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.

Now this is a cool concept if you own a PS3, maybe not so much if you own an Xbox 360. In Guitar Hero World Tour you are going to be able to import MIDI tracks from your PC into the game and play with them. Last Updated: September 17, 2008

Come, come Activision. This is the type of news that we don't want to hear. Welcome to something called "Day One Advantage" that will be offered along with COD 5. What is it? It's another typical move by a large games publisher to rake in even more money. "Day One Advantage" is going to be an optional extra that you can purchase online that allows the buyer to gain experience at a more rapid pace than those who have not. While this won't necessarily make the largest difference in the world, it's a step in the wrong direction and just another insult to online gamers. I really think that COD5 is looking like an impressive title, so it's disappointing to see that these large companies are still pulling little money making tricks like this.

Yesterday I was fortunate enough to be one of a few South African journalists that were given some hands-on time with the latest installment in the Call of Duty series. If you didn't know by now, World at War takes us back to the battlefields of World War II once again, stripping us of all the fancy gadgets and accessories that we had become so accustomed to in COD: Modern Warfare. Was going back to WW2 a good move or have the people from Activision just made a very big mistake?... To kicks things off, the game starts with a pretty violent introduction, putting you in the eyes of a prisoner of war that is about to take his last breaths after a hefty interrogation session. Everything takes a bit of a better turn when a squad of soldiers barge in to save the day. You are handed a helmet and some weapons and thrown straight into a pretty chaotic escape attempt.... As much as I wanted to focus on how Treyarch had approached the gameplay and the World War II setting, I couldn't help but gawk at how incredibly beautiful everything looked and how smooth it was running. The COD 4 engine has done its job, that's for sure. Anyone who has spent some time with COD 4 will instantly feel comfortable with the controls as they are laid out exactly the same, not to mention that people in WW2 have finally found out how to run.... While we are forced to lay down our ACOG scoped M16's and G36's you won't miss them for long as the guns still have the same solid feeling that we have come to expect from a COD title and there is still a definite amount of satisfaction to be had when you pop a soldier in that space between his helmet and his chin. The gameplay feels incredibly similar to COD 4, if not exactly the same and to tell you the truth, it put a smile on my face. This title seems to be exactly what a lot of COD fans have wanted...... Ambushes, Booby-traps and a whole bunch of other scandalous techniques will be used against you, so watch out. All in all I can tell you that from the experience that I had with COD: World at War, I can only assume that unless they do something really stupid in the final release, we may have a winner. Throw in the new addition of 4 player cooperative play and I find it hard to find a reason to ignore this title when it releases on November 11.

I'm writing this article only a short while after arriving home from a Megarom event that had two rather humourous French blokes from Activision give us a presentation of their upcoming titles for the Christmas season. While they did a great job of keeping things fun and interesting, nothing could compare to the guy in the back row who thought that there was a walkway behind his seat and literally took a casual step off of a 2 meter ledge, shaking the entire rooms floor as he slammed into the ground.... I had the chance to get some hands on time with Call of Duty: World at War as well Guitar Hero: World Tour . Yes indeed, A couple of guys and myself stood up on a small stage in front of a bunch of strangers as I fought back the pressure of nailing the solo of Michael Jackson's "Beat It" on Expert mode, which I thankfully handled and made sure to not look like a complete noob (It came out of nowhere I swear). You had better make sure to check the site for my hands-on impressions of both COD:WAW and GH: World Tour as I will have both of them up shortly after this article sees the light of day and you will really want to hear what I have to say if you are a fan of the COD series or games that let you rock out in style.... If there is one thing that Activision impressed me with, it was that they very openly admitted to many of the faults in their previous titles and that they seemed to have really listened to the suggestions and complaints of gamers around the world and made any necessary changes to make better games. Whether they have done enough or not is something that we will only really find out once we have had time with the finished titles. We were also treated to some footage of the upcoming action title "Fracture", which takes a whole new approach on combat by giving you the ability to alter the terrain around you to your advantage.

...Quantum of Solace, the new James Bond game also looks like it has a lot of potential, especially for a 007 title since the last couple of Bond titles were nothing special to say the least. Add the fact that it is using the COD 4 graphics engine and it actually might surprise us. Obviously one of Activision's biggest titles for the year is Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. While I quite liked the feel of the game I can't say that I am completely sure that it will not get repetitive. We didn't see much more than what is already available in the demo so if you want to know more you can go read the impressions of the demo that I put up a while ago by clicking here. While there were a few other titles shown off such as Clone Wars, Spiderman: Web of Shadows and believe it or not, two Barbie titles, the real ones you want to pay attention to are the ones described above. All I can really say is that after my experiences with a few of these upcoming titles, the only advice I can give you is to start saving up. There is a big season of gaming on the way and you are going to want a couple of these in your games library come Christmas.

Remember a while back when we reported that the Ghostbusters had been put on hold thanks to the Activision/Blizzard merger? Well fast forward a month and we are in exactly the same spot… No one has come to save ether Ghostbusters or the 50 cent game… Though the latter is not surprising. However the Ghostbusters one is very worrying now …