Microsoft has always been big about online gameplay as a key feature of its Xbox systems. In fact as far as console go Microsoft are the responsible for bringing online play to the mass market. The multi-billion dollar investment in the Xbox Live online game service is what is supposed to distinguish Microsoft systems from the competition. Xbox Live hit …

It looks like the holiday video game season is here, and Microsoft isn’t taking it lightly. As if we won’t have enough to spend our money on in the next few weeks, Xbox Live is getting 2 really awesome games. Last Updated: October 17, 2008

Gears of War fans, get ready to put a considerably large smile on your dial because we have a huge chunk of information on Gears of War 2 including never before mentioned extra content. If you are one of the many fans that can't get enough of Gears of War 2 and need to know even more about it's features, don't miss out on all the good stuff that we have for you today.... Check this out, the list is taken from the evilavatar forum "Previously, it was thought that Gridlock and Subway would be the only gears 1 maps making a return.... These five maps will be free of charge but the only way to get them is if you receive a voucher, which every NEW copy of the game will have."... While we originally thought that we would only be getting remakes of Gridlock and Subway, we are actually going to be getting three more. A major point of interest here is that is looks like Epic is taking a stab at the used games market because the maps will only be redeemable using a voucher that comes with each new copy.... Thanks to Germany and their wonderful habit of banning any game that drips a drop of blood, our region as well as a couple others are obviously not going to be able download the maps without any extra effort. This is probably a great time to redirect you back to our method of getting around these annoyances, instead, I have posted the link to that wonderful little gem of an article at the bottom of this article. Ok, next point of interest: "In regards to the photo editor, it can be used by anyone who is either dead or in spectator mode.... The real downside of being connected to an online system is that I feel that developers are getting was too used to this idea of "release now and fix or add later" instead of having everything in and working from the get go.... ---------------------------------- Here we go: -Cliffy B says, "There will be no Kryll or Berserkers in the game", claiming that he wants gamers to have a new experience and not just treading on familiar ground.... -Brumaks are plentiful in the game and the article says that at some point late in the game, you will actually get to ride and take control of one.... The upside of this is, is that you can deploy it on the ground and launch attacks from a very long distance away and it is supposedly capable of killing two or three people at a time!... These five maps will be free of charge but the only way to get them is if you receive a voucher, which every NEW copy of the game will have.... Gears of War 2 will be available on November 11, so get your chainsaws ready because it's going to be a bloody one.

Ensemble Studios, the developers of Halo Wars and known for the Age of Empires games have announced that they will be shutting down after the release of Halo Wars. Not only that but today they announced that they are giving the axe to all non-essential employees as well as employees not directly related to the Halo Wars project. All the members that will stay onboard are being offered incentives to stay with the studio until the game is complete. More after the jump. What on earth is going on at Ensemble? Why would the studio be shut down so suddenly and why would a studio of this caliber need to be shut down anyway? These are things I don't know and maybe there is a good reason, but we don't know it because there have not been any other official statements or comments released by Microsoft or Ensemble yet. Halo Wars is due for release in the first half of 2009.

This isn't the first time I have reported about something like this. You may remember that I posted an article about an Xbox 360 setting fire to a house in the United States back in April of this year. Well, this isn't quite as bad but it still leaves Xbox 360 users something to think about. The Cochrane Times in the UK report that an Xbox has caused a family to evacuate their house after not being able to locate the source of a burning plastic smell. After choosing to evacuate his wife and children, homeowner Cliff Chudleigh called the fire department to come and do their thing. It seems that the source of the smoke was an Xbox 360 console inside a cabinet. Luckily there was no fire as it was only an electrical short, but it still makes me a bit nervous to think that my console might do the dance of fire when I'm not home. As always, it is a good idea to unplug all of your electronic equipment before leaving the house, especially when you are going to be gone for an extended period of time.

Bruce Everiss, the veteran games industry marketer of BruceOnGames.com has asked the question: Is the Xbox 360 reaching the limits of its capabilities? While he discuss how all consoles go through a similar development cycle, he makes an interesting point. The Xbox 360's architecture has been pretty straightforward and easy to use from the word go.... With this in mind we can only assume that developers will be able to squeeze all that the console has to offer out a lot sooner than usual and actually peak way earlier.... Bruce quotes Rod Fergusson, the senior producer for Gears of War at Epic Games from his in depth interview with website Gamasutra, where he said that " …with the two to three more years of optimization that we’ve had, we’re much further along than I think, three years ago, we thought we were going to get. So I think we’re certainly approaching the upper end of it, as far as what developers are able to do with it, but just looking at all the demos we saw today — ours and others — it’s clear that all the games just keep improving, and keep pushing that bar.” There is no doubt that the Gears of War games look absolutely stunning but it begs the question of whether or not we will see anything better ever released on the Xbox 360. While there are a lot of elements, such as artwork, that work towards the final presentation of a game we still have to wonder if we are already reaching the pinnacle of the 360's graphic abilities. The PS3 left developers struggling to squeeze all the power out of the Sony console at first but as time is going by they are most definitely starting to deliver mind-boggling visuals.... Spend nothing more than 5 minutes with Metal Gear Solid 4 and you will be blown away. This makes you wonder how much more is still possible as developers learn new and interesting ways to utilise the PS3's cell processors. Both HD consoles still have quite a long life ahead of them and it's going to be quite interesting to see if the 360 is capable of more than its current offerings and whether or not the PS3 is going to still forge ahead. Bruce states that "Just like previous generations the absolute limit of capabilities is never reached, these systems are very complex and there is only so much time that can be put into wringing that last ounce of capability out of them. However it must be true that now the developers are nearly getting the most out of the 360 and that further improvements will be slower to come.... If he is right then it will mean that the Xbox 360 will probably improve as time goes by, although the development will be a lot slower and less dramatic as what we have seen over the past two years.

With the release of the very heavily anticipated release of Gears of War 2 drawing nearer and nearer a lot of buzz is going to start going around really soon. To help kickstart some of the buzz, some new screens of GOW2 have been released on the net for us all to drool over and they are looking might fine. It still never ceases to amaze me how the screenshots looks so much smoother than what the actual game looks like when its playing on a screen in front of you. Either way, its looking as good as we have all been led to believe. Check the screens out after the jump.