Is Modern Warfare 2 the most anticipated game of all time?

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare didn't receive anywhere near as much hype leading up to its release as its sequel has. That's a given considering it was the first in the Modern Warfare franchise and the first Call of Duty game to move onto the modern battlefield. We all knew it was going to be great, taking the series to all new heights with more advanced weapons and a great online experience. But it blew up. It went crazy. Halo 2 may have defined online gaming for consoles, helping make XBOX Live the great online service it is today, but COD4 seemed to redefined it. It was able to attract an all-new market of gamers to not only the genre, but also to online multiplayer gaming.

That's why to this day COD4 is still one of the most played games online, two years after its release. That's pretty amazing considering it's had to go up against the likes of Killzone 2, Grand Theft Auto IV, Gears of War 2, Resistance 2 and Halo 3: ODST in that time-frame, all of which have strong online communities.

What's even more amazing is that even after the release of the next Call of Duty sequel (prequel?) in World at War, COD4 still stayed in the top few games with online activity. As great as WaW has been online, it always seemed to be that little step behind COD4, no matter how much content Activision threw its way.

That's not without saying that WaW has its following, and, especially on XBOX Live, you'll find that many COD4 fanatics often switch between the two because they each offer an outstanding online experience.

But why will Modern Warfare 2 stand out? Why is it so special? If COD4 was so great, why didn't WaW receive as much hype? The obvious answer is because WaW took a "step back" to World War 2, an act many gamers and COD faithful deemed to be an actual step back in quality for the franchise.

It definitely didn't lose any quality and the final product was great, but it's the brilliance of COD4 that ultimately shifts the attention to its direct sequel. Modern Warfare 2's predecessor seemed to bring gamers of all walks together, creating one unified market that has grown substantially over the past two years. The closest thing we've seen to MW2 hype this generation was Grand Theft Auto IV hype, and even that title didn't seem to generate a united front from every specific type of gaming culture.

Reports are coming in that Modern Warfare 2 is breaking pre-order records all around the world. It might be some genius PR spin, something the unified gaming heavyweights in EB Games and GameStop have conjured up to increase product awareness. But that's doubtful. If that's not obvious from the attention this game has gotten on gaming forums around the world, then it's from the fact that pretty much every person you know that owns either a XBOX 360 or Playstation probably has a pre-order for the game somewhere. If you don't believe it, go and ask. Now. We'll wait.

So now the question is put forth to you: Have you pre-ordered Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2? Why? And is this game your most anticipated game ever? Why/Why not?

How To Survive 2009's Gaming Drought

Written By Stephen Heller

It’s inevitable that each year we hit some form of games drought, but it seems to be a much longer and harsher drought in 2009. Maybe it’s due to the lack of quality releases early in the year, perhaps the endless delay messages we are hearing on larger titles, pushing them back into 2010. Whatever it is we have completed this guide to help you survive the harsh drought until the pre-christmas rush is upon us.

Time To Catch Up

The gaming drought is a perfect time to finish up all those loose ends that you have left over from busier periods in the year. Never got to the end of Mirrors Edge? Still stuck on that infernal puzzle in Braid? Well now you have times on your hands to finish off those games you never quite finished. I know when I look at my shelf I have a good five or six games I still have to finish!

Nostalgia Strikes Again

While you are waiting for that next big game to hit perhaps now would be a good time to get back to your roots and kick it old school. Dig out that N64 or SNES and play some of your favourite classics. You’ll be surprised at how challenging they are after so many years, and might even be surprised at just how well they have held up against the hands of time.

Live Dangerously

Are you one of those gamers who stick to one format only? Perhaps you are a racing nut? FPS are your bread and butter? Now is the perfect time to live dangerously and try something new. Had a game on your mind you’d like to try but just never had the time? Go do some research and pickup something you normally wouldn’t play. It could really pay off and open yourself up to a great adventure.

DLC

There are plenty of great games that are cheap and easy to download from the PSN, Xbox Live or Wii Ware services. Some of these games are rated higher than full fledged games and offer some great gameplay experiences. Do some research and choose a game that suits your needs. Some outstanding titles that come to mind are Braid, Bionic Commando: Re-Armed, World of Goo and The Dishwasher.

