Burt (As seen on the right of the picture) is a 6′ tall replica zombie that one lucky gamer will win after buying the Dead Rising 2: High Stakes Edition. While the odds of winning him are small, this special edition has more than enough goodies packed in to ensure you get your money’s worth.

• Dead Rising 2 game (Xbox 360 or PS3)

• Poker set in a black high-impact case sporting the Fortune City logo and including:

• 100 poker chips- 4 different colors featuring the Fortune City logo

• 2 decks of ‘blood-stained’ custom playing cards featuring character art

• 5 green dice

• 1 ‘blood-stained’ dealer chip

• Fortune City Visitor Map featuring the game map and ads for Fortune City locations and attractions

• Terror is Reality XVII admission ticket with redemption code for the unique Psycho skills pack downloadable content

Currently the High Stakes Edition is only available to pre-order through Capcom’s Online Store and is priced at $89.99 for both Xbox 360 and PS3.

- Nick Barker (Dr Strange Lulz)

Shooters

Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
Battlefield 2
Counterstrike: Source
Team Fortress 2

Wolfenstein comes out on top here for its replay value, I’ve played countless shooters over the years but I always end up coming back to ET. With an interesting class system, unique maps, and diverse gametypes, Enemy Territory is an amazing shooter that many people have either overlooked… or never played in the first place.

Role-playing Games

Mass Effect
Final Fantasy IX
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Chrono Trigger
Fallout 3

Mass Effect revitalized gaming for me. There really isn’t much I can say about it that hasn’t been said before. FFIX is one I get a lot of grief for liking, I know that FFVII is the most popular but you know what? This is my list.

Fighting Games

Super Smash Bros (Nintendo 64)
Soul Calibur II
Powerstone
Street Fighter 2
Blazblue

Smash Bros is one of those games that anybody can jump into and have a ton of fun, it’s also a game that everybody thinks that they’re amazing at (Like Mario Kart) Simple enough for everybody, while at the same time having the complexity and strategic options to keep veteran fighters coming back for more.

Music/Rhythm Based

Jet Set Radio Future
Jet Grind Radio
Dance Dance Revolution
Space Channel 5
Rock Band 2

Most people bought the original Xbox for Halo, I bought mine for Jet Set Radio Future. JSRF somehow combined jet-powered rollerblades, a ridiculous soundtrack, and graffiti in one of the most original games I’ve ever seen. Long before Wind Waker, Jet Grind Radio was rocking cellshading, an artistic style that has influenced a great many games.

Action/Adventure

Assassin’s Creed
Eternal Darkness
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time
Grim Fandango
Fable

Not a big fan of adventure games, but Assassin’s Creed and the other games on my top 5 continually surprise me. Eternal Darkness needed to make the list for it’s scare/hallucination factor. Grim Fandango? If you’ve played it then I shouldn’t have to say anything, and if you haven’t played it… do it now.

Strategy Games

Final Fantasy Tactics
Warcraft III
Starcraft
Kingdom Under Fire
Warcraft

I can feel the Starcraft fans yelling already. I love Final Fantasy Tactics, Ive bought 4 different copies… only 2 less than Final Fantasy IX. Easily one of the most challenging and in depth strategy games I’ve ever played, FF Tactics never ceases to amaze.

- Nick Barker (Dr Strange Lulz)

Hardened Edition will include a Black Ops Medallion, an exclusive Xbox Live avatar outfit (Or a Playstation Home avatar),  as well as four co-op multiplayer maps (which will most likely be made available to all players via DLC later on)

But you guys really don’t care about Hardened edition, do you? You’re here to find out about the Prestige edition bonus. Modern Warfare 2 had Night Vision Goggles, which is pretty hard to top. Call of Duty: Black Ops’ Prestige edition comes with the RC-XD surveillance vehicle, a remote controlled car equipped with a camera and microphone that relay footage back to the controller.

