I wonder if artists like Blink-182 and Bon Jovi regret allowing a trio of rodents sing their music. Surprisingly Alvin and the Chipmunks’ latest album Undeniable gives a rousing children-friendly version of several classics and introduces four original tracks. It’s nice to see a childhood staple still maintain its relevance for the children of today, especially since it’s the Chipmunks’ first new non-soundtrack album in over 15 years.

After releasing a successful movie last year, the Chipmunks are back with another eclectic mix of different genres. The Chipmunks still have a great harmony that they’ve always had since the late 50s and although some songs on the album can get dogs to roll in pain from the high pitch, Alvin is never off key. The arrangements are spot on and the harmonies are correctly placed. One can see the care that the producers went to maintain the Chipmunk standard.

The cover songs on this album are child-friendly renditions. The Journey classic, “Don’t Stop Believing” playfully replaces the word “wine” with “fur.” The standout cover song has to be “Livin’ on a Prayer” because it starts with a strong acoustic harmony and by the crescendo Alvin is pulling off riffs and vocal runs that weren’t in the original.

There are thankfully only four original tracks on Undeniable: “Thank You,” “Acceptance,” “Ho Ho Ho,” and “Undeniable.” The two songs “Thank You” and “Undeniable” attempt pop sounds, the former harkens to Jordin Sparks or Ne-Yo and the latter more like the Backstreet Boys or Britney Spears. Both of them are obvious tracks that a big named singer would pass on because of the lack of lyrical originality.

I have a big problem with “Ho Ho Ho.” Although the song gets some credit for mentioning Hanukkah, it ends up being a song inadvertently laced with double entendre and a negative view on Dave. Not only does the song mention the chipmunks “…giving Dave headaches” (when I didn’t hear the word "aches" the first time around) but Theodore says “Just quit your whining and Suck It up! That’s what you said Dave.”

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Article Courtsey: Blog Critics.org

The all new Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? Party Edition delivers the atmosphere and tension of the hit TV series but with addition of exciting new party game features. For the first time the whole family will be able to play against each other to fight for the right to win a virtual million pounds. With legendary host Chris Tarrant calling all the shots the aim of the game, as you probably already know, is to win a million pounds. However with the addition of multiplayer party modes it will take nerves of steel as well as brains and to land the big prize. Unfortunately, the game doesn't come with a million pounds, so instead we're going to convert your financial winnings into points. Do you have what it takes? We'll keep our fingers crossed.





PSP - APE ACADEMY 2. NEW & SEALED GAME
Ape Academy 2 is the next stage in monkey mayhem on PSP. Players join the monkeys following their graduation from the 'Ape Academy' as they square off in a zany "Scissors, Paper, Stone" card battle!
Technical Details
Rating
3+ (PEGI)
Players 1-2
Region 2 - Playable in UK PSPs



















PSP - MARVEL TRADING CARD GAME. NEW & SEALED
The hit "Vs. System" Trading Card Game from Upper Deck and the Marvel Universe collide to bring an intense strategy card battling game that will forever change video gaming! The Marvel Trading Card Game puts you directly into the action, as the world's most powerful Super Heroes and Super Villians wage an epic struggle for supremacy.

After a superb selection of titles for their first PSP compilation, Capcom has become slightly sloppy with this second outing. If the game selection looks familiar, then you've played Capcom Classics Collection on the PS2 or Xbox.

The majority of the games have landed here on the portable hardware, which is a decent selling point, though it's a shame the selection didn't allow for the extensive lot of exclusives from the previous release.

The game roster is presented in a beautiful interface, going for simplicity instead of flash and overdone style. The interface is wonderful to use and flip through as the arcade games attract screens appear in a small window while browsing. You'll find the following available as you begin to navigate the options:

1942
1943
1943 Kai
Ghosts's Goblins
Ghouls'n Ghosts
Super Ghouls'n Ghosts
Commando
Mercs
Street Fighter II
Street Fighter II Championship Edition
Street Fighter II Turbo
Son Son
Vulgus
Pirate Ship Higemaru
Exed Exes
Gun.Smoke
King of the Dragons
Knights of the Round
Eco Fighters

This is an excellent set of 19 games, with only a few duds still present. The PSP exclusives are stuck at only three games. King of the Dragons, Knights of the Round, and sorely under-appreciated shooter Eco Fighters are worthwhile reasons to own this latest compilation. For fans who know those three games, that's enough to spend the money, with an additional nod to the gorgeous lost classic Eco Fighters simply because it deserves it.

Notables include the three Street Fighter II games, the first time they've been available in this form on a handheld. Loading times are aggravating, as these end up as ports of the Playstation versions, not the original arcade code. By now, there's no reason loading screens should appear in a game 13+ years old.

Few flops are here, and these include Vulgus, Exed Exes, Son Son, and a blatant Pengo rip-off Pirate Ship Higemaru. The rest of the lot is included for quality purposes, regardless of whether or not they're fondly remembered or popular. Commando and the entire round of 194X are way more fun than they should be. Emulation is great all around, though the PSP d-pad causes some problems in more intense moments (and can make the Street Fighters a lost cause).

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Article Courtsey : Blog Critics.org

Adapting a beloved television series to film four years after the show went off the air is likely no easy feat. In addition to creating refreshing story lines, the filmmakers have to ensure that fans will still flock to see their favorite television show adapted to the silver screen.

Luckily for Sex and the City, the latter was not a problem (a $55 million opening weekend box office never is) but the plot…Eh. Written by Michael Patrick King, the script picks up four years after the series ended. The story comes off as predictable and lackluster, not to mention devoid of any real humor.

Spoiler-Free Sum-Up

Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) is still the quirky sex columnist and still with suave Mr. Big (Chris Noth). Charlotte York (Kristin Davis) continues to fill her role as the traditionalist in the group, after converting to Judaism and adopting a daughter from China, her life is smooth sailing for most of the film. Practical Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon) is perhaps the most realistic and relatable character, as she juggles her lawyer career and family. The group’s oldest and most scandalous member, Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall) has moved to Los Angeles to be an apt girlfriend and agent to the much younger Smith Jerrod (Jason Lewis).

Not intentionally giving away plot points, here’s a watered down, generalized sum up: Carrie and Big toy with the idea of marriage with some bumps on the way, Charlotte endures some digestive problems, Miranda deals with trouble in her marriage, and Samantha has to control her hormones and learn to not jump on her hot LA neighbor.

Where's The Funny?
The trademark men-and-sex humor of the show was lost in translation, nowhere to be found in the bigscreen adaptation. The few laughs in the film seemed forced and ill conceived. And with a 148 minute run time, the movie ran more like a dragged out TV marathon than some cinematic epic. The lack of humor was perhaps the biggest disappointment and truly deflated the film of the spunky female-driven humor that made the television series a smash hit.

The four lead women put up their best efforts in terms of acting. Cynthia Nixon was the only one who truly shone as she brought a thorough conviction to her role. Nonetheless, Parker, Davis and Cattrall have also come to own each of their own respective characters, what other actresses could play Carrie, Charlotte and Samantha?