Hopefully this guide will help you stay afloat with quality gaming until the drought is lifted for the pre-christmas rush. What are your plans to survive these tough times?

Nintendo Press Conference Live Blog

3:09am - Reggie wraps things up. Keynote ends.

3:07am - Trailer looks awesome. It's called Metroid: Other M. Set to be narrative drive, taking us deeper into Samus' story. It looks spectacular.

3:06am - New trailer starts up for unknown game. It's with developer Team Ninja. It's a third-person Metroid!!!

3:05am - "No opportunity larger than Nintendo" for third-party publishers. Starts talking about Nintendo. New and edgier game coming from them? Yes!

3:04am - Now Dead Space. Dead Space: Extraction answers questions asked from the original on PS3 and 360. Game is exclusive to Wii. Trailer is shown. Looks great.

3:02am - Talking about Resident Evil. Top seller on Wii. Works well as a shooter and as an adventure. Talks about RE: The Darkside Chronicles. Trailer starts up. Nothing we haven't already seen.

3:01am - Reggie "reads the blogs as well". Talking about third-party publishers. Talking about third-party titles. "harder edge" games coming exclusively on Wii before years end. First is The Conduit. Built from the ground up on Wii. Showing trailer. Looks absolutely awesome!!!

3:00am - Confirmed! Super Mario Galaxy 2. Reggie comes back on stage. Talking about what they've shown for the conference.

2:59am - Trailer looks good. It's essentially a sequel to Galaxy by the looks of it. Yoshi aspects looked great fun.

2:58am - Cammie back on stage. More to show us, she says. New Mario game coming. A second full 3D title is coming to Wii. Trailer starts up. It's Galaxy 2 - but with Yoshi.

2:57am - That's it. Iwata leaves the stage. OK then.

2:56am - Talks about how it can be used to relax. It will help us relax - see our physical problems.

2:55am - Talking about Brain Age. Going to show us a new way to "think". Announces Wii Vitality Sensor. Records your pulse. "Visialise something that is otherwise invisible." Talking about how nervous he might be. Saying how it is invisible. The Wii Vitality Sensor will allow us to see the inner world of our body.

2:54am - Talking about how games like Mario Kart Wii, New Super Mario Games are games for everyone, even current non-gamers.

2:53am - Difficult to understand what he is actually getting at.

2:52am - Still talking about non-gamers, gamers, maybe gamers. He really needs to hurry up and get to the point.

2:51am - We still have a long way to expand the gaming audience, according to Iwata. Says Nintendo has erased the thought that those who never play games now, will never play in the future. The gaming population is much larger.

2:50am - Talking about doing research to find out "what's happening". Three active groups - those who actively play, those who never play and those who might. If gaming will grow, it must come from the "maybe" group. 295 Million in Japan, Europe and the US actively playing games. 145 Million who say they might be involved in games.

2:48am - Nintendo President Satoru Iwata comes on stage.

2:47am - Talking about The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks. Playable. Says it's amazing. Don't show any footage.

2:46am - Talking about DSi camera. This summer (our winter), you will be able to take pictures with your DSi and share them to Facebook.

2:45am - Showing WarioWare: DIY. Let's you create your own games from scratch. Showing Japanese trailer in background. Let's you invent the challenge. "Makes experience deeply compelling."

2:44am - Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again will be available for DSi on DSi this coming Monday in the US.

2:43am - Talks about user generate content. Mario vs. Donkey Kong. First in the series to let players make their own levels - set their enemies, power-ups etc. Can upload them to friends locally or via Wii Wi-Fi connection.

2:42am - Elaborating on personalization with the DSi. "People don't just consumer entertain, they create and share."

2:41am - DSi sales in the US have surpassed 1 million units. 400,000 DS Lite's have been sold in that time. Key difference between the two is personalisation.

2:40am - Talking about DSi now. Already "capturing the passion of players". Showing a trailer, interviewing people about how awesome the DSi is. That's cool. /sarcasm.

