Today in gaming I will be discussing general news in the industry including, PS3's new development plans, Nintendo's success with the DS and a fantastic offer for World of Warcraft players.

Firstly, last year at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, Sony revealed 'Remote Play' a feature that allowed gamers to stream music, video and games from their consoles to their PSP. A firmware update in November updated this function to allow the use of the Internet in streaming too, instead of requiring a local link. Of course, I can imagine that this was a great feature, allowing gamers to utilise media from their PS3 at a whim if they choose to go out for a day, for instance, and need some entertainment. On 11th December, the CEO of Sony, Sir Howard Stringer (the first Welsh CEO of Sony in history, if that interests you), announced that the 'Remote Play' feature would be later expanding to allow the PS3 access to phones and other electronic devices, opening up what I would believe to be a vast large quantity of media to share for whatever the occasion, granting much more freedom to PlayStation owners. This update will be part of Sony's three-year business plan, commencing on 1st April 2008.

Moving onwards, Nintendo declared that with 6 million DS's sold in the United States this year, they possess trully the most selling console of 2007. Apparently, this would mean that a DS was being sold every five seconds - incredible! George Harrison, Executive of Nintendo claimed that the success of the portable console lay in its appeal to "core and casual gamers". I would definately agree with him - the DS uses a different input method (a touchscreen and a pen), although hardly revolutionary, making it certainly interesting to use compared to the classic buttons and thumbsticks. Naturally, being portable it has attracted a certain audience, which is the mobile community of today: almost everyone. The holiday seasons played a large role in this success, with 10% of their sales beig made in the week of the American Thanksgiving. I do not own a Nintendo DS and doubt I ever will, but still, Kudos to Nintendo.

Thirdly, 'FingerPrints', newly founded by the ex-Microsoft employee, Ed Fries, allows World of Warcraft players to print 3D models of their characters from the game! This excellent idea comes in the form of what is similar to an inkjet printer, but instead of printing onto paper, the head places ink onto plaster powder. After some research, I discovered the process. A think layer of plaster powder is laid across a platform followed by a printhead placing ink right into the plaster, which hardens. This process is repeated, building up layers of the figurine, using 250 layers per inch! This amazing device is availble for $151 (roughly £74), so is reasonably expensive. I never found myself particularly thrilled with World of Warcraft, but I am sure many devout fans will be excited about this great development.

Finally, for those who remember 'Final Countdown' from not long ago, I would like to mention a great performance given by a group of three cellists (yes, that is correct) who are just astounding. Definately worth watching if you enjoy some music. As always, have a great week!

Good evening (depending on when you are reading this) again from London as I inform my loyal viewers of what is currently happening in the gaming world. Today, I will review "Rock Band" and talk about who won the Video Game Awards.

Rock band was published on the Xbox 360, PS2 (surprisingly) and PS3 in America last October by EA Games and will be released for European customers in the First Quarter of 2008. For those similarly disappointed with this delayed release date for Europe, "Wikepedia" stated that this was because localised content will be issued for Europe both online and on the Rock Band disc, which is good news I guess. To introduce this game to those unfamiliar to it, Rock Band is a combination of Guitar Hero and Singstar to create a rhythmic game, where you can choose to 'play' the part of a band member i.e. you can sing, play guitar or the drums. Frankly, that is awesome. To give you a general rating of the game, GameSpot gave deservedly it 9.0/10 and IGN, 9.4/10.

Firstly, there are some major differences between Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Whilst "Star Power" has been replaced by "Overdrive" (basically, you amount points to activate this mode for a short period of time where you do not lose points for missing notes), there are other large differences. Solo sections have their own individual percentage scores and the game is considered easier than Guitar Hero. Although IGN claimed that this made the solo career worse than Guitar Hero, stating it was mainly a "party game", 'Video Game Outsiders' said that the single player was actually better than that in Guitar Hero. Much of the guitar playing is the same as Guitar Hero, despite 'Hammer-Ons' and 'Pull-Offs' being introduced into Rock Band, which of course is a nice move towards realistic play-style (for people unaware of guitar techniques, 'Pull-Offs' and Hammer-Ons' are where you do not hit a string, but merely press on the frets). The Rock Band Guitar itself is different from the Guitar Hero version, although GameSpot claimed that it is in no way better or worse. For example, the strummer does not click when you move it and the fret buttons are "less forgiving in terms of timing in solos and other, tougher sections" [GameSpot], which does not mean anything to me, but maybe it does for some.

