash adds an action-puzzle element to the traditional game of poker. It’s not really needed, so I didn’t enjoy Poker Smash as much as some others might.

Poker Smash
This action-packed puzzle game with a poker twist is now 50% off for Gold members.

• Sonic The Hedgehog
• Sonic 2 (features 2-player local and XBL multi)
• Sonic 3 (features 2-player local and XBL multi)
• Sonic and Knuckles

Duke Nukem Manhatten Project is a 2D sidescroller with the king of hubris, Duke Nukem. This action platformer was previously on Windows PCs and makes its way to XBL for 800MSP. It has aged well, so it’s a fun buy and worth it.

RISK: Factions pits you against 5 adversaries featuring classic RISK rules, or you can switch it up with objective based gameplay and and world conquest scenarios. If you like the board game you’ll love this; multiplayer keeps things fresh, so this has a ton of replay value.

Here are the details:

Xbox 360 makes family time, quality time. Only Xbox LIVE delivers a world of games, movies, social entertainment and starting this November, live sports, allowing you to share them with the people you care about, around the world.

This November, the new Xbox LIVE Gold Family Pack will offer up to four individual Xbox LIVE Gold memberships for only US$99.99 – the price of two regular Xbox LIVE Gold subscriptions. Now as you prepare for the launch of Kinect for Xbox 360, which makes YOU the controller, consider giving your family premium Gold experience and access to the biggest names in entertainment.

Perfect for families, the Xbox LIVE Gold Family Pack will also offer access to additional conveniences and services including the new Family Center, accessible on the Xbox dashboard and Xbox.com for easier family management, access to activity monitoring reports, and the ability to purchase and give Microsoft Points to other Xbox LIVE Gold Family Pack members.

An Xbox LIVE Gold Family Pack includes:

• Up to four individual Xbox LIVE Gold memberships for the price of two – (US) $99.99.
• Family Center – a single, easy to use, destination for Family Settings and account management, accessible on the Xbox dashboard and on Xbox.com.
• The primary account member has the ability to purchase and dispense Microsoft Points to other Xbox LIVE Gold Family Pack members.
• Activity monitoring reports viewable on Xbox.com to help encourage discussions about safer more balanced gaming and entertainment habits.
• Simplified billing that applies all purchase charges to the primary account holder’s billing account and the ability to authorize purchases, helping to manage the family’s entertainment budget.
• Exclusive family content and discounts.

The industry-leading, built-in Xbox 360 Family Settings are also being taken to the next level this November. It’s Microsoft’s goal to provide parents and caregivers with tools and resources to manage their children’s gaming and entertainment experiences, and these features are available to all Xbox LIVE members:

• Family Programming that removes all mature games, movies, and content from the dashboard, based on ESRB, Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) ratings and the TV Parental Guidelines system . Family Programming is password protected, and easy to turn on and off for each member. (Compatible with international ratings systems.)
• Title exceptions – the ability to allow your family members to play specific games above the console’s designated ESRB rating if you deem appropriate. (Compatible with international ratings systems.)
• Intelligent default settings for child, teen, and adult profiles. Xbox will automatically assign default privacy and activity settings for each member that can later be individually customized.
• Family Settings are displayed prominently in the MyXbox channel. Current tools include the Family Timer, which allows you to control the amount of time – either daily or weekly – your children may use the console.

Whether you want to play your favorite games, stream movies and music from Zune, or watch the latest sporting event together via ESPN on Xbox LIVE*, Xbox 360 brings the best family-friendly entertainment straight to your living room.

*ESPN on Xbox available for Xbox LIVE Gold members that are ESPN viewers in supported markets. ESPN on Xbox LIVE, providing great content from ESPN3.com and ESPN.com, is only available to Xbox LIVE Gold members. For access to ESPN3.com content, Gold members must receive theirinternet connection from an affiliated broadband provider. See ESPN3.com for details and providers.

It’s yet to be seen whether this will be restricted to a single Xbox or even a single residence. Gamers could, feasibly, purchase a family plan with friends and reduce the impact of LIVE on their wallets while signing up for exclusive family deals.

Xbox LIVE family plans launch in November, but the exact date is unknown at this time.

Chuck’s Ducks 2 consists of two stages: the first is a balloon popping game where you’ll attempt to match up two different balloons of the same colour to clear the board. Doing so will earn you ducks that you’ll need to protect from hunters in the second Duck-Hunt esque stage. The second stage adds a twist as you’re not aiming at the ducks, but at the hunters.

On top of having access to Quackers in the demo, gamers that earn them will have access to them in multiplayer when the game launches in July.