Crave

Later this summer, owners of EA Sports' highly rated and enjoyable boxing game, Fight Night Round 4, will get a shot at some free downloadable content.

EA says the first "DLC" pack will be available for both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 users by early August, and will include a new training gym, new gameplay sliders, and "a host of new equipment that can be used for outfitting boxers." Xbox 360 users get a bonus: an alternate version of Sugar Ray Leonard courtesy of Pizza Hut (we're not sure what "alternate" means, but hey, two of Sugar Ray has got to be a good thing).

The company also plans to release a free downloadable game update by early September that lets gamers use face buttons on the Xbox 360 and PS3 game controllers to throw punches, hooks, uppercuts, and haymakers. EA maintains that the Total Punch Control system, which relies on the right thumbstick for throwing punches, is "the most intuitive way to throw punches."

However, having played the game (yes, I'm a fan), there are times when the punch you want to throw ends up being different from the one you intended to throw. In other words, I can see how some people want very straightforward controls rather than ones that require sliding the stick in a certain motion to throw a punch.

Read the full review of Fight Night Round 4 here.

Last week we gave gamers plenty of reasons to be excited about the month of May's anticipated releases. Now we're providing video sneak peeks at some of the latest in digital interactive entertainment.

We've got the latest trailer from The Conduit, a first-person-shooter built from the ground up exclusively for the Nintendo Wii. Also for the Wii is Let's Tap, a title that offers a brand-new way of interacting with games. You control Let's Tap by doing just that, tapping right in front of your Wii remote.

The unbelievably realistic graphics in Fight Night Round 4 will simply knock you off your feet. It's by far the best-looking boxing simulator we've ever seen. Speaking of graphics, the PlayStation 3 exclusive inFamous provides plenty of drool-worthy eye candy. In the game you play as Cole, a man with the superhuman power of creating lightning. Will you use your powers for good or for evil?

Finally, two franchises from the days of the NES are back. Punch-Out!! returns with Little Mac's quest to glory as he battles new and familiar foes. Bionic Commando brings back all of the robotic arm swinging fun you had 20 years ago, with updated graphics and brand-new storyline.

So far 2009 is the year for Capcom with the launch of Resident Evil 5, Street Fighter IV, and now the upcoming Lost Planet 2. The hits keep coming, not to mention the newly released DLC for RE5 for both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Now Capcom has teamed with GameStop and the EVO Championship Series to "fight against hunger" at the Street Fighter IV National Championship Finals. This event is one of the largest and longest-running fighting-game tournaments in the world.

It's taking place Saturday, April 18 at 7 p.m. at Fort Mason in San Francisco. Sixteen national finalists will battle it out for the grand prize before advancing to represent the U.S. in an international exhibition featuring champions from Japan and Korea. Fans of the genre will be able to experience the action up close and personal as the finalists will be playing live onstage with a giant jumbo screen to show off every bit of the battle.

Not to be overshadowed by the tournament, attendees are invited to join GameStop and Capcom for the "Street Fighter Fights Hunger" charity food drive in partnership with Second Harvest Food Bank. Guests are invited to do their part by bringing gifts of canned foods or nominal donations to be collected at the event.

Sorry, beer not included.

(Credit: JV Games)

Virtual Console

• Chase H.Q. (1992, TurboGrafx-16, 600 Wii points): You, Tony Gibson, and your partner, Raymond Broady, are of two cops from the NYPD's special "CHASE H.Q." unit. It's your mission to catch criminals by chasing them and ramming them off the road in your unmarked car--all in 16-bit graphics glory.
  
  
• Art of Fighting 2 (1994, NeoGeo, 900 Wii points): 12 characters compete in the toughest fighting contest of them all: King of Fighters. The game is notorious for having some of the most difficult opponent A.I. in the long history of fighting game.
  

WiiWare

• Pong Toss--Frat Party Games (JV Games, 2008, 800 Wii points): Think beer pong for your Wii remote, but without the table, stale beer, frat buddies, and the pretty ladies (unless you're lucky). You can either play in traditional mode or "Speed Pong," but you'll have to supply your own booze.
  
  

What games do you think are missing from the Wii Virtual Console? Sound off here!

WiiWare offers a new racing shooter or you can search for your long-lost brother in the Virtual Console update.

Virtual Console

• Alex Kidd in Miracle World (1986, Sega Master System, 500 Wii points): Play as Alex Kidd in search of your brother, Egle. Make your way through 16 levels using "rock, paper, scissors" as one of your primary weapons.
  
• Burning Fight (1991, NeoGeo, 600 Wii points): Burning Fight is a side-scrolling action game. Fight as Duke, Ryu, or Billy as you make your way toward the very evil Casterora.

WiiWare

• Gyrostarr (High Voltage Software, 700 Wii points): Gyrostarr is an arcade-style shooter that allows you and up to three friends to race and battle alien ships at lightning-quick speeds. Enjoy 50 levels of intense action and use any Wii controller combination you like.
  
