I then found out that it was activision that has been setting the price for the call of duty modern warfare 2 stimulus pack. This set me on a huge mission to find out why seens as the two developers went their seperate ways for the modern warfare line of games.

Although no one from either developer has suggested they feel its too expensive, many of the users online believe its extorsion to pay so much. When I decided to dig a little deeper, it didnt even take me 20 minutes as to why acitivision have been blamed. Yes activision developed the first call of duty modern warfare, and didnt develop modern warfare 2, however what neither have pointed out is that the stimulus map pack will include new maps as well as maps developed from when activision where on the scene.

What this means is that, you are getting maps from both games with both developers involved, there is no way that activision will allow inifity ward to have a huge cash in with the call of duty online players without wanting some money for themseleves. Also on the back of that, infinity ward would not let a huge chunk of their money goto activision, so they will pray on supply and demand, and get the call of duty modern warfare 2 fans to pay through the noses to line the pockets of both developers!

What do you think, do you agree with this, or should it give us something free for the next call of duty?

This does allow for an expansion of the memory if you don’t have a large hard drive, or don’t have one at all. In a report leaked last week, the next major xbox 360 update will allow you to connect all portable hard drives to your xbox 360 console. Although the console already takes flash drives, you cannot store your saved data or games onto it. This will no doubt help further enhance sales of the console that seems to have been around a life time now.

Will you benefit from using a portable hard drive in your xbox 360 console? I will love it from the first day until the last day of the consoles life. If you think about it, the reason this console has had a long life cycle has nothing to do with how good/reliable it is, because lets be honest there awful on reliability but its all down to microsofts ability to provide some of the best dashboard updates to keep its users coming back every year, even after consoles break outside the warranty period!

Well there are a number of websites that I used in order to play free online games and it all depends on what mood I’m in and what sort of game I want to play. Do I want to play a sports online flash game, or a shoot em up free online game?

Sometimes I actually don’t know what kind of free online game I want so I’m basically stabbing in the dark as to what to pay. When I’m like that I have a website that usually takes care of it all, freeonlinegames.com has a good range of free online games to keep you occupied when boredom sets in. Don’t let yourself be bored, there are places out there that let you play free online games without having to worry about registering, or paying a “donation” in order to have free access to all the games.

Don’t forget, if your bored, play free online games where ever you can find them, we even have one to keep you entertained here, if you use the search function for street fighter, then you should be able to play street fighter 2 turbo free.

Only…well, it’s virtually impossible to resist the lure of a return visit to Rapture. As rusting leaky crumbling undersea dystopias go, Rapture has it all and I convinced myself at the start of my play through that I wouldn’t let my disappointment get the better of me. If nothing else, I’d enjoy being a virtual tourist in Andrew Ryan’s twisted undersea kingdom once again.

With no pomp or ceremony you find yourself once again emerging into a barnacle-encrusted world of decay and human debasement, only this time rather than being a fleet-of-foot mystery man, you’re cast as a lumbering Big Daddy. Clad in your armoured diving suit with all the grace and flexibility of an arthritic hippo, you may feel a little encumbered at the start of the game and extremely frustrated that just about everything left in Rapture can kill you with inherent ease.

Thankfully those of you who played through the first game will know that Bioshock doesn’t leave you defenceless for long, and Bioshock 2 doesn’t either. Soon you will gain your first plasmid powers (with various items common with the first game, plus a few new ones to keep you on your toes). Your main armament at first is the Big Daddy arm-drill, but eventually you’ll find other weapons dotted around the rotting corridors and access tubes of Rapture, and again like the first game these weapons can all be upgraded turning you from Splicer-fodder into a hefty killing machine.

I’m purposely avoiding giving too much away plot wise, because I know how annoyed I’d be if I read a review that spoiled plot and gameplay elements too much. Suffice to say that Bioshock 2 is very much more a shoot-em-up fan’s game, eschewing the intelligent character interaction and puzzle solving of the first game and focussing more on fighting your way out of trouble. On the “normal” difficulty level, I found the game unjustly punishing and seemed to spend way too much of my time staring at the glass doors of a revival booth.

