When you see “Pirate” and “videogame” in the same sentence it normally recalls images of dodgy copied games and chipped systems, but not this time. This story has real pirates. As Reuters reports, increased attacks by Somali pirates around the Horn of Africa are threatening shipping routes, which could interrupt supplies of videogame hardware and software in the West. In …

Apparently if the Internet is to be believed, which is obviously always is, Live has been terrible over the last couple of days, To the point of being unplayable. Now I have to admit I have not been on Live in the last couple of days and have therefore been completely unaffected and I have also not heard a single …

Innovation, it’s the word that defines this generation in either a positive or negative light. You are either on the side that feels this generation is full of innovation from the Blu-Ray playing PS3, to the motion controlling Wii to the Internet integrated 360. Or you are on the side negative side that feels the Wii is a toy, Blu-Ray …

Earlier this week, Videogamer.com posted up a 720p comparison of Call of Duty 5 on the PS3 and Xbox 360. I saw the video and started noticing differences between the two that I felt couldn't be ignored. So what I did is, I took a screengrab of the comparison to show you. Comparison videos always cause a general ruckus between the different console owners and this one is obviously doing the same. Truth be told, the Xbox 360 version looks significantly better and what bothers me the most is that I picked up the differences in the introduction cut-scene, which is a controlled environment that doesn't really have that much complexity to it. So why I ask, does the PS3 version look significantly worse?... You can click the above image to see it in full resolution, although take note that there is a little bit of compression on the image.... When you take a closer look you can clearly see that the texturing on the man's clothing and even the little badge on the bottom right is significantly lower and more "jaggy" or pixelated than the one on the Xbox 360. Not only that but you will also notice that the guy all the way in the background has some missing models on him. Now I have seen Uncharted and Metal Gear Solid 4 running on a PS3 and the graphics were phenomenal. So why again is the PS3 getting the short end of the stick. Why on earth, in a cutscene so simple, would Treyarch have to resort to lower texture resolutions and less geometry. I can't even see such small changes making a large difference to the framerate anyway. At the end of the day, small differences like this won't completely change a gamers experience but really, this doesn't make any sense because we know that the PS3 should be able to handle graphics like this without any issues. I ask again if it is just down to developer laziness because regardless of which was the lead platform, it can't be that damn difficult to make the graphics look equal in quality on both.

This latest trailer for Skate 2 gives us a bit of a look into the storyline for the game. Now I know you might be thinking that the story in Skate 2 is just about as important as the story in a pornography but after watching the video I was pretty impressed (with the trailer not the pornography). While the story is very light, I really like how the pro skaters have been integrated into the cut-scenes, with the voice work and animations looking pretty solid as well. This is just another reason that Skate 2 has so many people eagerly awaiting it's release and is showing just how important it was for the Tony Hawk development team to take some time off to renew the brand, because this is looking incredible, Skate 2 comes out at the end of March in 2009, so there is still a little bit of a wait. If you own the first skate then you can still break that out to get some practice and if you somehow missed that train, I suggest you go and pick up what is now a very cheap copy of the first Skate so that you can start perfecting those 360 flips.

One of the new additions to Gears of War 2 is the ability to take photo's whilst spectating then upload them to your profile on the Gears of War website so that you can view them, download them or share them with your friends. Here's a small gallery of a few images that I took this week, check out the action of some of our multiplayer sessions and it's easy to see how crazy some of the battles can get. All the pics are available after the jump.

While a lot of us have been enjoying Gears of War 2 this week, there are many fans out there who do not feel the same way.... Pump-Action Peanut Lobber While it becomes pretty obvious from the start that Gears of War 2 is far from perfect in terms of bugs and glitches, the main beef seems to be with the weapon balancing and how the games pace has been slowed down significantly. A lot of "Shotgun Bunnies" as I like to call them, are not happy with the fact that the good ol' shotty has been nerfed (weakened) significantly, especially since the introduction of stopping power has already made it so difficult for shotgun runners to get closer to their enemies.... If you rev up a chainsaw and walk towards someone you can walk through a whole bunch of lancer fire and even a take a couple of shotgun hits without too much issue, leaving the enemy almost defenseless against your incoming saw attack. A glitch in the matrix We have heard that glitches like the "crabwalk" have already been discovered as well as some issues that we have personally experienced with players starting rounds with no weapons in their hands, as well as the inability to select a different one or pretty much make any use of themselves whatsoever. Leave the matchmaking to Cupid With Gears of War 2, Epic also decided to switch from the simple multiplayer and lobby interface of the first game and change over to a matchmaking system not unlike the ones seen in Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4.... A lot of the fun was had in the fact that there was no real lobby, maps would load up one after the other and everyone was able to have fun playing the game, or enjoy chatting to their friends if they were out for the round.... I am going to assume that the reason that dead people and live people cannot chat to each other after each round is simply a bug and not a choice made by Epic and I hope it gets fixed soon.... Once the host accepts the settings, you sit through another loading screen to get to another lobby, which allows map, character and team selection (no invites can be sent from this lobby).... After the loading is done you are taken into the map but still sit in a lobby waiting for textures (and if needed, bots) to load up as well. After all of that, you then get given a 10 second countdown to the start of the match, as if everyone wasn't ready 2 minutes ago. This new lobby system really breaks the flow of the game and has frustrated some players to no end.... Gears of War 2 is a fantastic game, however there are no doubts there but it has become heavily apparent that Epic needs to make a few major changes to the game if they want the game to be as addictive and successful as the first. While a lot of people played the original Gears of War's multiplayer right up until the day of the sequels release, this weekend, only one week later had a lot of people on my friends list playing other games and even some who had jumped back into Gears of War 1 to get a bit more of the action that they are used to. If Epic are smart, they will listen to their fans because no matter which way you look at it, it is them who will keep the game going strong for years to come. While I personally do enjoy the multiplayer I do have to accept that deep down, it doesn't have the same appeal as the first game and I do kind of wish that they would release a patch to change a couple of things.

In case you haven't heard, A new and impressive local gaming E-Magazine called Console has just been released. Forget that fact that it's local because the first issue is looking impressive as hell. The magazine offers something quite different from the usual as it focuses on gaming culture and is also still jam packed with reviews, tech help, game guides, reader mail, competitions and writer columns spanning over a massive 56 pages. c lick thumbnails to zoom in As previously mentioned, the e-zine is completely free and if you subscribe, you will get the notification of the new issue sent to your e-mail so that you can go and check it out. The entire magazine runs through a nifty in-browser magazine layout that allows you to flip through the pages, click on links and even zoom in to images and articles for easy reading. For something that's completely free, it would be ridiculous to not subscribe. If you want to subscribe, it's as easy as clicking here and hitting the "Sign up" link.