GameTap drives in its first update of the new year with the addition of GRID. Fans of Codemaster's DiRT might find it worth their time to check out the high-speed arcade style races found in GRID.

• GRID (Windows) - There's something magical about playing this game while sitting in a cardboard box with the top open. We also recommend turning off the TV sound and making your own car noises.
  
• Magic Academy (Windows) - It's a hidden object game. The digital version of a Where's Waldo book.
  

This week, GameTap adds Just Cause to the free games list. Why? You know, just 'cause. Ouch! We sprained a finger forcing that joke through. Check out the full gratis list after the break.

Now that the rush of video game releases has receded, you can finally focus on putting your money where it really belongs: On smaller pieces of video games. New downloadable content is now available on the 360 for Force Unleashed, GRID and Vigilante 8: Arcade.

We're far too broke to even think about picking some of these up, but what about you, team? By the way, we'd expect to see at least some of this on PSN today. We'll let you know.

[Via X3F]

• The Force Unleashed Character Pack 2 - 400
  
• The Force Unleashed Jedi Temple Mission Pack - 800
  
• GRID 8-Ball Pack - 800
  
• Vigilante 8: Arcade High Octane Pack - 320
  

The new DLC includes seven additional characters for The Force Unleashed as well as a new single player mission, eight additional cars for GRID and a few extra rides / maps for Vigilante 8. Click the links below to get today's DLC deets.

• The Force Unleashed Character Pack 2 - 400
  
• The Force Unleashed Jedi Temple Mission Pack - 800
  
• GRID 8-Ball Pack - 800
  
• Vigilante 8: Arcade High Octane Pack - 320
  

Codemasters has dropped word that new racing machines will be pulling up to GRID's starting line later this year. The game will be getting a new DLC pack, dubbed "8-Ball," this Fall, which will add two new multiplayer events and eight new cars, including the McLaren F1 GTR, Honda S2000 and 1971 Pontiac Firebird Trans AM. Additionally, while 8-Ball's new cars and events will be released for both the Xbox 360 and PS3, the former will gain the added benefit of four new Achievements and 100 new Gamerpoints to earn. PS3 owners will have to fill their time dusting off vacant Trophy cases.

Another release, adding a V8 Supercars category and the Australian Bathurst circuit, is expected in the coming months. At this time, the Codies are tight-lipped regarding both price and an exact release date for any DLC, saying only that the first batch will drop this Fall for consoles, while PC players can expect information relevant to them to arrive "shortly."

The critically-acclaimed racing game GRID is currently on sale for $39.99 for today only. With a respectable score of 88 over at Metacritic, the game is a must-have if you are a driving-sim fan. With the full version of Gran Turismo 5 supposedly not due till 2010, this game should help tie you over for the time being. Take advantage of this deal here.

[Via Slickdeals]

Another week, another bunch of sequels and franchise continuations ... at least, among this week's Japanese releases. The rest of the world is looking at pretty average fare, with a few exceptions. Those Japanese releases are just giving us more and more reasons to import!

• The Cheetah Girls: Passport to Stardom
• GRID
• Little League World Series 2008
• Quick Yoga Training
• Rock Blast

While we're not exactly sure just how many people out there are still interested in such a thing, Codemasters, the GRiD developers, are holding a contest for its players to design a livery (skin) for the above pictured car. The rules are real simple and you don't need to be an art whiz or anything. Basically, download the picture package from here, and do your best to create an official "Codemasters Racing Team" livery incorporating the Codemasters logo into the design.

Going a step further, Codemasters artists will then turn that into game art for the car. And not only does the winner get his (or her) car in the game, but they also get " a load of GRID swag" and "a framed high-resolution render of your car as it will appear in the game." The contest ends July 25th, get designing!

Codemasters is, sadly, the latest developer to be added to the list of those who won't be adding trophy support to their already released titles. On the official GRID forums an administrator has posted saying that they're "currently not planning to restrospectively support PSN trophies - it;s not a trivial thing to add to a game" [sic]. Though this is disappointing, it's not too unexpected. Third party games are the least likely to be patched in. With Criterion showing their contemporaries, hopefully more will decide to rake in the goodwill of gamers by following suit.

[Thanks Nuno]

Did you have a good week? We had a terrific one at Big Download but with the release of Spore Creature Creator next week it promises to be an even busier time for our site. In the meantime here are the highlights from the past week

Exclusive Features

• Interview: Vic Davis of Armaggedon Empires: We chat with the creator of the acclaimed indie turn based strategy PC game.
• MODverlous Monday: This week we examine two custom mad maps for Blizzard's classic RTS game Starcraft.
• Casually Speaking: We take a look at the "death" of the video arcade.
• Freeware Friday: This week's free featured game is the nearly graphics-free RTS/RPG title Dwarf Fortress
• Big Iron: Our regular hardware column takes you through some video card basics

Codemasters just released (or will be releasing soon) a new Race Driver: GRID patch whose goal is to make your GRID gaming more GRID-like and less "this game sucks"-like. The patch or as we like to call it, a "title update", will fix an entire laundry list of bugs, including numerous network updates, a few gameplay tweaks, achievement fixes and our personal favorite, a "fix for occasional excessive smoke coming from other players in network mode". Because, as you're well aware, that excessive smoke really took away from the racing experience. View the complete list of Xbox 360 GRID patch title update fixes after the break.

After all that hubbub over GameTrailers' GRID comparison, are you ready for yet another side-by-side? Our friends at Big Download have a new Big Versus for the racer, with the PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions all pitted against one another.

If you're the kind of person who drools when screenshots are cut in half and then re-spliced with similar shots from different platforms, there's no time to waste!

Our compatriots over at Big Download stumbled on some unsettling performance issues while preparing a GRID comparison piece that pits the PC version against its console counterparts. It seems that the game suffers from pausing and freezing during races and replays. Pauses are reported to be up to one second in length, which would be unacceptable in most games, but is especially so in a racing game. The issue is currently setting the Codemasters forums on fire. Solutions being offered include removing and reattaching the hard drive, playing with a memory unit and no hard drive, and clearing the cache, although it appears that no solution is effective in all cases.

Codemasters is working on a solution that will be included in a forthcoming patch, which is should be available "within the next few weeks or sooner."

You've been waiting for it and now it's finally here. It's Sunday deals time where we dig through the Sunday newspaper, pull out the retail ads for the week, toss the actual news part of the newspaper in the garbage, look for Xbox 360 deals and share with you our findings. It's always good times! So, let's get to the money savings fun ...

This week, Best Buy is offering Guitar Hero III for $75, a chance to buy an Indiana Jones DVD for $5 with the purchase of LEGO Indiana Jones, a free Bourne DVD with the purchase of The Bourne Conspiracy, $5 in concession money with Kung Fu Panda and they're still offering a free $50 gift card with purchase of an Xbox 360 console and GTAIV. Circuit City is giving out a free tshirt and a character unlock with LEGO Indiana Jones, a free Bourne DVD with the purchase of The Bourne Conspiracy, a free plush toy with Kung Fu Panda, Overlord for $15, a free Ryu wall graphix with Ninja Gaiden II and a $10 gift card with the purchase of either The Incredible Hulk or GRID. Finally, Target is giving away a $10 gift card with The Bourne Conspiracy. Phew!

As always, feel free to comment about any deals you find when you are on your own weekly Xbox 360 deal search. Happy shopping!