The RC-XD can be seen in the Call of Duty: Black Ops multiplayer teaser, unlike the one in the teaser however the one that comes with the Prestige edition does not come equipped with a block of C4.

While there has been no official prices listed for the Hardened and Prestige editions, it’s assumed that they will be similarly priced to the Modern Warfare 2 editions, with Hardened priced at $79.99 and Prestige priced at $149.99.

- Nick Barker (Dr Strange Lulz)

This random playthrough got me thinking about the future of Mass Effect and the characters within. Which brings me to the topic at hand, the upcoming Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC.

[Warning: Spoilers from this point on.]

If there’s one thing Bioware does right, it’s wrapping together storylines. The Shadow Broker is first mentioned fairly early on in the original Mass Effect, and a few distinct references are made to him/them throughout the rest of the game. At one point the player is even contacted by an agent of the Shadow Broker if he decides to pursue a particular mission.

Mass Effect: Redemption, a four-part comic series delves into the events leading up to Mass Effect 2. In Mass Effect: Redemption, Liara T’Soni comes in direct conflict with the Shadow Broker and his/their agents in an attempt to recover Shepard’s body before it can be sold to the Collectors.

Liara’s hatred of the Shadow Broker is later brought up in Mass Effect 2 when Shepard and Liara are reunited. Apart from this brief dialogue between Shepard and Liara, there is very little mention of the Shadow Broker within Mass Effect 2.

Luckily for us, Bioware has decided to release Lair of the Shadow Broker which will hopefully put an end to the speculation surrounding this anonymous figure.

Bioware’s Description:

Two years ago, Commander Shepard died and Liara T’Soni fought in a desperate struggle against the Shadow Broker to recover her former Commander. Now that Shepard is back, it’s time to even the score.

Team up with Liara and confront the mysterious and sinister Shadow Broker in the latest expansion to Mass Effect 2, coming soon!

Players had the option to pursue a romance with Liara in the original Mass Effect, however the relationship is then put on hold in Mass Effect 2, even allowing players that completed her romance in the original to pursue a relationship with new crew members.

How will the new DLC play into the relationship between Shepard and Liara? Who knows. We’ll have to see when the DLC is released.

The  release date hasn’t been announced yet, but considering Bioware’s regular DLC releases it shouldn’t be too far off.

- Nick Barker (Dr Strange Lulz)

The upcoming Medal of Honor Limited Edition will include an invitation to the Battlefield 3 Beta. It’s always nice to know that a game is getting a beta before you’ve heard any actual mention of the game’s development.

The Limited Edition of Medal of Honor will include the MP-7 as well as two shotguns, and for you lucky PS3 owners out there, the game will also come with a copy of Medal of Honor: Frontline. In a move similar to that of Battlefield: Bad Company 2, everyone who pre-ordered Medal of Honor is guaranteed a limited edition copy.

Battlefield 3 will be coming to PS3, Xbox 360, and PS3 hopefully sometime next year. In the meantime we will just have to wait for Medal of Honor and hope that the beta comes out sooner rather than later.

So without further ado, my first impressions and basic overview.

The first thing you will notice about Medal of Honor is that it is a beautiful game. There are two maps available in the beta, Helmand Valley, and Kabul City Ruins. Helmand Valley is a sprawling mountainous region in Afghanistan that plays home to the Mission gametype. The Mission gametype is similar to Rush from Battlefield: Bad Company 2, the assaulting team is charged with destroying and capturing a series of objectives within the map. Kabul City Ruins is a close quarters urban warzone in which players go head to head in what basically amounts to team deathmatch.

While the game visually striking, the positives really end there for me, I had a friend describe it as being “Beautiful, but basically a cheap Modern Warfare knockoff” while I don’t necessarily agree with the way he put it… he’s basically right.

Before the beta came out for any of the systems, people were describing it as a combination of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and Modern Warfare 2. This description is true for the most part in that the maps are larger and more varied, while the battles still retain the intensity of close to medium range combat that Call of Duty is renowned for.