Ammo seems to be scarcer than the first game, though you can spend a lot of time searching nooks and crannies, and various containers as well as dead bodies for useful items.

New characters and locations abound in the previously unexplored sections of Rapture and it’s these that make the game worth playing, even though you’ll probably play the entire game just waiting for that inevitable twist in the tale (again I’ll emphasize, no spoilers here, go and play it and you’ll know what I’m talking about). Your character seems easy to empathize with and like the hero of the first game, a character that’s been used and abused by nefarious villains in positions of power amongst Rapture’s higher echelons. But expect the unexpected. I will say no more than that.

Reiterating the point that Bioshock 2 is more for first person shooter fans than RPG fanatics, there’s a tacked-on multiplayer mode to compliment the single player stuff. I say “tacked on” because despite having some superb alternatives to the usual standard multiplayer “capture the flag” or “team deathmatch” fare, there are several custom modes that bond firmly with the game’s core elements. Adam hunt is one such mode, tasking players with gathering more Adam than their competitors. Of course it goes without saying that plasmid powers feature heavily in multiplayer too, and at times the gameplay is fast and frenetic. But it still feels like an entire game mode that wasn’t really necessary, and was just thrown into the mix to keep FPS fans sweet.

All told, Bioshock 2 suffers from having extremely large shoes to fill (and you don’t get larger shoes than those lead-lined clompers the Big Daddies wear). So much is carried over from the first game without much enhancement or change, and though that’s not necessarily a bad thing it feels a lot like the minimum effort was put in. That said, technically there are some superb spot effects and some impressive set pieces, particularly when your character gets trapped in a rapidly flooding chamber. The way the scene swiftly changes to a submerged particle-filled room full of floating debris is indeed extremely impressive.

Inventory and plasmid handling is much the same as in Bioshock 1, as are the weapons and upgrades and of course the moral choice of helping or harvesting Little Sisters, though this time you can escort the little darlings around to gain even more Adam for your own means.

The tedious pipe-puzzle hacking elements have been replaced with an equally tedious swinging needle “game” (which incidentally could end up being nigh on impossible if you’re colourblind). Other than that, there are minor changes to some of the HUD graphics and a tighter look and feel to the game engine. Rather nicely, you also have the option on consoles to lock the framerates (sacrificing a little visual clarity here and there).

The star of the game though is undoubtedly the setting, and though I’ve enjoyed Bioshock 2 a lot less than the first game I am pretty sure that if 2K have got a third game in mind, I’ll be unable to resist the temptation to go back to Rapture once more.

They are currently selling the playstation 3 at a loss in order to ship more units. Is this really worth it? With current prices still way higher than the xbox 360x i don’t believe its worth losing everything in order to be the best selling. There is no point if your broke.

The figures of this loss are as follows, sony currently retail the playsation 3 in the US for $299, which is a bargain to be honest for the hardware you get, however, they spend roughly $340 er unit to actually manufacture! Whoever does the maths at sony probably needs sacking because the playstation 3 will bankrupt them.

Why is it so pricey to manufacture? Well the most expensive part inside the playsation 3 is the blu ray dvd players, these are $66 when you consider you can pick up a replacement dvd drive for the xbox 360 for around £20 retail then you realise just how expensive this actually is. I personally prefer the xbox 360 although the playstation 3 has the better hardware and reliability, i always find that microsoft have done a better job when it comes to network infrastructure online.

It is astounding that this has some how been missed, or maybe someone has forgotten to tell them that call of duty modern warfare 2 has sold the most of any type of game or music cd ever in the first week of sales. Even when I play online on the xbox 360 everyones status says, Modern Warfare 2.

The winners of the game of the year were assassins creed 2 on the xbox 360 and uncharted 2 on the ps3. I think we should discuss why call of duty modern warfare 2 didnt win. Is it possible that people didnt vote because the game is so glitch ridden that getting a game online that is straight up, is almost impossible?

We first had the Javelin Glitch. Then we had the hacks all over the pc, and now we have the unlimited ammo virus that has been sweeping the internet.

