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We've talked about Trials HD before and I think I have yet to convince some of you that the Xbox Live Arcade version is light years ahead of the sub-par Trials available on the PC. Perhaps when Trials Evolution hits the XBLA this Autumn you'll see I was right - if you aren't convinced by the trailer showing off the game's features below.

While some scamps around the world have been playing a version of Trials Evolution already - thanks to torrent sites and usenet - RedLynx have explained that the version floating about the net isn't even close to finished and is lacking much of what will make the game great. This latest trailer focuses on the track building aspect of the game - where you can build tracks (obviously) and share them with your friends via Track Central.

You can watch the trailer embedded below or in our videos library - going full screen for HD of course. Are you looking forward to Trials Evolution? No? You're wrong.

Microsoft are naturally pretty eager to get people playing Mass Effect 3 on the Xbox 360, with the latest announcement being the inclusion of Gold membership with the Mass Effect 3 demo - so everyone can get in on the multiplayer fun. Confirmed by Bioware on their official forums, Xbox Live members with Silver Membership will get a bump up to Gold for a limited time.

The demo is set to hit the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC on Valentines Day - the 14th of this month, but multiplayer access will be restricted to people who have activated Battlefield 3's online pass until the 17th. Battlefield 3 players will get access to multiplayer from the get go. The exact specifics of how Gold membership will be doled out aren't yet known, but some sort of code is likely. Embedded below we have the multiplayer trailer for Mass Effect 3, which you can also check out in our videos library.

GameArena's 16v16 Conquest BF3 Ladder is now open for challenges, and our friends at the Games Shop have even kicked in some prizes, with the top 3 teams getting their own clan server provided by Game Server Rentals. You can get all the info over on the BF3 Ladder page.

According to Malthius,

The ladder will run for long enough for any team to make it from the bottom of the ladder into the finals, so even through the ladder is about to start new teams can still enter and have a chance to win. If you aren't in a team, you can send an application to join to one of the teams that is recruiting players here.

So don't sweat it if you haven't put your team together just yet - just get your arse into gear and make it happen! Speaking of making things happen... who wants to recruit Joaby? Any clans want Joaby? I'm pretty awesome. I am often described by my contemporaries as "in the way" "excellent". If you want the Joabster to join your team, tell me which clan to apply for in the comments below!

The MMO market is saturated with Free to Play games - you need to do something pretty special to get people paying a subscription. Generally a subscription based MMO will revamp itself as a F2P MMO once subscriptions begin waning, but Trion Worlds believes RIFT is still worth a monthly allowance - and they believe once people give it a go they will agree. And with that in mind, Trion Worlds announced RIFT Lite.

RIFT Lite, as you'll have read in the headline, lets you play from level 1 to 20 for free - at which point you'll be asked to either cough up the funds or find something else to do with your time. Those 20 levels aren't restricted by time at all, which is pretty excellent - although it does mention "certain restrictions to travel and gameplay." That means you probably can't kite a maxed out character through to the endgame with a level 1 - 5 character - the most fun you could have in Diablo and Guild Wars.

The Jagged Alliance games are hugely popular and for good reason. Featuring advanced tactics, complex character development and deep resource management, the games have a huge community of incredibly dedicated fans. The most complex mod for Jagged Alliance 2 for example - 1.13 - was last updated in December of last year - 11 years after the game came out. Whether Back In Action is good or not, Jagged Alliance fans have something to play.

Back In Action should be good however - if you've not heard of it before, it's a full remake of Jagged Alliance 2 plus expansions, with a focus on updating the graphics and UI and making the game real time with the introduction of the Plan & Go system. It also has a better tutorial - although as anyone who has played JA2 knows, "HIT BUTTONS" would be a better tutorial.

Fans have been incredibly skeptical about the Plan & Go system since it was announced, but you now get a chance to check out how well it works for yourself with the Back In Action demo now available in our downloads library. Check it out and let us know what you think - does it change the game for the better, or worse?

Hello proles and plebians, it's time for the most sophisticated round up of downloadable video game titles on the internet - the Weekly Downloadable Round Up! Let us begin!