Unfortunately  Medal of Honor seems to have also acquired the worst parts of both titles. Combat is brutal and unforgiving, and with the state that the beta is in you’ll often find yourself in a state of utter dismay, as the player you just fired half a mag into will simply turn around and put two rounds through your chest… killing you instantly. Most hit detection issues are likely to be gone once the full game comes out, but it makes for a bad first impression.

In typical Battlefield fashion, your character feels sluggish, boxy, and altogether unresponsive. Having a slow character model is something you can get away with in Battlefield, but in an urban environment where a quick dash between buildings means the difference between life and a respawn… it just doesn’t work. And similar to Modern Warfare, you will frequently find your character getting stuck on the tiniest of objects. That brick that you didn’t see in front of your foot? Ya, it just got you sniped.

The weapons and weapon upgrade system are also a source of frustration for me. DICE really has a thing for separate class leveling, just as they did with BF: BC2, you have to level each class individually. With every level you gain in a particular class, you receive upgrades that add and detract stats from the stock weapon.  My biggest issue in regard  to the weapon attachment system? They really don’t add enough of a bonus to affect your weapon in any real way. The M24 (the best sniper rifle available in the beta) doesn’t do enough damage to kill anyone in a single shot (besides a headshot) adding ammo that increases the damage of your weapon still doesn’t give enough power to kill in a single shot.

Killstreaks or Score Chains as they’re known in Medal of Honor are one of the only bright spots in an otherwise unspectacular beta. By getting kills and completing objectives you earn points towards these Score Chains, upon reaching the required amount of points you are provided with a choice between two different actions. At 40 points (the first score chain requirement) you can choose between intel (which basically amounts to a UAV) and a mortar strike.   So the choice is yours, depending on the situation you’re in you might choose to boost your own score, or decide to help the entire team.

Overall the beta is anything but unique. Medal of Honor takes few positives and a great many negatives from the games it emulates. Gameplay mechanics are sketchy at best, poor hit detection and intermittent lag-spikes make a poor impression despite just being a beta. Hopefully most of these issues will be addressed before the full game releases on October 12th.

- Nick Barker

Yesterday Bungie unveiled a batch of avatar awards that will be available to players once they complete certain “actions in Halo: Reach.” Not particularly descriptive, I know. Luckily, we know that Bungie is fairly generous when it comes to avatar awards, so I’m sure everybody will have these at some point. Unfortunately the Noble 6 helmet will only be made available to certain lucky folks who visit Comicon, PAX and GamesCom later this summer.

In their update, Bungie also gave us quite a few more screens and details of their Armory system. Players will have instant access to a number of armor pieces with which to customize their character from day one, but will unlock various other items as they progress through the multiplayer ranks. Unlike Halo 3, Halo: Reach will feature a credit-based progression system that will play a key role in the Armory system and customization process.

On the Achievements front, Bungie has decided to use the power of achievements against the casual gamer. By pursuing and completing achievements, the player will unlock a variety of new gamemodes and features. I’m not kidding here folks, take a look.

“Achievements in Reach were designed with a few principles in mind. We wanted to leverage the power of Achievements – they are something people will chase and pursue – to expose additional features, game modes and systems that players otherwise might miss out on.”

So basically they’re forcing you to go out and complete their achievements in order to have access to features which are already built into the game. Anyone who has ever played a Halo game can testify to the ridiculousness of some of their achievements.

So the casual gamer who just got off work and wants nothing more than to sit down and play Halo for a while is denied the full potential of the game because instead of spending his time chasing achievements he’s at work putting food on the table for his family.

Nice one Bungie.

If the achievements required to unlock these bonuses were just the ones released in their update, I could understand it because they really aren’t that difficult to complete.

Be My Wingman, Anytime – Let a teammate spawn on you 5 times in an Invasion Matchmaking game.
Skunked – Win a game of Invasion in the first phase.
What’s a Killing Spree? – Earn a Killing Spree in multiplayer Matchmaking
I Need a Weapon – Complete the 4th mission on Normal or Harder.
Your Heresy Will Stay Your Feet – Kill the Elite Zealot before he can escape during the 5th mission.

