Between then and now, you should expect to see a demo hitting the Live marketplace soon. However, Microsoft hasn’t yet released a confirmed release date for this yet.

Looks like it’s going to be a stay indoors summer!

Infinity Award’s Robert Dowling has let slip that the COD MW2 map pack, ‘the Stimulus Package’, is due to be released on 30 March on XBOX LIVE containing a total of five maps – two of which are classics from the original Call of Duty Modern Warfare.

The three brand new maps are named: Bailout, Storm and Salvage. Bailout is to be based around an apartment complex with lots of flanking positions, Storm an abandoned warehouse in a raging thunderstorm and finally Salvage, a snowy map placed in a derelict junkyard.

The two original COD Modern Warfare maps to be included are the popular Crash and Overgrown. Bowling says that while the maps have not been adapted much, the team has “upped the graphics a bit”.

“They’re slightly reworked but we didn’t make any major changes,” said Bowling.

“These are maps that we love, and we don’t like messing with that formula”.

The price for the maps on XBOX LIVE will be 1200 MS Points and a total download size of 330MB.

According to The Evening Standard, Papadopoulos ‘criticised computer games containing highly sexual content, such as Miss Bimbo, in which girls compete to accumulate boob jobs in order to marry a billionaire’.

The Telegraph have also followed up on the story this morning, by printing: ‘Children are being sexualised from an increasingly early age by computer games, pornography and sex-related slogans, a government report will warn.’
Pornography and ‘Lads Mags’ such as Zoo and Nuts have also been blamed by BB psychologist.
The Home Office is due to publish her full report in a couple of weeks.

Dead Or Alive… probably a good idea to stay out of this one.

Civilization V is set to be released this Autumn, more than four years later since Civilization 4. First impressions from the screenshots show the graphics to be better with more detailed environments and instead of square titles it will utilize hexagonal ones.

2K claims that the game uses a new game engine which will allow for multiplayer support and that it will be able to use mods.

NVIDIA is using  Metro 2033 to showcase what it possible with the latest GPUs which support the new DirectX11 framework saying that “The 4A Engine is one of the most advanced game engines we’ve ever worked with, and with DX11 enabled, Metro 2033 is undoubtedly one of the best looking PC games of 2010″.

Our sources claim that NVIDIA has been working closely with 4A Games to develop the game, and so, as well as the standard DirectX11 features, NVIDIA 3D Vision and PhysX technology will also be supported. Judging by the screenshots below, I’m sure you’ll agree that the Metro 2033 looks stunning, let’s just hope the game is playable with a good storyline and not simply a classic technology demo.

The game is set to arrive on March 16th.

Previously the original Call of Duty Modern Warfare sold around 14.4 million copies in 2007, MW2 has surpassed this figure already with over 15 million sales.

According to industry body ELSA, the success of COD : MW2 has meant the game has won the best-selling videogame of 2009.

“The phenomenal success of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was undoubtedly one of the leading entertainment stories of the year and firmly established videogames as one of the leading forms of entertainment in the UK,” said Michael Rawlinson, of the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association.

The development of Gran Turismo 5 has so far cost Sony a whopping $60+ million, a figure which is huge even in today’s gaming market. According to sources, when the game is finally released, gamers will have access to over 1000 different cars and 20 different track locations with even Dunsfold Park, the UK hit TV show Top Gear’s test track.

At Sony’s E3 2009 Press Conference, Yamauchi (the producer of all the GT games) in an interview said “We’ve actually reached a point where we can probably release [GT5] anytime, except that you can also keep working as long as you want to as well, it’s just a matter of timing.”. If what Yamauchi has said is correct, a few questions arise as to why exactly Sony are delaying the release…

For females playing the future title, Brink, which is acclaimed to be one of next year’s much anticipated multiplayer games, they’ll have no option other than to play the game as a Male. This therefore removes the ‘personal experience’ such users can share with the game.

So why was the decision made for just Males? According to a technical artist on the game’s official forum, it was more so made due to practical decisions rather than aesthetics or agenda.

“… given the realities of development, we had a choice between having a wide range of options for male characters, or a much more limited set of clothing options that allow for both genders. We figured it would be the best use of our time to have a big set of quality customisation options for males instead of less and lower quality for females and males.”

The root to the decision came down to more than just aesthetics though, the obvious body shape and size differences also played an important role the artist goes on to explain…

“… the females would have to be roughly the same height and width as the male characters in order to prevent any issues with hit detection or visibility. … Since women naturally tend to be smaller than men in reality, it meant we had to be pretty exaggerated in terms of their proportions when concepting the early designs. … it was a lot more work than getting the males to look right at the same size.”

It’s launch date for the much antisipated Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2. The 6th COD game is selling out fast in stores across the UK. We’ve done some of our very own investigating to see where you can buy it for the cheapest price.

It seems the cheapest place to get hold of a copy is actually from a supermarket, Sainsburys infact. They have PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of the title for a small price of £26, the most competitive price tag we’ve seen yet. However, copies are expected to sell quickly with a Sainsburys spokeswoman reporting that they’re expecting it to be their biggest seller this year with an estimated 120,000 sales in store and 20,000 online.

So if you want a copy, head down to your local Sainsburys and be ready for a fight.

From 32 players in the previous version, Modern Warfare 2 will be down to a cap of just 18, consequently 9 vs. 9. Although this is what it’s been in the original Modern Warfare version and World at War on both the Xbox 360 and PS3, many in the PC COD community are fumed about the decision saying ‘9 vs. 9 is not a multi-player experience at all and is not a favoured decision’. 

Infinity Ward has said that the decision has been made to help balance the game due to the game’s map size, perks, classes, and challenges so that the PC platform can comfortably play the game. However, many in the PC COD community say this is a lie and is more due to the decision of replacing the previous dedicated/clan servers with IW.net servers.

With the release of DICE’s Bad Company 2 due in several months (which will also be released on PC and will use online dedicated servers), Infinity Ward might suddenly get a bite in the backside when they find their devoted COD fanboys moving over to the Battlefield series…