First Range told you about Call of Duty: World at War. Then he told you about Gears of War 2. Now I’m here to tell you that Bungie is also giving Halo 3 players a double XP weekend. However, this “weekend” begins today and goes until 2am Monday. It also requires the Heroic, Legendary, and Mythic map packs. Enjoy.

Bungie

Yesterday at Microsoft’s pre-E3 press conference Bungie’s Joe Staten took the stage to show off some actual gameplay footage of Halo 3: ODST, which is scheduled to drop later this year. The single-player expansion campaign will put you in the role as “The Rookie”, a rookie Orbital Drop Shock Trooper, a few weeks before the events of Halo 3. Some features in the game include new silenced weapons, a new visor (which enables a “low-light vision mode”) and a handgun similar the pistol from the first Halo game.

Along with an expanded single-player campaign, ODST will also feature a four-player co-op mode called Firefight mode that will have players take on waves of attacking Covenant (think Horde mode from Gears 2). Check out the video and give us your thoughts.

They’re not calling themselves a “Halo Killer” but it seems that many of the main features in Section 8 were created in response to what annoyed them, and probably annoy you, about established FPS franchises like Halo and Battlefield.

Let’s go through 3 problems even the best first person shooters have and the ways Section 8 provides a solution.

Problem 1: Spawning Then Immediately Dying

If you spawn near a camping sniper, or in the trajectory of a rocket, or just die within seconds of spawning, it sucks. You probably feel a little cheated by the game, which, I’m pretty sure, is never one of the developer’s goals.

Solution: Let the Player Choose his Spawn Point and Make the Act of Spawning Awesome.

Section 8’s eliminates the annoyance of cheap deaths via their most impressive feature: “Burning in.” Every time you die, you’re taken to an orbital drop ship. You choose the point on the map you want to “burn in” to and the ship torpedoes you screaming through the atmosphere headfirst, in first person view, until you slam into the ground with thunderous force.

There’s a strategy to where you choose to burn in, as well. You can burn in right on the inside of an opponents base, but if your teammates haven’t disabled their anti-air guns, you may not make it to the ground in one piece.  Or you could just try to aim your burn in to land on some poor sucker’s head and score the game’s only one hit kill.

No one wants to ride passenger in a real life Warthog either…

Problem 2:  Feeling Lame Riding in the Passenger Side of a Vehicle

OK, how many times have you been playing Halo 3 and got stuck shooting the machine gun of the Scorpion or the Wraith while your buddy gets to drive and shoot the cannon? It sucks.  It sucks so much that many players will just go on foot rather than rolling like that.

Solution: Vehicles Where Everyone Gets to Do Something Cool:

In Section 8, when you drive a tank everyone gets to do something awesome. So if you’re not driving and shooting the cannon, you’re launching a cluster bomb reminiscent of Gear’s of War 2’s mortar, or you’re shooting the huge caliber bullets of the anti-air gun.  Whoever gets in has a job and has fun.  There are no back of the Mongoose experiences here.

Problem 3: Trekking across a Huge Map to Get to the Battle

When you’re dealing with the absolutely huge maps of Battlefield or similar franchises, you are often left with a tedious trek across a huge landscape unless you find a vehicle. Even in games without huge maps, the relatively slow pace of your characters movement can be a chore.

Solution: Make Each Player as Fast as a Speeding Vehicle.

Section 8 lets you become the vehicle. If you’ve got a long expanse to traverse, you have the ability to trigger your Overdrive, which shifts the camera to a third person perspective and lets you sprint at ridiculous speeds. This coupled with the built in jet pack for jumping lets you bound across large portions the game map like the Incredible Hulk.

If you want to be able to sprint for longer, put more points into your Overdrive before you spawn and you’ll never again have to experience Master Chief’s slow trot.

Section 8 seems to be made by developers that feel your pain as a FPS fan and want to give you a game that takes the weaknesses of current FPSs and turns them into strengths.  They’re a long way off from release but these features look promising.

That’s right folks, this weekend you can play on Halo 3’s multiplayer totally free. To celebrate the release of the Mythic Map Pack, Microsoft have allowed all of their loyal customers, even the ones who don’t pay extra money to them, to play Halo 3’s multiplayer. So, if you’re one of the few people who has Halo 3 but no Gold account, dig out that disc!