2:37am - Announces "Cop: The Recruit". About a young cop, forced undercover to investigate the framing of his partner. Open world game set in New York. Looks great. Action packed!

2:35am - Cammie is back on stage. Talking about Wii and DS base. "Developers can take risks". Talks about James Patterson, the writer. "Woman's Murder Club". An interactive book. Trailer comes on. Investigation game. Looks OK.

2:34am - Reggie announces Golden Sun DS. Trailer comes on screen. Looks nice.

2:33am - Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story for DS being shown. Looks pretty cool. Confirmed for release this Fall (Spring for us).

2:32am - Showing Kingdom Hearts trailer. Now talking about how Japanese have released how Bowser "sucks". New Mario game has Mario and Luigi being shrinked and checking out bowser's internal pipes.

2:30am - Talking about Square Enix and Final Fantasy. Showing footage of new FF. Quick trailer. Exclusive version of Kingdom Hearts will be avaiable on September 9th.

2:29am - More third party titles sold on Wii and DS than any other consoles. Really!?

2:27am - Reggie is talking about Wii Sports Resort. Launches in the US on July 26th. Talking about EA's Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 with MotionPlus, which comes bundled, as does EA's new tennis game, as does SEGA's Virtua Tennis 2009. MotionPlus will accurately mimick your actions. Committment with Red Steel 2 is strong. Only playable with Wii MotionPlus.

2:25am - Bill and Reggie trading scripted insults. Looks like All-Star 3 point shoot-out. You shoot as you would in real life. Same movements. Wiimote acts as the ball - just don't throw the remote. Reggie wins with the money ball.

2:24am - 3-point contest with Reggie. Reggie's game is the "inside power game". Reggie is scary. Good aim, flick of the wrist. Just like you shoot a real basketball.

2:23am - The longer the string is held back, the smaller the focus circle becomes. Looks difficult. But kind of fun, in a Wii Sports kind of way.

2:22am - "Welcome to Wii Sports Resort." Now showing archery. You hold the Wii-mote and nunchuck just like a real bow. remote as the main body, and the nunchuck as the bow screen. Panning left to right, up and down, is accurately shown on the screen.

2:20am - Gameplay being shown with Wii Sports Resort. Sky diving is shown. Showing how precise the movement is. Twisting the body around. Looks good. "it's a lot of fun". Let us be the judge of that.

2:19am - Trailer is still going. We get it.

2:17am - Wii MotionPlus trailer on screen. Showing how the controller can be used. Purely examples. Not actual gameplay. Trailer is in slow-motion. Doesn't tell us something we don't already know. Movement is more precise.

2:16am - "Physical reality has become new proving ground". Talking about Wii MotionPlus. Precision control.

2:15am - Talking about how the wii-mote was strange at first. Then the nunchuck. Then the balance board. Wants to explain new improvement in technology. A Wii-mote comes on screen. Looks the same, but apparently we need to feel it to know the difference.

2:14am - Reggie comes on stage. Starts talking about the innovation of Wii. How the Wii has moved deep within mainstream gaming and audiences. Primary weapon is "interface".

2:13am - Wii Fit Plus will arrive this Fall in the US with the Balance Board. Showing a trailer now. Really pushing "innovative." We get it.

2:12am - Announces Wii Fit Plus. Is a more definitive fitness program. Can't be "entirely" about Fitness. What makes it "about" Nintendo is that it's a lot of fun. 15 new balance games. Juggling, skateboarding a new game called perfect 10 where you swing your hips to total numbers to reach 10. "Brain Age for your backside."

2:11am - Talking about Wii Fit now. Says it is the best selling "game" in the world. Funny. It's not a game. Consider it a seperate gaming platform. 15 million sold. Ranks next to other home system based on worldwide installed base. 10s of millions are enjoying Wii Fit. They look at ways to apple Wii Fit easier to life.

2:10am - New Super Mario Bros. Wii will be available this holiday season (Christmas). Calls the game "Mr. Miyamoto's new masterpiece."

