Just thought I'd tell all you guys what I got for my birthday and what I've got for christmas so far, I'll start off with my birthday stuff :)

From my parents I got a Turtle Beach Ear Force X11 Headset, 12 Months of Xbox Live Gold, Need for Speed Hot Pursuit and a couple of humour books. The turtle beach is great, maybe not as good as surround sound headsets but it still really helps your Call of Duty game and it just adds to every game. The Xbox Live was great, and Need for Speed is a very good game, for NfS fans it may be a bit too much like Burnout but that's the reason I like it! Books were decent. From my Uncle I got a shirt as well as three Stevenage programmes - one of them the first FA Cup game after I was born, one from a league match in our first season and one when they switched on the new floodlights when they played Leeds, my Dad's team, so this was a nice present.

From my Aunt I got Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, I've only played a small amount of it but it's absolutely brilliant! More of the same from ACII but in a different setting and with some new abilities. Grandad gave me £50 which I was very happy with, and I'm still waiting on a present from my other Aunt, but this year's already been great gift-wise!

For Christmas, my parents gave me some England football related gifts (mug, flag, water bottle), SEGA Rally, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Family Guy Annual, Funny Football Stories, Crackdown, Viva Pinata/Forza Motorsport 2, a few Subbuteo teams (a table-top football/soccer game) and one DVD (The Damned United). I haven't opened many other presents yet, but I got the A-Team from my Uncle, and my Aunt gave me £30. I've got some unopened ones from my uncle and yet to receive gifts from my grandad and other aunt.

Going well so far, enjoying my new games and I'll update you all in a few days time :D

Hi everyone, I thought I would post up my thoughts on the Call of Duty Black Ops multiplayer. The review will be split into different sections.

Online Multiplayer

Maps

The maps are nothing special, and look like crap really, but they play really well. What I've found is that in the Infinity Ward games (CoD4 and MW2) the maps look bright, colourful, and are really interesting to look at but sometimes the design of the maps is poor. In the Treyarch games (WaW and BO) the maps look really gloomy, and aren't interesting at all, it's all a little bit samey but they have a nice variety of maps and the layout of them is nearly always excellent.

There are a few maps where using a sniper rifle is a valid choice, and the obligatory tiny map is a nice surprise. Called Nuketown, it's about the same size as Dome from WaW and is very linear with really only 3 routes from one side of the street to the other. However, the action is fast-paced and fun, and you can choose any class and do well.

Overall maps rating: 8/10

Customization

The customization this year has been ramped up to the next level. If you decide to choose a red dot sight or a reflex sight, it's possible to change the reticle from a dot to something like a skull, you can change the colour of the reticle and also the colour of the lens. You can add your clan tag and your own emblem to the gun - a new feature is that you can create your own emblem. While a good idea in theory, the amount of people using inappropriate emblems is ridiculous. A lot of people are using swastikas, including some with the clan tag of 'Jews', and somebody else I saw had an emblem with a plane flying into one of two towers. Really, I'd be happier if Treyarch took this out of the game, but they have added a report function and so hopefully these people can be punished in some way (maybe a temporary ban from online).

You now have three equipment choices - Lethal, Tactical, and Equipment. Lethal is either a frag, a semtex or a tomahawk (essentially a mini axe which you throw, a bit like the throwing knife from MW). Tactical is your special grenade, and equipment is a placeable object, like a claymore, motion sensor, jammer, or C4.

There are a large number of guns as well, and they all seem to be well balanced.

One of the differences in this game, is that you have to pay for your guns. While playing you can earn CoD Points by completing contracts which you set yourself, and just by playing you'll pick a few up. You can also play Wager Matches, which I'll come to later. When you reach a certain level, you unlock a gun but you still have to buy it. No longer do you have to complete tedious challenges to get that red dot sight, just get enough CoD points together and it's yours. You pay for everything - equipment, guns, attachments, perks, killstreaks, new emblems etc.

Gameplay

The gameplay is great. All the weapons are balanced, there seem to be far less n00b-tubers, and because Stopping Power has been taken out everybody is on a level playing field. I've encountered one problem in the knife lunge, where you can effectively teleport across a room and knife them. IMO the knife should just be a swipe in front of you, without a lunge of any kind.

