Welcome back gamers, we’ve made our way through the start of a new month.  Sales are plentiful and headlines are afoot, let’s take a look at a couple of those stories.

Mass Effect 3 is getting a new multiplayer DLC pack, entitled Earth, and is set for release on July 17 on Xbox 360 then the following day on Playstation Network.  Despite knowing the the release date, a lot of the finer details are yet unknown.  What we do know is there are three new maps, oddly enough placed on Earth.  There are six new playable characters, N7 Demolisher Engineer, N7 Destroyer Soldier, N7 Fury Adept, N7 Sentinel Paladin, N7 Shadow Infiltrator and the N7 Slayer Vanguard.  12 new weapon modifications and 11 new, unique upgrades.  A new difficult will be available, one that will challenge even the most dedicated ME3 player.  Last, but not least, keep an AI target safe from enemy forces and escort him to extraction, this will become a new objective randonly occuring during waves 3, 6 and 10 during muliplayer games.  Earth will be available for free at launch.

Earlier this week, Codemasters announced that it will add a new game to the F1 portfolio, F1 Race Stars.  F1 Race Stars is a fast and fun arcade racing game for all ages featuring official Formula One cars, teams and circuits.  Coming this holiday season for the Xbox 360, PlayStation3 and PC, F1 Race Stars is now in production at Codemasters Racing Studios in Birmingham, UK, the home of the BAFTA award-winning series of Official Formula One games, and is being created under exclusive worldwide agreement with Formula One World Championship Limited.  Chris Gray, Senior Producer, F1 Race Stars, said: “We’re really excited to bring the whole cast of Formula One into a fun new world of racing. We’ve really let our Art and Design teams off the leash to bring F1 stars’ personalities alive in a new way and create a game where racing fans of all ages can jump into all-action solo, split-screen and online multiplayer races. It’s the game we’ve wanted to create for a long time and, building on our strong relationship with Formula One Management Limited, we’re now able to bring Codemasters’ long-standing expertise in track design and AI to create a Formula One racing experience quite unlike any other.”  Keep up to date on the game at www.F1racestars.com.

Minecraft and Trials Evolution will receive free DLC next week.  As part of the Microsoft Summer Arcade, both games will receive free DLC content which will be available July 18.  Minecraft users will add skin packs to their game, the skin packs will feature SoA titles Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD, Wreckateer,Deadlight, Hybrid and Dust: An Elysian Tail.  Trials Evolution fans on the other hand will have a Tony Hawk themed course.  Additional courses for Trials Evolution courses will be made available though out the Summer Arcade promotion.

That’s it for this week, stop back to Zero1Gaming for gaming news, reviews, and more!