If you didn’t buy the collector’s edition of Halo Wars, you’ll be happy to know that the Mythic Map Pack for Halo 3 is now available on the Xbox Live Marketplace for 800 Microsoft Points ($10USD). The map pack includes three new maps: Sandbox, Assembly and Orbital. I personally haven’t played the new maps yet, but you can bet your ass I’ll be on Halo 3 playing them today.

Contrary to reports made yesterday about a Bungie Producer saying that the developer would be working on Halo 3 content for another two years, Bungie is now stating that there are no current plans to bring any further content to Halo 3 once ODST is released this fall.

“We’ll never say never,” Bungie told Eurogamer, “but currently Bungie has no plans to make new Halo 3 content beyond the release of ODST. We will, however, continue to support the Halo 3 online experience with regular updates to matchmaking playlists and wield the Banhammer as needed.”

Well, now I just don’t know what to believe because Bungie always seems to have something up their sleeves. I guess we’ll just have to enjoy the new Mythic Map Pack, coming out April 9, and ODST this autumn, and then just see what happens from then on.

Source: GameSpy via Eurogamer

Worried that the upcoming ODST expansion for Halo 3 would be the last piece of content for the highly popular FPS? Don’t worry any longer, because it seems like Bungie has plenty more to offer for Halo 3 in the future.

“Halo 3 took two and a half years to make, and we’re still working on it,” producer Allen Murray said. “We’ll probably be working on it for two more years.”

This is great news for Halo 3 fans and even better news for Microsoft, because even with the break up between the two, Bungie still has their sights set on bringing more to the Halo 3 universe.

Source: Joystiq

Video game-themed parody song writers Palette Swapped Ninja take aim at Halo 3. Halo (All I Play-Oh) is based on the Red Hot Chili Pepper’s Snow (Hey Oh) and the lead singer sounds alarmingly like RHCP frontman Anthony Kiedis. The accompanying video is by YouTuber and Halo 3 player Aven Phoenix. Good stuff.

The 1490 entrants of our Halo 3 Mythic Map Pack contest that didn’t win can soon take solace in the fact that the Halo 3 Mythic Map Pack (as well as the Gears of War 2 Snowblind DLC) will soon be hitting XBL. Major Nelson announced today that the Gears of War 2 DLC will be available on March 31st for 800 Microsoft points, while the Mythic map pack for Halo 3 will be available on April 9th for 800 Microsoft points.

The GOW2 content comes with 4 brand new maps, Grindyard, Courtyard, Fuel Depot, and Under Hill, as well as new Achievements and a brand new progression of ranks. Meanwhile, the Halo 3 content comes with 3 new maps, Assembly, Orbital and Sandbox, as well as a brand new Forge that allows you to start construction completely from scratch. Fancy!

Anyone out there in Ripten Land planning to slap down 10 bucks on this DLC, or are you gonna wait until it starts hitting the digital bargain bin? It doesn’t really matter for me, since I no longer own these games, but if I were you, I’d probably wait on the GOW2 pack and pick up the Halo 3 pack, if not for the new Forge alone. It’s very, very classy.

In a stunning move, Nintendo’s Wii Fit sales have surpassed that of Halo 3 in the United Sates.

Selling in total 6 million units in the US, Wii Fit now holds bragging rights over Halo 3 which has 5.9 million units sold in the US. What also should be noted is that Halo 3 has been available since September 2007 while Wii Fit has only been on the market since May 2008, 8 months after Bungie’s mega hit!

Does this mean Wii Fit is a better entertainment device? Probably not, but it does symoblize America’s obession with losing weight. Congrats to Nintendo, as I guess sometimes a bit of exercise is better than fragging people online 24/7, especially on double xp weekends.

Source: MyWii

[Congratulations DarksideClassic! Shoot me an email at demi@ripten.com and I'll send you your code pronto! For everyone else, stay tuned to Ripten, as we'll be sure to have another contest soon, but this time, with a different method of entry. :) - Demi A.]

Although the average human attention span is less than that of a retarded meerkat, Halo 3 seems to have held its own extremely well in the year and a half that it’s been out. Even now, with a multitude of different FPSes, TPSes, and Halo Wars, Halo 3 is pretty popular amongst Xbox Live members, despite the fact that its maps are pretty limited.

We here at Ripten aim to fix that problem, by holding a contest in which you can win the brand new Halo 3 Mythic Map Pack! The map pack contains three maps- Assembly, Orbital and Sandbox, and a brand new Forge experience (you can start on a blank slate!) for more thrilling multiplayer action.