2:09am - As soon as one touches the flag poll at the end, the other 3 have 3 seconds to do the same to get extra points. Everything is ranked at the end with each player ranked based on points.

2:08am - Showing balance between single-player and multiplayer. Single-player or co-op with 4 players. You can switch at any point in time. New items, such as the propeller suit. Kind of like the bunny ears from The Six Golden Coins. Co-op gameplay lets you help damaged friends. There's a lot going on on the screen.

2:07am - About "how" many people can play Wii. Looks like Super Mario Bros. with awesome graphics. Co-operatively minded gameplay.

2:06am - New Super Mario Bros. for Wii! Cammie comes on stage to show it off. Talking about how they can make it a "new" New Super Mario Bros. for Wii.

2:05am - Talks about game data. Is now showing a Mario montage. Talking about the evolution of Mario. Admits they haven't been able to move him into the "4th dimension".

2:04am - Conference starts. Cammie Dunaway comes on the stage. Starts talking about "innovation".

2:01am - That doesn't really make a different because it's now 9:01am yesterday in LA and it still hasn't started. Nintendo have already failed E3 with this tardiness.

2:00am - Apparently my clock is fast. It's 9:00am yesterday in LA RIGHT NOW!!!

2:00am - It's 9:00am yesterday in LA. Why hasn't it started yet, damn it!

1:59am - I'm looking forward to lots of Nintendo sales numbers and how the Wii has sold so much. /sarcasm.

1:58am - 2 minutes. Might be the longest 2 minutes in the history of time.

1:56am - 4 minutes. ZOMG!

1:54am - 6 minutes to go! The anticipation is too much too handle.

1:48am - 12 minutes to go!

1:40am - It's way too early in the morning. 20 minutes to go.

Heller's Desk Vol #14

Welcome to another edition of Heller's Desk. I hope you all had a safe and happy Easter break with family and friends, and you are now back ready for some great gaming....

First title sitting on my desk this week was the newly released Episodic title from Telltale Games, Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures: Episode 1: Fright of the Bumblebees. Fans of adventure games should know that Telltale always deliver an exceptional experience, and nothing less should be expected from the first episode in what looks like it will be a landmark series for the developer. It captures the look, feel and charm of the beloved TV series/Movies and plays more like an interactive TV program than a game. You can purchase the game from the Telltale Games website and it will be launching on Xbox Live in the near future. A featured review will be up on Myfrag and My360 in the next few days

It seems an eternity ago when Silent Hill V: Homecoming was released and then banned in Australia, but after a long wait it finally was released last week across store shelves. Silent Hill has always been a leader in the survival horror genre, and being the first in the series on this generation of consoles, it has big shoes to fill. Keep your eyes peeled for the featured review this week, but in the mean time why don't you brush up on your Survival Horror Origins

Chronicles of Riddick is dropping this week on both the Xbox 360 and PS3 and will be keeping many of you busy I'm sure. It includes the critically acclaimed Escape from Butcher Bay on the disc, which will give many of those who never had the chance to play the original, a chance to do so with fresh graphics. Gaetano is working on a featured review which will launch in the next few weeks.

Last but not least The Voice will be returning after a short break over the Easter holidays. We will be hitting it hard bringing you the latest news and reviews, and even have some interviews in the works. Also we will be bringing back the beloved Retrograde segment with our good friend Guyver!

A sudden urge to play Bioshock has washed over me so I'm off to do that, what are you guys playing this week?

DLC will lead to Digital Distribution?

Written By Stephen Heller

Downloadable Content has become a staple to all the current generation consoles. We have Xbox Live and PSN offering us not only patches, demos, updates and packs, we also are seeing arcade and full fledged being offered to consumers for a price to download. While these services have been offered since the current generation releases, with recent releases from Rockstar with DLC such as GTA IV: The Lost and Damned and Criterion's constant free DLC for Burnout Paradise, the bar has been raised higher than ever before.

