This is the first weekend that gamers have been able to spend some quality time with their new Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 game. The new game from Infinity Ward was released on Monday, this lead to two problems, most fans of the series had to go to work all week and the second problem were the issues with the servers.

Those server issues that we mentioned above was more than an issue, it was a serious problem, one that took some time to fix. Now that fans can now join an online game, USA Today wish to give you a few tips to help you get the most from Modern Warfare 2.

There are five tips to remember, you are unable to hurt your teammates in starting game mode, so make the most of it. For those having trouble with aiming, use a Riot Shield, this will not only help you, but your team as well.

That is just a coupe of their tips; USA Today also has much more to offer, which you can read here. There a few more things that you need to remember though, if a player does use a riot shield there are so many ways that you can take advantage of that. All we are saying is make good use of the Semtex grenade.

It is no secret that the Sony PS3 is till outpacing the Xbox 360 in hardware sales, October sales taken from US NPD Group data show that Microsoft’s games console proved much better when it came to top ten software sales. The Xbox 360 claimed five of the ten slots, giving them 44 percent of the sales.

According to PC World, the Nintendo Wii is still the one to beat and is still ahead of both the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360, although its sales have seen a huge decline since the same period last year. October 2008 saw Nintendo Wii shift 803,000 units, October 2009 only saw 507,000 Wii units sold.

The Nintendo DS sold 458,000, PS3, 321,000, Xbox 360, 250,000, Sony PSP, 175,000 and finally the Sony PS2 shifted 118,000 in October.

It had been thought that games sales would still do well through the recession, but video game sales have also seen a decline. Sales were $573 million for October 2009, which is down 18 percent from the same period last year where sales were at $698 million.

It will be interesting to see how hardware and software sales will go through November, considered the busiest month due to Black Friday. Many gamers will be on a tighter budget than they were last year, so have held of purchasing games until November. However, that did not stop them purchasing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 in record numbers at the beginning of the week.

More on the Xbox 360 Live bans now, as it has been reported that Microsoft are standing firm on their decision to remove so many modded Xbox 360 owners from the Xbox Live service.

As reported from Eurogamer, European Xbox boss Chris Lewis spoke in a recent interview with Sky News and stated that Microsoft are “unapologetic” about banning so many members from Xbox Live.

Yesterday we told you how the estimated figure of banned users is now said to be over 1 million, but Lewis preferred to reiterate Microsoft’s terms of service policy and how they will clamp down on anyone who is in violation of this.

Head over to Eurogamer to hear the full statement from Chris Lewis. Let us know your thoughts on the whole saga.

Popular retail chain GameStop has confirmed that starting from next year, customers will be able to head into stores and purchase DLC content for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 consoles.

As reported from VG247, GameStop are planning to test the new service at the start of next year, although no specifics on how the service will operate has been released yet.

GameStop CEO Paul Raines was the man to break the news, as he believes that add-on content for games is ‘beginning to grow’ - obviously feeling the need for GameStop to take advantage of that.

What do you think about this? Would you welcome it, or do you think it is a pointless venture?

We had wrote about this already and many of you had predicted it anyway, but Activision have confirmed that the launch of Modern Warfare 2 was the ‘biggest entertainment launch’ ever.

As reported from VG247 and according to Activision, sales for Modern Warfare 2 in the UK and U.S reached a staggering $310 million on day one.

When you split that up into individual game sales, Activision revealed that 4.7 million copies were sold on day one in the UK and U.S combined. Wowzers.

Naturally, Activision are delighted with the results and have released all kinds of PR stuff which you can check out over at VG247.

Are congratulations in order then folks?

We have some good news for fans of the Command and Conquer series, as Electronic Arts has just confirmed a release date for C&C 4: Tiberian Twilight for both the U.S and Europe. Hooray!

As reported from Eurogamer, the game will be released on March 16th in the U.S, while Europeans will get it three days later on the 19th.

EA have also confirmed that those who pre-order the game now will reserve their spot in the upcoming beta, while you’ll also get extra goodies such as a copy of the soundtrack and a bonus exclusive in-game mission.

Sounds good to us. Sadly, its still a PC-only affair. Head over to Eurogamer for more details.

Following on from our earlier report about the speculation on Facebook support for the Playstation 3, we can now confirm that the rumors are true - Facebook integration will be added to the PS3 XMB and you can see a few leaked images from the upcoming service already.

Over at Eurogamer, they have been informed by a source ‘close to Sony’ that the news is indeed legit and the fact that Sony will be releasing information on this soon.

Furthermore, those leaked pictures obtained by ScrawlFX were real, meaning that gamers will be treated to color customization on Gamercards and a new photo browser, on top of the XMB facebook features.