As of now, the Map Pack hasn’t been officially released, and the only way to get a code for the maps is through the Halo Wars Limited Edition. But, thanks to Microsoft and Ron “Greybush” Workman, we’ve got a code for one lucky reader out there. Hit the jump to learn how you can win!

All you have to do to win is register for an account (if you don’t already have one) and leave a comment on this post below. You will then be automatically entered. A winner will be selected at random by 11:59 PM CST Tuesday, March 10th. Only one entry permitted per person — don’t make us call the IP police!

Bungie has just confirmed that their biggest title, Halo 3, has set an impressive benchmark in console online gaming. Over Xbox Live, over one billion matches has been played in Halo 3 which beats out the previous record of 798 million set by it’s predecessor, Halo 2.

“Thanks a billion for all the good games and the continued community support,” wrote the Bungie team. “We’re in awe of the success Halo 3 has been met with, but we’re not done yet. Stick around and stay tuned, there’s definitely more to come.”

This momentum is expected to continue throughout the year as Bungie sets to release they’re highly anticipated Mythic Map pack for Halo 3 which brings in 3 new playable multiplayer maps. For those who purchase Halo Wars, the map pack will come bundled in but for those wanting to wait, Bungie will release the map pack worldwide this September.

It is very rewarding to see Halo 3 garner this continued success. It just shows what may happen when a developer decides to stick hard with their games, even years after it has released instead of disbanding them. Personally, some of my greatest Xbox Live memories come from playing Halo 3 online. I just hate it when people on my team in a Ranked match decides to bail out, really sucks, but I believe Halo 3 will always be a dominating factor over XBL over the course of the 360 lifespan.

Source: Games Industry Biz

The fellas over at JoyStiq put together this video of the new Halo 3 Mythic Map pack, which will come included with the Halo Wars CE and will eventually be released to the XBLM sometime this spring. The video is pretty tight and gives us a great look inside the three new maps: Orbital, Assembly and Sandbox. WATCH THE VIDEO HOMIES!

Ensemble Studio’s RTS twist on the Halo universe, Halo Wars, is now available for Xbox Live Gold Subscribers to download and try out for themselves. In the demo, players will be able to play the first two campaign missions and the Skirmish mode on one of the 14 multiplayer maps. Weighing a heavy 1.4GB, the Halo Wars demo might take a bit to download, but hey it’s free, so go ahead and start that download.

Halo Wars will officially be hitting stores on March 3rd with two versions: the standard version and the limited edition version, which will contain three news maps for Halo 3.

Source: Xbox.com

According to the folks over at TeamXbox.com, Larry Hryb, the Xbox Live Director of Programming, has posted a list of the top 10 most-played games over Xbox Live, revealing that Halo 3 is back in the #1 spot. Hit the jump to see the other nine games that made the list.

Xbox 360 Top Live Titles (based on UU’s)

1. Halo 3
2. Call of Duty: World at War
3. Gears of War 2
4. Call of Duty 4
5. GTA IV
6. Left 4 Dead
7. Madden NFL 09
8. Fable II
9. Fallout 3
10. FIFA 09

That’s right. Even with new releases like Gears of War 2, Call of Duty: World at War, Fable II and Left 4 Dead, Halo 3 (which is now over a year old) is currently the most played game on Xbox Live. Not totally hard to believe seeing that Microsoft recently put a discount on the Halo 3 Legendary Map Pack, which might have gotten a bunch of gamers back into the Halo 3 mood.

Personally, even after playing some of the newest games for a few awhile, I’ll always somehow manage to drift back to Halo 3. I think it just has that much depth, replay value, and not to mention a lot of my friends still play. Looks like there are a lot of gamers out there who might feel the same way.

Source: TeamXbox.com

The original announcement trailer for Halo 3: Recon left a lot of unanswered questions and, even worse, projected the release to be a full year away. Thankfully, Game Informer has pulled through and gained exclusivity for the first bit of concrete details about Bungie’s next project.

The December 2008 issue will have 10 pages’ worth of Recon information and screenshots. Subscribers will also be able to visit the Game Informer website on November 17 for an undisclosed amount of additional information.

Odd that they’d go to GI as opposed to EGM, who they’ve gone to for both Halo 2 and Halo 3 exclusives in the past. Here’s hoping that we finally get some concrete information as to exactly how Recon will differ from the traditional Halo experience.

Source: Game Informer

I ran into this video today looking for something to post and I was like, “Eh, why not? Looks cool.” Now, I’ve heard of modded controllers, but I’ve never seen one like this. This guy has actually removed all the face buttons, including the D-Pad, from an Xbox 360 Controller and has still managed a way to play some Halo 3.