On the other hand, if they’re based on singleplayer and firefight achievements I’m completely opposed to the concept. Some gamers just want to play through the campaign on easy, get the story experience, and move on to multiplayer. Playing through a Halo game on Legendary is no small feat, and getting to 200,000 points in firefight isn’t really a cakewalk for the average gamer.

I guess we’ll just have to see how this all plays out.

For full details check out their blog

- Nick Barker (Dr Strange Lulz)

July 21st -
Limbo: A stylistically innovative black and white platformer that was nominated for awards in both Art and Technical Excellence in the 12th Annual Independent Games Festival.

July 28th -
Hydro Thunder Hurricane: A hidden treasure from Dreamcast’s days of glory, a water based racer guaranteed to remain a fan favorite for years to come.

August 4th -
Castlevania: Harmony of Despair: A brand new Castlevania game? Seriously, do I have to say anything else? A six player co-op based platforming-rpg similar to Symphony of Night in both style and difficulty.

August 11th -
Monday Night Combat: A six-on-six third person shooter set in a horrific future where killing is a sport and athletes go head to head on a nightly basis, similar in style to Team Fortress, this arcade title is designed for pure fun.

August 18th -
Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light: A co-op adventure which is a far cry from previous Tomb Raider titles, we’ll just have to see how it compares in terms of playability.

All of these titles will run you 1200 Microsoft Points, buying all five will get you a 1200 MS point refund, and buying four will get you 400 MS points.

For $15 each, these games are well priced and designed specifically for Summer gaming.

So go get em.

Due to unknown issues EA and DICE decided to delay the Medal of Honor 360 beta, at first it was assumed that it was the folks over at Microsoft who were to blame, but with the latest delay just announced nobody really has any idea what the cause is.

The developer had this to say on the subject,

“As for the Xbox 360 version of the beta, we are delayed and we apologize. To the Xbox 360 community, we say thank you for your continued patience. We are working to fix the issues that have caused this delay and, like you, we’re eager to get the game up and running at quality.”

Supposedly the beta will be extended for 360 users so that everyone has enough time to play before it officially comes out in October.

Unfortunately since we have no idea what the reason is behind the delay we don’t know how long it’s going to take to fix it, this is the kind of thing the folks over at EA seriously need to tell us.

-Dr Strange Lulz

The first thing you’ll notice about the new Xbox 360 is that it is noticeably  shorter and thinner than its predecessor, so you’ll be able to set it up in slightly smaller areas, and with its shiny new finish you’ll want to show this beast off as often as possible.

The new built in 250 gig hard drive is, funnily enough, located at the bottom of the system. Honestly, the fact that the hard drive is built in really has no effect on the system overall, how often do you take your hard drive off anyway.

The system has a port specifically for Kinect, which I suppose is what Microsoft was referring to when they claimed the system was “Ready for Kinect”. They’ve also done a good job of adding more USB ports, there are now a total of five (Two in the front, and three at the back) and with the new ability to store game saves and profile data on USB drives they are a welcome addition.

Aside from slightly shorter load and startup times, the system’s major improvements lie in cooling, sound and wifi. The system is clearly designed to improve airflow and reduce the need for additional cooling units. As for the sound, the system truly is whisper quiet. I have a particularly loud Elite and upon starting the new 360 up for the first time almost cried tears of joy over how quiet it was.

The new Xbox 360 boasts the fastest Wi-fi available on any system to date, 802.11n. While I don’t use Wi-fi, I’ve heard mixed reports regarding the speed on the new system. A few people claimed that the connection was slower while the vast majority say that it’s a drastic improvement.

All I can say is this, the system is beautiful and performs like a  dream. While the changes are nice, they aren’t strictly necessary… so unless you’re a die-hard 360 fan who needs to have the latest and best, the decision to pick up the new system will really be up to you.