Ah Labor Day weekend is here, and does anyone else appreciate and enjoy the irony of celebrating work by not working? On the other hand, you can take out the grill one last time, mow the lawn one last time, enjoy one of the many TV show marathons (catch up with Damages) or have a great weekend of gaming before the NFL season starts. I bet you can guess what I’ll be doing. Before I get to the weekend however, I need to tell you what to download. You see, all of the gaming companies wanted to make sure you weren’t bored over the weekend so over 30 (thirty) pieces of content are either new or re-priced to move. Someone must have forgotten that I have to write on deadline. The nerve of these people releasing all this stuff on Thursday night. Anyway, let’s get to it.

If you can avoid the red ring of death, this week was stellar for the 360 in the download department as eleven new items were put out. Last Saturday started it off with the Medal Of Honor Airborne demo. While the graphics aren’t new the gameplay does feel a bit different to me than previous WW 2 games. This could be a keeper come early September. Just in case that wasn’t enough for you, there are even more demos to talk about and hopefully you are as much of a sports gamer as I am.

Sports Gamers had not one, but two new demos on the 360: NHL 08 and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08. Boy, EA was very busy with the demos this week, wouldn’t you say? Both sports demos are worth the download time – NHL 08 was a lot better than I recall, although it is only one 20 minute period with the game. The Tiger demo gives you three holes to play with and the ability to upload your awesomeness online. The demo for TW actually made me interested in picking up the full version of the game, so make sure you give it a chance.

There was even a demo for an older game this week – May’s Call of Juarez, which, if you’ve checked my review, I was rather John Kerry-esque waffly about the game, so here’s your chance to try before you buy.

The demos are rounded out with a just-released-and-still-at-32%-download of Sierra’s TimeShift, which I wanted to download just to get a feel for one of the often-delayed and more anticipated games of 2007..or 2008…or 2009…who knows. Most people would think that would be all for the Xbox 360, but wait there’s more: I should touch base on the paid content released this week. First there’s Capcom’s Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix Super Terrific Happy Hour Electric Bugaloo. The gaming community has been dying to get their hands on this game, and frankly I don’t know why. As I’ve mentioned with many of these older games, it was already on GameTap (not in HD, duh) but people seem to be fanatic about this puzzle game. It’s not a bad puzzle game and does rely on a lot more strategy, but seriously if I want to fight guys, I’ll play a fighting game – not a puzzle game that fights for me, but thanks. And $10? Come on! The other release was Streets of Rage 2, which is one of the reasons I still play my Sega Nomad (that’s a real, official portable Genesis). I loved this game. It was the game Final Fight should have been on the SNES..you know with two players co-op and everything. Heh.

Guess what – we still aren’t done with the 360 as two new add-on packs for existing Live Arcade games were released (Bomberman and Eets Chowdown) and finally, Microsoft announced a Labor Day half price sale. That’s right – for 48 hours this weekend (Saturday 8PM eastern time to Monday 7:59 PM) you can buy some well known live arcade games for ½ price! The four games – Zuma Deluxe, Small Arms, Gauntlet and Dig Dug are well worth the values at half price (Zuma is a great puzzle game), so you might want to pick one or four of them up.

Phew. We’re done with the 360. Now I can move along to the PlayStation store which is always good for a break in the action. What’s that? Nine new pieces of content? I’m old, I can’t keep up with this stuff. Thankfully some of the stuff we already touched on in the 360 column – specifically Puzzle Fighter ($10) and the Tiger Woods Demo (both versions play the same so compare and contrast accordingly). The really big news is the release of THE add-on I’ve been waiting for – the online bonus pack for Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection. It’s only $10 and if you love Tekken, who wouldn’t love to play Tekken online? You can also purchase the game + bundle for $29 – just make sure you’re aware that the online pack requires you to purchase the original game.

The PlayStation store also has a new NASCAR 08 demo (yawn – about the demo, not NASCAR), and an All Pro Football 2K8 demo. I did enjoy the full version of the game on the PS3, so if you want to know what all the fuss is about, grab the demo! Rounding out the PS Store are some game trailers which are listed at the end of the column. Trailers are a good way to generate buzz for a game (Metal Gear anyone) but really if I’m going to spend time downloading, I want to play, dammit. Is that so wrong?