It’s hard to believe but we are already 1/6th of the way through 2008. Time flies when you’re having fun I guess…Easter is just around the corner as well. This week was a relatively slow one for retail games so it left the door open for a plethora of downloads to really make their mark. Unfortunately, with most of the gaming world at the GDC, someone forgot to leave the light on over at the PlayStation Network, Wii Virtual Console and GameTap because the only console to bring the content was the Xbox 360.

Since they have the most content, let’s start with the 360. While the biggest announcement for most of the crowd might be the trailer for Gears of War 2 now available on the Marketplace, for those freakishly devoted to downloads like me, the announcement that XNA games would be made available for free to the general public was very exciting news – however it was tempered with the fact that it wouldn’t be totally available until the fall of 2008. On the other hand, it was nice that Microsoft has given us a taste of what these developers can do with the platform by releasing seven games – but hurry because if you haven’t downloaded the XNA Creators Club by 2/24, you are SOL until the fall. The seven games give a nice idea of the games created by the service. While they are cute, they are definitely not games that I would pay for. That combined with no achievements and a lack of ESRB rating makes it a difficult sell, even if the price is right. The idea sounds great…but we’ll have to wait until fall to really see what this service will include. Oh and good luck figuring out how to download them. Microsoft actually had to post a video to show you how to get the games, which involves going to the game store, pressing the Y button, jumping up and down three times and clicking your feet together. Talk about not ready for prime time…

The Live Arcade game this week was N+. I’m guessing the “N” stands for Ninja because that’s the character you control. The game reminds me a little of Exit but has a ton of replay value – 400 levels and a level editor make it worth the $10. Give it a shot. It’s a very challenging game although it’s a bit simple. The game is due out on the PSP and DS as well, and I doubt it will be $10 on either platform so this is probably the cheapest it’s going to be.

Rock Band fans will be happy to have their three new songs – one of which is my personal favorite Weezer song, El Scorcho. The other two songs are “Sex Type Thing” and “Why Do You Love Me” by Garbage. If you’re a guitar player, you’ll find these songs insanely easy, so you might skip them even though you know the songs very well.

Finally three new games have add ons this week: Overlord’s new content will set you back $10, while Need For Speed Pro Street is free. And finally, in the middle, there’s various new Accessory Packs for Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom…you can buy packs individually or buy the whole set up for 500 Points.

So, that wraps up the content on the 360, and as you probably guessed if this is the best content, its slim pickings on the other consoles. We don’t want to leave them out on the fun, so let’s get to it.

The PlayStation Network this week has a new PSOne game! Great news, but the PSOne game is Jet Moto 3 Is it me or don’t we have enough watercraft racing games in the console world? The good news of course is that you can play on the PSP or PS3, but it will cost you $5.99. I suppose it could have been worse.