For the singing section, you have to match the rhythm and lyrics displayed on screen while matching the pitch of a meter, which moves up and down. There are "yellow sections" where you are just encouraged to "make some noise", engaging the "Overdrive". Also, there are periods where the player can tap the microphone to create a tambourine effect. According to GameSpot, the only criticism is the demanding nature of the higher difficulties, which strain you to reach the desired pitch and rhythm. Apparently these can be different from the real songs too. In my opinion, the singing would be good fun as long as you know the song. If you do not, then there can be no criticism of Rock Band, but only your music knowledge.

Finally, GameSpot describes the drums as "easily the most intense and enjoyable instrument of the bunch", with the set given to you being very close to that in real life. GameSpot stated that on the higher difficulties, a successful player could play a reasonable rhythm on the real instrument! The kit itself consists of colour-coded pads and a kick-pedal. As with the guitar, notes and colours are displayed on screen, which you have to match. "Xbox live's Major nelson" was describing how difficult thus actually is - I can imagine myself that it would be immensely fun and hard.

The greatest reason to love Rock Band is naturally the co-op play. Although each instrument individually is, as expected, fun,a group of friends playing together is an unparalleled experience. Personally, it cannot supply the same emotion as playing together in a real band as I do, but the nature of the games system allows a simpler style to be achieved with people who do not either own an instrument or wish to play whilst being geographically remote. The entire concept is just amazing. The Rock Band Tour mode is a great experience too, despite not being available across the Internet (a huge shame). You can progress with your band, from the tiniest club to become huge rockstars. Fans sing along to your band, your name is displayed in huge letters across the stage. The addictiveness of progressing and amassing more fans is a huge appeal. I mentioned that a band cannot play the Tour Mode over Xbox Live, but you can choose to play single songs together for fun and naturally, high scores. With the danger of this becoming repetitive, Harmonix and MTV have scheduled weekly song packs (at a cheaper price to Guitar Hero) that will be available as downloadable content. I will definitely be purchasing this game when it is released for my region early next year and I would recommend you do too if you like rhythmic games and have a few friends who would gladly join you in playing this great game. The game is a huge investment though, the price of all equipment amassing to £80-90, although I think that that is reasonably cheap. Here are the links to the GameSpot and IGN reviews.

As my small news section this week, I am happy to say that Bioshock was awarded Spike TV's Video Game Awards 'Game of the Year' and 'Best Xbox 360 Game'! I have not completed Bioshock yet, but I am well on the way to, and I would certainly support this choice; the graphics are astounding and the character of Rapture is simply camptured perfectly. Every place you visit and every person you kill, you can see their past. I hope that I will complete it in time for Christmas, or else it shall be banished to the gloom of my cupboard, looking sadly out as I play Call of Duty 4... and it does not deserve to be. To see full details of the awards given, visit this link.

I would like to leave you, giving mention to an excellent service called "Last.FM". In short, it is a website and a program which you can download fore free, which allows the user to type in a band that they like and return to them a 'radio station' of songs by that artist as well as similar bands that you may like. As well as this, "Last.FM" 'scrobbles' what you have listened to and uploads it onto your online profile so others can see what your taste in music is allowing you to network that way. I highly recommend it. Have a great week.

Good evening and welcome to another edition of my gaming and Xbox blog. This issue will relate to "Gerstmann Gate", as many are calling it; the controversial firing of a GameSpot reviewer.

