So the first results are in and the random winner of this weeks copy of Alone in the Dark for the Xbox 360 is… Craig Nicholson Better known as the only Xbox 360 MVP in South Africa…. Hmm any chance I can fob this off as a bribe for you to hassle Redmond about Xbox Live support for South Africa …

In an interview with Next-Gen Crytek Engine Business Manager Harald Deeley has confirmed that they will be keeping the new Crysis content, "Warhead" a PC exclusive but will no longer be creating PC exclusive games. Piracy became a major concern for Crytek when sales of their triple-A title Crysis suffered severely, with torrent downloads of the game going through the roof. I don't blame Crytek one bit for this move as it is a huge knock on their company to have so much time and effort go to waste when their big release title for the year suffers from low sales even though reviews were high and the game was incredibly popular. There have been many debates on the internet about how PC gaming is dying and with problems like this affecting companies like Crytek, it's no wonder that the PC gaming industry might find itself in a bit of a pickle. Games like World of Warcraft, that require a signed in account with monthly charges seem to be the only secure format for PC game developers to ensure that they aren't hurt by piracy. For developers of other games however, no full-proof security system has been completely successful in protecting the software from cracks or key generators. The other issue that PC gamers are experiencing, which is one that I have had problems with myself in the past, is the issue that copy protection causes a serious inconvenience to those who have spent money on the game and now have to deal with online activations, serial key checks and disc validation before every game session. I will never forget how let down I was when I finally got my hands on Half Life 2 the day it was released and then had to sit and wait for hours so that the game could download various information and do an online registration with Steam. Seeley has thankfully commented on the inconveniences caused by this sort of thing and led us to believe that they are thinking of better ways to approach it, saying “While we are certainly very concerned about piracy and copy protection, we are also concerned about the potential opposite problem, that of inconveniencing legitimate buyers with newer measures that interfere too greatly with their enjoyment of the product. So we are carefully considering all possible options here, however we are not yet at a stage where we have made a final decision.“ Seeley has also gone on to say that their current plan will be to offer something unique to each platform, making each one special in it's own right. While piracy also affects console gaming, the console pirate is usually required to for out money to have their hardware altered or modified, whereas with PC's, it usually requires nothing more than access to the internet. With game prices soaring, it's no wonder so many people have turned to piracy, but high prices shouldn't be an excuse for it either. It would, on the other hand, be great if the gaming industry in its totality realised that more affordable games will lead to better sales and an improvement in the industry overall. Would you rather sell 30% of your stock at 100% mark-up, or 80% at 70% mark-up? I personally feel that the PC gaming industry is still going to enjoy a very long and prosperous future, however, until something is done about piracy and all of the copy protection hassles that come along with it, it's going to be a bumpy ride.

Yes my favourite topic to hate is back… It was mentioned on this forum a few days ago that the install for MGS4 wasn’t very large and was quite quick to process… Well it might be quick but 4.6GB is a huge install… Add that to your 5GB Bounce Conspiracy and numerous other smaller installs and you are going to …

IGN have posted a video comparing the MGS4 final build to the footage shown at E3 in 2006. Whilst the original E3 footage was beautiful enough to get fans of the series hyped up, it is in hindsight, nothing compared to the absolutely stunning visuals seen in the final build. I only wish that all games looked better than their E3 counterparts, it would get me excited as all hell to know that a good looking game is going to look even better by the time it comes out. Unfortunately, that isn't the case with all games these days ( cough* Killzone 2 cough* ). Sorry, just clearing my throat.

The guys over at Newcrisis.com have apparently had some game time with the upcoming Gears of War 2, while the authenticity of this claim is disuptable I do think he has done a good job of collecting all the information around into one place. Some of the parts I found most interesting were Dual shot boomshot, 12 hour gameplay (perfect …

Some quick awesome news for a Monday… I just received a press release from our friends at Megarom stating that Alone in the Dark for Xbox 360, PC, PS2 and Wii has just gone gold… Which means no more worrying about delays… This game is going to hit our shelves on the 20th of June, 4 days before the Americans… …

Get ready to have your jaw hit the floor. The impossible has been achieved. A guy whos name is only currently known byt his Youtube account, iamchris4life has posted a video of himself finishing the Dragonforce song "Through The Fire and The Flames" on expert with a 100% completion rate. He must have been at this for a while and probably nearly talked himself into believing that it was an impossible goal because once he is done he picks up the camera to show the stats, but is shaking like crazy and can't stop saying "Holy Sh*t" to himself. [video may not be work-safe after the song is over]. For anyone who notices that the speed in the game seems a bit strange, he apparently had a mode called "Hyperspeed" which spreads the notes further apart with the downside being that you can't see as many notes ahead. (Someone can correct me if there is more to it). However, it is apparently accepted by Score Hero as an acceptable way to play and is therefore seen as a completely legit 100% rating. Great Job "iamchris4life", that was truly impressive.

Okay I keep getting tips about the rumoured upcoming Xbox 360 with integrated Blu-Ray player… Even though it has been denied countless times it has yet raised it’s head again and will now apparently be launched at E3 this year. I honestly believe this to be utter BS, I can see absolutely no reason why Microsoft would actually do this …