In case you have not logged on to your favorite console yet to see, Battlefield: Bad Company 2’s 5^th (yes, 5^th) VIP Map Pack is now available for download.

If you were hoping that this, the 5^th (again, the 5^th) VIP Map Pack would finally be the one with new maps, consider your hopes mostly destroyed.  VIP Map Pack 5 (5) follows the same formula as VIP Map Pack 1, VIP Map Pack 2, VIP Map Pack 3 and VIP Map Pack 4 where old maps are combined with old game modes to create a… new-ish experience.

Also, as with the first four VIP Map Packs, this one is 100% free—as long as you have the VIP code that came with all new copies of the game.  If you bought the game second-hand, you’ll need to download the VIP code for $15, which will give you access to all of the VIP content.

The yummy bits this time consist of being able to play White Pass in Rush Mode and Nelson Bay in Conquest Mode.

Hey, at least EA and DiCE continue to release free content on a pretty regular basis!

After seeing the image of that *alleged* special edition Halo: Reach controller on the internet earlier this week, it should come as no surprise that Microsoft announced a whole Reach console bundle yesterday.  The limited edition Xbox 360 bundle will include all the goodies that the newly released slimline version has (Kinect ready, WiFi, 250GB HDD, etc.) but all in a silvery UNSC paint scheme.  It also comes loaded with sounds from the Halo universe (like a charging energy shield when you open the disk tray!).  The bundle comes with two of those silver controllers, a special edition Reach headset, limited edition Elite armor, some other media and a copy of Halo: Reach.

The Reach bundle will be available September 14^th for $399.  The limited edition controller and headset will be available separately in late August for $59.99 and $49.99 respectively.

Wow!  We can’t believe it… over 30,000 fans on Facebook!  Thank you for showing interest in our little contest but we’ve decided that those new slim Xbox 360s are way too cool to give away.  Instead, we are just going to give you our old, white Xbox’s.  Cool?  It’s not?  Well, what if we throw-in the latest Bieber CD?  Still no?  Fine!  Then without further protest, we give you the 10 super-lucky winners of the brand new Xbox 360 slims:

Chris Stogsdill

Mat Houchens

Michael Wallace

Binder Adzowry

Hannah Jensen

Marcus Miles

Elizabeth Good

Darien Thompson

Robert Haynes

Ryan Kendall

You are all so lucky, and everyone else now hates you!  You winners will all be getting a friend request on Facebook from me (Trevor) in a few minutes—you should accept it.*

To the rest of you:  Stick around and keep checking-in with us frequently!  We’re always doing something exciting and try our best to take really good care of our fans.  Anyway, poke around our site, check out some customer reviews, say “hello” in our forums and stay sweet.

XXXXXXX

KontrolFreek

*Winners have 72 hours to respond to friend request. After 72 hours prize is forfeit and another winner will be chosen at random.

Happy E3 2010 everybody!  After seeing Microsoft’s big unveil of the new, Kinect ready Xbox 360 yesterday, we thought, wouldn’t some Stealth on Stealth FPS Freeks look super-tight with that shiny new skin?  We certainly think so!  And that’s why we’ve decided to give you a chance to win 1 of 10 ULTIMATE KontrolFreek GamerPacks.  Each ULTIMATE GamerPack includes a KontrolFreek GamerPack and a NEW Xbox 360!  That’s right, the brand new, glossy black one Microsoft JUST announced at E3!  All you have to do to enter is become a fan of our Facebook page – that’s it.  Oh, and the contest will end in 72 hours; so that should make for some pretty good odds!

All Facebook fans, new and old are eligible to win.  After 72 hours, we will randomly choose 10 fans from our list.  You guys who have been with us for a while know that we love doing stuff like this.  It’s our way of saying “thanks” to all of you KF veterans and “welcome” to all you new fans.

Thank you “I Play COD” for supporting us and good luck to everyone!

Kisses and Headshots,

KontrolFreek

Enter “KFE3DEAL” at checkout for 10% off anything in our store!

Last night was a long one.  With energy drinks and the Halo: Reach Beta fueling my frenzy, I went long in to the night and awoke this morning to swollen eyes and a strong urge to remove them from my face.  But, having the opportunity to play in the biggest public beta ever is totally worth the pain, right?  I mean, this is something we’ll probably tell our grandchildren about (immediately before they laugh at us for the primitive games we used to play).  Ah, kids… I really don’t care for them.

My early impressions of the beta are pretty good.  That old, familiar gameplay is back and probably tighter than ever.  The new weapons seem fairly balanced and are mostly fun to use.  And playing with the new Armor Abilities has proven entertaining, too; although it’s pretty annoying when the guy you were about to kill drops to his knees and encases himself in glow-y-ness.  It just seems a bit cheap to me.  But I’ll still use it from time-to-time—especially when I see someone else do it—so that we can both be crouched there glowing and not shooting at each other.

My only major complaint during my marathon Reach session was the lack of gametypes and maps.  I seemed to always be doing the same thing over-and-over again.  So I did some research for about 10-seconds and found a statement from Bungie over at the official Halo: Reach Beta site that I will now share with you:

“… [We] will be releasing the maps and gametypes on different dates throughout the duration of the beta test, with only a subset of them being available immediately on May 3rd.

The good news is that once a map or gametype is released, it will remain available through the end of the beta even as other gametypes become available. Below is the schedule of release:

• Grab Bag – May 3
• FFA – May 3
• Arena – May 3
• Invasion – May 7
• Network Test 1/Generator Defense – May 14”

Yay!  So, be patient and enjoy the short time that you and the Reach Beta have together.  See you all later tonight—I’ll be the one stabbing you in the back.

If you happened to be awake in the wee-hours of last night/this morning, you may have caught Microsoft’s pre-planned announcement that coincided with Cliff Bleszinski’s big appearance on Jimmy Fallon confirming Gears of War 3.  Apparently, nobody told the folks who add Xbox Live’s content that Cliff’s appearance on “Late Night” had been postponed until next Monday because of a scheduling conflict with Justin Bieber.

The Xbox Live Dashboard’s Spotlight channel read, “Gears of War 3 Announced – The epic story concludes April 2011.”  Clicking the link resulted in nothing and has since been removed, but nevertheless, we all know the truth. Gears 3 will release next April.

Look for the final boss to be a large, bloodthirsty locust with the detached head of Justin Bieber whose weak spot will most likely be his vocal chords that need to be severed with your chainsaw.

... for Europe.  Sorry fellow North Americans.

Microsoft announced today that their exclusive psychological action thriller will be released one full week earlier than the original release date set for European gamers.  This means that you’ll actually be playing a game before everyone else for a change!

I know that this doesn’t matter much to us stateside.  But we should be happy for our friends across the pond.  They usually have to pay way too much for stuff.  They’re very pale and confused about football.  And they are always getting the shaft when it comes to video games.

So, congratulations, Europe.  The rest of the world will be jealous of you on May 14^th.

Alan Wake will release on May 18^th for North Americans.