When you think about the Xbox 360, two major exclusive titles always spring to mind, Gears of War and Halo 3. So what if you have just bought a console or have a friend who has just bought a console and you just cannot decided which one of the two is the must-have game that should grace the system. IGN have put together a great head to head video, pitting Gears of War 2 against Halo 3 in duel to the death. Which one is the definitive Xbox 360 title and the one that shouldn't be missed. With regards to multiplayer, from a local perspective I will say one thing. It is that here in South Africa, we need to stick together to play lag-free games. So out here it really is all about finding out what all your friends are playing and then getting that. It doesn't help if Gears is better or Halo is better because if you have no one to play with then it is no fun at all. You won't believe who won this comparison and by how much. Check it out.

This rather funny music video was created because, as most of you know, CliffyB (Cliff Bleszkinski, whatever) really likes giving his opinion on things and at the same time, the media really likes reporting about them. Well it seems like these guys have had quite enough of Cliff's ramblings and have decided to write a song about it. It's pretty funny stuff and it does make one wonder why in the hell we do see so many articles about CliffyB's opinions. Yes he made a great game but as the song says, that doesn't make him a guru.

Microsoft somehow managed to make one incredible mountain of a screw-up this weekend involving exclusive DLC. Basically, Microsoft was running some sort of promotional event thing (?), which ultimately allowed some gamers to get a free DLC code for the original Banjo-Kazooie on Xbox Live. The problem was that a gamer found out that exclusive DLC such as Gears of War 2 Golden weapons for example, were available and free from the site due to a mess up from Microsoft's side. What's also interesting is that the gamer who found it, known only as RedRex32, went to the Epic Forums to blow the whistle and let everyone know. Not once, but twice. Although he swears that he only went onto the forums to talk about it and not spread the word, he has been permanently banned from the forums. Not only was his account banned but he was given the full IP-blocked treatment. Pretty harsh if you ask me, considering that he wasn't the one that made the screw-up.

This entire story with the Gears of War 2 Map Packs in South Africa have been a bit of a complete bummer for all of us. While we can assure you that we are still hard at work with our mission to try and get map codes to all South Africans, regardless of the odds, something very interesting (and not good) has arisen. A lot of South Africans have been buying map pack codes from various different sources so that they can all join in the flashback fun. A friend of mine (Let's call him "Bartleby") bought a code this weekend and was incredibly disappointed to get home and find out that the availability of the downloadable maps has come to an end. Just like the issue that we had with the first Gears of War, our IP's are now being blocked, meaning that they are no longer accessible to anyone in this country. We have previously posted up a very clever way to get around the restrictions but either way, it's still not good news to hear. Please know that we are still working on getting answers with regards to the map codes but for now we ask you to all sit tight until we can get you anymore solid information.

So, the other night we were playing a game of Gears of War 2 and we were all destroying each other on a map called Day One. I have taken quite a liking to the photo mode that came with the game, so after my death, I was having my usual fun taking photo's of the action. On the Day One map there is a small street corner arcade, in which I found something rather interesting. You may remember that the infamous anti-videogame lawyer Jack Thompson always referred to the Grand Theft Auto series of games as a "murder simulator". Now looking at that header image will show you that Epic decided to poke a bit of fun at that whole mess by creating an arcade game by the name of "Murder Simulator" and placing it into the map. I live easter eggs like this and I think it was really cool that Epic took the time to take a quick stab at an industry story that has caused a lot of grief for gamers worldwide. At least Jack is barred for life now, so until another lunatic comes along and tries to pick up where he left off, we can all rest easy knowing that we can play our violent games in ironic peace.

Gears of War 2’s skill-based matchmaking has now become Epic’s top priority as far as fixes to the recently released game goes and they hope to have a solution soon. Hit the jump to see what Senior producer Rod Fergusson had to say on the official forums Gears forums. Last Updated: November 20, 2008

While a lot of us are still hurting from the sting of not receiving the map pack codes in South Africa, a few images have popped up on Flickr that show someone playing Gears of War 2 on a never-before-seen multiplayer map. The new map looks to be some sort of take on the whole sunken-city idea and could be one of many that are already in the works as DLC. Once again, there is no way to tell if us South Africans will even have any access to them, so maybe we shouldn't get our hopes up. Pics after the jump. [Thanks to Poddle for the tip] You check the full gallery by clicking here.

I know that all of you are actually all waiting for a response from Epic about the Map codes but unfortunately, we have been left waiting for the people at Microsoft to respond. On a different note, anyone who has tried to join a game using matchmaking will know that it's bordering on being completely broken as we hear that finding a game takes somewhere in the region of 20 minutes. Rod Fergusson, the producer of Gears of War 2 has addressed the issue on the Epic forums saying that they have heard the cries of the gamers and are working with Microsoft to try and get a solution, although it doesn't look like we will have anything anytime soon. He lists a couple of ways to try and speed things up and also gives a few interesting facts about Gears of War 2's online performance since release, so click through the source and read his post for yourself.