Manolos Are A Girl's Best Friend

Sex and the City did not disappoint thread-wise, however. The array of colorful, label-filled fashions and footwear were the envy of many a-women. Famed costume designer Patricia Field upped the ante with all of the girlfriends’ signature clothes.

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Article Courtsey: Romantic-Comedy-Films.Suite101.com

There may be a problem with a film when a narrator constantly tells you the meaning of what you have just seen, gift-wrapping each scene with a moral.

There may be a problem with characters who shop with such conviction while the audience looks up from the trough of a credit crunch.

There may be a problem with stretching Sex and the City into a two hour and twenty minute film - it can feel like a never ending dinner party: however pleasant the courses, after a while you can hardly eat another one. None of these problems seemed apparent to the women who sat around me in the cinema in Leicester Square, laughing and weeping in quick succession. After a while I began to reason like one of the characters: maybe the problem was me. Everyone else, being in possession of more than one X chromosome, seemed entirely satisfied by what they were served.

The dialogue was still sharp even if, to an audience now rather more used to women characters talking frankly about sex, it may no longer seem so daring. There were still attempts to shock. Now they were talking about sex in front of a child, referring to the act euphemistically as “colouring”. How often did Miranda do colouring? Not nearly enough. Samantha, the goddess single of older women, of course liked to use all the crayons, while Carrie Bradshaw, our narrator and lead, said that when Big coloured “he doesn’t always stay inside the lines.”

Perhaps the child was needed to remind us that this was shocking, because since the series began, we have all become a lot more grown up. If the atmosphere inside the cinema bordered on the devotional and the theatre was filled with the sounds of women emoting, outside the atmosphere was hysterical. New Line, the studio behind the film, had attempted to pacify critics, curious as to why a film in which a major character is the city of New York, should open first in London.

The company claimed that the event would be “much smaller” than the New York premier, but all four women were there in their heels and dresses, and thousands had arrived to see them and scream their names. Each in turn diplomatically affirmed their love of the city and denied or brushed aside rumours of tensions between the them during filming. If none of the four actresses has enjoyed comparable success since the end of the series four years ago, the crowds cheered louder than they have for established film stars. Many felt they were welcoming back friends who had lived on their screens for six years and were returning for one last blast.

It was almost as if the director was feeling the nostalgia. The opening scenes are broken up with musical montages, softly lit like Hallmark adverts. Carrie Bradshaw, (Sarah Jessica Parker), is finally to marry her Mr Big (Chris Noth). The news features in New York gossip columns, she is the forty-year-old bride featured in a wedding edition of Vogue. The plot twists and turns like that of a pot boiler. Having inspired an entire genre of ‘chick lit’, Sex and the City the film feeds off its own progeny. Is it a film, one wonders, or an extended soap opera, will any of these crises be resolved and, if they are, will it matter, for they will surely soon plunge themselves into another dilemma, for which the only cure is an expansive shopping trip. At the last, there is at least a brief concession to the meaner times in which we live now. And at the last, does Carrie finally marry her Mr Big? Well, dear reader, I can tell you that she...

A women’s institution

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Article Courtsey : Entertainment.Times Online.co.uk

Theatrical Release: June 24, 1994 / Running Time: 87 Minutes Rating: G
IMAX Release: December 25, 2002

Directors: Roger Allers, Rob Minkoff

Voice Cast:
Jonathan Taylor Thomas (Young Simba)
Matthew Broderick (Adult Simba)
James Earl Jones (Mufasa)
Jeremy Irons (Scar)
Niketa Calame (Young Nala)
Moira Kelly (Adult Nala)
Nathan Lane (Timon)
Ernie Sabella (Pumbaa)
Robert Guillaume (Rafiki)
Rowan Atkinson (Zazu)
Madge Sinclair (Sarabi)
Zoe Leader (Sarafina)
Jason Weaver (Young Simba, singing)

Songs:
"Circle of Life", "I Just Can't Wait to Be King", "Be Prepared", "Hakuna Matata", "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?"

Awards:
Academy Awards - Best Song ("Can You Feel the Love Tonight?"), Best Original Score (Hans Zimmer); Golden Globes - Best Picture (Comedy/Musical), Best Original Score, Best Original Song ("Can You Feel the Love Tonight?")

There's a small number of a films that I admire too much to attempt to review them. My writing certainly won't do justice to the greatness of them, so rather than struggle with superlatives and words that won't satisfy me in the way the film does, I'll pass almost altogether on reviewing The Lion King. Nonetheless, the status of the film and the nature of this site both call for me to review this Platinum DVD release.

Suffice it to say that The Lion King is the best Disney film that I've seen, and I've seen a bunch. The numerous highlights include a riveting score which blends Hans Zimmer and African choruses featuring Lebo M, some of the most wonderful and catchy songs to ever be recorded on film, energetic performances all around from a talented voice cast, vibrant and colorful animated scenery, and incredibly effective and cinematic direction and style.

On the off chance that you're one of the few people who haven't seen this wonderful film, it is about a young lion cub named Simba, whose father Mufasa happens to be the king of Pride Rock. Throw into the mix his jealous uncle Scar, best friend Nala, free-spirited roamers Timon and Pumbaa, and the tale of Simba's development is filled with adventure, comedy, music, and a variety of life lessons.

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Article Courtsey: Ultimatedisney.com

With “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” hitting theaters today, it’s easy to forget that, along with blockbuster movies of the live-action and animated variety, long-running cartoon series and hundreds of toys, Hasbro’s shape-changing robots have a long history in the comics world, too.

Earlier this week, we gave you our list of the five most important “Transformers” comics you should check out, and now we thought it might be worth taking a trip down memory lane with Optimus Prime, Megatron and the rest of the “Robots in Disguise” and examine the twists and turns of their long journey on the printed page.

MARVEL COMICS (1984-1991): While the original cartoon series was on the air, the original Generation 1 comic book series kicked off with Marvel Comics. Like the cartoon, the cast of characters in the comics depended upon toy marketing considerations.

These comics were very much the same as the first two seasons of the original cartoon series, though some story details were altered. While the third season of the cartoon series jumped ahead several years into a possible future, the Marvel Comics series did not follow this approach and so the continuity went down a drastically different line.

After 80 issues, the series was canceled. One interesting note: Originally, Marvel considered the Transformers to be part of the mainstream Marvel Universe, so Spider-Man guest-starred in one of the early issues. This idea was quickly abandoned, however, and the Transformers were treated as existing in their own, separate continuity.

U.K. COMICS (1984-1991): At first, the U.K. reprinted the Marvel Comics series while adding stories in-between the previously written issues, expanding plots and characters. After a couple of years, the U.K. dismissed the U.S. series and pursued its own continuity. Simon Furman became the writer of the U.K. series and was so acclaimed that he was later asked to write the U.S. series, and eventually became known as the Transformers scribe.

While the third season of the cartoon series stated that the Transformers were originally robots created by the alien Quintessons, Furman took a different route. He wrote about the death-god Unicron that nearly destroyed the universe until he was stopped by a “god of light” called Primus. Primus and Unicron each had their essence trapped inside metallic asteroids. Unicron evolved into a new, robotic menace, less powerful but still a threat to life. Primus altered his own asteroid prison into a robotic world (Cybertron) and gave his life essence to create a race of sentient robots who would one day defeat Unicron forever. A piece of Primus became the Transformer Matrix (later renamed the “AllSpark”).

