We finally now know when to expect the release of the much anticipated fifth installation of the Gran Turismo series. Before you get too excited, as I did when I first saw the news, Gran Turismo 5 will be indeed be getting a Christmas release (In Europe, so we should be covered as well). Problem is, that it's next Christmas. While it would have rocked the gaming world to have Sony suddenly announce the release of GT5 for this Christmas, we all know that it wasn't a very likely scenario. Either way it is fantastic news to hear that we finally know when the game will be released. Polyphony have a habit of keeping their fans waiting for a very long time but if there is one thing that I have learned from the previous titles, it's that it is always worth the wait. GT Planet reports that in a statement to Spanish Newspaper El Financiero, James Armstrong who is the CEO of Sony in Southern Europe confirmed it's release for Christmas 2009. Here is the translation taken from the newspaper: For next year, the chief executive of Sony Computer Entertainment for southern Europe said that they are developing a new game thriller, in which the player may be designing their own history, and the new version of Gran Turismo, which will arrive at Christmas. There you have it. It look's like GT fans are going to have to wait another year but at least they will have something to look forward to all year. Can I please have my PSP version now?

Black Mesa is a complete re-creation of the game Half-Life, utilizing the Source engine. It will let you re-visit the world that started the Half-Life continuum but with all the tech goodness that was developed for the orange box, If you are a Half-Life fan you do not want to miss this! And believe it or not it’s made by …

I’m sure just like me there are quite a few people reading this that would love to live in a country where you can actually go snowboarding. Because of this, when games like Shaun White Snowboarding are released, we run to the shop to purchase said game to live our fantasy in simulated glory. Before you run off however, read …

While the console race has been a close and interesting one to follow, it seems like Microsoft may be whipping a card out of it's sleeve that may just give them a big advantage. The sickening thing about this whole story is that it's an advantage that is going to be obtained by making their console reach a standard of quality that should have already been there all along. Is there a bright future ahead for the Xbox 360, or are we just being setup for even more disappointments from Microsoft? The problem is obviously that Microsoft released a console that was flawed from the start and even though they were in the knowledge of those flaws, decided to release it anyway. It was good to see that Microsoft landed up paying for their underhanded tricks in the long run, with the need to extend RROD warranties for a problem that really shouldn't have been there from the start. Usually I don't enjoy seeing anyone suffer for no reason but they deserved it because at the end of the day it was always the consumer paying the price for a lazy design job and some underhanded business tactics. Many of the issues with the Xbox 360 may now be coming to an end with the latest batch of Xbox 360's to leave the factory and if a decent job was actually done this time around, we may see the era of problematic Xbox 360 consoles actually come to an end.... The new consoles have had their internal memory pushed up from 16MB to 256MB, meaning that the console will now be able to store the NXE dashboard without the use of a hard drive.... The internal memory, while not of much use for other functions is at least big enough that it can now carry the NXE and still have a little bit of space left for a few small Xbox Live Arcade games.

...While the change isn't entirely revolutionary it is a welcome addition for all of the consumers who are going to be looking at buying an Arcade unit.... According to a recent article on Neoseeker , the latest batch of Xbox 360's to come out of the factories are now packing what is called the "Jasper" chipset, which now has a reduced 65nm graphics chip as well as what has now also been revealed as a lower power requirement.... All consoles produced after October 23, 2008 now have this new chipset and if all goes well with the new design then we may see the end of the Red Ring of Death as we know it.

While many of you may already be clued in about the Jasper, a new piece of information has come to light with regards to identifying if an Xbox 360 console is a Jasper or not.

...Will the new chipset mean that consumers in future will no longer need to deal with the terrible woes that have plagued so many gamers in the last two years or are we only being set up for even more disappointment from a lazy design team? Time will have to tell on this one but if Microsoft have actually done a decent job then them and us could possibly looking at a much smoother future for the console and one that should have been there from the start.

I was really happy to see this article, merely because I really feel the corporate bullying is just unacceptable. A little while back, the online gaming site MaxConsole posted an article about the new official Manchester United branded MadCatz controller, saying that it doesn't look pretty (and I agree). MaxConsole was then contacted by MadCatz's Global Communications Manager and asked that they either remove or modify the post or else they will have no choice but to remove them from their press database. Would someone please explain to me how they would have no choice? Since when does having an opinion on a product give a company like MadCatz the right to threaten a website with crap like this? MaxConsole were more than happy to reply and the reply is beautiful to say the least. More after the jump. MaxConsole replied to MadCatz in a post on their website and showed that they are not going to be pushed around. The reply really put a smile on my face, it went like this: "Well you know what MadCatz, the story will stay and you can take your school yard bully tactics elsewhere because the fact remains that the Manchester United soccer gear isn't pretty at all!" Kudos to MaxConsole for telling MadCatz to take their products and shove it. I lost a lot of respect for MadCatz because crap like this is just not cricket and I hope that this news spreads all over the internet and that MadCatz suffers because of it.

Well this is a first, I posted about our Gears of War 2 competition earlier this week but I have a feeling it is a little to complicated as no valid entries have been received… So we are going to back to the old school way of running the comps for now. First come first serve… I have 2 T-shirts …

Yep you read right, Square Enix has been so busy working on the PS3 version of Final Fantasy XIII that they haven’t even started development of the Xbox 360 version. “For development, the PS3 version is currently being worked on,” producer Yoshinori Kitase siad in an interview with Kikizo. “We’re going to complete that version first before we move onto …

Along with Damnation and Resistance 2, Prince of Persia will be one of the titles releasing next Friday (5 December). The end of next week pretty much brings the awe-inspiring game release season of 2008 to a close. While their may be a few titles still releasing here and there, all of the most watched titles will be on the shelves. Many have had their eye on the new Prince of Persia title, with it's cell-shaded yet detailed look as well as some really interesting combat mechanics. The official trailer has been put up on Gametrailers.com and judging by what I have seen it looks like it is going to be quite a ride.