PSP minis are about quality over quantity, and Blast Off is the poster game for the concept, delivering a short and sweet experience enhanced to no small degree by its short and sweet ambient soundtrack. It's only four tracks - one for each difficulty level - but the music is lovely, and the price is right.

"To celebrate the New Year and the critical acclaim we've received for Blast Off, we've decided to release the soundtrack for free as a super awesome gift to you all. Enjoy your holidays to the ambient and introspective tunes of everyone's favourite PSP Mini space puzzler!"

You can pick up the four tracks right now via torrent in MP3 or Apple Lossless flavors.

There it is, pictured above. The free offer is good through the end of today, but I believe that clocks in at Pacific time, so it means folks on the U.S. east coast have to 3 a.m. if they want it. However, yesterday's Deal of the Day, Worms 2: Armageddon for 400 Microsoft Points, was still live when I posted this at 6 p.m. Mountain time. But the 2010 Avatar party glasses had gone back to 40 MS points. So who knows.

The DotD promos - which Microsoft is not announcing in advance - last through Dec. 31, and if you're keeping track of this sort of thing, Cheap Ass Gamer has been archiving the giveaways here.

New Year's Theme [Xbox Live Marketplace via Gay Gamer]

Between now and January 10th, European PSPgo owners both new and old can download a special free PSPgo Promotion Theme to their handheld, which will trigger an email voucher good for full versions of one of three popular PSP titles - Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines, Gran Turismo, or MotorStorm Arctic Edge. The offer is good only for the PSPgo, and the theme must be downloaded directly to the handheld via wireless internet in order to trigger the voucher.

This promotion is on top of the free copy of Gran Turismo handed out to European PSPgo buyers in early October and the three free titles offered to folks that upgraded from the original PSP.

I picked up a PSPgo this weekend on a whim, and received a lovely five-song demo of Rock Band Unplugged. Hooray.

PSPgo game offer (selected titles only) [PlayStation UK via Videogamer]

Kneebouncers is the brainchild of Jim Robinson, the father of three non-brain children who was frustrated that his slightly older children could play on the computer while his young daughter could not. His solution? Kneebouncers, a collection of web-based video game activities that only require that the baby or toddler playing be able to hit the keyboard.

Most of the activities are simple flash animations with colorful characters that animate when a button is pressed, almost like turning the page in a storybook. They are primitive, and barely even games as we define them, but it's less dangerous than crawling about on the floor eating plastic and licking electrical outlets, so I approve.

Bring your drooling offspring to http://www.kneebouncers.com to play. It's free, though a percentage of donations and proceeds from the sale of shirts and plushies goes to the Children's Aid Society.

The first contest has you sending in a photo to prove how metal you are for a chance to win a kick-ass Mishka Brutal Legend Tee.

The second involves a bit of Tekken Cosplay with a chance to win a limited edition Tekken 6 Wireless Fight Stick.

If you'd rather not face the hordes of shoppers today, why not spend your timing entering contests instead?

Team Racing is an all-new mode for Need for Speed Shift that pits two teams of up to six racers against each other. In team-based races, winning isn't simply about crossing the finish line. You'll have to coordinate with your teammates, work out strategies, and yes...sometimes you'll have to lose in order to win. It's a difficult concept for some to grasp. I'd suggest watching Talladega Nights for inspiration. If you bought a launch PlayStation 3 you should have a copy. It's all about the Shake N' Bake.

The Team Racing pack also comes with five renowned racing cars:

1967 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray 427
1967 Shelby GT-500
1969 Dodge Charger R/T
1971 Dodge Challenger R/T
1998 Toyota Supra Mark IV

The Team Racing pack will be available worldwide for the Xbox 360 on December 1st, December 3rd for European PS3 consoles, and December 10th for the North American PS3.

Players can download the "Hyundai Genesis Coupe Car Pack" for free today, adding three different versions of the 300-horsepower Genesis Coupe to their car rosters. The pack includes the Rhys Millen Racing Red Bull Hyundai Genesis Coupe, the HKS Genesis Coupe, and a unique Forza Motorsport 3 Genesis Coupe. I'd say it's a coupe coup, if I was much cornier than I already am.

Following up the free DLC in December is a paid "Hot Holidays Car Pack", featuring a selection of 2010's most eagerly anticipated super and purpose-built race cars. Turn 10 will be slowly revealing the content of the pack leading up to the December 8th release, but it will definitely include the new Ferrari 458 Italia, with the 2010 Audi S4 accompanying the pack as a free sample. Keep an eye on Forzamotorsport.net to see what 400 Microsoft points will net you come next month.

Outside of mod tools included in the PC versions of Gears of War or Unreal games, the only way to get your hands on Unreal Engine 3 technology for free was to date Cliff Bleszinski, and even then odds are you wouldn't be sharp enough to do anything with it. Now Epic has released the Unreal Development Kit, a standalone game development package available for free non-commercial use.

