Second Opinion - Xbox 360 by Nick "I have a bad feeling about this" de Bruyne There are two things I need to state before I give you my final impression of this title.... Secondly, I was fully aware of the negative hype and low review scores that this game was receiving before sitting down to play it for myself.... As a Star Wars fan I was already skeptical about this title, "just another licensed letdown" I thought as I had already tried the demo and wasn't overly impressed.... About three hours hours into the game I had to take a moment and ask myself what in the hell all the critics were on about, because this is one hell of a game.... You will also go back to planets that you have already visited and although they are not the same levels as before, they make use of the same backdrops and themes. This is a bit of a shame because the rest of the package has a wonderful amount of polish and even though their were bugs, they aren't nearly as game-breaking as many critics would have you believe.... My initial concerns of repetitive gameplay washed away as the level-up system had me progressing and powering up my Apprentice throughout the game, always adding better and more powerful ways of disposing of anything that happened to get in my way.... The addition of various unlockable combos can be a little intimidating at first, but once you have them dialed and have a good grasp of your force powers you will find yourself creating new and wonderful ways to teach Stormtroopers that they were created for no other reason than to feel the full extent of your wrath. All in all The Force Unleashed had me donning a massive grin for most of the campaign as I mowed through copious amounts of lesser-beings with my awe-inspiring powers.... Don't think that it's a walk in the park though, I played through on the second difficulty setting (of four) and found it to be a good challenge throughout. A nice surprise at the end of the game was the ability to play through the game again with your uber-apprentice, complete with all of his powers, unlocked costumes and lightsaber upgrades. The real shocker for me at the end of the day is that I went into this review as a skeptic, I mean, all of the hype said that the game was a big disappointment. Tell me then, why is it that I had already started playing through the campaign a second time before I could tear myself away to write this review? Final Score: 8.5/10 [ A great story combined with action-packed gameplay make up a game that I can easily recommend to anyone who is looking for a fun and interesting single player experience. If you are a big Star Wars fan then it's a no-brainer and if you aren't you should still take a look.

When it comes to next-gen gaming, single player campaigns don't seem to cut it anymore. While I still enjoy playing certain titles by myself, there is nothing quite like hooking up with a couple of friends and saving the world together. This new co-operative trailer, although cinematic at heart, is doing all that it can to get us excited about the new co-operative mode in COD 5 and you know what, It's working. The awards system also looks really cool and the pop-up graphics that go with them look awesome as well. This game looks like it will be offering co-op at it's best. Heck, myself and a couple of friend have finished some 4 player games' campaign multiple times even though we didn't really like the game. So from the looks of things, this is going to be a blast.

Gametrailers.com has released a Far Cry 2 video blowout showing off multiple gameplay videos of different scenarios at different times of day. While we can assume that the videos are all taken from the PC version, the console footage we have seen is looking mighty fine as well. It seems that Far Cry 2 is doing a great job of capturing the atmosphere of Africa amazingly well and while most of us only really see this side of Africa whilst at national parks, there is still something about it that hits home everytime I see one of these videos.

Brett posted up yesterday about the rumour that Google may be preparing to take over Valve. While Brett (and a lot of the world) feel that Google entering the gaming market is a good thing I am one of the few who disagree. I think Google are excellent at creating online applications and are miles ahead of most of the …

We received a press release from Megarom with a list of all of the games they are going to be showing off at rAge this year and the list is looking mighty fine indeed. Megarom will be showing off games from publishers such as Activision, Ubisoft and Take 2. There are a lot of title in this list that I am looking forward to so I will be doing everything in my power to steal all of them from the Megarom stand at rAge. I hope their security is really bad, especially when I get there and ask the security guard to go and buy himself a R200 cup of coffee. Two of the Far Cry 2 developers and one EndWar developer will also be at the stand, so that will be a nice treat and is something that we South Africans don't usually get to experience. I wonder if they will help me carry the GH: World Tour instruments to my car? I mean, they are from Ubisoft not Activision, so I am sure they wouldn't mind. I have put up a full list of the games that will be on display, after the jump. Activision: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Call of Duty: World at War Guitar Hero: World Tour Ubisoft: Far Cry 2 Tom Clancy's EndWar Shaun White's Snowboarding Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway Prince of Persia Take 2: Midnight Club: Los Angeles Bioshock One last note. Remember that Megarom will be hosting a Guitar Hero III competition as well and the prizes are ridiculously cool to say the least. Get those fingers practicing.

This week Yahtzee takes on Spore and somehow through all of it manages to avoid any mention of that DRM scandal or the Internet’s backlash against it. Something which I thought he would have revelled in… It wouldn’t be Thursday without ZP and he hasn’t let us down this week… I thoroughly enjoyed this one. Last Updated: September 18, 2008

Just a heads up to our PS3 readers. Firmware version 2.43 is now available for download but don't be so quick to jump on it. The update is for Japan only and while you can still manually download it if you please you will not benefit from it at all. Just in case you were wondering, it has been confirmed that the update is in fact safe so if you have already downloaded it then you won't have any issues. As long as you have Firmware version 2.41, you should see no difference with your console. Seeing as we live in SA with expensive bandwidth, I highly recommend that you give it a skip. For those who want the official story, I have posted it after the jump. Playstation Blog: Hi, everyone, I wanted to give you a heads up about PS3 firmware update (v2.43). Unlike previous updates, firmware v2.43 is specific to the Japan region, and only PS3 users there will be required to install the update. PS3 users in all other regions will not be prompted to download v2.43. However, if you manually initiate a firmware update by clicking on “System Update” under the XMB’s Settings icon, the v2.43 update will be available, regardless of where you are located. Users outside of Japan do not need to perform this update if your PS3 system software is on version v2.41 or later. However if you do perform the update, it will not cause any issues with your system or add any new functionality.

I am sure that almost every person that bought the Fable 2 Pub Games has used the money glitch. The glitch basically allowed players to increase their bets by big amounts just by pressing certain buttons at the correct times. This means that players have managed to accumulate millions of gold coins which will they will then be able to …