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...