Check out Rob's hands-on impressions of UT3 Retail here.

Update: Movies from all maps posted!

And now, some horsing about:

Call of Juarez Enhancement Pack changes the game substantially introducing various changes including gameplay modifications:

- Improved Windows Vista support.
- DirectX 10 version with improved visuals added.
- DirectX 10 benchmark added.
- Re-designed stealth levels for better gameplay.
- Improved animations in cut-scenes.
- Many minor fixes.

Requirements: This Enhancement Pack can be applied only to full version 1.1.0.0 of the game except for version 1.1.0.0 En/Fr/Es-NA published by Ubisoft in North America.

Notice! Read carefully readme.txt file and all information displayed during the installation process.

It's been revealed the version of Manhunt 2 that the British Board of Film Classification turned down earlier this week in the UK, is exactly the same as the revised edition that's been granted a mature rating by the ESRB in North America.

This revelation comes from UK trade magazine MCV during an interview with BBFC spokeswoman Sue Clark. She defends the board's decision saying that the organisation isn't any tougher on videogames than it is on movies. "Manhunt 2 is the second game we have rejected in 23 years. I'd hardly call that draconian," she said.

Content: VF5 Demo
Availability: All Xbox LIVE regions
Size: 674.39 MB
Dash Text: [ESRB: T (Teen) SUGGESTIVE THEMES,USE OF ALCOHOL,VIOLENCE] Virtua Fighter 5, the world-renowned fighting game, now features online gameplay. VF5 also lets you download replay data of top players from its online leaderboards, and includes the latest updates to game balance, in-game items, and CPU rival character AI. Experience the fun now in this downloadable demo.

The company line is no doubt something like “BioWare is thrilled at the opportunity to work with the world’s leading game developer. We have been looking forward to blah blah blah”. A dose of reality can be found by hanging out the BioWare offices and overhearing some honest and refreshing opinions. While this precludes me from naming names, I do live in Edmonton and if there’s one thing I know, it’s where the BioWare offices are.

Cooling

• Akasa Evo 120 v2 cooler - TCMag
• Evercool Buffalo CPU Cooler - ThinkComputers.org
• OCZ Vendeta heatpipe CPU Cooler - XtremeComputing

  Mice
  

• Logitech G9 3200 dpi Laser USB Gaming Mouse - BMR
• Microsoft SideWinder Gaming Mouse - Everything USB
• Razer Diamondback 3G Gaming Mouse - OCC

  Pads
  

• Razer Mantis Control & Mantis Speed Mousepads - Tweaknews

  Performance
  

• Team Fortress 2 (Beta Performance) - LegionHardware

  Power Supply
  

• Ultra X3 1000 Watt Energy Efficient Modular PSU - HotHardware

  Video
  

• Sapphire Radeon HD 2600 XT Dual - Hexus
• XFX 8800 GTS 320 MB: Another Fatal1ty - Bjorn3D
• Zotac GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB Amp! Edition - Hartware

Hard to be a God Diary #1
We get an inside look at the making of Burut's RPG set in a famous Russian literary property, the Noon Universe - Includes six exclusive images

Sign up here.

Electronic Arts Inc. today announced an agreement with Elevation Partners to acquire VG Holding Corp. -- the owner of both BioWare Corp. and Pandemic Studios. This acquisition gives EA a strong competitive position in key genres in interactive entertainment: action, adventure and role-playing games. The two studios have been recognized for creating some of the highest-quality games in the industry.

BioWare Corp. and Pandemic Studios have ten franchises under development, including six wholly owned games. BioWare Corp. is currently developing the highly anticipated Mass Effect, which will be published by Microsoft in November, and is in the early development stages of a massively multiplayer online game. Pandemic Studios is redefining open-world games with its upcoming Mercenaries 2: World in Flames and Saboteur, in addition to several unannounced projects.

Pandemic Studios and BioWare Corp. employ roughly 800 people across four studios located in Edmonton, Canada; Los Angeles; Austin; and Brisbane, Australia.

"These are two of the most respected studios in the industry and I'm glad to be working with them again. They'll make a strong contribution to our strategic growth initiatives on quality, online gaming and developing new intellectual properties," said John Riccitiello, EA's Chief Executive Officer. "We also expect this will drive long-term value for our shareholders."

