So on the Monday Freeview, we have brought you some examples of free shows or games you’ve been able to get a hold of. Up until this point though we have ignored two very important “free” options in the gaming world. These are the downloadable gaming libraries available to those subscribed to the XBox Live Gold and PlayStation Plus services.

While these services are technically not free, the inclusion of downloadable titles has been added to them as an added value while both primarily serve as a way for gamers to play online for the XBox 360, XBox One and PlayStation 4.

First, let’s take a look at the PlayStation Plus service. Originally a waning service as it wasn’t required for online play, the Instant Game Collection was one of the features that had not been fully exploited. It wasn’t until about two years after the service launched in June of 2010 that they began offering full PlayStation 3 titles to the roster as opposed to mainly retro games or PSN titles.

Yesterday, Activision gave the first detailed glimpse at Onslaught, the first DLC pack for Call of Duty: Ghosts. As has become the standard, the pack will include four regular multiplayer maps, one new weapon and one survival map, this time for the Extinction game mode. As you’ll see in the trailer after the break, the multiplayer levels are more goal oriented than ever before with a “reward” system that looks to really change the dynamic of each individual match.

The most exciting new map has to be Fog. A dark and spooky backwoods map with cabins and a barn, the real excitement comes from the completed field order which turns a player into Michael Meyers. Yes, from Halloween. When you’re Michael, you get armed with an axe… and his signature theme music. When you get close, your victim knows it’s coming and hear it before you take them out.

If you’ve been to McDonald’s recently you may have seen their latest pull tab giveaway is focusing on XBox. While Taco Bell is backing the PlayStation 4, Mickey D’s is going gung ho with Microsoft to push the XBox One, XBox Music, XBox Video and the XBox Live Arcade. Unlike previous giveaways like Monopoly where McDonald’s food items were up for grabs, everything that can be won from this promotion is XBox related. You’ll find the full breakdown of prizes below including the top prizes, XBox Ones with a copy of Forza Motorsport 5.

The one thing that stood out though were the XBox Live Arcade titles. All of them are on the 360. Now I understand the idea is to give people something they are more likely to be able to use like XBox Music, Video or Gold since they can be applied to either the XBox One or 360, but it seemed strange to not give games for the previous gen system and none for the XBox One. It’s true not every game could be redeemed for XBox One yet, especially since these seem to have limited codes, but it feels a little like the early adopters are getting ignored for their fervor to get the system early yet again.

That said, I was able to win the only game from Twisted Pixel Games that I didn’t already own, The Maw. It is currently downloading on my XBox 360 as the XBox One cools down from another busy weekend.

Take a look below at the full list of prizes and chick out One Hot Holiday for more details.

• XBox One & Forza Motorsport 5
• XBox Music Pass & XBox Live Gold 1 Month Membership
• XBox Live Gold 1 Month Membership
• The Maw for XBox 360
• Ms. Splosion Man for XBox 360
• Aqua for XBox 360
• The Wolverine Digital HD movie download
• Episode of a Fox Series: Enlisted, Bones, Raising Hope

For the geek and gamer in your life (or, for yourself, why not?) one of the best gifts to give this holiday season is a game, console or other video gaming peripheral. Of course, the folks at GameStop are rolling out the, um, black carpet for Black Friday and have lots of deals to satisfy everyone on your list.

After hiring an additional 17,000 people to help staff its stores, the company has now announced its range of Black Friday deals. Here’s the full list, all of which are only available on Friday:

• Xbox 360 with 250GB hard drive, Halo 4, and Tomb Raider for $199 (regularly $249.99)

• Xbox 360 with 20GB hard drive and extra wireless controller for $99.99

• PS3 with 250GB hard drive, The Last of Us, and Batman: Arkham Origins for $199 (regularly $249.99)

When the original Kinect launched in 2010, it is safe to say the peripheral had a share of flaws. It wasn’t as detailed as one would expect and couldn’t detect hands and fingers the way it was originally designed to. It also had a hard time reading individuals under a certain height. Considering Microsoft was trying to drive kids to play games like Kinectimals with the controllerless gaming, that was up there in the list of top functionality f&#* ups from them.

One that also seemed to be an issue was the rumor that the Kinect also had trouble reading people with darker skin tone. This lead to the premise that the Kinect was actually racist.

The team at Whiskey and Waffles joined up with Sandwich Productions (because the combination just sounded too damn tasty to ignore) and created the mocumentary simply entitled Racist XBox. We were thrilled with the end result and just how awesome WallE looked as a forensic scientist. We won’t spoil anything here but I will say there is a little bit of mature language so I wouldn’t go showing this to your 10 year old.

One billion dollars in merchandise shipped to retailers on day one. Quite the ambitious feat and though Grand Theft Auto V set the record for the fastest entertainment property to hit a billion dollars in actual sales in three days, Call of Duty: Ghosts is in a unique position in how they will reach it. This is the first Call of Duty since Call of Duty 2 to be released on a crossover year with a new console launch.