The Unreal Development Kit, or UDK, contains everything a budding game developer needs to create Unreal Engine 3-powered games. Games like Whizzle from Psyonix Studios, a game crafted in two months using a two-man team of a programmer and artist. You can see the results in the screenshot up top, or head over to the showcase page to download the game for free.

"I'm excited about the possibilities the Unreal Development Kit opens to those who are looking to get into the game business but don't otherwise have the means to acquire world-class technology and tools like ours," said Mark Rein, vice president of Epic Games. "UDK is Unreal Engine 3, which has been used to create games in a wide range of genres, as well as military simulations, 3D architectural walkthroughs, animated movies and more. Users are only limited by their imaginations. Go ahead make something Unreal!"

You can download the Unreal Development Kit right now at http://www.udk.com/, where you can also find documentation, licensing terms, and a full feature listing.

Everyone who buys Fairytale Fights for the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 will be getting free downloadable content in the coming weeks, but prove your love for the game and you can get even more. How does one prove their love? Simply register at the Fairytale Fights website, and you'll be eligible for extra downloadable content, which Playlogic says is valued at $15. Whether four new playable characters and three new PVP arenas are worth $15 to you is a moot point really, as you'll just be getting it for free anyway. Let's not split hairs here.

To register for the extra DLC, visit http://www.fairytalefights.com/dlc. Details on the content coming to Xbox 360 and PS3 users who don't register will be announced in the coming weeks.

Humans + Gears consists of 33 arrangements of composer Yasunori Mitsuda's original score to the 1998 Square Enix game Xenogears from 30 different remix artists. The two-disc project represents the mechanical and human sides of the Xenogears story, with the first disc focusing on natural, soft, human sounds and the second more dark and electronic.

I've listened to several tracks off of the project so far, and I have to say that the quality of the work is simply amazing. There is no reason not to own this music.

The entire project can be downloaded right now from the album's official website either song-by-song or in one massive, 1.07GB torrent.

You might not know where you'll be going, but you'll sure know who you'll be. BioWare has released the entire character creation process for the PC version of Dragon Age: Origins as a free download on the official website. The download is around 370mb or so, and once installed it allows you to completely create your Dragon Age character, save it, and then import it once the full game hits store shelves and digital distribution channels.

I love BioWare for doing this. This is exactly the sort of pre-release application that gets me excited about sinking my time and teeth into an epic RPG. They've got versions in German, French, Polish, Russian, Spanish, Italian, Czech, and Hungarian, so not being able to read what I am typing here is no excuse.

Character Creator Now Online! [Dragon Age - Thanks PurpleChair!]

With the October 27th launch of Forza 3 just around the corner, Turn 10 and Microsoft are gearing up to release the full list of cars and tracks for the game over at Forzamotorsport.net. Not content with the ridiculous number of rides included in the game, Turn 10 has hand-picked 10 classic cars, bundled them up with two new tracks, and created the Motorsports Legends Car Pack. The pack includes such vintage racers as the '60 Chevrolet Corvette, '71 Nissan Skyline 2000 GT-R, and the '65 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe, along with the Benchmark High Speed Ring and Sidewinder Proving Ground tracks.

The Motorsports Legends Car Pack will be available on launch day, with a special code inside every new copy of Forza 3 allowing the purchaser to pick up the pack for free. Check out the full list of included cars below.

· '65 Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GTA
· '64 Aston Martin DB5 Vantage
· '81 BMW M1
· '60 Chevrolet Corvette
· '69 Dodge Charger
· '57 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa
· '80 Fiat 131 Abarth
· '67 Lamborghini Miura P400
· '71 Nissan Skyline 2000 GT-R
· '65 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe

Fable II: Game Episodes is the full version of Fable II split up into five easy pieces, with all of the achievements, co-operative gameplay, and hero-creating joy of the retail release. Xbox 360 owners can download the first episode today for free, taking their hero from childhood to young adulthood in the first volume, and then additional volumes are available at the player's leisure. It's the Time-Life Books of gaming.

Additionally, players who purchase the disc edition after downloading the free episode will carry over all of their statistics, experience, and items relatively seamlessly.

If you've yet to experience Fable II for yourself, you have no excuse anymore.

It really is that simple. Well, it assumes you have both the PS3 version and a PSN account, but yeah, you probably do. So quit watching Jimmy, Terry and Howie laughing gratuitously at Frank Caliendo and go pick up some free football. And Xbox 360 owners, tough luck, but you can watch this sweet video below. It's free too.