Furman’s origin story made its way into the US Comics and has become the origin most continuities have followed since.

MARVEL GENERATION 2 COMICS (1993): In the 1990s, Marvel did a new series to celebrate the new Transformers toyline. Like the toyline, it was called “Generation 2.” This series (which wound up lasting only 12 issues) was written by Simon Furman and took place years after the end of the original US comic series. The Decepticons and Autobots bound together to fight a new common enemy and the series was known for its intense violence and several character deaths.

DREAMWAVE (2002-2005): Dreamwave Productions began a new Transformers comic series that acted as a sequel to the first two seasons of the original cartoon series (ignoring the possible future of the third season). Elements of the U.S. comic series were brought in and a new backstory was established in the series “The War Within,” which depicted Optimus Prime’s rise to power and the escalation of the Autobot/Decepticon War millions of years in the past. Likewise, Dreamwave did a mini-series that acted as a sequel to the “Transformers: Beast Wars” cartoon.

When Dreamwave went bankrupt, this continuity was abruptly halted.

DEVIL’S DUE PUBLISHING (2003-2007): Devil’s Due did a few miniseries under the collected umbrella of “G.I.Joe Vs. Transformers” series as a completely alternate universe where the Transformers were discovered during World War II and recruited by the forces of G.I.Joe and Cobra. Many characters had radically different alternate modes (such as Optimus Prime, who now turned into a tank).
Familiar stories from both comics were re-interpreted in this continuity, showing how things might have happened if these two franchises had been more closely linked in the past.

IDW (2005-Present): Following Dreamwave’s bankruptcy, IDW snatched up the Transformers property. Simon Furman was brought in as headwriter and given the freedom to re-boot the continuity completely from scratch. The new series began with the story “Infiltration”, where readers were re-introduced to the Transformers who were secretly warring with each other across many planets across the galaxy.

This time, the Autobots were more of a strict military unit rather than a band of loosely organized fighters. Because there now is no toyline to be concerned with, Furman has had greater freedom concerning what characters he wishes to use and how.

Furman’s new continuity focuses on long-term plotting and has (for the most part) grounded the series with actual speculative technology rather than unexplained science (such as how certain Transformers seem to change size when they alter their forms). The details of the new history has been covered in the parallel series “Transformers: Spotlight,” which also sets up plot points for upcoming storylines.

Most recently, the 12-part series “All Hail Megatron” has given our heroes a turn for the worst. After defeating the Autobots, Megatron wages war across the planet Earth itself, with humanity nearly defenseless. Whether the Autobots will be able to fully recover and wipe out the Decepticons remains to be seen.

That brings us up to speed. We highly suggest the new Simon Furman series by IDW, most of which has been collected into trade paperback.

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Article Courtsey: Splashpage.mtv.com

Before a parent purchases a new title they should look at the titles ESRB rating. ESRB stands for Entertainment Software Ratings Board and they provide age suitability ratings on all Xbox 360 games and each rating can be found on the game’s box.

Racing Games Suitable for Children
Whilst Project Gotham Racing 3 and 4 are suitable for children they may be slightly overwhelming for younger children. For a more light hearted gaming experience parents should try Disney Pixar’s Cars.

Or another option is to download Gripshift off the XBLA Marketplace. A list of some of the best games on the marketplace can be found on What are the Best XBLA Games to Buy?

Multiplayer and Party GAMES Suitable for Kids and Families
Party games can be awesome fun for a family to sit down together and play. Fusion Frenzy 2 is the most popular party game on the 360 but is ERB rated at a 12+ so may be unsuitable for smaller children. Of course the ultimate party game for those willing to spend a lot of money is Rock Band. The only problem with this game is getting mum and dad to stop playing it!

Adventure Games
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is based on the film of the same name and features gameplay that is quite similar to Grand Theft Auto but is non-violent.

CO –OP Games Suitable for Children
Lego Star Wars is difficult to fault as a children’s game. The gamer can play as all of his/her favourite characters in missions that are based on scenes from all 6 Star Wars movies. The gameplay consists of simple puzzle solving and some fairly tame combat. More advanced children can go back to previously completed missions and replay them and try to find all the secret areas.

What makes Lego Star Wars such a family friendly game is it’s Co-operative mode. Two players can play at the same time and work together to achieve goals. It’s a great way for parents to have fun with their kids because the gameplay is simple enough for both children and no-gaming adualts.

Sport Games Suitable for Children

There are a multitude of great sports games on the Xbox 360 most of which are suitable for kids.

Miscellaneous Games
Beautiful Katamari consists of rolling a ball of trash around a level and trying to increase its size by rolling more and more trash up in it. Simple yet addictive this game can help to channel some of the destructive energy of children.

Its graphics are extremely colourful and vibrant, and many of the items the player picks up are humorous and silly. The game really comes into its own on the later levels when players aren’t just picking up small items but entire continents!

Some other recommendations and instructions on how to set up the 360’s family settings can be found on Xbox’s Official Kid Friendly Game Library. Moreover parents interested in purchasing educational titles for their children should read Educational Nintendo DS Games.

The copyright of the article Best Xbox 360 Games for Kids in Video & Online Games is owned by Peter Reeves. Permission to republish Best Xbox 360 Games for Kids in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Article courtsey: Video Online Games.suite101.com

LONDON (Reuters) - Pop band McFly will give away its new album with a Sunday newspaper in July to promote an upcoming tour, the latest sign that live performance is taking priority over recorded music.

The quartet, who have had seven UK No.1 singles, are following in the footsteps of U.S. singer Prince, who used a similar strategy in last year when he gave away his album "Planet Earth" with the Mail on Sunday.

Although music retailers criticised the move, it was seen as a successful strategy when his tour sold out.

McFly have come to a deal with the same newspaper to distribute nearly three million copies of "Radio:ACTIVE" on July 20, the band told the BBC.

"We get to put it into almost three million homes, which is an incredible opportunity for us," said singer Tom Fletcher. "Hopefully the three million people will all enjoy the music and they'll decide to see us when we go on tour."

Pop stars are increasingly focusing on live performance and merchandising to make money as CD sales continue to slide.

Online piracy and competition from videogames have eroded the music market, creating problems for record companies and encouraging some of the world's biggest acts to ditch their labels and sign with tour promoters and even coffee chains.

Industry executives fear the trend towards more and more music giveaways will force the labels out of business and make it harder for new talent to be heard.

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Article Courtsey: UK. Reuters.com

Action...Excitement...Romance...Fill the Screen! This one is the perfect tagline to define The Quite Man. One of the Hollywood’s longest in the making movie; The Quite Man was screened in 1952 worldwide. Director John Ford’s one of classic movies, The Quite Man reflects human relationships, nostalgic flavour and contemporary imageries of Irish heritage in its purest forms. Apart from the script, all the characters in The Quite Man display personal endeavours to entertain the warmth and vitality of human relationships in every possible level.