Maybe people are just finding that the repetitiveness of the call of duty series becoming boring. We are now on the 6th “call of duty” even if some are labelled slightly different.

Anyway, i’ll let you discuss in the comments and i’ll leave you with a video of the game that beat call of duty modern warfare 2 to game of the year.

We know that because — save for some optimizations here and there — we played the first hour-and-a-half of a finished Mass Effect 2, from the title screen until being politely informed that we were about to enter forbidden plot territory. Which is surprising, considering that the opening of the game, apart from being one of the most dramatic we’ve witnessed in recent memory, is also chockablock with pretty huge plot twists.

That said, we must warn you that the preview after the break contains what some may consider MAJOR SPOILERS — so if you want the beginning of the game and the surprises it holds to remain unrevealed until launch day, seriously … don’t read any further.

The game begins with a cinematic of two characters, Miranda and “The Illusive Man,” talking about Commander Shepard’s victory against Saren and the Geth, the downfall of the council and Humanity’s rise to power at the end of the original Mass Effect. The commander, so it seems, is the only person The Illusive Man thinks can stop an even greater threat to mankind: the Reavers.

The scene transitions to a shot of the SSV Normandy screaming across a backdrop of stars, cutting to the interior to show Joker at the helm calling out techno-jargon that roughly translated into “things are a-ok!” Then they weren’t. Out of nowhere, a huge, unidentified ship was bearing down on the Normandy, prompting Joker to take evasive maneuvers — but it was too late.

If this sounds like the footage we’ve seen depicting the destruction of the Normandy and described as a possible ending of the game, that’s because it is. Only it’s not an ending; it’s the beginning. We’ve been had. The Normandy is toast in the first five minutes.

Gameplay begins with you, as Commander Shepard, making your way to the ship’s helm to rescue Joker, who’s bound and determined to save the vessel. Along the way, you rush through raging fires and traverse a section of the ship that’s been torn open, exposing it to the void (complete with the appropriate loss of all sound save for Shepard’s breathing). Once you reach Joker, you engage in some brief dialog before pulling him from his seat and forcing him into the last remaining escape pod.

Before you’re able to climb inside, a final laser volley from the unknown ship sends you hurtling backwards into debris which rips your pressurized suit. With the Normandy spitting and splintering into pieces in the background, Shepard clutches the suit’s helmet, flails as the oxygen is purged, then dies. A limp, lifeless Shepard drifts across the horizon of the nearby planet and the game’s logo provides an exclamation point to the scene.

In the sequence that follows, we learn what Project Lazarus is all about. As its name suggests, it’s the program initiated to literally bring Shepard back from the dead. The commander’s body has been recovered and — with the aid of nanomachines, cybernetic parts and a lot of sci-fi pixie dust — resurrected. It’s at this point that you’re able to create your character’s appearance, unless you are importing your Commander Shepard from Mass Effect 1. The variety of facial features has been expanded to offer more diversity — we were able to make a Shepard who looked a lot like Hong Kong action legend Andy Lau.

But while Shepard may be alive, any of the major characters that didn’t survive in the first game due to your actions are dead. In fact, it was revealed that the ramifications of every major player decision in the original Mass Effect will be borne out in the sequel. Cutscenes will be entirely different, returning characters and races will treat you differently depending on your past choices, and so on. Your skills may get reset when Shepard dies, but the universe doesn’t forget your actions.

When the game picks back up, the space station Shepard’s been taken to is under attack, so you have to spring into action before the reconstructive process is fully complete (hence the strange scars on the male Shepard’s face in the accompanying screenshot)

The space station escape serves as a “learn by surviving” tutorial, walking you through all of the game’s systems, with a strong focus on combat — as is the case with the entire game, actually. Many of the user interface elements from the first game remain, such as the talent and weapon selection radials, but as we’ve touched on in earlier previews the combat is far more robust and akin to that of a top-tier third-person shooter. There are also two different hacking minigames introduced: one that requires you to match snippets of “code” that scroll up the screen, the other a memorization puzzle worked into a “circuit bypass” sequence.

