With the release of Halo: ODST, IGN has posted a video Halo in 5 minutes. You can brush up on the story line before you go out and buy your copy. I for one still have little clue as to what the hell is going on, even after the review. Good hunting.

This is either the stupidest concept ever or the stupidest concept ever that is addictive to play. You can download Avatar Drop for free to your 360 and you basically just maneuver your Avatar as he helplessly plummets and crashes into things. What? Of course there is a competitive side to this and you can send your Avatar on a free fall against friends or some super intelligent AI. You can find this in the Indie Games section. I don't even want to download it in fear that I'll actually enjoy it. Because sadly that short trailer was kinda funny - in the sense of - ha that was funny. I wonder if we can let our Avatars plummet to their death in hopes of them going away.

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Announced along with Steven Spielberg - what? - at E3 is "Project Natal" for the Xbox 360. The controller-less gaming of the future. Project Natal is an all in one device consisting of an RGB camera, depth sensor, multi-array microphone and a custom processor running proprietary software, that, unlike 2-D cameras and controllers, tracks your full body movement in 3-D, while responding to commands, directions and even shifts of emotion in your voice. Xbox's answer to the Wii - obviously. Sounds like it could be cool or a work out which I'm not really looking for when I play video games. That's the whole point of them - to be lazy but productive in some non-existent reality. Unlike the Wii's issues of people throwing their controllers across the room - Project Natal will have the issue of people actually beating the crap out of each other. Check out the 'announcement' video below.

Microsoft has just announced that they have sold 30 Million Xbox 360's and that they have 20 Million active users on Live. That means that out of the 30 Million 360's in the world, roughly 5 million have had a hardware failure and gotten the red ring of death (and that's being very generous). Another one of my laymen estimations put the number of racist homophobic tweens on Live at around 19.2 Million. Congratulations Microsoft you continue to successfully frustrate the world.

Epic games is releasing a major expansion "All Fronts Collection" for Gears of War 2 on July 28th. Although I have my ear to the ground for most Xbox news, this seemed a surprise to me, I'd like to hear otherwise. Interestingly, this expansion is retail only and NOT going to be downloadable on Xbox Live, at least not at release time. Epic is claiming this package would be 3600 ($40) Microsoft points but will go for $19.99 US. What's cool about this expansion is that it includes extensions to the campaign as well as seven new multiplayer maps - the so-called Dark Corners map pack. It also includes all of the currently available map packs - Flashback, Combustible and the Snowblind. If you haven't bought these already then you might want to hold off if you plan to buy this expansion. The new campaign chapter is called "Road to Ruin" and is said to have been deleted from Gears of War 2. As you can see from the screen shot, Marcus is cross dressing as a Theron guard. Other goodies include an exclusive Gears of War 2 theme, strategy guide and poster.

Newest trailer for Army of Two: 40th Day was just released, although it plays out like a movie trailer for a really crappy action film, it does have some good looking in game footage. It's also covered in that Army of Two cheesy-ness that I guess in a weird way makes the game stand out. It'll be a fun title I'm sure but nothing to wait in line for.

Capcom's multiplayer demo for its forthcoming reimagining/reboot/retelling of Bionic Commando has just gone live. This demo is free to all Xbox Live Gold members. Sadly it will cost PS3 owners 299.00 dollars because this demo is currently a Xbox exclusive. The demo takes place on "Vertigo" (Half-Life deathmatches oh how I miss you), one of the game's 16 multiplayer maps. The multiplayer aspect of this game could give it legs. I can't wait to download this when they set me free from my caged cube. Happy swinging boys and girls.

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