We’ll let you know as soon as more information on Facebook for the PS3 is released. Let us know your reaction to the news. Look forward to more feedback soon.

Sony has released a customer survey asking customers what new colors of the PSP Go they would like to see. The survey was created by Hall & Partners Europe, they have some kind of connection with Sony, but not sure how.

According to Destructiod, there were a number of questions posted, but it was the color suggestions that stood out amongst the rest. In this survey was a gallery with a choice of new colors, they then asked consumers which color would they pick.

The colors available so far are Piano Black and Pearl White, which were there in the gallery. There are some nice colors on the list, but some are very wacky. Who in their right mind would want a Lemon colored PSP Go, I know I would not.

Read the color list below; let us know what you would choose.

• Blue
• Bright Red
• Bright Yellow
• Burgundy
• Camo Green
• Coral
• Lemon
• Light Grey
• Navy Grey
• Ocean Blue
• Pink
• Turquoise

We recently informed you that sales of the new PSP Go were unimpressive in Japan, maybe this is a way to spice up sales.

We recently wrote an article asking if you were one of the 600,000 Xbox 360 users banned from Xbox Live, PC World are warning gamers to be careful when they purchase used Xbox 360s on auction sites, as a number of banned Xbox 360 consoles have appeared on Craigslist and eBay. Some are going for a bargain price, while others are going for more than a thousand dollars.

People will have to be careful if they were to buy a used Xbox 360 from these auctions sites, as they could be one of those that have been banned from Xbox Live. We recently reported that Microsoft have been banning modified consoles from its Xbox Live interface, if you have such a games console, then you will no longer have access to Xbox Live.

What you are left with is a console that is a big piece of plastic; you will be playing games alone as you will not be able to connect with other players. It seems that what turned out to help users save money has now cost them the price of the console and all of their games as well.

It certainly seems like a safer option to purchase a new Xbox 360; I know that this is not an ideal solution as most will not have the money to do so. However, there are often great deals to be had, such as the deal that Walmart recently had on as part of its build up to Black Friday

Some more juicy news on the upcoming Nintendo DSi XL (Or LL if you like) now, as a new video has surfaced showing the device being used at home by a Japanese family - laptop-style.

As reported from VG247, you’ll be able to catch a glimpse of some of the software featured in the DSi XL, along with some more close-ups of the two stylus touch pens that will be included in the package.

At the end, you’ll also get a look at how the three different DSi colors compare to each other. While our Japanese isnt perfect, we reckon they are probably bigging up how good the new DSi is, what do you think?

Check out the video below and let us know if you are planning to pick one up.

Following on from our report yesterday, which informed you about the number of Xbox 360 owners being banned for using modded consoles to play online, it is now thought that the figure has risen to 1 million Xbox 360 owners.

As you might know by now, the figure was previously thought to be at 600,000 - but the new 1m figure means that it equates to roughly 5% of the total Xbox Live subscriber base.

While we defintely don’t support Xbox 360 modding, speculation has begun on whether Microsoft are banning the wrong people. Over at Burn360, they have stated that Microsoft are banning people with modded Xbox 360 consoles - regardless if you have been online with it or not.

Our first question is: Have you been banned from Xbox Live? Our second question is: Are Microsoft over-reacting with the whole situation? Leave us a comment below with your thoughts.

Pic: GameGuru.In

Following the official launch of Modern Warfare 2 at London’s Leicester Square, Craig Fairbrass - the actor who voices Ghost in MW2 (Gaz in COD4) has hinted that expansion packs could be on the way for the Xbox 360 and PS3.

Thats according to this report from Eurogamer, who were asking him questions at the red carpet event on Monday Night. While nothing has obviously been confirmed by Infinity Ward yet, Fairbrass gave out a potential spoiler by stating:

“They’re talking to me about other little spin-offs. I’m just really, really pleased and happy to be a part of it.”

So there we have it. Could be worth getting excited over we’d say. Head over to Eurogamer for the full story, he also comments on the controversial Airport scene which might interest you.

Well this is certainly an interesting prospect. Gran Turismo 5 kingpin Kazunori Yamauchi has recently hinted that motorbikes could be added into GT5, as long as there is demand for them. Kawasaki Ninja anyone? Yes please!

As reported from VG247, Yamauchi was speaking in an interview with IGN when he revealed the news. When quizzed directly on the possibility on bikes appearing in the game, he had this to say:

“If that’s what users really want in the game, I think that’s a possibility,”

While I’d love to see a few bikes added into the mix, we get the feeling that the majority of gamers would prefer the game to be car-based only.

Would you like motorbikes to appear in GT5?

