It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas on Facebook. Credit card company Discover has partnered with Zynga to launch the first-ever brand-sponsored FarmVille expansion, Winter Wonderland. The new, customizable holiday farm is the third expansion to be released by the popular social games developer following English Countryside and Lighthouse Cove.

There are a number of great games for the Wii out there that try to get the player into physical fitness, ranging from straight-up workout games to dancing games that have you shaking your hips to the likes of…um, Katy Perry or something.  But Zumba Fitness 2, the sequel to last year’s surprise hit, tries to combine the two, with a Latin style dancing technique meshed with workout tactics.  The result, unfortunately, leaves a lot to be desired.

When it debuted for the PlayStation Network a couple of years back, Zen Pinball introduced a great service to pinball fans everywhere, as well as casual players.  It also showed that Zen Studios hasn't lost its touch when it comes to making great pinball games, which they still prove today with new Marvel-licensed and regular tables for both Zen and Pinball FX 2 on Xbox Live Arcade.  Now they've taken their flipping act to the mobile front, as Zen Pinball makes its debut on the App Store for iPad and iPhone.

When we got our hands on Need For Speed: The Run on consoles, we were impressed by its cross-country race set-up and its exciting moments, though we were frustrated by the inclusion of lame-ass quick-time events when you got out of the car.  Oddly enough, the 3DS version of The Run has similar setbacks.  When you’re racing, there’s really quite nothing like it.  But it’s the unnecessary extras stacked on top that get in the way of truly enjoying the ride.

I’m all for an aggressive NASCAR game.  Sure, the realism based ones are okay, but you have to be in the proper mood to go around hundreds of laps without feeding the urge to ram Tony Stewart into the wall.  So it made me happy to play NASCAR Unleashed on the 360 last month, with its simplistic arcade nature and its numerous options.  When I heard there was a version available for Nintendo 3DS, I was curious to see how it fared, imagining car parts flying at the screen in 3D and all sorts of havoc ensuing.  Well, I got the havoc part right, but not in the way I wanted.

The NBA lockout is now history, which gives hoops fans something to look forward to besides gifts under the tree this Christmas day. But gamers get an early gift with 2K Sports’ NBA 2K12 DLC Legends Showcase. The new cel-shaded game is out today, November 29, for Xbox Live Marketplace and PlayStation Network.

Square Enix is bridging the worlds of two globally popular game franchises. The publisher has partnered with Ubisoft to bring Ezio Auditore’s Assassin's Creed Revelations costume into the world of Final Fantasy XIII-2. The optional outfit will be available as DLC and for Noel Kreiss, one of the main characters of the newest Final Fantasy game.