Instead of using the colored buttons to perform your normal reload, jump and melee actions, the modder has placed a couple of extra switches on the back with the same actions. The video is kinda dark, so you can’t really tell how and what kind of buttons he put onto the back of the controller. Nevertheless, a pretty cool idea, but you won’t catch me playing Halo or any other game with this controller. Just looks too confusing for me. Hit the jump for the video.

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/07/modder-removes-buttons-from-xbox-360-controller-finds-a-way-to/

Oh, that idiot Soulja Boy is up to his shenanigans again.  After eloquently describing the brilliance of the Xbox Live Arcade game Braid, Soulja Boy is once again broadcasting his videogame superiority via his YouTube channel.  Highlights include “Fuck PlayStation 3… nobody play no goddamn PlayStation” and “You can get an ass-whoopin’ fo’ free on Xbox Live”. I especially like when he says you can tell his game is imported because of the “Japanese signals”.

Check out the full video for proof that evolution is flawed.

“Ya’ll know I do music, but let’s just forget about the music for right now.” Already did, Soulja Boy… already did.

So what do you think?  Is Soulja Boy just your average trash-talking douche that happens to be famous and uploads douchey videos of himself to YouTube, or is he an epic douche that wields a +1 camcorder of doucheness and mystical hat rotation?  I think you know my vote.

More news from Tokyo Game Show: Microsoft announced the recently teased new Halo 3 expansion, now titled Halo 3: Recon.  The game’s campaign will be a prequel to the story of Halo 3 and will not feature the Master Chief.  Instead, you play as an ODST grunt (well, slightly better than the cannon-fodder “allies” that got in the way in Halo 3, but not quite a Spartan either) and will apparently “require you to employ more elements of stealth and cunning than ever before.” Read on for full details.

Official game description from Xbox.com:

• All-new campaign content: The Halo 3: Recon campaign is an intriguing side story that takes place during the terrifying events leading up to the Master Chief’s return to New Mombasa in Halo 3. Experience the fate of Earth from the brand-new perspective of a special forces ODST (Orbital Drop Shock Trooper), adding a unique outlook and new gameplay elements to the events that unfold in the trilogy’s finale. While the feel of this new chapter greatly resembles that of previous Halo experiences, Halo 3: Recon will require you to employ more elements of stealth and cunning than ever before.
• Prepare to drop: Known for their courage, valor and, at times, insanity, ODSTs are among the fiercest UNSC soldiers, priding themselves on being the first unit deployed into hostile situations. While not as large or supernaturally gifted as their Spartan comrades, these “Hell Jumpers” more than compensate with their ferocious attitudes and unwavering nerve.
• Expanded multiplayer collection: No Halo experience would be complete without groundbreaking multiplayer content, and Halo 3: Recon gives fans more of what they love. With exclusive new maps and expanded Forge options, Xbox LIVE® Gold members will find more multiplayer content than ever before with Halo 3: Recon.
• Ever-growing community options: Enjoy all the great Halo 3 technological innovations, including Saved Films, screenshots, Campaign Scoring, and four-player co-op. All of the new multiplayer maps fully support the Forge editor, offering endless gameplay customization possibilities.

I was never a big fan of the overhyped monster that is the Halo franchise, but I am oddly pretty interested in seeing how Recon plays. Let’s just hope it doesn’t get overhyped by the time it releases next year and ends up on my list of games to hate on principle. My magic 8-ball says “Fat chance”.

The lexicon of American politics includes many derogatory terms: carpetbagger, hatchet man, or flip-flopper. Now we can add “Halo player” to the list.

In the Maricopa County District 1 Supervisor race in Arizona, incumbent Republican Fulton Brock is slamming Democratic challenger Ed Hermes in his campaign literature as a “Halo gamer.”

The mail-out is a one page pamphlet which shows a side-by-side comparison of the two in an attempt to cast Hermes in a negative light as young and inexperienced.

This mail-out comes after Hermes continues to fundraise more successfully than Brock, who has committed a series of political faux pas during his tenure. In August, Brock was secretly taped while meeting with local activists that landed him in the proverbial aqua fervens.

Hermes, 24, is running on the platform of fiscal responsibility, public accountability, and “n0 c0nzol3 haxz0rz,”

Source: joystiq.com

Bungie have confirmed that the line “Maddie, where are you?” – which we spotted in the new Halo 3 campaign trailer released yesterday – is not related to missing British toddler Madeleine McCann.

