So, I haven't blogged in a while, I did that '10 Greatest Multiplayer Maps' post, but it wasn't a proper one. However, I have loads to talk about, so let's kick in:

Mythic Map Pack

Well, April 9th which is actually after the last time I posted, the Mythic Map Pack was released onto Xbox LIVE. Easily, the best map pack to hit Halo 3. Firstly, there is Assembly. This map is pure Matchmaking. A small frantic map, that is SO fun to play. I am really enjoying this map at the moment. Probably the best out of the three. Next, Orbital. A map set in some sort of a space station. It plays really well on Slayer and Objective with brilliant weapon placement. However, I have found a few spawn issues with this map. Brilliant fun to play. Next is Sandbox, the so-called 'Forger's Paradise'. Well, it certainly lives up to the name. It has 3 'levels'. The Crypt, the main level and the Sky Bubble. Only problem, I don't forge. The default layout of Sandbox isn't really up to much, but people's forge variants have already made their way into matchmaking.

So as you can see, if you regularly play Halo 3, there's no reason not to splash out.

Fight Night Round 3

So, if you took a look at my gamertag, down there, you would notice I am playing Fight Night Round 3. My friends accuse me of wanting the easy 1000G on it, I really enjoy boxing, so when I noticed cheap in the classics range, I went for it and it is absolutely brilliant, doesn't quite top FIFA 09 as my best sports game, however it is awesome. I know Fight Night Round 4 is out soon, but I could not refuse at the price is was at. Really brilliant gameplay, and it has already provided me with a golden gaming moment. 12th Round. Hatton v Robinson. I am Hatton, losing on points, knock him out last ten seconds, Achievement Unlocked: 100G. It was literally jumping up and down. I will be going for that 1000G :p

TrueSkill

Microsoft always go on about this TrueSkill they employ in their games. In my opinion, it is complete and utter rubbish. I was 36 in Team SWAT, it took me 6 wins in a row to progress. My friend, going up every game. Then, working in my favour, Iam 39 we lose two, then win two and I go up. WTF?! I am 41 now and we just won 10 games lost 2 and I didn't go up, soooo frustrating.

Anyway, looking forward to Modern Warfare 2 and BioShock 2, hopefully will be more info at E3.

The 10 best maps of any multiplayer game of all time:

10. Crash (Call of Duty 4)

9. Ascension (Halo 2)

8. Clocktower (Gears of War)

7. Orbital (Halo 3)

6. Midship (Halo 2)

5. Guardian (Halo 3)

4. Gridlock (Gears of War)

3. Lockout (Halo 2)

2. Canals (Gears of War)

1. The Pit (Halo 3)

Notice no ORIGINAL Gears 2 maps in the list, FAIL EPIC!!! Congrats to Bungie for making such awesome maps as 6 of the 10 Ultimate Maps originate from Halo. My face lights up everytime I see The Pit come up in the Pre Game Lobby

Right, I bought a 2100 Microsoft Points card from GAME, typed in the code and it kept saying it was not valid, so I rang Microsoft and got through to some Asian woman (India probably) and I could not understand a word she was saying, so I got a reference number and took it back to GAME, they gave me another one. It worked.

So, I was definately going to get the Mythic Map Pack when it releases on the 9th of April, however, I still had 1300 Microsoft Points left so it was a straight choice. The Pitt for Fallout 3 or Knothole Island for Fable II. I went for Knothole, because people who had bought The Pitt were complaining of glitches, freezing issues etc. and I love Fable and I hadn't played it in ages. So, first of all, I've done it. Another stupidly short piece of DLC that I have been ripped off on. Seriously, I have only ever bought one piece of DLC, that I have been satisified I have got my money's worth and that is Lost and Damned for GTA IV. Anyway, good news is I got the last three achievements that I hadn't done on Fable because I hadn't got Knothole so 1100G on Fable 2. :D

Last Saturday, I was browsing around ASDA when I noticed a good deal, Dead Space, brand new, £19. Pretty good deal and awesome game. Definately has an essence of BioShock about it. I love everything about it, the sound, the graphics, story, everything is brilliant. I never play it after midnight though, scares the living daylights out of me.

Well, Gears of War 2 didn't have a great start to it's multiplayer life. Really slow matchmaking times, hundreds of glitches and exploits. However, the third title update, might well bring a lot of lost Gears fans back. The main change in the new ranking update. It's very similar to CoD, basically it's just numbers and it goes up to 100. It's simple, but it's better than that old crappy one that no-one knew what they had to do to get promoted. Also, I found that chainsaw was less effective. When Gears 2 first came out, I was getting chainsawed left, right and centre, now I can actually defend myself. Not sure whether Epic made the shotgun more powerful, or decreased the amount of bullets a player can take.

