I had pre-ordered my son's copy for the Xbox about a week ago from Dell. Their site said a January release but of course I knew it wouldn't actually take that long. Low and behold, tonight the doorbell rang and there was a courier with my copy!! Shh, don't tell him - I'm waiting for report cards to come out before I spring it on him!

So who's played it? I won't get to it for a while so I need your reviews.  C'mon people! Assassin's Creed was a regular fixture in our Xbox and I know that ACII will be too!

Fallout 3 - Ultimate Game of the Year

1.2 million gamers cast their votes for the 27th annual Golden Joystick Awards, and named Fallout 3 as the ultimate game of 2009, whilst awarding a hat-trick of accolades to the Call of Duty series of games. The winners were announced yesterday in London and organizers announced a 47% increase in the number of voters from last year, setting a new record for gamer input into handing out these awards.

In 2008 Call of Duty 4 took out four separate awards, and this year the Activision Blizzard series went on another winning streak, picking up “Multiplayer Game of the Year” and “Nintendo Game of the Year” for Call of Duty: World at War and the “One to Watch” award for the forthcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. 

Activision Blizzard also picked up the “Soundtrack of the Year” award for Guitar Hero: World Tour, as well as the “Publisher of the Year” award, which seems fitting for a company with so much success in the other award areas.

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Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters and formerly of Nirvana

Three new Nirvana tunes, and four new Foo Fighters tracks will be available for players of Rock Band as of next week, which should make fans of Dave Grohl very happy. These new additions will be available for download via the Rock Band Music Store, and the LEGO Rock Band Music Store on Xbox 360, PS3 and the Wii. New tracks from System of a Down and Bullet for My Valentine will also be available next week for Rock Bank Unplugged on the PSP.

The new Nirvana tracks coincide with the 20th anniversary of the release of the band's debut album, Bleach, in 1989. The Nirvana Bleach Pack includes three classic songs from that album, About a Girl, Blew and School. Each track is available individually for Wii.

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So, what are the scariest video games ever made? For Halloween this week Bytejacker viewers voice their opinion on what are the scariest video games of all time.

The show also takes a look at the ins and outs of WiiWare platformer LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias.

 Check it out below:

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Campfire Legends: The Hookman - Eerie, creepy and spooky

There are two types of game that involve story telling. One is the kind where the story is feebly wrapped around the gameplay as an afterthought, and has us leaping for the "Skip" button. The other is the kind where the story is the true core of the gameplay, and it entrances us as it unfolds and propels the game along, pulling us deep into a world of fiction as a book or movie might. Campfire Legends - The Hookman is one such seamless and captivating game.

The introduction to the game is a scene that is familiar to most of us, with a group of young women sitting around a campfire telling scary stories. Straight away the game taps into that familiar feeling of hearing unsettling tales whilst out alone in the dark, and gets you unnerved right from the beginning. One young woman begins to tell the story of "The Hookman", a menacing one handed murderer from their own home town. The screen pans to the eerie night sky, travels back in time to the night Christine (the main character) headed to her parents woodland cabin for what was supposed to be a romantic weekend with her boyfriend, and the game gets underway.

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This week's episode of Bytejacker demos some very cool and creative hacks & mods made in dedication to the original NES, including an electric guitar made of Nintendos. Nice! Viewers also have their say on the best music games of all time, in honor of the newly released Brutal Legend game.

Star Guard comes in at Number 1 in the Free Indie Countdown, which you can play here. Star Guard is a old school style platformer with classic chunky graphics, on the PC and Mac platforms.

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Bytejacker is my personal favorite gaming web show and I'm completely addicted to it. The show screens weekly, covering the latest in indie games, free games and downloadable games.

Here's the segments and games covered in Episode 058, with links to play or download:

This week's Indie Game Radar: Grappling Hook, a 3D first person platformer. Looks to me like a very interesting game that falls somewhere between Portal and Warsow, with the strategy and planning of Portal, and the trick jumping and precision of Warsow.

DOWNLOAD GRAPPLING HOOK DEMO (14.2Mb)

BUY GRAPPLING HOOK (Windows)

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Wow, if this game is anywhere near as good as it looks in the promo material, I expect I'll be sinking a considerable number of hours of my life into playing it. There really hasn't been a top quality epic fantasy game in some time, and this game looks like it could be the one to fill the void.

'Dragon Age: Origins' is your classic good vs mega evil fantasy, complete with all the standard trimmings of ogres, elves, dwarves, mages and dragons. What looks like it will set the game apart though, is the depth of the characters and the complexity of the combat. If you ever wanted to feel as though you were taking part in a vast battle straight out of Lord of the Rings, this might be the game to deliver that experience.

We have plenty more cool trailers and images to come on this game, and you can watch the main trailer from E3 below:

'World of Goo' - pay what you like (image http://klepek.wordpress.com)

Okay now this is super cool. It's one year since the release of the phenomenally popular puzzle game 'World of Goo', and to celebrate, the developers are running an offer till October 19 where you can decide whatever you want to pay for a copy of the game. 1 cent or $100 - whatever you decide. Just a note that they've been hammered with visitors and their site has been down a bit, so if you don't get it the first time just try again later.

If you're not familiar with 'World of Goo', it's a physics / puzzle / construction game that tasks you with the creation of various goo ball structures to make your way to the exit of each level. You might have to build ultra high towers, or somehow piece together a goo bridge to get yourself across a ravine. The game has its own striking artwork style that is somehow sombre and cheery at the same time. This coupled with the original music creates an immersive atmosphere that is uniqe to 'World of Goo'.

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'Canabalt' - one button mega fun gameplay

Okay, so previously I posted about the most fun you could have with one hand, but this game is seriously the most fun you could ever have with one finger.

'Canabalt' is simple. You are a little black & white guy running and jumping over black & white rooftops at ever increasing insane speeds with ever more frequent obstacles to avoid. Your goal is to not fall off the rooftops for as long as you possibly can, with only your jump button (X or C) to help you along the way. The scenery and obstacles are randomly generated every time, so there's no memorizing levels, you just have to be sharp with your reflexes!

Now, I completely suck at this game and have never lasted very long on it, but that hasn't stopped me from playing it a zillion times. There's a demo video after the jump, but the best way to see what the game is about is to just jump right in and play.

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