Microsoft has announced the free games Xbox Live Gold subscribers can acquire next month as a part of their Games With Gold Program today.

Users will be able to download Armello throughout the month of May. This dark fairy tale game combines the tactics of a card game with the strategy of a tabletop game to create a rich RPG with a focus on character building. From May 16th to June 15th, members can pick up Dungeons 3, a dungeon building RTS in which players command the forces of evil as they attempt to conquer the overworld.

From May 1st to May 15th, players on Xbox 360, Xbox One, and the Xbox Series console can grab the original Lego Batman and play as Gotham’s greatest heroes and villains. From May 16th to May 31st, Gold players can grab Tropico 4 and rule over a small island nation. All told, this month’s games have a value of $79.96 ESRP and offer 4,000 gamerscore to collect.

If you haven’t picked up all of April’s games, you still have time. You can still pick up Truck Racing Championship and the excellent Contra: Hard Corps. As a reminder, Xbox Live Gold is included with Game Pass Ultimate.

You can check out a video describing this month’s Games With Gold titles below, courtesy of Microsoft.

Cities Skylines

After what seemed like a long, long time, Cities Skylines arrived and delivered a city-building experience that truly succeeds old-school SimCity. The sheer joy of getting your city up and running, watching it buzz about as you beautify it, manifests excellently in Cities: Skylines. Throw in Steam Workshop support for mods, tons of support from the developer and plenty of content updates for even more long-term replay value.

Microsoft has announced the newest batch of Xbox 360 games that will be made playable on the Xbox One via their backward compatibility initiative. While there’s no major headliner here, like the Valve games for Xbox One X enhancements last week, there’s still some good stuff here that I think a lot of Xbox fans could stand to look into.

One of the games is Tropico 4, which is the fourth entry in the stylized city builder and sim game about building up your own city in a vaguely dictatorship-style country. The other is LEGO Star Wars 2: The Original Trilogy, which represents one of the most beloved LEGO games yet, probably because it came out when the formula was still novel and new, and hadn’t been applied to literally every pop culture property under the sun, like it has now.

But yeah—both are good games, and I think deserve a look for a dash of something different than the typical console game. If you have a disc, you just insert it and play the game; if not, you can always buy these from the Xbox Store, per always.

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So this is nice! Kalypso Media have revealed their plans to release the Tropico DictNator Pack in the UK on September 12th of this year. “But what is this collection of games” I hear you say. “Don’t I already own these games because of Steam sales?” I hear you call.

Well first of Tropico DictNator Pack is like the grandmaster collection of Tropico games. It collects Tropico one, two, three and four into once nice and neat little bundle for your gaming and ruling pleasure. Straight from the Department of Tropican Historical Manipulation, this collection exists to “preserve the legacy of El Presidente and remind the people of his absolute brilliance”.

But it doesn’t stop there, that wouldn’t be impressive enough for El Presidente. Each of the four games also gets their free major expansion packs for free!

• Tropico 1 will get the Paradise Island, the lonely banana haven.
• Tropico 2 will get the Pirate Cove where players take on the role of playing a ruling pirate king!
• Tropico 3 receives Absolute Power with the return of El Presidente.
• Tropico 4 will get the Modern Times expansion wherein the player will guide Tropico into the 21st century for good or for ill.

That’s quite a bundle! But regarding your second point. Yes, you probably did pick up these games in the sales.

The exact contents of the three packs – The Vigilante, Megalopolis and Pirate Heaven – are as follows:

Megalopolis: Build the most expansive island cities in a new mission, plus a new building, the Conventillo, that offers cheap housing and lots of room to spare but must be repaired constantly. Also, new bureaucratic traits for building cheaper residential buildings while earning more profits. The monocle, dress suit and special necklace make up the new Mayor costume.

Pirate Heaven: New “Pirate Queen” outfit available for female avatars plus new piracy features and island defenses to fend off those who have a problem with your plundering.

Vigilante: Probably the coolest one, as El Presidente becomes a vigilante “Zorro” (complete with a brand new face) and starts locking criminals up. This is accentuated by the new Labor camp which puts convicts to work for island benefits. A new character trait “Alter Ego” helps reduces crime boosting tourism and impressing Tropican nationals.