  

What games do you think are missing from the Wii Vrtual Console? Sound off here!

We've just witnessed a potentially disturbing marriage of basic street crime and the instant worldwide audience provided by video sharing and social networking sites such as YouTube and MySpace.

Criminals have often recorded their exploits for fun, but the ease of online sharing means that almost everyone can now witness assorted muggings, fights, and robberies from the safety of a laptop screen. At the same time, crimes posted to the Web get instant attention from law enforcement and the press, essentially acting as online wanted posters for the perpetrators. A perfect example is a recent subway attack video first discovered on YouTube on November 7, and since covered by the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Court TV's The Smoking Gun Web site, and other media outlets.

The video, allegedly shot by a New York film student named Kadejra Holmes, shows a group of teenage girls riding New York's A train, arguing with, and eventually attacking, a male passenger. After the incident, Kadejra posted the video on YouTube, naming the clip, "Jump Up to Get Beat Down," after an old Brand Nubians track called "Punks Jump Up to Get Beat Down."

Holmes was soon contacted by The Smoking Gun, and after she denied being part of the group, claiming to be just an innocent bystander with a video camera, she deleted the video from YouTube and took down her MySpace page. But, nothing that's been posted online is ever really gone, and popular blogs such as Gawker as well as the Web sites of New York's daily newspapers have all reposted the video and written about the attack.

In Thursday's New York Post, Holmes' parents claim, "... their daughter did not know the teens involved in the assault and had just captured the incident on camera as she innocently rode the train," but they also admit that she had been arrested back in September for taking part in a separate subway attack.

Police are reportedly trying to identify both the attackers and the victim from the video.

As promised, Nintendo has rolled out a brand new Virtual Console category today. NEOGEO titles will now be available for download for 900 Wii points each and to celebrate, Nintendo has released three today--all of which are fighters. Cheesy box art not included.

• Fatal Fury (1991, NEOGEO, 900 Wii points)--One of the original games in the fighting genre, Fatal Fury gained much attention for its unique gameplay that allowed fighters to switch between two planes, thus dodging attacks.
  
  
• World Heroes (1992, NEOGEO, 900 Wii points)--This fighting game based its characters on historical figures all throughout time and had them square off. Highlighting the game is a popular Death Match mode where a variety of weapons can be used.
  
  
• Art of Fighting (1992, NEOGEO, 900 Wii points)--Art of Fighting was one of the first fighting games to introduce brand new gameplay mechanics such as "desperation attacks" and a zoom and scaling camera system that allowed for more elaborate movement onscreen.

(Credit: Robot Watch)

If you've been following Robo-One 12 vicariously on the Internet, welcome to the motherlode.

Robot Watch recently posted a smorgasbord of videos showcasing the best demos and battles from the recent bipedal robot competition in Japan, and they're all available right here, about a third of the way down the page.

If you don't want to do all that clicking and deciphering, here are some of the best clips of the lot. Mind you, I can't read Japanese, so I've offered my own personal interpretations of what the hell is going on in each video, as well as my best guess as to what each robot's name is. Or should be.

Unfortunately, YouTube apparently hasn't caught on in Japan yet, so all these videos are in Windows Media stream-o-vision format. Patience is a virtue when it comes to load times.

Note: Just imagine if these robots were 900 feet tall! W00t!

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MAJESTIC ROBO-BATTLES
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(Credit: Robot Watch)

OmniZero.5: The Largening vs. Robo-David the Giant Robot Killah
> Watch the video, it's awesome

(Credit: Robot Watch)

Electro-Gargamel vs. Smacky the Chicken
> Oh, now this you gotta see

(Credit: Robot Watch)

Balloony the Balloon Head vs. XR-549306 (Techno-Scamp Form 2)
> This video is way rad

(Credit: Robot Watch)

Raggedy AnnBot vs. Tha Hair-Joojer
> Watch this video, then slap five with your pal Geoff

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CONFUSING ROBOT DEMOS
=========================

(Credit: Robot Watch)

ShovelBot ZL-3
> Must. Shovel. Air.

(Credit: Robot Watch)

RollOr/ChoppOr 2000
> First to flatten | Then to chop

(Credit: Robot Watch)

Meadowlark LemonBot
> More handles than Samsonite

(Credit: Robot Watch)

Gold Glove Jones
> Did you see that catch Gold Glove Jones made?

(Credit: Robot Watch)

ShoeShinoxx-7
> Coming soon to a major sidewalk near you

I wasn't able to finagle my way to Japan to cover it, but the 12th Robo-One bipedal robot competition recently wrapped up on the island of Shikoku.

In addition to the regularly scheduled robot festivities, Robots Dreams captured this footage of a pick-up robot fight breaking out in the cafeteria. In it, a Hawaiian-shirt-clad chicken robot lays the smackdown on a more traditional robot. Enjoy. It's hard not to.

Nothing of this ilk would happen during lunchtime of our ongoing battle of the nonviolent robots. The robots would just sit there, trade snacks, and talk about stuff.