On 28th November, GameSpot posted the official announcement tof the firing of editorial director, Jeff Gerstmann. GameSpot said that they could not disclose information as to why they had fired Gerstmann because of "legal constraints and the company policy of GameSpot parent CNET Networks." There have been rumours circulating the Internet that Gerstmann was fired because of his poor review of "Kane & Lynch: Dead Men" (released 23rd November). This theory states that 'Eidos', the publisher of the game, put pressure on GameSpot to fire the reviewer for marketing and advertising reasons. Naturally, GameSpot have deinied these claims. The text review by Gerstmann was very negative, giving the game merely 6/10. However, the video review, removed from the website by GameSpot (recently re-added), was far worse, describing it as an "ugly, ugly game" with "'impossible to like' characters, a 'lazy' script and excessive profanity". Speaking to 'Joystiq.com', Jeff Gerstmann stated that he stood behind his controversial review of "Kane & Lynch". To present some facts for GameSpot and 'Eidos', the review was posted on 13th November, with the firing only recently. In spite of this, there may have been some deliberation as to whether they should fire him. Additionally, although the review was very critical, it was not extraordinarily negative. In response to Gerstmann's dismissal, I was amused to find that many GameSpot users began reviewing "Kane & Lynch" with a lowly 1/10, showing their support for the reviewer. GameSpot quickly prevented the ability to post reviews for this game. Following this incident, many GameSpot users also boycotted the website, avoiding it altogether. An 'official' protest was held on Monday, dubbed 'Black Monday', where users would not view, 'Google' or relate to sites, especially GameSpot, for 24 hours. However, this movement was poorly prepared for, with little publicity ironically except that on the GameSpot forums! If it is revealed that these rumours regarding Gerstmann's dismissal are true, then GameSpot will have, in 'Joystiq.com's' words, "utterly trashed a great media brand." "Mass resignations" are supposedly occuring in GameSpot and this incident has undoubtedly become a full-scale debate regarding the "parasitic relationship between game publishers and the game press."

'Joystiq.com's' initial report on "Gerstmann-Gate" can be found here. I will not comment on my personal opinion about this topic for obvious reasons... I understand that some may be discontent with the smallness of today's post, but bear in mind I have a life and have had to write two blog updates in two days. Nevertheless, I promise to make Sunday's edition full length, with a review of "Rock Band" and any other interesting news that may reveal itself. Have a great week.

I am deeply sorry for any distress caused by the disappearance of my blog last Sunday. My only explanation was that I was ill. Nevertheless, I intend to redeem myself to all my many suscribers by posting this special edition on Tuesday 4th December about the Xbox 360 Live Dashboard update which, in fact, launched today.

First of all, there has been some changes to the Xbox Live Marketplace. The 'Video marketplace' has been renamed to 'Video Store', joined by 'Game Store'. The 'Clip' section has been expanded and renamed 'Shorts'. The 'Spotlight' and 'New Arrivals' tabs have been shuffled around too, with their contents obvious. There has also been a section created, named 'Free Stuff', although skimming through the Marketplace earlier, I was very disappointed with its lack of existence. As I have already explained, the Xbox Originals download has been added, where a suscriber can download Xbox Original games at a price from the Marketplace. Also, popular Arcade titles such as 'Bankshot Billards 2', 'Lumines Live!', 'Marble Blast Ultra', 'Small Arms' and 'Zuma Deluxe' will be available on 'Xbox Live Arcade' for a permanently reduced price. Furthermore, apparently a highly requested feature, trial games you have played will no longer be displayed on your 'Played Games' list. I personally did not feel an unrelenting urge for this, but evidently some did...

