lthough things are a little bit slow at brick and mortar stores, Nintendo and Microsoft are serving up three great titles for download this week. Whether you crave extreme sports, obscure shooter/rhythm hybrids or classic board games, the Xbox Live Marketplace and Nintendo's Virtual Console have you covered.
When Rez was first released back in 2001 for the PS2, Sega grossly underestimated the US market's craving for a music-themed shooter with a highly artistic bent. Well, it looks as though you no longer need to shell out in excess of $80 on ebay to snag a copy. Rez HD brings the title to the Xbox with improved HD graphics and 5.1 Dolby Digital audio. Trance vibrator sold separately.
Rave-inspired shooters not quite up your alley? This week hails the return of a classic PC franchise (and an even more classic board game) in Chessmaster Live. Although other collections have already brought multiplayer chess to the Live Arcade, I'm going to assume that Chessmaster's AI will put Spyglass's single player experience to shame.
Nintendo brings us a port of the N64 classic 1080 Snowboarding. Though a bit dated by today's standards, this was the face that launched a thousand ships. Games like SSX, Cool Boarders and Amped may be fresher in gamers' memories, but it was 1080 that first let console gamers strap on a board and take to the digital slopes.