Not all gamers who are planning on purchasing the PlayStation 4 later this week or the XBox One next week are going to be able to afford a double purchase and considering what we’ve seen with the next gen graphics, it is certainly splitting the sales. And considering it is also a yearly franchise, there isn’t that same gigantic level of hype for a new Call of Duty the way there is for a new Grand Theft Auto. That said, Call of Duty: Ghosts is a game you are going to want to play.

The Long

Call of Duty: Ghosts is the first entry into the Call of Duty franchise from Infinity Ward since the conclusion of the Modern Warfare trilogy two years ago. They not only needed to introduce an entirely new set of characters but a new status quo as well. Set in a world similar to that of Modern Warfare and Black Ops, this version has a group of allied forces fending off an attack from the Federation.

See what we did there? Okay. We didn’t do it. I found it on a meme Facebook page but at least I made the effort to post it. Considering in about twenty four hours I am going to disappear for a week after Activision shoots Call of Duty: Ghosts my way and I “mysteriously” am not found in the office from an “unknown illness”.

In all seriousness, I won’t be able to wait until the XBox One comes out later this month for the next gen version of Call of Duty: Ghosts. This is an instant gratification nation and I want the game inspired by one of the best supporting characters never seen on my screen now.

And what would a Call of Duty launch be without a live action trailer. We’ve had the Replacers. We’ve had FPS Russia and Robert Downey Jr. This time, we get Megan Fox… You know what? I’ll take it.

Anything to keep her away from the Transformers franchise because at the end of the day, she isn’t going to be IN Call of Duty: Ghosts. Below you’ll check out the full live action trailer from director James Mangold on a trip with four buddies in Vegas that is way more epic than the Hangover.

Since The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is headed to theaters in spring of 2014, it isn’t much of a shock that its gaming counterpart will be coming out around the same time as well. From what we’ve heard so far from the folks at Beenox and Activision who revealed the trailer at New York Comic Con is that it will release for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, XBox One, XBox 360, PC, Wii U and Nintendo 3DS.

As you’ll see in the press release attached below, there isn’t mention on a split development between the current gen and next gen systems which leads one to believe that the PlayStation 4 and XBox One versions may be just slightly better graphics but with no real change in the gameplay.

In the trailer, you’ll also notice a new villain that doesn’t match up to any characters yet announced in the movie. Half way through, you’ll see a very light skinned character, similar to that of a gang member. with tattoos on his body and his face wrapped in a scarf of some sort.

You then see a second similar gang member attack another character who is holding a kukri style machete. These may be just some gangs that Spider-Man encounters in the game, or this scarved character may be one of The Amazing Spider-Man movie style analogs of an existing character like Carrion.

So as previously mentioned, yesterday was the new release for Skylanders SWAP Force. As expected, it was not a cheap endeavor. One special edition Starter Pack, one Adventure Pack, one Battle Pack, four SWAP Force, three Lightcore and one standard Skylander later and my tally between Gamespot, Toys R Us and Target had hit the $250 mark. Now, I am not complaining. I bring it upon myself and I enjoy it. That’s what the appeal of Skylanders is. Combine a video game with the ongoing geek desire to collect things and you have an addicting formula. And that’s why we have a fantastic unboxing video for you to check out to check out and help decide which Skylander SWAP Force starter set to get yourself.

There is one piece of the Skylanders formula that does get a little frustrating though. To access all of the game’s content, it does require you to purchase real world products. To play through all the areas that are travel power based, you need eight different SWAP Force characters. Granted, two come with any Starter Set you buy but that leaves six more to go at $13 each, and at launch there are still two modes of transportation not yet available as only six of the sixteen are available so far.

Now I understand the arguments that they are releasing them in waves to keep up demand and all that, but my problem lies with content being locked. The other argument that this is to keep players coming back later and maintain replayability. Let’s be clear, (gravelly old man voice, “Get off my lawn”) back in my day we went back to games often even when there was no such thing as expanding shy of a sequel.

The collection mentality is a dangerous thing, especially amongst the geek world. Nowhere else do you see the level of completionist mentality as you do amongst gamers. Trophy Whores and Achievement Hunters are both signs of this obsession to get them all. On Saturday the 12th and Sunday the 13th, both the Pokemon and Skylanders franchises intend to bankrupt me in both time and financially.

I bought my first copy of Pokemon Blue back when it first released fifteen years ago in 1998. With that, I set out on my mission to get all 151 of the original Pokemon. Though I never finished the list, I still spent way more time than I should have on that mission. Two years ago, I got my hands on Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure and a few hundred dollars later, an entire shelf in my room is filled with the damn things.

Next weekend, I get to deal with a double whammy as both Pokemon X/Y and Skylanders SWAP Force are released.