AFL - Reebok [Reebok.com via Joystiq]

Go here, punch the giant "REDEEM" button (be patient) to generate your code, and then redeem that through the PlayStation Network and, poof, Sackboy's ready to romp around in his own Wagnerian opera.

LittleBigPlanet Norse Mythology Code [PlayStation.com via GayGamer.net]

Stephen Nichols, putting it bluntly, says "the game just isn't profitable." Though the game's creative team has some ideas for how to inject life back into it, "they're expensive to implement and pretty risky. Those two facts, coupled with the recent loss of some key developers, make achieving the success we seek pretty much out of the question."

They're just a three man team now. (They were five.) So Dungeon Runners is caput when the big ball plops on Times Square. Until then, they put together some parting gifts for the Dungeon Runners community.

First, those with paid memberships as of Sept. 16 get 30 days free in City of Heroes: Architect Edition and Guild Wars: Prophecies. Nichols added that "any of you guys that need refunds for multiple-month membership purchases will be taken care of."

The other slice of bread in the shit sandwich? "We're going out in style," Nichols said, "with a few changes to the game for the coming 'End Time.'" That means more frequent mythic loot drops, cut rate prices at the King's Coin vendors, and quintupling XP gains "to help you finish the game before year's end!"

And what would be a grand finale without a fireworks show? "We're adding a huge nuke to Townston that will blow up on New Year's and take the game down with it."

Dungeon Runners is Shutting Down [Dungeon Runners, thanks Jason J.]

Gamers were getting some confusing error messages regarding downloadable content, which is strange because the game released yesterday and DLC for it won't be available for two months. However strange, though, no one blows off a message like "If you save now, your save data will be saved in the state in which you cannot use the DLC."

NIS America put out a statement saying they've researched the problem and found that it's an erroneous message, which is supposed to appear if you are saving data with DLC involved, but your Memory Stick doesn't have the corresponding DLC package on it. "The message will appear regardless of whether or not the current saved data contains DLC. Our investigation has revealed that this message will not harm your game play experience with Disgaea 2: Dark Hero Days or any future Downloadable Content offerings."

As a token of their concern for gamers freaked out by these messages, NIS America says its first DLC package, scheduled for Nov. 25, will be free. "Because this message has caused our fans distress and confusion, we have decided to release our first Disgaea 2: Dark Hero Days Downloadable Content free of charge. The DLC content will include the lovely Disgaea 3 princess-to-the-rescue character, Sapphire, and is scheduled for availability on November 25th, 2009."

Awesome! Just keep in mind: "Until then, you will not be able to turn the message off."

NIS America Statement on Disgaea 2: Darkest of Days Error Notices PDF [NIS America, thanks Trygle]

Bethesda would like to send their fans a big thank you for sticking with them on the Xbox 360 Fallout 3 downloadable content front. Even after at least two of the five packs was released broken, you stood by the game, purchasing each new chunk of content as soon as it came out, from Operation Anchorage to Mothership Zeta. Your reward for such loyalty comes on October 1st, when the premium Fallout 3 Xbox 360 theme goes live. As long as you've purchased all five DLC packs by September 22nd, it won't cost you any bottle caps at all.

The rest of you can be prepared to pony up 240 Microsoft points. That's the price you pay - $3. Next time maybe you'll buy all the downloadable content, Dr. Cheapypants.

One catch, unfortunately, they're only good in North America, Riot Games tells us.

If you haven't heard of the game, you should check out Michael Fahey's great write up on how the title came to be. If you have and want to get your hands on the beta you'll have to do a bit of hunting on the site.

Here's the deal. I've scattered the 250 codes over five posts buried within Kotaku. Here's a clue to help you find the posts:

You'll find your codes buried in stories that mention League of Legends' developer.

Once you've found the codes you'll need to go to the official site to use them to sign up.

League of Legends

We don't hear much about Dark Age of Camelot these days, and really haven't heard all that much since the Labyrinth of the Minotaur expansion pack introduced a new race and the game's largest dungeon. Now Mythic aims to remind the community that DAoC still functions, offering up Labyrinth and the previous expansion, Darkness Rising, free of charge to all players who haven't secured them yet. Along with the free expansions comes a 1-day reactivation of old accounts, allowing anyone who has been gone for more than 90 days to come back and play for free.

"The Dark Age of Camelot community has thrived for nearly a decade and the game has helped transform the MMO landscape with the introduction of groundbreaking Realm vs. Realm gameplay," said Jeff Hickman, Executive Producer of Mythic Entertainment. "We could not be more excited to offer all this entertainment to all current players and to those interested in returning to the game, as well as to those looking to experience the game for the first time."

Yes, along with the return promotion, new players can sign up for a 14-day trial to see what they've been missing all these years.

It's been years since I've played Dark Age, but I have some really fond memories. Mainly cyber, but I swear I attacked a monster once or twice.