It has been announced that EA is to take ever more aggressive steps to halt the testosterone fuelled dominance of its main rival, confirming that on the same day Infinity Ward’s Stimulus Package will arrive on Xbox Live for a princely sum, their DLC will arrive for free. Providing you’ve actually bought the game new, of course. Though the situation is not quite like-for-like, EA’s offering merely adding gameplay modes to pre-existing maps while Activision’s offers bona fide fresh thrills, this can obviously be nothing but good news for us consumers. Could free market competition force companies into the altogether more honest pursuit of selling their entire title once more for one flat price? Probably not, but a man can dream…

Will I wave my sword if I’m simply reaching for my beer?

Whatever your thoughts and feelings over Natal, it’s hard not to give over just a little bit of excitement for Lionhead and Fable III. Now that it’s been revealed ex-Python and all round funny man John Cleese will be providing the voice of your own personal butler, the steam roller of hype has already begun. We’ve no doubt Cleese will provide plenty of sarcastic quips as the general populace becomes  totally bitter towards whatever ridiculous mistakes you’re making, especially when all we give them to eat is cake.

Lionhead and Peter Molyneux have used GDC10 to show the industry they’re building on the success of Fable II with careful consideration. In a Fable III presentation, Molyneux revealed that 60% of Fable II’s players understood 50% of the features and as a target for a mainstream  product that simply isn’t good enough. It needs to be simpler and easier to understand. Molyneux also revealed that if Fable III is to be considered a success it has to sell at least 5 million units. Like that’s not going to happen…

Will you be picking up Fabe III and returning to the colourful world of Albion, let us know below…

…but, does anybody really care?  Having peaked absolutely too soon, EA continues to metaphorically browse the shelves of Lidl for new additions to its musical line-up. Still, we assume that at least twelve isolated teenagers will throw some money at the Peter Pans of rock and roll. If you ever catch us dressing that young while approaching 40, do the decent thing, eh? Anyway, up to six gamers can take in more than forty minutes of band-based video,simply porting the whole thing to Rock Band 2 if they like for around a tenner. An appreciable money saving tip that, but not as effective as simply not buying the thing, eh…

Yeah, I’m that hard I’m going to beat you to death with my own arm!

Violence and videogames is nothing new, it’s always popping up in the mainstream media every now and again (you know when election season rolls around or there’s nothing else news worthy out there). So, it’s a little promising to see a developer already on the offensive when it comes to the violence in their game.

Nigel Cook, executive producer on Splatterhouse is more than forth coming about the insane laugh out loud violence in his retro remake.

“With any type of M-Rated game there are always people that do not appreciate the material. It is a calculated risk. Many other games of this sort have succeeded before Splatterhouse, a lot of them in spite of some negative reactions from watchdog groups and even being banned in certain countries.  We feel that Splatterhouse  is compelling enough and fun enough for players that it will overcome these obstacles and succeed based on its own merits, but we are not about to sacrifice the core of the Splatterhouse experience for fear of the ratings boards – with whom we are working up front – or the potential negativity of consumer groups.

Rick isn’t about pulling his punches, and neither is Splatterhouse when it comes to its gory horror presentation.”

Not bad, what do you think about violence in games? Let us know below…

Oh, LucasArts you do know how to win us over…

We’ve not tried to hide the fact that pretty much every person on team X360 is a massive fan of the old point and click Monkey Island adventure games. It was a dream come true when LucasArts HD’d up the original and let it loose over Live. It seems most of you agreed with us and now we’re happy to report that the sequel, Le Chuck’s Revenge will be available later this summer.

Considered by many to be the pinnacle of the series, it also boasts the SHOCKING and unforgettable ending (but we won’t spoil that here for you). LucasArts’ President Darrell Rodriguez, had this to say about the exciting news:

“The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition really resonated with gamers young and old thanks to its classic storyline and updated gameplay features. We’re adding even more great new features in this sequel and can’t wait for classic Monkey Island fans and newcomers alike to experience perhaps the most beloved installment in the franchise ever.”

Seems like we’re getting everything we want, but what do you make of popular retro games getting remakes for XBLA? Would you like to see more? Let us know what you’d like to see on Live below…

It does make Hakan an incredibly slippery character to fight against however, apparently bringing to the table some of the most impressive moves and ultra combos we’ve seen in the series so far. Plus that layer of flammable grease gives him an extremely hot temper…

Super Street Fighter IV will be available on 360 from 30 April.

Perhaps the world’s most followed developer Robert Bowling (known to Twitter users as fourzerotwo) has just announced that a small title by the name of Modern Warfare two has reached the two million player milestone, presumably across all formats. In addition, it appears we’re to expect an announcement on Downloadable Content for everyone’s favourite insanely scripted war title some time later on this week. We’re on tenterhooks. Not literally, like – we’d be in agony…

They’re coming outta the DLC!

For those of you that didn’t pick up the special edition of Rebellion and Sega’s Alien vs Predator last month will be able to download the extra multiplayer maps as of the 18th March.

Collectively known as the Swarm Map Pack, for 540 Microsoft Points you’ll  be able to indulge in two new maps for every game type; Docks and Machine and then switch over to Outpost and Hive, which will just be for those who want to indulge in the co-op Survivor mode.

If AvP multiplayer is your thing then 540 points isn’t too steep an asking price, considering how expensive the actual special edition was, count yourselves lucky you didn’t end up with a broken face hugger. Now that’s disappointing…

Are you still playing AvP online, are you going to dowload the new content? Let us know what you think below…

“Bodycount rips apart the first person shooter as genre-defining gunplay comes alive in a balletic orgy of bullets and destruction”

Once again, the team behind the last-gen visceral shooter ‘Black’ are back on the FPS-wagon with their new title: Bodycount. Codemasters Studios, headed up by Black co-designer Stuart Black, is helping Bodycount look like a spiritual successor far more than anything else and is promising all the same press release bullet points as Black did all those years ago. Crazy action (in the vein of a Die Hard movie), destructible environments, guns with a real guttural punch and the age old ridiculous storyline.

“Experience the intense thrill of close-quarters combat in a shreddable world as Bodycount blasts outrageous fire-fights and ferocious action from both barrels.  Become a powerful combat asset green-lighted to eliminate enemies known only as ‘Targets’ on behalf of the ‘Network’, ensnared in a clandestine global power struggle that rages away from the headlines and under the cover of conventional war zones.”

Set for a release in 2011 this is a while off, but expect the same attention to detail, if that detail just happens to be a wall exploding in a hail of bullets…. aww yeah!

What do you think of Bodycount? Did you play Black on your Xbox/PS2, let us know what you remember below…