Over on Bungie.net, writer Luke Smith said:

“As always, all of the characters in our games are fictional. Any similarities between real life and the characters in our games are purely coincidental.

“That said, this is both an unfortunate and untended [sic] coincidence.”

Which is what was expected, and mercifully the mainstream rags haven’t picked up on it. But do you believe it’s genuine or a sly bit of PR?

Following a 12-hour countdown, Bungie has posted a 60 second teaser trailer for their new Halo game – “a new Halo 3 campaign experience”.

The CG trailer is massively cryptic.  Seen through the eyes of the Superintendent, an apparently abandoned cityscape gets bombed to hell and back and left in a smoky ruin. Though close up, these ‘bombs’ are pods.

But that’s pretty much it, aside from the the ‘Prepare to Drop’ tagline and the Halo 3 logo. We only know it’s a campaign by helpful description from Xbox Live Marketplace. What we can tell from the trailer however:

00:09 – Well, that’s a pod alright
00:13 – Notice the evacuate sign on the left… and in small letters under it: “City of New Mombasa”
00:36 – For one frame “Maddie, Where Are You” appears. Speculation about that is rife across the web that this ia a reference to missing schoolgirl Madeleine McCann. We can’t imagine it being true, but can’t recall any Maddie from Halo either…
00:36 again – The Flood are almost certainly involved. ”Danger: Flood Zone” appears in the next frame. It’s a fair guess this isn’t a public maintenence issue.

Naturally, more predictions are already being made, but it’s all conjecture. Cast your bets.

If you’re a big fan of playing with dolls– ahem, sorry, “action figures”– then you’d probably love to litter your workspace with these Halo 3 figures from Todd McFarlane’s workshop. Some of the more interesting toys from the upcoming series 3, due out in September, are shown below, including the famous Hayabusa armor. The series 1 and 2 figures are available now, but they might be a little hard to find.

A sniper rifle wielding Master Chief. Damn campers!

A human victim of the Flood.

For more information on where to buy these figures, check out this page on the McFarlane Toys website.

After receiving the Edge Award for Interactive Innovation, Halo 3 creators Bungie have thanked the publication via a highly entertaining video.  In it there are hints towards a new Halo development, but not a new game as many have been suggesting.

We suspect that when Luke Smith says, “Even though in Halo 3 you finished the fight, it doesn’t necessarily mean the ride’s over,” he is referring to the often teased Halo 3 online expansion. For example, a few weeks ago this was said on Bungie’s very own blog:

While a lot of the changes done this month were backend things that players will never notice, you would be right to think that August’s changes feel very minimal. The reason for this is that we’ve been focused on preparing a larger series of changes to Matchmaking for September. Much larger.

Much, much larger.

No, really. It’s huge. You should see how giddy Luke gets when I talk about the tentative plan.

And even before then “major changes to the Halo 3 Online experience” were teased. Check out the video below.

After the controversy of E3, where Bungie were stopped from making a new game announcement by Microsoft, it seems all they can do is hint and tease.  Well, we’re taking notice and we expect to hear more about an online expansion very soon.  September maybe…

Image Credit: DeepBlue of Neogaf

You are about to witness what is quite possibly the dorkiest video you will ever see. A youngster with an obvious and almost sickening love for Halo has taken it upon himself to craft a MJOLNIR suit and a full arsenal out of what appears to be cardboard, styrofoam, and lots of tape. Halo Kid is where it’s at!

Halo Kid actually does a decent job of fully mimicking the movements from the Halo games, and that makes this video all the better.  The weapons themselves, though cardboard, look the part and are better than anything I would ever make… partially because I would never try to make them.

Key moments to watch out for are the close-up on geek teeth near the end of the video, as well as the apparent teabagging at the 36-second mark. I’m not sure that kid even understands what he just did.

I must say that I am actually impressed with the removable clips in the guns, and he also does some killer sound effects. Speaking of sound effects, though, what is the deal with the robot noise in the background? Is this video *gasp* from the future?!  Is he communicating with aliens?!  WHAT’S GOING ON?!

In closing, I must admit that I was probably just as dorky when I was twelve… okay, maybe not quite that dorky, but I’m sure it was bad. Good thing YouTube didn’t exist back then. Technology’s a bitch sometimes.

This weekend has marked a somewhat odd statistical milestone for Halo 3, with the number of enemies killed during all recorded campaigns played so far overtaking the worlds population.