Cinematography in The Quite Man is at its best and Winton C. Hoch has done exceedingly well in picturising various Irish locations in the backdrop of story. In true sense The Quite Man is a cinematic representation of a classic romantic drama.

The storyline is very simple and there is nothing historic about the story or it does not carry any social message. The story is all about two lovers Sean Thornton (John Wayne) and Mary Kate Danaher (Maureen O’Hara) and their struggle through time and finally reconciliation in between them. The main plot can be summarised as “Set in 1920s Ireland, Sean Thornton (John Wayne), an Irish-American from Pittsburgh, returns to Ireland to reclaim his family's farm in Innisfree. He meets and falls in love with the fiery Mary Kate Danaher (Maureen O'Hara), the spinster sister of the bullying, loud-mouthed landowner "Red" Will Danaher (Victor McLaglen). Danaher, angry that Sean outbid him for the Thornton land adjacent to his property, initially refuses to sanction the marriage until several town locals, including the parish priest, conspire to trick him into believing that the wealthy Widow Tillane wants to marry him, but only if Mary Kate is no longer living in the house. After learning the truth on Sean and Mary Kate's wedding day, an enraged Will refuses to give his sister her full dowry.

Sean, unschooled in Irish customs, cares nothing about the dowry; but Mary Kate is obsessed with obtaining it; the dowry representing her independence, identity and pride. Angered and shamed by Sean's refusal to confront her brother and demand what is legally hers, she brands him a coward, and, despite living together, they are estranged as husband and wife. The truth about Sean, however, is known only to one other person in the village, the Church of Ireland minister Rev. Playfair (Arthur Shields). Sean is a former boxer in the United States, a heavy weight champion known as "Trooper Thorn." After accidentally killing an opponent in the ring, Sean hung up his gloves, vowing never to fight again.

Later, in an attempt to force Sean to confront Will Danaher, Mary Kate leaves him and boards a train departing Castletown and headed to Dublin; Ireland's Capital. Infuriated, Sean arrives and drags her off the train, and, followed by the townspeople, forces her to walk the five miles to Innisfree from Castletown to Will Danaher's farm. Sean demands that will hand over her dowry.

Will finally relents and gives him the cash. Mary Kate and Sean throw it into a furnace, showing that Mary Kate never cared about the money, but only that Sean stands up for his wife. Sean and Will slug it out through the village, stop for a drink, brawl again, then becomes best friends. Sean regains Mary Kate's love and respect. Will Danaher and the Widow Tillane begin courting, and peace returned to Innisfree.”

(Courtesy: Wikipedia.org)

In the movie one can see the underlying conflict has a great deal in common with the Western culture and lifestyle. At its core, there is a “good man” that represents an outsider, who enters into conflict with the “bad man” in the protagonist who represents the established, rich, and overbearing land owner. The conflict revolves around love, honour and social acceptance. The Quiet Man is a definitely a Fordian film in every sense as it represents uniqueness of Ford and his immense love Ireland. If I were asked, I would have advised every to keep one DVD copy of The Quiet Man in your movie wallet. The new special edition DVD has several interesting features. The print is bright and colourful. You can order this from Stoleit.com right now.

For Further Information Please visit our web store @ www.stoleit.com and also these links, A Classic Christmas CD,Classic Christmas CDs,Christmas With The Stars CD.

When his fourth Xbox 360 video game console died in April, Chris Szarek wasn’t surprised.

The Chicopee, Mass. gamer was accustomed to the hardware failures that became known throughout the Internet as RROD, or the “red rings of death” which flash when the console becomes inoperable.

A 40-year-old photographer, Szarek was a hardcore Microsoft fan who spent more than $1,000 on his games. But each time one of his Xbox 360 consoles failed, he had to spend time convincing Microsoft’s tech support that they should send him a new console. Each time he got a refurbished console as a replacement (a machine that had been returned to a repair center in Texas, fixed as much as possible, and then shipped back out). When he complained on the Internet and to the media about the shoddy product and poor customer service, people branded him a cry baby and wrote him off as a statistical anomaly. But by the spring of 2008, Szarek was vindicated. There were at least a million or two other people like him.

Szarek’s fourth machine lasted almost two years, experiencing the same short life that many other Xbox 360s suffered. Microsoft replaced these machines for free under the warranty that it announced on July 5, 2007, for defective Xbox 360s exhibiting what it more politely called the “three flashing red lights.” That warranty program cost Microsoft up to $1.15 billion, but the loss of face and loyalty among gamers in the fierce console war with Nintendo and Sony has been immeasurable. Szarek, who became a spokesman for dispossessed defective Xbox 360 owners, played a part in making Microsoft acknowledge its console quality problem.

This is the unauthorized tale of how Microsoft lost its chance to become the leader in the biggest market it has attacked beyond its twin monopolies in Office and Windows software. Rival game console maker Nintendo out-thought the larger players Microsoft and Sony by designing the Wii game console with a clever, intuitive game controller. Even so, Microsoft could have captured more gamers during this product generation, yet the RROD problem held it back. The Xbox 360’s defect problem will go down as one of the worst snafus in consumer electronics history.

Its own worst enemy
Microsoft knew it had flawed machines, but it did not delay its launch because it believed the quality problems would subside over time. With each new machine, the company figured it would ride the “learning curve,” or continuously improve its production. Even though Microsoft’s leaders knew their quality wasn’t top notch, they did not ensure that resources were in place to handle returns and quickly debug bad consoles. There were plenty of warning signs, but the company chose to ignore them. The different parts of the business weren’t aligned.

It reminds me of the German war machine just before World War I, as chronicled by Barbara Tuchman in the classic history book, “The Guns of August.” The German generals were intent on keeping their trains on time; but the leaders overlooked their chances for stopping the war altogether. The Schlieffen plan called for them to strike first. Once the Russians and French mobilized, the Germans had to move into action. They marched off blindly into tragedy.

Likewise, Microsoft’s strategy depended on beating its rivals to market. It couldn’t afford to stop and delay the launch in order to solve its quality problems, or so upper management believed. What Microsoft’s leaders didn’t realize was that getting to market first with a flawed machine would only win them a battle; and it risked the loss of the war.

“They got enamored with the idea of the Microsoft army rolling everything out at the same time,” said one knowledgeable source who asked not to be identified.

The quality problem negated much of the advantage of going first, and it has delayed the company’s plan to aggressively market the console and slash its prices. (Microsoft disputes this point; it cut the price of all three versions of its Xbox consoles by $50 to $79 on Wednesday. And the company believes it will sell more boxes than Sony will. But prices ought to be lower still during this stage of the console life cycle). That has stopped the company from reaching the broader market of consumers that Nintendo has won over. It has lowered its ambitions, hoping instead just to get a clear edge on third-placed Sony. The future profits that the company once hoped for are now likely to wind up in Nintendo’s pockets.