Combat Training

Combat Training is a new mode in which you set up your game with variable settings, and then proceed to fight against AI bots. I was hoping for great things from this, especially seeing as my Xbox Live was running out two days before Black Ops came out and was really looking forward to this as it was what Treyarch called 'the CoD multiplayer experience , now offline'. Shame that it isn't offline. You have to have an Xbox Live Gold account to play it. This really annoyed me, because it meant I had to create a new xbox live account (giving me a free month of gold) in order to play online or combat training.

But the Combat Training is good. A few problems: a) AI players, when shooting, will stand still. b) They will always rush forward looking for kills, rather than staying back and c) They don't use any equipment as far as I can see.

Overall Ratings

Online Multiplayer: 9/10

Combat Training: 7/10

For anybody who doesn't know, my birthday is 5 days before Christmas so that's why I'm putting both lists in one. My Mum told me they're willing to spend roughly £200 over both my birthday and Christmas ... so here's my list for anybody's who interested ;)

1 - Xbox Live 12-Month Gold Subscription. My Xbox Live ran out just two days before Black Ops came out, so for now I've set up a secondary account so I can play online with Black Ops. The problem is, when I go up a level it doesn't feel like I've achieved anything because I know that my the time I've got to Level 50 my free month of Gold will have run out. Whatever, at least I can learn the maps and what works and what doesn't.

2 - Turtle Beach Ear Force X11 Headset. For ages now, I've wanted a decent headset so that my Mum and Dad don't get annoyed at me for playing CoD with the sound turned up, and also because it can help you play better. I made up a shortlist of headsets, and it was a tossup between this, or the X31. The X31 has a few extra features but the X11 can be plugged into your PC and also doesn't need batteries. So I went for the X11's, giving me an extra £40 (from not getting the X31) to ask for something else ...

3 - That something else is 4,200 Microsoft Points. There isn't really anything I want to get now with those points (although I may download the map pack I don't have for CoD5) but apparently Treyarch are already hard at work making new maps for Call of Duty: Black Ops. I won't even mind having to pay 1,200 Microsoft points for 5 maps because Treyarch have done such a great job with this game - the only problem I can see being the knife lunge. With MW2, I never bought either of the map packs because they were a rip-off and MW2 was so unbalanced it was ridiculous.

4 - Need for Speed Hot Pursuit. Which came out yesterday. I've never really been a big fan of Need for Speed but because this one is being made by Criterion (of Burnout fame) I can't wait to get my grubby paws on it. It looks absolutely brilliant.

5 - Subbuteo teams. Most people won't know what Subbuteo is, so I'll tell you. It's a football game (soccer if you're American) where you have mini players and a mini pitch. Each player is on a sort of small bowl, which you flick to try and get the ball, score, pass and so on. I've put down the 7 teams I want, but I've said that I really only really want 2 for Birthday/Christmas. Each team costs about £10.

6 - PES 2008 (PSP). According to lots of PES fanatics, this is the best PSP PES. Even if it isn't, it's only £4 so I'll pick it up thank you very much.

7 - Viva Pinata + Forza Motorsport 2 Bundle. Microsoft have released a number of bundles, where you get two games for the price of one, usually with an extra controller, or you can get them pre-owned for less than £10. I probably won't play either of these games much, but it's only £5 and I love Forza so hopefully I'll like it.

8 - Battlefield Bad Company 2. I was quite excited about this when it first came out, but then I remembered that it wasn't Call of Duty and I didn't want to pay £30 for a game I wasn't going to enjoy. Now it's down to £10 and most of the n00bs online have moved onto Black Ops so I'll give this a go.

9 - The Damned United (DVD). If you don't know, this is the story of the famous manager Brian Clough's career at Leeds United. I've watched it once at the cinema and enjoyed it, now it's down to £4 on Amazon so I'll get this.

10 - Crackdown. £4! £4! I know, ridiculous. From all I've heards this is a great sandbox game, and I love openworlds and sandbox games so I'm asking for this. Apparently there's virtually no storyline which might be a problem for some gamers but I don't think I've ever completed an open-world game's storyline, I just have too much fun messing around.

11 - SEGA Rally. I love rally games. I had all the WRC games on PS2, and I've got both DiRT games on 360. Can't wait for DiRT 3. Loved the new WRC game's demo. I might have asked for that new game, but I'm sure it will drop in price pretty quickly so I've asked for this instead while I wait for that new game.