For PC, this marks the debut of the Vigilante DLC with the Megalopolis and Pirate Heaven packs already out.

Kalypso Media has released a new video showing a key NPC in the game. It’s called ‘Meet the Rogues’ and features characters like  the ever-intellectual Miss Pineapple, the incredibly intolerable Sunny Flowers and the overbearing General Rodriguez.

These NPCs will test your skills as a leader so that you can prove you are capable enough to develop your city into a global superpower by giving you some missions.

The game makes you “the president of a tiny Caribbean island, it’s up to you to lead your country to greatness! Will you be a benevolent and tolerant leader, or a power-mad dictator? Will your economy rely on tourism, farming, big business or cheap sweatshops? The decisions you make will shape the future of your island, and more importantly, the size of your off-shore bank account.”

Check out the video below.

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Meanwhile if you are hearing about this game for the first time, check out the features.

• Become the heroic leader, or a despicable despot as your customized El Presidente avatar makes decisions for the good or ill of the people

• Two extensive campaigns consisting of more than 30 unique missions including the new “Modern Times” campaign

• More than 100 buildings in total, including the stock exchange, shopping mall, aqua park, car factories and shuttle launch pad

• Council of Ministers — Elevate citizens to government positions to help push through your more controversial decisions

• Sandbox mode for custom games, with improved map and scenario editor for endless replayability

Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

Kalypso Media has announced that Tropico 4 will be getting a new DLC pack called Megapolis, and as the name implies it includes a new campaign, new avatar clothing and more.

The Megapolis DLC will be compatible with the original Tropico 4 and Tropico 4 Gold Edition. The DLC will be available for PC and Xbox 360 for $5 respectively. You can get them via various digital portals and Kalypso launcher, if you have downloaded it.

In the game you play as El Presidente, a dictator that can do good or bad depending on how you play. As El Presidente, try on a decidedly more old-fashioned suit and spice it up with a classic monocle and mayoral necklace.  The new bureaucrat trait helps you build cheaper residential buildings and earn bigger profits with the “building permit” edict.

Here are the features of the Megapolis DLC pack:

• New building: Conventillo : Cheap housing with plenty of room to spare, but degrades over time and has to be frequently repaired
• New trait: Bureaucrat: Build cheaper residential buildings while earning more profits from the new “building permit” edict
• New outfit: Mayor (male avatar), includes monocle, dress suit and special necklace
• New mission: Megalopolis

Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

We have a new trailer for Tropico 4 gold courtesy of Kalpyso Media which shows the challenges you have to face while crafting your empire. It isn’t called the Ultimate city building experience for no reason, there are a lot of factors you have to consider.

Tropico 4 Gold Edition is the ultimate city building experience, including:Tropico 4 and the “Modern Times” expansion. As the president of a tiny Caribbean island, it’s up to you to lead your country to greatness!  Will you be a benevolent and tolerant leader, or a power-mad dictator?  Will your economy rely on tourism, farming, big business or cheap sweatshops?  The decisions you make will shape the future of your island, and more importantly, the size of your off-shore bank account.

Sounds good, doesn’t it? The gold edition has some extra features and will be released for the Xbox 360 and PC.

About Tropico 4:

Game Overview:

Tropico 4 Gold Edition is the ultimate city building experience, including: Tropico 4 and the “Modern Times” expansion. As the president of a tiny Caribbean island, it’s up to you to lead your country to greatness! Will you be a benevolent and tolerant leader, or a power-mad dictator? Will your economy rely on tourism, farming, big business or cheap sweatshops? The decisions you make will shape the future of your island, and more importantly, the size of your off-shore bank account.

Publisher: Kalypso Media

Developer: Haemimont Games

Platforms: PC and X360

Release Date: Already Released

Stay tuned to Gamingbolt.com for more news and updates.

About Tropico 4:

Game Overview:

Tropico 4 features all new missions across new maps and includes exciting and fun new features to keep the action fresh and challenging. You can even elect ministers into power to help get your more controversial decisions passed through the government. But remember to keep your friends close and your enemies closer as everyone has an agenda!

Publisher: Kalypso Media

Developer: Haemimont Games

Platforms: PC and X360

Release Date: Available now (PC)
21/10/2011 (X360)

Stay tuned to Gamingbolt.com for more news and updates.