Microsoft’s top game executive, Robbie Bach, president of the Entertainment & Devices group, said at a dinner in July that Microsoft’s own research shows that gamers have largely forgiven the company for defective Xbox 360s. Microsoft has still sold more Xbox 360 consoles than Sony to date. But there is no doubt that the company has lost considerable good will among gamers. Before Microsoft offered free replacements, connsumers grumbled that they had to turn to forums, such as those on Ars Technica, to vent and to find solutions to problems that the company didn’t openly discuss. And for a couple of months now, Sony’s PlayStation 3 has been outselling the Xbox 360 in the U.S. for the first time.

“Fundamentally, their thinking shows that they are a software company at heart,” said one veteran manufacturing executive. “They put something out and figure they can fix it with the next patch or come up with a bug fix.”

The terrifying part of the story is that this kind of problem — where technology fails and no one knows what to do about it — can happen to any company.

About this story
I asked Microsoft to confirm or deny 35 different facts contained in this story. Instead, I received a formal statement from a Microsoft spokesperson, saying the company had already acknowledged an “unacceptable number of repairs” to Xbox 360 consoles and responded to the hardware failures with a free replacement program. The statement also said, “This topic has already been covered extensively in the media. This new story repeats old information, and contains rumors and innuendo from anonymous sources, attempting to create a new sensational angle, and is highly irresponsible.”

I don’t think this story is sensational. I have tried to verify the facts over several years. I view this story as the last chapter for my book on the making of the Xbox 360, “The Xbox 360 Uncloaked: The Real Story Behind Microsoft’s Next-Generation Video Game Console.”

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Article courtsey : Games.Venturebeat.com

Gaming systems have always been the wave of the future for many companies. Microsoft is no exception, and the company worked for years to determine the right type of gaming system.

In the late 1990's the gaming market was being dominated by Sony Playstation. This in home game system was definitely a hit with people around the world, and Bill Gates from Microsoft could see the potential for a competing system.

The original Xbox was released in 2001 and Microsoft has certainly reaped the benefits of jumping into the gaming the market. One of its unique features was its memory system built into the console. Other systems required a memory card in order to save the advancement in the game. The Xbox was able to store this information in its hard disc drive, something that gamers found convenient and much easier to use.

Microsoft had to work on designing controllers that would work well with the gaming system and this did take some time and changes of designs. The original controllers were bulky and criticized for being too large. Eventually, the design of the controllers was streamlined to accommodate players and the rapid motion required by players during games. The Xbox 360 also has wireless controllers allowing for players to stand up and move around while playing games.

The Evolution Of The Xbox 360
Microsoft continued to work on and advance the gaming console. Eventually, the Xbox 360 was developed and has been a huge hit with gamers everywhere. The Xbox 360 is one of the most popular gaming consoles ever, and this is in large part due to the graphics and ability of play that is allowed in games.

The Xbox 360 can also attribute its popularity to the games that are designed specifically for that console. The series of games under the Halo name are one of the driving forces behind the popularity of the Xbox 360.

Gamers who love the Halo series have to have an Xbox 360 in order to play Halo. This game itself has boosted the sales of the Xbox 360, generating the growth of the desirability of the system itself.

Microsoft has continued to expand the capabilities of the Xbox 360 by adding a live feature to the system. This allows players to play with others by going through an internet service. Players can enjoy playing with people from around the world.

The Xbox 360 will continue to dominate the gaming market, as long as popular titles are released exclusive to the gaming system and the graphics keep pace with a generation of people who are looking for upscale games.

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Article courtsey : Find-An-Article.com

Arguably the single most interesting individual title to launch during the HD DVD and Blu-ray next-gen disc format war in terms of headlines, Paramount has confirmed that the previous HD DVD flagship movie "Transformers" is to get a Blu-ray release.

The Michael Bay blockbuster will boast high-res audio and BD-Live enabled content when it launches in the States at the start of September.

Whether the "exclusive" content found on the HD DVD (including PIP, a GPS tracking feature and more) will be included on the Blu-ray version is yet to be confirmed, as have exact details of the BD-Live functionality.

The Transformers movie was a mini battleground, a microcosm if you will, of the format war with some truly interesting developments around its release.

Not only did director Michael Bay make headlines for being very vociferous over his displeasure about the film's HD DVD-only release - at one point refusing to make a sequel if it was to be single format - but there was some statistical scandal around the film's launch too.

Paramount declared the title to be the top-selling week one HD release upon its launch (when the HD DVD camp badly needed a public relations boost) a claim later to be called into question by Hollywood statisticians which led to doubts about the bandying around of such questionable figures.

For those of a whimsical disposition, seeing the Blu-ray launch of this title could be argued to be significant as adding a poignant, final and absolute full stop to the format war.

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Article Courtsey: Pocket-Lint.com

For the most part, the Spider-Man games based on Sony Pictures’ film series haven’t been all that bad. With Spider-Man 1 they perfected the excellent level-based formula from Neversoft’s original game of the 64-bit era, and with Spider-Man 2 they introduced the free-roaming New York City to Spidey games. With so much practice, you’d think that Activision and its army of development houses would only improve the formula for the third game. With Spider-Man 3 coming to all consoles, some amount of confusion is expected however, and all versions of the game suffer considerably. The Wii version doesn’t escape this confusion by a long shot.

Spider-Man 3 starts out promising. The opening sequence has the web-headed hero rescuing civilians from a bombed out office building, while Bruce Campbell offers his typical witty advice. This opening serves as the obligatory tutorial, which is more necessary than ever because of the new Wii controls. The full scope of the Wii functionality isn’t revealed, here because of the constraints of the cramped building environment. Some basic combat and movement skills are demonstrated, but they aren’t very interesting. Only when you get out into the city does the game get very exciting.

Once free to travel amid the skyscrapers, the one defining aspect of Spider-Man on the Wii becomes clear: web swinging. By pressing the B or Z trigger, and then flicking the Wii remote or Nunchuk, you literally cast webs like Spider-Man. This method takes about five minutes to get used to, but after a quick warm-up period it feels more natural than squeezing a trigger button. Some button combos grant speed boosts while swinging, which are accompanied by a nice blur effect. It is fortunate that the brutal villain chases from Ultimate Spider Man aren’t in 3, because cornering with this new control scheme is somewhat clumsy. Aside from that, however, I think Vicarious Visions has nailed the new way to web sling.

The other controls aren’t exactly intuitive but they work. A regular jump is accomplished with the Z trigger, dodging enemy attacks requires a quick flick of the Nunchuk, weak attacks are performed by a remote jab and strong attacks are assigned to the A button. At the beginning this is how most of the game plays out—not quite solid or polished, but enjoyable. Starting out, Spider-Man 3 feels deceptively promising.

For a few solid hours the game is good honest fun, and because it is sporadically entertaining you are able to ignore the numerous but subtle flaws. The first thing that will slowly grow tiresome is the combat. After the fast-paced acrobatics of Ultimate, 3 reverts to the tedious combo system from the other movie games. Spidey starts out with a pathetic 3-hit combo and can only purchase significant upgrades after completing a number of missions.

Upgrading Spider-Man doesn’t make much sense in the first place—he’s a freaking super hero, after all—but it’s necessary if you want to make the combat at all playable. The rest of the upgrades offer some advantages, but are mostly filler. Much like in 2, you’ll use two or three of the attacks and nothing more, which compounds the stale, repetitive feeling that plagues the combat. What’s worse, it looks like the cool web powers from the first games are gone forever, replaced with a few lame lasso combos and impotent little “web splats.”