It's actually my shortest list ever, but whenever I've put down about 1,000 items it just seems to let me down when I only see ten items waiting for me (when obviously it shouldn't) but hopefully this year I'll get all the stuff I've asked for. I'm just asking for money from all my other relatives, then I'll see how much I've got. I might get a capture card for my 360, I might get an iPod Touch, might just save it up, I dunno I'll just see how much I get before making any decisions.

Just thought I'd quickly post up my first impressions of Call of Duty: Black Ops before I go back to play it some more :D

I picked it up this morning before school for the bargain price of £28! Unfortunately I had to wait until after school to play it, and I have to say that while I wasn't expecting great things from it after the disappointment of MW2 those 6 hours were still torture.

So I got back home, said hi to the dog, got changed and sat down with a bottle of Coke and the game. Seeing as I was only an Xbox Live silver member, I couldn't play online and so decided to play a load of Combat Training and learn the maps before starting for real when I renew my Gold subscription at Christmas. This is the only major problem I've found so far - you must have an Xbox Live Gold account to play Combat Training, which involves no other online players! Why Treyarch, why? There's going to millions of disappointed fans who have been looking forward to playing against these AI Bots because they don't have an online account, and if I was one of them I would complain to Treyarch and try to get them to fix it, making it playable offline too. Maybe just add some bots into split-screen or something.

Anyway, the game came with a 48 hour trial which I quickly tapped in after that disappointment and settled down for a 2 and a half hour session online. Most people are under level 20, so everybodys reasonably well matched although when you're up against a party of elite players you're probably gonna struggle ... the guns are reasonably well balanced, and the big concern I had which was how effective the RC-Car would be disappeared into nothing. You only have a short time to control the car, and it can also be blown up with a single shot (I believe) but when you get a multikill with it it is very satisfying! The main addition is the CoD Points which I think is a good idea but it's an idea that hasn't been executed well enough to make it a worthwile addition to the game.

I've yet to play any of the other game modes (i.e. zombies and campaign) but I'm going to have a quick go on zombies now and may report what I think of it later. I'll probably try and do at least half of the campaign over the weekend.

See ya!

Two words:

Halo. Reach.

Hi guys, it's been a while since I posted so I thought I would just post this up now. I'll talk about Skate 3 first.

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The other day I was in need of a new game (bored of all my current games, couldn't decide what to play) and decided on Skate 3 ahead of Blur, which was the other game I wanted.

Anyway, Skate 3 is AW3SOM3!!!1!!!1 The controls are much better than Tony Hawk's games' once you get used to them, the open world feels realistic but also insanely good for skateboarding, and there are cool game modes like Hall of Meat. There's loads to unlock as well.

The main mode in the game is the offline story mode. In this you have to earn board sales by completing challenges. When you reach certain milestones of boards sold you get given a new skater to add to your skating team, and can also unlock clothes, boards, accessories, and new items to use in your custom skate parks.

There are lots of different challenges to complete, but some of them are pretty darn difficult (at least for me) so if you still want to unlock everything you can pay 560 Microsoft Points to unlock them all.

I would definitely recommend this game to anyone, it's a great game just to fool around in.

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The other day I started up a new YouTube channel. I did have a channel before but I decided to start afresh with a new channel.

The link to the channel is http://www.youtube.com/user/TheSBFCChris

I would greatly appreciate it if you could all subscribe to get the channel up and running so I can build from there.

At the moment I'm only gonna upload FIFA clips as well as some Skate 3 clips as I can record them in-game, upload to EA, download to my computer, then upload to YouTube. This Christmas though I should get my HD capture card (as well as my new microphone), so I'll be able to upload CoD games, FIFA matches, and so on.

Again, it would be really great if y'all could subscribe!

Thanks

So, this year the only game I've bought (that came out this year) is the World Cup game. All the games that have come out are either not my sort of game (like Mass Effect) or have been disappointing. However, from September to November there are eight games I would like to buy. I'll take you through them one by one.

