August’s line up of free games for your XBox Live Gold subscription was just announced and DAYUM! I want them all…

First up on XBox 360:

Motocross Madness by Bongfish GmbH (Xbox 360, $9.99 ERP)

Available Aug. 1-15, back on earth Xbox 360 gamers get to tool around the dirt tracks and mud pits of their imaginations with Motocross Madness, an off-road motorcycle racing game. Racing against the clock (or other racers) is just a small part of this one, as you’ll be able to perform tricks, run through obstacle courses, or just motor around big maps and explore as you please. Asynchronous multiplayer via social networks means you can involve your friends, even if they’re off doing something else while you’re playing. Unlimited potential!

Dishonored by Arkane Studios (Xbox 360, $19.99 ERP)

Finally, available Aug. 16-31, Xbox 360 owners get to experience Dishonored, an award-winning steampunk stealth/action title. You play Corvo, erstwhile bodyguard of the Empress, turned assassin. Your job is to protect the princess, take out the bad guys who are trying to take over the Empire, and do it all undetected. You have an arsenal of gadgets, weapons, and magical powers to help you, but the most important is your own brain. Challenges in Dishonored often have multiple solutions, so lateral thinking is more important than a quick trigger finger. You can blast your way through, too, to be sure – there’s something for everyone here – but cleverness is rewarded more than aggression.

Then for XBox One we have:

Crimson Dragon by Grounding / Land Ho! (Xbox One, $19.99 ERP)

Available Aug. 1-31, Crimson Dragon, originally an Xbox One launch title, and acts as a spiritual successor to the much-beloved Panzer Dragoon saga. It’s a fast-paced rail shooter set in a beautiful fantasy world, where you can join with up to three other players for online co-op battles. You have a half-dozen majestic draconian steeds to choose from, and they level up as you progress through the game’s epic story. Crimson Dragon also features a killer soundtrack, courtesy of Panzer Dragoon composer Saori Kobayashi.

Strike Suit Zero: Director’s Cut by Born Ready Games (Xbox One, $19.99 ERP)

Also available Aug. 1-31, Strike Suit Zero: Director’s Cut has its origins in crowdfunding platform Kickstarter and was the first title from the ID@Xbox program. You take on the role of a pilot of the titular suit, flying it against aggressors in epic space battles. One of the key hooks is that you are only a small part of these battles, with huge ships duking it out around you, and your objectives within them clearly defined – but it’s up to you to accomplish them as you see fit. With fantastic ship design, gigantic battles, and plenty of weapons and enemies to deal with, Strike Suit Zero: Director’s Cut gives space-sim fans on Xbox One plenty to chew on.

Crimson Dragon and Strike Suit Zero: Director’s Cut will replace July’s Xbox One Games with Gold titles Max: The Curse of Brotherhood and Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition so be sure to grab them while you can!

I’ve been wanting to grab Crimson Dragon and Strike Suit Zero for a long time now, now I can, for nothing 😀

Give us your thoughts int he comments below!

So, the BETA weekend for Destiny has come and gone and i played most for the weekend on the 360 version.

Ok, I’ve played first person shooters since some of the first came along and MMO’s for as long as they’ve been around (any one that’s seen my XFire game time list will attest to that), and such, I have high impressions for both genres.

Games like Borderlands kicked things off for me int he right direction for Multiplayer shooters with an RPG element, and Destiny is very much in that vein, but has massive leanings to HALO, for obvious reasons.

BUT, this is a console game, which means it also suffers in every way a typical console based FPS falls flat.  The Controller!

HALO is spot on, its built around a controller, it has just the right amount of twitch and its easy to get going, even our own Digmbot can’t disagree with that.  Destiny, somehow, drops the ball on that perfect HALO balance.  The controls feel at times stiff, at others, too sprung.  The auto aim is more a hindrance than a help, then turning it off (thank the gods you can turn it off), the aiming then becomes clunky, especially for a twitch shooter

Then there’s the maps and map transitions.