Secondly, the 'Inside Xbox' feature has been added. This allows users to discover what is happening with Xbox that day, for those lucky US suscribers, and that week for European players. Apparently, this page will be updated every Thursday for us in Europe. Some nice additions have been made to your personal profile. Now, at your own discretion, other gamers will be able to see your Name, Location and even a short Bio. I discussed earlier the 'Friend of Friends' feature, which will enable users to view their friends' Friends Lists. This is great for a second Friends List or Clan Roser, as Tycho from PennyArcade described, you can create an Xbox Live Silver Member Account and name it "Rork's Clan", for example, and add you and your clan's Gamertags to the Silver member's Friends List. 'Friend of Friends' will allow you to see "Rork's Clan's" Friends List, which will be your clan roster. Also, while going through your Friends List now, the highlighted friend will expand to show their name and Motto if they have either. Finally, you will be able to add messenger contacts from your console now and switch the 'Windows Live ID' associated with your console. So if you want to associate your newer Hotmail address with your Gamertag, now you can.

Additionally, new family settings have been implemented, including a 'Family Timer'. If parents wish to limit the amount of time their children spend on the Xbox, they can set up a timer, which counts down whilst they play, so that they have ample time for homework etc. Any child account over 18 can now be 'graduated' to an adult account, gaining features like Messenger and removing certain download restrictions. You need a new credit card to replace your parents if you were and will be using one to pay for the service. However, it was not made clear if this feature is available for those unfortunate teenagers who are held back by their Child account status and would like it removed.

Finally, every game-like thing you have downloaded to your console now exists within the 'Game Library', which encompasses Xbox Originals, Arcade Games, Demos and XNA Creator Club games. In the same area, you can also see what your friends are now currently playing. With the"Tell A Friend" feature, gamers can now send a link taking their friend straight to the Marketplace content they recommend; very practical. Last but not least, the dashboard has had general maintenance, which makes it work faster. Background downloads have greater speed now too.

These are the major changes made in the Fall Update. Visit this link to find out about every detail which was not cared for enough to be mentioned in my blog. Have a great day!

Welcome to my bi-weekly gaming blog, once again. I think I will make a small change to my schedule for blogging. Currently I post a new extract every three days, but I believe that is quite a strange interval, so now you will be able to view my latest blog entry every Wednesday and Sunday. Today, I will run through The Orange Box, as promised, as well as describe a few changes with Xbox Live.

The Orange Box was launched a while ago, on the 16th October, by EA Games, developed by the Valve Corporation. You may ask, "What is in this apricot package of wonder?" Well, within The Orange Box is a total of five games: Half Life 2, half Life 2: Episode one, Half Life 2: Episode Two, Team Fortress 2 and Portal. This collection of phenomenal games are combined in The Orange Box at the price of one game! Your second question, which struck me whilst I was listing the contents, may be, "What's the difference between all those Half Life 2 games?" Although confusingly named, they are just a series, listed chronologically by myself. Onwards to reviews, both IGN and GameSpot UK gave The Orange Box 9.5/10. I have also heard countless appraisals from my friends who have bought it. On launch, the game displays a rather elegant menu, allowing the player to choose which game they wish to play. For The Orange Box, Microsoft has assembled a unique Achievement scheme. Yes, unfortunately gamers, there will still only be 1000 Gamerscore available for the entire Orange Box and there will be 99 achievements for players to get.

Throughout the Half Life series, players take the role of Gordan Freeman, a scientist chosen by fate to save the world from an alien invasion. The original Half Life 2 has been said to be one of the greatest shooters of all time. The action and narrative blend cleverly to form an epic and exciting adventure. However, the real awesomeness of the Half Life 2 series lies in the physics engine, which is brought to life through the Gravity Gun. For those unaware, this gun allows you to pick up and even catch things, such as enemy grenades, and then throw them back. The physics play a vital role in this, only allowing you to pick up light enough objects, which do varying damage to opponents depending on the weight and eventually shatter after many uses. However, the failings on the game are supposedly in the AI teammates, which can ignore orders and prevent you moving from small places sometimes, the annoying, long load times which can dispel any action and finally, the disappointing graphics on the Xbox 360.

Moving on to Half Life 2: Episode One, IGN commented that it is "by far the weakest of the five pieces included in The Orange Box." IGN claimed that the environments and weapons were too similar to that of Half-Life 2, giving little to explore for the first time. However, they did say that Gordon's relationship with Alyx, a rebel fighter who accompanies him, allows Gordon to become a more "relatable" character.