1. Call of Duty Black Ops - As you may be aware Treyarch (who also made Call of Duty 3 and CoD: World At War) are developing this game instead of Infinity Ward, who made CoD1, CoD2, CoD4, and MW2. The game will be set in the Cold War and Vietnam, which means a nearly completely new set of weapons and perks. Treyarch seem to have listened to all the complaints made about MW2, and they need to take all these complaints into consideration to restore the series to it's former strength. For me, I'll be getting this on day 1.

2. Medal of Honor - EA are making the single-player of this game, which will be completely set in Afganistan. But for me, I'm interested in the multi-player, which is developed by DICE, the developers of BF: Bad Company 2. Nearly everybody I've spoken to has enjoyed the BETA (which I haven't had access to as I'm on 360), and that put this game from my 'Possibile Buy' column to 'Must Buy' column.

3. Halo: Reach - For me, Halo 3's multi-player was poor. I know it's not, I just hate how it really relies on headshots, and after playing CoD it's very hard to get used to. I played a few games of the BETA for this and really enjoyed it, so I feel that I will be buying this, or maybe get it for Christmas or something.

4. FIFA11 - Will be buying as it has my local team in it, who went up from the Blue Square Premier last year. That's the reason why I'll be buying this.

5. Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit - The last NFS game I bought was Underground on the PS2, and for me, that was when the series started going downhill. But with Burnout devs Criterion making this game I CANNOT WAIT. The only thing that disappointed me was that Criterion have said there will be no customisation for the cars, which for me is what separated NFS and Burnout on the last-gen consoles.

6. Assassin's Creed Brotherhood - I still haven't completed ACII, but I'm still interested in this game, continuing Ezio's story. Obviously the main edition to this game is multiplayer, which sounds very interesting. However, time will tell if it works out and this probably won't be a Day 1 purchase for me, as with Black Ops, Medal of Honor, NFS and Halo Reach I'll be enjoying multi-player galore. I'll still be keeping an eye on this though.

7. F1 2010 - As a Stevenage boy (where Lewis Hamilton came from :D) I cannot wait for this. However, I'll be renting first as the gameplay of the F1 games has always been slightly different from how I like to play. Don't think I'll buy, but will give it a try before making my mind up.

8. PES 2011 - Konami have seemed to make a really big effort for this years game, and with such a big overhaul this could be the game to finally knock FIFA off it's lofty perch on current-gen consoles.

What the CoD Series Needs Now

After MW2 was a big disappointment for some, three more games are now on the horizon. This November, it's Black Ops. Next year is an action adventure game made by new developer Sledgehammer Games, and then next November I presume Infinity Ward will release MW3.

So what needs to happen now? Activision firstly need to sort out the legal battle between them and the former employees of Infinity Ward. After that's over, IW can get on with developing MW3. Secondly, they need to scrap the idea for an action adventure game. Keep it as one for the future, as a fully online game. And you'll now be asking what they will be doing with Sledgehammer Games? Two words - Map. Packs.

By having a studio completely devoted to making Map Packs for all the CoD games - CoD4, WaW, MW2, and Black Ops - Treyarch and Infinity Ward can get on with their games, while Sledgehammer games, I'm guessing, could make one map pack a month of 4 or 5 good-quality maps.

The thing is, who has the money to pay £11 a month for a new map pack? Well, why sell them for £11? Over 20,000,000 people have playing MW2 online, and others have played CoD4 and WaW online. So, sell the map packs for £1. I'm guessing they'd get about 17,000,000 sales of each pack, which would mean £17 million a month, or £204 million A YEAR. They would still be raking it in, and it would keep all the recent, multiplayer focussed games in the series alive.

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on this idea, so please comment.

Hello, does anyone remember me anymor? :P

I've been taking a break from GameSpot recently, for some reason I don't it's quite as good as it used to be but I decided that now would be the perfect time to update all you guys over what's been going on.

I sold my Wii a while ago, but I still had about 8 games, just sitting there doing nothing, so I decided to trade them in and buy CoD: Modern Warfare 2 and 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa. I'd been hearing A LOT of negativity about MW2, but the fact is that it is a good game, and anybody who says it's crap can't know much about the 'other' games, the ones that overflow the second-hand shelves, the ones that everybody buys, say their crap, and then sells them for others to buy and sell.

I got back home, started playing them, and straight away I loved them.