Between maps, the loading screen is your ship flying down to the zone you are heading too…   This was cool once or twice…  The third time? I took the chance to go get a drink.

Then there is the maps themselves.   I played the same map four times for four different missions.   And every time, it started me at the same point in the map, even though I then had to slog across the map I had already done to get to the next point.  I honestly found it a little boring to do it over and over again.

Now one thing I did like was the Melee attack, as you can see in the screenshot below, it’s more a close range force push, but it has a few second cool down, meaning you can’t just run around force pushing all the enemies, and some of the enemies come at you thick and fast for sure…

So, did I like the game?

Honestly, not so much, I got bored very quickly and just wanted to go back to playing HALO.   I very much doubt I’ll get it on console, but I may change my mind next year IF and ONLY IF the rumoured PC version makes an appearance.

Did you play the beta weekend?   Let us know what you think in the comments below!

For those of you who don’t know,  there is another Lord of the Rings game on the way. Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor is set in Tolkien’s iconic world where you play as a ranger named Talion… who is dead. Talion was resurrected by a mysterious wraith that also thirsts for vengeance against Mordor and the Dark Lord Sauron.

The game was originally set to launch on October 7th but Warner Bros are ‘responding to fans excitement’ and have moved the games release forward to September 30th for consoles and October 2nd for PC gamers. It seems that developer Monolith productions are listening to their fans and looking to genuinely please them. This title is certainly one to watch for Lord of the Rings fans as it is chronologically set between the Hobbit and the Fellowship of the Ring.

Are you excited by Shadow of Mordor, or are you more like our Station Manager who is currently in the basement sharpening knives and muttering about blasphemy and the Inquisition?

EDITORS NOTE:  I’m looking forward to this…  ~Lone

The people behind the popular mech FPS game, Titanfall, are planning something special for the next update, called simply Update 5. They’re introducing what has been called a ‘black market currency’ into the game, which is really a system for earning points.

The points can be earned in-game through completing certain set challenges or selling on unused burn cards, and can then be used to trade for burn cards which might be a better fit for your play style. The thing that is most obvious at a glance though is that this is a currency that can only be earned in the game; there is currently no plans to make the currency purchasable in any amounts for a sum of real-life money.

The update will also include Daily Challenges, possibly as the ones set up to earn players the new currency. The PC version is also getting some better support for multiple GPUs and the upcoming DLC Frontier’s Edge will introduce three new maps to the game.

There’s currently no ETA for Update 5, but patch notes are due to be released some time next week.

The next installment in Bioware’s popular Dragon Age RPG series has been delayed. The game was originally set to drop in October one of the busiest months of the year. It has now been delayed to late November, the developers wrote this statement on their blog:

“I’m writing to let you know that Dragon Age: Inquisition has a new release date of November 18, 2014 in North America (November 21st in EU). We appreciate the enormous support we’ve received from all of you to get to this point, and while this extra few weeks may not seem like a lot, I know the game you’ll play will be all the better for it.

Since we began working on Dragon Age: Inquisition almost four years ago, our goal was to create the best Dragon Age experience ever. It was that goal that motivated many of our decisions: moving to Frostbite, bringing race choice and customization back, improving tactical camera, building a team of characters whose relationships evolve based on your actions, and most importantly, crafting an epic, nation-spanning story that both draws upon past games and takes you to many new places in the realm of Thedas.

I’m privileged to be a part of a team that has been working very hard to surpass every measure they’ve set for themselves. That has meant completing huge amounts of game content, fixing bugs both big and small, and improving the overall experience. This last bit of time is about polishing the experience we want you to see. Ensuring that our open spaces are as engaging as possible. Strengthening the emotional impact of the Hero’s choices. And ensuring the experience you get is the best it can be in the platform you choose to play on.”

* Dragon Age is slated for release on PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

Are you ready to jump back into the world of Dragon Age? Let us know in the comments below.