Members of Call of Duty Elite for both the XBox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 have already started reaping the benefits of their yearly membership with the first content drop in January. As promised, Activision is intent on keeping up with their Content Drop schedule for Elite Subscribers to prove the value of the service.

This month, subscribers will be getting their hands on the new map Overwatch. Somewhat similar in aestetics to the rooftop multiplayer map of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, this one is much more dangerous as its central passage is one that provides little cover or protection from falling for the players crossing it. It does give some nice variety to the other maps that have already been released and it will be interesting to see how it plays out when more game modes are added as well.

Call of Duty Elite Drop 3: Overwatch drops you into a construction site atop a New York City skyscraper. The battle takes place along two levels in a near symmetrical layout, with the central bridge and side routes open to attack from multiple angles. Watch your every step, as a lack of safety barriers surrounding the perimeter leaves nothing between you and a 70 story fall to the ground below.

Overwatch is the third Content Drop in Modern Warfare 3′s Content Season, which will include more than 20 pieces of brand new content over the 9 month season. Elite Drops 4-6 will be available in March for Premium Members on Xbox Live and will include the multiplayer map Black Box and two brand new Special Ops Missions, Black Ice and Negotiator. The full calendar of content is outlined here.

Check out the screens after the jump and stayed tuned for more Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 news as it becomes available.

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Playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and not sure if Elite membership is right for you? Check out the latest two trailers from Activision and Call of Duty Elite featuring Rob Riggle, the cop from the Hangover who had way too much fun with the taser in the classroom, as he explains the benefits of Elite as well as walks you through the first two maps from Call of Duty Elite’s nine month content drop.

As the Elite trailer goes to explain, the biggest benefit for Elite membership isn’t just getting maps first. They are actually cheaper if paid for up front. Instead of getting four packs at $15 a pop, players can pay for them all with the Elite membership for only $50 (or already have it free if they purchased the Hardened Edition of the game) and as mentioned, they get them much earlier than waiting for content packs.

As promised, Elite delivered its first two maps yesterday. In addition to new gameplay modes which will be coming soon, new multiplayer maps have been the biggest and most important DLC on XBox Live since Halo 2′s map packs.

This pack features Content Drop 1: Liberation which resembles a Central Park setting, complete with mounted miniguns (just like real life), long lines of sight for snipers and tons of tree cover and close quartered underground locales as well. Content Drop 2: Piazza takes players to an Italian seaside village filled with tight winding roads leaving lots of chances for close combat encounters.

Check out the January Content Drop trailer below as well as screens of both Liberation and Piazza. Stay tuned to The Flickcast for more on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Call of Duty Elite.

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A billion dollars in sales in just 16 days. An unprecedented release both for the video game and entertainment industry. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is a juggernaut. It only seems fitting that along with the Call of Duty Elite mobile app going live this week, that the DLC announcements would start rolling out as well. Starting January 24th for premium Call of Duty Elite members on XBox Live (and later dates for other platforms) until September, there will be at least twenty content drops for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 including “brand new multiplayer maps, Special Ops Missions, new game modes and more.”

“The mammoth launch of Modern Warfare 3 and the breakout success of Call of Duty Elite were just the beginning. Call of Duty Elite provides an “always-on” connection to our fanbase, and the MW3 Content Season is the ultimate way to demonstrate our ongoing commitment to the Call of Duty community and provide tremendous value to Call of Duty Elite premium members,” said Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing. “With the Call of Duty®: MW3 Content Season for Call of Duty Elite we are delivering on our promise of more new content, more often, and with more variety than ever. With three studios collaborating on the first season, the breadth and depth of material on tap is truly extraordinary. It’s rare you can successfully execute both quantity and quality, but thanks to the expertise of our developers, the reach of Call of Duty Elite and the passion of our fans, we intend to deliver.”

Content drops will occur once a month for the nine month duration of the DLC season with the first three months from January to March promising five different content drops.

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Sony Online’s DC Universe Online has had a pretty rough year. Between the server blackouts, the massive PSN hack, and dealing with a paid service to a broke community, they’ve fallen on some hard times.

But that isn’t stopping them from releasing tons of new content for their now free DC Universe Online. Just a few months ago, we were opened up to the world of Green Lantern with their Fight for the Light DLC. Now their continuing in the trend with a whole Flash universe-based DLC in Lightning Strikes.

Set to hit your console and PC next week on December 6th, the new features include a brand new Eletricity Power set, as well as an all new map, new challenges, and tons of Flash-based characters for you to interact with.