IGN, reviewing Half Life 2: Episode Two, said that this game is "perfect balance between the epic battles and constant action of Half-Life 2 and the story-driven elements of Episode One", making this 'hybrid' the latest and greatest in the series. The changes in the Valve Source Engine driving the game are evident, with greater visuals and lighting effects. The only criticism are the little changes in weapons and enemies over the series as a whole. I downloaded this demo a couple of nights ago and playing through, I was rather amused by the zombies with crabs on their heads, which I flung crate after crate at. I was pleased to recognise them from my days playing on Zombie servers on Counter Strike: Source, which felt much like infection on Halo 3 (as a sidenote, if you have Halo 3, be sure you play Infection, Save One Bullet on Sandtrap, with the zombies wielding Gravity Hammers and all vehicles except Mongooses removed - it's great fun). Like in Episode One, the relationship with Alyx progresses and apparently "it's impossible not to care for her by the end of Episode Two."

Portal, for me, is the centrepiece of the Orange Box. IGN stated that it is "Tetris for the next generation." In the game, the player is required to traverse through puzzles using a 'portal gun',, which, as you can guess, creates portals. Bringing this strange game into context, Portal is set in the Half Life universe (and there is a link from Half Life 2: Episode Two). You are a test subject for the Aperture Science Center and if the "ingenious" fun of the game does not propel you to complete these challenges, the promise of a nice slice of cake will. As with many reviews and comments I have heard, this game has the ultimate end-credits song, if that be the only reason for playing through.

Finally, Team Fortress 2 is a objective-based multiplayer game for up to sixteen players, which combines class-based action with some humour. Allegedly, all the maps are fun providing you have a significant amount of players. IGN, however, criticised the lifepsan of the game, questioning whether it will still be played six months from now. For all those PS3 owners out there (swine), there are some 'unfortunate' problems with The Orange Box on the console. Technical issues "at best merely hinder game play and at worst make the experience downright unplayable." This is because the 360 and PC versions were mostly managed by Valve, whereas the PS3 version was largely the responsibility of EA, who screwed it up. Overall, The Orange Box has some great games in it worth any gamers' time offered at a great price, making it a must buy this year.

For any disgruntled PS3 fans, you will be happy to hear that Nintendo and Microsoft have been criticised by Greenpeace for their lack of recycling and rather non-environmentally friendly attitudes. However, Sony were praised for their 7.3/10 score. I am quite disappointed with Microsoft, given my reasonably 'Green' lifestyle. However, they did not perform as badly as the Mario factory, which scored a whopping 0 out of 10!

Coming up on Xbox live is the 'Friends of Friends' feature which will allow Live subscribers to browse theirs friends' Friends List. This Fall Dashboard update will be available on 4th December, accompanied with the ability to download selected Xbox Originals from Marketplace. The 'Friend of Friends' facility hopes to create new social networks. You can control who views your friends list by going to this page. The default setting for adults is "Everyone" and this can be changed to "Friends Only" or "Blocked". I personally, think this is a great idea and allows gamers to find who their friends play with and hopefully find more of their own friends. Microsoft announced an 'Xbox Originals Play & Win' competition, where Xbox Live subscribers gain a chance at winning Xbox 360 accessory kits if they download an Xbox Original game from Marketplace between the 4th and 5th December. No doubt a scheme to make more profit but if you are interested nonetheless follow this link. Xbox Live has also launched a Backwards Compatibility update, bringing the list of Xbox Originals available to play on the 360 to over 465! This new update includes Turok: Evolution, which I am very happy with, seeing as I still need to complete it and have had to previously unpack by Original Xbox etc... Lastly, you may be interested to know that in early November, gamertag Moviesign made a 'Forge' map in Halo 3 with weapons spelling out, "Marry Me?" He brought his girlfriend (*lucky* girl!) of over two years, Furtivepenguin, to this match who thought they were merely playing a two vs. two skirmish, and proposed. I invite you to spam his messages with congratulations or contextual insults; whichever suits you best.