Bungie’s servers record all manner of statistics when you play, all of which are used to track players across all of their Halo 3 games, multiplayer and campaign alike. The data is then used to make things like the ever cool heat maps.

According to the UNSC Campaign Report, the total number of Enemies KIA (currently 6,737,856,503) is now higher than the world’s population (estimated to be 6,704,845,726).

Looking over my own stats, as somebody who has played through the campaign several times, I was actually quite surprised to see that I have single handedly obliterated 3,971 enemies, contributing a whopping 0.00006% to the cause.

Via: bungie.org

Despite just releasing a few new maps not too long ago, Bungie was at hand at the MLG San Diego Pro Circuit yesterday and had quite a surprise for all the attendees when they announced that a new map was coming out for Halo 3.

Dubbed “Cold Storage”, the new map is a remake of the classic Halo: Combat Evolved map, Chill Out. A 2v2 exhibition match took place between two of MLG’s most popular pros, Karma and Legend, and Bungie’s own Lukems and Shishka, when the new map was revealed.

The map will be released sometime soon, but Bungie has not confirmed an actual release date.

Being a huge fan of the original Chill Out map, I’m excited for another wonderful remake from Bungie. By looking at some of the pics, the map looks great and will be sure to keep Halo 3 fans pleased.

Check out some pics of the new map below.

Source: MLGpro.com

Bungie and Microsoft have announced and detailed quite a bit about the upcoming Halo 3 multiplayer DLC; dubbed the Legendary Map Pack.

The Legendary Map Pack is a follow up to the Heroic Map Pack, released early December. It includes 3 new maps, the first of which is named Ghost Town; a “battle-scarred maze of narrow passages and dangerous ruins outside the once-prosperous city of Voi,” created for the intention of Team Slayer and objective-chasing based modes.

According to Gamasutra, the map will include “collapsed ceilings, shell-battered buildings with catwalks and stairways allowing ‘dizzying rooftop battles.’”

The second map is called Avalanche, and for those of you that may not know it’s a tribute to the much-loved Sidewinder multiplayer map from the original Halo. This map was designed with large vehicle-oriented objective map.

This map is not a remake, it’s purely a tribute, so even though you may be blown up by nostalgia-induced day dreams, you will see “new interiors and exteriors and new vehicle variants, including the Hornet.”

The third and final map has yet to be detailed, but Bungie promises it to be “another returning classic.” Anybody have any guesses? Along with the maps, Bungie promises to include “new ways to create and share their custom Halo 3 content.”

The pack will be available for download at the Xbox Live Marketplace on April 20th.

Source: Gamasutra

More Halo 3 stuff… yay. In addition to the new gamer pics and theme, check out what else is new on the Xbox Live Marketplace. Full details after these commercial messages.

Themes

Samsung Halo 3 – Theme
Price: Free
Availability: Not available in Canada, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Taiwan, United States

Gamer Pictures

Samsung Halo 3 – Gamer Pictures
Price: Free
Availability: Not available in Canada, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Taiwan, United States

Trailers

Frontlines: Fuel of War – Kulkuneuvotaistelun opetusvideo – Traileri (HD)
Price: Free
Availability: Finland

Frontlines: Fuel of War – Vídeo de instrucción para soporte aéreo – Tráiler (HD)
Price: Free
Availability: Spain

Bully: Scholarship Edition Trailer
Price: Free
Availability: Not available in Asia

Lost Via Domus – The Game Trailer (HD)
Price: Free
Availability: All Xbox LIVE regions

Videos

Gears of War 2 GDC 2008
Price: Free
Availability: Japan

consol.at LIVE, Episode 2 – Video (HD)
Price: Free
Availability: Austria

In Game Content

Lost Odyssey – Double Bonus Pack
Price: Free
Availability: Asia

Major Nelson posted the LIVE activity for the week of January 14^th, and guess what took the top spot? Well, I guess I already gave it away. Infinity Ward’s awesome military shooter finally de-throned Master Chief and his rascally gang of Spartans.

While we don’t have the specific numbers, I’m sure it was a close race with a near photo finish. The list goes as such:

1 Call of Duty 4
2 Halo 3
3 Guitar Hero III
4 Gears of War
5 Rock Band
6 Madden NFL 08
7 Assassin’s Creed
8 Mass Effect
9 FIFA 08
10 Forza Motorsport 2

Now the real test is seeing if Call of Duty can remain King.