We posted earlier about that big story doing the rounds that proved that Microsoft knew about the RROD problems before releasing the platform. At the time I thought it was an obvious point but it seemed that people were enjoying the witch hunt. Well the tables have now turned and Microsoft are now doing the hunting. Last Updated: September 15, …

"It's time to kick ass and chew bubblegum... and I'm all out of gum" Ah the good old days. Duke Nukem 3D was actually one of my first online experiences, playing with a friend using my 56k modem. Now the Duke is coming to XBLA and the date has been set for September 24 and will have new features not seen in the original. 4 player co-op, deathmatch and some sort of innovative replay and clip sharing feature make up some of the features that Duke Nukem fans can look forward to. The game will also include achievements as is the norm with arcade titles but will also have concept art that can be unlocked. "Shake it baby!".

Fight Night: Round 3 was a fantastic boxing game. Realistic graphics, great controls and fun multiplayer. There was very little wrong with this game as it delivered everything that a boxing enthusiast might enjoy straight to their living rooms. Fight Night: Round 4 is setting out to make the virtual boxing experience even better come 2009. A heap of new features are being added to the game to make up for all the short comings of the last title and improvements on all the elements that worked. The video supplied has been taken with a handheld cam so the quality is only half decent and the picture does shake a little but the presentation really gives you a good look at what this game has to offer so it's worth a look.

Treyarch, the developers of Call of Duty 3 have been under a lot of fire from gamers and critics who said that they were never nearly as talented as the big boys from Infinity Ward (Creators of the COD franchise and developers of the first, second and fourth installments), The truth is that they only had 8 months to work on COD 3 while Infinity Ward had two years to pump out COD 4. So now that Treyarch have been given a decent amount of time to develop a title they have been given a chance to show their true potential.... Gameplayer.com.au has had a chance to test out the 4 player online co-op and from the sounds of things, Treyarch is proving that they are a becoming a force to be reckoned with. Just last week I was able to get some hands-on time with some early code of COD 5 and I was impressed with what I had seen.... My opinion changed after my experience with the first level of COD 5 but in the end I realised that I had not seen nearly enough to get a solid feeling of the games worth. Gameplayer.com.au has been lucky enough to get some time with the games 4 player co-op and their impression left me thinking that my initial excitement was justified.... As we’ve come to expect from the Call of Duty series, you really do get immersed in the world through a non-stop barrage of sound-effects, explosions, bullet-fire and well executed action set-pieces. Yeah it plays straighter than Ron Jeremy’s ****, but it is sensory overload of the highest order and it facilitates such tension that your butt cheeks will creep ever forward, clinging onto the edge of your couch as a clam would latch onto a diver’s ankle.... Gameplayer does go on to describe that their are definite differences between the two, saying: it is a different type of game. The weaponry is old-school, and while new additions like the flamethrower provide plenty of comedic value – that’s right kiddies, watching foes light up like kerosene covered hay bales is worth the price of admission alone – if you love your red-dot enabled M16A4, you might be more than a little put-off.... Both games may use the same engine, but very few assets were able to transcend from modern day to the forties and the attention to detail, as well as the sharpness of the A.I – where Infinity Ward’s talent really shines – aren’t as impressive.... So the big question is, which of the two are going to be better when we finally get to compare them. While the upgrade from COD 3 to COD 4 was a lot larger and left us blown away by its improvements, it lacked any form of co-operative play. COD 5 will have to have an incredibly strong multiplayer package to take players away from COD 4 and move them back into the worn-torn maps of World War 2.... Infinity Ward delivers nothing short of spectacular in terms of its titles and to even match them will be proof enough that they are not what all the nay-sayers thought they were.

While I obviously haven't had the opportunity to play Rock Band 2, I have been able to spend a significant amount of time with the first Rock Band and unless Rock Band 2 is going to be a lot different to the first one, they are in trouble.... The new guitar is fantastic and not only feels nice and sturdy, but has quite a couple of changes made to it as well. There is no doubt that some of the changes have been taken straight from Rock Band but some very clever changes to existing ideas have made a big difference. The Guitar has now been given 5 extra buttons as well, but instead of them being at the bottom of the neck like Rock Band, they are just a little lower down next to the normal buttons. The major difference is that the extra buttons are not buttons, but apart of a lengthy "touchpad" that not only allows you to nail solo's easier, but adds the ability to properly slide your fingers up and down like you would on a real guitar.... The pads themselves are very soft and don't make much noise when you play on them, which is nice because with World Tour the pads are pressure sensitive, so the harder you hit, the louder it sounds.... I didn't take the opportunity to embarrass myself with the microphone, so I didn't get a very good look at it but from what I heard from when i was playing on the instruments, the singers voices were coming out really nice and clear.... What I really liked in World Tour was that when you are on guitar, the songs are really still fun to play and there is a good feeling behind the system that detects when you hit a note. The guitar essentially still feels exactly the same as it does when you are playing Guitar Hero III and I don't know about you, but that suits me just fine. I decided to try the drums on hard, which, when done in Rock Band usually leads to me failing miserable while the rest of the band works hard to keep everything going. Now it could very easily have been the song that we were playing, but I found the drums on hard to be easier than in Rock Band. I can't decide if that is a good thing or not as it may leave you feeling unchallenged when you get good enough to attack expert mode.... I didn't even have the ability to mess around with the music creation system, but from what I have been hearing, that is going to be an entirely different reason to buy the game in itself. I have heard that World Tours pack that includes the game, guitar, drums and microphone will be going for R1700.00 in South Africa when it releases and will confirm as soon as I can. Usually I wouldn't be so quick to make bold statements in a hands on preview such as this, but if that price is true then this may very well be the bargain of the century.

I am sure by now you have seen the latest NPD stats but if not here is a quick recap. Nintendo DS – 518,300 Nintendo Wii – 453,000 PlayStation Portable – 253,000 Xbox 360 – 195,200 PS3 – 185,400 Yes Nintendo once again smashed it’s opposition on both the handheld and main console divisions. The PSP faired well and the …

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.