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Article Courtsey: Gamingnexus.com

It might be fun to giggle at American games journos howling and hollering at unveilings like a pack of drugged monkeys but personally I think they've got the right idea. The dignified professionalism of the European games press is cute but sometimes I want to whoop at that screen, damnit. Keeping that excitement bottled up is frustrating. I'm sick of having to hide any little gasps I make by following them up with thoughtfully chewing on my biro. So I'd like to thank Activision for showing Spider-Man 3, a game seemingly based entirely around the concept of "awesome", in a darkened auditorium. The notes I took are totally illegible but I was able to safely grin like a loon the entire time.

Spider-Man 3: The Game is made by Treyarch, the same studio behind the last two Spider-Man games, so it should be getting pretty good at the whole process by now. It's very much an evolution of the second game's concept - free-form webslinging around New York with side quests and story missions available when you want them. GTA, but with stringy wrist ejaculate instead of cars. It was a pretty bold idea that was pretty flawed in execution, but this sequel's looking solid for three big reasons.

First of all, they've taken onboard a lot of feedback about the second game. That means no more racing to deliver pizzas hot and intact for an employee of the month award, and no more rescuing floating balloons. You're a superhero and you're going to feel like one. When you decide you're up for a bit of city-saving you can progress through one of the ten storylines that have you facing off against lots of villains that both appear in the third film (Sandman) and don't (Scorpion).
Alternatively you can go to work on one of the three big gangs in the city, the thuggish and stereotypical Apocalypse Punks, the kung-fu wall-running Dragon Tail or the sinister Goth girls of Arsenic Candy. Street crime is rampant. If you're easily distracted or do your good deeds with a dash of obsessive compulsiveness, you'll have your hands not so much full but overflowing.


With this more action-heavy direction, it makes sense that Treyarch has done some thinking as to how to spice up the slightly limp-wristed combat. Rather than aim for a polished and intelligent fighting system (which could potentially flop, after all) with Spider-Man 3 it's going for something more superficial but just as fun. You'll have a huge range of entertaining abilities, a lot of which involve some cool aerial acrobatics using your web. At one point we watched Spidey punch a man off a roof, leap off the roof, shoot web straight down to snag the falling man, yank him back up and then punch him vertically downwards towards the pavement again. We also watched Spidey tie a man up between a pair of streetlights and leave him dangling there like a pinata, delivering a few punches for good measure and sending him swinging to and fro. We were informed that a player who hangs around (pun intended) would eventually see police arrive to arrest him. And during the parts of the game where you play as the vengeful black-suit Spidey (you'll find out all about that side of Peter in the film) you get a whole new range of more aggressive moves and animations, as well as a hilariously vicious rage mode that has you snapping from enemy to enemy and pummelling them to jelly in an instant.


Another way Treyarch is giving the combat a shot in the arm is with quick time events, which brings us neatly onto the second reason this game seems a safe bet. In addition to just refining the last game Treyarch is building, too. Twenty miles of subways and sewers are getting added to the city, and you now have spider sense in the form of an alternate vision mode that shows up hostiles and friendlies in luminous colours against a dark blue backdrop.

But the quick time events are the biggest addition. To avoid monotony in a game where the whole city's your playground from the moment you pick up your pad, these "movie moments" act as little interactive cutscenes of the same kind we've seen in Shenmue and Resi 4 with the distinction that they're sometimes put right in the middle of the action. A fight against Sandman we saw in a subway tunnel had Spider-Man grinding Sandman's head to dust on passing trains, and later a chase through city streets was punctuated by him doing some trademark slo-mo flips out of the way of thrown cars. Some of these sequences are repeated until you get them right, some have the game carry on after failure and some appear as little context-sensitive moves like God of War's fatalities, but they all feature kinda gorgeous motion captured animation.


And the third reason Spider-Man 3 is grin inducing is all this is happening on next-gen hardware, something Treyarch has experience of working with from Call of Duty 3. Looking out across the city from the tip of the Empire State Building was fun on Xbox. Doing the same thing on the 360 at sunset then launching into a graceful, gently curving dive to the streets and traffic below is quite the thing.

We asked how the Wii release would cope and, put frankly, it won't. Treyarch told us the Wii version will be stripped down in some way although the rep didn't mention specifics. Wiimoteophiles should start crossing their fingers for a straight loss in graphical quality and not, say, a smaller world or less incidental everymen and traffic on the street. People who want to control web with a wobble and for it to look stellar too aren't entirely out of luck though- Spider-Man 3 will make use of the PS3's sixaxis, though again Treyarch is being tight lipped. We'll have to wait and see.


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Article Courtsey: Euro Gamer.net

HiT Entertainment and 20th Century-Fox have released Bob the Builder: Ultimate Adventure Collection, a three-disc boxed set containing 12 episodes from the popular stop-motion animated children's series. With only a few very minor extras included (two of the episodes have never aired before), you'll have to be a big Bob the Builder fan to purchase this somewhat pricey collection.

Developed back in mid-90s by Keith Chapman, Bob the Builder is one of those children's shows that, backed by a comprehensive marketing and manufacturing effort, becomes an instant "reality," permeating your kid's consciousness because the character is suddenly everywhere. The TV show is on all the time, and no matter what store you go into, there's some kind of tie-in merchandize to further burn the brand into your child's brain.

As for that process, although it's crass and calculating, on a basic level I don't have a problem with it at all. In numerous reviews about such fare, I've always come down on the side of, "if the property is entertaining, who cares if it's created solely to make money?" Unfortunately, I can't get too worked up about the Bob the Builder: Ultimate Adventure Collection precisely for that reason: it didn't entertain me (and quite frankly, my youngest boy found it a non-event, as well).

Telling the story of Bob the Builder, the series focuses on this local handyman and his efforts to get various building projects done, with the help of his anthropomorphized equipment. And that's pretty much all there is to Bob the Builder. Of course, since the show originates from the post-"entertainment for entertainment's sake" period of childhood programming, Bob the Builder puts educating its viewer first, before entertaining them. So the messages of socialization and problem-solving are front and center the concerns of the show - anything "fun" is left for catch-as-catch can.

Unfortunately, there's not much "fun" in Bob the Builder. Perhaps part of the flavor of the original Bob the Builder (it originates from England) is gone, because it's dubbed with American actors. But I doubt a change in accent and slang would prop up Bob the Builder's fairly mediocre stories and rather chintzy production. I'm pretty sure I never saw the show before (although I've seen some of the toys around the house), so watching this collection was my first real exposure to the series. And quite honestly, I wasn't impressed. The stop-motion animation was fairly limited (with cheap surroundings - perhaps intentionally - not adding any visual bonus), and the stories were repetitive and quite dull. The various mechanized friends of Bob, such as Dizzy the concrete mixer, Lofty the crane, and Roley the steamroller, never made much of an impact character-wise, and seemed designed strictly to expand the toy selection at your local department stores.