Modern Warfare 2: For some reason, I prefer the maps on this to the CoD4 maps. Maybe because they're more realistic, for instance, Terminal feels like an airport, Afghan feels like Afghanistan, and Favela feels like you're in Brazil. Obviously, there are also a LOT more weapons, attachments, camos, unlockables and so on. And it's that one point that ruins it for me. A 10th Prestiger who's unlocked every gun, attachment, and Pro perk, no matter how crappy a player they are, are going to have a HUGE advantage over you. And boosters and campers have also contributed to me going back to CoD4 and CoD WaW. I still play MW2, but only when my friends are online. When I'm playing by my lonesome, I'll go on CoD4 or WaW.

We need to ask the question though - why is it not as good as CoD4? Because if it ain't broke, there's no need to fix it. And to me, that's all there is to it.

2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa: This is completely different from FIFA 10, the gameplay feels more lifelike, the atmosphere is brilliant, and it nails the experience of the world's biggest sporting event. While some people will say there's a lack of modes, the Story of Qualifying mode is one of the best I've come across in any game. To gain every single point in this mode, which selects different scenarios from the qualifying campaign, and also, once downloaded, the finals in South Africa, would probably take around 20-30 hours. Painful. ATM I'm playing through my own World Cup, although rather than a Round of 16 I have a second group stage, and instead of the quarter-finals I have a third group stage.

Overall, this is a great game but honestly, just wait until FIFA 11's out before picking this up on the cheap unless you're a football nut like me.

And now the big news - my Xbox broke this morning. By the looks of it the laser inside the disc drive has gone kaput, and we tried all manner of things before resigning ourselves to sending it off to Microsoft. So we'll send it off on Tuesday and hopefully get it back within a couple of weeks (one of my mates got his back in 5 days).

In the meantime I'll probably be playing on my PS2, and I'm going to go and pick up a few games from my local Gamestation (3 games for £5) like Crazy Taxi, Final Fantasies etc.

I got 4,200 Microsoft Points for £8 so here's what I bought, and I'll provide a brief review on each thing ...

1. Trials HD - This is brilliant. Basically, you're put on a motorbike and you have to complete about 70 levels of varying difficulty. There are lots of obstacles, and so it's sort of a like a puzzle, and you can spend 10 minutes trying to work it out before realising the way to get past. There are only 4 controls - gas, brake, and you can lean your rider left or right to help you out. There are skill games like the metal ball to do, and the game constantly updates your times to show how you stack up compared to your friends. Finally, you can make your own tracks. The game's 1,200 points but it's worth every one.

2. Trials HD Big Pack - This add-on adds roughly 50 tracks, about 35 for normal play, and 15 for the skill games, as well as 5 new tournaments and a lot of new items to use on your created tracks. It's only 400 points and is easily the best DLC I've bought.

3. Perfect Dark - The classic game from the N64 is now on XBLA with 3 GoldenEye multi-player maps! Yay! I haven't played much of this, but what I see is a great game that isn't right for me. I like the realism - it doesn't look great, but one shot is enough to kill an enemy, as well as the fact that the game doesn't tell you where to go, you have to work it out for yourself. And that's why I'll have to do this game using a guide, because I just get lost in this sorta skyscraper and don't know what to do ... the multi-player looks awesome though, so I'll definitely be playing that. It's reasonably cheap too at 800 points, but download the trial first.

4. Battlefield 1943 - This is nearly exactly the same as Battlefield: Bad Company except in World War II. I've only played one game, but it seems pretty awesome even though I'm absolutely crap at it. There are lots of vehicles, and it's more about skill than Call of Duty because there are only pre-determined set-ups to choose from. Download the trial first before buying I say, you might not like it if you're a CoD fan.

5. Worms - Wow. Just wow. 400 points for an awesome game, in single-player and multi-player. This is a turn-based strategy game with great play, and a variety of weapons you use to kill off the enemy's worms. Just get this. NOW.

Just to let you guys know that woolworths.co.uk and very.co.uk have some great deals on at the minute.

These two codes will give you money off (the first one is for £15 off your first purchase, the second is for free postage)

ZZ437

XV002

Those codes work on both sites, and a 2100 points code is usually £19 + postage, but now you can get it for £4 inc postage!

Just a quick note though, you won't be able to use the codes if you've already purchased a game from the site before, and also that the site will deduct the £19 before giving you back the £15. So make sure you've got enough money in your bank account ;)