We’ve got a brand new trailer highlighting these features for you to check out after the jump, as well as the full rundown on what the DLC includes. Take a look at that after the jump, and don’t forget to grab DC Universe Online for FREE on PC and PS3 now.

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Marvel vs Capcom 3 was a fantastic game, one of the best fighters of the current console generation. Now that the updated and expanded Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 has hit we have even more alternate color schemes and fantasy team match ups to play around with.

However, Capcom is not content with just letting you use different repaints to fulfill your dreams of seeing alternate versions of these characters duke it out. This week the fine folk at Capcom released images and release dates for a series of DLC costume packs that go beyond some simple color changes.

These costumes are full re-skins, giving you a chance to see fully rendered alternate versions of these characters. Instead of a simple blue and yellow Phoenix costume, for instance, we get a near exact replica of the classic Jim Lee Era Jean Grey to play with. We also can see versions of characters like the Weapon X Wolverine that is drastically different than his costumed counterpart.

Some of these packs have already been announced as pre-order bonuses from various game retailers, but many of them are being showcased here for the first time. Capcom is also very smartly making a value pack available for all 11 new costume packs as well as the 48 previous alternate costumes from the original Marvel vs Capcom 3 game.

Check out all 48 new costumes and more details on price and release dates after the jump.

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Welcome back to another episode of The Bitcast, our very own video game only podcast hosted by JC and WallE. The boys hit lots of big news this week including the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 sales records, Activision’s multimillion dollar charity donation, Limbo hitting its millionth sale and discuss the upcoming Dead Island DLC.

In the Topic of the Week, the two discuss the ever decreasing distance of video games and reality and when that line is crossed. In their Now Playing Section, JC talks more about his experience with Modern Warfare 3 as well as his $0.99 download of Scribblenauts Remixed for the iOS.

WallE takes an unexpected turn and talks about the Flash “game” from PETA that tries to target Mario for the reintroduction of the Tanooki suit in Mario Bros. 3D Land for the Nintendo 3Ds.

Don’t forget to subcribe to The Flickcast’s iTunes feed to get your weekly dose of The Bitcast!

Batman: Arkham City is about to unleash it’s first major DLC, and Warner Bros has just released the pack’s first trailer. The Nightwing DLC gives you a new character to play, exclusive maps and another Batman: The Animated Series skin. The new content adds in the fan favorite Nightwing  who began his crime frighting career as the original Robin.

Nightwing as a character brings a few new tweaks to the already stellar fighting mechanics. His history as an acrobat has not been ignored with some incredible agility displayed in the trailer, and his wrist shooter looks to be executed very well. The weapon of choice for the newest hero in this game is his dual batons, these dangerous blunt weapons also appear to have some connective electric properties. Undoubtedly these will be a blast to stick into the faces of random goons for hours and hours.

If there is a single problem I have had with the Batman Arkham games it has been with character design. It took me a long time to get behind the main looks in Arkham Asylum, and only Two-Face really gels with me right now in Arkham City. Principle amongst the new characters whose design I don’t like is Robin, so my excitement level goes through the roof when we see a Nightwing that looks perfect.

The DLC hits on November 1st and you can catch the full trailer after the jump.

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Warner Interactive and DC Comics announced today that as of November 1st, gamers will be able to download Nightwing as a playable character in Batman: Arkham City. The downloadable content pack will run for 560 Microsoft Points ($6.99 in the PSN Store), and include two new challenge maps – Wayne Manor and the ‘Main Hall’. Nightwing, much like the downloadable Robin character, will come with his own unique weapons and gadgets to put to use against the thugs in Arkham City.

In keeping with the ‘bonus skins’ available, the Nightwing DLC will also contain an alternate Animated Series character model. It was also announced recently that the pre-order Robin bonus (granted to those who reserve the game at Best Buy) will be available to the masses on November 22nd for the same price.

Aside from a robust amount of downloadable goodies, it has also come to light in the past few weeks that the cast of Arkham City will be much larger than some may have expected. While villains like The Penguin, Two-Face, Mr. Freeze and The Riddler have all received their own trailers, many of Batman’s foes within the game have yet to step fully into the spotlight.  It has been confirmed that, in addition to all of the above, the following members of the Rogues Gallery will appear in-game: Calendar Man, Poison Ivy, Solomon Grundy, Bane, the Mad Hatter, DeadShot, Talia Al’Ghul, Black Mask, and of course, Prof. Hugo Strange.