But as I've written before, for these kinds of specialized children's programming (because it's the rare new children's program that appeals equally to adults and the intended target audience), you have to get a kid's perspective to accurately gauge the material. My three-year-old boy seemed like the perfect viewer for this kind of show; as far as I know he's not a regular viewer of the series. Putting in the first disc, he showed a lot of initial enthusiasm, but after only two short episodes (which run a little under nine minutes), he was done with it. Granted, attention spans are pretty short at that age, but he can get through an hour of SpongeBob without moving.
Waiting a few days, I tried again, but when I asked if he wanted to watch the show, he said no. I showed him the hardcase, and asked him if he remembered the show, and he said yes, but he wasn't interested. I watched a disc myself, hoping that he'd sit and watch it, too, but he passed through my office several times, glancing at the TV, and kept right on walking. Now obviously, there are a lot of kids out there who like the show (or at least we assume they do - maybe it's just "on" and there's a certain percentage of kids who'll watch "anything" if it's on). But combined with my own middling response to Bob the Builder, his decided disinterest sealed the deal for me.


Here are three titles and their episodes included in the Bob the Builder: Ultimate Adventure Collection, as described on their hardcases:

DIZZY'S FAVORITE ADVENTURES
Scarecrow Dizzy
Bob's crew is running in circles building a shed for Farmer Pickles and whitewashing his farmhouse. Dizzy is busy keeping the farm animals off the wet cement and mixing paint. But shouldn't the farmhouse be white instead of pink?
Bob the Photographer (unaired episode)
Bob plans to enter a photography contest until he loses his camera. Unknown to him, Spud has been taking pictures with the missing camera. But guess who wins first and second prizes when the photos turn up at the competition!

Dizzy's Statues
Dizzy and Muck learn new skills when they help Bob and Mrs. Potts by erecting statues in her garden and putting bollards around Town Hall. When the statues and bollards get mixed up, can Bob sort things out?

Dizzy Goes Camping
Dizzy is thrilled about camping out at Farmer Pickles' new campsite, as Muck and Spud join her singing around the campfire. But when they accidentally leave the sheep gate open, the camping trip turns into a sheep round-up instead.

LOFTY'S FAVORITE ADVENTURES
Lofty to the Rescue
Lofty's fear of heights and crossing the new bridge makes him the object of Spud's teasing. But when Spud falls off the bridge, can Lofty conquer his fear and rescue him? Or will he leave Spud hanging?

Lofty's Jungle Fun (unaired episode)
Lofty and Skip are excited about the jungle scene being painted on the playground. But when it looks like a real elephant is making tracks in the paint, they chase after the elephant and discover things aren't what they seem.

Bob's Big Surprise
While Wendy is out of the office for the day, Bob and the crew plan to surprise her by working in her garden. But keeping the office running and working in the garden is not as easy as it seems!

Magnetic Lofty
Lofty's magnet comes in handy when clearing an old railway track to make a bike path. Will it come in just as handy when Mr. Bentley loses his favorite pen at Bob's construction site?

ROLEY'S FAVORITE ADVENTURES
Roley to the Rescue
A stormy night leaves Bob, Roley and the team with lots of work to do. But they're not too busy to help some baby birds whose nest was blown away by the wind. Nothing can stop Roley and his friends from coming to the rescue!

Mr. Beasley's Noisy Pipes
Things get pretty noisy when Bob and his crew are called in to replace Mr. Beasley's banging pipes and boiler. With Bob working on the boiler upstairs and Mr. Beasley working downstairs, they finally manage to sort through the confusion and noise to get the job done!

Roley's Tortoise
Roley is excited about his new friend, Timmy the tortoise, and the building yard seems to be the safest place to keep Timmy while they search for his owner. But when Timmy turns up missing, it's Farmer Pickles who finds him in an unlikely place.

Runaway Roley
Roley, the hardworking steamroller, becomes a runaway "sleep roller" when he rolls out of the building yard while still asleep! Fortunately, his best friend, Bird, flies in search of help. Can Bob and the crew find a way to rescue Roley before he flattens the town?

The DVD:
The Video:
I was surprised at the amount of jagging in the full frame, 1.33:1 video image for Bob the Builder: Ultimate Adventure Collection, considering it's only about 35 minutes worth of material per disc (could PAL transfer issues be the cause?). Colors are fine, but the picture is soft.

The Audio:
There are English and Spanish mono tracks available for all the episodes in the Bob the Builder: Ultimate Adventure Collection. All dialogue is clear.

The Extras:
On Dizzy's Favorite Adventures, two music videos are included: I Can't Get Down and Where's That Cat?. On Lofty's Favorite Adventures, two additional music videos are included: Bob's Brass Band and An Apple a Day. And on Roley's Favorite Adventures, Bob's Birthday Read-Along is included.

Final Thoughts:
I can't say I was too impressed with the dull, chintzy Bob the Builder: Ultimate Adventure Collection - and neither was my young son. Repetitive stories and a limited concept didn't help, nor did the sub-par stop-motion animation and cheap backgrounds. But a lot of people out there like the show, so.... If you're a huge fan of Bob the Builder, I would imagine the Bob the Builder: Ultimate Adventure Collection would be a perfect gift idea this coming Christmas. But if you're only a casual viewer, or new to the series, I'd question that high retail price (working out to about $2.50 per 8-minute episode), especially when you can see the show for free on TV every day. A rental is as high as I go with Bob the Builder: Ultimate Adventure Collection.

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Article Courtsey: DVD Talk.com

What's better than snagging a cool, classic flick for your DVD collection? How about snagging a cool, classic flick with tons of cool extras and a never before heard song! Disney has released a special edition DVD of their amazing animated movie The Lion King. Check it out!

The Lion King DVD Goodness
The Lion King Special Edition DVD is like no other DVD in your collection. First off, it's got two versions of this hit movie. There's The Lion King that was in theaters and available on VHS, and then there's the special edition version of The Lion King which features an amazing new song, Morning Report, and a whole new animated sequence to go along with it! But you know what? Disney's Lion King DVD goodness doesn't stop there! There's so many special features you'll be as giddy as a hyena.

The Lion King DVD Special Features
You can check out deleted scenes, like Bug Football and Warthog Rhapsody or you can watch an exclusive interview with Sir Elton John (the piano playing dude who wrote all the cool songs). Then there is the really cool Animal Journey where you get to see how real animals inspired the animated ones. For more hands-on fun check out the Virtual Safari featuring your two fave goofballs, Timon and Pumba.

The Lion King Special Edition DVD Bottom Line
This DVD will have you singing Hakuna Matata at the top of your lungs. It's a great score for Disney collectors, animated movie lovers, and people who just want something fun and cool to throw into the DVD player on a rainy day.

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Article Courtsey: Kidz World.com

BIOSHOCK
BioShock is a great game. It is the best game that the Xbox brand, not just the Xbox 360, has ever seen, and will likely go down as one of the best games ever on any system. It is one of those rare games that combines not only amazingly polished graphics and sound, but very solid, deep, complex gameplay, a great story, and an overall feeling of immersion that sucks you in and keeps you playing that few other titles can match. BioShock is a must play game for Xbox 360 owners.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
After all of the hype and delays and waiting and worrying, Bethesda has delivered The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. In a rare feat for a game of this magnitude, it not only lives up to expectations but also surpasses them to create an experience that everyone can enjoy and not just the nerdy, dice rolling, RPG-elite. Oblivion is one of the best games available right now and is well worth the $60 investment.