There is a new map pack out for Gears 2 called the 'Snowblind Map Pack' (I think :S). It contains 4 maps. One of which being a remake of the old Gears 1 classic, Fuel Depot. I have never bought a map pack for Gears 2 (Probably due to the fact I bought Hidden Fronts Map Pack for Gears 1, possibly the worst map pack ever, WHAT WERE THEY THINKING WITH BULLET MARSH????!!!) except for the flashback map pack but they came free with Gears 2. However, if I can a few mates back on Gears 2, might think about it.

Alright, take it easy.

*EDIT* Oh yeah, going try and get a review up of Fallout 3 tonight. My reviews aren't like this:

'This game iz crap cuz it is full of n00bs'

They are pretty substantial (expect some of my earlier ones :p), so if you could check out some of my other reviews and check out the Fallout review when it is up, it would be much appreciated.

Short post but finally Microsoft, Xbox who ever is responsible has finally done something that should have been there for years. The option to remove a credit card. Last few months, I had to enter a new card because the old one expired, which was simple enough. However, I couldn't delete the OLD credit card. So everytime I wanted to get some Microsoft Points, I had to click 'Change Payment Option' then select the valid credit card.

However, if you log into Xbox.com with your gamertag, then manage profile you can finally DELETE a credit card. So simple Microsoft, why did it take this long?

Is anyone getting the The Pitt for Fallout? Looks nice, didn't have the smoothest start though. Corrupted files :( Unlucky Bethesda.

If you take a slight notice at my Now Playing list (which you probably don't), you probably would have noticed that FIFA 09 is nearly always there. I simply think it is one of the greatest games of all time, probably due to my love of football.

So with the FIFA 09 Ultimate Team DLC announced, the first EVER downloadable DLC for a FIFA game, I was ecstatic. Firstly though, to make sure i didn't waste 800 Microsoft Points, i downloaded the trial, demo whatever...

So, it pops up 'FIFA 09 Ultimate Team Downloaded', I then fired up FIFA 09 and it didn't sign me into the EA Servers. I was aware of problems with the EA Servers on Thursday, but I never thought they would stretch into today. Everytime, I tried to sign into the EA Servers, it would state: 'The EA Servers are currently unavailable. Please try again later.' This then continuously happened for over an hour, me and my friend, who I was in a party with, were getting serious frustrated. Him more so as he had purchased the full 800 Microsoft Points version.

I eventually thought 'This is Stupid' and went to play some Fallout 3. (Awesome game, did a couple of side quests up to 660G). Once I had done those quests, I went back on FIFA to give it another go. Surprisingly, it signed me in, so started up Ultimate Team (UT). The little intro video plays explaining the basic rules. I got my team together, and went into my first game. Great start, 1-0 up within 5 mins then:

'You have lost your connection to the EA servers. Please check your ethernet cable blah, blah, blah....'

OMG, so annoyed at this point. I couldn't sign back in, I couldn't play any mode of FIFA 09 that involved using the EA servers.

Hopefully, either in the morning or later in the day EA should fix this mess. The very brief time I got to spend with UT, I really enjoyed it. FIFA needed freshening up and I think this is it.

The game basically involves... cards. When you start, you get a starter pack, which basically decides how your club starts. You get a bunch of frankly crap players. You basically play games, whether online or off, then you win coins. Which you spend on a pack of cards, bronze being cheap but not very good players, silver which are OK players, and Gold. Gold is where you find your Wayne Rooneys, your Kakas and so on.

I was going to get the Full version, as you can only play five games in the trial. However, with the EA servers as bout as dependent as Northern Rock, I thought I'd leave it a bit.

SORT IT OUT EA!

Picked up 1000 Microsoft points yesterday, so I decided to go ahead and the the DLC for Fallout 3, Operation: Anchorage. As I started the DLC up, I thought:

'This should last me till the Mythic Map Pack hits Halo 3'

How wrong I was. Well, I got it yesterday and today I completed it. Literally, it is around 2-3 hours long of DLC. No way should it be 800 Microsoft Points and Bethesda know it. Basically, you are paying for the frankly awesome stuff that you are given at the end. The T-51b power armor, the General's Longsword. However, the actual content it's self isn't that good either. The game is very combat-heavy and some way through you will probably think 'Am I playing Fallout or Call of Duty?'

It takes the game in the wrong direction. However, I am really pumped for The Pitt. The New DLC arriving 24th March, looks brilliant.

However, let's talk about proper DLC. The Lost and Damned. I completed Saturday Night/Sunday Morning. Easily the best DLC you will play in a long time. I love how it tells a different story in the GTA storyline and how they interwine. Easily worth the 1600 Microsoft points.

GDC is coming soon. Infinity Ward will be there, so that probably means a Modern Warfare 2 Reveal Trailer. Can't Wait!