Shepard’s joined in the escape by Jacob Taylor, a biotic user we teamed up with for an earlier hands-on, and Miranda, a new, no-nonsense female member of Cerberus, the first game’s pro-human faction. The trio makes their way through waves of reprogrammed security robots and terminals in need of overriding (hence the minigames) and eventually boards a shuttle to escape.

The next sequence is Shepard’s first meeting — via hologram — with The Illusive Man, voiced by Martin Sheen. It’s during this meeting that Shepard learns of the “real threat” to the galaxy and is called upon to assemble a team to deal with it, because, of course, no one else can.

The first order of business, though, is to head for the colony of Freedom’s Progress to investigate a loss of communication with the human colonists there. After touching down on the planet, Shepard and company fight through more bots and sentry turrets before running into an old friend and squad mate from Mass Effect 1, the Quarian female Tali’Zorah nar Rayya. She and a team of her people are also on-site investigating what happened to Freedom’s Progress, but also searching for one of their own who’s gone missing. Shepard and the others join the search, which leads them to an encounter with a heavy security mech.

Once the missing Quarian is located, Shepard has to find out what he knows. During the dialog scenes, the usual Paragon / Renegade conversation choices are present, along with a new element — a sort of quick time event. In the case of this scene, you’re prompted to pull the right trigger in order to intimidate the Quarian into spilling what he knows. If you choose to do it and don’t fudge the timing, Shepard draws a pistol and shoots the screen next to the alien’s head. Needless to say, he snaps out of his jabbering and shows his rescuers footage of the colonists being rounded up by a race called the Collectors who use a massive swarm of wasp-like insects to poison and incapacity their quarry.

With this information, Shepard and Tali part ways. Back off of the planet, you meet with The Illusive Man again and explain what’s happened. He gives you marching orders to round up a team to deal with the threat, and it’s shortly thereafter that we reached the stopping point. At the conclusion of the gameplay session, Shepard was reunited with Joker, now a member of Cerberus and your pilot for the mission … on-board a new, bigger, more advanced looking SSV Normandy.

Having to stop just when things were getting rolling wasn’t great, but at least we’d gotten to experience how the game starts off with a riveting introduction and eases vets and newcomers alike into the revamped gameplay systems — which BioWare says it’s worked hard to improve across the board. From our playtime, we’re inclined to say “mission accomplished.” Again, this was only about 90 minutes at the start of the game, but it was enough to leave us with a really good feeling about one of 2010’s first major releases.

However I have just found that this hack is also spreading right across Xbox Live and killing anyones joys of having a good game of Modern Warfare 2. Unlimited Ammo is as it says, no reloads, no ammo depletion, just simply hold the trigger and your bullets will continue to spray. Will this hack kill your attempts to play modern warfare 2?

There is an article on toms guide, that says people regard this as an early christmas present. If this is an early christmas present then this guy is not all together upstairs. Glitches ruin our every day life in gaming and if this causes the game to become unplayable then it will also ruin a game developer. Is it any wonder assassins creed got ign game of the year for the xbox with all these glitches coming to light.

This apparanly has came in through a modded xbox and is a virus in all intents and purposes. This will climb down the internet and infect your machine. The result will be unlimited ammo for all of your bullets. These is a way to clear this out but if everyone is doing it, will you clean yours out? If thats what you are looking to do, simply disconnect from xbox live and turn off your console. After about half an hour, your cache should be cleared and you can play all you like without this virus, but it may affect you again straight away!

There are a number of categories with games competing for a number of different awards. All the nomnations are below, please take some time and watch the video provided by IGN of further explanation of the nominees.

