Not only is Nintendo the undisputed champion of hardware sales – it seems its software is causing cash registers to whirr in a frenzy too. According to NPD’s end of year figures, five of the top ten selling games of 2008 were from the Japanese giants. Other juggernauts include GTA IV – which sold a total of 5.18 million copies …

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.

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.

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.

I really hope that I get proven wrong on this one because if I don't, it will be a pretty sad piece of news for us South Africans. As you all know, a few South Africans have been able to get their hands on copies of Gears of War 2 a few days early. I got the chance to speak to someone who has already gotten a copy and has played a sneaky multiplayer session with a few other of the lucky folks who got it early as well. The problem is that none of them could find the "Flashback Map Pack" code in their Gears of War 2 boxes. Say it ain't so. More after the jump. While there is a small chance that the early copies didn't have the codes, I very highly doubt that there is any difference between those copies and the ones that will be available on Friday. If this is true, it may mean that South Africans are going to completely miss out on the recreated maps from the original Gears of War. The truth is that South Africa isn't officially supported for Xbox Live but one would think that because we get the same stock as Europe, we would have the codes packaged in. At this point I am just sincerely hoping that the guys I spoke to were just hopelessly blind and couldn't find the codes that are actually there. Problem is that it isn't really likely. If we are lucky, the maps will become available over Xbox Live to everyone after a short while, even though a lot of South Africans will need to resort to special measures to bypass the region block on all of the Gears of War 2 content.