Halo 3
Halo 3 is the best Halo yet and one of the best games available on the Xbox 360. Every single aspect of the game is polished to near-perfection from the presentation to the campaign to the multiplayer, Halo 3 does everything amazingly well and adds in a bunch of new bells and whistles to really put it all over the top. You will be playing this for months and likely years to come. Find out all about it right here.



Fallout 3
And now for a GNR news update. After years of waiting, Fallout 3 has finally hit store shelves. It isn’t the same type of game as the first two entries in the series, but it also isn’t a hardcore shooter and it certainly isn’t just Oblivion with guns. It is a great mix of satisfying exploration, bloody combat with gruesome enemies, and a great story in an awesome setting that w



Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
So long World War II. Hello modern warfare! Call of Duty has made the leap from the heroics of the greatest generation to a horrifying vision of the future in CoD4, and the results are pretty darn spectacular. The single-player campaign is filled with tight gameplay and great moments you’ll want to play again and again, and the multiplayer is some of the deepest and most satisfying around. Call of Duty 4 is a great game that is highly recommended.


Gears of War 2
Lead designer Cliff Bleszinski said months ago that Gears of War 2 was going to be “bigger, better, and more badass”, and now that we have spent some time with it we have to agree with him. This is a bigger and better game in every single aspect. The campaign feels more epic and is filled with jaw dropping moments. The multiplayer has been beefed up with new modes, and the addition of Horde mode as well as a training mode means that Gears 2 has plenty to offer both on and offline. This is simply a great game.

Fight Night Round 3
Fight Night Round 2 was one of our favorite Xbox games of 2005 so Round 3 had some pretty high expectations to meet. Amazingly, EA has delivered a boxing experience that easily surpasses everything that Round 2 had to offer. The gameplay is absolutely phenomenal and the graphics on the Xbox 360 are amazing. Not only is this the best boxing game ever but it is also one of the best Xbox 360 games available.



Crackdown
Crackdown mixes GTA-style “sandbox” gameplay with special abilities you’d usually only find in a Marvel superhero to create a game that actually stands out among the increasing number of GTA wannabes. It looks gorgeous, plays amazingly well, and is one of the most addictive and satisfying games around. Playing co-op over Xbox Live with friends is also an absolute treat that has made this game truly stand the test of time.


Mass Effect
BioWare’s latest RPG epic is finally upon us, but has Mass Effect been worth the wait? Short answer: Yes. Long answer: Yeeeesssss. Not only does it look and sound incredible, but it also has a great story and offers some of the best role playing elements of any game yet. The combat isn’t quite on the same level of quality as other aspects of the game, but it is still plenty good enough to make Mass Effect one of the best games on the Xbox 360. Find out all about it right here.

Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise
Back when I first saw the E3 2006 footage of Viva Piñata, I knew it was going to be a cult hit. There is something really intriguing about the Harvest Moon-meets-Animal Crossing-meets-Pokemon-meets-The Sims type of gameplay featured here. It looks amazing, is surprisingly deep, and is one of the most addictive games of the year. Don’t be fooled by the “kids game” look, Viva Piñata is a great game that is highly recommended for Xbox 360 gamers of any age.

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Article Courtsey : xbox.about.com

McFly are to give away their new album with the Mail on Sunday, the pop four-piece have revealed.

Copies of Radio:ACTIVE, the band's fourth studio album, will come free with the newspaper on July 20 - more than a month before its retail release.

Band member Tom Fletcher told the BBC: "We get to put [the album] into almost three million homes, which is an incredible opportunity for us. Hopefully the three million people will all enjoy the music and they'll decide to see us when we go on tour."

McFly are not the first act to distribute a new album with the Mail on Sunday. Last year Prince enraged music retailers by giving away copies of his Planet Earth album with the newspaper before it was available in the shops.

Radio:ACTIVE will not be available on the high street until September, when it will be released as a 'deluxe edition' featuring four new songs, a bonus DVD and a 32-page booklet.

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Multiplatinum-selling pop group McFly are to become the latest music act to give their new album away for free after signing a deal with the Mail on Sunday.

Readers of the mid-market Sunday newspaper will get a free CD of McFly's new album Radio: ACTIVE when they buy a copy of the Mail on Sunday on July 20.

The McFly deal is being seen as significant as the group is the first current major pop chart act to give their music away as a newspaper cover mount.

This follows the deal by Prince to give his new album, Planet Earth, away with the Mail on Sunday on July 15 last year - a move that saw the newspaper put on around 600,000 sales and kicked off the current trend.

McFly - Tom Fletcher, Danny Jones, Dougie Poynter and Harry Judd - decided on the deal after leaving record giant Universal and setting up their own self-funded independent label, Super Records.

"This new freedom has given the band the opportunity to pursue new ways of getting their music into the public domain," a source close to the band said.

"It's a big deal as no act of their genre, ie a relevant big selling current pop act, has ever given away a brand new album before."

Fletcher, the band's singer and guitarist, added: "We want to get our music out to the widest audience possible and working with a massive paper like the Mail on Sunday will definitely help us achieve that.

"We're very excited about this great opportunity. Setting up our own label allows us to rip up the rulebook and find new ways of reaching an audience."

Stephen Miron, the managing director of the Mail on Sunday, said: "As part of the Mail on Sunday's ongoing innovation in bringing new music to the masses and exactly a year since we created a world first with Prince's new album, we are absolutely delighted to be involved with one of the UK's biggest selling pop acts, McFly.

"We're very excited to be giving away the new album free with the paper on July 20 and are confident that millions of our readers will love the new album."

A deluxe version of Radio: ACTIVE will be released as a CD by Super Records through retailers in September, featuring four extra new songs, a bonus DVD and a 32-page booklet.

The four-piece, aged between 20 and 22, became the youngest band to see their first album, Room on the 3rd Floor, debut at number one in the UK charts when they launched in 2004.
McFly's second album, Wonderland, also went straight in at number one in 2005, while their third album, Motion in the Ocean, entered the UK charts at number six in 2006.

Last year, they released a greatest hits compilation, which charted at number four.

The band has scored 13 top 10 UK singles, seven of which reached number one.

The Mail on Sunday's Prince promotion sparked a furious reaction from the record industry, although HMV agreed to sell the paper so its customers could buy the CD.

Despite the Mail on Sunday's sales soaring to 2,800,846 copies the week of the Prince giveaway, it appeared to lose most of the extra 600,000 sales the following week.

However, the paper said it was still up 31,000 from the week before the giveaway.

As well as the Prince deal, the Mail on Sunday also gave away Paul McCartney's new album, Memory Almost Full, last month, although it had already been released through Starbucks coffee shops.

The paper has also given away releases from Simply Red and UB40.

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Article Courtsey: Guardian.co.uk