Best Action Game

Deadly Creatures
MadWorld
Muramasa: The Demon Blade
Punch-Out!!
Rabbids Go Home

Best Fighting Game

Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus
Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution 3
TMNT Smash-Up

Best Music Game

Beatles Rock Band
DJ Hero
Guitar Hero 5
Guitar Hero Metallica

Best Platform Game

Klonoa
New Super Mario Bros

Best Racing Game

Excitebots
Nascar Kart Racing
Need for Speed Nitro

Best Role-Playing Game

Little King’s Story
Rune Factory Frontier
Spectrobes Origins

Best Shooter

The Conduit
Dead Space Extraction
RE: Darkside Chronicles
House of the Dead Overkill
Real Heroes: Firefighter

Best Sports Game

Madden NFL 10
Pro Evo Soccer 09
Tiger Woods 10
Wii Fit Plus
Wii Sports Resort

Award for Visual Excellence

MadWorld
Muramasa: Demon Blade
Punch-Out
Resident Evil Darkside Chronicles
Silent Hill

Award for Excellence in Sound

Dead Space Extraction
Guitar Hero 5
Punch-Out
Rabbids Go Home
Silent Hill

Best Story

Dead Space Extraction
Madworld
Silent Hill

Best Multiplayer Game

Boom Blox Bash Party
The Conduit
Guitar Hero 5
New Super Mario Bros
Tiger Woods 10

Best Puzzle Game

Boy and His Blob
Maboshi’s Arcade
Neves Plus

Best WiiWare Game

Excite Bike
Lostwinds
Maboshi’s Arcade
Nyx’s Quest
Swords & Soldiers

Wii Game of the Year

Guitar Hero 5
MadWorld
Muramasa: The Demon Blade
New Super Mario Bros.
Silent Hill

Best Action Game

Assassin’s Creed II
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Infamous
Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Best Fighting Game

BlazBlue
Marvel vs. Capcom 2
Street Fighter IV
Tekken 6

Best Music Game

The Beatles: Rock Band
DJ Hero
Guitar Hero V
Guitar Hero: Metallica

Best Puzzle Game

Braid
Buzz! Quiz World
Critter Crunch
Cuboid
Puzzle Quest: Galactrix

Best Racing Game

Dirt 2
Need for Speed: Shift

Best Role-Playing Game

Demon’s Souls
Dragon Age: Origins
Fallout 3

Best Shooter

Battlefield 1943
Borderlands
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Killzone 2
Red Faction: Guerrilla

Best Sports Game

FIFA Soccer 10
Fight Night Round 4
MLB ‘09: The Show
NHL 10
WWE SmackDown vs. RAW 2010

Award for Visual Excellence

BlazBlue
Flower
Killzone 2
Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Award for Excellence in Sound

Batman: Arkham Asylum
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Killzone 2
Need for Speed: Shift
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Best Story

Assassin’s Creed II
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Dragon Age: Origins
Infamous
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Best Multiplayer Game

BlazBlue
Buzz! Quiz World
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Killzone 2
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Best PlayStation 2 Game

Ar Tonelico 2: Melody of MetaFalica
Guitar Hero: Metallica
Mana Khemia 2: Fall of Alchemy
MotorStorm: Arctic Edge
WWE SmackDown vs. RAW 2010

Best PlayStation Store Game

Critter Crunch
Fat Princess
Flower
PixelJunk Shooter
Shatter

PS3 Game of the Year

Assassin’s Creed II
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Killzone 2
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Best Action Game

Assassin’s Creed II
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Brutal Legend
Resident Evil 5
Shadow Complex

Best Fighting Game

BlazBlue
Marvel vs. Capcom 2
Street Fighter IV
Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix
Tekken 6

Best Music Game

The Beatles: Rock Band
DJ Hero
Guitar Hero 5
Guitar Hero: Metallica

Best Platform Game

The Maw
Splosion Man
Trials HD

Best Racing Game

Dirt 2
Forza Motorsport 3
Need for Speed Shift

Best Role-Playing Game

Dragon Age: Origins
Star Ocean IV

Best Shooter

Battlefield 1943
Borderlands
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Halo 3: ODST
Left 4 Dead 2

Best Sports Game

FIFA Soccer 10
Fight Night Round 4
Madden NFL 10
NBA 2K10
NHL 10

Best Strategy Game

Defense Grid
Halo Wars
Worms 2: Armageddon

Award for Visual Excellence

The Beatles: Rock Band
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Forza Motorsport 3
Shadow Complex
Street Fighter IV