A bit of a history lesson here. The Sega Dreamcast was the first console that featured DLC. Due to technologies and bandwith at the time, and memory limitations the quality of said DLC was lacklustre but none the less it was offered. Microsoft was the first company to charge for DLC on their Xbox console in 2002 for Mech Assault. Microsoft continued to release DLC for select titles on the console, but it wasn't until the release of the Xbox 360 that DLC became to become a standard feature in home gaming consoles. Microsoft had paved the way for DLC making the "Xbox Marketplace" and DLC an integral component of the console experience.

DLC since then has certainly evolved from arcade games and map packs. Criterion have steadily increased the life of their Burnout Paradise title for over twelve months with a slew of free DLC provided that not only added to, but completely changed the gameplay experience. Rockstar have released the stellar Lost and Damned for their Grand Theft Auto series, which includes well over 10 hours of additional gameplay, from a new perspective and feels like a stand alone title. With the release of Midnight Club LA: South Central DLC just around the corner, Rockstar are certainly proving that they are the leaders of quality DLC for their titles.

Now the bar has been raised so high, people are going to start expecting more from developers when they are served up DLC. This has been reflected recently with the public backlash towards Capcom's release of Resident Evil 5 DLC, which simply adds a more robust multiplayer functionality to the title. The public already expect more for their money, it will be interesting to see where DLC is going to head over the course of 2009.

This also begs the question is Digital Distribution the way of the future for console gamers. With services such as STEAM already operating with high success on the PC platform, and titles such as Gran Turismo Prologue, Warhawk, The Watchman all being offered as full downloads on the PSN and Xbox Live service, many would have to believe it's a real possibility. While it won't replace disc based media anytime soon, developers are going to have to investigate it as a viable option, especially considering the current global economic standpoint.

Join Heller and Tano on this weeks episode of The Voice as they discuss indepth their current views of DLC, the idea of Digital Distribution and of course the latest news and reviews.

Heller's Desk Vol #8

OMG there was a game release this week! That's right ladies and gentlemen, after a long drought we finally had a significant release, and it just so happened to be one of my most anticipated titles in a long time Skate 2

Needless to say since I picked up this bad boy last night I've been transfixed on it. Skate was one of my favourite games this generation, and while Skate 2 isn't a revolutionary as the first title, it is still a giant leap in the right direction. It offers such a robust experience, whether you want to get stuck into career mode, or just want to cruise the streets with your mates online, the game has a no pressure approach which just sits well with me. I recommend you check it out on PS3 or Xbox 360. I will be completing a featured review which will be uploaded to the sites very soon.

I have also fallen back in love with Burnout Paradise. Another free roaming title that just works on so many levels, and I truly am still blown away by the graphics. If you are racing around on either the PSN or Xbox Live (I have both versions) please PM me so we can hook up!

Shaun White Snowboarding has been getting another run through my Xbox, gee I'm really into the Free Roaming games right now. It's also a fantastic online experience, and pretty much one of it's kind seeing as we haven't seen a snowboarding game with as much scope as Ubisoft have provided!

The new Fighting The Good Fight video has been doing rather well, I have also done a blog as to why I am bothering to create the videos. Please check out the blogs section so you can view it, and give me some feedback. There are a planned 8 episodes in the series, but if you guys aren't loving it, then what is the point?

But the most exciting work this week has been working over at Myfrag.com.au! We are hurrying to get some content on the site before it is launched....4PM TOMORROW. It's been a long time in the making, and everyone on the MyMedia team is super excited to open it up to the masses.

So what have you been playing? What are you looking forward to? Will you be visiting MyFrag?

GTA IV - The Lost and Damned Trailer!!!!

First Lost and Damned Trailer

If you've been skeptical up to now, that's got to change your mind!

The trailer doesn't give much away, but it does introduce some of the characters through video and shows off some of the fantastic narrative already highlighted in previous Grand Theft Auto titles.

The first episode of downloadable content for Grand Theft Auto IV, titled The Lost and Damned, will be released on Xbox Live on 17 February 2009. The episode will feature a new central character, Johnny Klebitz, who is a member of Liberty City's biker gang, The Lost. Dan Houser, vice president of creative development at Rockstar Games, claims the episode will show "a different side of Liberty City".