Pandemic Studios is led by Andrew Goldman, Josh Resnick and Greg Borrud. BioWare Corp. is jointly led by Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka. These teams will join the EA Games Label run by Frank Gibeau, President of EA Games.

"Pandemic Studios remains focused on attracting the best talent and creating blockbuster action games," said Josh Resnick, President and Co-founder of Pandemic Studios. "As a worldwide publishing leader, EA represents the ideal partner to bring our titles to market as global entertainment events."

"We are truly excited by John Riccitiello's new vision for EA," said Ray Muzyka, Co-founder and CEO of BioWare Corp. "This vision is consistent with BioWare's focus on crafting the highest quality story-driven games in the world. It will enable us to further the careers of the passionate, creative and hard working teams at BioWare Edmonton and BioWare Austin."

EA will pay up to $620 million in cash to the stockholders of VG Holding Corp. and will issue up to an additional $155 million in equity to certain employees of VG Holding Corp., which will be subject to time-based or performance-based vesting criteria. EA will also assume outstanding VG Holding Corp. stock options. In addition, EA has agreed to lend VG Holding Corp. up to $35 million through the closing of the acquisition.

R.I.P.

Update: The Yahoo! mirror crashed two minutes after it launched. Maybe investing some money in a real server should be in Yahoo's future. And by real server, I mean one that works. Lets give them a break though, it's not like this was going to be a popular demo or anything...

Update #2: Following a major false start the demo is now available, and also mirrored at 3D Downloads, ActionTrip, Computer Games.ro, FileFront, FilePlanet, Fragland, Gamershell, GGMania and Worthplaying.

Download here.

The demo will allow players to experience AVENCAST’s unique combat and spell casting system as they battle numerous demonic enemies. A tutorial will also be available to allow players to hone their skills before heading into battle. With more than 1.5 hours of gameplay, over 20 different spells to master, countless items to uncover, vicious enemies to battle, and exotic environments to explore, players will soon discover whether they have what it takes to rise to the challenge and save their world.

The Warfare gametype has changed tremendously from the sprawling mega battle that we first envisioned to something of an Onslaught/Assault inspired jack-of-all-trades. In fact, each Warfare map we played or discussed had a slightly different angle or hook to its gameplay. We started off with Necris_Torlan which is one of a few implementations of the map you’ll see in the game. This one has been utterly ravaged by the Necris process and even the famous center tower is battle-worn. We played a Z-shaped node layout that should be familiar to most those familiar with the original, though the corner tank nodes and the road nodes (East and West sides of the map) are optional and not at all connected to the others in this implementation. You can still take those optional nodes and gain the riches and spawn points associated with each, but they will not give you a path to the enemy primary node. Each primary node is now partially encased in its own mini-base structure, complete with an Energy Turret that can move on an arc-shaped rail to avoid being a stationary target.

Here's a big list-o-random Hellgate news sent in from The Unofficial website:

• Q&A; with David Brevik - GameSpot
• Hellgate: London Manga - Official Website
• Asian Localization Manager Michelle Suh Interview - Official US Website
• HGL is the most wanted game in the UK - Official Site
• Preview - Rock, Paper, Shotgun
• Bill Roper Interview - TVG
• Another Bill Roper Interview - Gamesradar
• German Preview - Eurogamer.de
• Another German Preview - PC Games.de
• The Big Pre-order List for Europe - Official website

PC

• The Orangle Box - 1Up - 10/10
• The Orange Box - GameSpot - 9.5/10
• The Orange Box - GameSpy - 5/5
• The Orange Box - GameHelper - 9.75/10

  360
  

• The Orange Box - Game Informer - 9.75/10
• The Orange Box - Team Xbox - 9.6/10
• The Orange Box - GameSpot - 9.5/10
• The Orange Box - GameDaily - 10/10
• The Orange Box - GamePro - 5/5
• The Orange Box - Yahoo - 5/5
• The Orange Box - GameSpy - 5/5
• The Orange Box - Eurogamer - 10/10

Today's question:

Is The Orange Box a great, or the greatest Valve game ever?