Yesterday was a pretty frustrating day for PlayStation 3 Modern Warfare 2 gamers, early in the day many users were reporting that they were having difficulties with online play.

As it turned out the huge demand for the game resulted in the servers crashing, which resulted in many believing that Activision should axe Demonware, Demonware are responsible for the online segment of Modern Warfare 2.

Personally I know how frustrating it is for gamers but I feel it is a bit harsh to axe them, especially given the fact that the game blew away previous records in terms of sales.

We are now hearing that the servers are now online, therefore you should not be experiencing difficulty playing the game online.

Please let us know whether or not you can now play online, also inform us if it is at all slow.

When it was first announced that there would be a prestige edition of Modern Warfare 2 released with night-vision goggles it caused quite a bit of hype, however in the end most of us opted to not by this edition (prestige edition) of the game.

A recent article posted on MercuryNews features a video unboxing of the prestige edition of the game for the Xbox 360, this video can be seen on their article, or by checking out the end of this post.

From what we can see within the impressive packaging is a plastic head and stand (to keep your night-vision goggles on, Modern Warfare 2, a book and of-course the night-vision goggles, the night-vision goggles are said to be pretty good.

Did you buy the prestige edition? Was it worth it?

TheWashingtonPost is currently reporting that a new update for the PS3 will be coming soon, and following some leaked screenshots of the console running a Facebook client it seems that the client will be included in the update.

Other features included in the updated are said to consist of a new photo browser, there is also said to be the ability to change the color of your gamercard.

Rumors suggest that this update may be coming sometime next week, the only slight evidence which has been found was on Sony’s UK site, here someone found Facebook included in a user accounts configuration screen.

Sony have not yet commented on the rumor, however it is seeming pretty likely, as we hear confirmation or otherwise we will keep you updated, check out TheWashingtonPost for further details.

As most of you will be aware by now, the online multiplayer of the PS3 version of Modern Warfare 2 has been crippled after it was confirmed that servers were completely down as a result of a networking failure by Demonware.

Who are Demonware you ask? Demonware is a Irish-based networking company who were purchased by Activision in 2007. As most of you know, the multiplayer on PS3 is handled by third-party companies and Demonware are in charge of servers for Modern Warfare 2.

Now a lot of you are placing the blame on Infinity Ward, stating that they should of been prepared for this possible outcome, but then again, they would of had no idea that Demonware’s servers would go completely bust one day after launch.

IW’s Robert Bowling has indicated that the solution to the problem now firmly lies with Demonware and their attempts to get the servers back up and running for PS3 users, but is it too late?

Should Activision drop Demonware and search for a more reliable server provider? Give us your thoughts on this below.

Following on from our earlier post which informed you that the multiplayer mode in the PS3 version of MW2 is completely out of action for the time being, Infinity Ward’s Robert Bowling has stated that the servers went down due to a traffic overload.

If you head over to his Twitter account, you’ll see that he has been tweeting away, giving explanations and assurances to people that the PS3 multiplayer will be back up and running asap.

In his most recent message, he states that the PS3 version will not require another patch (currently at v1.02), as there is no problem with the code, just a server overload.

So there we have it. The problem is being addressed as we speak. Frustrating I know, but hey what can we do. We’ll update this report when the servers are back up.

You have to say it’s pretty disappointing just a day after the official launch. Let us know your opinions on the downtime.

As most of you will be aware, the PS3 version of Modern Warfare 2 has already been patched up to v1.02 to combat trophy problems, but we can confirm that a new patch will be available by Friday which will fix problems with party invites.

I spent a good few hours on the game myself and I too, had problems inviting my buddies to my party. From my experience, as soon as I received the ‘Invalid Error’ message, I could no longer connect to anyone, period.

However, I did work around this problem, as I found that a simple PS3 reboot solved the problem, and around 4 friends were able to jump straight into my party straight away. If you are suffering from the same problem, try rebooting your system (both of you if needed), and see if it works for you.

Infinity Ward are already aware of the party invite problem and have stated on Twitter that a patch will be available by Friday.

Let us know if you are still having problems with party invites on the game.

It has been reported that first-day sales for Modern Warfare 2, exceeded those reached by Grand Theft Auto IV by almost double. As a result of that, Modern Warfare 2 managed to sell 1.23 million copies - earning Activision a cool £47 million on day-one alone. Yikes.

As reported from Eurogamer, Grand Theft Auto IV shifted 631,000 copies on its day-one launch, which was an extremely impressive stat at the time.

As many expected though, MW2 has completely blown them off the scale, with first-weekend sales predicted to be huge.

Modern Warfare 2 is not just a game it seems any more, but rather an entertainment product as we wrote about a little here.

What are your thoughts on this. Shall we make a game on how Activision intends to spend their cash?