This Week in HD-DVD

First off, news on the HD-DVD front. Last week Universal officially announced they'd be shipping over 100 new HD-DVD titles in 2007. Can you say sweetness? But this week we can look forward to a few pot smoking, alcohol drinking, comedy HD-DVDs. Sorry, that's what you are getting this week, because both Beerfest and Half Baked will be out on Tuesday. Speaking of Half Baked, whatever happened to Dave Chappelle? Last time I checked he ran off to Africa and was complaining that he made too much money ... sounds rough.

HD-DVD Movie Releases: January 30th
• Beerfest
• Discovery Atlas Series
• Half Baked
• The Wicker Man

COD3 Valor Map Pack returns to the Marketplace

The problems people were having with the new CoD3 Valor Map Pack have now been fixed and some bugs
regarding Ranked Lobbies and Ranked Matches have been addressed as well
in an Auto-Update. It's good to see developers taking actions and
keeping the community well informed on issues like this. How do you think the developers handled the situation, and after all is
said and done, are the maps really worth all the trouble?

New Wii Colors - Fact or Fiction

In the usual form of internet rumor starts, an anonymous Nintendo rep
informed someone over at GameDrift that consumers should expect new Wii
console colors this year. Further details had headed for the hills,
leaving this lone report at GameDrift all on its own to fend for
itself. They do say, however, that red and black are a done deal, with
more to be available, alongside those two, later this year.



So what say you all? Bogus or are you willing to put your faith in this anonymous Nintendo rep?

Oblivion Expansion for 360 Confirmed

UPDATE: 1UP contacted Bethesda to clear up confusion over the PS3 version, and they confirmed they have Shivering Isles in mind for PS3, but aren't talking about it right now because Oblivion itself has yet to ship. No worries, Sony gamer; the expansion is headed your way, too -- eventually.



ORIGINAL STORY: Exclusivity contracts kept Bethesda Softworks from making news of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion: Shivering Isles official (sometimes PR tactics are incredibly frustrating), but this morning the studio pulled away the red tape and said the expansion pack is coming to Xbox 360 and PC gamers sometime in the spring -- there was no mention of a PlayStation 3 version, but we're looking into it.



This ain't no fancied up downloadable content, either, as Bethesda promises more than 30 hours of new gameplay in the realm of Sheogorath, where the Daedric Prince of Madness rules a land torn between dementia and mania. Battling through the new dungeons will have you facing more than 12 new monsters, encounter the obligatory new items, ingredients and spells and new forgeable armor and weapons.



"The enthusiastic response we've received to our downloadable content has been overwhelming, and we're excited to bring Oblivion fans a full expansion," said Vlatko Andonov, president of Bethesda Softworks, in the announcement. "The world we've created for Shivering Isles is unlike anything you've seen or played in Oblivion and we can't wait for folks to play it."



The press release also notes that Oblivion has sold more than three million copies to date, and the game's yet to be released on PS3, so there's plenty of time for the userbase to expand.

Xbox Live for a Year + Vision Camera $66

Are you in need of a Xbox Live gold subscription renewal pretty soon? You know, that will set you back roughly $50 for 12 months. But for only $16 more you can get the Xbox 360 Live Camera Bundle instead. We stumbled upon this great Amazon.com deal over the weekend and we must say, it's a good option for those who need to renew their subscription. The bundle includes 12 months of Xbox Live gold access, Vision camera, headset, 200 Microsoft Points, UNO, Robotron and free shipping for $65.95. You just can't beat a $15 savings!

Battle Stations Midway Demo is Here

The Battlestations: Midway demo that we were promised yesterday is now available (as is a new F.E.A.R. trailer). The demo comes in at just under half a gig and promises to provide players with some WWII multiplayer action in the air and sea around the Island of Solomon. With multiple vehicles like planes, submarines, and boats, Battlestations: Midway looks to give WWII buffs a nice change of pace after the recent spate of WWII FPS games. We're going to give the demo a try and we'll post our impressions later today.



In the meantime, if you've had time to play the demo, tell us what you think. Does it live up to your expectations? Does it fill the void of the missing Crackdown demo?

Heavy Weapon Co-op Is Awesome

Okay, we just finished a Live co-op survival session on Heavy Weapon. In short, Heavy Weapon co-op is fluid, fast, and a hell of a lot of fun. This is great news considering the recent co-op woes of Assault Heroes. Like any survival game, it starts off slow enough, but soon it escalates to the point of sheer insanity. There are so many things happening on screen that it's impossible to keep track of them all. The air is filled with a solid cloud of bullets, missiles, lasers, aircraft, and general mayhem. And it's 'effing awesome. Some will no doubt deride Heavy Weapon for its simplicity, but we praise it for the same reason (and we dig its retro sensibilities). Oh, and if you like earning achievements, survival co-op offers plenty of them. You could easily earn six in one session. Surviving for twelve minutes is tough, but it's made much easier with three buddies (though to be fair we only made it just past thirteen on our first try). For those of you who have Heavy Weapon, give online co-op a try. It's sure to bring back plenty of arcade memories (hopefully memories without the creepy guy who played way too much Galaga).