In last week’s article, I lamented about this time of year being rather light when it comes to new releases and how the supply of downloadable content was steady. Apparently that was a season finale week for downloadable content because there is a dearth of quality this week on any platform…. Fortunately for you I did find three games that are worth your time out of the 16 that were released this week on the 3 consoles and the PC.

Of course, for those not living under a rock, the biggest downloadable content was the release of the Beta version of Halo 3. For those wondering why Crackdown is moving up the Xbox Live games played charts, it’s because technically Halo 3 is Crackdown downloadable content. Seriously, I couldn’t make this stuff up.

Moving along to real downloadable games on Xbox Live Arcade, it’s rather ironic that this week’s best game is a free one developed by interns. Dubbed Aegis Wing, it is very reminiscent of games like Gradius and R-Type…and it has 'same console' and online cooperative play, which makes it much more fun. Oh and did I mention it’s free? One thing that most of the press releases on this game neglected to mention is that the game does in fact have achievements, so get cracking..

The other game, Soltrio Solitaire is just not good. I wouldn’t expect frame rate issues in a solitaire game, but I’ve had them here. In addition, let’s just say a controller is not a very good replacement for a mouse. I can live with them in first person shooters, but on solitaire – no thanks. Avoid this one, which will eat $10 out of your wallet if you just have to have 200 achievement points.

When your downloadable content features “video” of a 25 year old game, you know you might need help but that’s what Sony did. Yup, for those of you that don’t have GameTap or purchased the game almost 2 years ago over Live Arcade, you can watch thrilling video of Joust on the PlayStation 3. Again, it is difficult to make up stuff like this. For those of you that want even more pain, it’s only a $5 download away with the release of Rampage for the PS3. Again, of all the classic arcade games out there that gamers want, Rampage just doesn't hit the spot.. Skip this puppy.

Moving along to the Virtual Console, Wii owners were blessed enough to get Tecmo’s original NES game Ninja Gaiden. Ironically Ninja Gaiden Sigma should be making it over to the PS3 later this year, so it’s best to catch up on the Wii…I mean why would they put it on the PS3 as downloadable content when that would make sense? Anyway, for 500 points ($5), it’s an enjoyable game if you like the series and need to have it. I wasn’t personally as excited for this one as others were so your mileage may vary. The reason is that it’s a very difficult game…not difficult in “wow, that was quite a challenge and I’ve beaten it way,” but instead in a “this f***ing game is a piece of Sh*t!” sort of way. There is a difference. Anyway, those that did beat it will love to play it again. Personally, I’m not a masochist, so I’ll pass.

Some Turbo Grafix 16 game was also released and it also deals with Ninjas but I only have a limited budget and again, if I don’t remember it on the TG16 it’s probably not worth playing, so let’s skip it.

Finally, huge news for Wii fans…that’s right, you now have Pac-Man fever. Well, actually you have NES Pac-Man fever because apparently the 1980s real arcade version was just too advanced for the capability of the Wii. Okay Nintendo fans, I’m just kidding. Kind of. Why the hell would you pay $5 for this crap when you can buy the real arcade game on Xbox Live?

Moving along to GameTap, it seems to be education week as while ten games were released this week, only two are non-educational games: Interstate ’82 and Frog Bog. I was never a fan of the Intellivision game…hey look let’s control frogs and eat flies…Frogger it isn’t. Interstate ’82 was a sequel to the very well received Interstate ’76, but it really lost a lot of character…I didn’t enjoy ’82 as much as ’76…although in real life, ’82 was a much better year. Rocky Point, great music…I was young and care free and no one could take my 2600 away….but anyway I digress. Since you should already have a GameTap subscription, downloading I’82 isn’t going to kill you in the wallet. Just make sure you have the Xbox 360 wireless USB adapter to play the game as the keyboard controls are annoying.

That wraps up another This Week In Downloads. See you next week as we answer the burning question: well NES Golf ever be released on Virtual Console in the US???!!