Early reports of Call of Duty 5 are saying that while the game still looks great and plays similarly to COD4, it just isn't quite as good. To be honest, I really couldn't care less. The reason is simply because this game also has 4 player cooperative play. It was easily the biggest element missing from COD4. In this day and age of online play, sitting in a massive battle all by yourself just doesn't cut it anymore. From the video it is obvious to see that COD5 is still looking really good and if the co-operative works without any online issues, I can't see any reason to not play through this game a couple of times at least, with a couple of buddies by my side.

It's no secret that Hellgate: London was a miserable failure. The team behind the title mostly comprised of ex-Diablo developers who banded together to form Flagship Studios. The game enjoyed massive hype and had followers dying to get their hands on the game, especially when the CG trailers were looking so incredibly impressive. Unfortunately, once released, it didn't take long to figure out that the game was nothing but a huge disappointment. The quests were boring, the controls weren't great and the world felt dead, completely destroying the MMO feeling that Flagship had originally set out to create. Well now, little over a year after it's release, the servers are going to finally shut down. January 31st will be the last day that Hellgate sees and until then, there will be no subscription fees for the game. It really is a shame to see that a game with so much potential failed to deliver the goods. This is just a reminder to developers out there that unless you have thought everything through and given 110%, your game may very well have it's plug yanked from the wall.

Capcom have confirmed to IGN that Street Fighter IV will be releasing this winter (our summer). What it is interesting is that the PC version is only going to be released after the console version. Now, is this only because they will need to port it over to the PC (Don't they have a "export from Xbox 360 to PC" button?), or is it because they are pulling an EndWar maneuver and releasing it later to avoid piracy. We have no confirmation as yet but will follow up when we hear more.

I am really enjoying these developer diaries about the Far Cry 2 teams trip to Kenya. It is quite funny to see them running around like a bunch of lost fools, all for the sake of creating a better game. From what we have seen of the game, the trip has definitely paid off in a big way. If you haven't watched the previous episodes, then do yourself a favour and watch them in order. You can find all of them by clicking here.

[Update] PSM(3) has come out to clarify this point. Apparently the PS3 version is SLIGHTLY worse than the 360 version and the difference is purely down to a slightly choppier framerate and the objects are jaggier/rougher in the distance, not to mention that they textures are muddier up close. The 360 version looks better but it’s not like the PS3 …

I know that this trailer is only for the map editor in Far Cry 2 but honestly, if this trailer doesn't sell you on the game then nothing will. Even though I have already seen the map editor being demoed, it really doesn't come close to seeing what you are actually going to be capable of making. That recreation of the pyramids was awesome and the rock statues were super cool as well. I don't think that I fully understand exactly how much can actually be done with this editor yet but I will tell you that I think it is going to change the way that it is an insanely great tool to get with a game. You however may thing that it's nothing but a novelty. What do you think? Awesome or nothing special?

News has finally started getting around the internet that Far Cry 2 has officially gone gold. The real kicker for us is that Lazygamer was the first site in the world to know about it.... The fact of the matter is simply that I happened to be sitting having dinner with Far Cry 2 developers Clint Hocking and LP Pharand when they received the message that the Xbox 360 version had officially gone into production.... Not only that but we have some very interesting info on how the Far Cry 2 DRM will work on PC.... After the news reached them and the excited congratulatory handshake between the two of them was done, I asked if I could, you know, tell the world. I was unfortunately asked to wait for the official press release to come out, so the scoop was unscooped due to it being something that was considered "off the record". It was exciting news to hear first hand though and keeping it to myself was a pretty tough job in itself. They were obviously waiting for all of the versions to go gold before making their announcement. With regards to the DRM on PC, a Ubisoft Forum manager has posted up the details on the Ubi Forums. He says the following: "Some DRM points that will hopefully answer some of your questions and will clarify some misunderstandings about our DRM and SecuROM: - You have 5 activations on 3 separate PCs.... This process is called “revoke”, so as long as you complete proper uninstall you will be able to install the game an unlimited number of times on 3 systems. - You can upgrade your computer as many time as you want (using our revoke system) - Ubisoft is committed to the support of our games, and additional activations can be provided. - Ubisoft is committed to the long term support of our games: you’ll always be able to play Far Cry 2." This is a pretty interesting system of security and I think it may be a step in the right direction considering that it really does give gamers a lot of freedom to install and uninstall the game over a few different systems.... But that is that, it's gold, which means that we are one step closer to burning up half of the African savannah.

Most of you will not need to be told that there are some massively anticipated games coming within the next month or so. Most of us are already assigning money to which games we are gong to be purchasing. To make your planning a little easier, I have put together a list of all the big titles and their SA release dates. If you are planning to rob a bank, I can highly recommend that you do it on the 23rd of October because the next day, a huge selection of titles are going to be coming our way. The Full List of releases, after the jump. Ok, so here are the SA Release dates for most of the popular games that will be coming out this quarter. Please note that some dates may change as well as the fact that I may have missed one or two titles that you believe to be important. If so, please leave info about it in the comments and I will try and update the list: 17 October Saints Row 2 24 October Dead Space Fable II Far Cry 2 Midnight Club: Los Angeles Motorstorm: Pacific Rift Bioshock (PS3) 31 October Red Alert 3 James Bond: Quantum of Solace Legendary Lego Batman Silent Hill: Homecoming 1 November Fallout 3 7 November Gears of War 2 LittleBigPlanet 14 November Call of Duty: World at War 21 November Mortal Kombat vs DC Grand Theft Auto IV (PC) 30 November Lord of the Rings: Conquest Mirror's Edge Left 4 Dead Tom Clancy's Endwar 5 December Resistance 2 Prince of Persia Damnation Well, there you have it folks. That is a lot of really great titles and although I am sure I missed a few really good ones, we can all agree that we are in for one heck of a great gaming season. Time to get excited I think!