Thanks again for reading another of my blogs. Have a great week.

Hello again, for the second edition of my gaming blog. Nothing much has happened since my last entry, but I will do my best to inform and entertain. I received a *recommendation* from someone suggesting I choose less topics, but go into them more deeply, so that is what I will be doing.

Mass Effect has been a long awaited game and was released this Wednesday, on the 20th November, by Activision exclusively on the Xbox 360; bless 'em. I have not heard a huge amount about this game, mainly through Major Nelson's podcasts. However, I hear it is tremendous . It may surprise people that it has been in development since before the Xbox 360 console was even launched and, I am not sure if this is classified as a spoiler, but while reading the IGN review, I found out that the game is also the first in a trilogy. While reading these various evaluations of the game, my eye first wandered to the screenshots - and they are breathtaking. The graphics in this game look magnificent. Every time I hear a mention of Mass Effect, I feel ever more inclined to buy it this Christmas. The main reason I have not yet is that I have no money and I believe all of Duty 4 will occupy too much of my time once I purchase it. Anyway, IGN gave Mass Effect 9.4/10, labelling it as "outstanding". From what I understand, this judgement is well-reinforced by the great gameplay, which combines the fantastic history of BioWare in their roleplaying games and surprisingly thrilling, and exciting combat (which personally reminded me of Gears of War from the videos I saw). IGN stated that despite it being reasonably slow-paced, it has no problem in engaging the gamer, describing Mass Effect as "KOTOR [Knights of the Old Republic] with a serious adrenaline boost" and the only criticism was the inherent need to access menus too often in combat to fine-tune your team. I certainly enjoyed playing Knights of the Old Republic (although lacked the skill and patience to win the final boss battle) and if Mass Effect is any better, then I will certainly buy it sometime soon. GameSpot UK, however, only gave Mass Effect 8.5/10. Despite this being 'Great', many Gamespot users were shocked at this unexpectedly low rating. GameSpot commented that there were "many small annoyances and glitches" in Mass Effect, which let it down. Other than that, they said that the storyline was excellent and the graphics stunning, again, comparing Mass Effect to the brilliance of Knights of the Old Republic in gameplay and plot twists.

Onwards to Guitar Hero 3, released on Friday 23rd November - Gamespot UK gave it 8.0/10; a "Great". First to mention is the great new music featured in the game, some my my favourites being "The Killers", "Red Hot Chilli Peppers", and of course, "Guns N' Roses". GameSpot UK commented that Guitar Hero 3 does not lose much of the classic gameplay it had in the previous games, although some of the "extreme extremeness of the harder songs" may be too overwhelming, especially for new players. After enjoying a good hour's worth of play of Guitar Hero 2 on my friend's Playstation 2, I returned home eager to download the demo of Guitar Hero 3. I quickly noticed the similarity of the menus and gameplay style, but was extremely disappointed with playing with my controller! I absolutely do not recommend you get this game without the guitar! It sucks. I can, in spite of this, relate to the "just one more song" addictiveness of this game as I found myself saying, "That one doesn't count, I lost - let me do one more!" It may also interest you to know that Activision is being sued by the band, "The Romantics," for what Slashdot.org described as a "cover song" being "too awesome"! The song, "What I Like About You", which featured in "Guitar Hero Encore: Rock the '80s" is claimed to sound too much like the original! Although roughly half of the tracks in Guitar Hero 3 are by the original artists, in previous"Guitar Hero" games, most of the songs are cover versions. Delving ever more off topic, "Guitar Hero" recently starred in "Will It Blend", a video of a group of 'scientists' obsessed with the "study of dark appliance arts" [Joystiq.com]. Joystiq said that the "X-plorer" faired better than the "Rock Band Stratocaster", but to discover if "Guitar Hero" was blended into a whirlwind of sharp things, you will have to go to the video...

