Welcome to another week of download goodness. I’m calling it the Vertigo edition due to my feeling like the room is spinning every time I stand up. Pretty catchy huh – needless to say something like this reduced my game playing time. Have no fear though; I made sure each download got some quality time with me – even at the expense of playing multiplayer Halo 3!

First let’s start with the Xbox 360, where I am pleased to announce a stunning lack of 150 point theme add ons for any game this week (thankfully). On a quick tangent, I’d love to hear your thoughts for this column – do you want to see every game related item, even if it’s just a ho-hum picture pack, or should we stick to the “main” stuff – games? Drop us a line and let us know.

Anyhoo, getting back to the 360, there were a whopping five new demos released this week: Bladestorm and the Simpsons game were both released on the PS3 last week, and really aren’t anything new on the 360 if you’ve already played the PS3. The F.E.A.R Files Extraction Point demo was released which is an expansion pack to the original game – don’t confuse this with the ‘real’ sequel due out next year. It’s easy to be confused; my first thought was “how did they get a demo of the game that’s not due out for another year?” – and the answer was “because this isn’t that game!”. F.E.A.R. was one of the 360s underrated gems and this demo does stand alone (ie the original game is not required for this demo), so be sure and check it out!

The demo for Conan surprised me – I liked it but wished it lasted longer. After I went to preorder the game for the 360, I realized it will be coming out on GameTap for free but hey, you need achievements, right? The other big demo was one for Project Gotham Racing 4. I’m a big fan of the game and if my retrofit for my wireless wheel ever shows up, I will really enjoy this game even more than I am now. Of course who knows if /when I’ll get that retrofit….

In a regular week, all those demos would be enough for me to say “wow,” but we’re not done yet. Many months ago, the internet was all ablaze with people calling Puzzle Quest an amazing game, but you could only play it on your PSP or DS, or a demo on your PC (but not the full game). This week Puzzle Quest came to the Xbox 360 for a mere 1200 points ($15)…high on the Points scale but low compared to the $30 you’d pay for the game for your DS. The game translates well to the console and still retains it’s addictiveness. It’s $15 well spent if you’ve never encountered this phenomenon. Just one caveat: there’s already a game on Live Arcade called Jewel Quest. I accidentally bought this instead of Puzzle Quest at first, setting be back an additional $10. Remember, the correct game is Puzzle Quest!

We’re still not done – the 360 added a ton of movies to their marketplace as well as a game add-on for Band Of Bugs. Finally, a free Live Arcade game called Yaris was released – and no that’s not the name of the woman from GameStop who reminds you about preorders – we’re talking about the Toyota vehicle here. The game – well let’s just say you get what you pay for, but at the cost of “FREE” you might as well get it.

Moving along to the Virtual Console, I have to say that I’m really biased here. I don’t see the point in paying for content that you can already receive for a lower price on GameTap. Hmm, do I pay $27 for three NeoGeo games on the Wii, or do I pay $60 for those three games plus 990 others? Which will I do? Anyway, I realize that there are people who don’t have GameTap so let’s talk about the Wii releases. Fatal Fury, World Heroes, and Art of Fighting are all – wait for it—fighting games. Which one is the best? Hmm…tough call between FF and AoF, but I’m going to go with Fatal Fury. Another game, Fatal Fury SPECIAL was just released on Xbox Live and for 400 points ($5), but here it’s $9? Does that make any sense? No it doesn’t. Skip all three and get Gametap!