I am so sick of Activision switching between Infinity Ward and Treyarch just to makes a few extra pounds (dollars, what ever country you live in). Call of Duty 4 was awesome! One of the best FPS of all time! Call of Duty was on a high. Before CoD4, the Call of Duty franchise was just another WWII game. With Modern Warfare, they revolutionised many things. Mainly, multiplayer. Infinity Ward showed the world how it was done. Even multiplayer masters Bungie must have learnt something. Over 10 million units sold, the most played game on Xbox LIVE and PSN, then they ruin it all...

"The Next Call of Duty will be set in WWII" OMG, why WWII? "It will also be developed by Treyarch." WTF!

It just sucked the whole life out the franchise. Call of Duty was a born again franchise, then in one announcement, all that hard work that Infinity Ward put in was for nothing. It's not just like I have a weird hatred for Treyarch, Call of Duty 3 was one of the most boring, most unimaginary game I have ever played.

I picked up the game, thinking, 'PLEASE TREYARCH, PROVE ME WRONG!!!!!' Guess what, they didn't. The game has NO NEW IDEAS from CoD4. The WWII scene is like, 'Been there, done that' The multiplayer, OMG the multiplayer contains some of the worst designed and glitch-filled maps in any FPS. The game really does not have anything new to offer, and the Call of Duty franchise has had all the enthusiasm, all that excitement sucked right out again.

Thank god for the news that CoD6 is in the Modern Warfare setting. Thank god it is being developed by Infinity Ward. My plea to Treyarch and Activision is this:

Please, Treyarch. Leave the Call of Duty franchise. You either create your own ideas and create an awful game (CoD3), or take practically everything from a predecessor game an create a barely average game (CoD: World at War). Call of Duty is a truly special franchise and you are ruining it!

Infinity Ward FTW!

Well, I'm just over 50% the way through Lost and Damned and it is easily the best DLC to ever hit LIVE. The story is so well written and Rockstar have crafted the characters so well that they all have their own personality.

Johnny Klebitz is the anti-hero you play as in L&D, and he is as just as violent and lovable as Niko Bellic. I don't want to ruin it for other people, but if you choose to buy it will be the best 1600 Microsoft Points you have ever spent.

On to other games and I am back into Call of Duty 4. I really do NOT like Call of Duty: World at War (I have my reasons). I am also playing a bit of Fallout 3, FIFA 09 (as usual).

I am also really looking forward to the Mythic Map Pack for Halo 3. I do think that Halo is better than Call of Duty but Halo is getting a bit stale and needs a good map pack to freshen things up. Assembly looks my favourite at the moment but Sandbox looks like it will contain a few gems of Infection games.

So at the moment we are facing an avalanche of DLC. The Lost and Damned is with us, I'm still to get Operation: Anchorage and Bethesda are planning to release two epic looking pieces of DLC in the coming months. I will get Operation: Anchorage soon but it will be one of the last on my list. Unless some gem of a game sneaks under the radar, the main games won't be here till the normal gaming release period: FIFA 2010, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Halo 3: ODST and BioShock 2. Cue DLC to get me through till then.

Not on the Xbox 360 subject, I just downloaded the beta of Safari 4 for my MacBook and am using it right now! Haven't had much time to flick through all the new features, but I'm looking forward to doing that in the coming days (and weeks).

So, I'm off to watch Man Utd lose to Inter.

See you on LIVE

dan_scfc's Game of the Year for 2008 is:

Grand Theft Auto IV

Why? Well, the awesome story! I loved and hated every character that Rockstar had intended. I loved Niko and Roman, the pair were just brilliant, while I couldn't stand Dimitri and couldn't wait to kill him. The brilliant setting that was Liberty City was also stunning. Every detail was perfect, the city felt like a real city. The awesome story, the brilliant acting and the awe-inspiring setting is what set GTA IV apart from every other game of 2008.

Congratulations Rockstar,

Game of the Year 2008: Grand Theft Auto IV (Xbox 360)

*I'm off to play some Lost and Damned

So, the 360 exclusive expansion pack hits Tuesday. 'The Lost and Damned' will cost 1600 Microsoft points. I loved GTA IV, the story was fantastic and is the only game I have awarded a perfect 10.

However, the replayablity is not there like it was in San Andreas. While, the story was so much better than SA, when the main storyline was done, there wasn't much to do. However, with this expansion pack, I will be returning to Liberty City.

The price is not to my liking but I don't mind forking out £17, for some more GTA. I am interested how Rockstar have presented the new character, Johnny Klebitz. Will we love him like Niko? Can't wait to find out.

Also, I picked up an iPod Touch this week, really love it. The touch screen works brilliant, and scrolling through your music is really nice, found a really nice App in the App Store, allowing me to view my friends list from the iPod Touch.