Thank you for reading another post from my gaming blog. You will be able to read my next installment on Wednesday, when we *may* be examining "The Orange Box" and its 'unplayableness' on the PS3...stay tuned for that story.

Welcome reader to the first installment of my blog. I aim, from this day on, to provide you with a wealth of information regarding the really important stuff: games. As a tiny pebble, I hope to enter the blogosphere and, over (hopefully not) billions of years, build a layer of dust and very small pieces of matter to form a planet. I am a member of the Xbox Live community and for those who would like to contact me, my gamertag is TW Rork.

Firstly, "Soldier of Fortune: Payback" was released on 19th November in the US for Playstation 3 owners. My first reaction from the trailer was the cartoony graphics, which I did not like but I think they do suit the gore and cruelty in the game itself. In fact, this game is so violent that it was banned in Australia for a short while until Activision made a 'friendlier' version for the guys down-under. I will give kudos to Activision for the humour in the clip, which ridiculed the stereotype of the 'Rambo' run-and-gun soldier. At first glance "Soldier of Fortune: Payback" seems to be a FPS with a lot more gore: not really my cup of tea (or coffee), but who knows?

I will not dwell long on this, but "Beowulf" the game was released on 16th November by Ubisoft. I have not seen the film this is based on and from the advertisements I saw, it looked awful, although my friend and brother recently saw it and they said it was good. Regardless, as suspected, the game was given 5.0/10 by "Gamespot" and was classified as 'Mediocre'. I did not expect much from the game seeing as it is based on a film and most of these are terrible. To summarize the nonsense of this game, "Gamespot" described "a puzzle that challenges you to use carnal rage (berserk mode) to start fires, which in turn let you hunt the leader of a band of evil monkey men." Hm...

Thirdly, after complaints from Guitar Hero players that the downloadable tracks over Xbox Live were two expensive, Microsoft and Activision announced they would offer free download of the Halo "Mjolnir Mix" track. According to "Gamespot", this is the second time Activision has released a free track to download for Guitar Hero. Despite the fact that I do not have the game, I will share in raucous jubilation as I am a Halo fan and have nerdily tried to learn this track on my guitar. Hehe...

Furthermore, I am sure many of you know of the release of the "Halo 3 Heroic Map Pack". Players will be able to download the pack for 800 Microsoft Points from 11th December. This will include "Standoff", a hilly area with trenches, apparently ideal for "mid-sized objective and Slayer game types." [Xbox.com] ; "Rat's Nest", a maze of tunnels with appropriate indoor vehicle, great for Big Team Battles and inspired by the campaign; and "Foundry", a warehouse full of crates and the like, but where the player can edit every part of it in 'Forge', placing tunnels, stairs, walls etc.

My final note for Halo-related business is a 'Machinima' contest, which Microsoft and Ziddio have called, "Halo 3: Call to Arms." Players are challenged to create their own interesting Halo 3 content using the 'Michinima' program and submit it by the 19th December. This was begun a while ago, but of course, my blog is new and you still have time! The winner is rewarded with a home theatre system with a 50 inch widescreen HDTV, a limited edition Halo 3 Xbox 360 console and a VIP pass to the first Major League Gaming Event of 2008. Sounds okay... The link to the official Xbox.com page is below:

Finally, from 4th December, Xbox Live subscribers will receive an update allowing them to download selected Xbox Original games from Xbox Live Marketplace to their own console for the 'low low' price of 1,200 Microsoft Points. These include "Halo", "Psyconaughts", "Crimson Skies", "High Road to Revenge" and "Fable". According to 'E', from "Major Nelson's" podcast, some of these games are hard to get hold of now. If I was not such a 'cheapskate', I reckon I would definately download one. However, I still have Bioshock to complete and Call of Duty 4 is coming out soon, so I do not think I will.

Thank you for reading my first ever post. I hope you learnt something or at the least enjoyed reading. Let us see what the gaming industry has for us in a few days...