Check out the gallery after the jump for the images and videos released so far for the new heroes and villains of Batman: Arkham City – available October 18th, 2011.

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While we were away at Comic-Con last week, a few interesting things seemed to happen. Not only did we get word that Frank Darabont would be leaving Walking Dead, but in gaming news, it looks like Freddy Krueger will be returning to the consoles for the first time since the mid 1980s as the final DLC character for Mortal Kombat.

The news comes as bit of a surprise at first, because not many people think of the Nightmare on Elm Street killer when they think about fun playable fighting characters, but then it makes some sense when you realize that this is Warner Bros’ way of cross pollinating between brands.

The character will be available in a few weeks, and will be fully loaded with tons of claw-slashing and hellfire-based moves and combos. Note that this is also the most recent version of Freddy, and not the original Robert Englund version of the character we’ve loved for decades.

It is a shame that this is the alleged “final” DLC character for the game, as Warner has some pretty cool other franchises that they could dip into, as long as they stay away from any of the territory that was covered in Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe.

Who wouldn’t want to see Scorpion take on Voldemort or watch Sub Zero get pummeled by Zach Galifiniakis from The Hangover or even watch Sherlock Holmes slap the hell out of Shang Tsung? Let’s hope that the DLC does well enough for WB to look into a few more options down the road.

In the meantime, check out the full DLC trailer after the jump.

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Normally, I like to weave in a little commentary with these posts and also bring you the cool photos, screenshots and trailers you really want. However, today I’m just not in the mood for all that and instead, will just cut to the chase.

Soon we will see the release of another expansion pack for Call of Duty: Black Ops. This next one, called Call of Duty: Black Ops Annihilation, is chock full of cool new ways to blow stuff up.

Plus, it features the ever-popular zombie levels sure to please fans of wasting the undead. We’ve got new screenshots and a trailer for this pack for you today, so click through to enjoy them.

The Call of Duty: Black Ops Annihilation content pack comes to Xbox Live on June 28th. Rock and roll.

By clicking through you certify you are 18 years of age or older. Yeah, they make us say that.

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When you’ve got the best selling FPS video game of 2010, what do you do for an encore? Why, keep releasing expansion and map packs of course to enhance the experience even further.

That’s just what Activision is  doing with the announcement today of Annihilation, a brand new content pack for Call of Duty: Black Ops, that’s set for release for XBox 360 on 28 June.

Annihilation will include four new multiplayer maps “Hangar 18,” “Drive-In,” “Silo” and “Hazard.” There will also be a new add-on for the popular Zombie mode, in which players must defend themselves against hordes of the undead. Of course. Who doesn’t love zombies?

“With Annihilation, Black Ops fans will get four exciting and unique multiplayer settings with Hangar 18, Drive-In, Silo and Hazard,” said Treyarch Studio Head, Mark Lamia. “Players will also enjoy an all-new Zombies experience, Shangri-La, an exotic and mysterious map filled with deadly traps, dark secrets and innovative gameplay that will challenge even the most daring Zombie hunters.” Sounds cool.

Of course, as you already know, Call of Duty: Black Ops is a huge success having grossed over $1 Billion worldwide. With content packs like Annihilation and previous releases First Strike and Escalation, it’s popularity is sure to continue. The only thing that might displace it, or at least knock it down a few pegs, is the upcoming release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 — which I got to check out recently at E3.

I’m sure there’s room at the top for both of these games. More info on Call of Duty: Black Ops Annihilation as we get it.

It’s no secret that we like Call of Duty: Black Ops, you like Call of Duty: Black Ops and pretty much most gamers throughout the world like Call of Duty: Black Ops. It’s a huge game that’s sold extremely well and broken sales records pretty much everywhere it has been available.

Since the game’s release we’ve already seen one new add-on for it in the form of a new “First Strike” Map Pack. Now we can look forward to the next enhancement for the game with the announcement of the upcoming “Escalation” Map Pack. Available first to Xbox LIVE members on Tuesday May 3rd, “Escalation” is the second downloadable content pack for Call of Duty: Black Ops.

It contains 5 all-new maps including “Hotel,” where you’ll battle on the roof of a Cuban hotel and casino, a Russian “Zoo,” a WMD “Stockpile”, and “Convoy.” And what’s an update without some more zombies? Escalation will reportedly offer a new “Zombie experience,” with new playable characters.

No word yet on how much this new bunch of fun will cost but if you’re as big a fan of this game as we are, the cost probably won’t matter all that much. Unless, of course, it’s a hundred bucks or something. Then, we might have to reconsider.