Award for Excellence in Sound

Batman: Arkham Asylum
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
DJ Hero
GTA IV: Episodes From Liberty City
Halo 3: ODST

Best Story

Assassin’s Creed II
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Brutal Legend
Dragon Age: Origins
GTA IV: Episodes From Liberty City

Best Multiplayer Game

Borderlands
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Halo 3: ODST
Left 4 Dead 2
Splosion Man

Best Indie Game

Angry Barry
I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES!!!
Kodu
Miner Dig Deep
Solar

Best Aftermarket Support

Fallout 3
Grand Theft Auto IV
Halo 3
Left 4 Dead
Rock Band 2

Best Downloadable Add-On

GTA IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony
GTA IV: The Lost & Damned
Fallout 3: Broken Steel
Fallout 3: Point Lookout
Left 4 Dead Crash Course

Best Xbox Live Arcade Game

Battlefield 1943
Peggle
Shadow Complex
Splosion Man
Trials HD

Xbox 360 Game of the Year

Assassin’s Creed II
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Forza Motorsport 3
Street Fighter IV

There are a huge number of others, please refer to the IGN website for further details of all nominees.

Allthough modern warfare 2 is not being called call of duty, EA wants to try and bring down all of the games that are even similar, with one of their own first persn shooters. Are they just looking to cash in on the massive amount of sales that Modern Warfare 2 has had since its release?

The game they hope will kill of modern warfare 2 is Bad Company 2. Does this sound familar? It should do, electronic arts ran a huge advertising campaign to help bolster sales when the first game was realesed, BF Bad Comany.

Speaking at the UBS 37th Annual Global Media Conference, the CEO at Electronic arts had this to say

“Call of Duty, a title I’m very much targeting at taking back, started as million unit franchise, and it built to being more than 10 million,” Riccitiello said. “But often, in a category as competitive as this, a title can get tired.”

“I think were at that point. And I think [Bad Company 2] represents our best opportunity of taking the first-person shooter business back from Activision.”

Not only does he believe EA can conquer the FPS market, he aslo then started to knock the most successful first person shooter ever in Modern Warfare 2.

“I think it does online better, it’s got destructible environments, and driveable vehicles, which makes it much more interesting from an open-world perspective,”

I dont quite understand how anyone can have the cheek to call modern warfare 2 for its online playability. I think its the outright simpleness of the modern warfare 2 online that makes it so successful. We don’t want to drive or blow up walls in our way, we want to shoot the other person, if were not doing that were not happy. Discuss below if you feel EA should continue with making successful sports games.

Andy Murray found out earlier this week, just how much trouble being addicted to games, can get you in! Murray has had some publicised problems in the past with his gaming addictions but this one seems to have cost him his relationship! Is it a stupid thing to be dumped over? Possibly and a source close to the pair said

“He [Andy] would spend all his time glued to it [PS3]. It drove her mad. In the end she [Kim] just got fed up with it. She wanted more out of the relationship“

Its possible she just wanted an xbox 360? I should make jokes however because you may very well be reading this thinking you may be buying modern warfare 2 for a loved one at christmas. If you are, then you will now also have to consider that loved ones can become addicted to games then you can become increasingly frustrated by their ability to concentrate on the “real life”.

I would suggest avoiding this game and buying them a lovely single player such as Assassins Creed, so that once its completed, its done with.

Also consider other xmas gifts to avoid apart from just modern warfare 2.

However EA Games have announced that they have sold in excess of 4.5 million units since the games release in october. Although all games have been somewhat shadowed by Modern Warfare 2, we cannot ignore how much of an achievement it is, to sell so many units of a game that will not appeal to a huge sector of the world.

Have you bought fifa 10? If so then you may also be interested in the downloaded content that is due to hit the airwaves in Feb 2010. Don’t miss out on ultimate team!

If you still havent secured your copy of Fifa 10 then please ensure you do so that you can be involved in one of the best selling Football games of all time! Experience items such as Live Season 2.0 and the ability to download your face into the game and play with your firends online with every player donning their very own face against some of the ugliest people on the relevant console networks!