It's the beginning of February, and Sony have decided to change things up this month by starting February's PlayStation Plus promotion at the beginning of February, instead of one week in like they did previously. This lines things up with the US PlayStation Store, which has always followed that sensible model. To kick off their new fangled Gregorian PS+ scheme, PS+ subscribers get 100% off The Simpsons Arcade game - the 1991 classic in glorious HD. The PSX version of Final Fantasy V is also free for PS+ subscribers, as is that idiot Farm Frenzy thing. Sonic Adventure and Rayman Origins also get discounted - although only to 50% off.

The PlayStation Store doesn't add any new games this week, although you can now buy and download Mini Ninjas and both Kane and Lynch games - you know, if you need to punish yourself for some reason. The Gotham City Imposters beta is now open to all comers - and so is the Twisted Metal beta, which is pretty darned exciting. The Syndicate co-op demo is also now available on the PSN, but I'll talk about that in the Xbox 360 section so it doesn't look quite so sparse.


Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the fancy anime cutscenes

Almost all of the Final Fantasy games are on special this week - V, VI, VII, VIII and IX have all been reduced in price in the PSX Classics section, along with I, II, IV Complete (including the After Years epilogue) and the brilliant Tactics on the PSP. Both Dissidia games are also reduced, to round out the selection. Remember - PSX and PSP games work on the PlayStation Vita, so if you think you might ever want to play these games, grab them.

Freddie Prinze Jr. and Jessica Chobot join series regulars Martin Sheen, Seth Green, Tricia Helfer, Yvonne Strahovski, Carrie-Anne Moss, Mark Meer, Jennifer Hale, Ali Hillis, Keith David and Lance Henriksen as voice actors in Mass Effect 3. We even have a trailer for the announcement!

What do you think of the addition of Freddie Prinze and Jessica Chobot? I think adding Freddie Prinze Jr. to anything is a solid plan, and the people upset about Jessica Chobot (a news reporter for G4) joining the cast as a news reporter should think back to Arrested Development and remeber this guy...

If any IP screams for cooperative game-ification, it’s the Aliens franchise. I say ‘Aliens’ because I’m thinking, specifically, of the second film in the series, gloriously separated from the first by a pluralising ‘s’. While James Cameron may chuckle over the day-to-day aural ambiguity of fans discussing their favourite Alien/s film, I’m sure he’d agree that his particular take on the franchise is ripe with co-op gaming potential.

And that game exists—or, at least, is set to exist—in the form of Aliens: Colonial Marines, a Gearbox Software title that’s currently being developed as the perfect Shadows of the Empire-type extra-media sequel to Cameron’s 1986 film. But a problem also exists. The squad-based cooperative first-person shooter has had something of a shady past. Cue the obligatory history lesson.

When you see them, you'll sh...

Dragon's Dogma, you will remember, is the High Fantasy action game coming out from *** - Director of Devil May Cry since DMC2. Joaby's first hands on back at last year's Captivate gave us an excellent look into what we'll be able to do in the game and Capcom have finally announced its release date - May 22 in North America and May 25 everywhere else.

Coming to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, Dragon's Dogma will also feature a code giving access to a demo of Resident Evil 6 - with Xbox 360 owners gaining access on July 3rd and PlayStation 3 owners gaining access on September 5th. That seems like some serious incentive to pick up Dragon's Dogma on the Xbox 360 - assuming you're into Resident Evil 6. It's made the decision more difficult for me - I'd like to check out Resident Evil 6, but I'm mostly interested in Dragon's Dogma itself. What do you think?

We also have the latest Dragon's Dogma teaser trailer embedded below, which you can also watch in our videos library - going full screen for HD of course.

We focus primarily on the games part of video games here at GameArena, but that doesn't mean the video part isn't important too. With that in mind, here are some of the best videos you might have missed from the last week. These videos are all hosted in our videos library, so remember to go full screen if you want to watch them in HD.


Snick snick!

Kicking things off this week we have the Ryder White DLC trailer from Dead Island. Those familiar with Dead Island will recognise Ryder White as the main antagonist - in this DLC however, he is you and you are he. The DLC is available from tomorrow for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.